Draw Swords! Part 30

"Oh, I shall behave well to you if you're a good boy. What are you thinking about?"

"I was thinking it strange that nature should have given elephants such ridiculous little tails as that in front."

"Get out! You weren't."

"I was, really. Look at it whisking about. It's quite absurd."

"Humph, yes; but the brute shuffles along pretty well. I'm glad it's old Hulton the chief has got up there instead of me. I'll be bound Hulton wishes himself back upon his horse."

"Shall we camp out to-night as usual?" said d.i.c.k after they had ridden a little way.

"I'm beginning to think not," said Wyatt; "the chief isn't poor, that's certain, and the place yonder looks big. I expect we shall have a palace apiece, and be left to toss up who is to entertain the doctor.

Really, though, I expect we shall find some kind of barracks and stables set apart for us."

A couple of hours later the procession was crossing the river by a well-built bridge, held by a strong force of st.u.r.dy-looking men in white, armed with crooked, heavy knives and s.h.i.+elds; while the road leading to the princ.i.p.al gate was lined with the Rajah's troops-- swarthy, active-looking men, but with weapons of the most antique kind, princ.i.p.ally long-barrelled matchlocks.

"But they look as if they've got some fight in them," said Wyatt.

"Yes," said d.i.c.k; "those little dark fellows seem as active as cats."

"And they are," said Wyatt. "Hillmen, that's what they happen to be. I say, though, the Rajah has plenty of subjects."

For the narrow, bazaar-like streets and the housetops were crowded with people, who seemed to devour the new-comers with their eyes, till suddenly, in a long street kept by troops, one side of which was formed by a building with a carved gateway, the procession halted, the elephant knelt, and Captain Hulton rose.

"Pa.s.s the word along for the captain's charger," said Wyatt sharply, and the next minute one of the gunners hurried forward with the led horse in time for his chief.

The captain rode up to his brother-officers.

"That building is our barracks," he said, "and the place is ready for occupation, so we will move in at once. Set sentries at the gates, Wyatt. By the _way_, the Rajah tells me that a meal is ready for the men, and he asks our company at the palace to join him."

"We can't all go," said Wyatt quietly.

"No, so I have excused you. Darrell, you will come."

The captain moved away.

"I'd rather stay and help you, Wyatt," said d.i.c.k.

"I believe you, dear boy; but you must go. We shall soon settle down.

The sergeants and corporals work well, and when you come back the place will seem as if we had been in possession a month."

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

A ROYAL DINNER-PARTY.

"Nearly ready, Darrell?" cried Hulton.

"Yes, and waiting for you," was the reply as the captain entered the lad's quarters and looked round critically.

"Humph! you've got better rooms than I have."

"Like to change, sir?"

"Not I. So long as I've a good bed I don't mind. Bless us! how smart the boy looks! Shall I do?"

"Do? Yes; you always look well and manly, sir. But how are we going to find our way?"

"Oh, I'll find the way; but I wish we were not going to walk through the dust, on account of one's shoes."

They were not going to walk, for there was the trampling of horses and jingling of accoutrements heard in the courtyard, and Hakim entered.

"The sahib's elephant is waiting," he said.

"Eh?" cried the captain. "What elephant?"

"The Rajah's, sahib; come to fetch."

"Hah! that's something like a host." cried Hulton.

"I was just going to see if we couldn't have palanquins."

They recognised the elephant as the one the Rajah had ridden that day, but the howdah and trappings were changed, though they were magnificent enough as it was; and as soon as they appeared, the great beast was guided forward from where it stood in company with a dozen of the Rajah's mounted guard, who saluted the officers.

At a word from the mahout and a flourish of his ankus the elephant knelt, a ladder was placed by a couple of servants, and the two officers mounted. Two of the guard placed themselves in front as the elephant rose, and the rest formed up behind as they set off across the courtyard and through the gate, riding in state through the streets, with the people collecting on either side to see them pa.s.s.

"It's a much finer city than I expected to see, Darrell," said the captain. "Plenty of temples--a pretty good sign that the Brahmin priests have a strong hold over the people. Look; there are a couple coming along. Humph! Scowls for us instead of welcome salutes. That means something."

"Don't like the English," said d.i.c.k.

"Yes, that is evident. Look here, Darrell; I want you to keep your eyes and ears open while we are at the palace, so as to pick up all you can, and then we will compare notes afterwards. Look at that, too."

This remark was made as they pa.s.sed a crowd at the entrance to what appeared to be a temple. Up to this point, saving the two priests, every one they pa.s.sed had given them a smiling welcome, or gazed with eager curiosity at the new-comers; but now it was evident, from the scowling looks which greeted them, that the crowd was inimical.

"There's lesson the first, Darrell," said the captain.

"It means keeping our men well in barracks, in case of their getting into trouble."

Before they reached the Rajah's palace they had further evidence of the fact that they as strangers had as many enemies as friends in the place.

Then for the time all was forgotten in the warm welcome they received from their host, who gave them a dinner which was a strange combination of his own native style and English, but mingled with an evidently earnest desire to make the guests satisfied with their reception.

He spoke capital English, as had been before noticed, and in the course of conversation he said:

"I used to hate your people, and look upon them as enemies and intruders, till I awoke to the fact that in this world of change matters were altering--that our old superst.i.tions and follies must pa.s.s away before the spread of European civilisation. I am not going to criticise the acts of the great Company, but I look upon it all as fate, and I want my people to think as I do, throw aside the bad old past, and welcome the newer and better."

"And what do they say?" asked Hulton: while d.i.c.k listened with keen interest to all that was said, reading, as he did, that the young Rajah was a gentleman of high aspirations and keen intelligence.

"Unfortunately, I find I am making many enemies," the Rajah replied.