“What have you got there, Doctor Robson?” said Dick one morning about a month later, when the troubles of the past seemed to have given way to perfect peace, the defeat of the revolutionary party on the morning after the poisoning having resulted in the flight of most of the leaders, and the settling down of the people to the Rajah’s wishes.

For during his illness, when he had more than once been at the point of death, the English troops had remained in the new palace; and, in spite of their seeming to be so much out of place there, a detachment of the horse artillery-men had their quarters in and held the huge temple, to the disgust of the chief Brahmin and his large following of priests.

Then, as under the constant care of the army doctor the Rajah began to mend, he expressed his wish that those who had saved his little kingdom for him should remain, with the result that, while the old palace was retained for the stabling and stores, the main portion of the troop, with the guns, occupied one side of the palace in conjunction with the Rajah’s bodyguard, of which they now seemed to form a portion; while, to the great annoyance of the native doctors, the army surgeon completely took their place.

As the Rajah recovered his strength the time passed pleasantly enough for the English officers, for he proved to be a most grateful host, contriving plenty of expeditions for them to the mountain slopes north of Soojeepur, in a wild district swarming with game, his elephants being always at their service, with ample trains of servants and shikarees familiar with the lairs of tiger and wild boar.

At first there was a good deal of hesitation on the part of Hulton and Wyatt to engage in these pursuits, but everything had settled down so thoroughly, and peace seemed to be so well assured, that the officers of the tiny army of occupation felt themselves justified in taking a little relaxation; and many exciting hunts were the result, in all of which the Rajah and Hulton to some extent took part.

Despatches came from headquarters in answer to Wyatt’s reports, and the orders received were always to the effect that the troop was to remain in occupation at Soojeepur for the present, certainly till it could be proved for certain that there was no fear of the Rajah of Singh making any further attacks upon the country.

The Rajah laughed when Hulton read portions of his despatches, and turning to Dick, who was present, said merrily:

“You may give up all hope of going south again, for you will have to stay.”

“How long?” asked Dick.

“Who can say?” replied the Rajah. “Judge for yourselves. The two regiments of cavalry are a magnificent addition to my troops, and will be of more value yet when I have arranged for British officers to lead them, but even they will excite no dread amongst Singh’s people—they are only natives like ourselves. Your troop is of more value to me than five thousand such men, and I know as well as can be that your leaving Soojeepur would be the signal for Singh to collect together a strong force and invade my territories. You are here, and here you will have to stay.”

This was unanswerable, and, truth to tell, both officers and men were quite contented with their quarters, for the attention they all received now was everything that could be desired.

On the morning that the question which begins this chapter was asked by Dick after breakfast in the beautiful mess-room in the palace, the doctor had taken from his pocket a couple of magnificent rings, the one a perfect pearl of large size, the other a magnificent emerald.

“What have you there?” Dick asked.

“Fees, Darrell,” replied the doctor, handing him the two rings. “Pass them round. The emerald is from the Rajah, and the Ranee gave me the pearl, with a mothers thanks. Sounds quite pretty and English, doesn’t it?”

The officers exchanged glances.

“As for the Rajah,” continued the doctor, “he sent for me last night and asked me to make up my mind to stay with him always as his mother’s and his special attendant.”

“Terms?” said Wyatt bluntly.

“Whatever I liked to ask,” replied the doctor.

“Going to close with the offer?” said Wyatt.

“No; don’t,” replied Hulton. “For one thing, Doctor, we can’t spare you, and some day or other we shall have to go. For another, you will never feel safe. The more I see of these people, the more I feel that it is like living on the slope of a volcano. Everything is very beautiful, but at any moment the eruption may come, and with it death and destruction.”

“Hear the words of the wise man, Robson, my son,” said Wyatt in a stilted, ponderous, mock-tragic way. “Some day, in spite of the Rajah’s wishes, we shall be recalled, and then what am I to do with you left behind, or Dick Darrell here when he has been overeating himself, or made himself ill with one or another of his boyish follies?”

“My boyish follies, indeed!” cried Dick hotly.

“Yes,” said Wyatt.—“Look here, Physic; Hulton is right. Everything is going on delightfully smoothly now. The queen worships us; the Wazir always seems as if he wanted to lick our boots; and as for the old Brahmin, I’m sure he oils his tongue as well as the rest of his body, so as to be smoother and smoother, but it is only because he is scheming to get rid of the men of the temple guard.”

“And he will not,” said Hulton, “for the Rajah is firmer about our holding everything than ever.”

“They’re a shifty, treacherous lot, doctor,” continued Wyatt. “Hulton is quite right, and I’m always looking—metaphorically, of course—at the edge and point of my sword and the primings of my pistols. Some day or other the Ranee will go into a tantrum, and we shall be having a wholesale poisoning, or something worse.”

“Shame!” cried Dick indignantly. “It is an insult to a noble lady. Every one must exonerate her from that piece of treachery.”

“Well done, Pepper-castor!” said Wyatt, laughing. “Hark at the chivalrous young paladin.”

“I should be ashamed to harbour such thoughts,” said Dick indignantly.

“Good boy!” said Wyatt. “But you are no judge. The pet of the Rajah and special favourite of the Ranee is one-sided in his ideas.”

“Don’t shout, Wyatt,” said Hulton. “Walls have ears, they say.”

“All right; I take the hint,” replied Wyatt.

“It would have been better if you had never spoken as you did, Wyatt,” said Dick. “Her highness has always been most kind to you.”

“Yes, my son, she has; but it has always seemed to me like the affection of a tigress. I keep on my guard for the moment when she may bite or scratch.”

“As she has just bitten and scratched the doctor,” said Dick bitterly; “and me,” he added, as he took out a beautiful diamond locket he wore hanging by a chain.

“That’s all right, Dicky,” said Wyatt; “but that poisoning business was never cleared up.”

“It was not her doing,” said Dick hotly.

“She never meant to poison her son, of course.”

“She never had hand in it,” cried Dick fiercely.

“Don’t boil over, Darrell,” said Hulton. “She may have been innocent, but it was done by her party—we cannot say by whom; and she has not only remained friends with the Wazir and the old Brahmin, but prevailed upon her son to let things slide.”

“She asked the Rajah to give a general what-you-may-call-it to everybody after the fight, and there has been peace and contentment ever since,” said Dick.

“That’s very nicely spoken, oh, brave and gallant young rider of the fiery Burnouse!” said Wyatt, “Oh, noble sticker of the unclean pig, and true-eyed slayer of the sleek and striped tail-lashing slinker of the reedy nullah!”

“I wish you were only of my age and rank, Wyatt,” said Dick in a low voice.

“Why, my son?”

“Because if you were I’d punch your head.”

“And so you should, brave boy; but, as I was saying, all that was beautifully spoken about the Rajah and the peace. What I object to is that a young brave seated at our council-table should mar a magnificent speech by bungling as he did for want of a proper flow of words.”

“Who did?” cried Dick.

“You did, my son. I appeal to the company assembled.”

“What do you mean?” cried Dick wonderingly.

“You said the Ranee asked her son to give a general what-you-may-call-it to everybody after the fight.”

“Of course I did,” cried Dick. “What of that?”

“A general what-you-may-call-it!” said Wyatt mockingly. “A pretty expression for the Rajah’s favourite to use when he means an amnesty!”

“Pooh!” cried Dick; “I can’t talk fine. You’re in one of your teasing fits.—He wants some antacid medicine, Doctor.”

“I’ll give him a dose that will suit his complaint,” said the doctor, nodding; and clapping his hands, a servant appeared.

“The Sahib Wyatt’s hookah,” he said, and the man went off without a sound.

“What a wonderful gift the doctor has!” said Wyatt, smiling. “That is exactly what I wanted to make me as amiable as ever. Dick, my son, forgive me if I have been too hard.”

“Oh, I know you by heart,” said Dick: “but it hurts me to hear the Ranee abused.”

“Then we will not hurt you, my son,” said Wyatt. “Ah, here is the hubble-bubble; now I shall be at rest.”

The next minute he was leaning back placidly smoking invisible vapour through the long, snake-like tube, and as the attendant disappeared, he watched the doctor putting back the rings he had handed round for inspection.

“No, Doctor,” he said; “you must not be coaxed away. I agree with Hulton; the Rajah’s offer is tempting, and the Ranee is grateful, but we are aliens, and the people here are not to be trusted. The time might come when things went wrong, and I for one should feel troubled to think that we had left here a good, true man surrounded by enemies.”

“But he surrounds himself with friends,” said Dick.

“Tries to,” said Hulton gravely; “but to hundreds nothing can balance the fact that he is an Englishman and an infidel. Then, too, he is a doctor, whose ideas are in direct opposition to those of the native medical men.”

“Let me bring the debate to a close,” said the doctor quietly. “I am very comfortable here, and thoroughly enjoy my present life, and so long as matters go smoothly I should be sorry to give it up.”

“Sybarite!” said Wyatt.

“Oh, no; I’m ready for any amount of work, my dear sir. I don’t want my brain nor my instruments to get rusty, but—no flattery intended—my happiness here depends on the presence of my friends. No. I am not going to be tempted away on any terms, and I have told the Rajah so.”

“Bravo!” cried Wyatt.

“Then the Rajah will never let us go,” said Hulton.

“Very well,” said Wyatt, “I accept my fate. I only say, don’t let us all be too trusting.—I’m speaking seriously now, Darrell, my dear boy. Things have happened very pleasantly for you, and the Rajah is a very good fellow, and means to be a faithful friend.”

“What more could I want?” said Dick warmly.

“Nothing, my dear boy; I only say, don’t trust too much. He means well, but he is not of our race, and he is still surrounded by people who wear a mask. He is very English now in all his ideas, but you know the old saying, ‘Constant dropping will wear a stone.’”