t could only be temporary,
as my own position is so uncertain and, in any case, my life cannot
now be a long one.

"I should propose that your salary, as my private agent, be a
thousand rupees a month."

"I thank you much, sir; and if I stay at Bombay, and obtain the
permission of the Council to correspond with you, I will readily
undertake the part. They can have little objection to the
arrangement, as doubtless you have agents in Bombay, already."

"Certainly I have, but these are natives, and necessarily can only
send me the rumours current in the bazaars, or known generally to
the public; and their news is, for the most part, worthless."

"I have another favour to request," Harry said; "namely, that you
will give leave of absence to Sufder, in order that he may
accompany me to Bombay. He and my old nurse could, alone,
substantiate my birth and identity; and it would be necessary for
them to give their evidence before some legal authority."

"That I will readily do. Sufder is honest and faithful, and I can
rely upon him, absolutely, for anything in his sphere of duty; and
have, only today, appointed him to the command of two hundred men;
but although he has a hand ready to strike, he has no brain capable
of planning. Had it not been so, I should before this have raised
him to a higher position. When he returns from Bombay, I will grant
him the revenues of a village, of which he shall be the patal [a
mayor]; so that, in his old age, he will be able to live in
comfort."

On leaving the minister, Harry went to Sufder's camp.

"'So you are back again, Puntojee?"

"Yes, and have brought Soyera down with me."

"I have great news to tell you," the soldier went on.

"It will not be news to me, Sufder. I know that your command has
been doubled, and that you will now be the captain of two hundred
men; but I can tell you much more than that. You are to accompany
me down to Bombay, the day after tomorrow, so as to give evidence
about my birth; and furthermore, Nana will, on your return, bestow
upon you the jagheer [revenue] of a village district; so that, as
he says, when you grow too old for service, you will be able to
live comfortably."

"That is good news indeed--better even than that I am to have the
command of two hundred men, for in truth I am beginning to be weary
of service. I am now nearly fifty, and I feel myself growing stiff.
Nothing would please me more than to be the patal of a village
community, o