fficulty.

"Look at our power! At Delhi the emperor is a puppet in our hands,
and it is the same in all the districts on the plain of the great
river. The Rajpoots fear us, and even the Pindaries would not dare
carry their raids into our country. That a small body of merchants
and soldiers should threaten us seems, to me, altogether absurd."

"Well, brother, we will not argue about it. Time will show. As a
woman of the Mahrattas, I trust that day will never come; but as
one who knows the English, I have my fears. Of one thing I am sure,
that were they masters here, the cultivators would be vastly better
off than they are at present."

Ramdass laughed.

"What do you think of my sister's opinions, Anundee?"

"I do not know what to think," the young woman said; "but Soyera
has seen much, and is a wise woman, and what she says are no idle
words. To us it seems impossible, when we know that the Mahrattas
can place a hundred thousand horsemen in the field; but I own that,
from what we know of the English, it might be better for people
like us to have such masters."

"And now, Soyera," Ramdass said, when he returned from his work in
the evening, "tell us more about yourself. First, how did you learn
where I was living?"

"I learned it from the wife of our cousin Sufder."

"How did you fall in with him?"

"Well, I must tell you something. I had meant to keep it entirely
to myself, but I know that you and Anundee will keep my secret."

"Assuredly we will. I am not a man to talk of other people's
affairs and, as to Anundee, you can trust her with your life."

"Well, in the first place, I deceived you; or rather you deceived
yourself, when you said, 'I see that you have been married;' but
the children were here, and so I could not explain. The infant is
not mine. It is the son of my dear master and mistress, both of
whom were killed, three days ago, by bands--of which Sufder
commanded one--who attacked them suddenly, by night."

"What! Is the child white?" Ramdass asked, in a tone of alarm.

"It is not white, because I have stained the skin; but it is the
child of English parents. I will tell you how it happened."

And she related the instances of the attack upon the little camp,
the death of her master and mistress, another white officer, and
all their escort; told how she had hidden the child under the cover
of the tent, how Sufder had saved her life, and her subsequent
conversation with him regarding the child