y impressed with what he had heard and, for some time, he
withdrew himself almost entirely from the sports of his friends,
hiding himself in the groves from their importunities, and thinking
over the strange position in which he was placed.

Soyera at last remonstrated with him.

"If I had thought you would take this matter to heart, Puntojee, I
should not have told you about it. I did so because I thought you
could scarcely be stained, much longer, without demanding the
reason for what must have seemed so strange a thing.

"I do not want you to withdraw yourself from your playmates, or to
cease from your games. Your doing so will, if it continues, excite
talk. Your friends will think that a spell has fallen upon you, and
will shun you. I want you to grow up such as your father
was--strong and brave, and skilful in arms--and to do this you must
be alert and active. It may well be that you should not join your
countrymen until you are able to play the part of a man, which will
not be for ten years yet; but you know that my cousin Sufder has
promised that, as soon as you are able to carry arms, he will
procure a post for you under Scindia.

"There you will learn much, and see something of the world whereas,
if you remain here, you would grow up like other cultivators, and
would make but a bad impression among your countrymen, when you
join them. Sufder himself has promised to teach you the use of arms
and, as all say he is very skilful, you could have no better
master.

"At any rate, I wish you to resume your former habits, to exercise
your body in every way, so that you may grow up so strong and
active that, when you join your countrymen, they will feel you are
well worthy of them. They think much of such things, and it is by
their love for exercise and sport that they so harden their frames
that, in battle, our bravest peoples cannot stand against them."

"But the Mahrattas are strong, mother?"

"Yes, they can stand great fatigues; living, as they do, so
constantly on horseback but, like all the people of India, they are
not fond of exercise, save when at war. That is the difference
between us and the English. These will get up at daybreak, go for
long rides, hunt the wild boar or the tigers in the jungles of the
Concan, or the bears among the Ghauts. Exercise to them is a
pleasure; and we in the service of the English have often wondered
at the way in which they willingly endure fatigues, when they might
pass