prove himself as much as possible by seeing the world, he
walked across the Nepaul frontier into Upper India, and profitably
employed his time by turning his powers of observation to account,
thereby gaining considerable insight into the mode of government and
resources of our Indian possessions.

After a time his own resources became so greatly diminished that he was
obliged to return, trusting to his powers of acting the repentant
prodigal to avert the torrent of his father's wrath. The breach of
discipline which he had committed was as readily overlooked in Nepaul as
it would have been in other more civilised countries, when the offender
has good interest to back him; and promotion to the command of a company
was given him as the reward of his services while ensign. About this
period Jung Bahadoor received the intelligence of the advancement of his
uncle, Mahtabar Singh, to the office of prime minister. So fine a chance
for an adventurous spirit to push his fortune at court was not to be
lost, and once more bidding adieu to the dull out-station at which he was
posted, to the constraint of discipline and to the grumblings of the old
martinet, his father, he followed the example of many great men before
him, and betook himself to the capital, thinking it the only place in
which his talents could be appreciated. Here he possessed frequent
opportunities of displaying that aptitude for intrigue to which he mainly
owes his present position, coupled as it was with a daring that hesitated
not at the performance of any act which his keen perception and subtle
understanding pointed out as necessary for the advancement of his own
interests. Jung soon after accompanied a secret mission to Benares, to
meet one from the north-west, with the view of organising a war against
the British. The vigilance of our authorities, however, discovered the
existence of this conspiracy, and Jung, together with his compatriots,
was ignominiously taken back to his own frontier, and there liberated. On
his return to the capital he led much the same life as before, dabbling
not a little in politics; and the ambitious views which now began to
actuate him rendered him obnoxious to the young prince, then a mere boy
of eighteen, who, nevertheless, seemed to share with his father a portion
of the executive. Indeed it was difficult to say in whom the sovereign
authority rested; for the Ranee, or wife of the old King, had, with the
assistance of Mah