he paper, sahib?"

"Yes, I will sign the paper. But--"

"But what, sahib?"

"I'm not quite certain that I'm doing right."

"Brigadier-sahib, when the hour comes--and that is soon--it will be time
to answer that! There lie the papers."

CHAPTER XIII

Even in darkness lime and sand
Will blend to make up mortar.
Two by two would equal four
Under a bucket of water.

NOW it may seem unimaginable that two Europeans could be cooped in
Howrah, not under physical restraint, and yet not able to communicate
with any one who could render them assistance. It was the case, though,
and not by any means an isolated case. The policy of the British
Government, once established in India, was and always has been not to
occupy an inch of extra territory until compelled by circumstances.

The native states, then, while forbidden to contract alliances with
one another or the world outside, and obliged by the letter of written
treaties to observe certain fundamental laws imposed on them by the
Anglo-Indian Government, were left at liberty to govern themselves. And
it was largely the fact that they could and did keep secret what was
going on within their borders that enabled the so-called Sepoy Rebellion
to get such a smouldering foothold before it burst into a blaze. The
sepoys were the tools of the men behind the movement; and the men behind
were priests and others who were feeling nothing but their own ambition.

No man knows even now how long the fire rebellion had been burning
underground before showed through the surface; but it is quite obvious
that, in spite of the heroism shown by British and loyal native alike
when the crash did come, the rebels must have won--and have won easily
sheer weight of numbers--had they only used the amazing system solely
for the broad, comprehensive purpose for which it was devised.

But the sense of power that its ramifications and extent gave birth to
also whetted the desires individuals. Each man of any influence at all
began to scheme to use the system for the furtherance of his individual
ambition. Instead of bending all their energy and craft to the one
great object of hurling an unloved conqueror back whence he came, each
reigning prince strove to scheme himself head and shoulders above the
rest; and each man who wanted to be prince began to plot harder than
ever to be one.

So in Howrah the Maharajah's brother, Jaimihr, with a large following
an