d, with the exception of a narrow piece of cloth passed
between the legs, and fastened before and behind to a string tied round
the waist. His hair was long and matted, its bulk increased by plaits
of other hair mixed with it. His body was smeared with the ashes of
cowdung, giving it a most unearthly hue; while his inflamed and bleared
eyes could scarcely be perceived amidst the mass of dirt which clung
around them. Anything less human could scarcely be imagined than the
appearance of the miserable being.

"What tidings do you bring from the city?" asked the rajah anxiously.

"Bad--very bad, O Refuge of the World," answered the mendicant. "Last
night, ere I passed through the gates, I saw your foes shouting forth
the name of Mukund Bhim, their new rajah. It was reported that you had
perished, and all your followers had been slain amid the mountains; and
no one I met discredited the tale. Thus your friends are disheartened;
but if you were to appear among them, to show that you are still alive,
they would regain their courage and fight bravely in your cause."

"But how to get among them, is the difficulty," observed the rajah.
"Tell me, byraghee, are the gates closed?"

"Not only closed, but strongly guarded," answered the mendicant. "It
would be vain to attempt to force them; your only way of entering will
be in disguise. I passed, encamped at a short distance from the gates,
a caravan of merchants with their camels, who had arrived too late to
find admittance last night. If your highness would condescend to
disguise yourself as one of them, they would consent to your entering
among them,--trusting to your generosity for the reward you would bestow
should you succeed."

The rajah, after considering the matter, agreed to the proposal of the
byraghee. He then invited Reginald to accompany him, while he begged
Burnett to take the command of the horsemen, and to remain concealed in
the wood in which they were drawn up till he could send word to them
that a favourable opportunity had arrived for making a dash into the
city. "The risk, I know, is great," he added; "but I am ready to hazard
my own life for the sake of recovering what I have lost."

"The commands of your highness shall be obeyed," said Burnett; "and may
you and my young friend be preserved in your undertaking! Unless
treachery is at work,--as no one will suspect that you are among the
merchants,--the hazard is not so great as it may appear."