ou find to do?" the younger boy asked.

"Oh, there is plenty to do," Dick said. "In the first place, there is
school. That takes the best part of the day. Then there are all sorts
of games. Then I used to take lessons in sword exercise, and did all
sorts of things to improve my muscles, and to make me strong. Then, on
holidays, three or four of us would go for a long walk, and sometimes
we went out on the river in a boat; and every morning, early, we used
to go for a swim. Oh, I can tell you, there was plenty to do, and I
was busy from morning till night. But I want very much to learn to
shoot, both with gun and pistol, as well as to ride."

"We have got English guns and pistols," Doast said. "We will lend them
to you. We have a place where we practise.

"Our father says everyone ought to be able to shoot--don't you,
Father?"

The Rajah nodded.

"Everyone out here ought to, Doast, because, you see, every man here
may be called upon to fight, and everyone carries arms. But it is
different in England. Nobody fights there, except those who go into
the army, and nobody carries weapons."

"What! Not swords, pistols, and daggers, Father?" Doast exclaimed, in
surprise; for to him it seemed that arms were as necessary a part of
attire as a turban, and much more necessary than shoes. "But, when
people are attacked by marauders, or two chiefs quarrel with each
other, what can they do if they have no arms?"

"There are no marauders, and no chiefs," Dick laughed. "In the old
times, hundreds of years ago, there were nobles who could call out all
their tenants and retainers to fight their battles, and in those days
people carried swords, as they do here. There are nobles still, but
they have no longer any power to call out anyone, and if they quarrel
they have to go before a court for the matter to be decided, just as
everyone else does."

This seemed, to Doast, a very unsatisfactory state of things, and he
looked to his father for an explanation.

"It is as your cousin says, Doast. You have been down with me to
Madras, and you have seen that, except the officers in the army, none
of the Europeans carry arms. It is the same in England. England is a
great island, and as they have many ships of war, no enemy can land
there. There is one king over the whole country, and there are written
laws by which everyone, high and low alike, are governed. So you see,
no one has to carry arms. All disputes are settled by the law, and
th