y. "I think you are right, and
that we are destined to find your father. There is no hurry. We have
not been anything like so long a time as we expected to be, and
Fortune has, as you say, befriended us wonderfully. We are well off
here. We have positions of honour. For myself, I could wish for
nothing better."

"Well, at any rate we will wait for a time," Dick said. "We may be
sent to Savandroog again, and if so, I will not leave the place until
I find out from the governor whether he has still a prisoner; and if
so, manage to obtain a sight of him."

The next day, Dick was informed by the chamberlain that the officer
who was in charge of the wild beasts had fallen into disgrace, and
that the sultan had appointed him to the charge. Dick was well
pleased, in some respects. The work would suit him much better than
examining stores, and seeing that the servants of the Palace did their
duty; but, on the other hand, it lessened his chance of being sent to
Savandroog again. However, there was no choice in the matter, and
Surajah cheered him by saying:

"You must not mind, Dick. Has not everything turned out for the best?
And you may be sure that this will turn out so, also."

It was, indeed, but two days later that Dick congratulated himself
upon the change, for Surajah was sent by Tippoo with an order for the
execution of four English prisoners. Dick knew nothing of the matter
until Surajah, on his return, told him that he had been obliged to
stop and see the orders carried out, by poison being forced down the
unfortunate officers' throats.

"It was horrible," he said, with tears in his eyes.

"Horrible!" Dick repeated. "Thank God I have been put to other work,
for I feel that I could not have done it. And yet, to have refused to
carry out the tyrant's orders would have meant death to us both, while
it would not have saved the lives of these poor fellows. Anyhow, I
would not have done it. As soon as I had received the order I would
have come to you, and we would have mounted and ridden off together,
and taken our chance."

"Let us talk of something else," Surajah said. "Are the beasts all in
good health?"

"As well as they can be, when they are fed so badly, and so miserably
cooped up. I made a great row this morning, and have kept the men at
work all day in cleaning out the places. They were all in a horrible
state, and before I could get the work done, I had to threaten to
report the whole of them to Tippoo, an