eans
to corrupt one of the eunuchs who is a friend of mine, and anxious to
stand well with the English. For I must tell you, Athelstane, that all
is not working smoothly in the government here. Surajah Dowlah, by his
arrogance and violence, has made many enemies, among whom are his own
uncle, Meer Jaffier, and Roy Dullub, the most important of the
Gentoos. These men have a just apprehension of the vengeance which the
English may take for the late invasion of their settlements, and
moreover they stand in dread of the young Nabob's reckless temper,
sometimes bordering on insanity. So that we have more friends than we
know of in the Court. This eunuch, then, as I was going to say, has
agreed to introduce me into the garden to-night, in about an hour's
time through a small postern in the wall of which he has the key. He
is going to conduct me to the summer-house where Marian is. There it
may be necessary to use force to overpower the eunuchs in charge of
the place, but if we succeed in doing that, as I think there is little
doubt we shall, we have nothing to do but to carry her off and retire
by the way we came. I have provided a safe retreat afterwards to the
coast."

I fell in heartily with this scheme, which seemed to present a
tolerable chance of success. Rupert went on to explain to me the means
by which he hoped that we might afterwards be able to pass through the
country without being stopped. He proposed that we should give it out
that we were a party of Mahometan pilgrims bound for the mouth of the
river, to take ship for Mecca; and he told me he had three horses
already hired, with a driver, waiting for us in a certain place. In
order that this scheme might be carried through it was necessary that
I should be disguised to pass for a Moor, like himself. He now
produced from his bosom a brown pigment, such as he had already used
with good enough success on his own complexion, and carefully stained
the skin of my face, also my feet and hands.

"Remember, above all," he said, while he was thus engaged, "if you
would be taken for a Mahometan, never to wash your hands without
washing your feet at the same time, for this custom is inveterate with
them, and is, I think, the principal point of difference between the
two religions."

When he had finished, I asked--

"And now what shall I do for a suitable dress?"

For I was still clad in the garments of rough canvas which the Moors
had given to us on the morning afte