on such
easy terms from any bank in India or England, and if I have been
merciful hitherto, I will be so no longer. What saith the Apostle of
Allah? 'Verily, life for life, and eye for eye, and nose for nose, and
ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and for wounding retaliation.' And the
time of your promise is expired and you shall pay me. And is not the
wise Frank, who sitteth at my right hand, the ready writer, who giveth
to the public every day a new book to read, the paper of news,
_Khabar-i-Khagaz_ wherein are written the misdeeds of the wicked, and
the dealings of the fraudulent and the unwary receive their just reward?
And think you he will not make a great writing, several columns in
length, and deliver it to the devils that perform his bidding, and shall
they not multiply what he hath written, and sow it broadcast over the
British Raj for the minor consideration of one anna a copy, that all
shall see how the Maharajah of Baithopoor doth scandalously repudiate
his debts, and harbour traitors to the Raj in his palace?"

Isaacs said all this in a solemn and impressive manner, calculated to
inspire awe and terror in the soul of the unhappy debtor. As for the
maharajah, the cold sweat stood on his face, and at the last words his
anxiety was so great that the long fingers uncurled spasmodically and
the jewelled mouthpiece fell back, as the head of a snake, among the
silken coils of the tube at his feet. Instantly, on feeling the grasping
hand empty, his majesty, with more alacrity than I would have expected,
darted forward with outstretched claws, as a hawk on his prey, and
seizing the glittering thing returned it to his lips with a look of
evident relief. It was habit, of course, for we were not exactly the men
to plunder him of his toy, but there was a fierceness about the whole
action that spoke of the real miser. Then there was silence for a
moment. The old man was evidently greatly impressed by the perils of his
situation. Isaacs continued.

"Your majesty well perceives that you have surrounded yourself with
dangers on all sides. No danger threatens me. I could buy you and
Baithopoor to-morrow if I chose. But I am a just man. When the prophet,
whose name be blessed, saith that we shall have eye for eye, and nose
for nose, and for wounding retaliation, he saith also that 'he that
remitteth the same as alms it shall be an atonement unto him.' Now your
majesty is a hard man, and I well know that if I force you to p