ems in India. He shall say
what he will give for them, and you shall pay me five percent
commission. He is an honest trader; you can ask any of the officers
from Madras."

"I will accept that offer, if you will make me an advance of
fifteen hundred rupees upon them; and will pay you, at the rate of
ten percent per annum, interest till you receive the money for
them."

The Parsee again took the gems, and examined them carefully.

"Do you agree to take the jeweller's offer, whatever it is?"

"Yes; that is to say, if it is over the five thousand. If it is
under the five thousand, I will sell them to you at that sum."

"I agree to that," the man said. "But do not fear; if the two
largest stones are without a flaw, they alone are worth five
thousand."

"Let us draw up the agreement, at once," Stanley said.

And, accordingly, the terms were drawn up, in Hindustani, and were
signed by both parties. The Parsee then went to a safe, unlocked
it, and counted out the rupees, to the value of 150 pounds. These
he placed in a bag, and handed them to Stanley who, delighted at
the sum that he had obtained for but a small portion of the gems,
went to the quartermaster general's office.

"We have just finished your business," Colonel Adair said, as he
entered. "Major Moultrie, the paymaster, Colonel Watt, and myself
have examined the horses. I know that Hitchcock paid sixty pounds
apiece for them, at Calcutta. They are both Arabs, and good ones,
and were not dear at the money. Our opinion is that, if they were
put up to auction here, they would fetch 40 pounds apiece; and that
the saddle and bridle, holsters, and accoutrements would fetch
another 20 pounds. There are also a pair of well-finished pistols
in the holsters. They were overlooked, or they would have been put
up in the sale yesterday. They value them at 8 pounds the brace; in
all, 108 pounds.

"Will that suit you? The major will, as I proposed, stop the money
from your pay as a first-class interpreter--that is, two hundred
and fifty rupees a month--so that, in four months and a half, you
will have cleared it off."

"I am very much obliged to you, Colonel; but I have just received
an advance of fifteen hundred rupees, on some of my gems which the
Parsee is going to send to a jeweller, of the name of Burragee, at
Madras."

"I congratulate you, for I hardly hoped that they would turn out to
be worth so much. Burragee is a first-rate man, and you can rely
upon getti