"And in the darkness, too," said Archie, "just like this?"

"Like which, sir? Why, it ain't dark now!"

"Black darkness," said Archie.

The young private whistled softly and said nothing, but shook his head
and thought.

"But you know what place it is, don't you, Pete?"

"Well, I suppose it's part of one of the Rajah's roosts; but, as I tell
you, my head's felt so muddled, and just as if some of the works had
been knocked loose, that even now I don't seem to be able to tell
t'other from which. Well, I am getting it clearer now, and of course it
must be at Mr Prince Suleiman's. Why, to be sure it must; and if my
wheels inside had been going as they should, I should have thought it
out at once. It must be at the Rajah's place, because of the helephants
as you 'eerd now and then. They must have a sort of stable close by
here. And then--why, of course--I'm just as 'fused-like as you are,
sir--that French count chap came in to see us the other day, and talked
to me."

"He came here?" said Archie in his slow, dreamy way.

"Yes, sir; that he did."

"But I want to know," said Archie, "why we were attacked like this and I
was so hurt. There seems to have been no cause or reason for it."

"Well, I d'know, sir. I can't think much more than you can. Maybe we
shall see it clearly as we gets better; but it looks to me as if it's
his doing, out of spite, like, for our interfering with him when he came
that night and Joe Smithers arrested him and gave the alarm."

"Perhaps so," said Archie. "My head's going wrong again. I can't
think."

"Then you take my advice, sir: don't you try. Try and eat a bit, for
it's five days since you have had a bite, counting the night we was
took."

"Five days!" said Archie.

"That's right, sir. Think you could eat one of these fruits--I don't
know what you call them--melons like?"

"No," said Archie, with a shudder.

"Well, I don't wonder, sir. I couldn't at first. They brought in a lot
of bananas with the water, but I couldn't touch 'em at first. When that
Frenchman came, though, and saw that I hadn't eaten anything, he turned
rusty, and said I was trying to starve myself to death, and that it
wouldn't do, because I must remember that I was a horstrich now, and I
wasn't to play no tricks like that."

"Said you were an ostrich?"

"Yes, sir; that's right. I don't know why, and I thought perhaps I
hadn't heard him rightly, being so muddled-like. But I'm sure now
t