omily. "There is
everything in them to make good soldiers, and they are willing to learn,
but there is no one to drill them properly, and make them smart and
quick like the whites."

We were getting on to dangerous ground, and he felt it too, and as if
not to break his word about treating me as a friend, he changed his
position directly, and began to ask my opinion about certain manoeuvres
made by foot regiments, and whether I did not think them a great
mistake.

From that we drifted into the manufacture of powder, and the casting of
shot and shell.

"I mean to have all that done by my people," he said--"in time.
By-and-by I shall cast my own cannon. No, no," he cried merrily; "we
must not talk about guns."

"No; please don't," I said.

"I'll keep my word, Gil," he cried; and as he spoke he looked one of the
most noble gentlemen I ever saw. "Oh yes, I'll keep my word to you,
Gil; but we can talk about soldiering, even if you are not in my
service."

And he went on talking upon that subject with all the keen interest of a
man who was a soldier at heart, and who meant to gather round him an
army which he meant to be invincible.

I am sorry to say that I was very ignorant of the history of India; but
still I had read and studied it a great deal, and I felt that Ny Deen
was of the same type of men as the old warriors who rose from time to
time, petty chiefs at first, but who by their indomitable energy
conquered all around, and grew into men whose names were known in
history, and would never die.

"I tire you," he said at last, after talking eagerly for some time about
raising a regiment of light horse--all picked men, with the swiftest and
best Arab troopers that could be obtained. "Mount them for speed," he
said, "and to harass the advance of an enemy, and keep him engaged when
he is in retreat. Such men, if I can get them drilled and trained to
the perfection I want, will be invaluable. You see, I have plenty of
schemes," he added, with a laugh. "All ambition, I suppose. No, not
all," he continued, earnestly; "for I want my nation to be great, and my
people prosperous and well governed. It is not from the greed of
conquest, Gil, nor the love of blood. I hope it is something better;
but this rising of the peoples of Hindustan is my opportunity. Once the
English are driven out of the country, the rest will be easy."

"Then the English are not driven out?" I said sharply.

"Not quite, boy; but they