india's character is wholly unformed and,
though today he may be guided by Balloba, tomorrow he may lean on
someone else.

"You can go in any guise you think fit, either as a trooper or as a
camp follower. In either case, you had better take Sufder and
twenty men with you; and leave them in concealment within a few
miles of the camp so that, in case of necessity, you can join them;
and his men can act as messengers, and bring your reports to me."

As it was now a year since Harry had first gone to Poona, and he
had during that time worked diligently, he could now both read and
write the Mahratta language, and was thus able to send in written
reports; instead of being obliged to rely upon oral messages, which
might be misdelivered by those who carried them, or possibly
reported to others instead of to the minister; whereas reading and
writing were known to but few of the Mahrattas, outside the Brahmin
class.

Sufder expressed himself much pleased, when he heard that he was to
accompany Harry.

"I am sick of this life of inactivity," he said. "Why, we have had
no fighting for the past five years; and we shall forget how to use
our arms, unless there is something doing. I would willingly
accompany you into Scindia's camp, but I am far too well known
there to hope to escape observation. However, I will pick out
twenty of my best men so that, if there should be a skirmish, we
shall be able to hold our own. Of course, I shall choose men who
have good horses, for we may have to ride for it."

Harry himself was very well mounted, for Mahdoo Rao had given him
two excellent horses; and as he had, when out with Sufder's troop,
tried them against the best of those of the sowars, he felt sure
that he could trust to them, in case of having to ride for his
life. The trooper who looked after them had become much attached to
him, and he determined to take him with him into Scindia's camp,
one of Sufder's other men looking after the horses.

After a consultation with Sufder, he decided on adopting the
costume of a petty trader or pedlar carrying garments, scarfs, and
other articles used by soldiers. Of these he laid in a store and,
three hours after his interview with Nana, started with his escort;
the trooper leading his spare horse, on which his packs were
fastened, and his own man riding a country pony. The distance to
Scindia's camp was under a hundred miles, and they took three days
in accomplishing it. It was important tha