he room. During his absence Minghal inveighed
against the parsimony of the king, which kept his faithful servants in
such straits.

"Where is justice?" he cried. "Did he not command two days ago that
twelve rupees' worth of sweetmeats should be bestowed upon those seventy
sowars who came in from Alipur, with a tale--lies, by my beard!--that
they had slain a hundred Feringhis and pursued a host for three full
koss? And yesterday did he not give large gifts to the Gujars who stole
forty camels from the Feringhis' camp? He is lavish to them, and yet
will not part with a rupee to one who has journeyed in the heat of the
day and faced death a hundred times in conveying the Maulavi's chapatis
to the faithful!"

"The king has no treasury: how can he pay you?" said one of his friends.

"Bah! Has he not untold wealth in that palace of his? And are not the
queen's arms heavy with jewels? Verily he will not long be king when we
have smitten these accursed Feringhis."

"And when will that be, friend? The smiting was the other way this
morning."

"Hai! what is that? Do not our numbers grow day by day? What can the
Feringhis do? Can they scale these walls? Have we not a hundred guns and
more upon them? Within a little we shall issue forth like a swarm of
locusts and devour them. The work grows apace. This day a kasid came
with news that a regiment has risen at Jajjar; troops are coming to us
from Kotwal; the Feringhis have been smitten at Lahore. What can this
handful of white-faced dogs do against our great host?"

Further conversation was interrupted by the return of the khansaman
laden with dainties from the bazar.

"Wah! Did I not say that there is abundance of good things in Delhi? But
why, pig, hast thou not brought spirits? Wherewithal dost thou suppose
we will comfort our hearts?"

"Hazur, the bottles are empty."

"Dog, thou liest! All the Feringhis lay in a plentiful store of the
strong waters. Hast thou drunk them thyself, thou thief, and broke the
Prophet's command? Verily I will myself come and see if thou art telling
the truth."

"Hazur, I will look again," said the khansaman hastily, and with an
anxious air. "Maybe I have overlooked a bottle or two that still remain.
It is not meet that the noble hazur should have the great trouble of
searching himself."

He went away, and soon returned with a full bottle of brandy. Forbidden
though the drinking of intoxicating liquors was, many professed faithful
followe