on of God. The official
retired. In a few minutes there entered the hall a stately figure with
flowing white beard and red turban. He made obeisance to the king,
handed him a nassar of a hundred rupees, and declared in a strong,
resonant voice that he was ready to fight the English, he and his three
hundred men.

There was a group of officers at the end of the hall from which entrance
was had to the Akab baths. They were so much preoccupied with a matter
they were discussing, that the proceedings in the centre of the hall had
for some time escaped their notice. Now, however, at the sound of that
ringing voice, one of them, Minghal Khan, started, and immediately
afterwards changed his position in such a way that he was partially
hidden by one of the columns supporting the arcade. And there he
remained until the rising of the king signified that the audience was at
an end. Then he made towards the door among the throng, keeping close to
the wall, and moving in the manner of one who avoids observation.

But the crowd was thick, and its departure slow, so that when the chief,
whom his men had named Asadullah, left the side of the king--who had
kept him in talk, having apparently taken a fancy to him--it chanced
that as his eyes ranged round the hall, they fell upon the face of
Minghal Khan, who at that very moment had turned a little aside to look
at the new-comer. Their glances crossed; a light flashed in the eyes of
each; and Asadullah, whom Minghal had known as Rahmut Khan, took a step
forward as though to hasten after his enemy. But he checked himself. The
king's palace was no place for the settlement of a personal quarrel: no
doubt there would be opportunities. Each of the chiefs knew, as he
caught the look in the other's eyes, that the fact that they were
engaged in a common cause would not weigh for a moment if they came
within reach of one another. The many discordant elements in Delhi were
held together for the time by their common hatred of the English; if
that bond were relaxed, they would fly apart with shattering force.

Minghal Khan got out of the palace before Rahmut Khan, and hastened
immediately to his house. He then dispatched his khitmutgar to bid the
attendance of one of the jamadars of his regiment.

"Salaam, Azim Ali," he said in response to the officer's greeting. "I
have but now returned from the palace. The old king grows more feeble,
and his authority less and less. There was much talk among us