ared. You must tell me your
story. Come up to Mr. Bowman's house on the Green tonight; I am staying
there."

"I shall be most glad to return to my desk in Calcutta, your Honor," said
the Babu. "But I do not like the sea. It has no sympathy with me. I think
of accomplishing the journey by land."

"Good heavens, man! it would take you a year at the least, if you weren't
swallowed by a tiger or strangled by a Thug on the way. You'll have to go
by water, as you came."

The Babu's face fell.

"That is the fly in the ointment, your Honor. But I will chew majum and
bestow myself in the cabin; thus perhaps I may avoid squeamishness. By
the kindness of Burke Sahib I have a modicum of money, now a small
capital; and I hope, with your Honor's permission, to do trifling trade
for myself."

"Certainly," said Merriman with a laugh. "You'll be a rich man yet,
Surendra Nath. Well, don't forget; you'll find me at Mr. Bowman's on the
Green at eight o'clock."

Chapter 18: In which Angria is astonished; and our hero begins to pay off
old scores.

Time sped quickly. Desmond made the best use of his opportunities of
learning navigation under Captain King and the harbor master, and before
two months had expired was pronounced fit to act as mate on the finest
East Indiaman afloat. He took this with a grain of salt. The fact was
that his adventures, the modesty with which he deprecated all allusions
to his part in the escape from Gheria, and the industry with which he
worked, won him the goodwill of all; he was a general favorite with the
little European community of Bombay.

Apart from his study, he found plenty to interest him in his spare
moments. The strange mixture of people, the temples and pagodas, the
towers of silence on which the Parsees exposed their dead, the burning
pyres of the Hindus on the beach, the gaunt filthy fakirs {religious
mendicant (Mohammedan)} and jogis who whined and told fortunes in the
streets for alms, the exercising of the troops, the refitting and
careening of Admiral Watson's ships--all this provided endless matter for
curiosity and amusement.

One thing disappointed him. Not once during the two months did he come in
contact with Clive. Mr. Merriman remained in Bombay, awaiting the arrival
of a vessel of his from Muscat; but Desmond was loath to ask him whether
he had sounded Clive about a cadetship. As a matter of fact Mr. Merriman
had mentioned the matter at once.

"Patience, Merriman