unded by a compound and a low wall.

"We were talking yesterday about spies," said Merriman. "In that house
lives a man who in my belief is a spy, and a treacherous
scoundrel--actually living next door to Mr. Lyre, the keeper of our
military stores. He's a Sikh named Omichand, and the richest merchant in
the city. He owns half of it; he's my landlord, confound him! For forty
years he was the contractor for supplying the Company with cloth, but we
found out that he was cheating us right and left, and dismissed him. Yet
he's very friendly to us, which is a bad sign. 'Twas he who brought
Krishna Das with his treasure into the place, and my belief is, he did it
merely to embroil us with the Subah. Mr. Drake is disposed to pooh-pooh
the idea, but I incline to Mr. Holwell's opinion, that Omichand's a
schemer and a villain, ready to betray us to French, Dutch, or Gentoos as
it suits him."

"Why don't you turn him out, then?" asked Desmond.

"My dear boy, he's far too powerful. And we'd rather keep him in sight.
While he's here we can tell something of what is going on; his house is
pretty well watched; but if he were away he might try all manner of
tricks and we should never learn anything about them. Our policy is to be
very sweet to him--to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, as
Mr. Bellamy, our padre, puts it. You're bound to see him one of these
days, the hoary-headed old villain."

Though Mr. Merriman fully relied on Mr. Watts' discretion to send his
visitors back to Calcutta if there were the least sign of danger, he was
so anxious to have his wife and daughter with him that next day he sent a
special messenger up the river asking them to return as soon as they
could. He could not fetch them, public affairs not allowing him to leave
Calcutta at once, but he promised to meet them somewhere on the way.

He spent the day in making himself acquainted with the business that had
been done during his absence. A valuable consignment of silks, muslins,
and taffeties was expected from Cossimbazar, he learned, and as soon as
it arrived the Hormuzzeer would be able to sail for Penang.

"A private venture," he said to Desmond, "nothing to do with the
Company."

Desmond expressed his surprise that the Company's officials were at
liberty to engage in private trading.

"Why, bless you, how could we live otherwise? Do you imagine I got rich
on the Company? What do you suppose my salary is as member of Cou