ght of the boatmen squatting on
deck before loosing their craft from its moorings.

"If we are to do what we wish to do, Hossain," said Desmond, "we shall
require a third man to help us. Shall we take Karim into our confidence?"

"That is as you please, sahib. He is a good man, and will, I think, be
faithful."

"Well, send the other fellow on shore; I shall speak to the man."

The serang gave the second of the two Bengalis who had formed his
original crew an errand on shore. Desmond beckoned up the new man.

"Are you willing to undertake a service of risk, for a big reward,
Karim?" he asked.

The man hesitated.

"It will be worth a hundred rupees to you."

Karim's eyes sparkled; a hundred rupees represented a fortune to a man of
his class; but he still hesitated.

"Am I to be alone?" he asked at length.

"No," said Desmond; "we shall be with you."

"Hai! If the sahib"--the word slipped out unawares--"is to be there it is
fixed. He is my father and mother: did he not save me from the river? I
would serve him without reward."

"That is very well. All the same the reward shall be yours--to be paid to
you if we succeed, to your family if we fail. For if we fail it will be
our last day: they will certainly shoot us. There is time to draw back."

"If the sahib is to be there I am not afraid."

"Good. You can go aft. We shall tell you later what is to be done. And
remember, on this boat I am no sahib. I am a khalasi from Gujarat."

"I shall remember--sahib."

Desmond told the serang that the help of the man was assured, and
discussed with him the enterprise upon which he was bent. He had given
his word to Clive that the blocking of the river should be prevented, and
though the task bade fair to be difficult he was resolved not to fail.
The vessels that were to be sunk in the fairway were moored opposite the
fort at a distance of about a ship's length from one another. The
subahdar was on the sloop farthest down the river, Hubbo on the next.
With the subahdar there were three men. The signal for the scuttling of
the vessels was to be the waving of a green flag by the subahdar; this
was to be repeated by Hubbo, then by the serang on the sloop above him,
and so on to the end. The vessels were in echelon, the one highest up the
river lying well over to the left bank and nearest to the fort, the rest
studding the fairway so that if they sank at their moorings it would be
impossible for a ship of any size t