as if I were your master. While we are on this
journey together, consider me as a sort of big brother. When we get
down the ghauts I shall hand you over to the care of my mother, who is
living at present at Tripataly with her brother, the Rajah.

"Now sit down again, and let us make our arrangements. When we have
done that we can talk, if there is time. Now, how am I to let you know
if I have to go away suddenly? Do you always get out at this time of a
morning?"

"Not always, but very often. I always go down at twelve o'clock, with
some of the other slave girls, to fetch the food and sweetmeats for
the ladies of the harem."

"Well, you must always manage, even if you are not sent out, to look
out through that doorway where you met me, at eight o'clock in the
morning. If we have anything particular to say to you, Surajah--that
is my friend, you know--will be there. Which way do you go out from
the harem to fetch the food?"

"Not from that door, but from the one nearest to the kitchen. You go
right down that corridor, and then take the first turning to the
right. There is a flight of stairs at its end. We come out at the door
just at its head. At the foot of the stairs there is a long passage,
and at the end of that is a large room, with tables, on which the
dishes are placed in readiness for us to bring back."

"Well, if it is necessary to speak to you at once, one of us will meet
you in the passage between the bottom of the stairs and the room where
the food is. If you see one of us, you will know that the matter is
urgent, and as soon as you can possibly slip away, you must come here.
In the evening you had better again look out from the door where you
first met me.

"Now, as to the disguise, it will be better for you to go as a boy. It
would be strange to see a girl riding behind two of the officers of
the Palace. You won't mind that, will you?"

"Not at all, Sahib."

"Not at all, Dick," he corrected. "Well, I will have a dress ready for
you here. You will find it in that corner, and there will be a bottle
of stain on the table. It will be only necessary for you to colour
your neck, hands, and feet, but you must cut off your hair, behind, to
a level with your ears, so that none of it will show below the turban.
You must do that, of course, before you stain your neck, and must
stain the skin where you have cut off your hair, also. I am giving you
these instructions now, because when the time comes there may n