rming and
pitiful to behold.

"Do you know in whose presence you stand, infidel?" he shrieked. "Do
you know that I am lord and Subhadar of Bengal, of Behar, and Orissa;
and that I have a million men who would die at my bidding? I will have
you torn piecemeal, I will have your eyes picked out with knives and
your flesh torn by hot pincers! I will plunge this knife into you, I
will rip you up as I would a wild boar, I will strew your entrails on
the earth, I will give your heart to dogs to devour!"

He went on in this terrifying manner till he was out of breath. During
the whole time I stood regarding him with a cool, undismayed
expression which, I believe, disconcerted him more than any words I
could have used. Then I said--

"Surajah Dowlah, your words are the words of a boaster, who is bold
only when he sees his enemy before him disarmed. Beware of what you
do; you are walking in the dark! Do you believe the paltry handful of
English whom you drove out of Calcutta count for anything in the
strength of our nation? If so, let me tell you there are men about
you, men who have your trust, who could teach you otherwise. You are
being deceived if your spies have not already told you of the armament
which he whom you call Sabat Jung is already preparing to invade your
dominions, when every hair of an Englishman's head that you have
injured will have to be reckoned for. And it will be well for you if,
among all those who crouch before you, you find any to fight for you
in that day."

The servile crew that stood round the tyrant here began to cry out at
me, and drown my voice. But I was satisfied with the impression I had
made on the mind of their master. He listened, hanging his head, and
casting meaning glances at me, as if doubtful how far I had authority
for what I said. Finally he ordered me to be kept under a strong
guard, and I was conveyed back to the same prison I had escaped from
overnight.

CHAPTER XIV

_IN A STRANGE LAND_

I have now come to a period which was in many respects the strangest
of my whole life, so that I often look back on it with wonder; and
sitting here at the open window, framed in honeysuckle and sweetbriar,
with the sounds of the farm in my ears and the prospect of the
peaceful broad in front of me, I ask myself if I be truly that
adventurous youth who once dwelt in captivity for many months in the
court of an Indian prince, half victim and half plaything, one day
caressed and l