Two minutes later the men entered. Imambux commanded the Rajah's troops,
while Khoosheal was the master of his household.

"All has gone off well," the Rajah said; "I am pleased with you,
Khoosheal. One more at most, and we shall have done with them. Little do
they think what their good friend Nana Sahib is preparing for them. What
a poor spirited creature they think me to kiss the hand that robbed me,
to be friends with those who have deprived me of my rights! But the day
of reckoning is not far off, and then woe to them all! Have any of your
messengers returned, Imambux?"

"Several have come in this evening, my lord; would you see them now, or
wait till morning?"

"I will see them now; I will get the memory of these chattering men and
these women with their bare shoulders out of my mind. Send the men in
one by one. I have no further occasion for you tonight; two are better
than three when men talk of matters upon which an empire depends."

The two officers bowed and retired, and shortly afterwards the attendant
drew back the curtain again, and a native, in the rags of a mendicant,
entered, and bowed till his forehead touched the carpet. Then he
remained kneeling, with his arms crossed over his chest, and his head
inclined in the attitude of the deepest humility.

"Where have you been?" the Rajah asked.

"My lord's slave has been for three weeks at Meerut. I have obeyed
orders. I have distributed chupaties among the native regiments, with
the words, 'Watch, the time is coming,' and have then gone before I
could be questioned. Then, in another disguise, I have gone through
the bazaar, and said in talk with many that the Sepoys were unclean and
outcast, for that they had bitten cartridges anointed with pig's fat,
and that the Government had purposely greased the cartridges with this
fat in order that the caste of all the Sepoys should be destroyed. When
I had set men talking about this I left; it will be sure to come to the
Sepoys' ears."

The Rajah nodded. "Come again tomorrow at noon; you will have your
reward then and further orders; but see that you keep silence; a single
word, and though you hid in the farthest corner of India you would not
escape my vengeance."

Man after man entered. Some of them, like the first, were in mendicant's
attire, one or two were fakirs, one looked like a well to do merchant.
With the exception of the last, all had a similar tale to tell; they
had been visiting the various canto