at is so," the Doctor agreed; "but the fact is, Major, we know
really very little about the Hindoo mind. We can say with some sort of
certainty what Europeans will do under given circumstances, but though
I know the natives, I think, pretty nearly as well as most men, I feel
that I really know nothing about them. They appear mild and submissive,
and have certainly proved faithful on a hundred battlefields, but we
don't know whether that is their real character. Their own history,
before we stepped in and altered its current, shows them as faithless,
bloodthirsty and cruel; whether they have changed their nature under our
rule, or simply disguised it, Heaven only knows."

"At any rate," the Major said, "they have always shown themselves
attached to their English officers. There are numberless instances where
they have displayed the utmost devotion for them, and although some
scheming intriguers may have sown the seeds of discontent among them,
and these lies about the cartridges may have excited their religious
prejudices, and may even lead them to mutiny, I cannot believe for an
instant that the Sepoys will lift their hands against their officers."

"I hope not," the Doctor said gravely. "A tiger's cub, when tamed, is
one of the prettiest of playthings, but when it once tastes blood it is
as savage a beast as its mother was before it. Of course, I hope for the
best, but if the Sepoys once break loose I would not answer for anything
they might do. They have been pretty well spoilt, Major, till they have
come to believe that it is they who conquered India and not we."

CHAPTER XI.

That evening, after dining alone, the Doctor went in to Bathurst's.
The latter had already heard the news, and they talked it over for some
time. Then the Doctor said, "Have you seen Forster, Bathurst, since he
arrived?"

"No, I was out when he left his card. I was at school with him.. I heard
when I was in England that he was out here in the native cavalry, but I
have never run across him before, and I own I had no wish to do so. He
was about two years older than I was, and was considered the cock of the
school. He was one of my chief tormentors. I don't know that he was
a bully generally--fellows who are really plucky seldom are; but he
disliked me heartily, and I hated him.

"I had the habit of telling the truth when questioned, and he narrowly
escaped expulsion owing to my refusing to tell a lie about his being
quietly in bed wh