ipe and rising to his
feet; "none could come to me whom I would rather see. You have always
proved yourself a just officer, and I have no complaint against you. We
have often broken bread together, and it has grieved me to know that you
were in yonder house. Do you come to me on your own account, or from the
sahib who commands?"

"I come on my own account," Bathurst said; "when I come as a messenger
from him, I must come openly. I. know you to be an honorable man, and
that I could say what I have to say to you and depart in safety. I
regard you as one who has been misled, and regret for your sake that you
should have been induced to take part with these mutineers against us.
Believe me, chief, you have been terribly misled. You have been told
that it needed but an effort to overthrow the British Raj. Those who
told you so lied. It might have seemed easy to destroy the handful of
Europeans scattered throughout India, but you have not succeeded in
doing it. Even had you done so, you would not have so much as begun
the work. There are but few white soldiers here. Why? Because England
trusted in the fidelity of her native troops, and thought it necessary
to keep only a handful of soldiers in India, but if need be, for every
soldier now here she could send a hundred, and she will send a hundred
if required to reconquer India. Already you may be sure that ships are
on the sea laden with troops; and if you find it so hard to overcome the
few soldiers now here, what would you do against the great armies that
will pour in ere long? Why, all the efforts of the Sepoys gathered
at Delhi are insufficient to defeat the four or five thousand British
troops who hold their posts outside the town, waiting only till the
succor arrives from England to take a terrible vengeance. Woe be then
to those who have taken part against us; still more to those whose hands
are stained with British blood."

"It is too late now," the native said gloomily, "the die is cast; but
since I have seen how a score of men could defend that shattered house
against thousands, do you think I have not seen that I have been wrong?
Who would have thought that men could do such a thing? But it is too
late now."

"It is not too late," Bathurst said; "it is too late, indeed, to undo
the mischief that has been done, but not too late for you to secure
yourself against some of the consequences. The English are just; and
when they shall have stamped out this mutiny, as as