upon, and the Maharajah decided that it was impossible to tell
which of the two had wickedly tried to poison his eldest son. He
arranged, however, that they should both disappear--he could not
possibly risk a mistake in the matter. And I wish that had been
the greatest of the Maharajah's injustices. When the truth came
out, later, that it was undoubtedly Matiya, the Maharajah said that
he had always been a good deal of that opinion, and built a
beautiful domed white marble tomb, partly in memory of Tarra and
partly, I fear, to commemorate his own sagacity, which may seem,
under the circumstances, a little odd.

The really curious thing was, however, that out of it all came
honour and glory for Sunni. For what, asked the Maharajah, had
prevented the poisoning of his son? What but the shadow of Sunni,
which fell upon the cake, so that Moti could not eat it!
Therefore, without doubt, Sunni had saved the life of a king; and
he could ask nothing that should not be granted to him; he should
stand always near the throne. Sunni felt very proud and important,
he did not know exactly why; but he could not think of anything he
wanted, except to learn his own language from the Englishman.

'Oh, foolish bargainer!' cried Moti, 'when you know that has been
given already!'

CHAPTER VI

Dr. Roberts, who lived, by the Maharajah's kind permission, in the
jail behind the monkey temple, soon found himself in rather an
awkward dilemma. Not in regard to the monkeys. They were
certainly troublesome. They stole his biscuits, and made holes in
his roof, and tore up the reports he wrote for the S.P.C.K. in
England. Dr. Roberts made allowance for the monkeys, however. He
had come to take away their sacred character, and nobody could
expect them to like it. If you had asked Dr. Roberts what his
difficulty was he would have shown you Sonny Sahib. The discovery
was so wonderful that he had made. He had found a yellow-haired,
blue-eyed English boy in a walled palace of Rajputana, five hundred
miles from any one of his race. The boy was happy, healthy, and
well content. That much the Maharajah had pointed out to him; that
much he could see for himself. Beyond that the Maharajah had
discouraged Dr. Roberts' interest. The boy's name was Sunni, he
had no other name, he had come 'under the protection' of the
Maharajah when he was very young; and that was all His Highness
could be induced to say. Any more pointed inquiries