ed. With
Adamkot in his hands, he would be above the reach of want, and could
withdraw thither if anything displeased him, and make it a centre of
intrigue against the state. It was the bulwark of Agpur against the most
unruly part of Darwan, and he was quite capable of betraying his country,
and leading an army of Darwanis against the capital.

The Rani's patriotic anxiety would have appealed to Gerrard more strongly
than it did had there not penetrated to him, among the bits of palace
gossip which Munshi Somwar Mal contrived to pick up for his employer's
benefit, the news that she was determined to secure the fief for the
brother of one of her favourite attendants, and had gone so far as to
promise it to him secretly. This she had no right whatever to do, and
Gerrard prepared for a contest. Sher Singh must have Adamkot, but his
possession of it should be tempered by the condition that he was not to
reside there for more than ten days without the Rajah's permission.

The struggle between the Regents became known in the city almost as soon
as at the Residency, and the army took advantage of the tension to demand
an increase of pay, holding riotous assemblies at a spot where their
menacing shouts were distinctly audible from the Rani's apartments.
Before Gerrard could get the Durbar's consent to use the guard to
disperse them, the Rani had sent out her scribe to inquire into their
grievances, and the poor old man, set upon and bullied by the leading
spirits, promised them in his mistress's name all they wanted, before he
was allowed to escape with torn clothes and trailing turban. But this
again was a matter in which the Rani had no power to act. Gerrard was
firmly fixed in his resolve not to increase the pay of the swashbucklers
who swaggered about the city girt with costly shawls and decked with
jewelled necklaces, as though they were fresh from a profitable campaign.
"Every Sepoy is a Sirdar at least, and every Sowar a Rajah!" was the
envious comment of the peaceable citizens who endured their insolence,
and before this last palace-squabble, it had been a bright dream of
Gerrard's to embody the civil inhabitants into some kind of militia, and
with their help and that of the guard to reduce the army sternly to its
proper place. Accordingly, he devoted an interview of considerable
length to explaining to the Rani that Partab Singh's treasure, now much
reduced in amount, must no longer be drawn upon in minor emerg