gn to accompany him to the Prince.

The room in which the Maharajah received them was strangely furnished,
presenting to the eyes of a European a not altogether happy combination
of Eastern luxury and English style. Among splendid carpets and precious
weapons, with which the walls were adorned, there hung glaring pictures
of truly barbaric taste--such as in Germany would hardly be met with in
the house of a fairly well-to-do citizen. Similar incongruities there
were many, and perhaps the appearance of the Prince himself was the most
incongruous of them all. For this stalwart man with the soft black beard
and penetrating eyes, who in the picturesque attire of his country would
doubtless have been a handsome and imposing figure, made an inharmonious
impression in his grey English suit and with the red turban on his head.

He sat in an English club chair, covered with red Russia leather and
gently inclined his head in response to Heideck's deep bow.

It did not escape the notice of the German officer that the Maharajah
looked extremely annoyed, and Heideck concluded that it was the low
price he had offered for his indigo which had made him so. But the first
words of the Prince reassured him. "As I learn," he said in somewhat
broken English, "you are in fact a European, but no Englishman, and so I
hope to hear the truth from you. I am quite ready to reward you for your
information."

"I am accustomed to speak the truth, even without reward, Highness!"

The Maharajah measured him with a mistrustful look. "I am a true friend
of England," he continued after a short hesitation, "and am on the best
of terms with the Viceroy; but things are now happening which I cannot
possibly understand. This very morning I received a message from
Calcutta, which absolutely astonished me. The Indian Government intends
to mass an army corps at Quetta, and calls upon me to despatch thither a
contingent of a thousand infantry, five hundred cavalry, a battery, and
two thousand camels. Can you tell me, sir, what makes England mass such
a large force at Quetta?"

"It will only be a precautionary measure, Highness! perhaps disturbances
have broken out again in Afghanistan."

"Disturbances in Afghanistan, do you say? Then Russia must have a hand
in it. Can you perhaps give me more definite information?"

Heideck had to express his inability to do so, and the Maharajah, who
did not conceal his vexation, began to open his heart to the stranger in