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That was one reason why he had been sent to Sialpore men in the higher ranks, with a pension due them after certain years of service, dislike being hurried. He was a handsome man too handsome, some said with a profile l ike a medallion of Mark Antony that lost a little of its strength and poise when he looked straight at you.
Samson leaned back and scrutinized his visitor with deliberate rudeness. Having the upper hand he proposed to hold it. But Jinendra's high priest was no beginner either in the game of Beggar-my-neighbor. He understood the value of a big trump to begin with, provided there is other ammunition in reserve. "The whereabouts of the treasure of Sialpore is known!"
"What do you suggest?" he asked her. "Leave Sialpore?" "Yes, but with me! I know a safe place. She should come with me." "When?" "Tonight! Before dawn." "How?" "By camel. I had horses and Gungadhura took them all, but his brain was too sotted to think of camels, and I have camels waiting not many miles from here!
Then on the third day, nearing Sialpore toward evening they filed past two batteries of Royal Horse Artillery, drawn up on a level place beside the road to let them by an act of courtesy not unconnected with its own reward. It is never a bad plan to let the possibly rebellious take a long look at the engines of enforcement.
She is not, however, afraid of imprisonment or of undue pressure; and as for her secret, that is safe as long as the river runs through the state of Sialpore." Not a word more. He frowned at the letter, and read and reread it, sniffing at the scent and holding up the paper to the light, so that Sita Ram very nearly had a chance to read it through the knot-hole in the door.
He knew as much as the priest himself did in that instant! There was one particular individual in Sialpore who fitted that bill. "Nonsense!" he answered. "Gungadhura would be answerable to me for any outrages." The priest showed a slight trace of dejection, but went forward bravely to defeat. "There is danger," he said.
She was worried about Tess the one untested link in her chain of fugitives. "Can you keep on through all the hot day?" she asked. "These other women are as lithe as leopards, for I make them dance. They are better able to endure than cheetahs. But you? Shall I put two women on one camel, and send you back to Sialpore with two men?"
But that very evening no less an individual than the high priest of Jinendra had sent word by Sita Ram that he craved the favor of an interview. "And," had added Sita Ram with malicious delight, "it is about the treasure of Sialpore and certain claims to it that I think he wants to see you." "Why should he come by night?" demanded Samson.
Twice they were seen before the sun was two hours high, the first time by a caravan of merchants headed toward Sialpore, who breasted a high dune half a mile away and took no notice; but that would not prevent the whole caravansary in the city's midst from knowing what they had seen, and just how long ago, and headed which way, within ten minutes after they arrived as, in fact, exactly happened.
"But when the ceremony is over," she said, "and you yourself have proclaimed Prince Utirupa king of Sialpore, there will still remain the problem of how to make the English recognize him. There is Gungadhura, for instance, to get out of the way; and Gungadhura's sons how many has he?" "Five, all whole and well. But the dogs must suffer for their breeding.
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