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Updated: June 20, 2025
By midday he was so tired and sleepy that he found himself beginning to doze at the wheel. The Gujarati had been sleeping for some hours, and, as the vessel now required scarcely any attention Desmond thought it a good opportunity for snatching a rest. Calling to Fuzl Khan to take his place and bidding him keep the vessel's head, as far as he could, due north, he went below.
He had in him a strain of negro blood, derived probably from some Zanzibari ancestor brought to Cutch as a slave. The men of the coast of Cutch were the best sailors in India; and Fuzl Khan himself had spent a considerable portion of his life at sea.
He paused; there was sound of hard breathing. "Tell it us," said the Gujarati eagerly. "You are one of us, Fuzl Khan?" "The plan! the plan! Is not my back mangled? Have I not endured the tank? Is not freedom sweet to me as to another? The plan, sahib! I swear, I Fuzl Khan, to be true to you and all; only tell me the plan." "You shall have the plan in good time. First I have a thing to say.
His appearance brought the Gujarati to his side. "Remember, Fuzl Khan," he whispered, "we must keep the serang alive; not even stun him. You understand?" "I know, sahib." Drawing him silently into the apartment and to the edge of the platform, Desmond again crept to the lantern, and now turned it gradually still farther inwards until the form of the sleeper could be distinctly seen.
Fuzl Khan, swarming up to the masthead, reported two or three sail far behind, apparently at the mouth of Gheria harbor. But Desmond, knowing that if they were in pursuit they had a long beat to windward before them, felt no anxiety on that score. Besides, the grab he was on had been selected precisely because it was the fastest vessel in Angria's fleet.
Oh, yes, certainly it is Suwarndrug." At this moment four grabs were seen beating out of the harbor. Fuzl Khan uttered an exclamation; then, turning to Desmond, he said with a note of anxiety: "It is best to put about at once, sahib. See the grabs! They may be enemies." Desmond's heart gave a jump; his pulse beat more quickly under the stress of a sudden inspiration.
The experiences of the past year had quickened Desmond's wits; with reason he had become more suspicious than of yore, and the necessity to be constantly on his guard had made him alert, alive to the least suggestion. Why had the speaker been hushed and by Fuzl Khan? He remembered the ugly rumors the veiled hints he had heard about the man in Gheria.
He felt that it was not for nothing he had been brought into his present plight; and at the back of his mind was the belief, founded on his strong wish and hope, that the magnetism of Clive's personality, which he had felt so strongly at Market Drayton, was still influencing his career. At midnight Fuzl Khan relieved him at the wheel, and he turned in. His sleep was troubled.
But it was clear that all was as yet undiscovered; and the plot had worked out so exactly as planned that he hoped still for a breathing space to carry out his enterprise to the end. There was not a moment to be wasted. The instant the men were aboard Desmond rapidly gave his orders. Fuzl Khan and one of the Mysoreans he sent to carry the barrel to Angria's gallivat. It contained da'ma.
His aim was fatally true; the man was killed on the spot. With his eyes Desmond thanked the Babu; there was no time for words. The hostile grabs were undoubtedly making chase. They had separated, with the intention of bearing down upon and overhauling the Tremukji in whatever direction she might flee. Fuzl Khan still lay helpless upon the deck. "Secure that man," said Desmond to two of the crew.
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