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The rajah promised to send Charlie's horses and other presents down to Madras, when an opportunity should offer; and Charlie, accompanied by the four Sepoys, all of whom had been promoted to the rank of officers; by Tim Kelly and Hossein, who would not separate himself a moment from his side, started from Ambur, with an escort of thirty horsemen.
The meeting then broke up; and Charlie, supposing that Angria would return immediately, went back to his tent; where he directed Hossein at once to mingle with the men who had accompanied Angria, and to find out anything that he could concerning the state of things in the fort. Hossein returned an hour later. "Sahib," he said, "Ramajee Punt is thinking of cheating the English.
Tim and Hossein, of course, accompanied him; and the voyage down the west coast of India, and round Ceylon, was performed without any marked incident. When within but a few hours of Madras, the barometer fell rapidly. Great clouds rose up upon the horizon, and the captain ordered all hands aloft to reduce sail. "We are in," he said, "for a furious tempest. It is the breaking up of the monsoon.
Charlie drew back for a minute, and consulted with Hossein. "Lie quite still, Tim," he said, "and don't be afraid. We will try to kill him, without his touching you; but even if he should bite you, with help ready at hand, there will be no danger."
After this had gone on for half an hour, Charlie, convinced that the animal was dead, dismounted from his elephant. He had with him a heavy, double-barrelled rifle of the rajah's; and Hossein, carrying a similar weapon, and a curved tulwar which was sharpened almost to a razor edge, prepared to follow immediately behind him.
Did I get another cook, he might be just as open to the offers of my enemies as Hossein has been; and do you not think that, after what has passed, Hossein will be less likely to take bribes than any other man?" Henceforth the oven was removed from the antechamber, and Charlie took his meals as Hossein prepared them for him.
Tim married, seven or eight years after his master, and settled down in a nice little house upon the estate. Although, henceforth, he did no work whatever; he insisted, to the end of his life, that he was still in Colonel Marryat's service. Hossein, to the great amusement of his master and mistress, followed Tim's example.
Hossein himself ushered him in, as if he were the guest of honour, as the Persian merchant indeed considered him, for none of the others had ever paid him half so many seven weekly ducats for money borrowed in all their lives, as Jacopo had often paid in a single year.
"You know I'm not particular about my eating, though Hossein will always prepare a dinner fit for an alderman." "We are going to fight them tomorrow, yer honor, I hope," Tim said. "It's sick to death I am of wading about here in the wet, like a duck. It's as bare as the bogs of ould Ireland, without the blessings of the pigs and potatoes, to say nothing of the colleens."
My house is in a quiet street. When I reach the door, do you come up and offer to sell me plantains. If there are people about, I shall bargain with you until I see that no one is noticing us. Then you can enter. If none are about, you can follow me straight in." Hossein now set about the disguises.
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