Had you
been a lying Hindoo, though you had sworn by all the gods in
their false temples, your blood would have been upon the knife,
and your body in the water. But the Sikh knows the Englishman,
and the Englishman knows the Sikh. Hearken, then, to what I have
to say.
"'There is a rajah in the northern provinces who has much wealth,
though his lands are small. Much has come to him from his
father, and more still he has set by himself, for he is of a low
nature and hoards his gold rather than spend it. When the
troubles broke out he would be friends both with the lion and the
tiger,--with the Sepoy and with the Company's Raj. Soon,
however, it seemed to him that the white men's day was come, for
through all the land he could hear of nothing but of their death
and their overthrow. Yet, being a careful man, he made such
plans that, come what might, half at least of his treasure should
be left to him. That which was in gold and silver he kept by him
in the vaults of his palace, but the most precious stones and the
choicest pearls that he had he put in an iron box, and sent it by
a trusty servant who, under the guise of a merchant, should take
it to the fort at Agra, there to lie until the land is at peace.
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