“Then I will bag some of them,” added Felix.

“No, you won’t, Flix; they will be more likely to bag you,” rallied Scott.

“But I am in earnest,” persisted the Milesian.  “I have seen plenty of them in Bombay; and upon my word and honor, I don’t feel at all afraid of them.  One of them might hit me when I was not looking, for they don’t play fair; but I shall be on the watch for them, and I’ll take my chance.”

“But, Sir Modava, do you really dare to go out where there are cobras?” asked Mrs. Belgrave, looking at her son.

“Certainly we do; we don’t think anything at all about them.”

“But you are in danger all the time.”

“Of course it is possible that one may be bitten when a snake comes upon him unawares.  The deaths from snakes and wild animals in all India averages annually twenty-two thousand.  About a thousand are killed by tigers.  Of a hundred and fifty kinds of snakes, only about twenty are poisonous.  The deaths from snakes is one in 13,070; and the chance of being bitten is very small.”

“I am afraid your figures lie, Sir Modava,” said Captain Ringgold, with a pleasant laugh.  “Millions of the people live in cities and large towns where there isn’t a snake of any kind.”

“Quite true, and, to some extent, the figures do lie; but there are plenty of cobras and other snakes in parts of Bombay, and the figures are not so false as you think, Captain,” replied Sir Modava.  “But I forget that I was sent here for a purpose by Lord Tremlyn.  I am to tell you something about the Mahrattas, which is the name of the people who inhabited the region north of us.  They have a long history which I have not time to review, but they have been prominent in the earlier affairs of India.  They have always been a warlike people, and wrested the country from the Mogul emperor, sometimes called the Grand Mogul, and made themselves a powerful people.

“The present maharajah rules over the most extensive kingdom of any native prince.  He is a Rajput, which is the aristocracy of the Mahrattas.  He is the most powerful of the Indian rulers, and one of the most hospitable.  I was formerly in his service, and he considers himself under some slight obligations to me.  He is an independent prince in the same sense that other rulers are in this country.  There is always a British representative at his court, who advises him in some matters of government, and his realm is called a protected state.

“He is a great sportsman; and I have no doubt you will be invited to hunt with him, as well as to witness some exhibitions which may not be agreeable to the ladies.”

“Don’t we stop at any stations on the road?” asked Louis.

“There is no town of any great consequence between Surat and Baroda, and this is a special express train,” replied Sir Modava.

Some of the party looked out the windows, and the intelligent guide explained what was to be seen along the way.  Some handsome temples attracted their attention, but they were insignificant compared with what they had been taught to expect in the future.  The train crossed a bridge, which brought them into the suburbs of Baroda.