He yielded to the dazzling dream.  A throne of silver, laid away for years, was brought into the “hall of special audience,” and the tottering form was helped to the seat, into which he sank and looked around upon his frenzied followers.  Mohammed Suraj-oo-deen Shah Gezee was now the Great Mogul of India.  A royal salute of twenty-one guns was fired by two troops of artillery from Meerut in front of the palace, and the wild multitudes again strained their throats.  To the thunder of artillery, the strains of martial music and the shouting of the people, the gates of the palace were flung open, and Prince Mirza Mogul, with his brother, Prince Abu Beker, at the head of the royal bodyguard, rode forth, the king following in an open chariot, surrounded by his bodyguard.

With impressive slowness this strange procession made its way through the principal street, the populace becoming as frantic as so many ghost dancers.  Finally a halt was made at the Juma Musjeed, the largest mosque in India, where the banner of the Prophet was unfurled and the Mogul Empire proclaimed.

CHAPTER II.

On an afternoon.

Almost due east from Delhi Dr. Hugh Marlowe, a venerable American physician, had lived for more than twenty years.  Since the death of his wife, six years previous to the Mutiny, he had dwelt alone with his only daughter, Mary, and their single servant, Mustad, a devout Mussulman.  A portion of the time mentioned had been passed without the society of his beloved child, who spent several years in New England (where the physician himself was born and had received his education) at one of the fashionable schools.

Shortly after her graduation, Miss Marlowe met Jack Everson, fresh from Yale, and the acquaintance ripened into mutual love, though the filial affection of the young woman was too profound to permit her to form an engagement with the young man until the consent of her father was obtained, and he would not give that consent until he had met and conversed with the young gentleman face to face and taken his measure, as may be said.

“If he doesn’t esteem you enough to make a little journey like the one from America to this country he isn’t worth thinking about.”

“But he will make the journey,” said the blushing daughter, patting the bronzed cheek of the parent whom she idolized as much as he idolized her.

“Don’t be to sure of that, my young lady; romantic young girls like you have altogether too much faith in the other sex.”

“But he has started,” she added with a sly smile.

“He has, eh?  He will change his mind before he reaches here.  How far has he got?”

“He was due in England many weeks ago.”

“Well, well!  How soon will he arrive here?”

“I think he is due now.”

“Very probably, but his fancy will give out before he reaches this out-of-the-way place.”