“Perhaps you would be well advised to try and remember.  Do you mean to tell me that you now hear of this business for the first time?”

“Certainly!  I have not heard a word about it until now.”

“And you have not been told that one of the assailants who was killed on the spot was one of your servants?”

“No.  I have a great many servants, and I am not responsible for their actions, if they are not done by my orders.”

“But this is exactly what I believe to have been the case.  You will hardly expect me to believe that one of your servants would have dared to make such an attack on his own initiative.  Unfortunately, the other villains have escaped, but one of them left behind him a sabre belonging to a man in your bodyguard.”

It was evident that the Maharajah had a hard struggle to keep his composure.  Endeavouring to conceal his rage behind a supercilious smile, he answered—­

“It is beneath my dignity, Colonel, to answer you.”

“There can be no question of dignity justifying you in a refusal to answer the British resident, when he demands it.  You are dealing not with an ordinary British officer, but with the representative of His Majesty the Emperor of India.  It is your duty to answer, as it is mine to question you.  A refusal might have the most serious consequences for Your Highness; for the Government Commissioners that would be despatched from Calcutta to Chanidigot on my report might be but little impressed by your dignity.”

The Indian set his teeth and a wild passionate hate flashed from his eyes, but, at the same time, he probably reflected that he would not have been the first of the Indian princes to be deprived of the last remnant of sham sovereignty for a paltry indiscretion.

“If you consider it necessary to make a report to Calcutta, I cannot prevent your doing so; but I should think that the Viceroy would hesitate before giving offence to a faithful ally of England, and at the very moment when he has to ask him to despatch his contingent of auxiliary forces.”

“Since you refer to this matter—­whom have you appointed to command your force?”

“My cousin, Tasatat Maharajah.”

“And when will he start?”

“In about four weeks, I hope.”

The officer shook his head.

“That would be much longer than we can allow.  Your force is to join my detachment, and I am starting at latest in a fortnight from now.”

“You are asking what is impossible.  At present we have not a sufficient number of horses, and I do not know where to procure two thousand camels in such a short time; and I have not nearly enough ammunition for the infantry.”

“The requisite ammunition can be provided by the arsenal at Mooltan and debited to your account, Highness.  As for the horses and camels, you will, no doubt, be able to furnish them in time, if you take the trouble.  I repeat that in a fortnight all must be ready.  Do not forget that the punctual execution of these orders is in a way an earnest of your fidelity and zeal.  Every unwarranted delay and all equivocation on your part will be fatal to you.”