"I thought you were looking wonderfully tidy," Dick said, smiling. "Well, I will go there at once. I shall feel a new man, after a bath."
"I will come with you," Surajah said--for he had learned to speak a good deal of English, during his companionship with Dick.
They returned in half an hour. Ibrahim had warmed up some of the chupatties, over the ashes, and they all thoroughly enjoyed their meal. The horses were saddled, and were taken to the pool for a good drink.
Then Annie was helped into her saddle, and they started again. They rode at a canter to Anicull, their badges of office securing them from any questioning from the soldiers at the guard houses, when they entered and left the town.
"I don't know whether there is any post established at the frontier," Dick said, as Annie, who had ridden behind with Ibrahim as they passed through the town, took her place again between him and Surajah. "I have no fear that they will be erecting a fort, for after our capturing Bangalore and the hill fortresses, they will know very well that nothing they could build on the flat would be of the slightest use in stopping an army advancing by this line. Still, there may be a guard placed there.
"How do you think we had better get past, Surajah? We have still got the order to the governors of forts, and it is likely enough that the officer in charge may not be able to read. Very few of those we met before were able to do so. The sight of the sultan's seal at the bottom was quite enough for them, and I should think it would suffice to pass us here. Still, it would look suspicious, our leaving the the country altogether, and we must give some explanation if they ask us."
"I might say that we are charged with a mission to the English commander at Kistnagherry."
"That might do, Surajah. The fort is only eight or ten miles on the other side of the frontier, and we might very well be sent on some message. A complaint of some of the villagers, that their rights have not been respected as agreed by the treaty, or that they have been robbed by men from this side of the frontier--there are plenty of things about which Tippoo might be sending a message to Kistnagherry. The worst of it is that Tippoo has not given us a mission, and I do hate your having to say what is not true."
Surajah was not so particular, and he replied:
"Well, he has given us a mission to visit the hill forts, and as Kistnagherry is a hill fort, it is not a very great stretch to include it."