"Almost all the European houses are built so, here, Dick, and it is much more pleasant than when they are packed together."
"Much nicer," Dick agreed. "If each house has a lot of ground like this, the place must cover a tremendous extent of country."
"It does, Dick; but, as every one keeps horses and carriages, that does not matter much. Blacktown, as they call the native town, stands quite apart from the European quarter."
As soon as they were settled in their rooms, which seemed to Dick singularly bare and unfurnished, mother and son went out for a drive, in one of the carriages belonging to the hotel. Dick had learned so much about India from her that, although extremely interested, he was scarcely surprised at the various scenes that met his eye, or at the bright and varied costumes of the natives.
Many changes had taken place, during the seventeen years that had elapsed since Mrs. Holland had left India. The town had increased greatly in size. All signs of the effects of the siege by the French, thirty years before, had been long since obliterated. Large and handsome government buildings had been erected, and evidences of wealth and prosperity were everywhere present.
[Chapter 3]: The Rajah.
"Now, Mother, let us talk over our plans," Dick said as, after dinner, they seated themselves in two chairs in the veranda, at some little distance from the other guests at the hotel. "How are we going to begin?"
"In the first place, Dick, we shall tomorrow send out a messenger to Tripataly, to tell my brother of our arrival here."
"How far is it, Mother?"
"It is about a hundred and twenty miles, in a straight line, I think; but a good bit farther than that, by the way we shall go."