That evening when Percy went to his room he found his two men waiting for him there.
"What are you sitting up for?" he asked. "You know I never want you after dinner."
"We wanted to speak to you, sahib," Bhop Lal said. "Is it true that the fort is to be handed over to-morrow morning to Khan Singh?"
"It is quite true, Bhop Lal; the arrangements have all been made with Moolraj this afternoon."
"And will you go into the fort with Khan Singh, sahib?"
"No. Mr. Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson are going with him; and as there are arrangements to be made for the purchase of provisions for the troops, and other matters, Mr. Agnew asked me to remain here."
"That is a comfort indeed, sahib."
"Why so? Do you think there is going to be trouble?"
"I don't know that there will be trouble to-morrow, sahib; I cannot say what the plans of Moolraj are; but there is going to be trouble. You told me this morning to try and find out the sentiments of the people, so I dressed myself as a peasant and went boldly into the town. Everyone there thinks there will be fighting. They say the troops will never accept Khan Singh as their dewan instead of Moolraj, and the budmashes of the city all seem to be of the same opinion.
"They are not, they say, going to submit, like the people of Lahore, to be governed by a man who is but a servant of the Feringhees. What they will do I don't know, but the place is all in an uproar, and I greatly fear there will be trouble. Now that we know you are going to remain here, we shall no longer be anxious. The Ghoorkas and the guns can defend the place if the Sikh cavalry go over, and at any rate we will have Sheik and our own horses saddled and in readiness either for fighting or flight."