“You will not be offended if I speak and say something that is in my mind?”
“Of course not, sir. What is it?”
“I thought the number of troops my English friends have sent were very few.”
“Yes, but they are highly-trained men, sir; and there are the guns. But I understood, on leaving Roumwallah, that more troops with heavier guns were to follow.”
“It is good,” said the Rajah, smiling with satisfaction.
Then coffee and pipes were brought, in which Hulton and the Rajah indulged; and in good time the elephant was brought round, and, after many expressions of friendship on the part of the Rajah, his guests returned to the old palace which had been turned into a barrack for the time.
“Well,” said Wyatt before Dick retired for the night, “how are you, O festive one?”
“Tired out, and want to go to sleep,” said Dick, yawning.
“Oh, come! none of that nonsense,” cried Wyatt. “Here have you been feasting on cake and wine, drinking sublime coffee, and smoking rose-water hubble-bubbles, while I have been hard at work, shaking the men down into their quarters, and giving orders about the stowing of the baggage; and now, when I want to hear a little about your sports and pastimes, what’s what, and the rest of it, you yawn in my face and want to go to sleep.”
“Can’t help it.”