The Rajah bowed his head, and turned to Wyatt.
“That is fair, sir,” said the latter. “Let the place be searched.”
“Yes,” said the Rajah; and, clapping his hands, he gave the order, and then turned to his guards, sending an officer and a dozen men to guard at the temple to see that there was no foul play.
He looked round him, to see that the chief priest was standing near the door, looking old and careworn, and he beckoned to him to draw near.
“Did you know of the long passage the young English officer has described?”
“Yes; oh, yes,” he replied; “it is where those of our people who die in the temple are buried beneath the stones. They lie there from end to end.”
“Hah!” said the Rajah; “but the way out into the old palace?”
“If I had known, should I have advised the Ranee and the Rajah, your father, to place their treasures there for their son? Should I not sooner have built it up with the heaviest stones that could be found?”
“Yes,” said the Rajah, “of course—for them if not for me.”
He sat thinking for a few moments as if turning something over in his mind, and then turned to the two Englishmen.