“Very tempting,” said my father; “but is all this safe?”
“On my head be it, sahib,” said Dost, respectfully. “There is no poison in the meat.”
The supper, which was partaken of by a dozen officers as well, being finished, we returned, after going the rounds, to my sleeping-chamber.
“Go to sleep, Gil, boy,” said my father. “Our pickets will give plenty of notice if Ny Deen comes.”
But I could not sleep for thinking of Brace, who had not been to the supper, and I wanted to make my position clear before my mind would be at rest.
Chapter Fifty One.
The strange silence that reigned in the palace, the dying out of the fierce glare of the fire, and utter exhaustion, at last weighed down my eyelids, and I dropped into an uneasy sleep, but only to dream about escaping over the roofs with Dost, being captured, and then watching the terrible assault and carrying of the rajah’s house. From that I wandered into the meeting with my father, and fancied that I was going with him to Nussoor, where my mother and sister would not recognise me because Brace had been there first and told them I was a miserable renegade who had gone over to the rebels, and slain women and children with a tulwar whose hilt and sheath were covered with jewels.
Oh dear, what nonsense one does dream when one’s brain gets into a fevered state.