“What about, sir? Look around you.”
“Eh? Well, we have plenty of company, but I don’t see any error of judgment.”
“Why, my dear Knowle! Company! Look at the crowd.”
“Well, we shall keep them back so as to allow plenty of room for the evolutions.”
“Yes; but, let alone the country-people, every man with his kris, there are the military followers of those two Rajahs in full array.”
“Military! Phit! My dear Dallas!”
“Ah, you laugh, sir. Why, roughly speaking, each of those two chiefs has got a following of about five hundred men—say a thousand.”
“Yes, I dare say,” said the Major; “but they are not all together.”
“No, they are divided so that we have a strong force on either side. You despise them; but have you thought of the consequences that might follow our being enclosed by two such bodies of men?”
“Oh yes,” said the Major coolly. “Might. But, my dear boy, have you thought of the consequences that might follow if I told my lads to close up and face outwards, and began to deal with our visitors? Look at them,” he continued, as he pointed towards the perfectly drilled detachment drawn up in the centre of the parade-ground waiting for the order to commence the evolutions connected with the military display.