A click resounded from the four sides, and a bar disappeared from each of the cages.
"That will be all for the present," said Umballa. "Food and water you will not require. To-morrow morning another bar will be removed."
And he left them.
Early the next morning the town began to seethe in the squares. Bala Khan's army lay encamped outside the city!
When Bruce, Ramabai, Pundita and Ahmed halted their elephants before the temple they were greeted by the now terrified priests who begged to be informed what Bala Khan proposed to do.
"Deliver to us the Mem-sahib."
The priests swore by all their gods that they knew nothing of her.
"Let us enter the temple," said Ramabai. "Ahmed, bring the treasure and leave it in the care of the priests." A few moments later Ramabai addressed the assemblage. "Bala Khan is hostile, but only for the sake of his friends. He lays down this law, however—obey it or disobey it. The Colonel Sahib and his daughters are to go free, to do what they please with the treasure. Pundita, according to the will of the late king, shall be crowned."
The high priest held up his hand for silence. "We obey, on one condition—that the new queen shall in no manner interfere with her old religion nor attempt to force her new religion into the temple."
To this Pundita agreed.