[#] Entertainment.
Ten minutes after the men had disappeared from view, the serang lit a small oil-lamp in the tiny cabin. He then made his way to the helm, whispered a word in the lascar's ear, and took his place. The latter nodded and went into the cabin. Drawing the curtains, he squatted on a mattress, took from a hiding-place in the cabin a few sheets of paper and a pencil, and, resting the paper on the back of a tray, began to write. As he did so he frequently consulted a scrap of paper he kept at his left hand; it was closely covered with letters and figures, these latter not Hindustani characters, but the Arabic figures employed by Europeans. The first line of what he wrote himself ran thus--
29 19 28 19 36 38 32 20 31 39 23 34 19 29 29 35 32 38 24 38 23 32
[#] Constructed from the cipher used by Mr. Watts at Murshidabad. [Transcriber's note: there was no footnote reference in the source book for this footnote.]
The letter or message upon which he was engaged was not a lengthy one, but it took a long time to compose. When it was finished the lascar went over it line by line, comparing it with the paper at his left hand. Then he folded it very small, sealed it with a wafer, and, returning to the serang, said a few words. Hossain made a trumpet of his hands, and, looking towards the left bank, sounded a few notes in imitation of a bird's warble. The shore was fringed here with low bushes. As if in answer to the call a small boat darted out from the shelter of a bush; a few strokes brought it alongside of the petala; and the serang, bending over, handed the folded paper to the boatman, and whispered a few words in his ear. The man pushed off, and the lascar watched the boat float silently down the stream until it was lost to sight.
Dawn was hardly breaking when Major Killpatrick, awakened by his servant, received from his hands a folded paper which by the aid of a candle he began to pore over, laboriously comparing it with a small code similar to that used by the lascar. One by one he pencilled on a scrap of paper certain letters, every now and then whistling between his teeth as he spelt out the words they made. The result appeared thus--
Magazines for ammunition and stores of grain being prepared Tribeni and Hugli. Bazar rumour Nawab about to march with army to Calcutta. Orders issued Hugli traffic to be strictly watched. Dutch phataks[#] closed. Forth unable leave Chinsura. Tanna Fort 9 guns; opposite Tanna 6 guns; Holwell's garden 5 guns; 4 each Surman's and Ganj; 2 each Mr. Watts' house, Seth's ghat, Maryas ghat, carpenter's yard.
[#] Gate or barrier.
"Egad!" he exclaimed, on a second reading of the message, "the boy's a conjurer. This is important enough to send to Mr. Clive at once. But I'll make a copy of it first in case of accident."
Having made his copy and sealed the original and his first transcription, he summoned his servant and bade him send for the kasid. To him he entrusted the papers, directing him to convey them without loss of time to Clive Sahib, whom he might expect to find at Kalpi.