"Ahi, excellent khalasi! I think--I remember--I am almost sure I can discover where the two bibis are concealed."
"Inshallah![#] That is indeed fortunate," said Desmond, turning back. "There lies the best chance of averting the wrath of this much-wronged man."
[#] "Please God!"--a common exclamation.
"Wait but a little till I have clad myself duly; I will then go to a friend yonder and inquire."
He went into his hut and soon returned clothed in the garments that befitted his position. Walking to a hut at the end of the block, he made pretence, Desmond suspected, of inquiring. He was soon back.
"Allah is good!" he said. "The khitmatgar yonder tells me they were taken to a house three coss[#] distant, belonging to the great faujdar Manik Chand. It is rented from him by Digli Sahib, who is a great friend of his excellency."
[#] The coss is nearly two miles.
"Well, khansaman, you will show me the way to the house."
But the khansaman appeared to have donned, with his clothes, a sense of his own importance. The authoritative tone of the lascar offended his dignity.
"Who are you, scum of the sea, that you tell a khansaman of Bengal what he shall do? Hold your tongue, piece of seaweed, or by the beard of the Prophet----"