[#] Look out!
Hossain had only waited for this signal. He threw himself on the stooping subahdar and bore him to the floor, at the same time stuffing a gag between his teeth. In a couple of minutes he was lying bound and helpless. His ornate garment was but little sullied. It had been stripped from him by the mistri, who hastily donned it over his own scanty raiment, together with the subahdar's turban.
"How will that do, Hossain?" asked Desmond with a smile.
The serang held up the oil-lamp to inspect him. With his other hand he slightly altered the set of the turban and rearranged the folds of the robe.
"That is excellent, sahib," he said. "A little more girth would perhaps have been better, but in the distance no one will notice."
Then calling to Hubbo he said that all was ready. Hossain clambered through the hatchway, leaving Desmond concealed behind a large timber upright supporting the deck. As soon as the serang had reached his side Hubbo called to the men on watch and said--
"Eo! Ali, Chedi, come here!"
"Jo hukm!"[#] replied one of the men. Two of the three hurried aft, and at Hubbo's bidding swung down into the hold. The serang ordered them to go towards the lamp. They groped their way in that direction; Desmond sprang up through the hatchway; it was clapped down and firmly secured, and the subahdar with two-thirds of his crew was a prisoner in the hold. The third man at the far end of the boat had not seen or heard anything of what had happened.
[#] Whatever is ordered (I will obey)
So far the plot had succeeded admirably. Whatever order might reach the waiting vessels, it would not be given by the subahdar. The question now was, how to prevent the men in charge of the vessels and the authorities in Tanna Fort from becoming suspicious. The latter would not be difficult. Manik Chand would gain nothing by blocking the fairway unless it were absolutely necessary to do so, and, in common with other of the Nawab's lieutenants, he had an overweening confidence in the power of the forts to repel an attack from the English ships. For this reason it was advisable to make the minds of the other men easy, and Desmond soon hit on a plan.