"After that the great cities will follow. In Calcutta and Bombay they do but await the signal. Is it not so?"
"That is what they told me." Ayeshi passed his hand nervously over his forehead. "They swore to me that they were ready. I was to be the torch which should light India——"
"Surely, then, it will be so, lord."
Ayeshi made no answer. He seemed to sink into a fit of brooding, his eyes fixed in the direction of Gaya. Barclay, who had not ceased to watch him, urged his horse nearer.
"Of what are you afraid, Rajah?" he asked softly in English, adding with a flash of malice: "Isn't death the worst that can happen to us?"
The echo of the grandiloquent phrase stung Ayeshi to a haughty gesture.
"I do not fear death."
"Whom then? Rasaldû? Rasaldû is dead. In a few hours there will be no white men left in your kingdom——"
"I know. It is not that. It is for these men—my people. They trust me. They hope great things. If I should fail——"
"You will not fail, Rajah. You have the right to call upon them. You are their lord."