The answer to this was:
"Let yourself be the brave man's reward!"
With his own imperial hand he placed the lady's hand in my own, and betrothed her to me with a ring from his own finger. At the same time he appointed me co-regent of Sardhana, under the name of Maharajah Kong. Thus, I became—not a captain, but a maharajah.
"And all this really happened?" inquired the chair.
"Yes, your honor, and more too—as you may read in the court chronicles at Delhi."
"We will hear the rest tomorrow," observed the prince. "It is enough for one day to have heard how the son of an Andernach tanner became assistant sovereign of a province in India."
CHAPTER II.
IDOL WORSHIP.
The next day the prisoner resumed his confession:
I was now ruler of a province, with a revenue of twenty lacs of rupees. I had a remarkably handsome and clever wife, with eyes than which no gem was brighter.