The Maharajah shrugged his shoulders contemptuously.
'He is not of our blood; why should he have kept silence?' said the old man.
'But he did keep silence,' said the Colonel, looking straight into the Chitan's sunken eyes. 'I asked him about your men and your ammunition. I commanded him, I threatened him. I give you my word of honour as a soldier that he would say nothing.'
The English in India are always believed. A cry went up from the other Chitans. Moti clapped his hands together, Maun Rao caught the boy up and kissed him.
'Then,' said the Maharajah slowly, 'I love you still, Sunni, and you shall drink the opium with the rest. Your son,' he added to Colonel Starr, 'will bring praise to his father.'
The Colonel smiled. 'I have no children,' said he. 'I wish he were indeed my son.'
'If he is not your son,' asked the Maharajah cunningly, 'why did you bring him to the durbar?'
'Because he wished to come—'
'To say that I did not tell,' said Sunni.
'Call the woman,' ordered His Highness.