Gungadhura glanced about him like a frenzied man, and then lay back in a state of near-collapse. Samson and De Wing both bowed, and left the room.
"Poor devil!" said De Wing, "I'm sorry for him."
"Would you be a good fellow," said Samson, "and send off this wire for me? There—I've added the exact time of the abdication. I've got to go now and summon a durbar of Gungadhura's state officers, and tell them in confidence what's happened. I shall hint pretty broadly that Utirupa is our man, and then ask them which prince they'd like to have succeed."
"Good!" said De Wing. "Nothing like tact! Why not meet me at the club for a whisky and soda afterward?"
Inside the durbar hall Gungadhura sat alone for just so long as it took the sound of the closing door to die away. Then another door, close behind the throne chair opened, and Patali entered. She looked at him with pity on her face, and curiosity.
"That American sold you," she said after a minute.
"Eh?"
"I say, that American sold you! He sold you, and the map, and the treasure to the English!"
"I know it! I know it!"
"If I were a man—"