The rajah showed himself sensible of the important aid he had received from his English attendants, and on this evening he seemed more inclined to open his heart to them than heretofore.
“Had it not been for you, my young friend, I should be even now a clod of the earth, my body left to be devoured by the fowls of the air and the wild beasts of the forest. You and your faithful tigress saved me from the daggers of my traitorous officers. And your opportune arrival prevented our being cut off by the mountaineers, as would otherwise have been our fate,” he added, turning to Burnett.
The two young men, in the usual Oriental phrases, expressed their satisfaction at having rendered any service to his highness.
“And now tell me how I can reward you,” exclaimed the rajah. “Only let me know; though, alas! Should I lose my power, how can I fulfil any promises?”
Reginald saw that now the favourable opportunity he had wished for, of speaking to the rajah of himself, had arrived.
“Your highness can render me a greater service than you may suppose,” he said, speaking slowly, for he knew that he was treading on delicate ground. “My friend and I are not the first Englishmen who have resided at your court. There was one who served you faithfully, and whose sword preserved your life when surrounded by foes in battle; but traitors, who were jealous of the favour you bestowed on him, conspired to take his life; and they would have succeeded, had he not, leaving all he held dear, together with his worldly wealth, and undergoing great hardships, been successful in making his way to Calcutta with his young son. When there, important information he received compelled him to return to his native land. Once more he came back to India, with his son, intending at all hazards to revisit you; but the trials he had gone through had shattered his health, and when just about to set out on his journey he died, leaving to his only son the duty of vindicating his fair fame, and regaining the property of which he had been deprived.”
“Who told you all this?” exclaimed the rajah in an agitated voice. “Where is the son of whom you speak? I would greatly rejoice to see the boy. I would not only restore him his father’s property, but raise him to a rank next to myself in my government.”
Just at that moment an officer hurried up to the rajah, and after making the usual salutation, informed him that the scouts had fallen in with a messenger from the city who was on his way to try and find their party. “The information he has to give will not allow of an instant’s delay, he says,” added the officer.
The rajah ordered that the man should be immediately admitted to his presence.
“What news do you bring? Speak at once,” exclaimed the rajah.