Perhaps in a few days, perhaps in a few weeks, we shall be. A good
deal depends on what you can tell me.'
Sunni looked straight into the Colonel's eyes, a little puzzled.
'How do they get water in Lalpore?' asked the Colonel, to begin
with.
'There are four wells,' said Sunni, 'and two of them have no
bottom.'
'H'm! And what is that white building with the round roof that we
see from here?'
'That is the mosque of Larulla,' said Sunni, 'but it is no longer
of consequence; there is so little Mussulmans in Lalpore. The
soldiers hang their guns there now.'
'Ah! And has the Maharajah many soldiers, and have they good guns--
new guns?'
Sunni looked into the Colonel's face with eager pleasure to reply;
but there he saw something that made him suddenly close his lips.
He had not lived ten years among the Rajputs without learning to
read faces, and in Colonel Starr's he saw that all this talk the
Colonel desired about Lalpore was not for Lalpore's good. The boy
thought for a minute, and tightened his lips, while a little firm
line came on each side of his mouth. He only opened them to say,
'Burra sahib, I cannot tell you that.'
'But you must tell me,' said Colonel Starr firmly.
'No,' returned Sunni, 'not that, nor any more informations about
the fort.
Pages:
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83