out to warn them off. But, as ill--luck would have it, the two Bouncers
were beforehand with me. They whizzed out on to the terrace like a
couple of skyrockets, wild to see the Indians exhibit their tricks. The
other ladies followed; the gentlemen came out on their side. Before you
could say, "Lord bless us!" the rogues were making their salaams; and
the Bouncers were kissing the pretty little boy.

Mr. Franklin got on one side of Miss Rachel, and I put myself behind
her. If our suspicions were right, there she stood, innocent of all
knowledge of the truth, showing the Indians the Diamond in the bosom of
her dress!

I can't tell you what tricks they performed, or how they did it. What
with the vexation about the dinner, and what with the provocation of the
rogues coming back just in the nick of time to see the jewel with their
own eyes, I own I lost my head. The first thing that I remember noticing
was the sudden appearance on the scene of the Indian traveller, Mr.
Murthwaite. Skirting the half-circle in which the gentlefolks stood or
sat, he came quietly behind the jugglers and spoke to them on a sudden
in the language of their own country.

If he had pricked them with a bayonet, I doubt if the Indians could have
started and turned on him with a more tigerish quickness than they did,
on hearing the first words that passed his lips. The next moment they
were bowing and salaaming to him in their most polite and snaky way.
After a few words in the unknown tongue had passed on either side, Mr.
Murthwaite withdrew as quietly as he had approached. The chief Indian,
who acted as interpreter, thereupon wheeled about again towards the
gentlefolks. I noticed that the fellow's coffee-coloured face had turned
grey since Mr. Murthwaite had spoken to him. He bowed to my lady, and