can count surely."

"You have not mentioned my name?" the Rajah said suddenly, looking
closely at the man as he put the question.

"Assuredly not, your highness; I have simply said deliverance is
at hand; the hour foretold for the end of the Raj of the men from
beyond the sea will soon strike, and they will disappear from the
land like fallen leaves; then will the glory of Kali return, then
again will the brotherhood take to the road and gather in victims.
I can promise that every one of those whose fathers or grandfathers
or other kin died by the hand of the Feringhee, or suffered in his
prisons, will do his share of the good work, and be ready to obey
to the death the orders which will reach him."

"It is good," the Rajah said; "you and your brethren will have a
rich harvest of victims, and the sacred cord need never be idle.
Go; it is well nigh morning, and I would sleep."

But not for some time did the Rajah close his eyes; his brain was
busy with the schemes which he had long been maturing, but was only
now beginning to put into action.

"It must succeed," he said to himself; "all through India the
people will take up arms when the Sepoys give the signal by rising
against their officers. The whites are wholly unsuspicious; they
even believe that I, I whom they have robbed, am their friend.
Fools! I hold them in the hollow of my hand; they shall trust me
to the last, and then I will crush them. Not one shall escape me!
Would I were as certain of all the other stations in India as I am