"
"I hope not," the Doctor said gravely. "A tiger's cub, when tamed,
is one of the prettiest of playthings, but when it once tastes blood
it is as savage a beast as its mother was before it. Of course,
I hope for the best, but if the Sepoys once break loose I would
not answer for anything they might do. They have been pretty well
spoilt, Major, till they have come to believe that it is they who
conquered India and not we."
CHAPTER XI.
That evening, after dining alone, the Doctor went in to Bathurst's.
The latter had already heard the news, and they talked it over for
some time. Then the Doctor said, "Have you seen Forster, Bathurst,
since he arrived?"
"No, I was out when he left his card. I was at school with him..
I heard when I was in England that he was out here in the native
cavalry, but I have never run across him before, and I own I had
no wish to do so. He was about two years older than I was, and was
considered the cock of the school. He was one of my chief tormentors.
I don't know that he was a bully generally--fellows who are really
plucky seldom are; but he disliked me heartily, and I hated him.
"I had the habit of telling the truth when questioned, and he
narrowly escaped expulsion owing to my refusing to tell a lie about
his being quietly in bed when, in fact, he and two or three other
fellows had been out at a public house. He never forgave me for it,
for he himself would have told a lie without hesitation to screen
himself, or, to do him justice, to screen anyone else; and the mere
fact that I myself had been involved in the matter, having been
sent out by one of the bigger fellows, and, therefore, having got
myself a flogging by my admission, was no mitigation in his eyes
of my offense of what he called sneaking.
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