"I have friends there, and I shall
remain in the city until these troubles are over. I believe now
that you were right, sahib, although I did not think so when you
spoke, and that the British Raj will be restored. I thought, as did
the Sepoys, that they were a match for the British troops. I see
now that I was wrong. But there is a tremendous task before them.
There is all Oude and the Northwest to conquer, and fully two hundred
thousand men in arms against them, but I believe that they will do
it. They are a great people, and now I do not wish it otherwise.
This afternoon I shall start."
The Doctor, who had found many acquaintances in Allahabad, had
no difficulty in obtaining money from the garrison treasury, and
Bathurst and Isobel purchased the two handsomest bracelets they
could obtain from the ladies in the fort as a souvenir for Rabda,
and gave them to her with the heartiest expressions of their deep
gratitude to her and her father.
"I shall think of you always, Rabda," Isobel said, "and shall be
grateful to the end of my life for the kindness that you have done
us. Your father has given us your address at Patna, and I shall
write to you often."
"I shall never forget you, lady; and even the black water will not
quite separate us. As I knew how you were in prison, so I shall know
how you are in your home in England. What we have done is little.
Did not the sahib risk his life for me? My father and I will never
forget what we owe him.
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