It may be that this war will
result in his release. But in the meantime, I shall continue to
prepare Dick to take up the search for him, as soon as he is old
enough.
"I hear, once a year, from my brother, who is now rajah; and he will
be able to aid my boy, in many ways. However, for a time I must be
patient and wait. I have learnt to wait, during my husband's long
absences; and besides, I think that the women of India are a patient
race. I trust that John will yet come home to me, but if not, when it
is time, we will try to rescue him."
Ben said nothing, at the time, to damp her courage; but he shook his
head, as he left the cottage.
"Poor creature," he said. "I would not say anything to discourage her,
but for a woman and boy to try to get a captive out of the claws of
the Tiger of Mysore is just madness."
Each time he returned from a voyage, Ben called upon Mrs. Holland. He
himself had given up every vestige of hope, when it was known that the
name of her husband was not among the list of those whom Tippoo had
been forced to release. Margaret Holland, however, still clung to
hope. Her face was paler, and there was a set, pathetic expression in
it; so, when she spoke of her husband as being still alive, Ben would
sooner have cut out his tongue than allow the slightest word,
indicative of his own feeling of certainty as to the captain's fate,
to escape him; and he always made a pretence of entering warmly into
her plans.
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