Dick, on the contrary, although he had dozed in the carriage for the
last two or three hours of the journey, woke up thoroughly as they
neared Tripataly. As soon as they entered the house, the Rajah called
his two sons, handsome, dark-faced lads of twelve and thirteen.
"This is your cousin, boys," he said. "You must look after him, and
see that he has everything he wants, and make his stay as pleasant as
you can."
Although a little awed by the, to them, tall figure, they evinced
neither shyness or awkwardness, but, advancing to Dick, held out their
hands one after the other, with grave courtesy. Their faces both
brightened, as he said in their own language:
"I hope we shall be great friends, cousins. I am older and bigger than
you are, but everything is new and strange to me, and I shall have to
depend upon you to teach me everything."
"We did not think that you would be able to talk to us," the elder,
whose name was Doast Assud, said, smiling. "We have been wondering how
we should make you understand. Many of the white officers, who come
here sometimes, speak our language, but none of them as well as you
do."
"You see, they only learn it after they come out here, while I learnt
it from my mother, who has talked to me in it since I was quite a
little boy; so it comes as naturally to me as to you.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93