"Don't you think, Uncle," the latter said one evening, "that I might
try to learn something by going up with Surajah alone? We could strike
off into the hills, as if on a shooting expedition, just as we used to
do from Tripataly, except that I should stain my face and hands. The
people in the villages on the top of the ghauts are, every one says,
simple and quiet. They have no love for Tippoo or Mysore, but are
content to pay their taxes, and to work quietly in their fields. There
will be little fear of our being interfered with by them."
"You might find a party of Tippoo's troops in one of the villages,
Dick, and get into trouble."
"I don't see why we should, Uncle. Of course, we should not go up
dressed as we are, but as shikarees, and when we went into a village,
should begin by asking whether the people are troubled with any tigers
in the neighbourhood. You see, I specially came out here to go into
Mysore in disguise, and I should be getting a little practice in this
way, besides obtaining news for you."
"I am certainly anxious to get news, Dick. So far, I have had nothing
to send down, except that the reports, from all the passes, agree in
saying that they have learned nothing of any movement on the part of
Tippoo, and that no spies have come down the passes, or any armed
party whatever.
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