Besides, we have only grain enough for ourselves, and shall have to
send down to the plains to buy more; and where the money is to come
from, nobody can tell."
"I think I could tell you how you had better proceed, if you will take
us into your house," Surajah said. "This is not a place for talking.
There are four or five soldiers there, watching us."
The old man entered the house, and closed the door behind them.
"How would you counsel us to proceed?" he asked, as soon as they had
seated themselves on a divan, formed of a low bank of beaten earth,
with a thick covering of straw.
"It is simple enough," Surajah said. "One of you would take the order,
on the sultan's treasury, to a large village down in the plain. You
would go to a trader, and say that you wished to purchase so much
grain and other goods, and would pay for them with an order on the
sultan's treasury. It would probably be accepted as readily as cash,
for the trader would send it to a merchant, or banker, at Seringapatam
to get it cashed for him, to pay for goods he had obtained there; and
either to send him any balance there might be, or to retain it for
further purchases. An order of that kind is better than money, for
trading purposes, for there would be no fear of its being stolen on
the way, as it could be hidden in the hair, or shoe, or anywhere among
the clothes of the messenger.
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