Presently, he reined in his horse suddenly.
"This might be the reason," he said, excitedly. This governor may be
the very one who we heard had taken my father with him, when he was
moved from that fort up in the north. He was in command at
Kistnagherry before he came here, after the war, and he may have gone
to Kistnagherry from that fort in the north. You see there have been
executions, but they have been those of fresh batches sent up, and the
governor would not include the captive he had brought with him. In
time, his very existence may have been forgotten, and he may still be
living there. That would account for the governor's objection to
answering the question, as he would be sure that, did Tippoo hear
there was a prisoner there, he would send orders for him to be
executed at once.
"This may be all fancy, Surajah, but I cannot think of any other
reason why he should have shirked my question."
He took up the reins again, and the horse at once started forward.
They rode for some little time in silence, Dick thinking the matter
over, again and again, and becoming more and more convinced he was
right; except that, as he admitted to himself, the prisoner whom the
governor wished to shield might not be his father.
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