hospital. They have been used chiefly for
taking off heads. This once belonged to
Dhyan Singh, and that to Heera Singh,
who were both assassinated. They are of
Damascus steel, and are sharper than any of
these knives or scalpels. I have sent a
number of swords to England to have them
made into surgical instruments." Here our
conversation was interrupted by a domestic,
who announced—

               "THE LALLAH SAHIB;"

and presently a native gentleman walked, or
rather limped (for he was lame of the right
leg) into the room, and made a very graceful
salaam, first to the Rajah and then to myself.
He was rather short in stature, but very
stoutly built, and about forty years of age.
His eyes were full of intelligence and vigour,
and his features regular and well-shapen.
His manners were easy, affable, unassuming,
and modest, and his attire as plain and
quiet as possible.

"This gentleman, Sahib," said the Rajah,
addressing me, "is a great friend of mine.
This house belongs to him. A strange world
is this! Only a few years ago I offered a
reward of a lac of rupees (ten thousand
pounds) for his head, or two lacs to any one
who would bring him alive to my tent."

"Indeed!"

"Yes; and if I had caught him, how
changed would have been the whole face of
affairs in this country!"

"How so?"

"This gentleman was the contractor for
the British army; and, if I had got hold of
him, the army could not have been supplied."

"But why was he worth more alive than
dead? "I asked with a laugh, in which the
native gentleman heartily joined.

"Because," returned the Rajah, coolly, "if
we had secured him alive we would have
made him feed us with the supplies bought
with his own money; which should also have
paid the reward for his capture. This, by the
way, was claimed by several who brought in
heads, alleging that each was the head of
the Lallah the contractor; but the attempted
imposition was discovered, and the
perpetrators were themselves decapitated."

Unlike Hindoos and Mussulmans, who
drink in secret, Lall Singh drank neat
brandy openly; and, rising from his chair,
he administered unto himself a couple of
glasses—or rather a tumbler half-filled—on
this occasion. He could take more than two
bottles of brandy without being in the least
intoxicated. This was owing, of course, to
the circumstance that he consumed considerable
quantities of bhang; just in the same
way that an opium-eater is rarely or never
affected by drinking deeply of wine.

The Rajah's visitor, the Lallah Jooteepersâd,
had a grievance, and a rather substantial
one. He had claimed from the
Government fifty-seven lacs of rupees (half a
million and seventy thousand pounds sterling)
as the balance due to him for feeding the
armies employed during the two Seik
campaigns; and the Government had threatened
to prosecute him, in one of their own courts,
for an attempt to make an overcharge of
forty thousand rupees, or four thousand
pounds.

"And if they understand the principles of
good government thoroughly," said the
Rajah, " they will convict you, imprison you
for life, and confiscate all your possessions,
real and personal. That is the way the
Lahore Durbar would have settled so large a
claim. But the Indian Government has not
the courage to act in that way."

"But I have not attempted to make an
overcharge; and if my agents have done so,
let it be deducted, if it be incorrect," said the
Lallah.

"You are a criminal," said the Rajah.

"How so?" asked the Lallah.

"You say the Government owes you fifty-
seven lacs?"

"Yes—and honestly."

"Well, is not that enough to warrant your
being transported for life, or hanged? But,
as I have told you, the Government has not
courage to prosecute you."

In this opinion, however Lall Singh was in
error; for, that very night, the Lallah was
informed that he was, to all intents and
purposes, a prisoner, and must not leave
Agra. The firm belief of every native, not
only in the district but throughout India,
was, that these proceedings had been taken
to evade payment of the contractor's just
demands. But the Lallah himself was the
first to deny this assertion, and to declare
that the prosecution arose out of the circumstance
of the Commissary-General being a
near relative of the Governor-General of
India; that a civilian in power had a quarrel
with the Commissary-General, and had
represented, semi-officially, that great frauds
had been committed, and there could be no
question that the heads of the departments
were cognisant of such frauds; that the
Governor-General, anxious that the honour
of a member of his ancient family should be
cleared up, had determined upon a strict
investigation; and that the civilian in question
suggested the public prosecution of the
contractor as the speediest and most
satisfactory means of arriving at the result!
And such was the opinion of many officers
of the Government, civil and military.

The contractor, however, was eventually
acquitted, and the Government paid the bill.
But, to this day, the natives of India believe
that the object of the Government was to
cheat their creditor; while the officers, civil
and military, are equally sanguine that it
was "the honour of the family" that led to
the most extraordinary and protracted trial
that ever was known in India, and which
was emphatically denounced, by the press