"They are there, my lord," replied the chief. "I was in the temple last night disguised as a Byragee, with my nephew and four others: we heard the recitations from the Ramayun, which, to Hindus, are very much what the Peer Sahib is saying now in the mosque yonder, and said yesterday at the Eedgah on the plain, when the whole force shouted 'Deen, deen!' and it sounded like thunder. Jey Rao Nimbalkur was there, and some of the Kallays----" "How many?" said the Khan, impatiently interrupting him; "what care I for their teeth-breaking names?" "Five hundred perhaps, including followers." "And is this temple a strong place? Do we require guns?" "Strong enough to defend if they knew you were coming," returned Pahar Singh, "but for the most part they will be unarmed, and looking at the show. We need only cavalry to surround the town, and no one can escape us. No guns, my lord; they could not be taken up the mountain at night, and ours must be a surprise, else the temple will be dark as midnight." "Ya Alla! ya Kabiz!" (destroyer of enemies), muttered the Khan to himself, "a rare trap for these Kaffirs--let them die! Good," he continued; "it shall be done; but when? I should march to-morrow for Sholapoor." "Do so, my lord, and halt at Tandoolwaree; 'tis half way. I will join you there with some of my people the day after to-morrow, and lead you by a pass in the hills which I know of at night, so that we can surround the place unobserved. Take some of your own men and Ibrahim Khan's Abyssinians; they know no fear, and are more certain than the braggart, plundering Dekhanies, who are afraid of the Mother who sits in the glen, though they are Mussulmans." "What Mother, friend?" "Only she in the temple; we Hindus call her the 'Mother'; and she, my lord, must not be touched." "No, no; nor her people, I will see to that," said, the Khan. "And the affair must be kept secret, Khan," he continued. "It is known to thee and me, Pahar Singh, and to no one else; not even my son shall know of it till we march." "Now let me depart," said the chief, "and the night after next I will come." "God willing," replied the Khan, dismissing his strange visitor with a courteous salutation. CHAPTER LIII. On her return home, Tara being still asleep, Radha could not conceal from Anunda the agitation which the scene with her brother had caused her. As she reached the inner apartments, she threw herself upon Anunda's neck, and the terror she felt at what she considered a narrow escape from death, found relief in a flood of tears. The particulars of that scene she dared not fully relate: but Anunda gathered enough from her to believe that Moro Trimmul had threatened, if not struck his sister, and that Tara's suspicions were but too deeply founded.