"Of course," he went on, "if you are suddenly told that you are to be given to any one, you must slip out at once, and come here. You will find everything ready for you to disguise yourself, and you must do that at once, and wait here till one of us comes. Even if you are missed, it will be some time before any search is made, and it would be thought much more likely that you had gone down into the town, than that you were hiding in the Palace, so there would be no chance of their looking for you here before we return. Anyhow, we shall be able to have another talk before Tippoo comes back. We shall be here every morning until nine, and if you are able to get away again, come and see us. "It will be better, perhaps, for you not to wait any longer, now. I suppose you have been charged with some message or other, and it would not do for you to be too long gone." The girl stood up at once. "I have to go down to the Pettah, to get some sewing silk to match this;" and she drew out a small fragment of yellow silk. "Very well, then. You had better go and do it, or they may think that you are too long away. "Goodbye, Annie. I hope that in another week, or ten days at the latest, I shall have you out of this;" and he held out his hand to her. She took it timidly, and would have raised it to her forehead, but Dick said, laughing: "That is not the way, Annie. English girls don't treat their friends as if they were lords and masters. They just shake hands with them, as if it were two men, or two girls." "I shall know better, in time," she said, with a faint smile, though her eyes were full of tears. "I want to do something, though I don't know what. You saved my life from the tiger, and now you are going to save me again. I should like to throw myself down, and kiss your feet." "You would make me horribly uncomfortable, if you did anything of the sort, Annie. I can understand that you feel strange and out of your element, at present, but you will soon get over that, when you come to know me better. "There, goodbye, lassie. I hope to see you again, tomorrow or next day, and then you will be able to tell me more about yourself. "Is the coast clear, Surajah?" Surajah looked out through the curtains. "There is no one in sight," he said, a moment later. The girl passed silently out, and went down the corridor. Surajah returned from his post by the door. "The poor girl is shy and awkward, as yet," Dick said, "but I think she will be plucky enough, when the time comes. You heard what we said. The first thing will be to get her disguise ready for her. What do you think? Had we better take Ibrahim with us? I think he is to be trusted." "I am sure he is," Surajah agreed. "He is a Hindoo of Coorg, and was carried away as a slave, six years ago. In the first place, he will be delighted at the prospect of getting away; and in the next, I am sure that he is very fond of you. But there is no occasion to tell him that you are English."