When he was gone we held another council of war. It was by no means
clear that the last declaration of the chief was a sincere one; but
it might have been a temporizing answer elicited by the perhaps
unexpected boldness of Sturt's remark. We determined, at all events,
to keep on the alert, guard against any surprise, avoid as much as
possible offering any pretext for offence, and, if the worst came to
the worst, make as good a resistance as we could.

The next day we received a polite message, requesting an interview,
and asking us to visit him in his favourite garden. Under all
circumstances we deemed it best to allow it to appear that our
suspicions were dissipated, and we accordingly accepted the
invitation, and found the Meer seated on the chabooka, or _raised
platform of masonry_, under the shade of some magnificent trees. He
immediately commenced saying, "The reason I did not go out to meet you
as you approached my city is, that during the warm weather I sleep the
greater portion of the day and sit up enjoying the coolness of the
night air; but I sent a messenger to escort you in with all care, and
unfortunately _he missed the way_." Such an excuse was possible, but
not at all probable. We did not give him credit for telling the truth
about the guide, as there was only one road from Heibuk, and the
approach of our party to Koollum was known in the city several days
before our arrival. It was now evident to us that on our approach the
Meer Walli was undecided whether he should treat us as friends or
foes; it seemed that for the present he had determined in our favour,
but distrusting his capricious disposition we were only the more
anxious to get out of his reach, though we both agreed that the wisest
and safest plan would be to carry our heads very high and put a bold
front upon all our proceedings. This decision we came to whilst