The Adventures of Akbar by Flora Annie Steel
page 20 of 178 (11%)
page 20 of 178 (11%)
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scullion, but what about that they may do supperless? If they should
dare----" "They will not dare," said a clear, sharp voice, and Roy the Râjput lad stepped forward, a light in his great eyes. "My mother used to say, 'Fear not! A king's son is a king's son always, so be that he forgets not kingship.'" Head-nurse stood puzzled for a second, then she caught the meaning of the lad's words, for she was a clever, capable woman, and had all a woman's quickness. "Thou art right, my lad," she said slowly, looking curiously at Roy, from whose face the flash of memory seemed to have passed. "Thou art right. In royalty lies safety. The Heir-to-Empire must receive his enemies as a King! Quick! slaves! Close the tent door and let us bring forth all we have, and make all things as regal as we can. There is no time to lose." And they did not lose any. The result being that when, quarter of an hour afterward, Prince Askurry, bitterly disappointed at finding that his real quarry, the King and Queen, had escaped, strode with some of his followers into the tent where he was told Baby Akbar was to be found, he paused at the door, first in astonishment and then in amusement. It was really rather a pretty picture which he saw. To begin with the tent had been lit up with the little rushlight lamps they call in India _chiraghs_--tiny saucers which can be made of mud in which a cotton wick floats in a few drops of oil--and a row of these outlined the mule trunk |
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