the trouble was clearly discovered. It only remained to catch the monkeys and dispossess them of the jewels. That was not in Lambert’s contract. But he was given to understand that except being driven from the spot no further punishment would fall on the monkeys. They were sacred to the Hindus, and in the state of popular excitement it would not be wise to rouse the resentment of that faction. Perhaps stirred by gratitude Dunkar Rao gave an order that among the articles first recovered must be Lambert Sahib’s suspenders.
A few hours later, when peace had descended upon the city, Lambert strolled into the jeweler’s bazaar. In a back room of one of the shops a wonderful lot of barbaric trinkets was tossed at his feet for selection. Finally he chose a pearl necklace valued at three thousand rupees, which he figured out in this way—twenty-five hundred as little enough recompense for the danger in which Dunkar Rao’s son had involved the mullah’s daughter, and five hundred from his own pocket as no price at all for her embrace. But to Lambert the gift did not seem quite complete. He wanted the girl to know—— something. He was compelled to enlist the assistance of the jeweler, who seemed familiar with transactions requiring discretion if not secrecy. Presently he wrote some lines on a slip of rose-tinted paper.
“I think, sahib, she will understand,” he said. “Those Persian words mean——“May the brightness of thine eyes he a perpetual delight, may the sweetness of thy lips be as a pearl of great price, may the touch of thy hand fall as the dew of Heaven. May Allah preserve thee from all harm.”
“Yes,” nodded Lambert, “that’s just what I wish. Send along the message with the necklace. I guess it
