Chapter XXXIV. Sergeant Stubbs is Curious.
It was Dick’s duty at times to visit posts and when going round the old palace, where a corporal’s guard was always on duty and the gates kept shut, he often thought of their adventures in the place, and frequently took a walk round the ramparts, wondering how their nocturnal visitor had contrived to make his way into the well-guarded place and lay the train. But he made no progress.
He visited, too, the great temple, where Sergeant Stubbs had his quarters, with a small detachment of men acting as custodians of the place in the Rajah’s interest. The latter had more than once talked with Dick of the treasure there, in addition to the valuables connected with the various idols and priestly ceremony, saying that it was better that the English troops should have the custody.
“We are at peace now,” he said, “and I feel more secure than ever on my throne, but there is no knowing what may happen.”
There were no black looks now on the part of the Brahmin and the attendant priests, and it seemed as if the officers and men were welcome, for the treatment they received and the deference paid were of a marked character; while, on the other hand, the discipline kept up by the sergeant was stringent, and the temple people saw that every object in the vast, gloomy place was treated with the greatest respect.
Oddly enough, Stubbs selected Black Bob, as he was still called, to be his right-hand man there, and once only upon one of his visits Dick made a remark about it to the sergeant.
“Well, yes, sir, it does seem comic. There was a time when I’d rather have had any other man in the troop, and I don’t think I like him a bit better than then, but I’d trust him to do anything, or with anything. He don’t like me either, but you know he respects me as a soldier, and I respect him. He’s a gentleman still, and as a soldier—well, there, you know what he can do.”
“You’re not afraid of his helping himself to any of the idols’ jewels, then, Stubbs?”
“No, nor to any of the gold and silver down in the vaults here, sir. Not he. It’s a wonderfully rich place, sir. I don’t wonder at the Rajah liking to have us here. You get him to show you what there is here some day.”