"Alarmed at this unusual sensation, the prince asserted himself against its depressing influence with all his customary resolution, and was finally able to reach the ante-room.

"It was deserted!

"He hastened to the passageway outside.

"Not a soul was visible; an unearthly stillness prevailed.

"'Ah!' he cried with sudden realization, 'my messenger has been too liberal with his news; they have heard of the British advance.'

"Thirty vital minutes had passed, and away in the dim distance an animated spot of red and gleam began to emerge.

"Again that inexplicable numbness and alarming physical weakness.

"With trembling hands he supported himself along the walls and finally reached the apartment in which he held his mimic court.

"A burning thirst began to parch his lips and throat; he hastened to the carafe in which the water for his use was usually held.

"It was empty.

"'Ah!' the prince groaned aloud; the veins of his forehead knotted; a sharp, strained look appeared in his eyes, and he shivered with a mortal chill.

"A stinging, sharp surge attracted his attention to his right wrist.

"It was swollen beyond its usual size, and a bluish discoloration surrounded the livid line where the dagger point had penetrated.

"He placed his hands together and noted their disproportion, considered the wounded arm, and then--he remembered.

"'The dagger!' he gasped, and a new horror charged his bloodshot eyes as he recalled the devilish craft employed by the natives to envenom their weapons.

"'Poisoned! and by Lal Lu!'

"At this thought the malignant light of a fearful determination illumed his features and revealed their frightful distortion.

"'I shall not--go--alone!' he sighed, and repossessing himself of the fatal dagger, which he had cast upon the table on entering the room, he rose from the chair, looked with fearful purpose upon the curtains which disguised the entrance to the secret passageway from which he had emerged but a short time before, took one step forward, and then fell inertly on to the couch from which he had risen in the excitement of his malignant impulse.

"'Ha!' The faint sound of an alien air smote his ears.

"'The bagpipes!' he muttered; 'the Scots, the hellish Highlanders.'

"Nearer and nearer the lively air was borne to him.

"His raging pulse thrummed through his palpitating veins a rhythmic, mocking accompaniment to the swelling music.

"His frame stiffened and stretched as though subjected to the distortion of the ancient rack.

"The agony was unendurable. With a final conscious effort he reached for the poisoned weapon to bring his sufferings to a summary conclusion, but his failing will could no longer vitalize his palsied arm, and with a gasp that seemed to rend his tortured body, to the weird orchestration of that refrain which was destined in the near future to herald such joy at Lucknow, 'The Campbells Are Coming, Hi-ay, Hi-ay!' the spirit of Prince Otondo returned to Him who gave it, to be put into what repair was possible for such a proposition.

"As the last writhing rigor ceased to convulse his frame, the prince lurched forward, and his body collapsed into an attitude not unlike that of one engaged in some dejecting reflection.

"By a singular nervous caprice he had raised his hands to his face, which he had clutched in his agony, and his elbows rested upon the table in grewsome support of his head.

"This ghastly calm, however, of which he was the center, was to be interrupted.

"A trumpet blast sounded without the gate; a clamor of voices filled the air.

"The bagpipes, in anticipation of some show of resistance, had ceased their stirring strains; within, the silence of an ambuscade prevailed.

"Suddenly, through the unguarded entrance rushed a body of red-coated soldiers; but their advance was unopposed; the courtyard was abandoned.

"One danger alone remained--an attack from within. But there was none to receive the detested intruders but the pulseless master, from whom all majesty had departed.

"Over the grounds they swarmed, through the doors, along the passageways.

"Abreast of the leading officer appeared the turbaned head and white-robed figure of Ram Lal.

"As the two entered the apartment and gazed upon its silent occupant, with the same impulse both came to a standstill, impressed by the unnatural attitude and the chill undemonstration of the richly-clad figure.

"'It is the prince!' cried Ram Lal.

"At once the officer turned to command the curious detachment which had followed them to remain without, and placing a sergeant on guard in the ante-room, he resumed his investigation of the dead man.

"He had not seen the quick approach of Ram Lal, nor the rapid movement of his searching hand.

"It was over in an instant, but in that instant Ram Lal had assured himself of the presence of the precious jacket beneath the cambric folds.

"'He is dead!' he cried to the officer, as the latter approached to discover some reason for this shocking sight.

"'He is still warm,' exclaimed the other, as he placed his hand, with careless familiarity, upon the cheek of the prince.

"'Let us see,' he continued, 'if his heart still beats.'

"As the officer knelt in order to accommodate his head to the leaning position of the body, Ram Lal stood as one transfixed.

"His hand crept slowly to the dagger upon the table, which he grasped with an expression of desperate determination as the officer placed his ear close to the riches concealed beneath the tunic of the prince.

"Kneeling thus, with scarcely a hand-breadth between him and wealth such as he had never dared to dream of, with the menacing figure of the merchant directly above him, prepared to strike at the least indication of suspicion of the jacket and its priceless contents, the pair presented a striking tableau of the sardonic jest in which fate sometimes indulges in providing such nearness of opportunity and such a threat to its embrace.

"'There is something thick about the body!' exclaimed the kneeling officer.

"Ram Lal crept nearer.

"'Yes,' he replied with a stifled voice, as he shot a quick glance toward the curtained doorway, on the other side of which the sergeant was posted, 'yes, the prince was of a phthisical tendency.

"'He was compelled to protect himself against inequalities of temperature.'

"At this instant the quick eye of the merchant detected the livid scratch on the dead man's arm. 'Ha!' he cried, with an intonation which caused the officer to forego his examination for the moment and regard the merchant attentively.

"'Here!' cried the latter, pointing to the discolored and swollen wrist, 'here! There is no need to look for further sign of life; his heart will beat no more. This dagger has been inserted in the poison sac of the cobra--and here is the result!'