"Magnificent! Oh, magnificent! " said the Infant loyally. I had
never heard him sing but once, and then, though it was early in
the tolerant morning, his mess had rolled him into a lotus pond.
"How did you get your cannibals to work for you?" asked
Strickland.
"They got converted to civilization after my Chief smashed Ibn
Makarrah--just at the time I wanted 'em. You see my Chief had
promised me in writing that if I could scrape up a surplus he
would not bag it for his roads this time, but I might have it for
my cotton game. I only needed two hundred pounds. Our revenues
didn't run to it."
"What is your revenue?" Stalky asked in the vernacular.
"With hut-tax, traders' game and mining licenses, not more than
fourteen thousand rupees; every penny of it ear-marked months
ahead." Adam sighed.
"Also there is a fine for dogs straying in the Sahib's camp. Last
year it exceeded three rupees," Imam Din said quietly.
"Well, I thought that was fair. They howled so. We were rather
strict on fines.
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