Captain
Clive has strongly recommended you for this difficult mission."
"I fear, sir, that I could hardly pass as a native. The moonshee is
constantly correcting mistakes which I make, in speaking."
"That may be so," Mr. Saunders said; "but there are a score of
dialects in Southern India, and you could be passed upon nineteen of
the twenty peoples who speak them, as belonging to one of the other."
"If you think, sir, that I shall do," Charlie said; "I shall be glad
to undertake the mission."
"Very well, Mr. Marryat, that is understood, then. You will receive
full instructions in writing, and will understand that your duty is
not only to drill the troops of this chief; but to give him such
advice as may suit his and our interests; to strengthen his good
feeling towards us; and to form, as far as possible, a compact little
force which might, at a critical moment, be of immense utility. You
will, of course, master the geography of the country, of which we are
all but absolutely ignorant; find out about the passes, the mountain
paths, the defensible positions. All these things may someday be of
the highest importance.
"You will have a few days to make your arrangements, and settle as to
the character you will adopt.
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