Therefore, while the appearance of an English officer, as instructor
of the forces of the rajah, would have drawn upon himself the instant
hostility of all opposed to the British; the circulation of a report
that his troops were being disciplined by some English and native
deserters, from the Company's forces, would excite no suspicion
whatever.
To avoid attracting attention, Charlie Marryat and his party set out
before daylight from Madras. Their appearance, indeed, would have
attracted no attention, when they once had passed beyond the
boundaries of the portion of the town occupied by the whites. In the
native quarter, the appearance of a small zemindar, or landowner,
attended by four or five armed followers on foot, was of such common
occurrence as to attract no attention whatever; and, indeed, numbers
of these come in to take service in the Sepoy regiments, the
profession of arms being always considered honorable, in India.
For a fortnight they travelled, by easy stages, without question or
suspicion being excited that they were not what they seemed. They were
now among the hills, and soon arrived at Ambur, the seat of the rajah.
The town was a small one, and above it rose the fortress, which stood
on a rock rising sheer from the bottom of the valley, and standing
boldly out from the hillside.
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