the of his hands and feet showed that the ruler of came of the oldest blood in his fathers had fought hard and ridden far with sword and that would hardly serve an english child his face was and and the dull eyes stared wearily above deep rugged to accustomed to read the motives of western the men in their faces there seemed to be neither fear nor desire in those eyes � only an everlasting weariness it was like looking at an extinct � a that in good english had a natural interest in dogs and the keenest possible desire to himself with the ruler of the state as a king he considered him something of an but as a brother and the lord of the he was to more than a brother that is to say the brother of one s beloved he spoke and to the point come again said the with a light of real interest in his eyes as a little drew off his guest come again this evening after dinner you have come from new countries his majesty later carried away by the evening draught of without which no can talk or think taught this stranger who told him tales of white men beyond the seas the royal game of they played it far into the night in the marble court yard surrounded by green shutters from behind which could hear without turning his head the whisper of watching women and the rustle of silken robes the palace he saw was all eyes next morning at dawn he found the king a story of west and east waiting at the head of the main street of his city for a certain notorious wild to come home the game laws of extended to the streets of walled towns and the wild pig rooted at night in the the pig came and was dropped at a hundred yards by his majesty s new express rifle it was a clean shot and applauded cordially had his majesty the king ever seen a flying coin hit by a the weary eyes brightened with childish delight the king had not seen this feat and had not the coin flung an american quarter and it with his revolver as it fell thereupon the king begged him to do it again which his reputation politely declined to do unless one of the court officials would set the example the king was himself anxious to try and threw the coin for him the bullet close to s ear but the quarter on the grass was when he picked it up the king liked s as well as if it had been his own and was not the man to him the following morning the royal favor was completely withdrawn and it was not until he had conferred with the in the rest house that learned that had the been indulging one of her on this he transferred himself and his abundant capacity for interesting men to colonel and made that weary white haired man laugh as he had not laughed since he had been a over an account of the king s revolver practice shared his luncheon and discovered from him in the course of the afternoon the true policy of the government of india in regard to the state of the government hoped to it but as the would not pay for the means of civilization the progress was slow colonel s account of the internal policy of the palace given with official caution was absolutely different from the missionary s which again differed entirely from the profane account of the men in the rest house at twilight the pursued with a mounted messenger for the favor of the royal countenance was restored and he required the presence of the tall man who in the air told tales and played there was more than upon the board that night and his majesty the king grew pathetic and confided to a long and particular account of his own and the state s which presented everything in a fourth new light he concluded with an appeal to the president of the a story of west and east united states on whose powers and far reaching authority dwelt with a patriotism extended for the moment to embrace the nation to which belonged for many reasons he did not conceive that this was an time to open for the transfer of the the would have given away half his kingdom and appealed to the resident in the morning the next day and many succeeding days brought to the door of the rest house where was still staying a procession of rainbow clad ministers of the court each one who looked with contempt on the waiting commercial travellers and made themselves known to whom they warned in and english against trusting anybody except themselves each confidence wound up with and i am your true friend sir and each man accused his fellows to the stranger of every crime against the state or ill will toward the government of india that it had entered his own brain to conceive could only faintly conjecture what all this meant it seemed to him no extraordinary mark of court favor to play with the king and the of oriental were dark to him the ministers were equally at a loss to the understand him he had walked in upon them from out the sky line utterly self possessed utterly fearless and so far as they could see utterly disinterested the greater reason therefore for suspecting that he was a veiled of the government whose plans they could not that he was ignorant of everything to the government of india only confirmed their belief it was enough for them to know that he went to the king in secret was with him for hours and possessed for the time being the royal ear these smooth stately mysterious strangers filled with weariness 