128 Interlopers and Interloping. 



do very well, little by little, and, thank Heaven ! 

 there is heaps of room to extend. What a lovely 

 country it is, to be sure, save an occasional official on 

 tour, the place seems really terra incognita to the 

 white man. 



Slowly, however, the little cloud, not nearly so large 

 as a man's hand, appears just about the horizon, and 

 it spreads out towards the young enterprise and be- 

 comes threatening. What is this little cloud which 

 threatens to envelope, to overwhelm the new empire ? 

 Whence the strange flutter in the dovecots of the spe- 

 culators? Good 26 miles away is the factory of 

 Mr. Green. He has heard of the " interlopers," and 

 if money can do it, he will oust them. The simple 

 zemindar, who had willingly granted a lease who 

 had known no European save our young friends to 

 whom the small advance had been salvation, who 

 had been proud of the confidence placed in him by 

 the sahibs, and the high position of friend and patron, 

 the zemindar, has been worked upon by still more 

 glittering offers, and unstable as water, he sells to 

 Mr. Green. Right and title, the power to give or 

 hold, option to grant or smash the quite conditional 

 lease which the adventurers had taken, in all good 

 faith, from the zemindar, all are vested in Mr. Green. 

 But he will be merciful. He too had struggled, 

 " Topic, topie ek " will be amply vindicated in their 



