CHANDRA SHEKHAR
CHAPTER I
kulsam
O, the bird won't dance. Now tell your story, said Dalani Begum, and pulled the peacock that did not dance by its tail-coverts. She then took off from her hand the diamond bracelet, and put it round the neck of another peacock. She next squirted the face of a parrot with rose-water. The parrot chidingly cried out, "slave." Dalani herself had taught the bird this word of reproach.
Close by, a maid-servant was trying to make the birds dance. To her Dalani had said, "Now, tell your story."
Kulsam said, "It is nothing more than this. Two boats loaded with arms have arrived at the Ghat. An Englishman is in charge of them; those two boats have been seized by our men. Ali Ibrahim Khan is of opinion that the boats should be allowed to pass. If they are detained under arrest, a quarrel
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