The lad addressed him at once in his own tongue, and they were soon talking freely together.

The officer was surprised at finding that his lord's nephew, from beyond the sea, was able to speak the language like a native.
First, Dick asked the nature of the country, and the places at which they would halt on their way.

Then he inquired what force the Rajah could put into the field, and was somewhat disappointed to hear that he kept up but a hundred horsemen, including those who served as an escort.
"You see, Sahib, there is no occasion for soldiers.

Now that the whites are the masters, they do the fighting for us.

When the Rajah's father was a young man, he could put two thousand men under arms, and he joined at the siege of Trichinopoly with twelve hundred.