Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/262

250 contempt for their inferiors. It would not do to place them in the dormitories of the school ; on the other hand, unaccustomed as they were to European habits of living, she could not give them a bedroom in her own house. There was a small bungalow in the compound which was used as a store-house. One of its rooms was empty; this was prepared and made as comfortable as was in her power for the reception of the scions of royalty.

Fortunately she had on her staff of teachers a high-caste woman who had been brought up in the palace of Tanjore, and knew something of the treatment suitable for Oriental princes. She had been educated as a dancing girl, the only class of women to whom the Hindus grant education. She possessed sufficient knowledge of the classical languages of the East to make herself understood by the boys. She was put in charge of them as their governess, and under her care they settled down without further trouble to their new life.

Before long the spirits of the boys returned. They mixed with the scholars of the Mission, and with an imperialism that was in their blood they took the lead in all their games. Athletics were a popular form of amusement with them. They organised sports with wrestling and acrobatic performances, which were made attractive by the special costumes donned for the occasion. The young princes' pocket-money went in bright-coloured cloths and tinsel for personal adornment.

The curiosity of the Hindus of the bazaars and villages round Puttoor was aroused. Trespassing in the Mission grounds had for some time past been a nuisance in more ways than one. The curiosity increased. Not content with gazing, the trespassers laid light fingers upon any trifle that might be within reach. When at last a brilliant acrobatic property disappeared the