The Maharajah was too complete a coward to do anything much until he was forced into it.
The Rangars, he resolved, must be made to take the blame for the broaching of the treasure.

He proposed to go about the broaching even before hostilities between himself and his brother had commenced, and he expected to be able to trick the Rangars into seeming to be looting.

To appear to defend the treasure would probably not be difficult; and it would be even less difficult to blame the Rangars afterward for the death of any priest who might succumb during the ensuing struggle.

He counted on the populace, more than on his own organized forces, to make the Rangars powerless when the time should come for them to try to take the upper hand.

The mob would suffer in the process, but its fanaticism--its religious prejudice and numbers--would surely win the day.
As for Rosemary McClean, the more he considered her the more his brown eyes glowed.