The peacocks shrilled and hopped from back to back for such grain as fell upon the bristly backs of the pigs.

Here and there a white peacock would be snared, or a boar whose tusks promised a battle royal with some leopard or tiger.
And through all this turmoil and clamor Ahmed and Lal Singh moved, sounding the true sentiments of the people.

They did not want white kings or white queens; they desired to be ruled by their kind, who would not start innovations but would let affairs drift on as they had done for centuries.
Nor was Bruce inactive.

Many a time Umballa had stood within an arm's length of death; but always Bruce had resisted the impulse.

It would be rank folly to upset Ramabai's plans, which were to culminate in Umballa's overthrow.
But upon a certain hour Ramabai came to Bruce, much alarmed.