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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13340 ***
+
+MR. ISAACS
+A TALE OF MODERN INDIA
+
+BY F. MARION CRAWFORD
+
+
+1882
+
+
+
+BY F. MARION CRAWFORD
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+In spite of Jean-Jacques and his school, men are not everywhere born
+free, any more than they are everywhere in chains, unless these be of
+their own individual making. Especially in countries where excessive
+liberty or excessive tyranny favours the growth of that class most
+usually designated as adventurers, it is true that man, by his own
+dominant will, or by a still more potent servility, may rise to any
+grade of elevation; as by the absence of these qualities he may fall to
+any depth in the social scale.
+
+Wherever freedom degenerates into license, the ruthless predatory
+instinct of certain bold and unscrupulous persons may, and almost
+certainly will, place at their disposal the goods, the honours, and the
+preferment justly the due of others; and in those more numerous and
+certainly more unhappy countries, where the rule of the tyrant is
+substituted for the law of God, the unwearying flatterer, patient under
+blows and abstemious under high-feeding, will assuredly make his way to
+power.
+
+Without doubt the Eastern portion of the world, where an hereditary, or
+at least traditional, despotism has never ceased since the earliest
+social records, and where a mode of thought infinitely more degrading
+than any feudalism has become ingrained in the blood and soul of the
+chief races, presents far more favourable conditions to the growth and
+development of the true adventurer than are offered in any free country.
+For in a free country the majority can rise and overthrow the favourite
+of fortune, whereas in a despotic country they cannot. Of Eastern
+countries in this condition, Russia is the nearest to us; though perhaps
+we understand the Chinese character better than the Russian. The Ottoman
+empire and Persia are, and always have been, swayed by a clever band of
+flatterers acting through their nominal master; while India, under the
+kindly British rule, is a perfect instance of a ruthless military
+despotism, where neither blood nor stratagem have been spared in
+exacting the uttermost farthing from the miserable serfs--they are
+nothing else--and in robbing and defrauding the rich of their just and
+lawful possessions. All these countries teem with stories of adventurers
+risen from the ranks to the command of armies, of itinerant merchants
+wedded to princesses, of hardy sailors promoted to admiralties, of
+half-educated younger sons of English peers dying in the undisputed
+possession of ill-gotten millions. With the strong personal despotism of
+the First Napoleon began a new era of adventurers in France; not of
+elegant and accomplished adventurers like M. de St. Germain, Cagliostro,
+or the Comtesse de la Motte, but regular rag-tag-and-bobtail cut-throat
+moss-troopers, who carved and slashed themselves into notice by sheer
+animal strength and brutality.
+
+There is infinitely more grace and romance about the Eastern adventurer.
+There is very little slashing and hewing to be done there, and what
+there is, is managed as quietly as possible. When a Sultan must be rid
+of the last superfluous wife, she is quietly done up in a parcel with a
+few shot, and dropped into the Bosphorus without more ado. The good
+old-fashioned Rajah of Mudpoor did his killing without scandal, and when
+the kindly British wish to keep a secret, the man is hanged in a quiet
+place where there are no reporters. As in the Greek tragedies, the
+butchery is done behind the scenes, and there is no glory connected with
+the business, only gain. The ghosts of the slain sometimes appear in the
+columns of the recalcitrant Indian newspapers and gibber a feeble little
+"Otototoi!" after the manner of the shade of Dareios, but there is very
+little heed paid to such visitations by the kindly British. But though
+the "raw head and bloody bones" type of adventurer is little in demand
+in the East, there is plenty of scope for the intelligent and wary
+flatterer, and some room for the honest man of superior gifts, who is
+sufficiently free from Oriental prejudice to do energetically the thing
+which comes in his way, distancing all competitors for the favours of
+fortune by sheer industry and unerring foresight.
+
+I once knew a man in the East who was neither a flatterer nor
+freebooter, but who by his own masterly perseverance worked his way to
+immense wealth, and to such power as wealth commands, though his high
+view of the social aims of mankind deterred him from mixing in political
+questions. _Bon chien chasse de race_ is a proverb which applies to
+horses, cattle, and men, as well as to dogs; and in this man, who was a
+noble type of the Aryan race, the qualities which have made that race
+dominant were developed in the highest degree. The sequel, indeed, might
+lead the ethnographer into a labyrinth of conjecture, but the story is
+too tempting a one for me to forego telling it, although the said
+ethnographer should lose his wits in striving to solve the puzzle.
+
+In September, 1879, I was at Simla in the lower Himalayas,--at the time
+of the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari at Kabul,--being called there in
+the interests of an Anglo-Indian newspaper, of which I was then editor.
+In other countries, notably in Europe and in America, there are hundreds
+of spots by the sea-shore, or on the mountain-side, where specific ills
+may be cured by their corresponding antidotes of air or water, or both.
+Following the aristocratic and holy example of the Bishops of Salzburg
+for the last eight centuries, the sovereigns of the Continent are told
+that the air and waters of Hofgastein are the only nenuphar for the
+over-taxed brain in labour beneath a crown. The self-indulgent sybarite
+is recommended to Ems, or Wiesbaden, or Aix-la-Chapelle, and the
+quasi-incurable sensualist to Aix in Savoy, or to Karlsbad in Bohemia.
+In our own magnificent land Bethesdas abound, in every state, from the
+attractive waters of lotus-eating Saratoga to the magnetic springs of
+Lansing, Michigan; from Virginia, the carcanet of sources, the heaving,
+the warm, the hot sulphur springs, the white sulphur, the alum, to the
+hot springs of Arkansas, the Ultima Thule of our migratory and
+despairing humanity. But in India, whatever the ailing, low fever, high
+fever, "brandy pawnee" fever, malaria caught in the chase of tigers in
+the Terai, or dysentery imbibed on the banks of the Ganges, there is
+only one cure, the "hills;" and chief of "hill-stations" is Simla.
+
+On the hip rather than on the shoulder of the aspiring Himalayas,
+Simla--or Shumla, as the natives call it--presents during the wet
+monsoon period a concourse of pilgrims more varied even than the
+Bagnères de Bigorre in the south of France, where the gay Frenchman asks
+permission of the lady with whom he is conversing to leave her abruptly,
+in order to part with his remaining lung, the loss of the first having
+brought him there. "Pardon, madame," said he, "je m'en vais cracher mon
+autre poumon."
+
+To Simla the whole supreme Government migrates for the summer--Viceroy,
+council, clerks, printers, and hangers-on. Thither the high official
+from the plains takes his wife, his daughters, and his liver. There the
+journalists congregate to pick up the news that oozes through the
+pent-house of Government secrecy, and failing such scant drops of
+information, to manufacture as much as is necessary to fill the columns
+of their dailies. On the slopes of "Jako"--the wooded eminence that
+rises above the town--the enterprising German establishes his
+concert-hall and his beer-garden; among the rhododendron trees Madame
+Blavatzky, Colonel Olcott and Mr. Sinnett move mysteriously in the
+performance of their wonders; and the wealthy tourist from America, the
+botanist from Berlin, and the casual peer from Great Britain, are not
+wanting to complete the motley crowd. There are no roads in Simla proper
+where it is possible to drive, excepting one narrow way, reserved when I
+was there, and probably still set apart, for the exclusive delectation
+of the Viceroy. Every one rides--man, woman, and child; and every
+variety of horseflesh may be seen in abundance, from Lord Steepleton
+Kildare's thoroughbreds to the broad-sterned equestrian vessel of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, the Revenue Commissioner of Mudnugger in Bengal. But I
+need not now dwell long on the description of this highly-favoured spot,
+where Baron de Zach might have added force to his demonstration of the
+attraction of mountains for the pendulum. Having achieved my orientation
+and established my servants and luggage in one of the reputed hotels, I
+began to look about me, and, like an intelligent American observer, as I
+pride myself that I am, I found considerable pleasure in studying out
+the character of such of the changing crowd on the verandah and on the
+mall as caught my attention.
+
+At last the dinner-hour came. With the rest I filed into the large
+dining-room and took my seat. The place allotted to me was the last at
+one side of the long table, and the chair opposite was vacant, though
+two remarkably well-dressed servants, in turbans of white and gold,
+stood with folded arms behind it, apparently awaiting their master. Nor
+was he long in coming. I never remember to have been so much struck by
+the personal appearance of any man in my life. He sat down opposite me,
+and immediately one of his two servants, or _khitmatgars_, as they are
+called, retired, and came back bearing a priceless goblet and flask of
+the purest old Venetian mould. Filling the former, he ceremoniously
+presented his master with a brimming beaker of cold water. A
+water-drinker in India is always a phenomenon, but a water-drinker who
+did the thing so artistically was such a manifestation as I had never
+seen. I was interested beyond the possibility of holding my peace, and
+as I watched the man's abstemious meal,--for he ate little,--I
+contrasted him with our neighbours at the board, who seemed to be vying,
+like the captives of Circe, to ascertain by trial who could swallow the
+most beef and mountain mutton, and who could absorb the most
+"pegs"--those vile concoctions of spirits, ice, and soda-water, which
+have destroyed so many splendid constitutions under the tropical sun. As
+I watched him an impression came over me that he must be an Italian. I
+scanned his appearance narrowly, and watched for a word that should
+betray his accent. He spoke to his servant in Hindustani, and I noticed
+at once the peculiar sound of the dental consonants, never to be
+acquired by a northern-born person.
+
+Before I go farther, let me try and describe Mr. Isaacs; I certainly
+could not have done so satisfactorily after my first meeting, but
+subsequent acquaintance, and the events I am about to chronicle, threw
+me so often in his society, and gave me such ample opportunities of
+observation, that the minutest details of his form and feature, as well
+as the smallest peculiarities of his character and manner, are indelibly
+graven in my memory.
+
+Isaacs was a man of more than medium stature, though he would never be
+spoken of as tall. An easy grace marked his movements at all times,
+whether deliberate or vehement,--and he often went to each extreme,--a
+grace which no one acquainted with the science of the human frame would
+be at a loss to explain for a moment. The perfect harmony of all the
+parts, the even symmetry of every muscle, the equal distribution of a
+strength, not colossal and overwhelming, but ever ready for action, the
+natural courtesy of gesture--all told of a body in which true proportion
+of every limb and sinew were at once the main feature and the pervading
+characteristic. This infinitely supple and swiftly-moving figure was but
+the pedestal, as it were, for the noble face and nobler brain to which
+it owed its life and majestic bearing. A long oval face of a wondrous
+transparent olive tint, and of a decidedly Oriental type. A prominent
+brow and arched but delicate eyebrows fitly surmounted a nose smoothly
+aquiline, but with the broad well-set nostrils that bespeak active
+courage. His mouth, often smiling, never laughed, and the lips, though
+closely meeting, were not thin and writhing and cunning, as one so often
+sees in eastern faces, but rather inclined to a generous Greek fullness,
+the curling lines ever ready to express a sympathy or a scorn which, the
+commanding features above seemed to control and curb, as the stern,
+square-elbowed Arab checks his rebellious horse, or gives him the rein,
+at will.
+
+But though Mr. Isaacs was endowed with exceptional gifts of beauty by a
+bountiful nature, those I have enumerated were by no means what first
+attracted the attention of the observer. I have spoken of his graceful
+figure and perfect Iranian features, but I hardly noticed either at our
+first meeting. I was enthralled and fascinated by his eyes. I once saw
+in France a jewel composed of six precious stones, each a gem of great
+value, so set that they appeared to form but one solid mass, yielding a
+strange radiance that changed its hue at every movement, and multiplied
+the sunlight a thousand-fold. Were I to seek a comparison for my
+friend's eyes, I might find an imperfect one in this masterpiece of the
+jeweler's art. They were dark and of remarkable size; when half closed
+they were long and almond-shaped; when suddenly opened in anger or
+surprise they had the roundness and bold keenness of the eagle's sight.
+There was a depth of life and vital light in them that told of the
+pent-up force of a hundred generations of Persian magii. They blazed
+with the splendour of a god-like nature, needing neither meat nor strong
+drink to feed its power.
+
+My mind was made up. Between his eyes, his temperance, and his dental
+consonants, he certainly might be an Italian. Being myself a native of
+Italy, though an American by parentage, I addressed him in the language,
+feeling comparatively sure of his answer. To my surprise, and somewhat
+to my confusion, he answered in two words of modern Greek--"[Greek: _den
+enoêsa_]"--"I do not understand." He evidently supposed I was speaking a
+Greek dialect, and answered in the one phrase of that tongue which he
+knew, and not a good phrase at that.
+
+"Pardon me," said I in English, "I believed you a countryman, and
+ventured to address you in my native tongue. May I inquire whether you
+speak English?"
+
+I was not a little astonished when he answered me in pure English, and
+with an evident command of the language. We fell into conversation, and
+I found him pungent, ready, impressive, and most entertaining,
+thoroughly acquainted with Anglo-Indian and English topics, and
+apparently well read. An Indian dinner is a long affair, so that we had
+ample time to break the ice, an easy matter always for people who are
+not English, and when, after the fruit, he invited me to come down and
+smoke with him in his rooms, I gladly availed myself of the opportunity.
+We separated for a few moments, and I despatched my servant to the
+manager of the hotel to ascertain the name of the strange gentleman who
+looked like an Italian and spoke like a fellow of Balliol. Having
+discovered that he was a "Mr. Isaacs," I wended my way through verandahs
+and corridors, preceded by a _chuprassie_ and followed by my
+pipe-bearer, till I came to his rooms.
+
+The fashion of the hookah or narghyle in India has long disappeared from
+the English portion of society. Its place has been assumed and usurped
+by the cheroot from Burmah or Trichinopoli, by the cigarette from Egypt,
+or the more expensive Manilla and Havana cigars. I, however, in an early
+burst of Oriental enthusiasm, had ventured upon the obsolete fashion,
+and so charmed was I by the indolent aromatic enjoyment I got from the
+rather cumbrous machine, that I never gave it up while in the East. So
+when Mr. Isaacs invited me to come and smoke in his rooms, or rather
+before his rooms, for the September air was still warm in the hills, I
+ordered my "bearer" to bring down the apparatus and to prepare it for
+use. I myself passed through the glass door in accordance with my new
+acquaintance's invitation, curious to see the kind of abode in which a
+man who struck me as being so unlike his fellows spent his summer
+months. For some minutes after I entered I did not speak, and indeed I
+hardly breathed. It seemed to me that I was suddenly transported into
+the subterranean chambers whither the wicked magician sent Aladdin in
+quest of the lamp. A soft but strong light filled the room, though I did
+not immediately comprehend whence it came, nor did I think to look, so
+amazed was I by the extraordinary splendour of the objects that met my
+eyes. In the first glance it appeared as if the walls and the ceiling
+were lined with gold and precious stones; and in reality it was almost
+literally the truth. The apartment, I soon saw, was small,--for India at
+least,--and every available space, nook and cranny, were filled with
+gold and jeweled ornaments, shining weapons, or uncouth but resplendent
+idols. There were sabres in scabbards set from end to end with diamonds
+and sapphires, with cross hilts of rubies in massive gold mounting, the
+spoil of some worsted rajah or Nawab of the mutiny. There were narghyles
+four feet high, crusted with gems and curiously wrought work from
+Baghdad or Herat; water flasks of gold and drinking cups of jade;
+yataghans from Bourn and idols from the far East. Gorgeous lamps of the
+octagonal Oriental shape hung from the ceiling, and, fed by aromatic
+oils, shed their soothing light on all around. The floor was covered
+with a rich soft pile, and low divans were heaped with cushions of
+deep-tinted silk and gold. On the floor, in a corner which seemed the
+favourite resting-place of my host, lay open two or three superbly
+illuminated Arabic manuscripts, and from a chafing dish of silver near
+by a thin thread of snow-white smoke sent up its faint perfume through
+the still air. To find myself transported from the conventionalities of
+a stiff and starched Anglo-Indian hotel to such a scene was something
+novel and delicious in the extreme. No wonder I stood speechless and
+amazed. Mr. Isaacs remained near the door while I breathed in the
+strange sights to which he had introduced me. At last I turned, and from
+contemplating the magnificence of inanimate wealth I was riveted by the
+majestic face and expression of the beautiful living creature who, by a
+turn of his wand, or, to speak prosaically, by an invitation to smoke,
+had lifted me out of humdrum into a land peopled with all the effulgent
+phantasies and the priceless realities of the magic East. As I gazed, it
+seemed as if the illumination from the lamps above were caught up and
+flung back with the vitality of living fire by his dark eyes, in which
+more than ever I saw and realised the inexplicable blending of the
+precious stones with the burning spark of a divine soul breathing
+within. For some moments we stood thus; he evidently amused at my
+astonishment, and I fascinated and excited by the problem presented me
+for solution in his person and possessions.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, "you are naturally surprised at my little Eldorado,
+so snugly hidden away in the lower story of a commonplace hotel. Perhaps
+you are surprised at finding me here, too. But come out into the air,
+your hookah is blazing, and so are the stars."
+
+I followed him into the verandah, where the long cane chairs of the
+country were placed, and taking the tube of the pipe from the solemn
+Mussulman whose duty it was to prepare it, I stretched myself out in
+that indolent lazy peace which is only to be enjoyed in tropical
+countries. Silent and for the nonce perfectly happy, I slowly inhaled
+the fragrant vapour of tobacco and aromatic herbs and honey with which
+the hookah is filled. No sound save the monotonous bubbling and
+chuckling of the smoke through the water, or the gentle rustle of the
+leaves on the huge rhododendron-tree which reared its dusky branches to
+the night in the middle of the lawn. There was no moon, though the stars
+were bright and clear, the foaming path of the milky way stretching
+overhead like the wake of some great heavenly ship; a soft mellow lustre
+from the lamps in Isaacs' room threw a golden stain half across the
+verandah, and the chafing dish within, as the light breeze fanned the
+coals, sent out a little cloud of perfume which mingled pleasantly with
+the odour of the _chillum_ in the pipe. The turbaned servant squatted on
+the edge of the steps at a little distance, peering into the dusk, as
+Indians will do for hours together. Isaacs lay quite still in his chair,
+his hands above his head, the light through the open door just falling
+on the jeweled mouthpiece of his narghyle. He sighed--a sigh only half
+regretful, half contented, and seemed about to speak, but the spirit did
+not move him, and the profound silence continued. For my part, I was so
+much absorbed in my reflections on the things I had seen that I had
+nothing to say, and the strange personality of the man made me wish to
+let him begin upon his own subject, if perchance I might gain some
+insight into his mind and mode of thought. There are times when silence
+seems to be sacred, even unaccountably so. A feeling is in us that to
+speak would be almost a sacrilege, though we are unable to account in
+any way for the pause. At such moments every one seems instinctively to
+feel the same influence, and the first person who breaks the spell
+either experiences a sensation of awkwardness, and says something very
+foolish, or, conscious of the odds against him, delivers himself of a
+sentiment of ponderous severity and sententiousness. As I smoked,
+watching the great flaming bowl of the water pipe, a little coal, forced
+up by the expansion of the heat, toppled over the edge and fell tinkling
+on the metal foot below. The quick ear of the servant on the steps
+caught the sound, and he rose and came forward to trim the fire. Though
+he did not speak, his act was a diversion. The spell was broken.
+
+"The Germans," said Isaacs, "say that an angel is passing over the
+house. I do not believe it."
+
+I was surprised at the remark. It did not seem quite natural for Mr.
+Isaacs to begin talking about the Germans, and from the tone of his
+voice I could almost have fancied he thought the proverb was held as an
+article of faith by the Teutonic races in general.
+
+"I do not believe it," he repeated reflectively. "There is no such thing
+as an angel 'passing'; it is a misuse of terms. If there are such things
+as angels, their changes of place cannot be described as motion, seeing
+that from the very nature of things such changes must be instantaneous,
+not involving time as a necessary element. Have you ever thought much
+about angels? By-the-bye, pardon my abruptness, but as there is no one
+to introduce us, what is your name?"
+
+"My name is Griggs--Paul Griggs. I am an American, but was born in
+Italy. I know your name is Isaacs; but, frankly, I do not comprehend how
+you came by the appellation, for I do not believe you are either,
+English, American, or Jewish of origin."
+
+"Quite right," he replied, "I am neither Yankee, Jew, nor beef-eater; in
+fact, I am not a European at all. And since you probably would not guess
+my nationality, I will tell you that I am a Persian, a pure Iranian, a
+degenerate descendant of Zoroaster, as you call him, though by religion
+I follow the prophet, whose name be blessed," he added, with an
+expression of face I did not then understand. "I call myself Isaacs for
+convenience in business. There is no concealment about it, as many know
+my story; but it has an attractive Semitic twang that suite my
+occupation, and is simpler and shorter for Englishmen to write than
+Abdul Hafizben-Isâk, which is my lawful name."
+
+"Since you lay sufficient store by your business to have been willing to
+change your name, may I inquire what your business is? It seems to be a
+lucrative one, to judge by the accumulations of wealth you have allowed
+me a glimpse of."
+
+"Yes. Wealth is my occupation. I am a dealer in precious stones and
+similar objects of value. Some day I will show you my diamonds; they are
+worth seeing."
+
+It is no uncommon thing to meet in India men of all Asiatic
+nationalities buying and selling stones of worth, and enriching
+themselves in the business. I supposed he had come with a caravan by way
+of Baghdad, and had settled. But again, his perfect command of English,
+as pure as though he had been educated at Eton and Oxford, his extremely
+careful, though quiet, English dress, and especially his polished
+manners, argued a longer residence in the European civilisation of his
+adopted home than agreed with his young looks, supposing him to have
+come to India at sixteen or seventeen. A pardonable curiosity led me to
+remark this.
+
+"You must have come here very young," I said. "A thoroughbred Persian
+does not learn to speak English like a university man, and to quote
+German proverbs, in a residence of a few years; unless, indeed, he
+possess the secret by which the initiated absorb knowledge without
+effort, and assimilate it without the laborious process of intellectual
+digestion."
+
+"I am older than I look--considerably. I have been in India twelve
+years, and with a natural talent for languages, stimulated by constant
+intercourse with Englishmen who know their own speech well, I have
+succeeded, as you say, in acquiring a certain fluency and mastery of
+accent. I have had an adventurous life enough. I see no reason why I
+should not tell you something of it, especially as you are not English,
+and can therefore hear me with an unprejudiced ear. But, really, do you
+care for a yarn?"
+
+I begged him to proceed, and I beckoned the servant to arrange our
+pipes, that we might not be disturbed. When this was done, Isaacs began.
+
+"I am going to try and make a long story short. We Persians like to
+listen to long stories, as we like to sit and look on at a wedding
+nautch. But we are radically averse to dancing or telling long tales
+ourselves, so I shall condense as much as possible. I was born in
+Persia, of Persian parents, as I told you, but I will not burden your
+memory with names you are not familiar with. My father was a merchant in
+prosperous circumstances, and a man of no mean learning in Arabic and
+Persian literature. I soon showed a strong taste for books, and every
+opportunity was given me for pursuing my inclinations in this respect.
+At the early age of twelve I was kidnapped by a party of slave-dealers,
+and carried off into Roum--Turkey you call it. I will not dwell upon my
+tears and indignation. We travelled rapidly, and my captors treated me
+well, as they invariably do their prizes, well knowing how much of the
+value of a slave depends on his plump and sleek condition when brought
+to market. In Istamboul I was soon disposed of, my fair skin and
+accomplishments as a writer and a singer of Persian songs fetching a
+high price.
+
+"It is no uncommon thing for boys to be stolen and sold in this way. A
+rich pacha will pay almost anything. The fate of such slaves is not
+generally a happy one." Isaacs paused a moment, and drew in two or three
+long breaths of smoke. "Do you see that bright star in the south?" he
+said, pointing with his long jewel-set mouthpiece.
+
+"Yes. It must be Sirius."
+
+"That is my star. Do you believe in the agency of the stars in human
+affairs? Of course you do not; you are a European: how should you? But
+to proceed. The stars, or the fates or Kâli, or whatever you like to
+term your kismet, your portion of good and evil, allotted me a somewhat
+happier existence than generally falls to the share of young slaves in
+Roum. I was bought by an old man of great wealth and of still greater
+learning, who was so taken with my proficiency in Arabic and in writing
+that he resolved to make of me a pupil instead of a servant to carry his
+coffee and pipe, or a slave to bear the heavier burden of his vices.
+Nothing better could have happened to me. I was installed in his house
+and treated with exemplary kindness, though he kept me rigorously at
+work with my books. I need not tell you that with such a master I made
+fair progress, and that at the age of twenty-one I was, for a Turk, a
+young man of remarkably good education. Then my master died suddenly,
+and I was thrown into great distress. I was of course nothing but a
+slave, and liable to be sold at any time. I escaped. Active and
+enduring, though never possessing any vast muscular strength, I bore
+with ease the hardships of a long journey on foot with little food and
+scant lodging. Falling in with a band of pilgrims, I recognised the
+wisdom of joining them on their march to Mecca. I was, of course, a
+sound Mohammedan, as I am to this day, and my knowledge of the Koran
+soon gained me some reputation in the caravan. I was considered a
+creditable addition, and altogether an eligible pilgrim. My exceptional
+physique protected me from the disease and exhaustion of which not a few
+of our number died by the wayside, and the other pilgrims, in
+consideration of my youth and piety, gave me willingly the few handfuls
+of rice and dates that I needed to support life and strength.
+
+"You have read about Mecca; and your _hadji_ barber, who of course has
+been there, has doubtless related his experiences to you scores of times
+in the plains, as he does everywhere. As you may imagine, I had no
+intention of returning towards Roum with my companions. When I had
+fulfilled all the observances required, I made my way to Yeddah and
+shipped on board an Arabian craft, touching at Mocha, and bearing coffee
+to Bombay. I had to work my passage, and as I had no experience of the
+sea, save in the caïques of the Golden Horn, you will readily conceive
+that the captain of the vessel had plenty of fault to find. But my
+agility and quick comprehension stood me in good stead, and in a few
+days I had learned enough to haul on a rope or to reef the great latteen
+sails as well as any of them. The knowledge that I was just returning
+from a pilgrimage to Mecca obtained for me also a certain respect among
+the crew. It makes very little difference what the trade, business, or
+branch of learning; in mechanical labour, or intellectual effort, the
+educated man is always superior to the common labourer. One who is in
+the habit of applying his powers in the right way will carry his system
+into any occupation, and it will help him as much to handle a rope as to
+write a poem.
+
+"At last we landed in Bombay. I was in a wretched condition. What little
+clothes I had had were in tatters; hard work and little food had made me
+even thinner than my youthful age and slight frame tolerated. I had in
+all about three pence money in small copper coins, carefully hoarded
+against a rainy day. I could not speak a word of the Indian dialects,
+still less of English, and I knew no one save the crew of the vessel I
+had come in, as poor as I, but saved from starvation by the slender
+pittance allowed them on land. I wandered about all day through the
+bazaars, occasionally speaking to some solemn looking old shopkeeper or
+long-bearded Mussulman, who, I hoped, might understand a little Arabic.
+But not one did I find. At evening I bathed in the tank of a temple full
+from the recent rains, and I lay down supperless to sleep on the steps
+of the great mosque. As I lay on the hard stones I looked up to my star,
+and took comfort, and slept. That night a dream came to me. I thought I
+was still awake and lying on the steps, watching the wondrous ruler of
+my fate. And as I looked he glided down from his starry throne with an
+easy swinging motion, like a soap-bubble settling to the earth. And the
+star came and poised among the branches of the palm-tree over the tank,
+opalescent, unearthly, heart shaking. His face was as the face of the
+prophet, whose name be blessed, and his limbs were as the limbs of the
+Hameshaspenthas of old. Garments he had none, being of heavenly birth,
+but he was clothed with light as with a garment, and the crest of his
+silver hair was to him a crown of glory. And he spoke with the tongues
+of a thousand lutes, sweet strong tones, that rose and fell on the night
+air as the song of a lover beneath the lattice of his mistress, the song
+of the mighty star wooing the beautiful sleeping earth. And then he
+looked on me and said: 'Abdul Hafiz, be of good cheer. I am with thee
+and will not forsake thee, even to the day when thou shalt pass over the
+burning bridge of death. Thou shalt touch the diamond of the rivers and
+the pearl of the sea, and they shall abide with thee, and great shall be
+thy wealth. And the sunlight which is in the diamond shall warm thee and
+comfort thy heart; and the moonlight which is in the pearl shall give
+thee peace in the night-time, and thy children shall be to thee a
+garland of roses in the land of the unbeliever.' And the star floated
+down from the palm-branches and touched me with his hand, and breathed
+upon my lips the cool breath of the outer firmament, and departed. Then
+I awoke and saw him again in his place far down the horizon, and he was
+alone, for the dawn was in the sky and the lesser lights were
+extinguished. And I rose from the stony stairway that seemed like a bed
+of flowers for the hopeful dream, and I turned westward, and praised
+Allah, and went my way.
+
+"The sun being up, all was life, and the life in me spoke of a most
+capacious appetite. So I cast about for a shop where I might buy a
+little food with my few coppers, and seeing a confectioner spreading out
+his wares, I went near and took stock of the queer balls of flour and
+sugar, and strange oily-looking sweetmeats. Having selected what I
+thought would be within my modest means, I addressed the shopkeeper to
+call his attention, though I knew he would not understand me, and I
+touched with my hand the article I wanted, showing with the other some
+of the small coins I had. As soon as I touched the sweetmeats the man
+became very angry, and bounding from his seat called his neighbours
+together, and they all shouted and screamed at me, and called a man I
+thought to be a soldier, though he looked more like an ape in his long
+loose trousers of dirty black, and his untidy red turban, under which
+cumbrous garments his thin and stunted frame seemed even blacker and
+more contemptible than nature had made them. I afterwards discovered him
+to be one of the Bombay police. He seized me by the arm, and I, knowing
+I had done no wrong, and curious to discover, if possible, what the
+trouble was, accompanied him whither he led me. After waiting many hours
+in a kind of little shed where there were more policemen, I was brought
+before an Englishman. Of course all attempts at explanation were
+useless. I could speak not a word of anything but Arabic and Persian,
+and no one present understood either. At last, when I was in despair,
+trying to muster a few words of Greek I had learned in Istamboul, and
+failing signally therein, an old man with a long beard looked curiously
+in at the door of the crowded court. Some instinct told me to appeal to
+him, and I addressed him in Arabic. To my infinite relief he replied in
+that tongue, and volunteered to be interpreter. In a few moments I
+learned that my crime was that I had _touched_ the sweetmeats on the
+counter.
+
+"In India, as you who have lived here doubtless know, it is a criminal
+offence, punishable by fine or imprisonment, for a non-Hindu person to
+defile the food of even the lowest caste man. To touch one sweetmeat in
+a trayful defiles the whole baking, rendering it all unfit for the use
+of any Hindu, no matter how mean. Knowing nothing of caste and its
+prejudices, it was with the greatest difficulty that the _moolah_, who
+was trying to help me out of my trouble, could make me comprehend
+wherein my wrong-doing lay, and that the English courts, being obliged
+in their own interest to uphold and protect the caste practices of the
+Hindus, at the risk of another mutiny, could not make any exception in
+favour of a stranger unacquainted with Indian customs. So the Englishman
+who presided said he would have to inflict a fine, but being a very
+young man, not yet hardened to the despotic ways of Eastern life, he
+generously paid the fine himself, and gave me a rupee as a present into
+the bargain. It was only two shillings, but as I had not had so much
+money for months I was as grateful as though it had been a hundred. If I
+ever meet him I will requite him, for I owe him all I now possess.
+
+"My case being dismissed, I left the court with the old _moolah_, who
+took me to his house and inquired of my story, having first given me a
+good meal of rice and sweetmeats, and that greatest of luxuries, a
+little pot of fragrant Mocha coffee; he sat in silence while I ate,
+ministering to my wants, and evidently pleased with the good he was
+doing. Then he brought out a package of _birris_, those little
+cigarettes rolled in leaves that they smoke in Bombay, and I told him
+what had happened to me. I implored him to put me in the way of
+obtaining some work by which I could at least support life, and he
+promised to do so, begging me to stay with him until I should be
+independent. The day following I was engaged to pull a punkah in the
+house of an English lawyer connected with an immense lawsuit involving
+one of the Mohammedan principalities. For this irksome work I was to
+receive six rupees--twelve shillings--monthly, but before the month was
+up I was transferred, by the kindness of the English lawyer and the good
+offices of my co-religionist the _moolah_, to the retinue of the Nizam
+of Haiderabad, then in Bombay. Since that time I have never known want.
+
+"I soon mastered enough of the dialects to suit my needs, and applied
+myself to the study of English, for which opportunities were not
+lacking. At the end of two years I could speak the language enough to be
+understood, and my accent from the first was a matter of surprise to
+all; I had also saved out of my gratuities about one hundred rupees.
+Having been conversant with the qualities of many kinds of precious
+stones from my youth up, I determined to invest my economies in a
+diamond or a pearl. Before long I struck a bargain with an old
+_marwarri_ over a small stone, of which I thought he misjudged the
+value, owing to the rough cutting. The fellow was cunning and hard in
+his dealings, but my superior knowledge of diamonds gave me the
+advantage. I paid him ninety-three rupees for the little gem, and sold
+it again in a month for two hundred to a young English 'collector and
+magistrate,' who wanted to make his wife a present. I bought a larger
+stone, and again made nearly a hundred per cent on the money. Then I
+bought two, and so on, until having accumulated sufficient capital, I
+bade farewell to the Court of the Nizam, where my salary never exceeded
+sixteen rupees a month as scribe and Arabic interpreter, and I went my
+way with about two thousand rupees in cash and precious stones. I came
+northwards, and finally settled in Delhi, where I set up as a dealer in
+gems and objects of intrinsic value. It is now twelve years since I
+landed in Bombay. I have never soiled my hands with usury, though I have
+twice advanced large sums at legal interest for purposes I am not at
+liberty to disclose; I have never cheated a customer or underrated a gem
+I bought of a poor man, and my wealth, as you may judge from what you
+have seen, is considerable. Moreover, though in constant intercourse
+with Hindus and English, I have not forfeited my title to be called a
+true believer and a follower of the prophet, whose name be blessed."
+
+Isaacs ceased speaking, and presently the waning moon rose pathetically
+over the crest of the mountains with that curiously doleful look she
+wears after the full is past, as if weeping over the loss of her better
+half. The wind rose and soughed drearily through the rhododendrons and
+the pines; and Kiramat Ali, the pipe-bearer, shivered audibly as he drew
+his long cloth uniform around him. We rose and entered my friend's
+rooms, where the warmth of the lights, the soft rugs and downy cushions,
+invited us temptingly to sit down and continue our conversation. But it
+was late, for Isaacs, like a true Oriental, had not hurried himself over
+his narrative, and it had been nine o'clock when we sat down to smoke.
+So I bade him good-night, and, musing on all I had heard and seen,
+retired to my own apartments, glancing at Sirius and at the
+unhappy-looking moon before I turned in from the verandah.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+In India--in the plains--people rise before dawn, and it is not till
+after some weeks' residence in the cooler atmosphere of the mountains
+that they return to the pernicious habit of allowing the sun to be
+before them. The hours of early morning, when one either mopes about in
+loose flannel clothes, or goes for a gallop on the green _maidán_, are
+without exception the most delicious of the day. I shall have occasion
+hereafter to describe the morning's proceedings in the plains. On the
+day after the events recorded in the last chapter I awoke as usual at
+five o'clock, and meandered out on to the verandah to have a look at the
+hills, so novel and delicious a sight after the endless flats of the
+northwest provinces. It was still nearly dark, but there was a faint
+light in the east, which rapidly grew as I watched it, till, turning the
+angle of the house, I distinguished a snow-peak over the tops of the
+dark rhododendrons, and, while I gazed, the first tinge of distant
+dawning caught the summit, and the beautiful hill blushed, as a fair
+woman, at the kiss of the awakening sun. The old story, the heaven
+wooing the earth with a wondrous shower of gold.
+
+"Prati 'shya sunarî janî"--the exquisite lines of the old Vedic hymn to
+the dawn maiden, rose to my lips. I had never appreciated or felt their
+truth down in the dusty plains, but here, on the free hills, the glad
+welcoming of the morning light seemed to run through every fibre, as
+thousands of years ago the same joyful thrill of returning life inspired
+the pilgrim fathers of the Aryan race. Almost unconsciously, I softly
+intoned the hymn, as I had heard my old Brahmin teacher in Allahabad
+when he came and sat under the porch at daybreak, until I was ready for
+him--
+
+    The lissome heavenly maiden here,
+    Forth flashing from her sister's arms,
+    High heaven's daughter, now is come.
+
+    In rosy garments, shining like
+    A swift bay mare; the twin knights' friend,
+    Mother of all our herds of kine.
+
+    Yea, thou art she, the horseman's friend;
+    Of grazing cattle mother thou,
+    All wealth is thine, thou blushing dawn.
+
+    Thou who hast driven the foeman back,
+    With praise we call on thee to wake
+    In tender reverence, beauteous one.
+
+    The spreading beams of morning light
+    Are countless as our hosts of kine,
+    They fill the atmosphere of space.
+
+    Filling the sky, thou openedst wide
+    The gates of night, thou glorious dawn--
+    Rejoicing-run thy daily race!
+
+    The heaven above thy rays have filled,
+    The broad belovèd room of air,
+    O splendid, brightest maid of morn!
+
+I went indoors again to attend to my correspondence, and presently a
+gorgeously liveried white-bearded _chuprassie_ appeared at the door, and
+bending low as he touched his hand to his forehead, intimated that "if
+the great lord of the earth, the protector of the poor, would turn his
+ear to the humblest of his servants, he would hear of something to his
+advantage."
+
+So saying, he presented a letter from the official with whom I had to
+do, an answer to my note of the previous afternoon, requesting an
+interview. In due course, therefore, the day wore on, and I transacted
+my business, returned to "tiffin," and then went up to my rooms for a
+little quiet. I might have been there an hour, smoking and dreaming over
+a book, when the servant announced a sahib who wanted to see me, and
+Isaacs walked in, redolent of the sunshine without, his luminous eyes
+shining brightly in the darkened room. I was delighted, for I felt my
+wits stagnating in the unwonted idleness of the autumn afternoon, and
+the book I had taken up was not conducive to wakefulness or brilliancy.
+It was a pleasant surprise too. It is not often that an hotel
+acquaintance pushes an intimacy much, and besides I had feared my
+silence during the previous evening might have produced the impression
+of indifference, on which reflection I had resolved to make myself
+agreeable at our next meeting.
+
+Truly, had I asked myself the cause of a certain attraction I felt for
+Mr. Isaacs, it would have been hard to find an answer. I am generally
+extremely shy of persons who begin an acquaintance by making
+confidences, and, in spite of Isaacs' charm of manner, I had certainly
+speculated on his reasons for suddenly telling an entire stranger his
+whole story. My southern birth had not modified the northern character
+born in me, though it gave me the more urbane veneer of the Italian; and
+the early study of Larochefoucauld and his school had not predisposed me
+to an unlimited belief in the disinterestedness of mankind. Still there
+was something about the man which seemed to sweep away unbelief and
+cynicism and petty distrust, as the bright mountain freshet sweeps away
+the wretched little mud puddles and the dust and impurities from the bed
+of a half dry stream. It was a new sensation and a novel era in my
+experience of humanity, and the desire to get behind that noble
+forehead, and see its inmost workings, was strong beyond the strength of
+puny doubts and preconceived prejudice. Therefore, when Isaacs appeared,
+looking like the sun-god for all his quiet dress of gray and his
+unobtrusive manner, I felt the "little thrill of pleasure" so aptly
+compared by Swinburne to the soft touch of a hand stroking the outer
+hair.
+
+"What a glorious day after all that detestable rain!" were his first
+words. "Three mortal months of water, mud, and Mackintoshes, not to
+mention the agreeable sensation of being glued to a wet saddle with your
+feet in water-buckets, and mountain torrents running up and down the
+inside of your sleeves, in defiance of the laws of gravitation; such is
+life in the monsoon. Pah!" And he threw himself down on a cane chair and
+stretched out his dainty feet, so that the sunlight through the crack of
+the half-closed door might fall comfortingly on his toes, and remind him
+that it was fine outside.
+
+"What have you been doing all day?" I asked, for lack of a better
+question, not having yet recovered from the mental stagnation induced by
+the last number of the serial story I had been reading.
+
+"Oh--I don't know. Are you married?" he asked irrelevantly.
+
+"God forbid!" I answered reverently, and with some show of feeling.
+
+"Amen," was the answer. "As for me--I am, and my wives have been
+quarreling."
+
+"Your wives! Did I understand you to use the plural number?"
+
+"Why, yes. I have three; that is the worst of it. If there were only
+two, they might get on better. You know 'two are company and three are
+none,' as your proverb has it." He said this reflectively, as if
+meditating a reduction in the number.
+
+The application of the proverb to such a case was quite new in my
+recollection. As for the plurality of my friend's conjugal relations, I
+remembered he was a Mohammedan, and my surprise vanished. Isaacs was
+lost in meditation. Suddenly he rose to his feet, and took a cigarette
+from the table.
+
+"I wonder"--the match would not light, and he struggled a moment with
+another. Then he blew a great cloud of smoke, and sat down in a
+different chair--"I wonder whether a fourth would act as a fly-wheel,"
+and he looked straight at me, as if asking my opinion.
+
+I had never been in direct relations with a Mussulman of education and
+position. To be asked point-blank whether I thought four wives better
+than three on general principles, and quite independently of the
+contemplated spouse, was a little embarrassing. He seemed perfectly
+capable of marrying another before dinner for the sake of peace, and I
+do not believe he would have considered it by any means a bad move.
+
+"Diamond cut diamond," I said. "You too have proverbs, and one of them
+is that a man is better sitting than standing; better lying than
+sitting; better dead than lying down. Now I should apply that same
+proverb to marriage. A man is, by a similar successive reasoning, better
+with no wife at all than with three."
+
+His subtle mind caught the flaw instantly. "To be without a wife at all
+would be about as conducive to happiness as to be dead. Negative
+happiness, very negative."
+
+"Negative happiness is better than positive discomfort."
+
+"Come, come," he answered, "we are bandying terms and words, as if empty
+breath amounted to anything but inanity. Do you really doubt the value
+of the institution of marriage?"
+
+"No. Marriage is a very good thing when two people are so poor that they
+depend on each other, mutually, for daily bread, or if they are rich
+enough to live apart. For a man in my own position marriage would be the
+height of folly; an act of rashness only second to deliberate suicide.
+Now, you are rich, and if you had but one wife, she living in Delhi and
+you in Simla, you would doubtless be very happy."
+
+"There is something in that," said Isaacs. "She might mope and beat the
+servants, but she could not quarrel if she were alone. Besides, it is so
+much easier to look after one camel than three. I think I must try it."
+
+There was a pause, during which he seemed settling the destiny of the
+two who were to be shelved in favour of a monogamic experiment.
+Presently he asked if I had brought any horses, and hearing I had not,
+offered me a mount, and proposed we should ride round Jako, and perhaps,
+if there were time, take a look at Annandale in the valley, where there
+was polo, and a racing-ground. I gladly accepted, and Isaacs despatched
+one of my servants, the faithful Kiramat Ali, to order the horses.
+Meantime the conversation turned on the expedition to Kabul to avenge
+the death of Cavagnari. I found Isaacs held the same view that I did in
+regard to the whole business. He thought the sending of four Englishmen,
+with a handful of native soldiers of the guide regiment to protect them,
+a piece of unparalleled folly, on a par with the whole English policy in
+regard to Afghanistan.
+
+"You English--pardon me, I forgot you did not belong to them--the
+English, then, have performed most of their great acts of valour as a
+direct consequence of having wantonly exposed themselves in situations
+where no sane man would have placed himself. Look at Balaclava; think of
+the things they did in the mutiny, and in the first Afghan war; look at
+the mutiny itself, the result of a hair-brained idea that a country like
+India could be held for ever with no better defences than the
+trustworthiness of native officers, and the gratitude of the people for
+the 'kindly British rule.' Poor Cavagnari! when he was here last summer,
+before leaving on his mission, he said several times he should never
+came back. And yet no better man could have been chosen, whether for
+politics or fighting; if only they had had the sense to protect him."
+
+Having delivered himself of this eulogy, my friend dropped his exhausted
+cigarette, lit another, and appeared again absorbed in the triangulation
+of his matrimonial problem. I imagined him weighing the question whether
+he should part with Zobeida and Zuleika and keep Anima, or send Zuleika
+and Amina about their business, and keep Zobeida to be a light in his
+household. At last Kiramat Ali, on the watch in the verandah, announced
+the saices with the horses, and we descended.
+
+I had expected that a man of Isaacs' tastes and habits would not be
+stingy about his horseflesh, and so was prepared for the character of
+the animals that awaited us. They were two superb Arab stallions, one of
+them being a rare specimen of the weight-carrying kind, occasionally
+seen in the far East. Small head, small feet, and feather-tailed, but
+broad in the quarters and deep in the chest, able to carry a
+twelve-stone man for hours at the stretching, even gallop, that never
+trembles and never tires; surefooted as a mule, and tender-tempered as a
+baby.
+
+So we mounted the gentle creatures and rode away. The mountain on which
+Simla is situated has a double summit, like a Swiss peak, the one higher
+than the other. On the lower height and the neck between the two is
+built the town, and the bungalows used as offices and residences for the
+Government officials cover a very considerable, area. "Jako," the higher
+eminence, is thickly covered with a forest of primeval rhododendrons and
+pines, and though there are outlying bungalows and villas scattered
+about among the trees near the town, they are so far back from the main
+road, reserved as I have said for the use of the Viceroy, as far as
+driving is concerned, that they are not seen in riding along the shady
+way; and on the opposite side, where the trees are thin, the magnificent
+view looks far out over the spurs of the mountains, the only human
+habitation visible being a Catholic convent, which rears its little
+Italian _campanile_ against the blue sky, and rather adds to the beauty
+of the scene than otherwise. As we rode along we continued our talk
+about the new Afghan war, though neither of us was very much in the
+humour for animated conversation. The sweet scent of the pines, the
+matchless motion of the Arab, and the joyous feeling that the worst part
+of the tropical year was passed, were enough for me, and I drank in the
+high, rarefied air, with the intense delight of a man who has been
+smothered with dust and heat, and then steamed to a jelly by a spring
+and summer in the plains of Hindustan.
+
+The road abounds in sharp turns, and I, as the heavier mount, rode on
+the inside as we went round the mountain. On reaching the open part on
+the farther side, we drew rein for a moment to look down at the deep
+valleys, now dark with the early shade, at the higher peaks red with the
+westering sun, and at the black masses of foliage, through which some
+giant trunk here and there caught a lingering ray of the departing
+light. Then, as we felt the cool of the evening coming on, we wheeled
+and scampered along the level stretch, stirrup to stirrup and knee to
+knee. The sharp corner at the end pulled us up, but before we had quite
+reined in our horses, as delighted as we to have a couple of minutes'
+straight run, we swung past the angle and cannoned into a man ambling
+peaceably along with his reins on one finger and his large gray felt hat
+flapping at the back of his neck. There was a moment's confusion,
+profuse apologies on our part, and some ill-concealed annoyance on the
+part of the victim, who was, however, only a little jostled and taken by
+surprise.
+
+"Really, sir," he began. "Oh! Mr. Isaacs. No harm done, I assure you,
+that is, not much. Bad thing riding fast round corners. No harm, no
+harm, not much. How are you?" all in a breath.
+
+"How d'ye do! Mr. Ghyrkins; my friend Mr. Griggs."
+
+"The real offender," I added in a conciliatory tone, for I had kept my
+place on the inside.
+
+"Mr. Griggs?" said Mr. Currie Ghyrkins. "Mr. Griggs of Allahabad? _Daily
+Howler?_ Yes, yes, corresponded; glad to see you in the flesh."
+
+I did not think he looked particularly glad. He was a Revenue
+Commissioner residing in Mudnugger; a rank Conservative; a regular old
+"John Company" man, with whom I had had more than one tiff in the
+columns of the _Howler,_ leading to considerable correspondence.
+
+"I trust that our collision in the flesh has had no worse results than
+our tilts in print, Mr. Ghyrkins?"
+
+"Not at all. Oh don't mention it. Bad enough, though, but no harm done,
+none whatever," pulling up and looking at me as he pronounced the hist
+two words with a peculiarly English slowness after a very quick
+sentence.
+
+While he was speaking, I was aware of a pair of riders walking their
+horses toward us, and apparently struggling to suppress their amusement
+at the mishap to the old gentleman, which they must have witnessed. In
+truth, Mr. Ghyrkins, who was stout and rode a broad-backed obese "tat,"
+can have presented no very dignified appearance, for he was jerked half
+out of the saddle by the concussion, and his near leg, returning to its
+place, had driven his nether garment half way to his knee, while the
+large felt hat was settling back on to his head at a rakish angle, and
+his coat collar had gone well up the back of his neck.
+
+"Dear uncle," said the lady as she rode up, "I hope you are not hurt?"
+She was very handsome as she sat there trying not to laugh. A lithe
+figure in a gray habit and a broad-brimmed hat, fair as a Swede, but
+with dark eyes and heavy lashes. Just then she was showing her brilliant
+teeth, ostensibly in delight at her dear uncle's escape, and her whole
+expression was animated and amused. Her companion was a soldierly
+looking young Englishman, with a heavy moustache and a large nose. A
+certain devil-may-care look about his face was attractive as he sat
+carelessly watching us. I noticed his long stirrups and the curb rein
+hanging loose, while he held the snaffle, and concluded he was a cavalry
+officer. Isaacs bowed low to the lady and wheeled his horse. She replied
+by a nod, indifferent enough; but as he turned, her eyes instantly went
+back to him, and a pleasant thoughtful look passed over her face, which
+betrayed at least a trifling interest in the stranger, if stranger he
+were.
+
+All this time Mr. Ghyrkins was talking and asking questions of me. When
+had I come? what brought me here? how long would I stay? and so on,
+showing that whether friendly or not he had an interest in my movements.
+In answering his questions I found an opportunity of calling the Queen
+the "Empress," of lauding Lord Beaconsfield's policy in India, and of
+congratulating Mr. Ghyrkins upon the state of his district, with which
+he had nothing to do, of course; but he swallowed the bait, all in a
+breath, as he seemed to do everything. Then he introduced us.
+
+"Katharine, you know Mr. Isaacs; Mr. Griggs, Miss Westonhaugh, Lord
+Steepleton Kildare, Mr. Isaacs."
+
+We bowed and rode back together over the straight piece we passed before
+the encounter. Isaacs and the Englishman walked their horses on each
+side of Miss Westonhaugh, and Ghyrkins and I brought up the rear. I
+tried to turn the conversation to Isaacs, but with little result.
+
+"Yes, yes, good fellow Isaacs, for a fire-worshipper, or whatever he is.
+Good judge of a horse. Lots of rupees too. Queer fish. By-the-bye, Mr.
+Griggs, this new expedition is going to cost us something handsome, eh?"
+
+"Why, yes. I doubt whether you will get off under ten millions sterling.
+And where is it to come from? You will have a nice time making your
+assessments in Bengal, Mr. Ghyrkins, and we shall have an income-tax and
+all sorts of agreeable things."
+
+"Income-tax? Well, I think not. You see, Mr. Griggs, it would hit the
+members of the council, so they won't do it, for their own sakes, and
+the Viceroy too. Ha, ha, how do you think Lord Lytton would like an
+income-tax, eh?" And the old fellow chuckled.
+
+We reached the end of the straight, and Isaacs reined in and bid Miss
+Westonhaugh and her companion good evening. I bowed from where I was,
+and took Mr. Ghyrkins' outstretched hand. He was in a good humour again,
+and called out to us to come and see him, as we rode away. I thought to
+myself I certainly would; and we paced back, crossing the open stretch
+for the third time.
+
+It was almost dark under the trees as we re-entered the woods; I pulled
+out a cheroot and lit it. Isaacs did the same, and we walked our horses
+along in silence. I was thinking of the little picture I had just seen.
+The splendid English girl on her thoroughbred beside the beautiful Arab
+steed and his graceful rider. What a couple, I thought: what noble
+specimens of great races. Why did not this fiery young Persian, with his
+wealth, his beauty, and his talents, wed some such wife as that, some
+high-bred Englishwoman, who should love him and give him home and
+children--and, I was forced to add, commonplace happiness? How often
+does it happen that some train of thought, unacknowledged almost to
+ourselves, runs abruptly into a blind alley; especially when we try to
+plan out the future life of some one else, or to sketch for him what we
+should call happiness. The accidental confronting of two individuals
+pleases the eye, we unite them in our imagination, carrying on the
+picture before us, and suddenly we find ourselves in a quagmire of
+absurd incongruities. Now what could be more laughable than to suppose
+the untamed, and probably untameable young man at my side, with his
+three wives, his notions about the stars and his Mussulman faith, bound
+for life to a girl like Miss Westonhaugh? A wise man of the East trying
+to live the life of an English country gentleman, hunting in pink and
+making speeches on the local hustings! I smiled to myself in the dark
+and puffed at my cigar.
+
+Meanwhile Isaacs was palpably uneasy. First he kicked his feet free of
+the stirrups, and put them back again. Then he hummed a few words of a
+Persian song and let his cigar go out, after which he swore loudly in
+Arabic at the eternal matches that never would light. Finally he put his
+horse into a hand gallop, which could not last on such a road in the
+dark, and at last he broke down completely in his efforts to do
+impossible things, and began talking to me.
+
+"You know Mr. Ghyrkins by correspondence, then?"
+
+"Yes, and by controversy. And you, I see, know Miss Westonhaugh?"
+
+"Yes; what do you think of her?"
+
+"A charming creature of her type. Fair and English, she will be fat at
+thirty-five, and will probably paint at forty, but at present she is
+perfection--of her kind of course," I added, not wishing to engage my
+friend in the defence of his three wives on the score of beauty.
+
+"I see very little of Englishwomen," said Isaacs. "My position is
+peculiar, and though the men, many of whom I know quite intimately,
+often ask me to their houses, I fancy when I meet their women I can
+detect a certain scorn of my nationality, a certain undefinable manner
+toward me, by which I suppose they mean to convey to my obtuse
+comprehension that I am but a step better than a 'native'--a 'nigger' in
+fact, to use the term they love so well. So I simply avoid them, as a
+rule, for my temper is hasty. Of course I understand it well enough;
+they are brought up or trained by their fathers and husbands to regard
+the native Indian as an inferior being, an opinion in which, on the
+whole, I heartily concur. But they go a step farther and include all
+Asiatics in the same category. I do not choose to be confounded with a
+race I consider worn out and effete. As for the men, it is different.
+They know I am rich and influential in many ways that are useful to them
+now, and they hope that the fortunes of war or revolution may give them
+a chance of robbing me hereafter, in which they are mistaken. Now there
+is our stout friend, whom we nearly brought to grief a few minutes ago;
+he is always extremely civil, and never meets me that he does not renew
+his invitation to visit him."
+
+"I should like to see something more of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins myself. I do
+not believe he is half as bad as I thought. Do you ever go there?"
+
+"Sometimes. Yes, on second thoughts I believe I call on Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins pretty often." Then after a pause he added, "I like her."
+
+I pointed out the confusion of genders. Isaacs must have smiled to
+himself in the gloom, but he answered quietly--
+
+"I mean Miss Westonhaugh. I like her--yes, I am quite sure I do. She is
+beautiful and sensible, though if she stays here much longer she will be
+like all the rest. We will go and see them to-morrow. Here we are; just
+in time for dinner. Come and smoke afterwards."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+A loose robe of light material from Kashmir thrown around him, Isaacs
+half sat, half lay, on the soft dark cushions in the corner of his outer
+room. His feet were slipperless, Eastern fashion, and his head covered
+with an embroidered cap of curious make. By the yellow light of the
+hanging lamps he was reading an Arabic book, and his face wore a puzzled
+look that sat strangely on the bold features. As I entered the book fell
+back on the cushion, sinking deep into the down by its weight, and one
+of the heavy gold clasps clanged sharply as it turned. He looked up, but
+did not rise, and greeted me, smiling, with the Arabic salutation--
+
+"Peace be with you!"
+
+"And with you, peace," I answered in the same tongue. He smiled again at
+my unfamiliar pronunciation. I established myself on the divan near him,
+and inquired whether he had arrived at any satisfactory solution of his
+domestic difficulties.
+
+"My father," he said, "upon whom be peace, had but one wife, my mother.
+You know Mussulmans are allowed four lawful wives. Here is the passage
+in the beginning of the fourth chapter, 'If ye fear that ye shall not
+act with equity towards orphans of the female sex, take in marriage of
+such other women as please you, two, or three, or four, and not more.
+But, if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably towards so many, marry one
+only, or the slaves which ye shall have acquired.'
+
+"The first part of this passage," continued Isaacs, "is disputed; I mean
+the words referring to orphans. But the latter portion is plain enough.
+When the apostle warns those who fear they 'cannot act equitably towards
+so many,' I am sure that in his wisdom he meant something more by
+'equitable' treatment than the mere supplying of bodily wants. He meant
+us to so order our households that there should be no jealousies, no
+heart-burnings, no unnecessary troubling of the peace. Now woman is a
+thing of the devil, jealous; and to manage a number of such creatures so
+that they shall be even passably harmonious among themselves is a
+fearful task, soul-wearying, heart-hardening, never-ending, leading to
+no result."
+
+"Just what I told you; a man is better with no wife at all than with
+three. But why do you talk about such matters with me, an unbeliever, a
+Christian, who, in the words of your prophet, 'shall swallow down
+nothing but fire into my belly, and shall broil in raging flames' when I
+die? Surely it is contrary to the custom of your co-religionists; and
+how can you expect an infidel Frank to give you advice?"
+
+"I don't," laconically replied my host.
+
+"Besides, with your views of women in general, their vocation, their
+aims, and their future state, is it at all likely that we should ever
+arrive at even a fair discussion of marriage and marriage laws? With us,
+women have souls, and, what is a great deal more, seem likely to have
+votes. They certainly have the respectful and courteous service of a
+large proportion of the male sex. You call a woman a thing of the devil;
+we call her an angel from heaven; and though some eccentric persons like
+myself refuse to ally themselves for life with any woman, I confess, as
+far as I am concerned, that it is because I cannot contemplate the
+constant society of an angel with the degree of appreciation such a
+privilege justly deserves; and I suspect that most confirmed bachelors,
+knowingly or unconsciously, think as I do. The Buddhists are not
+singular in their theory that permanent happiness should be the object."
+
+"They say," said Isaacs, quickly interrupting, "that the aim of the
+ignorant is pleasure; the pursuit of the wise, happiness. Pray, under
+which category would you class marriage? I suppose it comes under one or
+the other."
+
+"I cannot say I see the force of that. Look at your own case, since you
+have introduced it."
+
+"Never mind my own case. I mean with your ideas of one wife, and
+heavenly woman, and voting, and domestic joy, and all the rest of it.
+Take the ideal creature you rave about--"
+
+"I never rave about anything."
+
+"Take the fascinating female you describe, and for the sake of argument
+imagine yourself very poor or very rich, since you would not enter
+wedlock in your present circumstances. Suppose you married your object
+of 'courteous service and respectful adoration;' which should you say
+you would attain thereby, pleasure or happiness?"
+
+"Pleasure is but the refreshment that cheers us in the pursuit of true
+happiness," I answered, hoping to evade the direct question by a
+sententious phrase.
+
+"I will not let you off so easily. You shall answer my question," he
+said. He looked full at me with a deep searching gaze that seemed hardly
+warranted by the lightness of the argument. I hesitated, and he
+impatiently leaned forward, uncrossing his legs and clasping his hands
+over one knee to bring himself nearer to me.
+
+"Pleasure or happiness?" he repeated, "which is it to be?"
+
+A sudden light flashed over my obscured intellect.
+
+"Both," I answered. "Could you see the ideal woman as I would fain paint
+her to you, you would understand me better. The pleasure you enjoy in
+the society of a noble and beautiful woman should be but the refreshment
+by the wayside as you journey through life together. The day will come
+when she will be beautiful no longer, only noble and good, and true to
+you as to herself; and then, if pleasure has been to you what it should
+be, you will find that in the happiness attained it is no longer
+counted, or needed, or thought of. It will have served its end, as the
+crib holds the ship in her place while she is building; and when your
+white-winged vessel has smoothly glided off into the great ocean of
+happiness, the crib and the stocks and the artificial supports will fall
+to pieces and be forgotten for ever. Yet have they had a purpose, and
+have borne a very important part in the life of your ship."
+
+Having heard me attentively till I had finished, Isaacs relaxed his hold
+on his knee and threw himself back on the cushions, as if to entrench
+himself for a better fight. I had made an impression on him, but he was
+not the man to own it easily. Presumably to gain time, he called for
+hookahs and sherbet, and though the servants moved noiselessly in
+preparing them, their presence was an interruption.
+
+When we were settled again he had taken a nearly upright position on the
+couch, and as he pulled at the long tube his face assumed that stolid
+look of Oriental indifference which is the most discouraging shower-bath
+to the persuasive powers. I had really no interest in converting him to
+my own point of view about women. Honestly, was it my own point of view
+at all? Would anything under heaven induce me, Paul Griggs, rich, or
+poor, or comfortably off, to marry any one--Miss Westonhaugh, for
+instance? Probably not. But then my preference for single blessedness
+did not prevent me from believing that women have souls. That morning
+the question of the marriage of the whole universe had been a matter of
+the utmost indifference, and now I, a confirmed and hopelessly contented
+bachelor, was trying to convince a man with three wives that matrimony
+was a most excellent thing in its way, and that the pleasure of the
+honeymoon was but the faint introduction to the bliss of the silver
+wedding. It certainly must be Isaacs' own doing. He had launched on a
+voyage of discovery and had taken me in tow. I had a strong suspicion
+that he wanted to be convinced, and was playing indifference to soothe
+his conscience.
+
+"Well," said I at last, "have you any fault to find with my reasoning or
+my simile?"
+
+"With your simile--none. It is faultlessly perfect. You have not mixed
+up your metaphors in the least. Crib, stocks, ocean, ship--all correct,
+and very nautical. As for your reasoning, I do not believe there is
+anything in it. I do not believe that pleasure leads to happiness; I do
+not believe that a woman has a soul, and I deny the whole argument from
+beginning to end. There," he added with a smile that belied the
+brusqueness of his words, "that is my position. Talk me out of it if you
+can; the night is long, and my patience as that of the ass."
+
+"I do not think this is a case for rigid application of logic. When the
+feelings are concerned--and where can they be more concerned than in our
+intercourse with women?--the only way to arrive at any conclusion is by
+a sort of trying-on process, imagining ourselves in the position
+indicated, and striving to fancy how it would suit us. Let us begin in
+that way. Suppose yourself unmarried, your three wives and their
+children removed--"
+
+"Allah in his mercy grant it!" ejaculated Isaacs with great fervour.
+
+"--removed from the question altogether. Then imagine yourself thrown
+into daily conversation with some beautiful woman who has read what you
+have read, thought what you have thought, and dreamed the dreams of a
+nobler destiny that have visited you in waking and sleeping hours. A
+woman who, as she learned your strange story, should weep for the pains
+you suffered and rejoice for the difficulties overcome, who should
+understand your half spoken thoughts and proudly sympathise in your
+unuttered aspirations; in whom you might see the twin nature to your
+own, and detect the strong spirit and the brave soul, half revealed
+through the feminine gentleness and modesty that clothe her as with a
+garment. Imagine all this, and then suppose it lay in your power, was a
+question of choice, for you to take her hand in yours and go through
+life and death together, till death seem life for the joy of being
+united for ever. Suppose you married her--not to lock her up in an
+indolent atmosphere of rosewater, narghyles, and sweetmeats, to die of
+inanition or to pester you to death with complaints and jealousies and
+inopportune caresses; but to be with you and help your life when you
+most need help, by word and thought and deed, to grow more and more a
+part of you, an essential element of you in action or repose, to part
+from which would be to destroy at a blow the whole fabric of your
+existence. Would you not say that with such a woman the transitory
+pleasure of early conversation and intercourse had been the
+stepping-stone to the lasting happiness of such a friendship as you
+could never hope for in your old age among your sex? Would not her
+faithful love and abounding sympathy be dearer to you every day, though
+the roses in her cheek should fade and the bright hair whiten with the
+dust of life's journey? Would you not feel that when you died your
+dearest wish must be to join her where there should be no parting--her
+from whom there could be no parting here, short of death itself? Would
+you not believe she had a soul?"
+
+"There is no end of your 'supposing,' but it is quite pretty. I am half
+inclined to 'suppose' too." He took a sip of sherbet from the tall
+crystal goblet the servant had placed on a little three-legged stool
+beside him, and as he drank the cool liquid slowly, looked over the
+glass into my eyes, with a curious, half earnest, half smiling glance; I
+could not tell whether my enthusiastic picture of conjugal bliss amused
+him or attracted him, so I waited for him to speak again.
+
+"Now that you have had your cruise in your ship of happiness on the
+waters of your cerulean imagination, permit me, who am land-born and a
+lover of the chase, to put my steed at a few fences in the difficult
+country of unadorned facts over which I propose to hunt the wily fox,
+matrimony. I have never hunted a fox, but I can quite well imagine what
+it is like.
+
+"In the first place, it is all very well to suppose that it had pleased
+Allah in his goodness to relieve me of my three incumbrances--meanwhile,
+there they are, and they are very real difficulties I assure you.
+Nevertheless are there means provided us by the foresight of the
+apostle, by which we may ease ourselves of domestic burdens when they
+are too heavy for us to bear. It would be quite within the bounds of
+possibility for me to divorce them all three, without making any special
+scandal. But if I did this thing, do you not think that my experience of
+married life has given me the most ineradicable prejudices against women
+as daily companions? Am I not persuaded that they all bicker and chatter
+and nibble sweetmeats alike--absolutely alike? Or if I looked abroad--"
+
+"Stop," I said, "I am not reasoner enough to persuade you that all women
+have souls. Very likely in Persia and India they have not. I only want
+you to believe that there may be women so fortunate as to possess a
+modicum of immortality. Well, pardon my interruption, 'if you looked
+abroad,' as you were saying?--"
+
+"If I looked abroad, I should probably discover little petty traits of
+the same class, if not exactly identical. I know little of Englishmen,
+and might be the more readily deceived. Supposing, if you will, that,
+after freeing myself from all my present ties, in order to start afresh,
+I were to find myself attracted by some English girl here"--there must
+have been something wrong with the mouthpiece of his pipe, for he
+examined it very attentively-- "attracted," he continued, "by some one,
+for instance, by Miss Westonhaugh--" he stopped short.
+
+So my inspiration was right. My little picture, framed as we rode
+homeward, and indignantly scoffed at by my calmer reason, had visited
+his brain too. He had looked on the fair northern woman and fancied
+himself at her side, her lover, her husband. All this conversation and
+argument had been only a set plan to give himself the pleasure of
+contemplating and discussing such a union, without exciting surprise or
+comment. I had been suspecting it for some time, and now his sudden
+interest in his mouthpiece, to conceal a very real embarrassment, put
+the matter beyond all doubt.
+
+He was probably in love, my acquaintance of two days. He saw in me a
+plain person, who could not possibly be a rival, having some knowledge
+of the world, and he was in need of a confidant, like a school-girl. I
+reflected that he was probably a victim for the first time. There is
+very little romance in India, and he had, of course, married for
+convenience and respectability rather than for any real affection. His
+first passion! This man who had been tossed about like a bit of
+driftwood, who had by his own determination and intelligence carved his
+way to wealth and power in the teeth of every difficulty. Just now, in
+his embarrassment, he looked very boyish. His troubles had left no
+wrinkles on his smooth forehead, his bright black hair was untinged by a
+single thread of gray, and as he looked up, after the pause that
+followed when he mentioned the name of the woman he loved, there was a
+very really youthful look of mingled passion and distress in his
+beautiful eyes.
+
+"I think, Mr. Isaacs, that you have used a stronger argument against the
+opinions you profess to hold than I could have found in my whole armoury
+of logic."
+
+As he looked at me, the whole field of possibilities seemed opened. I
+must have been mistaken in thinking this marriage impossible and
+incongruous. What incongruity could there be in Isaacs marrying Miss
+Westonhaugh? My conclusions were false. Why must he necessarily return
+with her to England, and wear a red coat, and make himself ridiculous at
+the borough elections? Why should not this ideal couple choose some
+happy spot, as far from the corrosive influence of Anglo-Saxon prejudice
+as from the wretched sensualism of prosperous life east of the
+Mediterranean? I was carried away by the idea, returning with redoubled
+strength as a sequel to what I had argued and to what I had guessed.
+"Why not?" was the question I repeated to myself over and over again in
+the half minute's pause after Isaacs finished speaking.
+
+"You are right," he said slowly, his half-closed eyes fixed on his feet.
+"Yes, you are right. Why not? Indeed, indeed, why not?"
+
+It must have been pure guess-work, this reading of my thoughts. When he
+was last speaking his manner was all indifference, scorn of my ideas,
+and defiance of every western mode of reasoning. And now, apparently by
+pure intuition, he gave a direct answer to the direct question I had
+mentally asked, and, what is more, his answer came with a quiet,
+far-away tone of conviction that had not a shade of unbelief in it. It
+was delivered as monotonously and naturally as a Christian says "Credo
+in unum Deum," as if it were not worth disputing; or as the devout
+Mussulman says "La Illah illallah," not stooping to consider the
+existence of any one bold enough to deny the dogma. No argument, not
+hours of patient reasoning, or weeks of well directed persuasion, could
+have wrought the change in the man's tone that came over it at the mere
+mention of the woman he loved. I had no share in his conversion. My
+arguments had been the excuse by which he had converted himself. Was he
+converted? was it real?
+
+"Yes--I think I am," he replied in the same mechanical monotonous
+accent.
+
+I shook myself, drank some sherbet, and kicked off one shoe impatiently.
+Was I dreaming? or had I been speaking aloud, really putting the
+questions he answered so quickly and appositively? Pshaw! a coincidence.
+I called the servant and ordered my hookah to be refilled. Isaacs sat
+still, immovable, lost in thought, looking at his toes; an expression,
+almost stupid in its vacancy, was on his face, and the smoke curled
+slowly up in lazy wreaths from his neglected narghyle.
+
+"You are converted then at last?" I said aloud. No answer followed my
+question; I watched him attentively.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs!" still silence, was it possible that he had fallen asleep?
+his eyes were open, but I thought he was very pale. His upright
+position, however, belied any symptoms of unconsciousness.
+
+"Isaacs! Abdul Hafiz! what is the matter!" He did not move. I rose to my
+feet and knelt beside him where he sat rigid, immovable, like a statue.
+Kiramat Ali, who had been watching, clapped his hands wildly and cried,
+"Wah! wah! Sahib margyâ!"--"The lord is dead." I motioned him away with
+a gesture and he held his peace, cowering in the corner, his eyes fixed
+on us. Then I bent low as I knelt and looked under my friend's brows,
+into his eyes. It was clear he did not see me, though he was looking
+straight at his feet. I felt for his pulse. It was very low, almost
+imperceptible, and certainly below forty beats to the minute. I took his
+right arm and tried to put it on my shoulder. It was perfectly rigid.
+There was no doubt about it--the man was in a cataleptic trance. I felt
+for the pulse again; it was lost.
+
+I was no stranger to this curious phenomenon, where the mind is
+perfectly awake, but every bodily faculty is lulled to sleep beyond
+possible excitation, unless the right means be employed. I went out and
+breathed the cool night air, bidding the servants be quiet, as the sahib
+was asleep. When sufficiently refreshed I re-entered the room, cast off
+my slippers, and stood a moment by my friend, who was as rigid as ever.
+
+Nature, in her bountiful wisdom, has compensated me for a singular
+absence of beauty by endowing me with great strength, and with one of
+those exceptional constitutions which seem constantly charged with
+electricity. Without being what is called a mesmerist, I am possessed of
+considerable magnetic power, which I have endeavoured to develop as far
+as possible. In many a long conversation with old Manu Lal, my Brahmin
+instructor in languages and philosophy while in the plains, we had
+discussed the trance state in all its bearings. This old pundit was
+himself a distinguished mesmerist, and though generally unwilling to
+talk about what is termed occultism, on finding in me a man naturally
+endowed with the physical characteristics necessary to those pursuits,
+he had given me several valuable hints as to the application of my
+powers. Here was a worthy opportunity.
+
+I rubbed my feet on the soft carpet, and summoning all my strength,
+began to make the prescribed passes over my friend's head and body. Very
+gradually the look of life returned to his face, the generous blood
+welled up under the clear olive skin, the lips parted, and he sighed
+softly. Animation, as always happens in such cases, began at the precise
+point at which it had been suspended, and his first movement was to
+continue his examination of the mouthpiece in his hand. Then he looked
+up suddenly, and seeing me standing over him, gave a little shake, half
+turning his shoulders forward and back, and speaking once more in his
+natural voice, said--
+
+"I must have been asleep! Have I? What has happened? Why are you
+standing there looking at me in that way?" Then, after a short
+interrogatory silence, his face changed and a look of annoyance shaded
+his features as he added in a low tone, "Oh! I see. It has happened to
+me once before. Sit down. I am all right now." He sipped a little
+sherbet and leaned back in his old position. I begged him to go to bed,
+and prepared to withdraw, but he would not let me, and he seemed so
+anxious that I should stay, that I resumed my place. The whole incident
+had passed in ten minutes.
+
+"Stay with me a little longer," he repeated. "I need your company,
+perhaps your advice. I have had a vision, and you must hear about it."
+
+"I thought as I sat here that my spirit left my body and passed out
+through the night air and hovered over Simla. I could see into every
+bungalow, and was conscious of what passed in each, but there was only
+one where my gaze rested, for I saw upon a couch in a spacious chamber
+the sleeping form of one I knew. The masses of fair hair were heaped as
+they fell upon the pillow, as if she had lain down weary of bearing the
+burden of such wealth of gold. The long dark lashes threw little shadows
+on her cheeks, and the parted lips seemed to smile at the sweetness of
+the gently heaving breath that fanned them as it came and went. And
+while I looked, the breath of her body became condensed, as it were, and
+took shape and form and colour, so that the image of herself floated up
+between her body and my watching spirit. Nearer and nearer to me came
+the exquisite vision of beauty, till we were face to face, my soul and
+hers, high up in the night. And there came from her eyes, as the long
+lids lifted, a look of perfect trust, and of love, and of infinite joy.
+Then she turned her face southward and pointed to my life star burning
+bright among his lesser fellows; and with a long sweet glance that bid
+me follow where she led, her maiden soul floated away, half lingering at
+first, as I watched her; then, with dizzy speed, vanishing in the
+firmament as a falling star, and leaving no trace behind, save an
+infinitely sad regret, and a longing to enter with her into that
+boundless empire of peace. But I could not, for my spirit was called
+back to this body. And I bless Allah that he has given me to see her
+once so, and to know that she has a soul, even as I have, for I have
+looked upon her spirit and I know it."
+
+Isaacs rose slowly to his feet and moved towards the open door. I
+followed him, and for a few moments we stood looking out at the scene
+below us. It was near midnight, and the ever-decreasing moon was
+dragging herself up, as if ashamed of her waning beauty and tearful
+look.
+
+"Griggs," said my friend, dropping the formal prefix for the first time,
+"all this is very strange. I believe I am in love!"
+
+"I have not a doubt of it," I replied. "Peace be with you!"
+
+"And with you peace."
+
+So we parted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+In Simla people make morning calls in the morning instead of after dark,
+as in more civilised countries. Soon after dawn I received a note from
+Isaacs, saying that he had business with the Maharajah of Baithopoor
+about some precious stones, but that he would be ready to go with me to
+call on Mr. Currie Ghyrkins at ten o'clock, or soon after. I had been
+thinking a great deal about the events of the previous evening, and I
+was looking forward to my next meeting with Isaacs with intense
+interest. After what had passed, nothing could be such a test of his
+true feelings as the visit to Miss Westonhaugh, which we proposed to
+make together, and I promised myself to lose no gesture, no word, no
+expression, which might throw light on the question that interested
+me--whether such a union were practical, possible, and wise.
+
+At the appointed time, therefore, I was ready, and we mounted and
+sallied forth into the bright autumn day. All visits are made on
+horseback in Simla, as the distances are often considerable. You ride
+quietly along, and the saice follows you, walking or keeping pace with
+your gentle trot, as the case may be. We rode along the bustling mall,
+crowded with men and women on horseback, with numbers of gorgeously
+arrayed native servants and _chuprassies_ of the Government offices
+hurrying on their respective errands, or dawdling for a chat with some
+shabby-looking acquaintance in private life; we passed by the crowded
+little shops on the hill below the church, and glanced at the
+conglomeration of grain-sellers, jewellers, confectioners, and dealers
+in metal or earthen vessels, every man sitting knee-deep in his wares,
+smoking the eternal "hubble-bubble;" we noted the keen eyes of the
+buyers and the hawk's glance of the sellers, the long snake-like fingers
+eagerly grasping the passing coin, and seemingly convulsed into
+serpentine contortion when they relinquished their clutch on a single
+"pi;" we marked this busy scene, set down, like a Punch and Judy show,
+in the midst of the trackless waste of the Himalayas, as if for the
+delectation and pastime of some merry _genius loci_ weary of the solemn
+silence in his awful mountains, and we chatted carelessly of the sights
+animate and inanimate before us, laughing at the asseverations of the
+salesmen, and at the hardened scepticism of the customer, at the
+portentous dignity of the superb old messenger, white-bearded and clad
+in scarlet and gold, as he bombastically described to the knot of poor
+relations and admirers that elbowed him the splendours of the last
+entertainment at "Peterhof," where Lord Lytton still reigned. I smiled,
+and Isaacs frowned at the ancient and hairy ascetic believer, who
+suddenly rose from his lair in a corner, and bustled through the crowd
+of Hindoos, shouting at the top of his voice the confession of his
+faith--"Beside God there is no God, and Muhammad is his apostle!" The
+universality of the Oriental spirit is something amazing. Customs,
+dress, thought, and language, are wonderfully alike among all Asiatics
+west of Thibet and south of Turkistan. The greatest difference is in
+language, and yet no one unacquainted with the dialects could
+distinguish by the ear between Hindustani, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish.
+
+So we moved along, and presently found ourselves on the road we had
+traversed the previous evening, leading round Jako. On the slope of the
+hill, hidden by a dense growth of rhododendrons, lay the bungalow of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, and a board at the entrance of the ride--drive there
+was none--informed us that the estate bore the high-sounding title of
+"Carisbrooke Castle," in accordance with the Simla custom of calling
+little things by big names.
+
+Having reached the lawn near the house, we left our horses in charge of
+the saice and strolled up the short walk to the verandah. A charming
+picture it was, prepared as if on purpose for our especial delectation.
+The bungalow was a large one for Simla, and the verandah was deep and
+shady; many chairs of all sorts and conditions stood about in natural
+positions, as if they had just been sat in, instead of being ranged in
+stiff rows against the wall, and across one angle hung a capacious
+hammock. Therein, swinging her feet to the ground, and holding on by the
+edge rope, sat the beautiful Miss Westonhaugh, clad in one of those
+close-fitting unadorned costumes of plain dark-blue serge, which only
+suit one woman in ten thousand, though, when they clothe a really
+beautiful young figure, I know of no garment better calculated to
+display grace of form and motion. She was kicking a ball of worsted with
+her dainty toes, for the amusement and instruction of a small tame
+jackal--the only one I ever saw thoroughly domesticated. A charming
+little beast it was, with long gray fur and bright twinkling eyes,
+mischievous and merry as a gnome's. From a broad blue ribbon round its
+neck was suspended a small silver bell that tinkled spasmodically, as
+the lively little thing sprang from side to side in pursuit of the ball,
+alighting with apparent indifference on its head or its heels.
+
+So busy was the girl with her live plaything that she had not seen us
+dismount and approach her, and it was not till our feet sounded on the
+boards of the verandah that she looked up with a little start, and tried
+to rise to her feet. Now any one who has sat sideways in a netted
+hammock, with feet swinging to the ground, and all the weight in the
+middle of the thing, knows how difficult it is to get out with grace, or
+indeed in any way short of rolling out and running for luck. You may
+break all your bones in the feat, and you both look and feel as if you
+were going to. Though we both sprang forward to her assistance, Miss
+Westonhaugh had recognised the inexpediency of moving after the first
+essay, and, with a smile of greeting, and the faintest tinge of
+embarrassment on her fair cheek, abandoned the attempt; the quaint
+little jackal sat up, backing against the side of the house, and, eyeing
+us critically, growled a little.
+
+"I'm so glad to see you, Mr. Isaacs. How do you do, Mr.----"
+
+"Griggs," murmured Isaacs, as he straightened a rope of the hammock by
+her side.
+
+"Mr. Griggs?" she continued. "We met last night, briefly, but to the
+point, or at least you and my uncle did. I am alone; my uncle is gone
+down towards Kalka to meet my brother, who is coming up for a fortnight
+at the end of the season to get rid of the Bombay mould. Bring up some
+of those chairs and sit down. I cannot tell what has become of the
+'bearer' and the 'boy,' and the rest of the servants, and I could not
+make them understand me if they were here. So you must wait on
+yourselves."
+
+I was the first to lay hands on a chair, and as I turned to bring it I
+noticed she was following Isaacs with the same expression I had seen on
+her face the previous evening; but I could see it better now. A pleasant
+friendly look, not tender so much as kind, while the slightest possible
+contraction of the eyes showed a feeling of curiosity. She was evidently
+going to speak to him as soon as he turned his face.
+
+"You see I have been giving him lessons," she said, as he brought back
+the seat he had chosen.
+
+Isaacs looked at the queer small beast sitting up against the boards
+under the window, his brush tail curled round him, and his head turned
+inquiringly on one side.
+
+"He seems to be learning manners, at all events," said my friend.
+
+"Yes; I think I may say now, with safety, that his bark is worse than
+his bite."
+
+"I am sure you could not have said so the last time I came. Do you
+remember what fearful havoc he made among my nether garments? And yet he
+is my god-child, so to speak, for I gave him into your care, and named
+him into the bargain."
+
+"Don't suppose I am ungrateful for the gift," answered Miss Westonhaugh.
+"Snap! Snap! here! come here, darling, to your mistress, and be petted!"
+In spite of this eloquent appeal Snap, the baby jackal, only growled
+pleasantly and whisked his brush right and left. "You see," she went on,
+"your sponsorship has had no very good results. He will not obey any
+more than you yourself." Her glance, turning towards Isaacs, did not
+reach him, and, in fact, she could not have seen anything beyond the
+side of his chair. Isaacs, on the contrary, seemed to be counting her
+eyelashes, and taking a mental photograph of her brows.
+
+"Snap!" said he. The jackal instantly rose and trotted to him, fawning
+on his outstretched hand.
+
+"You malign me, Miss Westonhaugh. Snap is no less obedient than I."
+
+"Then why did you insist on playing tennis left-handed the other day,
+though you know very well how it puzzles me?"
+
+"My dear Miss Westonhaugh," he answered, "I am not a tennis-player at
+all, to begin with, and as I do not understand the _finesse_ of the
+game, to use a word I do not understand either, you must pardon my
+clumsiness in employing the hand most convenient and ready."
+
+"Some people," I began, "are what is called ambidexter, and can use
+either hand with equal ease. Now the ancient Persians, who invented the
+game of polo----"
+
+"I do not quarrel so much with you, Mr. Isaacs--" as she said this, she
+looked at me, though entirely disregarding and interrupting my
+instructive sentence--"I don't quarrel with you so much for using your
+left hand at tennis as for employing left-handed weapons when you speak
+of other things, or beings, for you are never so left-handed and so
+adroit as when you are indulging in some elaborate abuse of our sex."
+
+"How can you say that?" protested Isaacs. "You know with what respectful
+and almost devotional reverence I look upon all women, and," his eyes
+brightening perceptibly, "upon you in particular."
+
+English women, especially in their youth, are not used to pretty
+speeches. They are so much accustomed to the men of their own
+nationality that they regard the least approach to a compliment as the
+inevitable introduction to the worst kind of insult. Miss Westonhaugh
+was no exception to this rule, and she drew herself up proudly.
+
+There was a moment's pause, during which Isaacs seemed penitent, and she
+appeared to be revolving the bearings of the affront conveyed in his
+last words. She looked along the floor, slowly, till she might have seen
+his toes; then her eyes opened a moment and met his, falling again
+instantly with a change of colour.
+
+"And pray, Mr. Isaacs, would you mind giving us a list of the ladies you
+look upon with 'respectful and devotional reverence?'" One of the horses
+held by the saice at the corner of the lawn neighed lowly, and gave
+Isaacs an opportunity of looking away.
+
+"Miss Westonhaugh," he said quietly, "you know I am a Mussulman, and
+that I am married. It may be that I have borrowed a phrase from your
+language which expresses more than I would convey, though it would ill
+become me to withdraw my last words, since they are true."
+
+It was my turn to be curious now. I wondered where his boldness would
+carry him. Among his other accomplishments, this man was capable of
+speaking the truth even to a woman, not as a luxury and a _bonne
+bouche_, but as a matter of habit. As I looked, the hot blood mantled up
+to his brows. She was watching him, and womanlike, seeing he was in
+earnest and embarrassed, she regained her perfect natural composure.
+
+"Oh, I had forgotten!" she said. "I forgot about your wife in Delhi."
+She half turned in the hammock, and after some searching, during which
+we were silent, succeeded in finding a truant piece of worsted work
+behind her. The wool was pulled out of the needle, and she held the
+steel instrument up against the light, as she doubled the worsted round
+the eye and pushed it back through the little slit. I observed that
+Isaacs was apparently in a line with the light, and that the threading
+took some time.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," she said slowly, and by the very slowness of the address I
+knew she was going to talk to me, and at my friend, as women will; "Mr.
+Griggs, do you know anything about Mohammedans?"
+
+"That is a very broad question," I answered; "almost as broad as the
+Mussulman creed." She began making stitches in the work she held, and
+with a little side shake settled herself to listen, anticipating a
+discourse. The little jackal sidled up and fawned on her feet. I had no
+intention, however, of delivering a lecture on the faith of the prophet.
+I saw my friend was embarrassed in the conversation, and I resolved, if
+possible, to interest her.
+
+"Among primitive people and very young persons," I continued, "marriage
+is an article of faith, a moral precept, and a social law."
+
+"I suppose you are married, Mr. Griggs," she said, with an air of
+childlike simplicity.
+
+"Pardon me, Miss Westonhaugh, I neither condescend to call myself
+primitive, nor aspire to call myself young."
+
+She laughed. I had put a wedge into my end of the conversation.
+
+"I thought," said she, "from the way in which you spoke of 'primitive
+and young persons' that you considered their opinion in regard to--to
+this question, as being the natural and proper opinion of the original
+and civilised young man."
+
+"I repeat that I do not claim to be very civilised, or very
+young--certainly not to be very original, and my renunciation of all
+these qualifications is my excuse for the confirmed bachelorhood to
+which I adhere. Many Mohammedans are young and original; some of them
+are civilised, as you see, and all of them are married. 'There is no
+God but God, Muhammad is his prophet, and if you refuse to marry you are
+not respectable,' is their full creed."
+
+Isaacs frowned at my profanity, but I continued--"I do not mean to say
+anything disrespectful to a creed so noble and social. I think you have
+small chance of converting Mr. Isaacs."
+
+"I would not attempt it," she said, laying down her work in her lap, and
+looking at me for a moment. "But since you speak of creeds, to what
+confession do you yourself belong, if I may ask?"
+
+"I am a Roman Catholic," I answered; adding presently--"Really, though,
+I do not see how my belief in the papal infallibility affects my opinion
+of Mohammedan marriages."
+
+"And what _do_ you think of them?" she inquired, resuming her work and
+applying herself thereto with great attention.
+
+"I think that, though justified in principle by the ordinary
+circumstances of Eastern life, there are cases in which the system acts
+very badly. I think that young men are often led by sheer force of
+example into marrying several wives before they have sufficiently
+reflected on the importance of what they are doing. I think that both
+marriage and divorce are too easily managed in consideration of their
+importance to a man's life, and I am convinced that no civilised man of
+Western education, if he were to adopt Islam, would take advantage of
+his change of faith to marry four wives. It is a case of theory _versus_
+practice, which I will not attempt to explain. It may often be good in
+logic, but it seems to me it is very often bad in real life."
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs; "there are cases----" He stopped, and Miss
+Westonhaugh, who had been very busy over her work, looked quietly up,
+only to find that he was profoundly interested in the horses cropping
+the short grass, as far as the saice would let them stretch their necks,
+on the other side of the lawn.
+
+"I confess," said Miss Westonhaugh, "that my ideas about Mohammedans are
+chiefly the result of reading the Arabian Nights, ever so long ago. It
+seems to me that they treat women as if they had no souls and no minds,
+and were incapable of doing anything rational if left to themselves. It
+is a man's religion. My uncle says so too, and he ought to know."
+
+The conversation was meandering in a kind of vicious circle. Both Isaacs
+and I were far too deeply interested in the question to care for such
+idle discussion. How could this beautiful but not very intellectual
+English girl, with her prejudices and her clumsiness at repartee or
+argument, ever comprehend or handle delicately so difficult a subject? I
+was disappointed in her. Perhaps this was natural enough, considering
+that with two such men as we she must be entirely out of her element.
+She was of the type of brilliant, healthy, northern girls, who depend
+more on their animal spirits and enjoyment of living for their happiness
+than upon any natural or acquired mental powers. With a horse, or a
+tennis court, or even a ball to amuse her, she would appear at her very
+best; would be at ease and do the right thing. But when called upon to
+sustain a conversation, such as that into which her curiosity about
+Isaacs had plunged her, she did not know what to do. She was
+constrained, and even some of her native grace of manner forsook her.
+Why did she avoid his eyes and resort to such a petty little trick as
+threading a needle in order to get a look at him? An American girl, or a
+French woman, would have seen that her strength lay in perfect
+frankness; that Isaacs' straightforward nature would make him tell her
+unhesitatingly anything she wanted to know about himself, and that her
+position was strong enough for her to look him in the face and ask him
+what she pleased. But she allowed herself to be embarrassed, and though
+she had been really glad to see him, and liked him and thought him
+handsome, she was beginning to wish he would go, merely because she did
+not know what to talk about, and would not give him a chance to choose
+his own subject. As neither of us were inclined to carry the analysis of
+matrimony any farther, nor to dispute the opinions of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins as quoted by his niece, there was a pause. I struck in and
+boldly changed the subject.
+
+"Are you going to see the polo this afternoon, Miss Westonhaugh? I heard
+at the hotel that there was to be a match to-day of some interest."
+
+"Oh yes, of course. I would not miss it for anything. Lord Steepleton is
+coming to tiffin, and we shall ride down together to Annandale. Of
+course you are going too; it will be a splendid thing. Do you play polo,
+Mr. Griggs? Mr. Isaacs is a great player, when he can be induced to take
+the trouble. He knows more about it than he does about tennis."
+
+"I am very fond of the game," I answered, "but I have no horses here,
+and with my weight it is not easy to get a mount for such rough work."
+
+"Do not disturb yourself on that score," said Isaacs; "you know my
+stable is always at your disposal, and I have a couple of ponies that
+would carry you well enough. Let us have a game one of those days,
+whenever we can get the ground. We will play on opposite sides and match
+the far west against the far east."
+
+"What fun!" cried Miss Westonhaugh, her face brightening at the idea,
+"and I will hold the stakes and bestow the crown on the victor."
+
+"What is to be the prize?" asked Isaacs, with a smile of pleasure. He
+was very literal and boyish sometimes.
+
+"That depends on which is the winner," she answered.
+
+There was a noise among the trees of horses' hoofs on the hard path, and
+presently we heard a voice calling loudly for a saice who seemed to be
+lagging far behind. It was a clear strong voice, and the speaker abused
+the groom's female relations to the fourth and fifth generations with
+considerable command of the Hindustani language. Miss Westonhaugh, who
+had not been in the country long, did not understand a word of the very
+free swearing that was going on in the woods, but Isaacs looked annoyed,
+and I registered a black mark against the name of the new-comer, whoever
+he might be.
+
+"Oh! it is Lord Steepleton," said the young girl. "He seems to be always
+having a row with his servants. Don't go," she went on as I took up my
+hat; "he is such a good fellow, you ought to know him."
+
+Lord Steepleton Kildare now appeared at the corner of the lawn, hotly
+pursued by his breathless groom, who had been loitering on the way, and
+had thus roused his master's indignation. He was, as I have said, a fine
+specimen of a young Englishman, though being Irish by descent he would
+have indignantly denied any such nationality. I saw when he had
+dismounted that he was tall and straight, though not a very heavily
+built man. He carried his head high, and looked every inch a soldier as
+he strode across the grass, carefully avoiding the pegs of the tennis
+net. He wore a large gray felt hat, like every one else, and he shook
+hands all round before he took it off, and settled himself in an easy
+chair as near as he could get to Miss Westonhaugh's hammock.
+
+"How are ye? Ah--yes, Mr. Isaacs, Mr. Griggs of Allahabad. Jolly day,
+isn't it?" and he looked vaguely at the grass. "Really, Miss
+Westonhaugh, I got in such a rage with my rascal of a saice that I did
+not remember I was so near the house. I am really very sorry I talked
+like that. I hope you did not think I was murdering him?"
+
+Isaacs looked annoyed.
+
+"Yes," said he, "we thought Mahmoud was going to have a bad time of it.
+I believe Miss Westonhaugh does not understand Hindustani."
+
+A look of genuine distress came into the Englishman's face.
+
+"Really," said he, very simply. "You don't know how sorry I am that any
+one should have heard me. I am so hasty. But let me apologise to you all
+most sincerely for disturbing you with my brutal temper."
+
+His misdeed had not been a very serious crime after all, and there was
+something so frank and honest about his awkward little apology that I
+was charmed. The man was a gentleman. Isaacs bowed in silence, and Miss
+Westonhaugh had evidently never thought much about it.
+
+"We were talking about polo when you came, Lord Steepleton; Mr. Isaacs
+and Mr. Griggs are going to play a match, and I am to hold the stakes.
+Do you not want to make one in the game?"
+
+"May I?" said the young man, grateful to her for having helped him out.
+"May I? I should like it awfully. I so rarely get a chance of playing
+with any except the regular set here." And he looked inquiringly at us.
+
+"We should be delighted, of course," said Isaacs. "By the way, can you
+help us to make up the number? And when shall it be?" He seemed suddenly
+very much interested in this projected contest.
+
+"Oh yes," said Kildare, "I will manage to fill up the game, and we can
+play next Monday. I know the ground is free then."
+
+"Very good; on Monday. We are at Laurie's on the hill."
+
+"I am staying with Jack Tygerbeigh, near Peterhof. Come and see us. I
+will let you know before Monday. Oh, Mr. Griggs, I saw such a nice thing
+about me in the _Howler_ the other day--so many thanks. No, really,
+greatly obliged, you know; people say horrid things about me sometimes.
+Good-bye, good-bye, delighted to have seen you."
+
+"Good morning, Miss Westonhaugh."
+
+"Good morning; so good of you to take pity on my solitude." She smiled
+kindly at Isaacs and civilly at me. And we went our way. As we looked
+back after mounting to lift our hats once more, I saw that Miss
+Westonhaugh had succeeded in getting out of the hammock and was tying on
+a pith hat, while Lord Steepleton had armed himself with balls and
+rackets from a box on the verandah. As we bowed they came down the
+steps, looking the very incarnation of animal life and spirits in the
+anticipation of the game they loved best. The bright autumn sun threw
+their figures into bold relief against the dark shadow of the verandah,
+and I thought to myself they made a very pretty picture. I seemed to be
+always seeing pictures, and my imagination was roused in a new
+direction.
+
+We rode away under the trees. My impression of the whole visit was
+unsatisfactory. I had thought Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would be there, and
+that I would be able to engage him in a political discussion. We could
+have talked income-tax, and cotton duties, and Kabul by the hour, and
+Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs would have had a pleasant _tête-à-tête._
+Instead of this I had been decidedly the unlucky third who destroys the
+balance of so much pleasure in life, for I felt that Isaacs was not a
+man to be embarrassed if left alone with a woman, or to embarrass her.
+He was too full of tact, and his sensibilities were so fine that, with
+his easy command of language, he must be agreeable _quand même_; and
+such an opportunity would have given him an easy lead away from the
+athletic Kildare, whom I suspected strongly of being a rival for Miss
+Westonhaugh's favour. There is an easy air of familiar proprietorship
+about an Englishman in love that is not to be mistaken. It is a subtle
+thing, and expresses itself neither in word nor deed in its earlier
+stages of development; but it is there all the same, and the combination
+of this possessive mood, with a certain shyness which often goes with
+it, is amusing.
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs, "have you ever seen the Rajah of Baithopoor?"
+
+"No; you had some business with him this morning, had you not?"
+
+"Yes--some--business--if you call it so. If you would like to see him I
+can take you there, and I think you would be interested in the--the
+business. It is not often such gems are bought and sold in such a way,
+and besides, he is very amusing. He is at least two thousand years old,
+and will go to Saturn when he dies. His fingers are long and crooked,
+and that which he putteth into his pockets, verily he shall not take it
+out."
+
+"A pleasing picture; a good contrast to the one we have left behind us.
+I like contrasts, and I should like to see him."
+
+"You shall." And we lit our cheroots.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+"We will go there at four," said Isaacs, coming into my rooms after
+tiffin, a meal of which I found he rarely partook. "I said three, this
+morning, but it is not a bad plan to keep natives waiting. It makes them
+impatient, and then they commit themselves."
+
+"You are Machiavellian. It is pretty clear which of you is asking the
+favour."
+
+"Yes, it is pretty clear." He sat down and took up the last number of
+the _Howler_ which lay on the table. Presently he looked up. "Griggs,
+why do you not come to Delhi? We might start a newspaper there, you
+know, in the Conservative interest."
+
+"In the interest of Mr. Algernon Currie Ghyrkins?" I inquired.
+
+"Precisely. You anticipate my thoughts with a true sympathy. I suppose
+you have no conscience?"
+
+"Political conscience? No, certainly not, out of my own country, which
+is the only one where that sort of thing commands a high salary. No, I
+have no conscience."
+
+"You would really write as willingly for the Conservatives as you do for
+the Liberals?"
+
+"Oh yes. I could not write so well on the Conservative side just now,
+because they are 'in,' and it is more blessed to abuse than to be
+abused, and ever so much easier. But as far as any prejudice on the
+subject is concerned, I have none. I had as lief defend a party that
+robs India 'for her own good,' as support those who would rob her with a
+more cynical frankness and unblushingly transfer the proceeds to their
+own pockets. I do not care a rush whether they rob Peter to pay Paul, or
+fraudulently deprive Paul of his goods for the benefit of Peter."
+
+"That is the way to look at it. I could tell you some very pretty
+stories about that kind of thing. As for the journalistic enterprise, it
+is only a possible card to be played if the old gentleman is obdurate."
+
+"Isaacs," said I, "I have only known you three days, but you have taken
+me into your confidence to some extent; probably because I am not
+English. I may be of use to you, and I am sure I sincerely hope so.
+Meanwhile I want to ask you a question, if you will allow me to." I
+paused for an answer. We were standing by the open door, and Isaacs
+leaned back against the door-post, his eyes fixed on me, half closed, as
+he threw his head back. He looked at me somewhat curiously, and I
+thought a smile flickered round his mouth, as if he anticipated what the
+question would be.
+
+"Certainly," he said slowly. "Ask me anything you like. I have nothing
+to conceal."
+
+"Do you seriously think of marrying, or proposing to marry, Miss
+Katharine Westonhaugh?"
+
+"I do seriously think of proposing to marry, and of marrying, Miss
+Westonhaugh." He looked very determined as he thus categorically
+affirmed his intention. I knew he meant it, and I knew enough of
+Oriental character to understand that a man like Abdul Hafizben-Isâk, of
+strong passions, infinite wit, and immense wealth, was not likely to
+fail in anything he undertook to do. When Asiatic indifference gives way
+under the strong pressure of some master passion, there is no length to
+which the hot and impetuous temper beneath may not carry the man. Isaacs
+had evidently made up his mind. I did not think he could know much about
+the usual methods of wooing English girls, but as I glanced at his
+graceful figure, his matchless eyes, and noted for the hundredth time
+the commanding, high-bred air that was the breath of his character, I
+felt that his rival would have but a poor chance of success. He guessed
+my thoughts.
+
+"What do you think of me?" he asked, smiling. "Will you back me for a
+place? I have advantages, you must allow--and worldly advantages too.
+They are not rich people at all."
+
+"My dear Isaacs, I will back you to win. But as far as 'worldly
+advantages' are concerned, do not trust to wealth for a moment. Do not
+flatter yourself that there will be any kind of a bargain, as if you
+were marrying a Persian girl. There is nothing venal in that young
+lady's veins, I am sure."
+
+"Allah forbid! But there is something very venal in the veins of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins. I propose to carry the outworks one by one. He is her
+uncle, her guardian, her only relation, save her brother. I do not think
+either of those men would be sorry to see her married to a man of
+stainless name and considerable fortune."
+
+"You forget your three incumbrances, as you called them last night."
+
+"No--I do not forget them. It is allowed me by my religion to marry a
+fourth, and I need not tell you that she would be thenceforth my only
+wife."
+
+"But would her guardian and brother ever think of allowing her to take
+such a position?"
+
+"Why not? You know very well that the English in general hardly consider
+our marriages to be marriages at all--knowing the looseness of the bond.
+That is the prevailing impression."
+
+"Yes, I know. But then they would consider your marriage with Miss
+Westonhaugh in the same light, which would not make matters any easier,
+as far as I can see."
+
+"Pardon me. I should marry Miss Westonhaugh by the English marriage
+service and under English law. I should be as much bound to her, and to
+her alone, as if I were an Englishman myself."
+
+"Well, you have evidently thought it out and taken legal advice; and
+really, as far as the technical part of it goes, I suppose you have as
+good a chance as Lord Steepleton Kildare."
+
+Isaacs frowned, and his eyes flashed. I saw at once that he considered
+the Irish officer a rival, and a dangerous one. I did not think that if
+Isaacs had fair play and the same opportunities Kildare had much chance.
+Besides there was a difficulty in the way.
+
+"As far as religion is concerned, Lord Steepleton is not much better off
+than you, if he wants to marry Miss Westonhaugh. The Kildares have been
+Roman Catholics since the memory of man, and they are very proud of it.
+Theoretically, it is as hard for a Roman Catholic man to marry a
+Protestant woman, as for a Mussulman to wed a Christian of any
+denomination. Harder, in fact, for your marriage depends upon the
+consent of the lady, and his upon the consent of the Church. He has all
+sorts of difficulties to surmount, while you have only to get your
+personality accepted--which, when I look at you, I think might be done,"
+I added, laughing.
+
+"_Jo hoga, so hoga_--what will be, will be," he said; "but religion or
+no religion, I mean to do it." Then he lighted a cigarette and said,
+"Come, it is time to go and see his Saturnine majesty, the Maharajah of
+Baithopoor."
+
+I called for my hat and gloves.
+
+"By-the-bye, Griggs, you may as well put on a black coat. You know the
+old fellow is a king, after all, and you had better produce a favourable
+impression." I retired to comply with his request, and as I came back he
+turned quickly and came towards me, holding out both hands, with a very
+earnest look in his face.
+
+"Griggs, I care for that lady more than I can tell you," he said, taking
+my hands in his.
+
+"My dear fellow, I am sure you do. People do not go suddenly into
+trances at a name that is indifferent to them. I am sure you love her
+very honestly and dearly."
+
+"You and she have come into my life almost together, for it was not
+until I talked with you last night that I made up my mind. Will you help
+me? I have not a friend in the world." The simple, boyish look was in
+his eyes, and he stood holding my hands and waiting for my answer. I was
+so fascinated that I would have then and there gone through fire and
+water for him, as I would now.
+
+"Yes. I will help you. I will be a friend to you."
+
+"Thank you. I believe you." He dropped my hands, and we turned and went
+out, silent.
+
+In all my wanderings I had never promised any man my friendship and
+unconditional support before. There was something about Isaacs that
+overcame and utterly swept away preconceived ideas, rules, and
+prejudices. It was but the third day of our acquaintance, and here was I
+swearing eternal friendship like a school-girl; promising to help a man,
+of whose very existence I knew nothing three days ago, to marry a woman
+whom I had seen for the first time yesterday. But I resolved that,
+having pledged myself, I would do my part with my might, whatever that
+part might be. Meanwhile we rode along, and Isaacs began to talk about
+the visit we were going to make.
+
+"I think," he said, "that you had better know something about this
+matter beforehand. The way is long, and we cannot ride fast over the
+steep roads, so there is plenty of time. Do not imagine that I have idly
+asked you to go with me because I supposed it would amuse you. Dismiss
+also from your mind the impression that it is a question of buying and
+selling jewels. It is a very serious matter, and if you would prefer to
+have nothing to do with it, do not hesitate to say so. I promised the
+maharajah this morning that I would bring, this afternoon, a reliable
+person of experience, who could give advice, and who might be induced to
+give his assistance as well as his counsel. I have not known you long,
+but I know you by reputation, and I decided to bring you, if you would
+come. From the very nature of the case I can tell you nothing more,
+unless you consent to go with me."
+
+"I will go," I said.
+
+"In that case I will try and explain the situation in as few words as
+possible. The maharajah is in a tight place. You will readily understand
+that the present difficulties in Kabul cause him endless anxiety,
+considering the position of his dominions. The unexpected turn of
+events, following now so rapidly on each other since the English
+wantonly sacrificed Cavagnari and his friends to a vainglorious love of
+bravado, has shaken the confidence of the native princes in the
+stability of English rule. They are frightened out of their senses,
+having the fear of the tribes before them if the English should be
+worsted; and they dread, on the other hand, lest the English, finding
+themselves in great straits, should levy heavy contributions on
+them--the native princes--for the consolidation of what they term the
+'Empire.' They have not much sense, these poor old kings and boy
+princes, or they would see that the English do not dare to try any of
+those old-fashioned Clive tactics now. But old Baithopoor has heard all
+about the King of Oude, and thinks he may share the same fate."
+
+"I think he may make his mind easy on that score. The kingdom of
+Baithopoor is too inconveniently situated and too full of mosquitoes to
+attract the English. Besides, there are more roses than rubies there
+just now."
+
+"True, and that question interests me closely, for the old man owes me a
+great deal of money. It was I who pulled him through the last famine."
+
+"Not a very profitable investment, I should think. Shall you ever see a
+rupee of that money again?"
+
+"Yes; he will pay me; though I did not think so a week ago, or indeed
+yesterday. I lent him the means of feeding his people and saving many of
+them from actual death by starvation, because there are so many
+Mussulmans among them, though the maharajah is a Hindoo. As for him, he
+might starve to-morrow, the infidel hound; I would not give him a
+_chowpatti_ or a mouthful of _dal_ to keep his wretched old body alive."
+
+"Do I understand that this interview relates to the repayment of the
+moneys you have advanced?"
+
+"Yes; though that is not the most interesting part of it. He wanted to
+pay me in flesh--human flesh, and he offered to make me a king into the
+bargain, if I would forgive him the debt. The latter part of the
+proposal was purely visionary. The promise to pay in so much humanity he
+is able to perform. I have not made up my mind."
+
+I looked at Isaacs in utter astonishment. What in the world could he
+mean? Had the maharajah offered him some more wives--creatures of
+peerless beauty and immense value? No; I knew he would not hesitate now
+to refuse such a proposition.
+
+"Will you please to explain what you mean by his paying you in man?" I
+asked.
+
+"In two words. The Maharajah of Baithopoor has in his possession a man.
+Safely stowed away under a triple watch and carefully tended, this man
+awaits his fate as the maharajah may decide. The English Government
+would pay an enormous sum for this man, but Baithopoor fears that they
+would ask awkward questions, and perhaps not believe the answers he
+would give them. So, as he owes me a good deal, he thinks I might be
+induced to take his prisoner and realise him, so to speak; thus
+cancelling the debt, and saving him from the alternative of putting the
+man to death privately, or of going through dangerous negotiations with
+the Government. Now this thing is perfectly feasible, and it depends
+upon me to say 'yes' or 'no' to the proposition. Do you see now? It is a
+serious matter enough."
+
+"But the man--who is he? Why do the English want him so much?"
+
+Isaacs pressed his horse close to mine, and looking round to see that
+the saice was a long way behind, he put his hand on my shoulder, and,
+leaning out of the saddle till his mouth almost touched my ear, he
+whispered quickly--
+
+"Shere Ali."
+
+"The devil, you say!" I ejaculated, surprised out of grammar and decorum
+by the startling news. Persons who were in India in 1879 will not have
+forgotten the endless speculation caused by the disappearance of the
+Emir of Afghanistan, Shere Ali, in the spring of that year. Defeated by
+the English at Ali Musjid and Peiwar, and believing his cause lost, he
+fled, no one knew whither; though there is reason to think that he might
+have returned to power and popularity among the Afghan tribes if he had
+presented himself after the murder of Cavagnari.
+
+"Yes," continued Isaacs, "he has been a prisoner in the palace of
+Baithopoor for six weeks, and not a soul save the maharajah and you and
+I know it. He came to Baithopoor, humbly disguised as a Yogi from the
+hills, though he is a Mussulman, and having obtained a private hearing,
+disclosed his real name, proposing to the sovereign a joint movement on
+Kabul, then just pacified by the British, and promising all manner of
+things for the assistance. Old Baitho, who is no fool, clapped him into
+prison under a guard of Punjabi soldiers who could not speak a word of
+Afghan, and after due consideration packed up his traps and betook
+himself to Simla by short stages, for the journey is not an easy one for
+a man of his years. He arrived the day before yesterday, and has
+ostensibly come to congratulate the Viceroy on the success of the
+British arms. He has had to modify the enthusiasm of his proposed
+address, in consequence of the bad news from Kabul. Of course, his first
+move was to send for me, and I had a long interview this morning, in
+which he explained everything. I told him that I would not move in the
+matter without a third person--necessary as a witness when dealing with
+such people--and I have brought you."
+
+"But what was his proposal to invest you with a crown? Did he think you
+were a likely person for a new Emir of Kabul?"
+
+"Exactly. My faith, and above all, my wealth, suggested to him that I,
+as a born Persian, might be the very man for the vacant throne. No
+doubt, the English would be delighted to have me there. But the whole
+thing is visionary and ridiculous. I think I shall accept the other
+proposition, and take the prisoner. It is a good bargain."
+
+I was silent. The intimate way in which I had seen Isaacs hitherto had
+made me forget his immense wealth and his power. I had not realised that
+he could be so closely connected with intrigues of such importance as
+this, or that independant native princes were likely to look upon him as
+a possible Emir of Afghanistan. I had nothing to say, and I determined
+to keep to the part I was brought to perform, which was that of a
+witness, and nothing more. If my advice were asked, I would speak boldly
+for Shere Ali's liberation and protest against the poor man being bought
+and sold in this way. This train of thought reminded me of Isaacs' words
+when we left Miss Westonhaugh that morning. "It is not often," he had
+said, "that you see such jewels bought and sold." No, indeed!
+
+"You see," said Isaacs, as we neared our destination, "Baithopoor is in
+my power, body and soul, for a word from me would expose him to the
+British Government as 'harbouring traitors,' as they would express it.
+On the other hand, the fact that you, the third party, are a journalist,
+and could at a moment's notice give publicity to the whole thing, will
+be an additional safeguard. I have him as in a vice. And now put on your
+most formal manners and look as if you were impenetrable as the rock and
+unbending as cast iron, for we have reached his bungalow."
+
+I could not but admire the perfect calm and caution with which he was
+conducting an affair involving millions of money, a possible indictment
+for high treason, and the key-note of the Afghan question, while I knew
+that his whole soul was absorbed in the contemplation of a beautiful
+picture ever before him, sleeping or waking. Whatever I might think of
+his bargaining for the possession of Shere Ali, he had a great, even
+untiring, intellect. He had the elements of a leader of men, and I
+fondly hoped he might be a ruler some day.
+
+The bungalow in which the Maharajah of Baithopoor had taken up his
+residence during his visit was very much like all the rest of the houses
+I saw in Simla. The verandah, however, was crowded with servants and
+sowars in gorgeous but rather tawdry liveries, not all of them as clean
+as they should have been. Horses with elaborate high saddles and
+embroidered trappings rather the worse for wear were being led up and
+down the walk. As we neared the door there was a strong smell of
+rosewater and native perfumes and hookah tobacco--the indescribable
+odour of Eastern high life. There was also a general air of wasteful and
+tawdry dowdiness, if I may coin such a word, which one constantly sees
+in the retinues of native princes and rich native merchants, ill
+contrasting with the great intrinsic value of some of the ornaments worn
+by the chief officers of the train.
+
+Isaacs spoke a few words in a low voice to the jemadar at the door, and
+we were admitted into a small room in the side of the house, opening, as
+all rooms do in India, on to the verandah. There were low wooden
+charpoys around the walls, and we sat down, waiting till the maharajah
+should be advised of our arrival. Very soon a jemadar came in and
+informed us that "if the _sahib log_, who were the protectors of the
+poor, would deign to be led by him," we should be shown into the royal
+presence. So we rose and followed the obsequious official into another
+apartment.
+
+The room where the maharajah awaited us was even smaller than the one
+into which we had been first shown. It was on the back of the house, and
+only half lighted by the few rays of afternoon sun that struggled
+through the dense foliage outside. I suppose this apartment had been
+chosen as the scene of the interview on account of its seclusion.
+Outside the window, which was closed, a sowar paced slowly up and down
+to keep away any curious listeners. A heavy curtain hung before the door
+through which we had entered. I thought that on the whole the place
+seemed pretty safe.
+
+The old maharajah sat cross-legged upon a great pile of dark-red
+cushions, his slippers by his side, and a huge hookah before him. He
+wore a plain white pugree with a large jewel set on one side, and his
+body was swathed and wrapped in dark thick stuffs, as if he felt keenly
+the cold autumn air. His face was long, of an ashy yellowish colour, and
+an immense white moustache hung curling down over his sombre robe. One
+hand protruded from the folds and held the richly-jewelled mouthpiece of
+the pipe to his lips, and I noticed that the fingers were long and
+crooked, winding themselves curiously round the gold stem, as if
+revelling in the touch of the precious metal and the gems. As we came
+within his range of vision, his dark eyes shot a quick glance of
+scrutiny at me and then dropped again. Not a movement of the head or
+body betrayed a consciousness of our presence. Isaacs made a long
+salutation in Hindustani, and I followed his example, but he did not
+take off his shoes or make anything more than an ordinary bow. It was
+quite evident that he was master of the situation. The old man took the
+pipe from his mouth and replied in a deep hollow voice that he was glad
+to see us, and that, in consideration of our wealth, fame, and renowned
+wisdom, he would waive all ceremony and beg us to be seated. We sat down
+cross-legged on cushions before him, and as near as we could get, so
+that it seemed as if we three were performing some sacred rite of which
+the object was the tall hookah that stood in the centre of our triangle.
+
+Being seated, Isaacs addressed the prince, still in Hindustani, and said
+that the splendour of his sublime majesty, which was like the sun
+dispelling the clouds, so overcame him with fear and trembling, that he
+humbly implored permission to make use of the Persian tongue, which, he
+was aware, the lord of boundless wisdom spoke with even greater ease
+than himself.
+
+Without waiting for an answer, and with no perceptible manifestation of
+any such "fear and trembling" as he professed, Isaacs at once began to
+speak in his native tongue, and dropping all forms of ceremony or
+circumlocution plunged boldly into business. He did not hesitate to
+explain to the maharajah the strength of his position, dwelling on the
+fact that, by a word to the English of the whereabouts of Shere Ali, he
+could plunge Baithopoor into hopeless and endless entanglements, to
+which there could be but one issue--absorption into the British Râj. He
+dwelt on the large sums the maharajah owed him for assistance lent
+during the late famine, and he skilfully produced the impression that he
+wanted the money down, then and there.
+
+"If your majesty should refuse to satisfy my just claims, I have ample
+weapons by which to satisfy them for myself, and no considerations of
+mercy or pity for your majesty will tempt me to abate one rupee in the
+account of your indebtedness, which, as you well know, is not swelled by
+any usurious interest. You could not have borrowed the money on such
+easy terms from any bank in India or England, and if I have been
+merciful hitherto, I will be so no longer. What saith the Apostle of
+Allah? 'Verily, life for life, and eye for eye, and nose for nose, and
+ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and for wounding retaliation.' And the
+time of your promise is expired and you shall pay me. And is not the
+wise Frank, who sitteth at my right hand, the ready writer, who giveth
+to the public every day a new book to read, the paper of news,
+_Khabar-i-Khagaz_ wherein are written the misdeeds of the wicked, and
+the dealings of the fraudulent and the unwary receive their just reward?
+And think you he will not make a great writing, several columns in
+length, and deliver it to the devils that perform his bidding, and shall
+they not multiply what he hath written, and sow it broadcast over the
+British Râj for the minor consideration of one anna a copy, that all
+shall see how the Maharajah of Baithopoor doth scandalously repudiate
+his debts, and harbour traitors to the Râj in his palace?"
+
+Isaacs said all this in a solemn and impressive manner, calculated to
+inspire awe and terror in the soul of the unhappy debtor. As for the
+maharajah, the cold sweat stood on his face, and at the last words his
+anxiety was so great that the long fingers uncurled spasmodically and
+the jewelled mouthpiece fell back, as the head of a snake, among the
+silken coils of the tube at his feet. Instantly, on feeling the grasping
+hand empty, his majesty, with more alacrity than I would have expected,
+darted forward with outstretched claws, as a hawk on his prey, and
+seizing the glittering thing returned it to his lips with a look of
+evident relief. It was habit, of course, for we were not exactly the men
+to plunder him of his toy, but there was a fierceness about the whole
+action that spoke of the real miser. Then there was silence for a
+moment. The old man was evidently greatly impressed by the perils of his
+situation. Isaacs continued.
+
+"Your majesty well perceives that you have surrounded yourself with
+dangers on all sides. No danger threatens me. I could buy you and
+Baithopoor to-morrow if I chose. But I am a just man. When the prophet,
+whose name be blessed, saith that we shall have eye for eye, and nose
+for nose, and for wounding retaliation, he saith also that 'he that
+remitteth the same as alms it shall be an atonement unto him.' Now your
+majesty is a hard man, and I well know that if I force you to pay me now
+you will cruelly tax and oppress your subjects to refill your coffers.
+And many of your subjects are true believers, following the prophet,
+upon whom be peace; and it is also written 'Thou shalt rob a stranger,
+but thou shalt not rob a brother,'--and if I cause you to rob my
+brethren is not the sin mine, and the atonement thereof? Now also has
+the lawful interest on your bond mounted up to several lakhs of rupees.
+But for the sake of my brethren who are in bondage to you, who are an
+unbeliever and shall broil everlastingly in raging flames, I will yet
+make a covenant with you, and the agreement thereof shall be this:
+
+"You shall deliver into my hand, before the dark half of the next moon,
+the man"--Isaacs lowered his voice to a whisper, barely audible in the
+still room, where the only sound heard as he paused was the tread of the
+sowar on the verandah outside-- "the man Shere Ali, formerly Emir of
+Afghanistan, now hidden in your palace of Baithopoor. Him you shall give
+to me safe and untouched at the place which I shall choose, northwards
+from here, in the pass towards Keitung. And there shall not be an hair
+of his head touched, and if it is good in my eyes I will give him up to
+the British; and if it is good in my eyes, I will slay him, and you
+shall ask no questions. And if you refuse to do this I will go to the
+great lord sahib and tell him of your doings, and you will be arrested
+before this night and shall not escape. But if you consent and put your
+hand to this agreement, I will speak no word, and you shall depart in
+peace; and moreover, for the sake of the true believers in your kingdom
+I will remit to you the whole of the interest on your debt; and the bond
+you shall pay at your convenience. I have spoken, do you answer me."
+Isaacs calmly took from his pocket two rolls covered with Persian
+writing, and lighting a cigarette, proceeded to peruse them carefully,
+to detect any flaw or error in their composition. The face of the old
+maharajah betrayed great emotion, but he bravely pulled away at his
+hookah and tried to think over the situation. In the hope of delivering
+himself from his whole debt he had rashly given himself into the hands
+of a man who hated him, though he had discovered that hatred too late.
+He had flattered himself that the loan had been made out of friendly
+feeling and a desire for his interest and support; he found that Isaacs
+had lent the money, for real or imaginary religious motives, in the
+interest of his co-religionists. I sat silently watching the varying
+passions as they swept over the repulsive face of the old man. The
+silence must have lasted a quarter of an hour.
+
+"Give me the covenant," he said at last, "for I am in the tiger's
+clutches. I will sign it, since I must. But it shall be requited to you,
+Abdul Hafiz; and when your body has been eaten of jackals and wild pigs
+in the forest, your soul shall enter into the shape of a despised
+sweeper, and you and your off-spring shall scavenge the streets of the
+cities of my kingdom and of the kingdom of my son, and son's son, to ten
+thousand generations." A Hindoo cannot express scorn more deadly or hate
+more lasting than this. Isaacs smiled, but there was a concentrated look
+in his face, relentless and hard, as he answered the insult.
+
+"I am not going to bandy words with you. But if you are not quick about
+signing that paper I may change my mind, and send for the Angrezi sowars
+from Peterhof. So you had better hurry yourself." Isaacs produced a
+small inkhorn and a reed pen from his pocket. "Sign," he said, rising to
+his feet "before that soldier outside passes the window three times, or
+I will deliver you to the British."
+
+Trembling in every joint, and the perspiration standing on his face like
+beads, the old man seized the pen and traced his name and titles at the
+foot, first of one copy, and then of the other. Isaacs followed, writing
+his full name in the Persian character, and I signed my name last, "Paul
+Griggs," in large letters at the bottom of each roll, adding the word
+"witness," in case of the transaction becoming known.
+
+"And now," said Isaacs to the maharajah, "despatch at once a messenger,
+and let the man here mentioned be brought under a strong guard and by
+circuitous roads to the pass of Keitung, and let them there encamp
+before the third week from to-day, when the moon is at the full. And I
+will be there and will receive the man. And woe to you if he come not;
+and woe to you if you oppress the true believers in your realm." He
+turned on his heel, and I followed him out of the room after making a
+brief salutation to the old man, cowering among his cushions, a ceremony
+which Isaacs omitted, whether intentionally or from forgetfulness, I
+could not say. We passed through the house out into the air, and
+mounting our horses rode away, leaving the double row of servants
+salaaming to the ground. The duration of our private interview with the
+maharajah had given them an immense idea of our importance. We had come
+at four and it was now nearly five. The long pauses and the Persian
+circumlocutions had occupied a good deal of time.
+
+"You do not seem to have needed my counsel or assistance much," I said.
+"With such an armoury of weapons you could manage half-a-dozen
+maharajahs."
+
+"Yes--perhaps so. But I have strong reasons for wishing this affair
+quickly over, and the editor of a daily paper is a thing of terror to a
+native prince; you must have seen that."
+
+"What do you mean to do with your man when he is safely in your hands,
+if it is not an indiscreet question?"
+
+"Do with him?" asked Isaacs with some astonishment. "Is it possible you
+have not guessed? He is a brave man, and a true believer. I will give
+him money and letters, that he may make his way to Baghdad, or wherever
+he will be safe. He shall depart in peace, and be as free as air."
+
+I had half suspected my friend of some such generous intention, but he
+had played his part of unrelenting hardness so well in our late
+interview with the Hindoo prince that it seemed incomprehensible that a
+man should be so pitiless and so kind on the same day. There was not a
+trace of hardness on his beautiful features now, and as we rounded the
+hill and caught the last beams of the sun, now sinking behind the
+mountains, his face seemed transfigured as with a glory, and I could
+hardly bear to look at him. He held his hat in his hand and faced the
+west for an instant, as though thanking the declining day for its
+freshness and beauty; and I thought to myself that the sun was lucky to
+see such an exquisite picture before he bid Simla good-night, and that
+he should shine the brighter for it the next day, since he would look on
+nothing fairer in his twelve hours' wandering over the other half of
+creation.
+
+"And now," said he, "it is late, but if we ride towards Annandale we may
+meet them coming back from the polo match we have missed." His eyes
+glowed at the thought. Shere Ali, the maharajah, bonds, principal, and
+interest, were all forgotten in the anticipation of a brief meeting with
+the woman he loved.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+"Why did you not come and see the game? After all your enthusiasm about
+polo this morning, I did not think you would miss anything so good,"
+were the first words of Miss Westonhaugh as we met her and Kildare in
+the narrow path that leads down to Annandale. Two men were riding behind
+them, who proved to be Mr. Currie Ghyrkins and Mr. John Westonhaugh. The
+latter was duly introduced to us; a quiet, spare man, with his sister's
+features, but without a trace of her superb colour and animal spirits.
+He had the real Bombay paleness, and had been steamed to the bone
+through the rains. As we were introduced, Isaacs started and said
+quickly that he believed he had met Mr. Westonhaugh before.
+
+"It is possible, quite possible," said that gentleman affably,
+"especially if you ever go to Bombay."
+
+"Yes--it was in Bombay--some twelve years ago. You have probably
+forgotten me."
+
+"Ah, yes. I was young and green then. I wonder you remember me." He did
+not show any very lively interest in the matter, though he smiled
+pleasantly.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh must have been teasing Lord Steepleton, for he looked
+flushed and annoyed, and she was in capital spirits. We turned to go
+back with the party, and by a turn of the wrist Isaacs wheeled his horse
+to the side of Miss Westonhaugh's, a position he did not again abandon.
+They were leading, and I resolved they should have a chance, as the path
+was not broad enough for more than two to ride abreast. So I furtively
+excited my horse by a touch of the heel and a quick strain on the curb,
+throwing him across the road, and thus producing a momentary delay, of
+which the two riders in front took advantage to increase their distance.
+Then we fell in, Mr. Ghyrkins and I in front, while the dejected Kildare
+rode behind with Mr. John Westonhaugh. Ghyrkins and I, being heavy men,
+heavily mounted, controlled the situation, and before long Isaacs and
+Miss Westonhaugh were a couple of hundred yards ahead, and we only
+caught occasional glimpses of them through the trees as they wound in
+and out along the path.
+
+"What are those youngsters talking about, back there? Tigers, I'll be
+bound," said Mr. Ghyrkins to me. Sure enough, they were.
+
+"What do you suppose I found when we got back this afternoon, Mr.
+Griggs? Why, this hair-brained young Kildare has been proposing to my
+niece----" his horse stumbled, but recovered himself in a moment.
+
+"You don't mean it," said I, rather startled.
+
+"Oh no, no, no. I don't mean that at all. Ha! ha! ha! very good, very
+good. No, no. Lord Steepleton wants us all to go on a tiger-hunt to
+amuse John, and he proposes--ha! ha!--really too funny of me--that Miss
+Westonhaugh should go with us."
+
+"I suppose you have no objection, Mr. Ghyrkins? Ladies constantly go on
+such expeditions, and they do not appear to be the least in the way."
+
+"Objections? Of course I have objections. Do you suppose I want to drag
+my niece to a premature grave? Think of the fever and the rough living
+and all, and she only just out from England."
+
+"She looks as if she could stand anything," I said, as just then an open
+space in the trees gave us a glimpse of Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs
+ambling along and apparently in earnest conversation. She certainly
+looked strong enough to go tiger-hunting that minute, as she sat erect
+but half turned to the off side, listening to what Isaacs seemed to be
+saying.
+
+"I hope you will not go and tell her so," said Ghyrkins. "If she gets an
+idea that the thing is possible, there will be no holding her. You don't
+know her. I hardly know her myself. Never saw her since she was a baby
+till the other day. Now you are the sort of person to go after tigers.
+Why do you not go off with my nephew and Mr. Isaacs and Kildare, and
+kill as many of them as you like?"
+
+"I have no objection, I am sure. I suppose the _Howler_ could spare me
+for a fortnight, now that I have converted the Press Commissioner, your
+new _deus ex machina_ for the obstruction of news. What a motley party
+we should be. Let me see.--a Bombay Civil Servant, an Irish nobleman, a
+Persian millionaire, and a Yankee newspaper man. By Jove! add to that a
+famous Revenue Commissioner and a reigning beauty, and the sextett is
+complete." Mr. Ghyrkins looked pleased at the gross flattery of himself.
+I recollected suddenly that, though he was far from famous as a revenue
+commissioner, I had read of some good shooting he had done in his
+younger days. Here was a chance.
+
+"Besides, Mr. Ghyrkins, a tiger-hunting party would not be the thing
+without some seasoned Nimrod to advise and direct us. Who so fitted for
+the post as the man of many a chase, the companion of Maori, the slayer
+of the twelve foot tiger in the Nepaul hills in 1861?"
+
+"You have a good memory, Mr. Griggs," said the old fellow, perfectly
+delighted, and now fairly launched on his favourite topic. "By Gad, sir,
+if I thought I should get such another chance I would go with you
+to-morrow!"
+
+"Why not? there are lots of big man-eaters about," and I incontinently
+reeled off half a page of statistics, more or less accurate, about the
+number of persons destroyed by snakes and wild beasts in the last year.
+"Of course most of those deaths were from tigers, and it is a really
+good action to kill a few. Many people can see tigers but cannot shoot
+them, whereas your deeds of death amongst them ate a matter of history.
+You really ought to be philanthropic, Mr. Ghyrkins, and go with us. We
+might stand a chance of seeing some real sport then."
+
+"Why, really, now that you make me think of it, I believe I should like
+it amazingly, and I could leave my niece with
+Lady--Lady--Stick-in-the-mud; what the deuce is her name? The wife of
+the Chief Justice, you know. You ought to know, really--I never remember
+names much;" he jerked out his sentences irately.
+
+"Certainly, Lady Smith-Tompkins, you mean. Yes, you might do that--that
+is, if Miss Westonhaugh has had the measles, and is not afraid of them.
+I heard this morning that three of the little Smith-Tompkinses had them
+quite badly."
+
+"You don't say so! Well, well, we shall find some one else, no doubt."
+
+I was certain that at that very moment Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were
+planning the whole expedition, and so I returned to the question of
+sport and inquired where we should go. This led to considerable
+discussion, and before we arrived at Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow--still in
+the same order--it was very clear that the old sportsman had made up his
+mind to kill one more tiger at all events; and that, rather than forego
+the enjoyment of the chase, he would be willing to take his niece with
+him. As for the direction of the expedition, that could be decided in a
+day or two. It was not the best season for tigers--the early spring is
+better--but they are always to be found in the forests of the Terai, the
+country along the base of the hills, north of Oude.
+
+When we reached the house it was quite dark, for we had ridden slowly.
+The light from the open door, falling across the verandah, showed us
+Miss Westonhaugh seated in a huge chair, and Isaacs standing by her side
+slightly bending, and holding his hat in his hand. They were still
+talking, but as we rode up to the lawn and shouted for the saices,
+Isaacs stood up and looked across towards us, and their voices ceased.
+It was evident that he had succeeded in thoroughly interesting her, for
+I thought--though it was some distance, and the light on them was not
+strong--that as he straightened himself and stopped speaking, she looked
+up to his face as if regretting that he did not go on. I dismounted with
+the rest and walked up to bid Miss Westonhaugh good-night.
+
+"You must come and dine to-morrow night," said Mr. Ghyrkins, "and we
+will arrange all about it. Sharp seven. To-morrow is Sunday, you know.
+Kildare, you must come too, if you mean business. Seven. We must look
+sharp and start, if we mean to come back here before the Viceroy goes."
+
+"Oh in that case," said Kildare, turning to me, "we can settle all about
+the polo match for Monday, can't we?"
+
+"Of course, very good of you to take the trouble."
+
+"Not a bit of it. Good-night." We bowed and went back to find our horses
+in the gloom. After some fumbling, for it was intensely dark after
+facing the light in the doorway of the bungalow, we got into the saddle
+and turned homeward through the trees.
+
+"Thank you, Griggs," said Isaacs. "May your feet never weary, and your
+shadow never be less."
+
+"Don't mention it, and thanks about the shadow. Only it is never likely
+to be less than at the present moment. How dark it is, to be sure!" I
+knew well enough what he was thanking me for. I lit a cheroot.
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "you are a pretty cool hand, upon my word."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why, indeed! Here you and Miss Westonhaugh have been calmly planning an
+extensive tiger-hunt, when you have promised to be in the neighbourhood
+of Keitung in three weeks, wherever that may be. I suppose it is in the
+opposite direction from here, for you will not find any tigers nearer
+than the Terai at this time of year."
+
+"I do not see the difficulty," he answered. "We can be in Oude in two
+days from here; shoot tigers for ten days, and be here again in two days
+more. That is just a fortnight. It will not take me a week to reach
+Keitung. I am much mistaken if I do not get there in three days. I shall
+lay a _dâk_ by messengers before I go to Oude, and between a double set
+of coolies and lots of ponies wherever the roads are good enough, I
+shall be at the place of meeting soon enough, never fear."
+
+"Oh, very well; but I hardly think Ghyrkins will want to return under
+three weeks; and--I did not think you would want to leave the party." He
+had evidently planned the whole three weeks' business carefully. I did
+not continue the conversation. He was naturally absorbed in the
+arrangement of his numerous schemes--no easy matter, when affairs of
+magnitude have to be ordered to suit the exigencies of a _grande
+passion_. I shrank from intruding on his reflections, and I had quite
+enough to do in keeping my horse on his feet in the thick darkness.
+Suddenly he reared violently, and then stood still, quivering in every
+limb. Isaacs' horse plunged and snorted by my side, and cannoned heavily
+against me. Then all was quiet. I could see nothing. Presently a voice,
+low and musical, broke on the darkness, and I thought I could
+distinguish a tall figure on foot at Isaacs' knee. Whoever the man was
+he must be on the other side of my companion, but I made out a head from
+which the voice proceeded.
+
+"Peace, Abdul Hafiz!" it said.
+
+"Aleikum Salaam, Ram Lal!" answered Isaacs. He must have recognised the
+man by his voice.
+
+"Abdul," continued the stranger, speaking Persian. "I have business with
+thee this night; thou art going home. If it is thy pleasure I will be
+with thee in two hours in thy dwelling."
+
+"Thy pleasure is my pleasure. Be it so." I thought the head disappeared.
+
+"Be it so," the voice echoed, growing faint, as if moving rapidly away
+from us. The horses, momentarily startled by the unexpected pedestrian,
+regained their equanimity. I confess the incident gave me a curiously
+unpleasant sensation. It was so very odd that a man on foot--a Persian,
+I judged, by his accent--should know of my companion's whereabouts, and
+that they should recognise each other by their voices. I recollected
+that our coming to Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow was wholly unpremeditated, and
+I was sure Isaacs had spoken to none but our party--not even to his
+saice--since our meeting with the Westonhaughs on the Annandale road an
+hour and a half before.
+
+"I wonder what he wants," said my friend, apparently soliloquising.
+
+"He seems to know where to find you, at all events," I answered. "He
+must have second sight to know you had been to Carisbrooke."
+
+"He has. He is a very singular personage altogether. However, he has
+done me more than one service before now, and though I do not comprehend
+his method of arriving at conclusions, still less his mode of
+locomotion, I am always glad of his advice."
+
+"But what is he? Is he a Persian?--you called him by an Indian name, but
+that may be a disguise--is he a wise man from Iran?"
+
+"He is a very wise man, but not from Iran. No. He is a Brahmin by birth,
+a Buddhist by adopted religion, and he calls himself an 'adept' by
+profession, I suppose, if he can be said to have any. He comes and goes
+unexpectedly, with amazing rapidity. His visits are brief, but he always
+seems to be perfectly conversant with the matter in hand, whatever it
+be. He will come to-night and give me about twenty words of advice,
+which I may follow or may not, as my judgment dictates; and before I
+have answered or recovered from my surprise, he will have vanished,
+apparently into space; for if I ask my servants where he is gone they
+will stare at me as if I were crazy, until I show them that the room is
+empty, and accuse them of going to sleep instead of seeing who goes in
+and out of my apartment. He speaks more languages than I do, and better.
+He once told me he was educated in Edinburgh, and his perfect knowledge
+of European affairs and of European topics leads me to think he must
+have been there a long time. Have you ever looked into the higher phases
+of Buddhism? It is a very interesting study."
+
+"Yes, I have read something about it. Indeed I have read a good deal,
+and have thought more. The subject is full of interest, as you say. If I
+had been an Asiatic by birth, I am sure I should have sought to attain
+_moksha_, even if it required a lifetime to pass through all the degrees
+of initiation. There is something so rational about their theories,
+disclaiming, as they do, all supernatural power; and, at the same time,
+there is something so pure and high in their conception of life, in
+their ideas about the ideal, if you will allow me the expression, that I
+do not wonder Edwin Arnold has set our American transcendentalists and
+Unitarians and freethinkers speculating about it all, and wondering
+whether the East may not have had men as great as Emerson and Channing
+among its teachers." I paused. My greatest fault is that if any one
+starts me upon a subject I know anything about, I immediately become
+didactic. So I paused and reflected that Isaacs, being, as he himself
+declared, frequently in the society of an "adept" of a high class, was
+sure to know a great deal more than I.
+
+"I too," he said, "have been greatly struck, and sometimes almost
+converted, by the beauty of the higher Buddhist thoughts. As for their
+apparently supernatural powers and what they do with them, I care
+nothing about phenomena of that description. We live in a land where
+marvels are common enough. Who has ever explained the mango trick, or
+the basket trick, or the man who throws a rope up into the air and then
+climbs up it and takes the rope after him, disappearing into blue space?
+And yet you have seen those things--I have seen them, every one has seen
+them,--and the performers claim no supernatural agency or assistance. It
+is merely a difference of degree, whether you make a mango grow from the
+seed to the tree in half an hour, or whether you transport yourself ten
+thousand miles in as many seconds, passing through walls of brick and
+stone on your way, and astonishing some ordinary mortal by showing that
+you know all about his affairs. I see no essential difference between
+the two 'phenomena,' as the newspapers call them, since Madame Blavatsky
+has set them all by the ears in this country. It is just the difference
+in the amount of power brought to bear on the action. That is all. I
+have seen, in a workshop in Calcutta, a hammer that would crack an
+eggshell without crushing it, or bruise a lump of iron as big as your
+head into a flat cake. 'Phenomena' may amuse women and children, but the
+real beauty of the system lies in the promised attainment of happiness.
+Whether that state of supreme freedom from earthly care gives the
+fortunate initiate the power of projecting himself to the antipodes by a
+mere act of volition, or of condensing the astral fluid into articles of
+daily use, or of stimulating the vital forces of nature to an abnormal
+activity, is to me a matter of supreme indifference. I am tolerably
+happy in my own way as things are. I should not be a whit happier if I
+were able to go off after dinner and take a part in American politics
+for a few hours, returning to business here to-morrow morning."
+
+"That is an extreme case," I said. "No man in his senses ever connects
+the idea of happiness with American politics."
+
+"Of one thing I am sure, though." He paused as if choosing his words. "I
+am sure of this. If any unforeseen event, whether an act of folly of my
+own, or the hand of Allah, who is wise, should destroy the peace of mind
+I have enjoyed for ten years, with very trifling interruption,--if
+anything should occur to make me permanently unhappy, beyond the
+possibility of ordinary consolation,--I should seek comfort in the study
+of the pure doctrines of the higher Buddhists. The pursuit of a
+happiness, so immeasurably beyond all earthly considerations of bodily
+comfort or of physical enjoyment, can surely not be inconsistent with my
+religion--or with yours."
+
+"No indeed," said I. "But, considering that you are the strictest of
+Mohammedans, it seems to me you are wonderfully liberal. So you have
+seriously contemplated the possibility of your becoming one of the
+'brethren'--as they style themselves?"
+
+"It never struck me until to-day that anything might occur by which my
+life could be permanently disturbed. Something to-day has whispered to
+me that such an existence could not be permanent. I am sure that it
+cannot be. The issue must be either to an infinite happiness or to a
+still more infinite misery. I cannot tell which." His clear, evenly
+modulated voice trembled a little. We were in sight of the lights from
+the hotel.
+
+"I shall not dine with you to-night, Griggs. I will have something in my
+own rooms. Come in as soon as you have done--that is if you are free.
+There is no reason why you should not see Ram Lal the adept, since we
+think alike about his religion, or school, or philosophy--find a name
+for it while you are dining." And we separated for a time.
+
+It had been a long and exciting day to me. I felt no more inclined than
+he did for the din and racket and lights of the public dining-room. So I
+followed his example and had something in my own apartment. Then I
+settled myself to a hookah, resolved not to take advantage of Isaacs'
+invitation until near the time when he expected Ram Lal. I felt the need
+of an hour's solitude to collect my thoughts and to think over the
+events of the last twenty-four hours. I recognised that I was fast
+becoming very intimate with Isaacs, and I wanted to think about him and
+excogitate the problem of his life; but when I tried to revolve the
+situation logically, and deliver to myself a verdict, I found myself
+carried off at a tangent by the wonderful pictures that passed before my
+eyes. I could not detach the events from the individual. His face was
+ever before me, whether I thought of Miss Westonhaugh, or of the
+wretched old maharajah, or of Ram Lal the Buddhist. Isaacs was the
+central figure in every picture, always in the front, always calm and
+beautiful, always controlling the events around him. Then I entered on a
+series of trite reflections to soothe my baffled reason, as a man will
+who is used to understanding what goes on before him and suddenly finds
+himself at a loss. Of course, I said to myself, it is no wonder he
+controls things, or appears to. The circumstances in which I find this
+three days' acquaintance are emphatically those of his own making. He
+has always been a successful man, and he would not raise spirits that he
+could not keep well in hand. He knows perfectly well what he is about in
+making love to that beautiful creature, and is no doubt at this moment
+laughing in his sleeve at my simplicity in believing that he was really
+asking my advice. Pshaw! as if any advice could influence a man like
+that! Absurd.
+
+I sipped my coffee in disgust with myself. All the time, while trying to
+persuade myself that Isaacs was only a very successful schemer, neither
+better nor worse than other men, I was conscious of the face that would
+not be banished from my sight. I saw the beautiful boyish look in his
+deep dark eyes, the gentle curve of the mouth, the grand smooth
+architrave of the brows. No--I was a fool! I had never met a man like
+him, nor should again. How could Miss Westonhaugh save herself from
+loving such a perfect creature? I thought, too, of his generosity. He
+would surely keep his promise and deliver poor Shere Ali, hunted to
+death by English and Afghan foes, from all his troubles. Had he not the
+Maharajah of Baithopoor in his power? He might have exacted the full
+payment of the debt, principal and interest, and saved the Afghan chief
+into the bargain. But he feared lest the poor Mohammedans should suffer
+from the prince's extortion, and he forgave freely the interest,
+amounting now to a huge sum, and put off the payment of the bond itself
+to the maharajah's convenience. Did ever an Oriental forgive a debt
+before even to his own brother? Not in my experience.
+
+I rose and went down to Isaacs. I found him as on the previous evening,
+among his cushions with a manuscript book. He looked up smiling and
+motioned me to be seated, keeping his place on the page with one finger.
+He finished the verse before he spoke, and then laid the book down and
+leaned back.
+
+"So you have made up your mind that you would like to see Ram Lal. He
+will be here in a minute, unless he changes his mind and does not come
+after all."
+
+There was a sound of voices outside. Some one asked if Isaacs were in,
+and the servant answered. A tall figure in a gray _caftán_ and a plain
+white turban stood in the door.
+
+"I never change my mind," said the stranger, in excellent English,
+though with an accent peculiar to the Hindoo tongue when struggling with
+European languages. His voice was musical and high in pitch, though soft
+and sweet in tone. The quality of voice that can be heard at a great
+distance, with no apparent effort to the speaker. "I never change my
+mind. I am here. Is it well with you?"
+
+"It is well, Ram Lal. I thank you. Be seated, if you will stay with us a
+while. This is my friend Mr. Griggs, of whom you probably know. He
+thinks as I do on many points, and I was anxious that you should meet."
+
+While Isaacs was speaking, Ram Lal advanced into the room and stood a
+moment under the soft light, a gray figure, very tall, but not otherwise
+remarkable. He was all gray. The long _caftán_ wrapped round him, the
+turban which I had first thought white, the skin of his face, the
+pointed beard and long moustache, the heavy eyebrows--a study of grays
+against the barbaric splendour of the richly hung wall--a soft outline
+on which the yellow light dwelt lovingly, as if weary of being cast back
+and reflected from the glory of gold and the thousand facets of the
+priceless gems. Ram Lal looked toward me, and as I gazed into his eyes I
+saw that they too were gray--a very singular thing in the East--and that
+they were very far apart, giving his face a look of great dignity and
+fearless frankness. To judge by his features he seemed to be very thin,
+and his high shoulders were angular, though the long loose garment
+concealed the rest of his frame from view. I had plenty of time to note
+these details, for he stood a full minute in the middle of the room, as
+if deciding whether to remain or to go. Then he moved quietly to a divan
+and sat down cross-legged.
+
+"Abdul, you have done a good deed to-day, and I trust you will not
+change your mind before you have carried out your present intentions."
+
+"I never change my mind, Bam Lai," said Isaacs, smiling as he quoted his
+visitor's own words. I was startled at first. What good deed was the
+Buddhist referring to if not to the intended liberation of Shere Ali?
+How could he know of it? Then I reflected that this man was, according
+to Isaacs' declaration, an adept of the higher grades, a seer and a
+knower of men's hearts. I resolved not to be astonished at anything that
+occurred, only marvelling that it should have pleased this extraordinary
+man to make his entrance like an ordinary mortal, instead of through the
+floor or the ceiling.
+
+"Pardon me," answered Ram Lal, "if I venture to contradict you. You do
+change your mind sometimes. Who was it who lately scoffed at women,
+their immortality, their virtue, and their intellect? Will you tell me
+now, friend Abdul, that you have not changed your mind? Do you think of
+anything, sleeping or waking, but the one woman for whom you _have_
+changed your mind? Is not her picture ever before you, and the breath of
+her beauty upon your soul? Have you not met her in the spirit as well as
+in the flesh? Surely we shall hear no more of your doubts about women
+for some time to come. I congratulate you, as far as that goes, on your
+conversion. You have made a step towards a higher understanding of the
+world you live in."
+
+Isaacs did not seem in the least surprised at his visitor's intimate
+acquaintance with his affairs. He bowed his head in silence, acquiescing
+to what Bam Lai had said, and waited for him to proceed.
+
+"I have come," continued the Buddhist, "to give you some good
+advice--the best I have for you. You will probably not take it, for you
+are the most self-reliant man I know, though you have changed a little
+since you have been in love, witness your sudden intimacy with Mr.
+Griggs." He looked at me, and there was a faint approach to a smile in
+his gray eyes. "My advice to you is, do not let this projected
+tiger-hunt take place if you can prevent it. No good can come of it, and
+harm may. Now I have spoken because my mind would not be at rest if I
+did not warn you. Of course you will do as you please, only never forget
+that I pointed out to you the right course in time."
+
+"Thank you, Ram Lal, for your friendly concern in my behalf. I do not
+think I shall act as you suggest, but I am nevertheless grateful to you.
+There is one thing I want to ask you, and consult you about, however."
+
+"My friend, what is the use of my giving you advice that you will not
+follow? If I lived with you, and were your constant companion, you would
+ask me to advise you twenty times a day, and then you would go and do
+the diametric opposite of what I suggested. If I did not see in you
+something that I see in few other men, I would not be here. There are
+plenty of fools who have wit enough to take counsel of a wise man. There
+are few men of wit wise enough to be guided by their betters, as if they
+were only fools for the time. Yet because you are so wayward I will help
+you once or twice more, and then I will leave you to your own
+course--which you, in your blindness, will call your kismet, not seeing
+that your fate is continually in your own hands--more so at this moment
+than ever before. Ask, and I will answer."
+
+"Thanks, Ram Lal. It is this I would know. You are aware that I have
+undertaken a novel kind of bargain. The man you wot of is to be
+delivered to me near Keitung. I am anxious for the man's safety
+afterwards, and I would be glad of some hint about disposing of him. I
+must go alone, for I do not want any witness of what I am going to do,
+and as a mere matter of personal safety for myself and the man I am
+going to set free, I must decide on some plan of action when I meet the
+band of sowars who will escort him. They are capable of murdering us
+both if the maharajah instructs them to. As long as I am alive to bring
+the old man into disgrace with the British, the captive is safe; but it
+would be an easy matter for those fellows to dispose of us together, and
+there would be an end of the business."
+
+"Of course they could," replied Ram Lal, adding in an ironical tone "and
+if you insist upon putting your head down the tiger's throat, how do you
+expect me to prevent the brute from snapping it off? That would be a
+'phenomenon,' would it not? And only this evening you were saying that
+you despised 'phenomena.'"
+
+"I said that such things were indifferent to me. I did not say I
+despised them. But I think that this thing may be done without
+performing any miracles."
+
+"If it were not such a good action on your part I would have nothing to
+do with it. But since you mean to risk your neck for your own peculiar
+views of what is right, I will endeavour that you shall not break it. I
+will meet you a day's journey before you reach Keitung, somewhere on the
+road, and we will go together and do the business. But if I am to help
+you I will not promise not to perform some miracles, as you call them,
+though you know very well they are no such thing. Meanwhile, do as you
+please about the tiger-hunt; I shall say no more about it." He paused,
+and then, withdrawing one delicate hand from the folds of his _caftán_,
+he pointed to the wall behind Isaacs and me, and said, "What a very
+singular piece of workmanship is that yataghan!"
+
+We both naturally turned half round to look at the weapon he spoke of,
+which was the central piece in a trophy of jewelled sabres and Afghan
+knives.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, turning back to answer his guest, "it is a ----" He
+stopped, and I, who had not seen the weapon before, lost among so many,
+and was admiring its singular beauty, turned too; to my astonishment I
+saw that Isaacs was gazing into empty space. The divan where Ram Lal had
+been sitting an instant before, was vacant. He was gone.
+
+"That is rather sudden," I said.
+
+"More so than usual," was the reply. "Did you see him go? Did he go out
+by the door?"
+
+"Not I," I answered, "when I looked round at the wall he was placidly
+sitting on that divan pointing with one hand at the yataghan. Does he
+generally go so quickly?"
+
+"Yes, more or less. Now I will show you some pretty sport." He rose to
+his feet and went to the door. "Narain!" he cried. Narain, the bearer,
+who was squatting against the door-post outside, sprang up and stood
+before his master. "Narain, why did you not show that pundit the way
+downstairs? What do you mean? have you no manners?"
+
+Narain stood open mouthed. "What pundit, sahib?" he asked.
+
+"Why, the pundit who came a quarter of an hour ago, you donkey! He has
+just gone out, and you did not even get up and make a salaam, you
+impertinent vagabond!" Narain protested that no pundit, or sahib, or any
+one else, had passed the threshold since Ram Lal had entered. "Ha! you
+_budmash_. You lazy dog of a Hindoo! you have been asleep again, you
+swine, you son of a pig, you father of piglings! Is that the way you do
+your work in my service?" Isaacs was enjoying the joke in a quiet way
+immensely.
+
+"Sahib," said the trembling Narain, apparently forgetting the genealogy
+his master had thrust upon him, "Sahib, you are protector of the poor,
+you are my father and my mother, and my brother, and all my relations,"
+the common form of Hindoo supplication, "but, Sri Krishnaji! by the
+blessed Krishna, I have not slept a wink."
+
+"Then I suppose you mean me to believe that the pundit went through the
+ceiling, or is hidden under the cushions. Swear not by your false idols,
+slave; I shall not believe you for that, you dog of an unbeliever, you
+soor-be-iman, you swine without faith!"
+
+"Han, sahib, han!" cried Narain, seizing at the idea that the pundit had
+disappeared mysteriously through the walls. "Yes, sahib, the pundit is a
+great yogi, and has made the winds carry him off." The fellow thought
+this was a bright idea, not by any means beneath consideration. Isaacs
+appeared somewhat pacified.
+
+"What makes you think he is a yogi, dog?" he inquired in a milder tone.
+Narain had no answer ready, but stood looking rather stupidly through
+the door at the room whence the unearthly visitor had so suddenly
+disappeared. "Well," continued Isaacs, "you are more nearly right than
+you imagine. The pundit is a bigger yogi than any your idiotic religion
+can produce. Never mind, there is an eight anna bit for you, because I
+said you were asleep when you were not." Narain bent to the ground in
+thanks, as his master turned on his heel. "Not that he minds being told
+that he is a pig, in the least," said Isaacs. "I would not call a
+Mussulman so, but you can insult these Hindoos so much worse in other
+ways that I think the porcine simile is quite merciful by comparison."
+He sat down again among the cushions, and putting off his slippers,
+curled himself comfortably together for a chat.
+
+"What do you think of Ram Lal?" he asked, when Narain had brought
+hookahs and sherbet.
+
+"My dear fellow, I have hardly made up my mind what to think. I have not
+altogether recovered from my astonishment. I confess that there was
+nothing startling about his manner or his person. He behaved and talked
+like a well educated native, in utter contrast to the amazing things he
+said, and to his unprecedented mode of leave-taking. It would have
+seemed more natural--I would say, more fitting--if he had appeared in
+the classic dress of an astrologer, surrounded with zodiacs, and blue
+lights, and black cats. Why do you suppose he wants you to abandon the
+tiger-hunt?"
+
+"I cannot tell. Perhaps he thinks something may happen to me to prevent
+my keeping the other engagement. Perhaps he does not approve----" he
+stopped, as if not wanting to approach the subject of Ram Lal's
+disapprobation. "I intend, nevertheless, that the expedition come off,
+and I mean, moreover, to have a very good time, and to kill a tiger if I
+see one."
+
+"I thought he seemed immensely pleased at your conversion, as he calls
+it. He said that your newly acquired belief in woman was a step towards
+a better understanding of life."
+
+"Of the world, he said," answered-Isaacs, correcting me. "There is a
+great difference between the 'world' and 'life.' The one is a finite,
+the other an infinite expression. I believe, from what I have learned of
+Ram Lal, that the ultimate object of the adepts is happiness, only to be
+attained by wisdom, and I apprehend that by wisdom they mean a knowledge
+of the world in the broadest sense of the word. The world to them is a
+great repository of facts, physical and social, of which they propose to
+acquire a specific knowledge by transcendental methods. If that seems to
+you a contradiction of terms, I will try and express myself better. If
+you understand me, I am satisfied. Of course I use transcendental in the
+sense in which it is applied by Western mathematicians to a mode of
+reasoning which I very imperfectly comprehend, save that it consists in
+reaching finite results by an adroit use of the infinite."
+
+"Not a bad definition of transcendental analysis for a man who professes
+to know nothing about it," said I. "I would not accuse you of a
+contradiction of terms, either. I have often thought that what some
+people call the 'philosophy of the nineteenth century,' is nothing after
+all but the unconscious application of transcendental analysis to the
+everyday affairs of life. Consider the theories of Darwin, for instance.
+What are they but an elaborate application of the higher calculus? He
+differentiates men into protoplasms, and integrates protoplasms into
+monkeys, and shows the caudal appendage to be the independent variable,
+a small factor in man, a large factor in monkey. And has not the idea of
+successive development supplanted the early conception of spontaneous
+perfection? Take an illustration from India--the new system of
+competition, which the natives can never understand. Formerly the
+members of the Civil Service received their warrants by divine
+authority, so to speak. They were born perfect, as Aphrodite from the
+foam of the sea; they sprang armed and ready from the head of old John
+Company as Pallas Athene from the head of Zeus. Now all that is changed;
+they are selected from a great herd of candidates by methods of extreme
+exactness, and when they are chosen they represent the final result of
+infinite probabilities for and against their election. They are all
+exactly alike; they are a formula for taxation and the administration of
+justice, and so long as you do not attempt to use the formula for any
+other purpose, such, for instance, as political negotiation or the
+censorship of the public press, the equation will probably be amenable
+to solution."
+
+"As I told you," said Isaacs, "I know nothing, or next to nothing, of
+Western mathematics, but I have a general idea of the comparison you
+make. In Asia and in Asiatic minds, there prevails an idea that
+knowledge can be assimilated once and for all. That if you can obtain
+it, you immediately possess the knowledge of everything--the pass-key
+that shall unlock every door. That is the reason of the prolonged
+fasting and solitary meditation of the ascetics. They believe that by
+attenuating the bond between soul and body, the soul can be liberated
+and can temporarily identify itself with other objects, animate and
+inanimate, besides the especial body to which it belongs, acquiring thus
+a direct knowledge of those objects, and they believe that this direct
+knowledge remains. Western philosophers argue that the only acquaintance
+a man can have with bodies external to his mind is that which he
+acquires by the medium of his bodily senses--though these, are
+themselves external to his mind, in the truest sanse. The senses not
+being absolutely reliable, knowledge acquired by means of them is not
+absolutely reliable either. So the ultimate difference between the
+Asiatic saint and the European man of science is, that while the former
+believes all knowledge to be directly within the grasp of the soul,
+under certain conditions, the latter, on the other hand, denies that any
+knowledge can be absolute, being all obtained indirectly through a
+medium not absolutely reliable. The reasoning, by which the Western mind
+allows itself to act fearlessly on information which is not (according
+to its own verdict) necessarily accurate, depends on a clever use of the
+infinite in unconsciously calculating the probabilities of that
+accuracy--and this entirely falls in with what you said about the
+application of transcendental analysis to the affairs of everyday life."
+
+"I see you have entirely comprehended me," I said. "But as for the
+Asiatic mind--you seem to deny to it the use of the calculus of thought,
+and yet you denned adepts as attempting to acquire specific knowledge by
+general and transcendental methods. Here is a real contradiction."
+
+"No; I see no confusion, for I do not include the higher adepts in
+either class, since they have the wisdom to make use of the learning and
+of the methods of both. They seem to me to be endeavouring, roughly
+speaking, to combine the two. They believe absolute knowledge
+attainable, and they devote much time to the study of nature, in which
+pursuit they make use of highly analytical methods. They subdivide
+phenomena to an extent that would surprise and probably amuse a Western
+thinker. They count fourteen distinct colours in the rainbow, and
+invariably connect sound, even to the finest degrees, with shades of
+colour. I could name many other peculiarities of their mode of studying
+natural phenomena, which displays a much more minute subdivision and
+classification of results than you are accustomed to. But beside all
+this they consider that the senses of the normal man are susceptible of
+infinite refinement, and that upon a greater or less degree of acquired
+acuteness of perception the value of his results must depend. To attain
+this high degree of sensitiveness, necessary to the perception of very
+subtle phenomena, the adepts find it necessary to train their faculties,
+bodily and mental, by a life of rigid abstention from all pleasures or
+indulgences not indispensable in maintaining the relation between the
+physical and intellectual powers."
+
+"The common _fakir_ aims at the same thing," I remarked.
+
+"But he does not attain it. The common _fakir_ is an idiot. He may, by
+fasting and self-torture, of a kind no adept would approve, sharpen his
+senses till he can hear and see some sounds and sights inaudible and
+invisible to you and me. But his whole system lacks any intellectual
+basis: he regards knowledge as something instantaneously attainable when
+it comes at last; he believes he will have a vision, and that everything
+will be revealed to him. His devotion to his object is admirable, when
+he is a genuine ascetic and not, as is generally the case, a
+good-for-nothing who makes his piety pay for his subsistence; but it is
+devotion of a very low intellectual order. The true adept thinks the
+training of the mind in intellectual pursuits no less necessary than the
+moderate and reasonable mortification of the flesh, and higher Buddhism
+pays as much attention to the one as to the other."
+
+"Excuse me," said I, "if I make a digression. I think there are two
+classes of minds commonly to be found among thinkers all over the world.
+The one seek to attain to knowledge, the others strive to acquire it.
+There is a class of commonplace intellects who regard knowledge of all
+kinds in the light of a ladder; one ladder for each science, and the
+rungs of the ladders are the successive facts mastered by an effort and
+remembered in the order they have been passed. These persons think it is
+possible to attain to high eminence on one particular ladder, that is,
+in one particular science, without having been up any of the other
+ladders, that is, without a knowledge of other branches of seience. This
+is the mind of the plodder, the patient man who climbs, step by step, in
+his own unvarying round of thought; not seeing that it is but the wheel
+of a treadmill over which he is labouring, and that though every step
+may pass, and repass, beneath his toiling feet, he can never obtain a
+birdseye view of what he is doing, because his eyes are continually
+fixed on the step in front."
+
+"But," I continued, as Isaacs assented to my simile by a nod, "there is
+another class of minds also. There are persons who regard the whole
+imaginable and unimaginable knowledge of mankind, past, present, and
+future, as a boundless plain over which they hang suspended and can look
+down. Immediately beneath them there is a map spread out which
+represents, in the midst of the immense desert, the things they
+themselves know. It is a puzzle map, like those they make for children,
+where each piece fits into its appointed place, and will fit nowhere
+else; every piece of knowledge acquired fits into the space allotted to
+it, and when there is a piece, that is, a fact, wanting, it is still
+possible to define its extent and shape by the surrounding portions,
+though all the details of colour and design are lacking. These are the
+people who regard knowledge as a whole, harmonious, when every science
+and fragment of a science has its appointed station and is necessary to
+completeness of perfect knowledge. I hope I have made clear to you what
+I mean, though I am conscious of only sketching the outlines of a
+distinction which I believe to be fundamental."
+
+"Of course it is fundamental. Broadly, it is the difference between
+analytic and synthetic thought; between the subjective and the objective
+views; between the finite conception of a limited world and the infinite
+ideal of perfect wisdom. I understand you perfectly."
+
+"You puzzle me continually, Isaacs. Where did you learn to talk about
+'analytic' and 'synthetic,' and 'subjective' and 'objective,' and
+transcendental analysis, and so forth?" It seemed so consistent with his
+mind that he should understand the use of philosophical terms, that I
+had not realised how odd it was that a man of his purely Oriental
+education should know anything about the subject. His very broad
+application of the words 'analytic' and 'synthetic' to my pair of
+illustrations attracted my attention and prompted the question I had
+asked.
+
+"I read a good deal," he said simply. Then he added in a reflective
+tone, "I rather think I have a philosophical mind. The old man who
+taught me theology in Istamboul when I was a boy used to talk philosophy
+to me by the hour, though I do not believe he knew much about it. He was
+a plodder, and went up ladders in search of information, like the man
+you describe. But he was very patient and good to me; the peace of Allah
+be with him."
+
+It was late, and soon afterwards we parted for the night. The next day
+was Sunday, and I had a heap of unanswered letters to attend to, so we
+agreed to meet after tiffin and ride together before dining with Mr.
+Ghyrkins and the Westonhaughs.
+
+I went to my room and sat a while over a volume of Kant, which I always
+travel with--a sort of philosopher's stone on which to whet the mind's
+tools when they are dulled with boring into the geological strata of
+other people's ideas. I was too much occupied with the personality of
+the man I had been talking with to read long, and so I abandoned myself
+to a reverie, passing in review the events of the long day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+The Sabbatarian tendency of the English mind at home and abroad is
+proverbial, and if they are well-behaved on Sunday in London they are
+models of virtue in Simla on the same day. Whether they labour and are
+well-fed and gouty in their island home, or suffer themselves to be
+boiled for gain in the tropical kettles of Ceylon and Singapore; whether
+they risk their lives in hunting for the north pole or the northwest
+passage, or endanger their safety in the pursuit of tigers in the Terai,
+they will have their Sunday, come rain, come shine. On the deck of the
+steamer in the Red Sea, in the cabin of the inbound Arctic explorer, in
+the crowded Swiss hotel, or the straggling Indian hill station, there is
+always a parson of some description, in a surplice of no description at
+all, who produces a Bible and a couple of well-thumbed sermons from the
+recesses of his trunk or his lunch basket, or his gun-case, and goes at
+the work of weekly redemption with a will. And, what is more, he is
+listened to, and for the time being--though on week days he is styled a
+bore by the old and a prig by the young--he becomes temporarily invested
+with a dignity not his own, with an authority he could not claim on any
+other day. It is the dignity of a people who with all their faults have
+the courage of their opinions, and it is the authority that they have
+been taught from their childhood to reverence, whenever their traditions
+give it the right to assert itself. Not otherwise. It is a fine trait of
+national character, though it is one which has brought upon the English
+much unmerited ridicule. One may differ from them in faith and in one's
+estimate of the real value of these services, which are often only saved
+from being irreverent in their performance by the perfect sincerity of
+parson and congregation. But no one who dispassionately judges them can
+deny that the custom inspires respect for English consistency and
+admiration for their supreme contempt of surroundings.
+
+I presume that the periodical manifestations of religious belief to
+which I refer are intimately and indissolubly connected with the staid
+and funereal solemnity which marks an Englishman's dress, conversation,
+and conduct on Sunday. He is a different being for the nonce, and must
+sustain the entire character of his dual existence, or it will fall to
+the ground and forsake him altogether. He cannot take his religion in
+the morning and enjoy himself the rest of the day. He must abstain from
+everything that could remind him that he has a mind at all, besides a
+soul. No amusement will he tolerate, no reading of even the most
+harmless fiction can he suffer, while he is in the weekly devotional
+trance.
+
+I cannot explain these things; they are race questions, problems for the
+ethnologist. Certain it is, however, that the partial decay of strict
+Sabbatarianism which seems to have set in during the last quarter of a
+century has not been attended by any notable development of power in
+English thought of that class. The first Republic tried the experiment
+of the decimal week, and it was a failure. The English who attempt to
+put off even a little of the quaint armour of righteousness, which they
+have been accustomed to buckle on every seventh day for so many
+generations, are not so successful in the attempt as to attract many to
+follow them. They are not graceful in their holiday gambols.
+
+Meditating somewhat on this wise I lay in my long chair by the open door
+that Sunday morning in September. It was a little warmer again and the
+sun shone pleasantly across the lawn on the great branches and bright
+leaves of the rhododendron. The house was very quiet. All the inmates
+were gone to the church on the mall, and the servants were basking in
+the last few days of warmth they would enjoy before their masters
+returned to the plains. The Hindoo servant hates the cold. He fears it
+as he fears cobras, fever, and freemasons. His ideal life is nothing to
+do, nothing to wear, and plenty to eat, with the thermometer at 135
+degrees in the verandah and 110 inside. Then he is happy. His body
+swells with much good rice and _dal_, and his heart with pride; he will
+wear as little as you will let him, and whether you will let him or not,
+he will do less work in a given time than any living description of
+servant. So they basked in rows in the sunshine, and did not even
+quarrel or tell yarns among themselves; it was quiet and warm and
+sleepy. I dozed lazily, dropped my book in my lap, struggled once, and
+then fairly fell asleep.
+
+I was roused by Kiramat Ali pulling at my foot, as natives will when
+they are afraid of the consequences of waking their master. When I
+opened my eyes he presented a card on a salver, and explained that the
+gentleman wanted to see me. I looked, and was rather surprised to see it
+was Kildare's card. "Lord Steepleton Kildare, 33d Lancers "--there was
+no word in pencil, or any message. I told Kiramat to show the sahib in,
+wondering why he should call on me. By Indian etiquette, if there was to
+be any calling, it was my duty to make the first visit. Before I had
+time to think more I heard the clanking of spurs and sabre on the
+verandah, and the young man walked in, clad in the full uniform of his
+regiment. I rose to greet him, and was struck by his soldierly bearing
+and straight figure, as I had been at our first meeting. He took off his
+bearskin --for he was in the fullest of full dress--and sat down.
+
+"I am so glad to find you at home," he said: "I feared you might have
+gone to church, like everybody else in this place."
+
+"No. I went early this morning. I belong to a different persuasion. I
+suppose you are on your way to Peterhof?"
+
+"Yes. There is some sort of official reception to somebody,--I forget
+who,--and we had notice to turn out. It is a detestable nuisance."
+
+"I should think so."
+
+"Mr. Griggs, I came to ask you about something. You heard of my proposal
+to get up a tiger-hunt? Mr. Ghyrkins was speaking of it."
+
+"Yes. He wanted us to go,--Mr. Isaacs and me,--and suggested leaving his
+niece, Miss Westonhaugh, with Lady Smith-Tompkins."
+
+"It would be so dull without a lady in the party. Nothing but tigers and
+shikarries and other native abominations to talk to. Do you not think
+so?"
+
+"Why, yes. I told Mr. Ghyrkins that all the little Smith-Tompkins
+children had the measles, and the house was not safe. If they have not
+had them, they will, I have no doubt. Heaven is just, and will not leave
+you to the conversational mercies of the entertaining tiger and the
+engaging shikarry."
+
+"By Jove, Mr. Griggs, that was a brilliant idea: and, as you say, they
+may all get the measles yet. The fact is, I have set my heart on this
+thing. Miss Westonhaugh said she had never seen a tiger, except in cages
+and that kind of thing, and so I made up my mind she should. Besides, it
+will be no end of a lark; just when nobody is thinking about tigers, you
+go off and kill a tremendous fellow, fifteen or sixteen feet long, and
+come back covered with glory and mosquito bites, and tell everybody that
+Miss Westonhaugh shot him herself with a pocket pistol. That will be
+glorious!"
+
+"I should like it very much too; and I really see no reason why it
+should not be done. Mr. Ghyrkins seemed in a very cheerful humour about
+tigers last night, and I have no doubt a little persuasion from you will
+bring him to a proper view of his obligations to Miss Westonhaugh." He
+looked pleased and bright and hopeful, thoroughly enthusiastic, as
+became his Irish blood. He evidently intended to have quite as "good" a
+"time" as Isaacs proposed to enjoy. I thought the spectacle of those
+rivals for the beautiful girl's favour would be extremely interesting.
+Lord Steepleton was doubtless a good shot and a brave man, and would
+risk anything to secure Miss Westonhaugh's approval; Isaacs, on the
+other hand, was the sort of man who is very much the same in danger as
+anywhere else.
+
+"That is what I came to ask you about. We shall all meet there at dinner
+this evening, and I wanted to secure as many allies as possible."
+
+"You may count on me, Lord Steepleton, at all events. There is nothing I
+should enjoy better than such a fortnight's holiday, in such good
+company."
+
+"All right," said Lord Steepleton, rising, "I must be off now to
+Peterhof. It is an organised movement on Mr. Ghyrkins this evening,
+then. Is it understood?" He took his bearskin from the table, and
+prepared to go, pulling his straps and belts into place, and dusting a
+particle of ash from his sleeve.
+
+"Perfectly," I answered. "We will drag him forth into the arena before
+three days are past." We shook hands, and he went out.
+
+I was glad he had come, though I had been waked from a pleasant nap to
+receive him. He was so perfectly gay, and natural, and healthy, that one
+could not help liking him. You felt at once that he was honest and would
+do the right thing in spite of any one, according to his light; that he
+would stand by a friend in danger, and face any odds in fight, with as
+much honest determination to play fair and win, as he would bring to a
+cricket match or a steeple-chase. His Irish blood gave him a somewhat
+less formal manner than belongs to the Englishman; more enthusiasm and
+less regard for "form," while his good heart and natural courtesy would
+lead him right in the long-run. He seemed all sunshine, with his bright
+blue eyes and great fair moustache and brown face; the closely fitting
+uniform showed off his erect figure and elastic gait, and the whole
+impression was fresh and exhilarating in the extreme. I was sorry he had
+gone. I would have liked to talk with him about boating and fishing and
+shooting; about athletics and horses and tandem-driving, and many things
+I used, to like years ago at college, before I began my wandering life.
+I watched him as he swung himself into the military saddle, and he
+threw up his hand in a parting salute as he rode away. Poor fellow! was
+he, too, going to be food for powder and Afghan knives in the avenging
+army on its way to Kabul? I went back to my books and remained reading
+until the afternoon sun slanted in through the open door, and falling
+across my book warned me it was time to keep my appointment with Isaacs.
+
+As we passed the church the people were coming out from the evening
+service, and I saw Kildare, once more in the garb of a civilian,
+standing near the door, apparently watching for some one to appear. I
+knew that, with his strict observance of Catholic rules--often depending
+more on pride of family than on religious conviction, in the house of
+Kildare--he would not have entered the English Church at such a time,
+and I was sure he was lying in wait for Miss Westonhaugh, probably
+intending to surprise her and join her on her homeward ride. The road
+winds down below the Church, so that for some minutes after passing the
+building you may get a glimpse of the mall above and of the people upon
+it--or at least of their heads--if they are moving near the edge of the
+path. I was unaccountably curious this evening, and I dropped a little
+behind Isaacs, craning my neck and turning back in the saddle as I
+watched the stream of heads and shoulders, strongly foreshortened
+against the blue sky above, moving ceaselessly along the parapet over my
+head. Before long I was rewarded; Miss Westonhaugh's fair hair and broad
+hat entered the field of my vision, and a moment later Lord Steepleton,
+who must have pushed through the crowd from the other side, appeared
+struggling after her. She turned quickly, and I saw no more, but I did
+not think she had changed colour.
+
+I began to be deeply interested in ascertaining whether she had any
+preference for one or the other of the two young men. Kildare's visit in
+the morning--though he had said very little--had given me a new
+impression of the man, and I felt that he was no contemptible rival. I
+saw from the little incident I had just witnessed that he neglected no
+opportunity of being with Miss Westonhaugh, and that he had the patience
+to wait and the boldness to find her in a crowd. I had seen very little
+of her myself; but I had been amply satisfied that Isaacs was capable of
+interesting her in a _tête-à-tête_ conversation. "The talker has the
+best chance, if he is bold enough," I said to myself; but I was not
+satisfied, and I resolved that if I could manage it Isaacs should have
+another chance that very evening after the dinner. Meanwhile I would
+involve Isaacs in a conversation on some one of those subjects that
+seemed to interest him most. He had not seen the couple on the mall, and
+was carelessly ambling along with his head in the air and one hand in
+the pocket of his short coat, the picture of unconcern.
+
+I was trying to make up my mind whether I would open fire upon the
+immortality of the soul, matrimony, or the differential calculus, when,
+as we passed from the narrow street into the road leading sound Jako,
+Isaacs spoke.
+
+"Look here, Griggs," said he, "there is something I want to impress upon
+your mind."
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"It is all very well for Ram Lal to give advice about things he
+understands. I have a very sincere regard for him, but I do not believe
+he was ever in my position. I have set my heart on this tiger-hunt. Miss
+Westonhaugh said the other day that she had never seen a tiger, and I
+then and there made up my mind that she should."
+
+I laughed. There seemed to be no essential difference of opinion between
+the Irishman and the Persian in regard to the pleasures of the chase.
+Miss Westonhaugh was evidently anxious to see tigers, and meant to do
+it, since she had expressed her wish to the two men most likely to
+procure her that innocent recreation. Lord Steepleton Kildare by his
+position, and Isaacs by his wealth, could, if they chose, get up such a
+tiger-hunt for her benefit as had never been seen. I thought she might
+have waited till the spring--but I had learned that she intended to
+return to England in April, and was to spend the early months of the
+year with her brother in Bombay.
+
+"You want to see Miss Westonhaugh, and Miss Westonhaugh wants to see
+tigers! My dear fellow, go in and win; I will back you."
+
+"Why do you laugh, Griggs?" asked Isaacs, who saw nothing particularly
+amusing in what he had said.
+
+"Oh, I laughed because another young gentleman expressed the same
+opinions to me, in identically the same words, this morning."
+
+"Mr. Westonhaugh?"
+
+"No. You know very well that Mr. Westonhaugh cares nothing about it, one
+way or the other. The little plan for 'amusing brother John' is a hoax.
+The thing cannot be done. You might as well try to amuse an undertaker
+as to make a man from Bombay laugh. The hollowness of life is ever upon
+them. No. It was Kildare; he called and said that Miss Westonhaugh had
+never seen a tiger, and he seemed anxious to impress upon me his
+determination that she should. Pshaw! what does Kildare care about
+brother John?"
+
+"Brother John, as you call him, is a better fellow than he looks. I owe
+a great deal to brother John." Isaacs' olive skin flushed a little, and
+he emphasised the epithet by which I had designated Mr. John Westonhaugh
+as if he were offended by it.
+
+"I mean nothing against Mr. Westonhaugh," said I half apologetically. "I
+remember when you met yesterday afternoon you said you had seen him in
+Bombay a long time ago."
+
+"Do you remember the story I told you of myself the other night?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"Westonhaugh was the young civil servant who paid my fine and gave me a
+rupee, when I was a ragged sailor from a Mocha craft, and could not
+speak a word of English. To that rupee I ultimately owe my entire
+fortune. I never forget a face, and I am sure it is he--do you
+understand me now? I owe to his kindness everything I possess in the
+world."
+
+"The unpardonable sin is ingratitude," I answered, "of which you will
+certainly not be accused. That is a very curious coincidence."
+
+"I think it is something more. A man has always at least one opportunity
+of repaying a debt, and, besm Illah! I will repay what I can of it. By
+the beard of the apostle, whose name is blessed, I am not ungrateful!"
+Isaacs was excited as he said this. He was no longer the calm Mr.
+Isaacs, he was Abdul Hafiz the Persian, fiery and enthusiastic.
+
+"You say well, my friend," he continued earnestly, "that the
+unpardonable sin is ingratitude. Doubtless, had the blessed prophet of
+Allah lived in our day, he would have spoken of the doom that hangs over
+the ungrateful. It is the curse of this age; for he who forgets or
+refuses to remember the kindness done to him by others sets himself
+apart, and worships his miserable self, and he makes an idol of himself,
+saying, 'I am of more importance than my fellows in the world, and it is
+meet and right that they should give and that I should receive.'
+Ingratitude is selfishness, and selfishness is the worship of oneself,
+the setting of oneself higher than man and goodness and God. And when
+man perishes and the angel Al Sijil, the recorder, rolls up his scroll,
+what is written therein is written; and Israfil shall call men to
+judgment, and the scrolls shall be unfolded, and he that has taken of
+others and not given in return, but has ungratefully forgotten and put
+away the remembrance of the kindness received, shall be counted among
+the unbelievers and the extortioners and the unjust, and shall broil in
+raging flames. By the hairs of the prophet's beard, whose name is
+blessed."
+
+I had not seen Isaacs so thoroughly roused before upon any subject. The
+flush had left his face and given place to a perfect paleness, and his
+eyes shone like coals of fire as he looked upward in pronouncing the
+last words. I said to myself that there was a strong element of
+religious exaltation in all Asiatics, and put his excitement down to
+this cause. His religion was a very beautiful and real thing to him,
+ever present in his life, and I mused on the future of the man, with his
+great endowments, his exquisite sensitiveness, and his high view of his
+obligations to his fellows. I am not a worshipper of heroes, but I felt
+that, for the first time in my life, I was intimate with a man who was
+ready to stand in the breach and to die for what he thought and believed
+to be right. After a pause of some minutes, during which we had ridden
+beyond the last straggling bungalows of the town, he spoke again,
+quietly, his temporary excitement having subsided.
+
+"I feel very strongly about these things," he said, and then stopped
+short.
+
+"I can see you do, and I honour you for it. I think you are the first
+grateful person I have ever met; a rare and unique bird in the earth."
+
+"Do not say that."
+
+"I do say it. There is very little of the philosophy of the nineteenth
+century about you, Isaacs. Your belief in the obligations of gratitude
+and in the general capacity of the human race for redemption, savours
+little of 'transcendental analysis.'"
+
+"You have too much of it," he answered seriously. "I do not think you
+see how much your cynicism involves. You would very likely, if you are
+the man I take you for, be very much offended if I accused you of not
+believing any particular dogma of your religion. And yet, with all your
+faith, you do not believe in God."
+
+"I cannot see how you get at that conclusion," I replied. "I must deny
+your hypothesis, at the risk of engaging you in an argument." I could
+not see what he was driving at.
+
+"How can you believe in God, and yet condemn the noblest of His works as
+altogether bad? You are not consistent."
+
+"What makes you think I am so cynical?" I inquired, harking back to gain
+time.
+
+"A little cloud, a little sultriness in the air, is all that betrays the
+coming _khemsin_, that by and by shall overwhelm and destroy man and
+beast in its sandy darkness. You have made one or two remarks lately
+that show little faith in human nature, and if you do not believe in
+human nature what is there left for you to believe in? You said a moment
+ago that I was the first grateful person you had ever met. Then the rest
+of humanity are all selfish, and worshippers of themselves, and
+altogether vile, since you yourself say, as I do, that ingratitude is
+the unpardonable sin; and God has made a world full of unpardonable
+sinners, and unless you include yourself in the exception you graciously
+make in my favour, no one but I shall be saved. And yet you say also
+with me that God is good. Do you deny that you are utterly
+inconsistent?"
+
+"I may make you some concession in a few minutes, but I am not going to
+yield to such logic. You have committed the fallacy of the undistributed
+middle term, if you care to know the proper name for it. I did not say
+that all men, saving you, were ungrateful. I said that, saving you, the
+persons I have met in my life have been ungrateful. You ought to
+distinguish."
+
+"All I can say is, then, that you have had a very unfortunate experience
+of life," retorted Isaacs warmly.
+
+"I have," said I, "but since you yield the technical point of logic, I
+will confess that I made the assertion hastily and overshot the mark. I
+do not remember, however, to have met any one who felt so strongly on
+the point as you do."
+
+"Now you speak like a rational being," said Isaacs, quite pacified.
+"Extraordinary feelings are the result of unusual circumstances. I was
+in such distress as rarely falls to the lot of an innocent man of fine
+temperament and good abilities. I am now in a position of such wealth
+and prosperity as still more seldom are given to a man of my age and
+antecedents. I remember that I obtained the first step on my road to
+fortune through the kindness of John Westonhaugh, though I could never
+learn his name, and I met him at last, as you saw, by an accident. I
+call that accident a favour, and an opportunity bestowed on me by Allah,
+and the meeting has roused in me those feelings of thankfulness which,
+for want of an object upon which to show them, have been put away out of
+sight as a thing sacred for many years. I am willing you should say
+that, were my present fortune less, my gratitude would be
+proportionately less felt--it is very likely--though the original gift
+remain the same, one rupee and no more. You are entitled to think of any
+man as grateful in proportion to the gift, so long as you allow the
+gratitude at all." He made this speech in a perfectly natural and
+unconcerned way, as if he were contemplating the case of another person.
+
+"Seriously, Isaacs, I would not do so for the world. I believe you were
+as grateful twelve years ago, when you were poor, as you are now that
+you are rich." Isaacs was silent, but a look of great gentleness crossed
+his face. There was at times something almost angelic in the perfect
+kindness of his eyes.
+
+"To return," I said at last, "to the subject from which we started, the
+tigers. If we are really going, we must leave here the day after
+to-morrow morning--indeed, why not to-morrow?"
+
+"No; to-morrow we are to play that game of polo, which I am looking
+forward to with pleasure. Besides, it will take the men three days to
+get the elephants together, and I only telegraphed this morning to the
+collector of the district to make the arrangements."
+
+"So you have already taken steps? Does Kildare know you have sent
+orders?"
+
+"Certainly. He came to me this morning at daybreak, and we determined to
+arrange everything and take uncle Ghyrkins for granted. You need not
+look astonished; Kildare and I are allies, and very good friends." What
+a true Oriental! How wise and far-sighted was the Persian, how bold and
+reckless the Irishman! It was odd, I thought, that Kildare had not
+mentioned the interview with Isaacs. Yet there was a certain rough
+delicacy--contradictory and impulsive--in his silence about this
+coalition with his rival. We rode along and discussed the plans for the
+expedition. All the men in the party, except Lord Steepleton, who had
+not been long in India, had killed tigers before. There would be enough
+of us, without asking any one else to join. The collector to whom Isaacs
+had telegraphed was an old acquaintance of his, and would probably go
+out for a few days with us. It all seemed easy enough and plain sailing.
+In the course of time we returned to our hotel, dressed, and made our
+way through the winding roads to Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' bungalow.
+
+We were met on the verandah by the old commissioner, who welcomed us
+warmly and praised our punctuality, for the clock was striking seven in
+the drawing-room, as we divested ourselves of our light top-coats. In
+the vestibule, Miss Westonhaugh and her brother came forward to greet
+us.
+
+"John," said the young lady, "you know I told you there was some one
+here whom you got out of trouble ever so many years ago in Bombay. Here
+he is. This is a new introduction. Mr. John Westonhaugh, Mr. Abdul
+Hafiz-ben-Isâk, commonly known to his friends as Mr. Isaacs." Her face
+beamed with pleasure, and I thought with pride, as she led her brother
+to Isaacs, and her eyes rested long on the Persian with a look that, to
+me, argued something more than a mere interest. The two men clasped
+hands and stood for some seconds looking at each other in silence, but
+with very different expressions. Westonhaugh wore a look of utter
+amazement, though he certainly seemed pleased. The good heart that had
+prompted the good action twelve years before was still in the right
+place, above any petty considerations about nationality. His
+astonishment gradually changed to a smile of real greeting and pleasure,
+as he began to shake the hand he still held. I thought that even the
+faintest tinge of blood coloured his pale cheek.
+
+"God bless my soul," said he, "I remember you perfectly well now. But it
+is so unexpected; my sister reminded me of the story, which I had not
+forgotten, and now I look at you I remember you perfectly. I am so
+glad."
+
+As Isaacs answered, his voice trembled, and his face was very pale.
+There was a moisture in the brilliant eyes that told of genuine emotion.
+
+"Mr. Westonhaugh, I consider that I owe to you everything I have in the
+world. This is a greater pleasure than I thought was in store for me.
+Indeed I thank you again."
+
+His voice would not serve him. He stopped short and turned away to look
+for something in his coat.
+
+"Indeed," said Westonhaugh, "it was a very little thing I did for you."
+And presently the two men went together into the drawing-room,
+Westonhaugh asking all manner of questions, which Isaacs, who was
+himself again, began to answer. The rest of us remained in the vestibule
+to meet Lord Steepleton, who at that moment came up the steps. There
+were more greetings, and then the head _khitmatgar_ appeared and
+informed the "_Sahib log_, protectors of the poor, that their meat was
+ready." So we filed into the dining-room.
+
+Isaacs was placed at Miss Westonhaugh's right, and her brother sat on
+his other side. Ghyrkins was opposite his niece at the other end, and
+Kildare and I were together, facing Westonhaugh and Isaacs, a party of
+six. Of course Kildare sat beside the lady.
+
+The dinner opened very pleasantly. _I_ could see that Isaacs'
+undisguised gratitude and delight in having at last met the man who had
+helped him had strongly predisposed John Westonhaugh in his favour. Who
+is it that is not pleased at finding that some deed of kindness, done
+long ago with hardly a thought, has borne fruit and been remembered and
+treasured up by the receiver as the turning-point in his life? Is there
+any pleasure greater than that we enjoy through the happiness of
+others--in those rare cases where kindness is not misplaced? I had had
+time to reflect that Isaacs had most likely told a part of his story to
+Miss Westonhaugh on the previous afternoon as soon as he had recognised
+her brother. He might have told her before; I did not know how long he
+had known her, but it must have been some time. Presently she turned to
+him.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "some of us know something of your history. Why
+will you not tell us the rest now? My uncle has heard nothing of it, and
+I know Lord Steepleton is fond of novels."
+
+Isaacs hesitated long, but as every one pressed him in turn, he yielded
+at last. And he told it well. It was exactly the narrative he had given
+me, in every detail of fact, but the whole effect was different. I saw
+how true a mastery he had of the English language, for he knew his
+audience thoroughly, and by a little colour here and an altered
+expression there he made it graphic and striking, not without humour,
+and altogether free of a certain mystical tinge he had imparted to it
+when we were alone. He talked easily, with no more constraint than on
+other occasions, and his narrative was a small social success. I had not
+seen him in evening dress before, and I could not help thinking how much
+more thoroughly he looked the polished man of the world than the other
+men. Kildare never appeared to greater advantage than in the uniform and
+trappings of his profession. In a black coat and a white tie he looked
+like any other handsome young Englishman, utterly without individuality.
+But Isaacs, with his pale complexion and delicate high-bred features,
+bore himself like a noble of the old school. Westonhaugh beside him
+looked washed-out and deathly, Kildare was too coarsely healthy, and
+Ghyrkins and I, representing different types of extreme plainness,
+served as foils to all three.
+
+I watched Miss Westonhaugh while Isaacs was speaking. She had evidently
+heard the whole story, for her expression showed beforehand the emotion
+she expected to feel at each point. Her colour came and went softly, and
+her eyes brightened with a warm light beneath the dark brows that
+contrasted so strangely yet delightfully with the mass of flaxen-white
+hair. She wore something dark and soft, cut square at the neck, and a
+plain circlet of gold was her only ornament. She was a beautiful
+creature, certainly; one of those striking-looking women of whom
+something is always expected, until they drop quietly out of youth into
+middle age, and the world finds out that they are, after all, not
+heroines of romance, but merely plain, honest, good women; good wives
+and good mothers who love their homes and husbands well, though it has
+pleased nature in some strange freak to give them the form and feature
+of a Semiramis, a Cleopatra, or a Jeanne d'Arc.
+
+"Dear me, how very interesting!" exclaimed Mr. Ghyrkins, looking up from
+his hill mutton as Isaacs finished, and a little murmur of sympathetic
+applause went round the table.
+
+"I would give a great deal to have been through all that," said Lord
+Steepleton, slowly proceeding to sip a glass of claret.
+
+"Just think!" ejaculated John Westonhaugh. "And I was entertaining such
+a Sinbad unawares!" and he took another green pepper from the dish his
+servant handed him.
+
+"Upon my word, Isaacs," I said, "some one ought to make a novel of that
+story; it would sell like wildfire."
+
+"Why don't you do it yourself, Griggs?" he asked. "You are a pressman,
+and I am sure you are welcome to the whole thing."
+
+"I will," I answered.
+
+"Oh do, Mr. Griggs," said the young lady, "and make it wind up with a
+tiger-hunt. You could lay the scene in Australia or the Barbadoes, or
+some of those places, and put us all in--and kill us all off, if you
+like, you know. It would be such fun." Poor Miss Westonhaugh!
+
+"It is easy to see what you are thinking about most, Miss Westonhaugh,"
+said Lord Steepleton: "the tigers are uppermost in your mind; and
+therefore in mine also," he added gallantly.
+
+"Indeed, no--I was thinking about Mr. Isaacs." She blushed scarlet--the
+first time I had ever seen her really embarrassed. It was very natural
+that she should be thinking of Isaacs and the strange adventures he had
+just recounted; and if she had not cared about him she would not have
+changed colour. So I thought, at all events.
+
+"My dear, drink some water immediately, this curry is very hot--deuced
+hot, in fact," said Mr. Ghyrkins, in perfectly good faith.
+
+John Westonhaugh, who was busy breaking up biscuits and green peppers
+and "Bombay ducks" into his curry, looked up slowly at his sister and
+smiled.
+
+"Why, you are quite a griffin, Katharine," said he, "how they will laugh
+at you in Bombay!" I was amused; of course the remarks of her uncle and
+brother did not make the blush subside--on the contrary. Kildare was
+drinking more claret, to conceal his annoyance. Isaacs had a curious
+expression. There was a short silence, and for one instant he turned his
+eyes to Miss Westonhaugh. It was only a look, but it betrayed to me--who
+knew what he felt--infinite surprise, joy, and sympathy. His quick
+understanding had comprehended that he had scored his first victory over
+his rival.
+
+As her eyes met those of Isaacs, the colour left her cheeks as suddenly
+as it had come, leaving her face dead white. She drank a little water,
+and presently seemed at ease again. I was beginning to think she cared
+for him seriously.
+
+"And pray, John," she asked, "what may a griffin be? It is not a very
+pretty name to call a young lady, is it?"
+
+"Why, a griffin," put in Mr. Ghyrkins, "is the 'Mr. Verdant Green' of
+the Civil Service. A young civilian--or anybody else--who is just out
+from home is called a griffin. John calls you a griffin because you
+don't understand eating pepper. You don't find it as _chilly_ as he
+does! Ha! ha! ha!" and the old fellow laughed heartily, till he was red
+in the face, at his bleared old pun. Of course every one was amused or
+professed to be, for it was a diversion welcomed by the three men of us
+who had seen the young girl's embarrassment.
+
+"A griffin," said I, "is a thing of joy. Mr. Westonhaugh was a griffin
+when he gave Mr. Isaacs that historical rupee." I cast my little
+bombshell into the conversation, and placidly went on manipulating my
+rice.
+
+Isaacs was in too gay a humour to be offended, and he only said, turning
+to Miss Westonhaugh--
+
+"Mr. Griggs is a cynyic, you know. You must not believe anything he
+says."
+
+"If doing kind things makes one a griffin, I hope I may be one always,"
+said Miss Westonhaugh quickly, "and I trust my brother is as much a
+griffin as ever."
+
+"I am, I assure you," said he. "But Mr. Griggs is quite right, and shows
+a profound knowledge of Indian life. No one but a griffin of the
+greenest ever gave anybody a rupee in Bombay--or ever will now, I should
+think."
+
+"Oh, John, are you going to be cynical too?"
+
+"No, Katharine, I am not cynical at all. I do not think you are quite
+sure what a 'cynic' is."
+
+"Oh yes, I know quite well. Diogenes was a cynic, and Saint Jerome, and
+other people of that class."
+
+"A man who lives in a tub, and abuses Alexander the Great, and that sort
+of thing," remarked Kildare, who had not spoken for some time.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," said John Westonhaugh, "since you are the accused, pray
+define what you mean by a cynic, and then Mr. Isaacs, as the accuser,
+can have a chance too."
+
+"Very well, I will. A man is a cynic if he will do no good to any one
+because he believes every one past improvement. Most men who do good
+actions are also cynics, because they well know that they are doing more
+harm than good by their charity. Mr. Westonhaugh has the discrimination
+to appreciate this, and therefore he is not a cynic."
+
+"It is well you introduced the saving clause, Griggs," said Isaacs to me
+from across the table. "I am going to define you now; for I strongly
+suspect that you are the very ideal of a philosopher of that class. You
+are a man who believes in all that is good and beautiful in theory, but
+by too much indifference to good in small measures--for you want a thing
+perfect, or you want it not at all--you have abstracted yourself from
+perceiving it anywhere, except in the most brilliant examples of heroism
+that history affords. You set up in your imagination an ideal which you
+call the good man, and you are utterly dissatisfied with anything less
+perfect than perfection. The result is that, though you might do a good
+action from your philosophical longing to approach the ideal in your own
+person, you will not suffer yourself to believe that others are
+consciously or unconsciously striving to make themselves better also.
+And you do not believe that any one can be made a better man by any one
+else, by any exterior agency, by any good that you or others may do to
+him. What makes you what you are is the fact that you really cherish
+this beautiful ideal image of your worship and reverence, and love it;
+but for this, you would be the most insufferable man of my acquaintance,
+instead of being the most agreeable."
+
+Isaacs was gifted with a marvellous frankness of speech. He always said
+what he meant, with a supreme indifference to consequences; but he said
+it with such perfect honesty and evident appreciation of what was good,
+even when he most vehemently condemned what he did not like, that it was
+impossible to be annoyed. Every one laughed at his attack on me, and
+having satisfied my desire to observe Miss Westonhaugh, which had
+prompted my first remark about griffins, I thought it was time to turn
+the conversation to the projected hunt.
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, "I think that in spite of your Parthian shaft,
+your definition of a cynic is as complimentary to the school at large as
+to me in particular. Meanwhile, however," I added, turning to Mr.
+Ghyrkins, "I am inclined to believe with Lord Steepleton that the
+subject uppermost in the thoughts of most of us is the crusade against
+the tigers. What do you say? Shall we not all go as we are, a neat party
+of six?"
+
+"Well, well, Mr. Griggs, we shall see, you know. Now, if we are going at
+all, when do you mean to start?"
+
+"The sooner the better of course," broke in Kildare, and he launched
+into a host of reasons for going immediately, including the wildest
+statistics about the habits of tigers in winter. This was quite natural,
+however, as he was a thorough Irishman and had never seen a tiger in his
+life. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins vainly attempted to stem the torrent of his
+eloquence, but at last pinned him on some erratic statement about tigers
+moulting later in the year and their skins not being worth taking.
+Kildare would have asserted with equal equanimity that all tigers shed
+their teeth and their tails in December; he was evidently trying to
+rouse Mr. Ghyrkins into a discussion on the subject of tiger shooting in
+general, a purpose very easily accomplished. The old gentleman was soon
+goaded to madness by Kildare's wonderful opinions, and before long he
+vowed that the youngster had never seen a tiger,--not one in his whole
+life, sir,--and that it was high time he did, high time indeed, and he
+swore he should see one before he was a week older. Yes, sir, before he
+was a week older, "if I have to carry you among 'em like a baby in arms,
+sir, by gad, sir--I should think so!"
+
+This was all we wanted, and in another ten minutes we were drinking a
+bumper to the health of the whole tiger-hunt and of Miss Westonhaugh in
+particular. Isaacs joined with the rest, and though he only drank some
+sherbet, as I watched his bright eyes and pale cheek, I thought that
+never knight drank truer toast to his lady. Miss Westonhaugh rose and
+went out, leaving us to smoke for a while. The conversation was general,
+and turned on the chase, of course. In a few minutes Isaacs dropped his
+cigarette and went quietly out. I determined to detain the rest as long
+as possible, and I seconded Mr. Ghyrkins in passing the claret briskly
+round, telling all manner of stories of all nations and peoples--ancient
+tales that would not amuse a schoolboy in America, but which were a
+revelation of profound wit and brilliant humour to the unsophisticated
+British mind. By immense efforts--and I hate to exert myself in
+conversation--I succeeded in prolonging the session through a cigar and
+a half, but at last I was forced to submit to a move; and with a
+somewhat ancient remark from Mr. Ghyrkins, to the effect that all good
+things must come to an end, we returned to the drawing-room.
+
+Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were looking over some English photographs,
+and she was enthusiastically praising the beauties of Gothic
+architecture, while Isaacs was making the most of his opportunity, and
+taking a good look at her as she bent over the album. After we came in,
+she made a little music at the tuneless piano--there never was a piano
+in India yet that had any tune in it--playing and singing a little, very
+prettily. She sang something about a body in the rye, and then something
+else about drinking only with the eyes, to which her brother sang a sort
+of second very nicely. I do not understand much about music, but I
+thought the allusion to Isaacs' temperance in only drinking with his
+eyes was rather pointed. He said, however, that he liked it even better
+with a second than when she sang it alone, so I argued that it was not
+the first time he had heard it.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "you have often promised to sing something
+Persian for us. Will you not keep your word now?"
+
+"When we are among the tigers, Miss Westonhaugh, next week. Then I will
+try and borrow a lute and sing you something."
+
+It was late for an Indian dinner-party, so we took our departure soon
+afterwards, having agreed to meet the following afternoon at Annandale
+for the game of polo, in which Westonhaugh said he would also play. He
+and Isaacs made some appointment for the morning; they seemed to be very
+sympathetic to each other. Kildare mounted and rode homeward with us,
+though he had much farther to go than we. If he felt any annoyance at
+the small successes Isaacs had achieved during the evening, he was far
+too courteous a gentleman to show it; and so, as we groped our way
+through the trees by the starlight, chiefly occupied in keeping our
+horses on their legs, the snatches of conversation that were possible
+were pleasant, if not animated, and there was a cordial "Good-night" on
+both sides, as we left Kildare to pursue his way alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon when Isaacs and I emerged
+from the narrow road upon the polo ground. We were clad in the
+tight-fitting garments which are necessary for the game, and wrapped in
+light top-coats; as we came out on the green we saw a number of other
+men in similar costume standing about, and a great many native grooms
+leading ponies up and down. Miss Westonhaugh was there in her gray habit
+and broad hat, and by her side, on foot, Lord Steepleton Kildare was
+making the most of his time, as he waited for the rest of the players.
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was ambling about on his broad little horse, and
+John Westonhaugh stood with his hands in his pockets and a large
+Trichinopoli cheroot between his lips, apparently gazing into space.
+Several other men, more or less known to us and to each other, moved
+about or chatted disconnectedly, and one or two arrived after us. Some
+of them wore coloured jerseys that showed brightly over the open collars
+of their coats, others were in ordinary dress and had come to see the
+game. Farther off, at one side of the ground, one or two groups of
+ladies and their escorting cavaliers haunted at a short distance by
+their saices in many-coloured turbans and belts, or _cummer-bunds,_ as
+the sash is called in India, moved slowly about, glancing from time to
+time towards the place where the players and their ponies were preparing
+for the contest.
+
+Few games require so little preparation and so few preliminaries as
+polo, descended as it is from an age when more was thought of good
+horsemanship and quick eye than of any little refinements depending on
+an accurate knowledge of fixed rules. Any one who is a firstrate rider
+and is quick with his hands can learn to play polo. The stiffest of arms
+can be limbered and the most recalcitrant wrist taught to turn nimbly in
+its socket; but the essential condition is, that the player should know
+how to ride. This being established, there is no reason why anybody who
+likes should not play the game, if he will only use a certain amount of
+caution, and avoid braining the other players and injuring the ponies by
+too wild a use of his mallet. Presently it was found that all who were
+to play had arrived--eight of us all told. Kildare had arranged the
+sides and had brought the other men necessary to make the number
+complete, so we mounted and took up our positions on the ground. Kildare
+and Isaacs were together, and Westonhaugh and I on the other side, with
+two men I knew slightly. We won the charge, and Westonhaugh, who was a
+celebrated player, struck the ball off cleverly, and I followed him up
+with a rush as he raced after it. Isaacs, on the other side, swept along
+easily, and as the ball swerved on striking the ground bent far over
+till he looked as though he were out of the saddle and stopped it
+cleverly, while Kildare, who was close behind, got a good stroke in just
+in time, as Westonhaugh and I galloped down on him, and landed the ball
+far to the rear near our goal. As we wheeled quickly, I saw that one of
+the other two men on our side had stopped it and was beginning to
+"dribble" it along. This was very bad play, both Westonhaugh and I being
+so far forward, and it met its reward. Isaacs and Kildare raced down on
+him, but the latter soon pulled up on finding himself passed, and
+waited. Isaacs rushed upon the temporising player and got the ball away
+from him in no time; eluded the other man, and with a neat stroke sent
+the ball right between the poles. The game had hardly lasted three
+minutes, and a little sound of clapping was heard from where the
+spectators were standing, far off on one side. I could see Miss
+Westonhaugh plainly, as she cantered with her uncle to where the victors
+were standing together on the other side, patting their ponies and
+adjusting stirrup and saddle. Isaacs had his back turned, but wheeled
+round as he heard the sound of hoofs behind him and bowed low in his
+saddle to the fair girl, whose face, I could see even at that distance,
+was flushed with pleasure. They remained a few minutes in conversation,
+and then the two spectators rode away, and we took up our positions once
+more.
+
+The next game was a much longer one. It was the turn of the other party
+to hit off, for Kildare won the charge. There were encounters of all
+kinds; twice the ball was sent over the line, but outside the goal, by
+long sweeping blows from Isaacs, who ever hovered on the edge of the
+scrimmage, and, by his good riding, and the help of a splendid pony,
+often had a chance where another would have had none. At last it
+happened that I was chasing the ball back towards our goal, from one of
+his hits, and he was pursuing me. I had the advantage of a long start,
+and before he could reach me I got in a heavy "backhander" that sent the
+ball far away to one side, where, as good luck would have it,
+Westonhaugh was waiting. Quick as thought he carried it along, and in
+another minute we had scored a goal, amidst enthusiastic shouts from the
+spectators, who had been kept long in suspense by the protracted game.
+This time it was to our side that the young girl came, riding up to her
+brother to congratulate him on his success. I thought she had less
+colour as she came nearer, and though she smiled sweetly as she said,
+"It was splendidly played, John," there was not so much enthusiasm in
+her voice as the said John, who had really won the game with masterly
+neatness, might have expected. Then she sat quietly looking over the
+ground, while we dismounted from our ponies, breathless, and foaming,
+and lathery, from the hard-fought battle. The grooms ran up with
+blankets and handfuls of grass to give the poor beasts a rub, and
+covering them carefully after removing the saddles, led them away.
+
+The sun leaves Annandale early, and I put on a coat and lit a cigarette,
+while the saice saddled our second mounts. There are few prettier sights
+than an English game, of any kind, on a beautiful stretch of turf. The
+English live, and move and have their being out of doors. A
+cricket-match, tennis, a racecourse, or a game of polo, show them at
+their greatest advantage, whether as players or spectators. Their fresh
+complexions suit the green of the grass and of the trees as naturally as
+a bed of roses, or cyclamens, or any fresh and healthy flower will
+combine with the grass and the ferns in garden or glen. The glorious
+vitality that belongs to their race seems to blossom freshly in the
+contact with their mother earth, and the physical capacity for motion
+with which nature endows them makes them graceful and fascinating to
+watch, when in some free and untrammelled dress of white they are at
+their games, batting and bowling and galloping and running; they have
+the same natural grace then as a herd of deer or antelopes; they are
+beautiful animals in the full enjoyment of life and vigour, of health
+and strength; they are intensely alive. Something of this kind passed
+through my mind, in all probability, and, combined with the delightful
+sensation any strong man feels in the pause after great exertion,
+disposed me well towards my fellows and towards mankind at large.
+Besides we had won the last game.
+
+"You look pleased, Mr. Griggs," said Miss Westonhaugh, who had probably
+been watching me for a moment or two. "I did not know cynics were ever
+pleased."
+
+"I remember who it was that promised to crown the victors of this match,
+Miss Westonhaugh, and I cherish some hopes of being one of them. Would
+you mind very much?"
+
+"Mind? Oh dear no; you had better try. But if you stand there with your
+coat on, you will not have much chance. They are all mounted, and
+waiting for you."
+
+"Well, here goes," I said to myself, as I got into the saddle again. "I
+hope he may win, but he would find me out in a minute if I tried to play
+into his hands." We were only to play the best out of three goals, and
+the score was "one all." All eight of us had fresh mounts, and the
+experience of each other's play we had got in the preceding games made
+it likely that the game would be a long one. And so it turned out.
+
+From the first things went badly. John Westonhaugh's fresh pony was very
+wild, and he had to take him a breather half over the ground before he
+could take his place for the charge. When at last the first stroke was
+made, the ball went low along the ground, spinning and twisting to right
+and left. Both Kildare and Isaacs missed it and wheeled across to
+return, when a prolonged scrimmage ensued less than thirty yards from
+their goal. Every one played his best, and we wheeled and spun round in
+a way that reminded one of a cavalry skirmish. Strokes and back-strokes
+followed quickly, till at last I got the ball as it came rolling out
+between my horse's legs, and, hotly pursued, beyond the possibility of
+making a fair stroke, I moved away with it in front of me.
+
+Then began one of those interminable circular games that all polo
+players know so well, round and round the battlefield, riding close
+together, sometimes one succeeding in driving the ball a little, only to
+be foiled by the next man's ill-delivered back-stroke; racing, and
+pulling up short, and racing again, till horses and riders were in a
+perspiration and a state of madness not to be attained by any peaceful
+means. At last, as we were riding near our own goal, some one, I could
+not see who, struck the ball out into the open. Isaacs, who had just
+missed, and was ahead, rode for it like a madman, his club raised high
+for a back-stroke. He was hotly pressed by the man who had roused my
+wrath in the first game by his "dribbling" policy. He was a light weight
+and had kept his best horse for the last game, so that as Isaacs spun
+along at lightning speed the little man was very close to him, his club
+well back for a sweeping hit. He rode well, but was evidently not so old
+a hand in the game as the rest of us. They neared the ball rapidly and
+Isaacs swerved a little to the left in order to get it well under his
+right hand, thus throwing himself somewhat across the track of his
+pursuer. As the Persian struck with all his force downwards and
+backwards, his adversary, excited by the chase, beyond all judgment or
+reckoning of his chances, hit out wildly, as beginners will. The long
+elastic handle of his weapon struck Isaacs' horse on the flank and
+glanced upward, the head of the club striking Isaacs just above the back
+of the neck. We saw him throw up his arms, the club in his right hand
+hanging to his wrist by the strap. The infuriated little arab pony tore
+on, and in a moment more the iron grip of the rider's knees relaxed,
+Isaacs swayed heavily in the saddle and fell over on the near side, his
+left foot hanging in the stirrup and dragging him along some paces
+before the horse finally shook himself clear and scampered away across
+the turf. The whole catastrophe occurred in a moment; the man who had
+done the mischief threw away his club to reach the injured player the
+sooner, and as we thundered after him, my pony stumbled over the long
+handle, and falling, threw me heavily over his head. I escaped with a
+very slight kick from one of the other horses, and leaving my beast to
+take care of himself, ran as fast as I could to where Isaacs lay, now
+surrounded by the six players as they dismounted to help him. But there
+was some one there before them.
+
+The accident had occurred near the middle of the ground, and opposite
+the place where Miss Westonhaugh and her uncle had taken up their stand
+to watch the contest. With a shake of the reins and a blow of the hand
+that made the thoroughbred bound his length as he plunged into a gallop,
+the girl rode wildly to where Isaacs lay, and reining the animal back on
+his haunches, sprang to the ground and knelt quickly down, so that
+before the others had reached them she had propped up his head and was
+rubbing his hands in hers. There was no mistaking the impulse that
+prompted her. She had seen many an accident in the hunting-field, and
+knew well that when a man fell like that it was ten to one he was badly
+hurt.
+
+Isaacs was ghastly pale, and there was a little blood on Miss
+Westonhaugh's white gauntlet. Her face was whiter even than his, though
+not a quiver of mouth or eyelash betrayed emotion. The man who had done
+it knelt on the other side, rubbing one of the hands. Kildare and
+Westonhaugh galloped off at full speed, and presently returned bearing a
+brandy-flask and a smelling-bottle, and followed by a groom with some
+water in a native _lota_. I wanted to make him swallow some of the
+liquor, but Miss Westonhaugh took the flask from my hands.
+
+"He would not like it. He never drinks it, you know," she said in a
+quiet low voice, and pouring some of the contents on her handkerchief,
+moistened all his brows and face and hair with the powerful alcohol.
+
+"Loosen his belt! pull off his boots, some of you!" cried Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins, as he came up breathless. "Take off his belt--damn it, you
+know! Dear, dear!" and he got off his _tat_ with all the alacrity he
+could muster.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh never took her eyes from the face of the prostrate
+man--pressing the wet handkerchief to his brow, and moistening the palm
+of the hand she held with brandy. In a few minutes Isaacs breathed a
+long heavy breath, and opened his eyes.
+
+"What is the matter?" he said; then, recollecting himself and trying to
+move his head--"Oh! I have had a tumble. Give me some water to drink."
+There was a sigh of relief from every one present as he spoke, quite
+naturally, and I held the _lota_ to his lips. "What became of the ball?"
+he asked quickly, as he sat up. Then turning round, he saw the beautiful
+girl kneeling at his side. The blood rushed violently to his face, and
+his eyes, a moment ago dim with unconsciousness, flashed brightly.
+"What! Miss Westonhaugh--you?" he bounded to his feet, but would have
+fallen back if I had not caught him in my arms, for he was still dizzy
+from the heavy blow that had stunned him. The blood came and went in his
+cheeks, and he hung on my arm confused and embarrassed, looking on the
+ground.
+
+"I really owe you all manner of apologies--" he began.
+
+"Not a bit of it, my dear boy," broke in Ghyrkins, "my niece was nearest
+to you when you fell, and so she came up and did the right thing, like
+the brave girl she is." The old fellow helped her to rise as he said
+this, and he looked so pleased and proud of her that I was delighted
+with him. "And now," he went on, "we must see how much you are hurt--the
+deuce of a knock, you know, enough to kill you--and if you are not able
+to ride, why, we will carry you home, you know; the devil of a way off
+it is, too, confound it all." As he jerked out his sentences he was
+feeling the back of Isaacs' head, to ascertain, if he could, how much
+harm had been done. All this time the man who had done the mischief was
+standing by, looking very penitent, and muttering sentences of apology
+as he tried to perform any little office for his victim that came in his
+way. Isaacs stretched out his arm, while Ghyrkins was feeling and
+twisting his head, and taking the man's hand, held it a moment.
+
+"My dear sir," he said, "I am not in the least hurt, I assure you, and
+it was my fault for crossing you at such a moment. Please do not think
+anything more about it." He smiled kindly at the young fellow, who
+seemed very grateful, and who from that day on would have risked
+everything in the world for him. I heard behind me the voice of Kildare,
+soliloquising softly.
+
+"Faith," said he, "that fellow is a gentleman if I ever saw one. I am
+afraid I should not have let that infernal duffer off so easily.
+By-the-bye, Isaacs," he said aloud, coming up to us, "you know you won
+the game. Nobody stopped the ball after you hit it, and the saices say
+it ran right through the goal. So cheer up; you have got something for
+your pains and your tumble." It was quite true; the phlegmatic saices
+had watched the ball instead of the falling man. Miss Westonhaugh, who
+was really a sensible and self-possessed young woman, and had begun to
+be sure that the accident would have no serious results, expressed the
+most unbounded delight.
+
+"Thank you, Miss Westonhaugh," said Isaacs; "you have kept your promise;
+you have crowned the victor."
+
+"With brandy," I remarked, folding up a scarf which somebody had given
+me wherewith to tie a wet compress to the back of his head.
+
+"There is nothing the matter," said Ghyrkins; "no end of a bad bruise,
+that's all. He will be all right in the morning, and the skin is only a
+little broken."
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs, who could now stand quite firm again, "hold the
+wet handkerchief in place, and give me that scarf." I did as he
+directed, and he took the white woollen shawl, and in half a dozen turns
+wound it round his head in a turban, deftly and gracefully. It was
+wonderfully becoming to his Oriental features and dark eyes, and I could
+see that Miss Westonhaugh thought so. There was a murmur of approbation
+from the native grooms who were looking on, and who understood the
+thing.
+
+"You see I have done it before," he said, smiling. "And now give me my
+coat, and we will be getting home. Oh yes! I can ride quite well."
+
+"That man has no end of pluck in him," said John Westonhaugh to Kildare.
+
+"By Jove! yes," was the answer. "I have seen men at home make twice the
+fuss over a tumble in a ploughed field, when they were not even stunned.
+I would not have thought it."
+
+"He is not the man to make much fuss about anything of that kind."
+
+Isaacs stoutly refused any further assistance, and after walking up and
+down a few minutes, he said he had got his legs back, and demanded a
+cigarette. He lit it carefully, and mounted as if nothing had happened,
+and we moved homeward, followed by the spectators, many of whom, of
+course, were acquaintances, and who had ridden up more or less quickly
+to make polite inquiries about the accident. No one disputed with Isaacs
+the right to ride beside Miss Westonhaugh on the homeward road. He was
+the victor of the day, and of course was entitled to the best place. We
+were all straggling along, but without any great intervals between us,
+so that the two were not able to get away as they had done on Saturday
+evening, but they talked, and I heard Miss Westonhaugh laugh. Isaacs was
+determined to show that he appreciated his advantage, and though, for
+all I know, he might be suffering a good deal of pain, he talked gaily
+and sat his horse easily, rather a strange figure in his light-coloured
+English overcoat, surmounted by the large white turban he had made out
+of the shawl. As we came out on the mall at the top of the hill, Mr.
+Ghyrkins called a council of war.
+
+"Of course we shall have to put off the tiger-hunt."
+
+"I suppose so," muttered Kildare, disconsolately.
+
+"Why?" said Isaacs. "Not a bit of it. Head or no head, we will start
+to-morrow morning. I am well enough, never fear."
+
+"Nonsense, you know it's nonsense," said Ghyrkins, "you will be in bed
+all day with a raging headache. Horrid things, knocks on the back of the
+head."
+
+"Not I. My traps are all packed, and my servants have gone down to
+Kalka, and I am going to-morrow morning."
+
+"Well, of course, if you really think you can," etc. etc. So he was
+prevailed upon to promise that if he should be suffering in the morning
+he would send word in time to put off the party. "Besides," he added,
+"even if I could not go, that is no reason why you should not."
+
+"Stuff," said Ghyrkins.
+
+"Oh!" said Miss Westonhaugh, looking rather blank.
+
+"That would never do," said John.
+
+"Preposterous! we could not think of going without you," said Lord
+Steepleton Kildare loudly; he was beginning to like Isaacs in spite of
+himself. And so we parted.
+
+"I shall not dine to-night, Griggs," said Isaacs, as we paused before
+his door. "Come in for a moment: you can help me." We entered the richly
+carpeted room, and he went to a curious old Japanese cabinet, and after
+opening various doors and divisions, showed a small iron safe. This he
+opened by some means known to himself, for he used no key, and he took
+out a small vessel of jade and brought it to the light. "Now," he said,
+"be good enough to warm this little jar in your hands while I go into
+the next room and get my boots and spurs and things off. But do not open
+it on any account--not on any account, until I come back," he added very
+emphatically.
+
+"All right, go ahead," said I, and began to warm the cold thing that
+felt like a piece of ice between my hands. He returned in a few minutes
+robed in loose garments from Kashmir, with the low Eastern slippers he
+generally wore indoors. He sat down among his cushions and leaned back,
+looking pale and tired; after ordering the lamps to be lit and the doors
+closed, he motioned me to sit down beside him.
+
+"I have had a bad shaking," he said, "and my head is a good deal
+bruised. But I mean to go to-morrow in spite of everything. In that
+little vial there is a powerful remedy unknown in your Western medicine.
+Now I want you to apply it, and to follow with the utmost exactness my
+instructions. If you fear you should forget what I tell you, write it
+down, for a mistake might be fatal to you, and would certainly be fatal
+to me."
+
+I took out an old letter and a pencil, not daring to trust my memory.
+
+"Put the vial in your bosom while you write: it must be near the
+temperature of the body. Now listen to me. In that silver box is wax.
+Tie first this piece of silk over your mouth, and then stop your
+nostrils carefully with the wax. Then open the vial quickly and pour a
+little of the contents into your hand. You must be quick, for it is very
+volatile. Rub that on the back of my head, keeping the vial closed. When
+your hand is dry, hold the vial open to my nostrils for two minutes by
+your watch. By that time, I shall be asleep. Put the vial in this pocket
+of my _caftán_; open all the doors and windows, and tell my servant to
+leave them so, but not to admit any one. Then you can leave me; I shall
+sleep very comfortably. Come back and wake me a little before midnight.
+You will wake me easily by lifting my head and pressing one of my hands.
+Remember, if you should forget to wake me, and I should still be asleep
+at one o'clock, I should never open my eyes again, and should be dead
+before morning. Do as I tell you, for friendship's sake, and when I wake
+I shall bathe and sleep naturally the rest of the night."
+
+I carefully fulfilled his instructions. Before I had finished rubbing
+his head he was drowsy, and when I took the vial from his nostrils he
+was sound asleep. I placed the precious thing where he had told me, and
+arranged his limbs on the cushions. Then I opened everything, and
+leaving the servant in charge went my way to my rooms. On removing the
+silk and the wax which had protected me from the powerful drug, an
+indescribable odour which permeated my clothes ascended to my nostrils;
+aromatic, yet pungent and penetrating; I never smelt anything that it
+reminded me of, but I presume the compound contained something of the
+nature of an opiate. I took some books down to Isaacs' rooms and passed
+the evening there, unwilling to leave him to the care of an inquisitive
+servant, and five minutes before midnight I awoke him in the manner he
+had directed. He seemed to be sleeping lightly, for he was awake in a
+moment, and his first action was to replace the vial in the curious
+safe. He professed himself perfectly restored; and, indeed, on examining
+his bruise I found there was no swelling or inflammation. The odour of
+the medicament, which, as he had said, seemed to be very volatile, had
+almost entirely disappeared. He begged me to go to bed, saying that he
+would bathe and then do likewise, and I left him for the night;
+speculating on the nature of this secret and precious remedy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+The Himalayan _tonga_ is a thing of delight. It is easily described, for
+in principle it is the ancient Persian war-chariot, though the
+accommodation is so modified as to allow four persons to sit in it back
+to back; that is, three besides the driver. It is built for great
+strength, the wheels being enormously heavy, and the pole of the size of
+a mast. Harness the horses have none, save a single belt with a sort of
+lock at the top, which fits into the iron yoke through the pole, and can
+slide from it to the extremity; there is neither breeching nor trace nor
+collar, and the reins run from the heavy curb bit directly through loops
+on the yoke to the driver's hands. The latter, a wiry, long-bearded
+Mohammedan, is armed with a long whip attached to a short thick stock,
+and though he sits low, on the same level as the passenger beside him on
+the front seat, he guides his half broken horses with amazing dexterity
+round sharp curves and by giddy precipices, where neither parapet nor
+fencing give the startled mind even a momentary impression of security.
+The road from Simla to Kalka at the foot of the hills is so narrow that
+if two vehicles meet, the one has to draw up to the edge of the road,
+while the other passes on its way. In view of the frequent encounters,
+every tonga-driver is provided with a post horn of tremendous power and
+most discordant harmony; for the road is covered with bullock carts
+bearing provisions and stores to the hill station. Smaller loads, such
+as trunks and other luggage, are generally carried by coolies, who
+follow a shorter path, the carriage road being ninety-two miles from
+Umballa, the railroad station, to Simla, but a certain amount may be
+stowed away in the tonga, of which the capacity is considerable.
+
+In three of these vehicles our party of six began the descent on Tuesday
+morning, wrapped in linen "dusters" of various shades and shapes, and
+armed with countless varieties of smoking gear. The roughness of the
+road precludes all possibility of reading, and, after all, the rapid
+motion and the constant appearance of danger--which in reality does not
+exist--prevent any overpowering _ennui_ from assailing the dusty
+traveller. So we spun along all day, stopping once or twice for a little
+refreshment, and changing horses every five or six miles. Everybody was
+in capital spirits, and we changed seats often, thus obtaining some
+little variety. Isaacs, who to every one's astonishment, seemed not to
+feel any inconvenience from his accident, clung to his seat in Miss
+Westonhaugh's tonga, sitting in front with the driver, while she and her
+uncle or brother occupied the seat behind, which is far more
+comfortable. At last, however, he was obliged to give his place to
+Kildare, who had been very patient, but at last said it "really wasn't
+fair, you know," and so Isaacs courteously yielded. At last we reached
+Kalka, where the tongas are exchanged for _dâk gharry_ or mail carriage,
+a thing in which you can sit up in the daytime and lie down at night,
+there being an extension under the driver's box calculated for the
+accommodation of the longest legs. When lying down in one of these
+vehicles the sensation is that of being in a hearse and playing a game
+of funeral. On this occasion, however, it was still early when we made
+the change, and we paired off, two and two, for the last part of the
+drive. By the well planned arrangements of Isaacs and Kildare, two
+carriages were in readiness for us on the express train, and though the
+difference in temperature was enormous between Simla and the plains,
+still steaming from the late rainy season, the travelling was made easy
+for us, and we settled ourselves for the journey, after dining at the
+little hotel; Miss Westonhaugh bidding us all a cheery "good-night" as
+she retired with her _ayah_ into the carriage prepared for her. I will
+not go into tedious details of the journey--we slept and woke and slept
+again, and smoked, and occasionally concocted iced drinks from our
+supplies, for in India the carriages are so large that the traveller
+generally provides himself with a generous basket of provisions and a
+travelling ice-chest full of bottles, and takes a trunk or two with him
+in his compartment. Suffice it to say that we arrived on the following
+day at Fyzabad in Oude, and that we were there met by guides and
+shikarries--the native huntsmen--who assured us that there were tigers
+about near the outlying station of Pegnugger, where the elephants,
+previously ordered, would all be in readiness for us on the following
+day. The journey from Fyzabad to Pegnugger was not a long one, and we
+set out in the cool of the evening, sending our servants along in that
+"happy-go-lucky" fashion which characterises Indian life. It has always
+been a mystery to me how native servants manage always to turn up at the
+right moment. You say to your man, "Go there and wait for me," and you
+arrive and find him waiting; though how he transferred himself thither,
+with his queer-looking bundle, and his lota, and cooking utensils, and
+your best teapot wrapped up in a newspaper and ready for use, and with
+all the other hundred and one things that a native servant contrives to
+carry about without breaking or losing one of them, is an unsolved
+puzzle. Yet there he is, clean and grinning as ever, and if he were not
+clean and grinning and provided with tea and cheroots, you would not
+keep him in your service a day, though you would be incapable of looking
+half so spotless and pleased under the same circumstances yourself.
+
+On the following day, therefore, we found ourselves at Pegnugger,
+surrounded by shikarries and provided with every instrument of the chase
+that the ingenuity of man and the foresight of Isaacs and Ghyrkins could
+provide. There were numbers of tents, sleeping tents, cooking tents, and
+servants' tents; guns and ammunition of every calibre likely to be
+useful; _kookries_, broad strong weapons not unlike the famous American
+bowie knives (which are all made in Sheffield, to the honour, glory, and
+gain, of British trade); there were huge packs of provisions edible and
+potable; baskets of utensils for the kitchen and the table, and piles of
+blankets and tenting gear for the camp. There was also the little
+collector of Pegnugger, whose small body housed a stout heart, for he
+had shot tigers on foot before now in company with a certain German
+doctor of undying sporting fame, whose big round spectacles seemed to
+direct his bullets with unerring precision. But the doctor was not here
+now, and so the sturdy Englishman condescended to accept a seat in the
+howdah, and to kill his game with somewhat less risk than usual.
+
+This first day was occupied in transferring our party, now swelled by
+countless beaters and numerous huntsmen, not to mention all the retinue
+of servants necessary for an Indian camp, to the neighbourhood of the
+battlefield. There is not much conversation on these occasions, for the
+party is apt to become scattered, and there is a general tone of
+expectancy in the air, the old hands conversing more with the natives
+who know the district than with each other, and the young ones either
+wondering how many tigers they will kill, or listening open mouthed to
+the tales of adventure reeled off by the yard by the old bearded
+shikarry, who has slain the king of the jungle with a _kookrie_ in hand
+to hand struggle when he was young, and bears the scars of the deadly
+encounter on his brown chest to this day. Old Ghyrkins, who was
+evidently in his element, rode about on a little _tat_, questioning
+beaters and shikarries, and coming back every now and then to bawl up
+some piece of information to the little collector, who had established
+himself on one of the elephants and looked down over the edge of the
+howdah, the great pith hat on his head making him look like an immense
+mushroom with a very thin stem sprouting suddenly from the back of the
+huge beast. He smiled pleasantly at the old sportsman from his
+elevation, and seemed to know all about it. It so chanced that when he
+received Isaacs' telegrams he had been planning a little excursion on
+his own account, and had been sending out scouts and beaters for some
+days to ascertain where the game lay. This, of course, was so much clear
+gain to us, and the little man was delighted at the opportune
+coincidence which enabled him, by the unlimited money supplied, to join
+in such a hunt as he had not seen since the time when the Prince of
+Wales disported himself among the royal game, three years before. As for
+Miss Westonhaugh, she was in the gayest of spirits, as she sat with her
+brother on an elephant's back, while Isaacs, who loved the saddle,
+circled round her and kept up a fire of little compliments and pretty
+speeches, to which she was fast becoming inured. Kildare and I followed
+them closely on another elephant, discoursing seriously about the hunt,
+and occasionally shouting some question to John Westonhaugh, ahead,
+about sport in the south.
+
+Before evening we had arrived at our first camping ground, near a small
+village on the outskirts of the jungle, and the tents were pitched on a
+little elevation covered with grass, now green and waving. The men had
+mowed a patch clear, and were busy with the pegs and all the
+paraphernalia of a canvas house, and we strolled about, some of us
+directing the operations, others offering a sacrifice of cooling liquids
+and tobacco to the setting sun. Miss Westonhaugh had heard about living
+in tents ever since she came to India, and had often longed to sleep in
+one of those temporary chambers that are set up anywhere in the
+"compound" of an English bungalow for the accommodation of the bachelor
+guests whom the house itself is too small to hold; now she was enchanted
+at the prospect of a whole fortnight under canvas, and watched with rapt
+interest the driving of the pegs, the raising of the poles, and the
+careful furnishing of her dwelling. There was a carpet, and armchairs,
+and tables, and even a small bookcase with a few favourite volumes. To
+us in civilised life it seems a great deal of trouble to transport a
+lunch basket and a novel to some shady glen to enjoy a day's rest in the
+open air, and we would almost rather starve than take the trouble to
+carry provisions. In India you speak the word, and as by magic there
+arises in the wilderness a little village of tents, furnished with every
+necessary luxury--and the luxuries necessary to our degenerate age are
+many--a kitchen tent is raised, and a skilled dark-skinned artist
+provides you in an hour with a dinner such as you could eat in no hotel.
+The treasures of the huge portable ice-chest reveal cooling wines and
+soda water to the thirsty soul, and if you are going very far beyond the
+reach of the large towns, a small ice-machine is kept at work day and
+night to increase the supply while you sleep, and to maintain it while
+you wake. In the _connât_ or verandah of the tent, long chairs await you
+after your meal, and as you smoke the fragrant cigarette and watch the
+stars coming out, you feel as comfortable as though you had been dining
+in your own spacious bungalow in Mudnugger.
+
+It was not long before all was ready, and having made many ablutions and
+a little toilet, we assembled round the dinner table in the eating tent,
+the same party that had dined at Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' house on Sunday
+night, with the addition of the little collector of Pegnugger, whose
+stories of his outlying district were full of humour and anecdote. The
+talk bending in the direction of adventure, Kildare, who had been lately
+in South Africa with his regiment, told some tales of Zulus and assegais
+and Boers in the Hibernian style of hyperbole. The Irish blood never
+comes out so strongly as when a story is to be told, and no amount of
+English education and Oxford accent will suppress the tendency. The
+brogue is gone, but the love of the marvellous is there still. Isaacs
+related the experience of "a man he knew," who had been pulled off his
+elephant, howdah and all, and had killed the tiger with a revolver at
+half arm's length.
+
+"Ah yes," said the little collector, who had not caught the names of all
+the party when introduced, "I read about it at the time; I remember it
+very well. It happened in Purneah two years ago. The gentleman was a Mr.
+Isaacs of Delhi. Queer name too--remember perfectly." There was a roar
+of laughter at this, in which the collector joined vociferously on being
+informed that the man with the "queer name" was his neighbour at table.
+
+"You see what you get for your modesty," cried old Ghyrkins, laughing to
+convulsions.
+
+"And is it really true, Mr. Isaacs?" asked Miss Westonhaugh, looking
+admiringly across at the young man, who seemed rather annoyed.
+
+And so the conversation went round and all were merry, and some were
+sleepy after dinner, and we sat in long chairs under the awning or
+_connât_. There was no moon yet, but the stars shone out as they shine
+nowhere save in India, and the evening breeze played pleasantly through
+the ropes after the long hot day. Miss Westonhaugh assured everybody for
+the hundredth time that day that she rather liked the smell of cigars,
+and so we smoked and chatted a little, and presently there was a jerk
+and a sputtering sneeze from Mr. Ghyrkins, who, being weary with the
+march and the heat and the good dinner, and on the borders of sleep, had
+put the wrong end of his cigar in his mouth with destructive results.
+Then he threw it away with a small volley of harmless expletives, and
+swore he would go to bed, as he could not stand our dulness any longer;
+but he merely shifted his position a little, and was soon snoring
+merrily.
+
+"What a pity it is we have no piano, Katharine," said John Westonhaugh,
+who was fond of music. "Could you not sing something without any
+accompaniment?"
+
+"Oh no. Mr. Isaacs," she said, turning her voice to where she could see
+the light of his cigarette and the faint outline of his chair in the
+starlight, "here we are in the camp. Now where is the 'lute' you
+promised to produce for us? I think the time has come at last for you to
+keep your promise."
+
+"Well," said he, "I believe there really is an old guitar or something
+of the kind among my traps somewhere. But it might wake Mr. Ghyrkins,
+who, I understand from his tones, is asleep."
+
+Various opinions were expressed to the effect that Mr. Ghyrkins was not
+so easily disturbed, and a voice like Kildare's was heard to mumble that
+"it would not hurt him if he was," a sentence no one attempted to
+construe. So the faithful Narain was summoned, and instructed to bring
+the instrument if he could find it. I was rather surprised at Isaacs'
+readiness to sing; but in the first place I had never heard him, and
+besides I did not make allowance for the Oriental courtesy of his
+character, which would not refuse anything, or make any show of refusal
+in order to be pressed. Narain returned with a very modern-looking
+guitar-case, and, opening the box, presented his master with the
+instrument, which, as Isaacs took it to the light in the door of the
+tent to see if it had travelled safely, appeared to be a perfectly new
+German guitar. I suspected him of having purchased it at the little
+music shop at Simla, for the especial amusement of our party.
+
+"I thought it was a lute you played on," said Miss Westonhaugh, "a real,
+lovely, ancient Assyrian lute, or something of that kind."
+
+"Oh, a plain guitar is infinitely better and less troublesome," said
+Isaacs as he returned to his seat in the dark and began to tune the
+strings softly. "It takes so long to tune one of those old things, and
+then nothing will make them stand. Now this one, you see,--or rather you
+cannot see,--has an ingenious contrivance of screws by which you may
+tune it in a moment." While he was speaking he was altering the pitch of
+the strings, and presently he added, "There, it is done now," and two or
+three sounding chords fell on the still air. "Now what shall I sing? I
+await your commands."
+
+"Something soft, and sweet, and gentle."
+
+"A love-song?" asked he quietly.
+
+"Well yes--a love-song if you like. Why not?" said she.
+
+"No reason in the world that I can think of," I remarked. Whereat Lord
+Steepleton Kildare threw his cigar away, and began lighting another a
+moment after, as if he had discarded his weed by mistake.
+
+Isaacs struck a few chords softly, and then began a sort of running
+accompaniment. His voice, which seemed to me to be very high, was
+wonderfully smooth and round, and produced the impression of being much
+more powerful than he cared to show. He sang without the least effort,
+and yet there was none of that effeminate character that I have noticed
+in European male singers when producing high notes very softly. I do not
+understand music, but I am sure I never heard an opera tenor with a
+voice of such quality. The words of his song were Persian, and the pure
+accents of his native tongue seemed well suited to the half passionate,
+half plaintive air he had chosen. I afterwards found a translation of
+the sonnet by an English officer, which I here give, though it conveys
+little idea of the music of the original verse.
+
+    Last night, my eyes being closed in sleep, but my good fortune awake,
+    The whole night, the livelong night, the image of my beloved one was the
+    companion of my soul.
+    The sweetness of her melodious voice still remains vibrating on my soul;
+    Heavens! how did the sugared words fall from her sweeter lips;
+    Alas! all that she said to me in that dream has escaped from my memory,
+    Although it was my care till break of day to repeat over and over her
+    sweet words.
+    The day, unless illuminated by her beauty, is, to my eyes, of nocturnal
+    darkness.
+    Happy day that first I gazed upon that lovely face!
+    May the eyes of Jami long be blessed with pleasing visions, since they
+    presented to his view last night
+    The object, on whose account he passed his waking life in
+    expectation.[1]
+
+His beautiful voice ceased, and with infinite skill he wove a few
+strains of the melody into the final chords he played when he had
+finished singing. It was all so entirely novel, so unlike any music most
+of us had ever heard, and it was so undeniably good, that every one
+applauded and said something to the singer in turn, expressing the
+greatest admiration and appreciation. Miss Westonhaugh was the last to
+speak.
+
+"It is perfectly lovely," she said. "I wish I could understand the
+words--are they as sweet as the music?"
+
+"Sweeter," he answered, and he gave an offhand translation of two or
+three verses.
+
+"Beautiful indeed," she said; "and now sing me another, please." There
+was no resisting such an appeal, with the personal pronoun in the
+singular number. He moved a little nearer, and emphatically sang to her,
+and to no one else. A song of the same character as the first, but, I
+thought, more passionate and less dreamy, as his great sweet voice
+swelled and softened and rose again in burning vibrations and waves of
+sound. She did not ask a translation this time, but some one else did,
+after the applause had subsided.
+
+"I cannot translate these things," said Isaacs, "so as to do them
+justice, or give you any idea of the strength and vitality of the
+Persian verses. Perhaps Griggs, who understands Persian very well and is
+a literary man, may do it for you. I would rather not try." I professed
+my entire inability to comply with the request, and to turn the
+conversation asked him where he had learned to play the guitar so well.
+
+"Oh," he answered, "in Istamboul, years ago. Everybody plays in
+Istamboul--and most people sing love-songs. Besides it is so easy," and
+he ran scales up and down the strings with marvellous rapidity to
+illustrate what he said.
+
+"And do you never sing English songs, Mr. Isaacs?" asked the collector
+of Pegnugger, who was enchanted, not having heard a note of music for
+months.
+
+"Oh, sometimes," he answered. "I think I could sing 'Drink to me only
+with thine eyes'--do you know it?" He began to play the melody on the
+guitar while he spoke.
+
+"Rather--I should think so!" Kildare was heard to say. He was beginning
+to think the concert had lasted long enough.
+
+"Oh, do sing it, Mr. Isaacs," said the young girl, "and my brother and I
+will join in. It will be so pretty!"
+
+It certainly sounded very sweetly as he gave the melody in his clear,
+high tones, and Miss Westonhaugh and John sang with him. Having heard it
+several thousand times myself, I was beginning to recognise the tune
+well enough to enjoy it a good deal.
+
+"That is very nice," said Kildare, who was sorry he had made an
+impatient remark before, and wanted to atone.
+
+"Eh? what? how's that?" said Mr. Ghyrkins just waking up. "Oh! of
+course. My niece sings charmingly. Quite an artist, you know." And he
+struggled out of his chair and said it was high time we all went to bed
+if we meant to shoot straight in the morning. The magistrate of
+Pegnugger concurred in the opinion, and we reluctantly separated for the
+night to our respective quarters, Isaacs and I occupying a tent
+together, which he had caused to be sent on from Delhi, as being
+especially adapted to his comfort.
+
+On the following day at dawn we were roused by the sound of
+preparations, and before we were dressed the voices of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins and the collector were heard in the camp, stirring up the
+sleepy servants and ordering us to be waked. The two old sportsmen felt
+it their duty to be first on such an occasion as this, and in the calm
+security that they would do everything that was right, Isaacs and I
+discussed our tea and fruit--the _chota haziri_ or "little breakfast"
+usually taken in India on waking--sitting in the door of our tent, while
+Kiramat Ali and Narain and Mahmoud and the rest of the servants were
+giving a final rub to the weapons of the chase, and making all the
+little preparations for a long day. And we sat looking out and sipping
+our tea.
+
+In the cool of the dawn Miss Westonhaugh came tripping across the wet
+grass to where her uncle was giving his final directions about the
+furnishing of his howdah for the day; a lovely apparition of freshness
+in the gray morning, all dressed in dark blue, a light pith
+helmet-shaped hat pressing the rebellious white-gold hair almost out of
+sight. She walked so easily it seemed as if her dainty little feet had
+wings, as Hermes' of old, to ease the ground of their feather weight. A
+broad belt hung across her shoulder with little rows of cartridges set
+all along, and at the end hung a very business-like revolver case of
+brown leather and of goodly length. No toy miniature pistol would she
+carry, but a full-sized, heavy "six-shooter," that might really be of
+use at close quarters. She stood some minutes talking with Mr. Ghyrkins,
+not noticing us in the shadow of the tent some thirty yards away; Isaacs
+and I watched her intently--with very different feelings, possibly, but
+yet intensely admiring the fair creature, so strong and pliant, and yet
+so erect and straight. She turned half round towards us, and I saw there
+were flowers in the front of her dress. I wondered where they had come
+from; they were roses--of all flowers in the world to be blooming in the
+desert. Perhaps she had brought them carefully from Fyzabad, but that
+was improbable; or from Pegnugger--yes, there would be roses in the
+collector's garden there. Isaacs rose to his feet.
+
+"Oh, come along, Griggs. You have had quite enough tea!"
+
+"Go ahead; I will be with you in a moment." But a sudden thought struck
+me, and I went with him, bareheaded, to greet Miss Westonhaugh. She
+smiled brightly as she held out her hand.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Isaacs. Thank you so much for the roses. How _did_
+you do it? They are _too_ lovely!" So it was just as I thought. Isaacs
+had probably despatched a man back to Pegnugger in the night.
+
+"Very easy I assure you. I am so glad you like them. They are not very
+fresh after all though, I see," he added depreciatingly, as men do when
+they give flowers to people they care about. I never heard a man find
+fault with flowers he gave out of a sense of duty. It is perhaps that
+the woman best loved of all things in the world has for him a sweetness
+and a beauty that kills the coarser hues of the rose, and outvies the
+fragrance of the double violets.
+
+"Oh no!" she said, emphasising the negative vigorously. "I think they
+are perfectly beautiful, but I want you to tell me where you got them."
+I began talking to Ghyrkins, who was intent on the arrangement of his
+guns which was going on under his eyes, but I heard the answer, though
+Isaacs spoke in a low voice.
+
+"You must not say that, Miss Westonhaugh. You yourself are the most
+perfect and beautiful thing God ever made." By a superhuman effort I
+succeeded in keeping my eyes fixed on Ghyrkins, probably with a stony,
+unconscious stare, for he presently asked what I was looking at. I do
+not think Isaacs cared whether I heard him or not, knowing that I
+sympathised, but Mr. Ghyrkins was another matter. The Persian had made
+progress, for there was no trace of annoyance in Miss Westonhaugh's
+answer, though she entirely overlooked her companion's pretty speech.
+
+"Seriously, Mr. Isaacs, if you mean to have one of them for your badge
+to-day, you must tell me how you got them." I turned slowly round. She
+was holding a single rose in her fingers, and looking from it to him, as
+if to see if it would match his olive skin and his Karkee shooting-coat.
+He could not resist the bribe.
+
+"If you really want to know I will tell you, but it is a profound
+secret," he said, smiling. "Griggs, swear!"
+
+I raised my hand and murmured something about the graves of my
+ancestors.
+
+"Well," he continued, "yesterday morning at the collector's house I saw
+a garden; in the garden there were roses, carefully tended, for it is
+late. I took the gardener apart and said, 'My friend, behold, here is
+silver for thee, both rupees and pais. And if thou wilt pick the best of
+thy roses and deliver them to the swift runner whom I will send to thee
+at supper time when the stars are coming out, I will give thee as much
+as thou shalt earn in a month with thy English master. But if thou wilt
+not do it, or if thou failest to do it, having promised, I will cause
+the grave of thy father to be defiled with the slaughter of swine, and,
+moreover, I will return and beat thee with a thick stick!' The fellow
+was a Mussulman, and there was a merry twinkle in his eye as he took the
+money and swore a great oath. I left a running man at Pegnugger with a
+basket, and that is how you got the roses. Don't tell the collector,
+that is all."
+
+We all laughed, and Miss Westonhaugh gave the rose to Isaacs, who
+touched it to his lips, under pretence of smelling it, and put it in his
+buttonhole. Kildare came up at this moment and created a diversion; then
+the collector joined us and scattered us right and left, saying it was
+high time we were in the howdahs and on the way. So we buckled on our
+belts, and those who wore hats put them on, and those who preferred
+turbans bent while their bearers wound them on, and then we moved off to
+where the elephants were waiting and got into our places, and the
+_mahouts_ urged the huge beasts from their knees to their feet, and we
+went swinging off to the forest. The pad elephants, who serve as beaters
+and move between the howdah animals, joined us, and presently we went
+splashing through the reedy patches of fern, and crashing through the
+branches, towards the heart of the jungle.
+
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, whose long experience had made him as cool when
+after tigers as when reading the _Pioneer_ in his shady bungalow at
+Simla, had taken Miss Westonhaugh with him in his howdah, and as an
+additional precaution for her safety, the little collector of Pegnugger,
+who was a dead shot, only allowed two pad elephants to move between
+himself and Ghyrkins. As there were thirty-seven animals in all, the
+rest of the party were much scattered. I thought there were too many
+elephants for our six howdahs, but it turned out that I was mistaken,
+for we had capital sport. The magistrate of Pegnugger, who knew the
+country thoroughly, was made the despot of the day. His orders were
+obeyed unquestioningly and unconditionally, and we halted in long line
+or marched onwards, forcing a passage through every obstacle, at his
+word. We might have been out a couple of hours, watching every patch of
+jungle and blade of long rank grass for a sight of the striped skin,
+writhing through the reeds, that we so longed to see, when the quick,
+short crack of a rifle away to the right brought us to a halt, and every
+one drew a long breath and turned, gun in hand, in the direction whence
+the sound had come. It was Kildare; he had met his first tiger, and the
+first also of the hunt. He had put up the animal not five paces in front
+of him, stealing along in the cool grass and hoping to escape between
+the elephants, in the cunning way they often do. He had fired a snap
+shot too quickly, inflicting a wound in the flank which only served to
+rouse the tiger to madness. With a leap that seemed to raise its body
+perpendicularly from the ground, the gorgeous creature flew into the air
+and settled right on the head of Kildare's elephant, while the terrified
+_mahout_ wound himself round the howdah. It would have been a trying
+position for the oldest sportsman, but to be brought into such terrific
+encounter at arm's length, almost, at one's very first experience of the
+chase, was a terrible test of nerve. Those who were near said that in
+that awful moment Kildare never changed colour. The elephant plunged
+wildly in his efforts to shake off the beast from his head, but Kildare
+had seized his second gun the moment he had discharged the first, and
+aiming for one second only, as the tossing head and neck of the tusker
+brought the gigantic cat opposite him, fired again. The fearful claws,
+driven deep and sure into the thick hide of the poor elephant, relaxed
+their hold, the beautiful lithe limbs straightened by their own
+perpendicular weight, and the first prize of the day dropped to the
+ground like lead, dead, shot through the head.
+
+A great yell of triumph arose all along the line, and the little
+_mahout_ crept cautiously back from his lurking-place behind the howdah
+to see if the coast were clear. Kildare had behaved splendidly, and
+shouts of congratulation reached his ears from all sides. Miss
+Westonhaugh waved her handkerchief in token of approbation, every one
+applauded, and far away to the left Isaacs, who was in the last howdah,
+clapped his hands vigorously, and sent his high clear voice ringing like
+a trumpet down the line.
+
+"Well done, Kildare! well done, indeed!" and his rival's praise was not
+the least grateful to Lord Steepleton on that day. Meanwhile the
+shikarries gathered around the fallen beast. It proved to be a young
+tigress some eight feet long, and the clean bright coat showed that she
+was no man-eater. So the pad elephant came alongside, to use a nautical
+phrase not inappropriate, and kneeling down received its burden
+willingly, well knowing that the slain beauty was one of his deadly
+foes. The _mahout_ pronounced the elephant on which Kildare was mounted
+able to proceed, and only a few huge drops of blood marked where the
+tigress had kept her hold. We moved on again, beating the jungle,
+wheeling and doubling the long line, wherever it seemed likely that some
+striped monster might have eluded us. Marching and counter-marching
+through the heat of the day, we picked up another-prize in the
+afternoon. It was a large old tiger, nine feet six as he lay; he fell an
+easy prey to the gun of the little collector of Pegnugger, who sent a
+bullet through his heart at the first shot, and smiled rather
+contemptuously as he removed the empty shell of the cartridge from his
+gun. He would rather have had Kildare's chance in the morning.
+
+After all, two tigers in a day was not bad sport for the time of year. I
+knew Isaacs would be disappointed at not having had a shot, where his
+rival in a certain quarter had had so good an opportunity for displaying
+skill and courage; and I confessed to myself that I preferred a small
+party, say, a dozen elephants and three howdahs, to this tremendous and
+expensive _battue_. I had a shot-gun with me, and consoled myself by
+shooting a peacock or two as we rolled and swayed homewards. We had
+determined to keep to the same camp for a day or two, as we could enter
+the forest from another point on the morrow, and might even beat some of
+the same ground again with success.
+
+It was past five when we got down to the tents and descended from our
+howdahs, glad to stretch our stiffened limbs in a brisk walk. The dead
+tigers were hauled into the middle of the camp, and the servants ran
+together to see the result of the _sahib log's_ day out. We retired to
+dress and refresh ourselves for dinner.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+In Isaacs' tent I was pulling off my turban, all shapeless and crumpled
+by the long day, while Isaacs stood disconsolately looking at the clean
+guns and unbroken rows of cartridges which Narain deposited on the
+table. The sun was very low, and shone horizontally through the raised
+door of the tent on my friend's rather gloomy face. At that moment
+something intercepted the sunshine, and a dark shadow fell across the
+floor. I looked, and saw a native standing on the threshold, salaaming
+and waiting to be spoken to. He was not one of our men, but a common
+ryot, clad simply in a _dhoti_ or waist-cloth, and a rather dirty
+turban.
+
+"Kya chahte ho?"--"What do you want?" asked Isaacs impatiently. He was
+not in a good humour by any means. "Wilt thou deprive thy betters of the
+sunlight thou enjoyest thyself?"
+
+"The sahib's face is like the sun and the moon," replied the man
+deprecatingly. "But if the great lord will listen I will tell him what
+shall rejoice his heart."
+
+"Speak, unbeliever," said Isaacs.
+
+"Protector of the poor! you are my father and my mother! but I know
+where there lieth a great tiger, an eater of men, hard-hearted, that
+delighteth in blood."
+
+"Dog," answered Isaacs, calmly removing his coat, "the tiger you speak
+of was seen by you many moons since; what do you come to me with idle
+tales for?" Isaacs was familiar with the native trick of palming off old
+tigers on the unwary stranger, in the hope of a reward.
+
+"Sahib, I am no liar. I saw the tiger, who is the king of the forest,
+this morning." Isaacs' manner relaxed a little, and he sat down and
+lighted the eternal cigarette. "Slave," he said meditatively, "if it is
+as you say, I will kill the tiger, but if it is not as you say, I will
+kill you, and cause your body to be buried with the carcass of an ox,
+and your soul shall not live." The man did not seem much moved by the
+threat. He moved nearer, and salaamed again.
+
+"It is near to the dwelling of the sahib, who is my father," said the
+man, speaking low. "The day before yesterday he destroyed a man from the
+village. He has eaten five men in the last moon. I have seen him enter
+his lair, and he will surely return before the dawn; and the sahib shall
+strike him by his lightning; and the sahib will not refuse me the ears
+of the man-eater, that I may make a _jädu_, a charm against sudden
+death?"
+
+"Hound! if thou speakest the truth, and I kill the tiger, the monarch of
+game, I will make thee a rich man; but thou shalt not have his ears. I
+desire the _jädu_ for myself. I have spoken; wait thou here my
+pleasure." The ryot bent low to the earth, and then squatted by the
+tent-door to wait, in the patient way that a Hindoo can, for Isaacs to
+go and eat his dinner. As the latter came out ten minutes later, he
+paused and addressed the man once more. "Speak not to any man of thy
+tiger while I am gone, or I will cut off thine ears with a pork knife."
+And we passed on.
+
+The sun was now set and hovering in the afterglow, the new moon was
+following lazily down. I stopped a moment to look at her, and was
+surprised by Miss Westonhaugh's voice close behind me.
+
+"Are you wishing by the new moon, Mr. Griggs?" she asked.
+
+"Yes," said I, "I was. And what were you wishing, Miss Westonhaugh, if I
+may ask?" Isaacs came up, and paused beside us. The beautiful girl stood
+quite still, looking to westward, a red glow on the white-gold masses of
+her hair.
+
+"Did you say you were wishing for something, Miss Westonhaugh?" he
+asked. "Perhaps I can get it for you. More flowers, perhaps? They are
+very easily got."
+
+"No--that is, not especially. I was wishing--well, that a tiger-hunt
+might last for ever; and I want a pair of tiger's ears. My old _ayah_
+says they keep off evil spirits and sickness; and all sorts of things."
+
+"I know; it is a curious idea. I suppose both those beasts there have
+lost theirs already. These fellows cut them off in no time."
+
+"Yes. I have looked. So I suppose I must wait till to-morrow. But
+promise me, Mr. Isaacs, if you shoot one to-morrow, let me have the
+ears!"
+
+"I will promise that readily enough. I would promise anything you--" The
+last part of the sentence was lost to me, as I moved away and left them.
+
+At dinner, of course, every one talked of the day's sport, and
+compliments of all kinds were showered on Lord Steepleton, who looked
+very much pleased, and drank a good deal of wine. Ghyrkins and the
+little magistrate expressed their opinion that he would make a famous
+tiger-killer one of these days, when he had learned to wait. Every one
+was hungry and rather tired, and after a somewhat silent cigar, we
+parted for the night, Miss Westonhaugh rising first. Isaacs went to his
+quarters, and I remained alone in a long chair, by the deserted
+dining-tent. Kiramat Ali brought me a fresh hookah, and I lay quietly
+smoking and thinking of all kinds of things--things of all kinds,
+tigers, golden hair, more tigers, Isaacs, Shere Ali, Baithop--, what was
+his name--Baithop--p--. I fell asleep.
+
+Some one touched my hand, waking me suddenly. I sprang to my feet and
+seized the man by the throat, before I recognised in the starlight that
+it was Isaacs.
+
+"You are not a nice person to rouse," remarked he in a low voice, as I
+relaxed my grasp. "You will have fever if you sleep out-of-doors at this
+time of year. Now look here; it is past midnight, and I am going out a
+little way." I noticed that he had a _kookrie_ knife at his waist, and
+that his cartridge-belt was on his chest.
+
+"I will go with you," said I, guessing his intention. "I will be ready
+in a moment," and I began to move towards the tent.
+
+"No. I must go alone, and do this thing single-handed. I have a
+particular reason. I only wanted to warn you I was gone, in case you
+missed me. I shall take that ryot fellow with me to show me the way."
+
+"Give him a gun," I suggested.
+
+"He could not use one if I did. He has your _kookrie_ in case of
+accidents."
+
+"Oh, very well! do not let me interfere with any innocent and childlike
+pastime you may propose for your evening hours. I will attend to your
+funeral in the morning. Good-night."
+
+"Good-night; I shall be back before you are up." And he walked quickly
+off to where the ryot was waiting and holding his guns. He had the sense
+to take two. I was angry at the perverse temerity of the man. Why could
+he not have an elephant out and go like a sensible thinking being,
+instead of sneaking out with one miserable peasant to lie all night
+among the reeds, in as great danger from cobras as from the beast he
+meant to kill? And all for a girl --an English girl--a creature all fair
+hair and eyes, with no more intelligence than a sheep! Was it not she
+who sent him out to his death in the jungle, that her miserable caprice
+for a pair of tiger's ears might be immediately satisfied? If a woman
+ever loved me, Paul Griggs,--thank heaven no woman ever did,--would I go
+out into bogs and desert places and risk my precious skin to find her a
+pair of cat's ears? Not I;--wait a moment, though. If I were in his
+place, if Miss Westonhaugh loved _me_--I laughed at the conceit. But
+supposing she did. Just for the sake of argument, I would allow it. I
+think that I would risk something after all. What a glorious thing it
+would be to be loved by a woman, once, wholly and for ever. To meet the
+creature I described to him the other night, waiting for me to come into
+her life, and to be to her all I could be to the woman I should love.
+But she has never come; never will, now; still, there is a sort of rest
+to me in thinking of rest. Hearth, home, wife, children; the worn old
+staff resting in the corner, never to wander again. What a strange thing
+it is that men should have all these, and more, and yet never see that
+they have the simple elements of earthly happiness, if they would but
+use them. And we, outcasts and wanderers, children of sin and darkness,
+in whose hands one commandment seems hardly less fragile than another,
+would give anything--had we anything to give--for the happiness of a
+home, to call our own. How strange it is that what I said to Isaacs
+should be true. "Do not marry unless you must depend on each other for
+daily bread, or unless you are rich enough to live apart." Yes, it is
+true, in ninetynine cases out of a hundred. But then, I should add a
+saving clause, "and unless you are quite sure that you love each other."
+Ay, there is the _pons asinorum,_ the bridge whereon young asses and old
+fools come to such terrible grief. They are perfectly sure they love
+eternally; they will indignantly scorn the suggestions of prudence; love
+any other woman? never, while I live, answers the happy and
+unsophisticated youth. Be sorry I did it? Do you think I am a schoolboy
+in my first passion? demands the aged bridegroom. And so they marry, and
+in a year or two the enthusiastic young man runs away with some other
+enthusiastic man's wife, and the octogenarian spouse finds himself
+constituted into a pot of honey for his wife's swarming relations to
+settle on, like flies. But a man in strong middle prime of age, like me,
+knows his own mind; and--yes, on the whole I was unjust to Isaacs and to
+Miss Westonhaugh. If a woman loved me, she should have all the tiger's
+ears she wanted. "Still, I hope he will get back safely," I added, in
+afterthought to my reverie, as I turned into bed and ordered Kiramat Ali
+to wake me half an hour before dawn.
+
+I was restless, sleeping a little and dreaming much. At last I struck a
+light and looked at my watch. Four o'clock. It would not be dawn for
+more than an hour; I knew Isaacs had made for the place where the tiger
+passed his days, certain that he would return near daybreak, according
+to all common probability. He need not have gone so early, I thought.
+However, it might be a long way off. I lay still for a while, but it
+seemed very hot and close under the canvas. I got up and threw a
+_caftán_ round me, drew a chair into the _connât_ and sat, or rather
+lay, down in the cool morning breeze. Then I dozed again until Kiramat
+Ali woke me by pulling at my foot. He said it would be dawn in half an
+hour. I had passed a bad night, and went out, as I was, to walk on the
+grass. There was Miss Westonhaugh's tent away off at the other end. She
+was sleeping calmly enough, never doubting that at that very moment the
+man who loved her was risking his life for her pleasure--her slightest
+whim. She would be wide awake if she knew it, staring out into the
+darkness and listening for the crack of his rifle. A faint light
+appeared behind the dining-tent, over the distant trees, like the light
+of London seen from twenty or thirty miles' distance in the country, a
+faint, suggestive, murky grayness in the sky, making the stars look
+dimmer.
+
+The sound of a shot rang true and clear through the chill air; not far
+off I thought. I held my breath, listening for a second report, but none
+came. So it was over. Either he had killed the tiger with his first
+bullet, or the tiger had killed him before he could fire a second. I was
+intensely excited. If he were safe I wished him to have the glory of
+coming home quite alone. There was nothing for it but to wait, so I went
+into my tent and took a bath--a very simple operation where the bathing
+consists in pouring a huge jar of water over one's head. Tents in India
+have always a small side tent with a ditch dug to drain off the water
+from the copious ablutions of the inmate. I emerged into the room
+feeling better. It was now quite light, and I proceeded to dress
+leisurely to spin out the time. As I was drawing on my boots, Isaacs
+sauntered in quietly and laid his gun on the table. He was pale, and his
+Karkee clothes were covered with mud and leaves and bits of creeper, but
+his movements showed he was not hurt in any way; he hardly seemed tired.
+
+"Well?" I said anxiously.
+
+"Very well, thank you. Here they are," and he produced from the pocket
+of his coat the _spolia opima_ in the shape of a pair of ears, that
+looked very large to me. There was a little blood on them and on his
+hands as he handed the precious trophies to me for inspection. We stood
+by the open door, and while I was turning over the ears curiously in my
+hands, he looked down at his clothes.
+
+"I think I will take a bath," he said; "I must have been in a dirty
+place."
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, taking his hand, "this is absurd. I mean all
+this affected calmness. I was angry at your going in that way, to risk
+your head in a tiger's mouth; but I am sincerely glad to see you back
+alive. I congratulate you most heartily."
+
+"Thank you, old man," he said, his pale face brightening a little. "I am
+very glad myself. Do you know I have a superstition that I must fulfil
+every wish of--like that--even half expressed, to the very letter?"
+
+"The 'superstition,' as you call it, is worthy of the bravest knight
+that ever laid lance in rest. Don't part with superstitions like that.
+They are noble and generous things."
+
+"Perhaps," he answered, "but I really am very superstitious," he added,
+as he turned into the bathing _connât_. Soon I heard him splashing among
+the water jars.
+
+"By-the-bye, Griggs," he called out through the canvas, "I forgot to
+tell you. They are bringing that beast home on an elephant. It was much
+nearer than we supposed. They will be here in twenty minutes." A
+tremendous splashing interrupted him. "You can go and attend to that
+funeral you were talking about last night," he added, and his voice was
+again drowned in the swish and souse of the water. "He was rather
+large--over ten feet--I should say. Measure him as soon as he--" another
+cascade completed the sentence. I went out, taking the measuring tape
+from the table.
+
+In a few minutes the procession appeared. Two or three matutinal
+shikarries had gone out and come back, followed by the elephant, for
+which Isaacs had sent the ryot at full speed the moment he was sure the
+beast was dead. And so they came up the little hill behind the
+dining-tent. The great tusker moved evenly along, bearing on the pad an
+enormous yellow carcass, at which the little _mahout_ glanced
+occasionally over his shoulder. Astride of the dead king sat the ryot,
+who had directed Isaacs, crooning a strange psalm of victory in his
+outlandish northern dialect, and occasionally clapping his hands over
+his head with an expression of the most intense satisfaction I have ever
+seen on a human face. The little band came to the middle of the camp
+where the other tigers, now cut up and skinned elsewhere, had been
+deposited the night before, and as the elephant knelt down, the
+shikarries pulled the whole load over, pad, tiger, ryot and all, the
+latter skipping nimbly aside. There he lay, the great beast that had
+taken so many lives. We stretched him out and measured him--eleven feet
+from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, all but an inch--as a
+little more straightening fills the measure, eleven feet exactly.
+
+Meanwhile, the servant and shikarries collected, and the noise of the
+exploit went abroad. The sun was just rising when Mr. Ghyrkins put his
+head out of his tent and wanted to know "what the deuce all this
+_tamäsha_ was about."
+
+"Oh, nothing especial," I called out. "Isaacs has killed an eleven foot
+man-eater in the night. That is all."
+
+"Well I'm damned," said Mr. Ghyrkins briefly, and to the point, as he
+stared from his tent at the great carcass, which lay stretched out for
+all to see, the elephant having departed.
+
+"Clear off those fellows and let me have a look at him, can't you?" he
+called out, gathering the tent curtains round his neck; and there he
+stood, his jolly red face and dishevelled gray hair looking as if they
+had no body attached at all.
+
+I went back to our quarters. Isaacs was putting the ears, which he had
+carefully cleansed from blood, into a silver box of beautiful
+workmanship, which Narain had extracted from his master's numerous
+traps.
+
+"Take that box to Miss Westonhaugh's tent," he said, giving it to the
+servant, "with a greeting from me--with 'much peace.'" The man went out.
+
+"She will send the box back," said I. "Such is the Englishwoman. She
+will take a pair of tiger's ears that nearly cost you your life, and she
+would rather die than accept the bit of silver in which you enclose
+them, without the 'permission of her uncle.'"
+
+"I do not care," he said, "so long as she keeps the ears. But unless I
+am much mistaken, she will keep the box too. She is not like other
+Englishwomen in the least."
+
+I was not sure of that. We had some tea in the door of our tent, and
+Isaacs seemed hungry and thirsty, as well he might be. Now that he was
+refreshed by bathing and the offices of the camp barber, he looked much
+as usual, save that the extreme paleness I had noticed when he came in
+had given place to a faint flush beneath the olive, probably due to his
+excitement, the danger being past. As we sat there, the rest of the
+party, who had slept rather later than usual after their fatigues of the
+previous day, came out one by one and stood around the dead tiger,
+wondering at the tale told by the delighted ryot, who squatted at the
+beast's head to relate the adventure to all comers. We could see the
+group from where we sat, in the shadow of the _connât_, and the
+different expressions of the men as they came out. The little collector
+of Pegnugger measured and measured again; Mr. Ghyrkins stood with his
+hands in his coat pockets and his legs apart, then going to the other
+side he took up the same position again. Lord Steepleton Kildare
+sauntered round and twirled his big moustache, saying nothing the while,
+but looking rather serious. John Westonhaugh, who seemed to be the
+artistic genius of the party, sent for a chair and made his servant hold
+an umbrella over him while he sketched the animal in his notebook, and
+presently his sister came out, a big bunch of roses in her belt, and a
+broad hat half hiding her face, and looked at the tiger and then round
+the party quickly, searching for Isaacs. In her hand she held a little
+package wrapped in white tissue paper. I strolled up to the group,
+leaving Isaacs in his tent. I thought I might as well play innocence.
+
+"Of course," I remarked, "those fellows have bagged his ears as usual."
+
+"They never omit that," said Ghyrkins.
+
+"Oh no, uncle," broke in Miss Westonhaugh, "he gave them to me!"
+
+"Who?" asked Ghyrkins, opening his little eyes wide.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs. Did not he kill the tiger? He sent me the ears in a little
+silver box. Here it is--the box, I mean. I am going to give it back to
+him, of course."
+
+"How did Mr. Isaacs know you wanted them?" asked her uncle, getting red
+in the face.
+
+"Why, we were talking about them last night before dinner, and he
+promised that if he shot a tiger to-day he would give me the ears." Mr.
+Ghyrkins was redder and redder in the morning sun. There was a storm of
+some kind brewing. We were collected together on the other side of the
+dead tiger and exchanged all kinds of spontaneous civilities and
+remarks, not wishing to witness Mr. Ghyrkins' wrath, nor to go away too
+suddenly. I heard the conversation, however, for the old gentleman made
+no pretence of lowering his voice.
+
+"And do you mean to say you let him go off like that? He must have been
+out all night. That beast of a nigger says so. On foot, too. I say on
+foot! Do you know what you are talking about? Eh? Shooting tigers on
+foot? What? Eh? Might have been killed as easily as not! And then what
+would you have said? Eh? What? Upon my soul! You girls from home have no
+more hearts than a parcel of old Juggernauts!" Ghyrkins was now furious.
+We edged away towards the dining-tent, making a great talk about the
+terrible heat of the sun in the morning. I caught the beginning of Miss
+Westonhaugh's answer. She had hardly appreciated the situation yet, and
+probably thought her uncle was joking, but she spoke very coldly, being
+properly annoyed at his talking in such a way.
+
+"You cannot suppose for a moment that I meant him to go," I heard her
+say, and something else followed in a lower tone. We then went into the
+dining-tent.
+
+"Now look here, Katharine," Mr. Ghyrkins' irate voice rang across the
+open space, "if any young woman asked me----" John Westonhaugh had risen
+from his chair and apparently interrupted his uncle. Miss Westonhaugh
+walked slowly to her tent, while her male relations remained talking. I
+thought Isaacs had shown some foresight in not taking part in the
+morning discussion. The two men went into their tents together and the
+dead tiger lay alone in the grass, the sun rising higher and higher,
+pouring down his burning rays on man and beast and green thing. And soon
+the shikarries came with a small elephant and dragged the carcass away
+to be skinned and cut up. Kildare and the collector said they would go
+and shoot some small game for dinner. Isaacs, I supposed, was sleeping,
+and I was alone in the dining-tent. I shouted for Kiramat Ali and sent
+for books, paper, and pens, and a hookah, resolved to have a quiet
+morning to myself, since it was clear we were not going out to-day. I
+saw Ghyrkins' servant enter his tent with bottles and ice, and I
+suspected the old fellow was going to cool his wrath with a "peg," and
+would be asleep most of the morning. John would take a peg too, but he
+would not sleep in consequence, being of Bombay, iron-headed and
+spirit-proof. So I read on and wrote, and was happy, for I like the heat
+of the noon-day and the buzzing of the flies, and the smell of the
+parched grass, being southern born.
+
+About twelve o'clock, when I was beginning to think I had done enough
+work for one day, I saw Miss Westonhaugh's native maid come out of her
+mistress's tent and survey the landscape, shading her eyes with her
+hand. She was dressed, of course, in spotless white drapery, and there
+were heavy anklets on her feet and bangles of silver on her wrist. She
+seemed satisfied by her inspection and went in again, returning
+presently with Miss Westonhaugh and a large package of work and novels
+and letter-writing materials. They came straight to where I was sitting
+under the airy tent where we dined, and Miss Westonhaugh established
+herself at one side of the table at the end of which I was writing.
+
+"It is so hot in my tent," she said almost apologetically, and began to
+unroll some worsted work.
+
+"Yes, it is quite unbearable," I answered politely, though I had not
+thought much about the temperature. There was a long silence, and I
+collected my papers in a bundle and leaned back in my chair. I did not
+know what to say, nor was anything expected of me. I looked occasionally
+at the young girl, who had laid her hat on the table, allowing the rich
+coils of dazzling hair to assert their independence. Her dark eyes were
+bent over her work as her fingers deftly pushed the needle in and out of
+the brown linen she worked on.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," she began at last without looking up, "did you know Mr.
+Isaacs was going out last night to kill that horrid thing?" I had
+expected the question for some time.
+
+"Yes; he told me about midnight, when he started."
+
+"Then why did you let him go?" she asked, looking suddenly at me, and
+knitting her dark eyebrows rather fiercely.
+
+"I do not think I could have prevented him. I do not think anybody could
+prevent him from doing anything he had made up his mind to. I nearly
+quarrelled with him, as it was."
+
+"I am sure I could have stopped him, if I had been you," she said
+innocently.
+
+"I have not the least doubt that you could. Unfortunately, however, you
+were not available at the time, or I would have suggested it to you."
+
+"I wish I had known," she went on, plunging deeper and deeper. "I would
+not have had him go for--for anything."
+
+"Oh! Well, I suppose not. But, seriously, Miss Westonhaugh, are you not
+flattered that a man should be willing and ready to risk life and limb
+in satisfying your lightest fancy?"
+
+"Flattered?" she looked at me with much astonishment and some anger. I
+was sure the look was genuine and not assumed.
+
+"At all events the tiger's ears will always be a charming reminiscence,
+a token of esteem that any one might be proud of."
+
+"I am not proud of them in the least, though I shall always keep them as
+a warning not to wish for such things. I hope that the next time Mr.
+Isaacs is going to do a foolish thing you will have the common sense to
+prevent him." She returned to her starting-point; but I saw no use in
+prolonging the skirmish, and turned the talk upon other things. And soon
+John Westonhaugh joined us, and found in me a sympathetic talker and
+listener, as we both cared a great deal more for books than for tigers,
+though not averse to a stray shot now and then.
+
+In this kind of life the week passed, shooting to-day and staying in
+camp to-morrow. We shifted our ground several times, working along the
+borders of the forest and crashing through the jungle after tiger with
+varying success. In the evenings, when not tired with the day's work, we
+sat together, and Isaacs sang, and at last even prevailed upon Miss
+Westonhaugh to let him accompany her with his guitar, in which he proved
+very successful. They were constantly together, and Ghyrkins was heard
+to say that Isaacs was "a very fine fellow, and it was a pity he wasn't
+English," to which Kildare assented somewhat mournfully, allowing that
+it was quite true. His chance was gone, and he knew it, and bore it like
+a gentleman, though he still made use of every opportunity he had to
+make himself acceptable to Miss Westonhaugh. The girl liked his manly
+ways, and was always grateful for any little attention from him that
+attracted her notice, but it was evident that all her interest ceased
+there. She liked him in the same way she liked her brother, but rather
+less, if anything. She hardly knew, for she had seen so little of John
+since she was a small child. I suppose Isaacs must have talked to her
+about me, for she treated me with a certain consideration, and often
+referred questions to me, on which I thought she might as well have
+consulted some one else. For my part, I served the lovers in every way I
+could think of. I would have done anything for Isaacs then as now, and I
+liked her for the honest good feeling she had shown about him,
+especially in the matter of the tiger's ears, for which she could not
+forgive herself--though in truth she had been innocent enough. And they
+were really lovers, those two. Any one might have seen it, and but for
+the wondrous fascination Isaacs exercised over every one who came near
+him, and the circumstances of his spotless name and reputation for
+integrity in the large transactions in which he was frequently known to
+be engaged, it is certain that Mr. Ghyrkins would have looked askance at
+the whole affair, and very likely would have broken up the party.
+
+In the course of time we became a little _blasé_ about tigers, till on
+the eighth day from the beginning of the hunt, which was a Thursday, I
+remember, an incident occurred which left a lasting impression on the
+mind of every one who witnessed it. It was a very hot morning, the
+hottest day we had had, and we had just crossed a _nullah_ in the
+forest, full from the recent rains, wherein the elephants lingered
+lovingly to splash the water over their heated sides, drowning the
+swarms of mosquitoes from which they suffer such torments, in spite of
+their thick skins. The collector called a halt on the opposite side; our
+line of march had become somewhat disordered by the passage, and
+numerous tracks in the pasty black mud showed that the _nullah_ was a
+favourite resort of tigers--though at this time of day they might be a
+long distance off. I had come next to the collector after we emerged
+from the stream, the pad elephants having lingered longer in the water,
+and Mr. Ghyrkins with Miss Westonhaugh was three or four places beyond
+me. It was shady and cool under the thick trees, and the light was not
+good. The collector bent over his howdah, looking at some tracks.
+
+"Those tracks look suspiciously fresh, Mr. Griggs," said the collector,
+scrutinising the holes, not yet filled by the oozing back water of the
+_nullah_. "Don't you think so?"
+
+"Indeed, yes. I do not understand it at all," I replied. At the
+collector's call a couple of beaters came forward and stooped down to
+examine the trail. One of them, a good-looking young _gowala_, or
+cowherd, followed along the footprints, examining each to be sure he was
+not going on a false spoor; he moved slowly, scrutinising each hole, as
+the traces grew shallower on the rising ground, approaching a bit of
+small jungle. My sight followed the probable course of the track ahead
+of him and something caught my eyes, which are remarkably good, even at
+a great distance. The object was brown and hairy; a dark brown, not the
+kind of colour one expects to see in the jungle in September. I looked
+closely, and was satisfied that it must be part of an animal; still more
+clearly I saw it, and no doubt remained in my mind; it was the head of a
+bullock or a heifer. I shouted to the man to be careful, to stop and let
+the elephants plough through the undergrowth, as only elephants can. But
+he did not understand my Hindustani, which was of the civilised _Urdu_
+kind learnt in the North-West Provinces. The man went quickly along, and
+I tried to make the collector comprehend what I saw. But the pad
+elephants were coming out of the water and forcing themselves between
+our beasts, and he hardly caught what I said in the confusion. The track
+led away to my left, nearly opposite to the elephant bearing Mr.
+Ghyrkins and his niece. The little Pegnugger man was on my right. The
+native held on, moving more and more rapidly as he found himself
+following a single track. I shouted to him--to Ghyrkins--to everybody,
+but they could not make the doomed man understand what I saw--the
+freshly slain head of the tiger's last victim. There was little doubt
+that the king himself was near by--probably in that suspicious-looking
+bit of green jungle, slimy green too, as green is, that grows in sticky
+chocolate-coloured mud. The young fellow was courageous, and ignorant of
+the immediate danger, and, above all, he was on the look out for
+bucksheesh. He reached the reeds and unclean vegetables that grew thick
+and foul together in the little patch. He put one foot into the bush.
+
+A great fiery yellow and black head rose cautiously above the level of
+the green and paused a moment, glaring. The wretched man, transfixed
+with terror, stood stock still, expecting death. Then he moved, as if to
+throw himself on one side, and at the same instant the tiger made a dash
+at his naked body, such a dash as a great relentless cat makes at a
+gold-fish trying to slide away from its grip. The tiger struck the man a
+heavy blow on the right shoulder, felling him like a log, and coming
+down to a standing position over his prey, with one paw on the native's
+right arm. Probably the parade of elephants and bright coloured howdahs,
+and the shouts of the beaters and shikarries, distracted his attention
+for a moment. He stood whirling his tail to right and left, with half
+dropped jaw and flaming eyes, half pressing, half grabbing the fleshy
+arm of the senseless man beneath him--impatient, alarmed, and horrible.
+
+"Pack!!! Pi-i-i-i-ing ..." went the crack and the sing of the merry
+rifle, and the scene changed.
+
+With a yell like a soul in everlasting torment the great beast whirled
+himself into the air ten feet at least, and fell dead beside his victim,
+shot through breast and breastbone and heart. A dead silence fell on the
+spectators. Then I looked, and saw Miss Westonhaugh holding out a second
+gun to Mr. Ghyrkins, while he, seeing that the first had done its work,
+leaned forward, his broad face pale with the extremity of his horror for
+the man's danger, and his hands gripping at the empty rifle.
+
+"You've done it this time," cried the collector from the right. "Take
+six to four the man's dead!"
+
+"Done," called Kildare from the other end. I was the nearest to the
+scene, after Ghyrkins. I dropped over the edge of the howdah and made
+for the spot, running. I think I reflected as I ran that it was rather
+low for men to bet on the poor fellow's life in that way. Tigers are
+often very deceptive and always die hard, and I am a cautious person, so
+when I was near I pulled out my long army six-shooter, and, going
+within arm's length, quietly put a bullet through the beast's eye as a
+matter of safety. When he was cut up, however, the ball from the rifle
+of Mr. Ghyrkins was found in his heart; the old fellow was a dead shot
+still. I went up and examined the prostrate man. He was lying on his
+face, and so I picked him up and propped his head against the dead
+tiger. He was still breathing, but a very little examination proved that
+his right collar-bone and the bone of his upper arm were broken. A
+little brandy revived him, and he immediately began to scream with pain.
+I was soon joined by the collector, who with characteristic promptitude
+had torn and hewed some broad slats of bamboo from his howdah, and with
+a little pulling and wrenching, and the help of my long, tough
+turban-cloth, a real native pugree, we set and bound the arm as best we
+could, giving the poor fellow brandy all the while. The collar-bone we
+left to its own devices; an injury there takes care of itself.
+
+An elephant came up and received the dead tiger, and the man was carried
+off and placed in my howdah. The other animals with their riders had
+gathered near the scene, and every one had something to say to Ghyrkins,
+who by his brilliant shot and the life he had saved, had maintained his
+reputation, and come off the hero of the whole campaign. Miss
+Westonhaugh was speechless with horror at the whole thing, and seemed to
+cling to her uncle, as if fearing something of the same kind might
+happen to her at any moment. Isaacs, as usual the last on the line of
+beating, came up and called out his congratulations.
+
+"After saving a life so well, Mr. Ghyrkins, you will not grudge me the
+poor honour of risking one, will you?"
+
+"Not I, my boy!" answered the delighted old sportsman, "only if that
+mangy old man-eater had got you down the other day, I should not have
+been there to pot him!"
+
+"Great shot, sir! I envy you," said Kildare.
+
+"Splendid shot. A hundred yards at least," said John Westonhaugh
+meditatively, but in a loud voice.
+
+So we swung away toward the camp, though it was early. Ghyrkins
+chuckled, and the man with the broken bones groaned. But between the
+different members of the party he would be a rich man before he was
+well. I amused myself with my favourite sport of potting peacocks with
+bullets; it is very good practice. Isaacs had told me that morning when
+we started that he would leave us the next day to meet Shere Ali near
+Keitung. We reached camp about three o'clock, in the heat of the
+afternoon. The injured beater was put in a servant's tent to be sent off
+to Pegnugger in a litter in the cool of the night. There was a doctor
+there who would take care of him under the collector's written orders.
+
+The camp was in a shady place, quite unlike the spot where we had first
+pitched our tents. There was a little grove of mango-trees, rather
+stunted, as they are in the north, and away at one corner of the
+plantation was a well with a small temple where a Brahmin, related to
+all the best families in the neighbouring village, dwelt and collected
+the gifts bestowed on him and his simple shrine by the superstitious,
+devout, or worldly pilgrims who yearly and monthly visited him in search
+of counsel, spiritual or social. The men had mowed the grass smooth
+under the trees, and the shade was not so close as to make it damp. Some
+ryots had been called in to dig a ditch and raised a rough _chapudra_ or
+terrace, some fifteen feet in diameter, opposite the dining-tent, on
+which elevation we could sit, even late at night, in reasonable security
+from cobras and other evil beasts. It was a pleasant place in the
+afternoon, and pleasanter still at night. As I turned into our tent
+after we got back, I thought I would go and sit there when I had bathed,
+and send for a hookah and a novel, and go to sleep.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+I observed that Isaacs was very quick about his toilet, and when I came
+out and ascended the terrace, followed by Kiramat Ali with books and
+tobacco, I glanced lazily over the quiet scene, settling myself in my
+chair, and fully expecting to see my friend somewhere among the trees,
+not unaccompanied by some one else. I was not mistaken. Turning my eyes
+towards the corner of the grove where the old Brahmin had his shrine, I
+saw the two well-known figures of Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh sauntering
+towards the well. Having satisfied the expectations of my curiosity, I
+turned over the volume of philosophy, well thumbed and hard used as a
+priest's breviary, and I inhaled long draughts of tobacco, debating
+whether I should read, or meditate, or dream. Deciding in favour of the
+more mechanical form of intellectuality, I fixed on a page that looked
+inviting, and followed the lines, from left to right, lazily at first,
+then with increased interest, and finally in that absorbed effort of
+continued comprehension which constitutes real study. Page after page,
+syllogism after syllogism, conclusion after conclusion, I followed for
+the hundredth time in the book I love well--the book of him that would
+destroy the religion I believe, but whose brilliant failure is one of
+the grandest efforts of the purely human mind. I finished a chapter and,
+in thought still, but conscious again of life, I looked up. They were
+still down there by the well, those two, but while I looked the old
+priest, bent and white, came out of the little temple where he had been
+sprinkling his image of Vishnu, and dropped his aged limbs from one step
+to the other painfully, steadying his uncertain descent with a stick. He
+went to the beautiful couple seated on the edge of the well, built of
+mud and sun-dried bricks, and he seemed to speak to Isaacs, I watched,
+and became interested in the question whether Isaacs would give him a
+two-anna bit or a copper, and whether I could distinguish with the naked
+eye at that distance between the silver and the baser metal. Curious,
+thought I, how odd little trifles will absorb the attention. The
+interview which was to lead to the expected act of charity seemed to be
+lasting a long time.
+
+Suddenly Isaacs turned and called to me; his high, distinct tones
+seeming to gather volume from the hollow of the well. He was calling me
+to join them. I rose, rather reluctantly, from my books and moved
+through the trees to where they were.
+
+"Griggs," Isaacs called out before I had reached him, "here is an old
+fellow who knows something. I really believe he is something of a yogi."
+
+"What ridiculous nonsense," I said impatiently, "who ever heard of a
+yogi living in a temple and feeding on the fat of the land in the way
+all these men do? Is that all you wanted?" Miss Westonhaugh, peering
+down into the depths of the well, laughed gaily.
+
+"I told you so! Never try to make Mr. Griggs swallow that kind of thing.
+Besides, he is a 'cynic' you know."
+
+"As far as personal appearance goes, Miss Westonhaugh, I think your
+friend the Brahmin there stands more chance of being taken for a
+philosopher of that school. He really does not look particularly well
+fed, in spite of the riches I thought he possessed." He was a
+strange-looking old man, with a white beard and a small badly-rolled
+pugree. His black eyes were filmy and disagreeable to look at. I
+addressed him in Hindustani, and told him what Isaacs said, that he
+thought he was a yogi. The old fellow did not look at me, nor did the
+bleared eyes give any sign of intelligence. Nevertheless he answered my
+question.
+
+"Of what avail that I do wonders for you who believe not?" he asked, and
+his voice sounded cracked and far off.
+
+"It will avail thee several coins, friend," I answered, "both rupees and
+pais. Reflect that there may be bucksheesh in store for thee, and do a
+miracle."
+
+"I will not do wonders for bucksheesh," said the priest, and began to
+hobble away. Isaacs stepped lightly to his side and whispered something
+in his ear. The ancient Brahmin turned.
+
+"Then I will do a wonder for you, but I want no bucksheesh. I will do it
+for the lady with white hair, whose face resembles Chunder." He looked
+long and fixedly at Miss Westonhaugh. "Let the _sáhib log_ come with me
+a stone's throw from the well, and let one sáhib call his servant and
+bid him draw water that he may wash his hands. And I will do this
+wonder; the man shall not draw any water, though he had the strength of
+Siva, until I say the word." So we moved away under the trees, and I
+shouted for Kiramat Ali, who came running down, and I told him to send a
+_bhisti_, a water-carrier, with his leathern bucket. Then we waited.
+Presently the man came, with bucket and rope.
+
+"Draw water, that I may wash my hands," said I.
+
+"Achhá, sáhib," and he strode to the well and lowered his pail by the
+rope. The priest looked intently at him as he shook the rope to turn the
+bucket over and let it fill; then he began to pull. The bucket seemed to
+be caught. He jerked, and then bent his whole weight back, drawing the
+rope across the edge of the brickwork. The thing was immovable. He
+seemed astonished and looked down into the well, thinking the pail was
+caught in a stone. I could not resist the temptation to go down and
+inspect the thing. No. The bucket was full and lying in the middle of
+the round sheet of water at the bottom of the well. The man tugged,
+while the Brahmin never took his eyes, now bright and fiery, off him. I
+went back to where they all stood. The thing had lasted five minutes.
+Then the priest's lips moved silently.
+
+Instantly the strain was released and the stout water-carrier fell
+headlong backwards on the grass, his heels in the air, jerking the
+bucket right over the edge of the well. He bounded to his feet and ran
+up the grove, shouting "Bhût, Bhût," "devils, devils," at the top of his
+voice. His obstinacy had lasted so long as the bucket would not move,
+but then his terror got the better of him and he fled.
+
+"Did you ever see anything of that kind before, Miss Westonhaugh?" I
+inquired.
+
+"No indeed; have you? How is it done?"
+
+"I have seen similar things done, but not often. There are not many of
+them that know how. But I cannot tell you the process any more than I
+can explain the mango trick, which belongs, distantly, to the same class
+of phenomena."
+
+The Brahmin, whose eyes were again dim and filmy, turned to Isaacs.
+
+"I have done a wonder for you. I will also tell you a saying. You have
+done wrong in not taking the advice of your friend. You should not have
+come forth to kill the king of game, nor have brought the white-haired
+lady into the tiger's jaws. I have spoken. Peace be with you." And he
+moved away.
+
+"And with you peace, friend," answered Isaacs mechanically, but as I
+looked at him he turned white to the very lips.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh did not understand the language, and Isaacs would have
+been the last person to translate such a speech as the Brahmin had made.
+We turned and strolled up the hill, and presently I bethought me of some
+errand, and left them together under the trees. They were so happy and
+so beautiful together, the fair lily from the English dale and the deep
+red rose of Persian Gulistán. The sun slanted low through the trees and
+sank in rose-coloured haze, and the moon, now just at the half, began to
+shine out softly through the mangoes, and still the lovers walked,
+pacing slowly to and fro near the well. No wonder they dallied long; it
+was their last evening together, and I doubted not that Isaacs was
+telling her of his sudden departure, necessary for reasons which I knew
+he would not explain to her or to any one else.
+
+At last we all assembled in the dining-tent. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was
+among the first, and his niece was the last to enter the room. He was
+glorious that evening, his kindly red face beamed on every one, and he
+carried himself like a victorious general at a ladies' tea-party. He had
+reason to be happy, and his jerky good spirits were needed to
+counterbalance the deep melancholy that seemed to have settled upon his
+niece. The colour was gone from her cheeks, and her dark eyes, heavily
+fringed by the black brows and lashes, shone out strangely; the contrast
+between the white flaxen hair, drawn back in simple massive waves like a
+Greek statue, and the broad level eyes as dark as night, was almost
+startling this evening in the singularity of its beauty. She sat like a
+queenly marble at the end of the table, not silent, by any means, but so
+evidently out of spirits that John Westonhaugh, who did not know that
+Isaacs was going in the morning, and would not have supposed that his
+sister could care so much, if he had known, remarked upon her
+depression.
+
+"What is the matter, Katharine?" he asked kindly. "Have you a headache
+this evening?" She was just then staring rather blankly into space.
+
+"Oh no," she said, trying to smile. "I was thinking."
+
+"Ah," said Mr. Ghyrkins merrily, "that is why you look so unlike
+yourself, my dear!" And he laughed at his rough little joke.
+
+"Do I?" asked the girl absently.
+
+But Ghyrkins was not to be repressed, and as Kildare and the Pegnugger
+man were gay and wide awake, the dinner was not as dull as might have
+been expected. When it was over, Isaacs announced his intention of
+leaving early the next morning. Very urgent business recalled him
+suddenly, he explained. A messenger had arrived just before dinner. He
+must leave without fail in the morning. Miss Westonbaugh of course was
+forewarned; but the others were not. Lord Steepleton Kildare, in the act
+of lighting a cheroot, dropped the vesuvian incontinently, and stood
+staring at Isaacs with an indescribable expression of empty wonder in
+his face, while the match sputtered and smouldered and died away in the
+grass by the door. John Westonhaugh, who liked Isaacs sincerely, and had
+probably contemplated the possibility of the latter marrying Katharine,
+looked sorry at first, and then a half angry expression crossed his
+face, which softened instantly again. Currie Ghyrkins swore loudly that
+it was out of the question--that it would break up the party--that he
+would not hear of it, and so on.
+
+"I must go," said Isaacs quietly. "It is a very serious matter. I am
+sorry--more sorry than I can tell you; but I must."
+
+"But you cannot, you know. Damn it, sir, you are the life of the party,
+you know! Come, come, this will never do!"
+
+"My dear sir," said Isaacs, addressing Ghyrkins, "if, when you were
+about to fire this morning to save that poor devil's life, I had begged
+you not to shoot, would you have complied?"
+
+"Why, of course not," ejaculated Ghyrkins angrily.
+
+"Well, neither can I comply, though I would give anything to stay with
+you all."
+
+"But nobody's life depends on your going away to-morrow morning. What do
+you mean? The deuce and all, you know, I don't understand you a bit."
+
+"I cannot tell you, Mr. Ghyrkins; but something depends on my going,
+which is of as great importance to the person concerned as life itself.
+Believe me," he said, going near to the old gentleman and laying a hand
+on his arm, "I do not go willingly."
+
+"Well, I hope not, I am sure," said Ghyrkins gruffly, though yielding.
+"If you will, you will, and there's no holding you; but we are all very
+sorry. That's all. Mahmoud! bring fire, you lazy pigling, that I may
+smoke." And he threw himself into a chair, the very creaking of the cane
+wicker expressing annoyance and dissatisfaction.
+
+So there was an end of it, and Isaacs strode off through the moonlight
+to his quarters, to make some arrangement, I supposed. But he did not
+come back. Miss Westonhaugh retired also to her tent, and no one was
+surprised to see her go. Kildare rose presently and asked if I would not
+stroll to the well, or anywhere, it was such a jolly night. I went with
+him, and arm in arm we walked slowly down. The young moon was bright
+among the mango-trees, striking the shining leaves, that reflected a
+strange greenish light. We moved leisurely, and spoke little. I
+understood Kildare's silence well enough, and I had nothing to say. The
+ground was smooth and even, for the men had cut the grass close, and the
+little humped cow that belonged to the old Brahmin cropped all she could
+get at.
+
+We skirted round the edge of the grove, intending to go back to the
+tents another way. Suddenly I saw something in front that arrested my
+attention. Two figures, some thirty yards away. They stood quite still,
+turned from us. A man and a woman between the trees, an opening in the
+leaves just letting a ray of moonlight slip through on them. His arm
+around her, the tall lissome figure of her bent, and her head resting on
+his shoulder. I have good eyes and was not mistaken, but I trusted
+Kildare had not seen. A quick twitch of his arm, hanging carelessly
+through mine, told me the mischief was done before I could turn his
+attention. By a common instinct we wheeled to the left, and passing into
+the open strolled back in the direction whence we had come. I did not
+look at Kildare, but after a minute he began to talk about the moonlight
+and tigers, and whether tigers were ever shot by moonlight, and
+altogether was rather incoherent; but I took up the question, and we
+talked bravely till we got back to the dining-tent, where we sat down
+again, secretly wishing we had not gone for a stroll after all. In a few
+minutes Isaacs came from his tent, which he must have entered from the
+other side. He was perfectly at his ease, and at once began talking
+about the disagreeable journey he had before him. Then, after a time, we
+broke up, and he said good-bye to every one in turn, and Ghyrkins told
+John to call his sister, if she were still visible, for "Mr. Isaacs
+wanted to say good-bye." So she came and took his hand, and made a
+simple speech about "meeting again before long," as she stood with her
+uncle; and my friend and I went away to our tent.
+
+We sat long in the _connât_. Isaacs did not seem to want rest, and I
+certainly did not. For the first half hour he was engaged in giving
+directions to the faithful Narain, who moved about noiselessly among the
+portmanteaus and gun-cases and boots which strewed the floor. At last
+all was settled for the start before dawn, and he turned to me.
+
+"We shall meet again in Simla, Griggs, of course?"
+
+"I hope so. Of course we shall, unless you are killed by those fellows
+at Keitung. I would not trust them."
+
+"I do not trust them in the least, but I have an all-powerful ally in
+Ram Lal. Did you not think it very singular that the Brahmin should know
+all about Ram Lal's warning? and that he should have the same opinion?"
+
+"We live in a country where nothing should astonish us, as I remember
+saying to you a fortnight ago, when we first met," I answered. "That the
+Brahmin possesses some knowledge of _yog-vidya_ is more clearly shown by
+his speech about Ram Lal than by that ridiculous trick with my
+water-carrier."
+
+"You are not easily astonished, Griggs. But I agree with you as to that.
+I am still at a loss to understand why I should not have come or let the
+others come. I was startled at the Brahmin."
+
+"I saw you were; you were as white as a sheet, and yet you turned up
+your nose at Ram Lal when he told you not to come."
+
+"The Brahmin said something more than Ram Lal. He said I should not have
+brought the white-haired lady into the tiger's jaws. I saw that the
+first warning had been on her account, and I suppose the impression of
+possible danger for her frightened me."
+
+"It would not have frightened you three weeks ago about any woman," I
+said. "It appears to me that your ideas in certain quarters have
+undergone some little change. You are as different from the Isaacs I
+knew at first as Philip drunk was different from Philip sober. Such is
+human nature--scoffing at women the one day, and risking life and soul
+for their whims the next."
+
+"I hate your reflections about the human kind, Griggs, and I do not like
+your way of looking at women. You hate women so!"
+
+"No. You like my descriptions of the 'ideal creatures I rave about' much
+better, it seems. Upon my soul, friend, if you want a criterion of
+yourself, take this conversation. A fortnight ago to-day--or to-morrow,
+will it be?--I was lecturing you about the way to regard women; begging
+you to consider that they had souls and were capable of loving, as well
+as of being loved. And here you are accusing me of hating the whole sex,
+and without the slightest provocation on my part, either. Here is Birnam
+wood coming to Dunsinane with a vengeance!"
+
+"Oh, I don't deny it. I don't pretend to argue about it. I have changed
+a good deal in the last month." He pensively crossed one leg over the
+other as he lay back on the long chair and pulled at his slipper. "I
+suppose I have--changed a good deal."
+
+"No wonder. I presume your views of immortality, the future state of the
+fair sex, and the application of transcendental analysis to matrimony,
+all changed about the same time?"
+
+"Don't be unreasonable," he answered. "It all dates from that evening
+when I had that singular fit and the vision I related to you. I have
+never been the same man since; and I am glad of it. I now believe women
+to be much more adorable than you painted them, and not half enough
+adored." Suddenly he dropped the extremely English manner which he
+generally affected in the idiom and construction of his speech, and
+dropped back into something more like his own language. "The star that
+was over my life is over it no longer. I have no life-star any longer.
+The jewel of the southern sky withdraws his light, paling before the
+white gold from the northern land. The gold that shall be mine through
+all the cycles of the sun, the gold that neither man nor monarch shall
+take from me. What have I to do with stars in heaven? Is not my star
+come down to earth to abide with me through life? And when life is over
+and the scroll is full, shall not my star bear me hence, beyond the
+fiery foot-bridge, beyond the paradise of my people and its senseless
+sensuality of houris and strong wine? Beyond the very memory of limited
+and bounded life, to that life eternal where there is neither limit, nor
+bound, nor sorrow? Shall our two souls not unite and be one soul to roam
+through the countless circles of revolving outer space? Not through
+years, or for times, or for ages--but for ever? The light of life is
+woman, the love of life is the love of woman; the light that pales not,
+the life that cannot die, the love that can know not any ending; _my_
+light, _my_ life, and _my_ love!" His whole soul was in his voice, and
+his whole heart; the twining white fingers, the half-closed eyes, and
+the passionate quivering tone, told all he had left unsaid. It was
+surely a high and a noble thing that he felt, worthy of the man in his
+beauty of mind and body. He loved an ideal, revealed to him, as he
+thought, in the shape of the fair English girl; he worshipped his ideal
+through her, without a thought that he could be mistaken. Happy man!
+Perhaps he had a better chance of going through life without any cruel
+revelation of his mistake than falls to the lot of most lovers, for she
+was surpassingly beautiful, and most good and true hearted. But are not
+people always mistaken who think to find the perfect comprehended in the
+imperfect, the infinite enchained and made tangible in the finite? Bah!
+The same old story, the same old vicious circle, the everlastingly
+recurring mathematical view of things that cannot be treated
+mathematically; the fruitless attempt to measure the harmonious circle
+of the soul by the angular square of the book. What poor things our
+minds are, after all. We have but one way of thinking derived from what
+we know, and we incontinently apply it to things of which we can know
+nothing, and then we quarrel with the result, which is a mere _reductio
+ad absurdum_, showing how utterly false and meagre are our hypotheses,
+premisses, and so-called axioms. Confucius, who began his system with
+the startling axiom that "man is good," arrived at much more really
+serviceable conclusions than Schopenhauer and all the pessimists put
+together. Meanwhile, Isaacs was in love, and, I supposed, expected me to
+say something appreciative.
+
+"My dear friend," I began, "it is a rare pleasure to hear any one talk
+like that; it refreshes a man's belief in human nature, and enthusiasm,
+and all kinds of things. I talked like that some time ago because you
+would not. I think you are a most satisfactory convert."
+
+"I am indeed a convert. I would not have believed it possible, and now I
+cannot believe that I ever thought differently. I suppose it is the way
+with all converts--in religion as well--and with all people who are
+taken up by a fair-winged genius from an arid desert and set down in a
+garden of roses." He could not long confine himself to ordinary
+language. "And yet the hot sand of the desert, and the cool of the
+night, and the occasional patch of miserable, languishing green, with
+the little kindly spring in the camel-trodden oasis, seemed all so
+delightful in the past life that one was quite content, never suspecting
+the existence of better things. But now--I could almost laugh to think
+of it. I stand in the midst of the garden that is filled with all things
+fair, and the tree of life is beside me, blossoming straight and broad
+with the flowers that wither not, and the fruit that is good to the
+parched lips and the thirsty spirit. And the garden is for us to dwell
+in now, and the eternity of the heavenly spheres is ours hereafter." He
+was all on fire again. I kept silence for some time; and his hands
+unfolded, and he raised them and clasped them under his head, and drew a
+deep long breath, as if to taste the new life that was in him.
+
+"Forgive my bringing you down to earth again," I said after a while,
+"but have you made all necessary arrangements? Is there anything I can
+do, after you are gone? Anything to be said to these good people, if
+they question me about your sudden departure?"
+
+"Yes. I was forgetting. If you will be so kind, I wish you would see the
+expedition out, and take charge of the expenses. There are some bags of
+rupees somewhere among my traps. Narain knows. I shall not take him with
+me--or, no; on second thoughts I will hand you over the money, and take
+him to Simla. Then, about the other thing. Do not tell any one where I
+have gone, unless it be Miss Westonhaugh, and use your own discretion
+about her. We shall all be in Simla in ten days, and I do not want this
+thing known, as you may imagine. I do not think there is anything else,
+thanks." He paused, as if thinking. "Yes, there is one more
+consideration. If anything out of the way should occur in this
+transaction with Baithopoor, I should want your assistance, if you will
+give it. Would you mind?"
+
+"Of course not. Anything----"
+
+"In that case, if Ram Lal thinks you are wanted, he will send a swift
+messenger to you with a letter signed by me, in the Persian
+_shikast_--which you read.--Will you come by the way he will direct you,
+if I send? He will answer for your safety."
+
+"I will come," I said, though I thought it was rather rash of me, who am
+a cautious man, to trust my life in the hands of a shadowy person like
+Ram Lal, who seemed to come and go in strange ways, and was in
+communication with suspicious old Brahmin jugglers. But I trusted Isaacs
+better than his adept friend.
+
+"I suppose," I said, vaguely hoping there might yet be a possibility of
+detaining him, "that there is no way of doing this business so that you
+could remain here."
+
+"No, friend Griggs. If there were any other way, I would not go now. I
+would not go to-day, of all days in the year--of all days in my life.
+There is no other way, by the grave of my father, on whom be the peace
+of Allah." So we went to bed.
+
+At four o'clock Narain waked us, and in twenty minutes Isaacs was on
+horseback. I had ordered a _tat_ to be in readiness for me, thinking I
+would ride with him an hour or two in the cool of the morning. So we
+passed along by the quiet tents, Narain disappearing in the manner
+peculiar to Hindoo servants, to be found at the end of the day's march,
+smiling as ever. The young moon had set some time before, but the stars
+were bright, though it was dark under the trees.
+
+Twenty yards beyond the last tent, a dark figure swept suddenly out from
+the blackness and laid a hand on Isaacs' rein. He halted and bent over,
+and I heard some whispering. It only lasted a moment, and the figure
+shot away again. I was sure I heard something like a kiss, in the gloom,
+and there was a most undeniable smell of roses in the air. I held my
+peace, though I was astonished. I could not have believed her capable of
+it. Lying in wait in the dusk of the morning to give her lover a kiss
+and a rose and a parting word. She must have taken me for his servant in
+the dark.
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs as we parted some six or seven miles farther
+on,--"an odd thing happened this morning. I have left something more in
+your keeping than money."
+
+"I know. Trust me. Good-bye," and he cantered off.
+
+I confess I was very dejected and low-spirited when I came back into
+camp. My acquaintance with Isaacs, so suddenly grown into intimacy, had
+become a part of my life. I felt a sort of devotion to him that I had
+never felt for any man in my life before. I would rather have gone with
+him to Keitung, for a presentiment told me there was trouble in the
+wind. He had not talked to me about the Baithopoor intrigue, for
+everything was as much settled beforehand as it was possible to settle
+anything. There was nothing to be said, for all that was to come was
+action; but I knew Isaacs distrusted the maharajah, and that without Ram
+Lal's assistance--of whatever nature that might prove to be--he would
+not have ventured to go alone to such a tryst.
+
+When I returned the camp was all alive, for it was nearly seven o'clock.
+Kildare and the collector, my servant said, had gone off on _tats_ to
+shoot some small game. Mr. Ghyrkins was occupied with the shikarries in
+the stretching and dressing of the skin he had won the previous day.
+Neither Miss Westonhaugh nor her brother had been seen. So I dressed and
+rested myself and had some tea, and sat wondering what the camp would be
+like without Isaacs, who, to me and to one other person, was
+emphatically, as Ghyrkins had said the night before, the life of the
+party. The weather was not so warm as on the previous day, and I was
+debating whether I should not try and induce the younger men to go and
+stick a pig--the shikarry said there were plenty in some place he knew
+of--or whether I should settle myself in the dining-tent for a long day
+with my books, when the arrival of a mounted messenger with some letters
+from the distant post-office decided me in favour of the more peaceful
+disposition of my time. So I glanced at the papers, and assured myself
+that the English were going deeper and deeper into the mire of
+difficulties and reckless expenditure that characterised their campaign
+in Afghanistan in the autumn of 1879; and when I had assured myself,
+furthermore, by the perusal of a request for the remittance of twenty
+pounds, that my nephew, the only relation, male or female, that I have
+in the world, had not come to the untimely death he so richly deserved,
+I fell to considering what book I should read. And from one thing to
+another, I found myself established about ten o'clock at the table in
+the dining-tent, with Miss Westonhaugh at one side, worsted work,
+writing materials and all, just as she had been at the same table a week
+or so before. At her request I had continued my writing when she came
+in. I was finishing off a column of a bloodthirsty article for the
+_Howler_; it probably would come near enough to the mark, for in India
+you may print a leader anywhere within a month of its being written, and
+if it was hot enough to begin with, it will still answer the purpose.
+Journalism is not so rapid in its requirements as in New York, but, on
+the other hand, it is more lucrative.
+
+"Mr. Griggs, are you _very_ busy?"
+
+"Oh dear, no--nothing to speak of," I went on writing--the
+unprecedented--folly--the--blatant--charlatanism----
+
+"Mr. Griggs, do you understand these things?"
+
+----Lord Beaconsfield's--"I think so, Miss Westonhaugh"--Afghan
+policy----There, I thought,
+
+I think that would rouse Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, if he ever saw it, which I
+trust he never will. I had done, and I folded the numbered sheets in an
+oblong bundle.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Miss Westonhaugh; I was just finishing a sentence. I
+am quite at your service."
+
+"Oh no! I see you are too busy."
+
+"Not in the least, I assure you. Is it that tangled skein? Let me help
+you."
+
+"Oh thank you. It is so tiresome, and I am not in the least inclined to
+be industrious."
+
+I took the wool and set to work. It was very easy, after all; I pulled
+the loops through, and back again and through from the other side, and I
+found the ends, and began to wind it up on a piece of paper. It is
+singular, though, how the unaided wool can tie itself into every kind of
+a knot--reef, carrick bend, bowline, bowline in a bight, not to mention
+a variety of hitches and indescribable perversions of entanglement. I
+was getting on very well, though. I looked up at her face, pale and
+weary with a sleepless night, but beautiful--ah yes--beautiful beyond
+compare. She smiled faintly.
+
+"You are very clever with your fingers. Where did you learn it? Have you
+a sister who makes you wind her wool for her at home?"
+
+"No. I have no sister. I went to sea once upon a time."
+
+"Were you ever in the navy, Mr. Griggs?"
+
+"Oh no. I went before the mast."
+
+"But you would not learn to unravel wool before the mast. I suppose your
+mother taught you when you were small--if you ever were small."
+
+"I never had a mother that I can remember--I learned to do all those
+things at sea."
+
+"Forgive me," she said, guessing she had struck some tender chord in my
+existence. "What an odd life you must have had."
+
+"Perhaps. I never had any relations that I can remember, except a
+brother, much older than I. He died years ago, and his son is my only
+living relation. I was born in Italy."
+
+"But when did you learn so many things? You seem to know every language
+under the sun."
+
+"I had a good education when I got ashore. Some one was very kind to me,
+and I had learned Latin and Greek in the common school in Rome before I
+ran away to sea."
+
+I answered her questions reluctantly. I did not want to talk about my
+history, especially to a girl like her. I suppose she saw my
+disinclination, for as I handed her the card with the wool neatly wound
+on it, she thanked me and presently changed the subject, or at least
+shifted the ground.
+
+"There is something so free about the life of an adventurer--I mean a
+man who wanders about doing brave things. If I were a man I would be an
+adventurer like you."
+
+"Not half so much of an adventurer, as you call it, as our friend who
+went off this morning."
+
+It was the first mention of Isaacs since his departure. I had said the
+thing inadvertently, for I would not have done anything to increase her
+trouble for the world. She leaned back, dropping her hands with her work
+in her lap, and stared straight out through the doorway, as pale as
+death--pale as only fair-skinned people are when they are ill, or hurt.
+She sat quite still. I wondered if she were ill, or if it were only
+Isaacs' going that had wrought this change in her brilliant looks.
+"Would you like me to read something to you, Miss Westonhaugh? Here is a
+comparatively new book--_The Light of Asia_, by Mr. Edwin Arnold. It is
+a poem about India. Would it give you any pleasure?" She guessed the
+kind intention, and a little shadow of a smile passed over her lips.
+
+"You are so kind, Mr. Griggs. Please, you are so very kind."
+
+I began to read, and read on and on through the exquisite rise and fall
+of the stanzas, through the beautiful clear high thoughts which seem to
+come as a breath and a breeze from an unattainable heaven, from the
+Nirvana we all hope for in our inmost hearts, whatever our confession of
+faith. And the poor girl was soothed, and touched and lulled by the
+music of thought and the sigh of verse that is in the poem; and the
+morning passed. I suppose the quiet and the poetry wrought up in her the
+feeling of confidence she felt in me, as being her lover's friend, for
+after I had paused a minute or two, seeing some one coming toward the
+tent, she said quite simply--
+
+"Where is he gone?"
+
+"He is gone to do a very noble deed. He is gone to save the life of a
+man he never saw." A bright light came into her face, and all the
+chilled heart's blood, driven from her cheeks by the weariness of her
+first parting, rushed joyously back, and for one moment there dwelt on
+her features the glory and bloom of the love and happiness that had been
+hers all day yesterday, that would be hers again--when? Poor Miss
+Westonhaugh, it seemed so long to wait.
+
+The day passed somehow, but the dinner was dismal. Miss Westonhaugh was
+evidently far from well, and I could not conceive that the pain of a
+temporary parting should make so sudden a change in one so perfectly
+strong and healthy--even were her nature ever so sensitive. Kildare and
+the Pegnugger magistrate tried to keep up the spirits of the party, but
+John Westonhaugh was anxious about his sister, and even old Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins was beginning to fancy there must be something wrong. We sat
+smoking outside, and the young girl refused to leave us, though John
+begged her to. As we sat, it may have been half an hour after dinner, a
+messenger came galloping up in hot haste, and leaping to the ground
+asked for "Gurregis Sahib," with the usual native pronunciation of my
+euphonious name. Being informed, he salaamed low and handed me a letter,
+which I took to the light. It was in _shikast_ Persian, and signed
+"Abdul Hafiz-ben-Isâk." "Ram Lal," he said, "has met me unexpectedly,
+and sends you this by his own means, which are swift as the flight of
+the eagle. It is indispensable that you meet us below Keitung, towards
+Sultanpoor, on the afternoon of the day when the moon is full. Travel by
+Julinder and Sultanpoor; you will easily overtake me, since I go by
+Simla. For friendship's sake, for love's sake, come. It is life and
+death. Give the money to the Irishman. Peace be with you."
+
+I sighed a sigh of the most undetermined description. Was I glad to
+rejoin my friend? or was I pained to leave the woman he loved in her
+present condition? I hardly knew.
+
+"I think we had all better go back to Simla," said John, when I
+explained that the most urgent business called me away at dawn.
+
+"There will be none of us left soon," said Ghyrkins quite quietly and
+mournfully.
+
+I found means to let Miss Westonhaugh understand where I was going. I
+gave Kildare the money in charge.
+
+In the dark of the morning, as I cleared the tents, the same shadow I
+had seen before shot out and laid a hand on my rein. I halted on the
+same spot where Isaacs had drawn rein twenty-four hours before.
+
+"Give him this from me. God be with you!" She was gone in a moment,
+leaving a small package in my right hand. I thrust it in my bosom and
+rode away.
+
+"How she loves him," I thought, wondering greatly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+It was not an agreeable journey I had undertaken. In order to reach the
+inaccessible spot, chosen by Isaacs for the scene of Shere Ali's
+liberation, in time to be of any use, it was necessary that I should
+travel by a more direct and arduous route than that taken by my friend.
+He had returned to Simla, and by his carefully made arrangements would
+be able to reach Keitung, or the spot near it, where the transaction was
+to take place, by constant changes of horses where riding was possible,
+and by a strong body of dooly-bearers wherever the path should prove too
+steep for four-footed beasts of burden. I, on the other hand, must leave
+the road at Julinder, a place I had never visited, and must trust to my
+own unaided wits and a plentiful supply of rupees to carry me over at
+least two hundred miles of country I did not know--difficult certainly,
+and perhaps impracticable for riding. The prospect was not a pleasant
+one, but I was convinced that in a matter of this importance a man of
+Isaacs' wit and wealth would have made at least some preliminary
+arrangements for me, since he probably knew the country well enough
+himself. I had but six days at the outside to reach my destination.
+
+I had resolved to take one servant, Kiramat Ali, with me as far as
+Julinder, whence I would send him back to Simla with what slender
+luggage we carried, for I meant to ride as light as possible, with no
+encumbrance to delay me when once I left the line of the railway. I
+might have ridden five miles with Kiramat Ali behind me on a sturdy
+_tat_, when I was surprised by the appearance of an unknown saice in
+plain white clothes, holding a pair of strong young ponies by the halter
+and salaaming low.
+
+"Pundit Ram Lal sends your highness his peace, and bids you ride without
+sparing. The _dâk_ is laid to the fire-carriages."
+
+The saddles were changed in a moment, Kiramat Ali and I assisting in the
+operation. It was clear that Ram Lal's messengers were swift, for even
+if he had met Isaacs when the latter reached the railroad, no ordinary
+horse could have returned with the message at the time I had received
+it. Still less would any ordinary Hindus be capable of laying a _dâk_,
+or post route of relays, over a hundred miles long in twelve hours. Once
+prepared, it was a mere matter of physical endurance in the rider to
+cover the ground, for the relays were stationed every five or six miles.
+It was well known that Lord Steepleton Kildare had lately ridden from
+Simla to Umballa one night and back the next day, ninety-two miles each
+way, with constant change of cattle. What puzzled me was the rapidity
+with which the necessary dispositions had been made. On the whole, I was
+reassured. If Ram Lal had been able to prepare my way at such short
+notice here, with two more days at his disposal he would doubtless
+succeed in laying me a _dâk_ most of the way from Julinder to Keitung. I
+will not dwell upon the details of the journey. I reached the railroad
+and prepared for forty-eight hours of jolting and jostling and broken
+sleep. It is true that railway travelling is nowhere so luxurious as in
+India, where a carriage has but two compartments, each holding as a rule
+only two persons, though four can be accommodated by means of hanging
+berths. Each compartment has a spacious bathroom attached, where you may
+bathe as often as you please, and there are various contrivances for
+ventilating and cooling the air. Nevertheless the heat is sometimes
+unbearable, and a journey from Bombay to Calcutta direct during the warm
+months is a severe trial to the strongest constitution. On this occasion
+I had about forty-eight hours to travel, and I was resolved to get all
+the rest in that time that the jolting made possible; for I knew that
+once in the saddle again it might be days before I got a night's sleep.
+And so we rumbled along, through the vast fields of sugar-cane, now
+mostly tied in huge sheaves upright, through boundless stretches of
+richly-cultivated soil, intersected with the regularity of a chess-board
+by the rivulets and channels of a laborious irrigation. Here and there
+stood the high frames made by planting four bamboos in a square and
+wickering the top, whereon the ryots sit when the crops are ripening, to
+watch against thieves and cattle, and to drive away the birds of the
+air. On we spun, past Meerut and Mozuffernugger, past Umballa and
+Loodhiana, till we reached our station of Julinder at dawn. Descending
+from the train, I was about to begin making inquiries about my next
+move, when I was accosted by a tall and well-dressed Mussulman, in a
+plain cloth _caftán_ and a white turban, but exquisitely clean and fresh
+looking, as it seemed to me, for my eyes were smarting with dust and
+wearied with the perpetual shaking of the train.
+
+The courteous native soon explained that he was Isaacs' agent in
+Julinder, and that a _târ ki khaber_, a telegram in short, had warned
+him to be on the lookout for me. I was greatly relieved, for it was
+evident that every arrangement had been made for my comfort, so far as
+comfort was possible. Isaacs had asked my assistance, but he had taken
+every precaution against all superfluous bodily inconvenience to me, and
+I felt sure that from this point I should move quickly and easily
+through every difficulty. And so it proved. The Mussulman took me to his
+house, where there was a spacious apartment, occupied by Isaacs when he
+passed that way. Every luxury was prepared for the enjoyment of the
+bath, and a breakfast of no mean taste was served me in my own room.
+Then my host entered and explained that he had been directed to make
+certain arrangements for my journey. He had laid a _dâk_ nearly a
+hundred miles ahead, and had been ordered to tell me that similar steps
+had been taken beyond that point as far as my ultimate destination, of
+which, however, he was ignorant. My servant, he said, must stay with him
+and return to Simla with my traps.
+
+So an hour later I mounted for my long ride, provided with a revolver
+and some rupees in a bag, in case of need. The country, my entertainer
+informed me, was considered perfectly safe, unless I feared the _tap_,
+the bad kind of fever which infests all the country at the base of the
+hills. I was not afraid of this. My experience is that some people are
+predisposed to fever, and will generally be attacked by it in their
+first year in India, whether they are much exposed to it or not, while
+others seem naturally proof against any amount of malaria, and though
+they sleep out of doors through the whole rainy season, and tramp about
+the jungles in the autumn, will never catch the least ague, though they
+may have all other kinds of ills to contend with.
+
+On and on, galloping along the heavy roads, sometimes over no road at
+all, only a broad green track, where the fresh grass that had sprung up
+after the rains was not yet killed by the trampling of the bullocks and
+the grinding jolt of the heavy cart. At intervals of seven or eight
+miles I found a saice with a fresh pony picketed and grazing at the end
+of the long rope. The saice was generally squatting near by, with his
+bag of food and his three-sided kitchen of stones, blackened with the
+fire from his last meal, beside him; sometimes in the act of cooking his
+chowpatties, sometimes eating them, according to the time of day.
+Several times I stopped to drink some water where it seemed to be good,
+and I ate a little chocolate from my supply, well knowing the
+miraculous, sustaining powers of the simple little block of "Menier,"
+which, with its six small tablets, will not only sustain life, but will
+supply vigour and energy, for as much as two days, with no other food.
+On and on, through the day and the night, past sleeping villages, where
+the jackals howled around the open doors of the huts; and across vast
+fields of late crops, over hills thickly grown with trees, past the
+broad bend of the Sutlej river, and over the plateau toward Sultanpoor,
+the cultivation growing scantier and the villages rarer all the while,
+as the vast masses of the Himalayas defined themselves more and more
+distinctly in the moonlight. Horses of all kinds under me, lean and fat,
+short and high, roman-nosed and goose-necked, broken and unbroken; away
+and away, shifting saddle and bridle and saddle-bag as I left each tired
+mount behind me. Once I passed a stream, and pulling off my boots to
+cool my feet, the temptation way too strong, so I hastily threw off my
+clothes and plunged in and had a short refreshing bath. Then on, with,
+the galloping even triplet of the house's hoofs beneath me, as they came
+down in quick succession, as if the earth were a muffled drum and we
+were beating an untiring _rataplan_ on her breast.
+
+I must have ridden a hundred and thirty miles before dawn, and the pace
+was beginning to tell, even on my strong frame. True, to a man used to
+the saddle, the effort of riding is reduced to a minimum when every hour
+or two gives him a fresh horse. There is then no heed for the welfare of
+the animal necessary; he has but his seven or eight miles to gallop, and
+then his work is done; there are none of those thousand little cares and
+sympathetic shiftings and adjustings of weight and seat to be thought
+of, which must constantly engage the attention of a man who means to
+ride the same horse a hundred miles, or even fifty or forty. Conscious
+that a fresh mount awaits him, he sits back lazily and never eases his
+weight for a moment; before he has gone thirty miles he will kick his
+feet out of the stirrups about once in twenty minutes, and if he has for
+the moment a quiet old stager who does not mind tricks, he will probably
+fetch one leg over and go a few miles sitting sideways. He will go to
+sleep once or twice, and wake up apparently in the very act to
+fall--though I believe that a man will sleep at a full gallop and never
+loosen his knees until the moment of waking startles him. Nevertheless,
+and notwithstanding Lord Steepleton Kildare and his ride to Umballa and
+back in twenty-four hours, when a man, be he ever so strong, has ridden
+over a hundred miles, he feels inclined for a rest, and a walk, and a
+little sleep.
+
+Once more an emissary of Ram Lal strode to my side as I rolled off the
+saddle into the cool grass at sunrise in a very impracticable-looking
+country. The road had been steeper and less defined during the last two
+hours of the ride, and as I crossed one leg high over the other lying on
+my back in the grass, the morning light caught my spur, and there was
+blood on it, bright and red. I had certainly come as fast as I could; if
+I should be too late, it would not be my fault. The agent, whoever he
+might be, was a striking-looking fellow in a dirty brown cloth _caftán_
+and an enormous sash wound round his middle. A pointed cap with some
+tawdry gold lace on it covered his head, and greasy black love-locks
+writhed filthily over his high cheek bones and into his scanty tangled
+beard; a suspicious hilt bound with brass wire reared its snake-like
+head from the folds of his belt, and his legs, terminating in
+thick-soled native shoes, reminded one of a tarantula in boots. He
+salaamed awkwardly with a tortuous grin, and addressed me with the
+northern salutation, "May your feet never be weary with the march."
+Having been twenty-four hours in the saddle, my feet were not that
+portion of my body most wearied, but I replied to the effect that I
+trusted the shadow of the greasy gentleman might not diminish a
+hairsbreadth in the next ten thousand years. We then proceeded to
+business, and I observed that the man spoke a very broken and hardly
+intelligible Hindustani. I tried him in Persian, but it was of no avail.
+He spoke Persian, he said, but it was not of the kind that any human
+being could understand; so we returned to the first language, and I
+concluded that he was a wandering kábuli.
+
+As an introduction of himself he mentioned Isaacs, calling him Abdul
+Hafiz Sáhib, and he seemed to know him personally. Abdul, he said, was
+not far off as distances go in the Himalayas. He thought I should find
+him the day after to-morrow, _mungkul_. He said I should not be able to
+ride much farther, as the pass beyond Sultanpoor was utterly
+impracticable for horses; coolies, however, awaited me with a dooly, one
+of those low litters slung on a bamboo, in which you may travel swiftly
+and without effort, but to the destruction of the digestive organs. He
+said also that he would accompany me the next stage as far as the
+doolies, and I thought he showed some curiosity to know whither I was
+going; but he was a wise man in his generation, and knowing his orders,
+did not press me overmuch with questions. I remarked in a mild way that
+the saddle was the throne of the warrior, and that the air of the black
+mountains was the breath of freedom; but I added that the voice of the
+empty stomach was as the roar of the king of the forest. Whereupon the
+man replied that the forest was mine and the game therein, whereof I was
+lord, as I probably was of the rest of the world, since I was his father
+and mother and most of his relations; but that, perceiving that I was
+occupied with the cares of a mighty empire, he had ventured to slay with
+his own hand a kid and some birds, which, if I would condescend to
+partake of them, he would proceed to cook. I replied that the light of
+my countenance would shine upon my faithful servant to the extent of
+several coins, both rupees and pais, but that the peculiar customs of my
+caste forbid me to touch food cooked by any one but myself. I would,
+however, in consideration of his exertions and his guileless heart,
+invite the true follower of the prophet, whose name is blessed, to
+partake with me of the food which I should presently prepare. Whereat he
+was greatly delighted, and fetched the meat, which he had stowed away in
+a kind of horse-cloth, for safety against ants.
+
+I am not a bad cook at a pinch, and so we sat down and made a
+cooking-place with stones, and built a fire, and let the flame die down
+into coals, and I dressed the meat as best I could, and flavoured it
+with gunpowder and pepper, and we were merry. The man was thenceforth
+mine, and I knew I could trust him; a bivouac in the Himalayas, when one
+is alone and far from any kind of assistance, is not the spot to indulge
+in any prejudice about colour. I did not think much about it as I
+hungrily gnawed the meat and divided the birds with my pocket-knife.
+
+The lower Himalayas are at first extremely disappointing. The scenery is
+enormous but not grand, and at first hardly seems large. The lower parts
+are at first sight a series of gently undulating hills and wooded dells;
+in some places it looks as if one might almost hunt the country. It is
+long before you realise that it is all on a gigantic scale; that the
+quickset hedges are belts of rhododendrons of full growth, the
+water-jumps rivers, and the stone walls mountain-ridges; that to hunt a
+country like that you would have to ride a horse at least two hundred
+feet high. You cannot see at first, or even for some time, that the
+gentle-looking hill is a mountain of five or six thousand feet; in Simla
+you will not believe you are three thousand feet above the level of the
+Rhigi Kulm in Switzerland. Persons who are familiar with the aspect of
+the Rocky Mountains are aware of the singular lack of dignity in those
+enormous elevations. They are merely big, without any superior beauty,
+until you come to the favoured spots of nature's art, where some great
+contrast throws out into appalling relief the gulf between the high and
+the low. It is so in the Himalayas.
+
+You may travel for hours and days amidst vast forests and hills without
+the slightest sensation of pleasure or sense of admiration for the
+scene, till suddenly your path leads you out on to the dizzy brink of an
+awful precipice--a sheer fall, so exaggerated in horror that your most
+stirring memories of Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, and the hideous _arête_
+of the Pitz Bernina, sink into vague insignificance. The gulf that
+divides you from the distant mountain seems like a huge bite taken
+bodily out of the world by some voracious god; far away rise snow peaks
+such as were not dreamt of in your Swiss tour; the bottomless valley at
+your feet is misty and gloomy with blackness, streaked with mist, while
+the peaks above shoot gladly to the sun and catch his broadside rays
+like majestic white standards. Between you, as you stand leaning
+cautiously against the hill behind you, and the wonderful background far
+away in front, floats a strange vision, scarcely moving, but yet not
+still. A great golden shield sails steadily in vast circles, sending
+back the sunlight in every tint of burnished glow. The golden eagle of
+the Himalayas hangs in mid-air, a sheet of polished metal to the eye,
+pausing sometimes in the full blaze of reflection, as ages ago the sun
+and the moon stood still in the valley of Ajalon; too magnificent for
+description, as he is too dazzling to look at. The whole scene, if no
+greater name can be given to it, is on a scale so Titanic in its massive
+length and breadth and depth, that you stand utterly trembling and weak
+and foolish as you look for the first time. You have never seen such
+masses of the world before.
+
+It was in such a spot as this that, nearly at noon on the appointed day,
+my dooly-bearers set me down and warned me I was at my journey's end. I
+stepped out and stood on the narrow way, pausing to look and to enjoy
+all that I saw. I had been in other parts of the lower Himalayas before,
+and the first sensations I had experienced had given way to those of a
+contemplative admiration. No longer awed or overpowered or oppressed by
+the sense of physical insignificance in my own person, I could endure to
+look on the stupendous panorama before me, and could even analyse what I
+felt. But before long my pardonable reverie was disturbed by a
+well-known voice. The clear tones rang like a trumpet along the
+mountain-side in a glad shout of welcome. I turned and saw Isaacs coming
+quickly towards me, bounding along the edge of the precipice as if his
+life had been passed in tending goats and robbing eagles' nests. I, too,
+moved on to meet him, and in a moment we clasped hands in unfeigned
+delight at being again together. What was Ghyrkins or his party to me?
+Here was the man I sought; the one man on earth who seemed worth having
+for a friend. And yet it was but three weeks since we first met, and I
+am not enthusiastic by temperament.
+
+"What news, friend Griggs?"
+
+"She greets you and sends you this," I said, taking from my bosom the
+parcel she had thrust into my hand as I left in the dark. His face fell
+suddenly. It was the silver box he had given her; was it possible she
+had taken so much trouble to return it? He turned it over mournfully.
+
+"You had better open it. There is probably something in it."
+
+I never saw a more complete change in a man's face during a single
+second than came over Isaacs' in that moment. He had not thought of
+opening it, in his first disappointment at finding it returned. He
+turned back the lid. Bound with a bit of narrow ribbon and pressed down
+carefully, he found a heavy lock of gold-white hair, so fair that it
+made everything around it seem dark--the grass, our clothes, and even
+the white streamer that hung down from Isaacs' turban. It seemed to shed
+a bright light, even in the broad noon-day, as it lay there in the
+curiously wrought box--just as the body of some martyred saint found
+jealously concealed in the dark corner of an ancient crypt, and broken
+in upon by unsuspecting masons delving a king's grave, might throw up in
+their dusky faces a dazzling halo of soft radiance--the glory of the
+saint hovering lovingly by the body wherein the soul's sufferings were
+perfected.
+
+The moment Isaacs realised what it was, he turned away, his face all
+gladness, and moved on a few steps with bent head, evidently
+contemplating his new treasure. Then he snapped the spring, and putting
+the casket in his vest turned round to me.
+
+"Thank you, Griggs; how are they all?"
+
+"It was worth a two-hundred mile ride to see your face when you opened
+that box. They are pretty well. I left them swearing that the party was
+broken up, and that they would all go back to Simla."
+
+"The sooner the better. We shall be there in three days from here, by
+the help of Ram Lal's wonderful post."
+
+"Between you I managed to get here quite well. How did you do it? I
+never missed a relay all the way from Julinder."
+
+"Oh, it is very easy," answered Isaacs. "You could have a _dâk_ to the
+moon from India if you would pay for it; or any other thing in heaven or
+earth or hell that you might fancy. Money, that is all. But, my dear
+fellow, you have lost flesh sensibly since we parted. You take your
+travelling hard."
+
+"Where is Ram Lal?" I asked, curious to learn something of our movements
+for the night.
+
+"Oh, I don't know. He is probably somewhere about the place charming
+cobras or arresting avalanches, or indulging in some of those playful
+freaks he says he learned in Edinburgh. We have had a great good time
+the last two days. He has not disappeared, or swallowed himself even
+once, or delivered himself of any fearful and mysterious prophecies. We
+have been talking transcendentalism. He knows as much about 'functional
+gamma' and 'All X is Y' and the rainbow, and so on, as you do yourself.
+I recommend him. I think he would be a charming companion for you. There
+he is now, with his pockets full of snakes and evil beasts. I wanted him
+to catch a golden eagle this morning, and tame it for Miss Westonhaugh,
+but he said it would eat the jackal and probably the servants, so I have
+given it up for the present." Isaacs was evidently in a capital humour.
+Ram Lal approached us.
+
+I saw at a glance that Ram Lal the Buddhist, when on his beats in the
+civilisation of Simla, was one person. Ram Lal, the cultured votary of
+science, among the hills and the beasts and the specimens that he loved,
+was a very different man. He was as gray as ever, it is true, but better
+defined, the outlines sharper, the features more Dantesque and easier to
+discern in the broad light of the sun. He did not look now as if he
+could sit down and cross his legs and fade away into thin air, like the
+Cheshire cat. He looked more solid and fleshly, his voice was fuller,
+and sounded close to me as he spoke, without a shadow of the curious
+distant ring I had noticed before.
+
+"Ah!" he said in English, "Mr. Griggs, at last! Well, you are in plenty
+of time. The gentleman who is not easily astonished. That is just as
+well, too. I like people with quiet nerves. I see by your appearance
+that you are hungry, Mr. Griggs. Abdul Hafiz, why should we not dine? It
+is much better to get that infliction of the flesh over before this
+evening."
+
+"By all means. Come along. But first send those dooly-bearers about
+their business. They can wait till to-morrow over there on the other
+side. They always carry food, and there is any amount of fuel."
+
+Just beyond the shoulder of the hill, sheltered from the north by the
+projecting boulders, was a small tent, carefully pitched and adjusted to
+stand the storms if any should come. Thither we all three bent our steps
+and sat down by the fire, for it was chilly, even cold, in the passes in
+September. Food was brought out by Isaacs, and we ate together as if no
+countless ages of different nationalities separated us. Ram Lal was
+perfectly natural and easy in his manners, and affable in what he said.
+Until the meal was finished no reference was made to the strange
+business that brought us from different points of the compass to the
+Himalayan heights. Then, at last, Ram Lal spoke; his meal had been the
+most frugal of the three, and he had soon eaten his fill, but he
+employed himself in rolling cigarettes, which he did with marvellous
+skill, until we two had satisfied our younger and healthier appetites.
+
+"Abdul Hafiz," he said, his gray face bent over his colourless hands as
+he twisted the papers, "shall we not tell Mr. Griggs what is to be done?
+Afterward he can lie in the tent and sleep until evening, for he is
+weary and needs to recruit his strength."
+
+"So be it, Ram Lal," answered Isaacs.
+
+"Very well. The position is this, Mr. Griggs. Neither Mr. Isaacs nor I
+trust those men that we are to meet, and therefore, as we are afraid of
+being killed unawares, we thought we would send for you to protect us."
+He smiled pleasantly as he saw the blank expression in my face.
+
+"Certainly, and you shall hear how it is to be done. The place is not
+far from here in the valley below. The band are already nearing the
+spot, and at midnight we will go down and meet them. The meeting will
+be, of course, like all formal rendezvous for the delivery of prisoners.
+The captain of the band will come forward accompanied by his charge, and
+perhaps by a sowar. We three will stand together, side by side, and
+await their coming. Now the plot is this. They have determined if
+possible to murder both Shere Ali and Isaacs then and there together.
+They have not counted on us, but they probably expect that our friend
+will arrive guarded by a troop of horse. The maharajah's men will try
+and sneak up close to where we stand, and at a signal, which the leader,
+in conversation with Isaacs, will give by laying his hand on his
+shoulder, the men will rush in and cut Shere Ali to pieces, and Isaacs
+too if the captain cannot do it alone. Now look here, Mr. Griggs. What
+we want you to do is this. Your friend--my friend--wants no miracles, so
+that you have got to do by strength what might be done by stratagem,
+though not so quickly. When you see the leader lay his hand on Isaacs'
+shoulder, seize him by the throat and mind his other arm, which will be
+armed. Prevent him from injuring Isaacs, and I will attend to the rest,
+who will doubtless require my whole attention."
+
+"But," I objected, "supposing that this captain turned out to be
+stronger or more active than I. What then?"
+
+"Never fear," said Isaacs, smiling. "There aren't any."
+
+"No," continued Ram Lal, "never disturb yourself about that, but just
+knock your man down and be done with it. I will guarantee you can do it
+well enough, and if he gives you trouble I may be able to help you."
+
+"All right; give me some cigarettes;" and before I had smoked one I was
+asleep.
+
+When I awoke the sun was down, but there was a great light over
+everything. The full moon had just risen above the hills to eastward and
+bathed every object in silver sheen. The far peaks, covered with snow,
+caught the reflection and sent the beams floating across the deep dark
+valleys between. The big boulder, against which the tent was pitched,
+caught it too, and seemed changed from rough stone to precious metal; it
+was on the tent-pegs and the ropes, it was upon Isaacs' lithe figure, as
+he tightened his sash round his waist and looked to his pocket-book for
+the agreement. It made Ram Lal, the gray and colourless, look like a
+silver statue, and it made the smouldering flame of the watch-fire
+utterly dim and faint. It was a wonderful moon. I looked at my watch; it
+was eight o'clock.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, "you were tired and have slept long. It is time to
+be off. There is some whiskey in that flask. I don't take those things,
+but Ram Lal says you had better have some, as you might get fever." So I
+did. Then we started, leaving everything in the tent, of which we pegged
+down the flap. There were no natives about, the dooly-bearers having
+retired to the other side of the valley, and the jackals would find
+nothing to attract them, as we had thrown the remainder of our meal over
+the edge. As for weapons, I had a good revolver and a thick stick;
+Isaacs had a revolver and a vicious-looking Turkish knife; and Ram Lal
+had nothing at all, as far as I could see, except a long light staff.
+
+The effect of the moonlight was wild in the extreme, as we descended the
+side of the mountain by paths which were very far from smooth or easy.
+Every now and then, as we neared the valley, we turned the corner of
+some ridge and got a fair view of the plain. Then a step farther, and we
+were in the dark again, behind boulders and picking our way over loose
+stones, or struggling with the wretched foothold afforded by a surface
+of light gravel, inclined to the horizontal at an angle of forty-five
+degrees. Then, with a scramble, a jump, and a little swearing in a great
+many languages--I think we counted that we spoke twenty-seven between
+us--we were on firm soil again, and swinging along over the bit of easy
+level path. It would have been out of the question to go in doolies, and
+no pony could keep a foothold for five minutes on the uncertain ground.
+
+At last, as we emerged into the bright moonlight on a little platform of
+rock at an angle of the path, we paused. Ram Lal, who seemed to know the
+way, was in front, and held up his hand to silence us; Isaacs and I
+kneeled down and looked over the brink. Some two hundred feet below, on
+a broad strip of green bordering the steep cliffs, was picketed a small
+body of horse. We could see the men squatting about in their small
+compact turbans and their shining accoutrements; the horses tethered at
+various distances on the sward, cropping so vigorously that even at that
+height we could hear the dull sound as they rhythmically munched the
+grass. We could see in the middle of the little camp a man seated on a
+rug and wrapped in a heavy garment of some kind, quietly smoking a
+common hubble-bubble. Beside him stood another who reflected more
+moonlight than the rest, and who was therefore, by his trappings, the
+captain of the band. The seated smoker could be no other than Shere Ali.
+
+Cautiously we descended the remaining windings of the steep path,
+turning whenever we had a chance, to look down on the horsemen and their
+prisoner below, till at last we emerged in the valley a quarter of a
+mile or so beyond where they were stationed. Here on the level of the
+plain we stopped a moment, and Ram Lal renewed his instructions to me.
+
+"If the captain," he said, "lays his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, seize him
+and throw him. If you cannot get him down kill him--any way you
+can--shoot him under the arm with your pistol. It is a matter of life
+and death."
+
+"All right." And we walked boldly along the broad strip of sward. The
+moon was now almost immediately overhead, for it was midnight, or near
+it. I confess the scene awed me, the giant masses of the mountains above
+us, the vast distances of mysterious blue air, through which the
+snow-peaks shone out with a strange look that was not natural. The swish
+of the quickly flowing stream at the edge of the plot we were walking
+over sounded hollow and unearthly; the velvety whirr of the great
+mountain bats as they circled near us, stirred from the branches as we
+passed out, was disagreeable and heavy to hear. The moon shone brighter
+and brighter.
+
+We were perhaps thirty yards from the little camp, in which there might
+be fifty men all told. Isaacs stood still and sung out a greeting.
+
+"Peace to you, men of Baithopoor!" he shouted. It was the preconcerted
+form of address. Instantly the captain turned and looked toward us. Then
+he gave some orders in a low voice, and taking his prisoner by the hand
+assisted him to rise. There was a scurrying to and fro in the camp. The
+men seemed to be collecting, and moving to the edge of the bivouac. Some
+began to saddle the horses. The moon was so intensely bright that their
+movements were as plain to us as though it had been broad daylight.
+
+Two figures came striding toward us--the captain and Shere Ali. As I
+looked at them, curiously enough, as may be imagined, I noticed that the
+captain was the taller man by two or three inches, but Shere Ali's broad
+chest and slightly-bowed legs produced an impression of enormous
+strength. He looked the fierce-hearted, hard-handed warrior, from head
+to heel; though in accordance with Isaacs' treaty he had been well taken
+care of and was dressed in the finest stuffs, his beard carefully
+clipped and his Indian turban rolled with great neatness round his dark
+and prominent brows.
+
+The first thing for the captain was to satisfy himself as far as
+possible that we had no troops in ambush up there in the jungle on the
+base of the mountain. He had probably sent scouts out before, and was
+pretty sure there was no one there. To gain time, he made a great show
+of reading the agreement through from beginning to end, comparing it all
+the while with a copy he held. While this was going on, and I had put
+myself as near as possible to the captain, Isaacs and Shere Ali were in
+earnest conversation in the Persian tongue. Shere Ali told Abdul that
+the captain's perusal of the contract must be a mere empty show, since
+the man did not know a word of the language. Isaacs, on hearing that the
+captain could not understand, immediately warned Shere Ali of the
+intended attempt to murder them both, of which Ram Lal, his friend, had
+heard, and I could see the old soldier's eye flash and his hand feel for
+his weapon, where there was none, at the mere mention of a fight. The
+captain began to talk to Isaacs, and I edged as near as I could to be
+ready for my grip. Still it did not come. He talked on, very civilly, in
+intelligible Hindustani. What was the matter with the moon?
+
+A few minutes before it had seemed as if there would be neither cloud
+nor mist in such a sky; and now a light filmy wreath was rising and
+darkening the splendour of the wonderful night. I looked across at Ram
+Lal. He was standing with one hand on his hip, and leaning with the
+other on his staff, and he was gazing up at the moon with as much
+interest as he ever displayed about anything. At that moment the captain
+handed Isaacs a prepared receipt for signature, to the effect that the
+prisoner had been duly delivered to his new owner. The light was growing
+dimmer, and Isaacs could hardly see to read the characters before he
+signed. He raised the scroll to his eyes and turned half round to see it
+better. At that moment the tall captain stretched forth his arm and laid
+his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, raising his other arm at the same time to
+his men, who had crept nearer and nearer to our group while the endless
+talking was going on. I was perfectly prepared, and the instant the
+soldier's hand touched Isaacs I had the man in my grip, catching his
+upraised arm in one hand and his throat with the other. The struggle did
+not last long, but it was furious in its agony. The tough Punjabi
+writhed and twisted like a cat in my grasp, his eyes gleaming like
+living coals, springing back and forward in his vain and furious efforts
+to reach my feet and trip me. But it was no use. I had his throat and
+one arm well in hand, and could hold him so that he could not reach me
+with the other. My fingers sank deeper and deeper in his neck as we
+swayed backwards and sideways tugging and hugging, breast to breast,
+till at last, with a fearful strain and wrench of every muscle in our
+two bodies, his arm went back with a jerk, broken like a pipe-stem, and
+his frame collapsing and bending backwards, fell heavily to the ground
+beneath me.
+
+The whole strength of me was at work in the struggle, but I could get a
+glimpse of the others as we whirled and swayed about.
+
+Like the heavy pall of virgin white that is laid on the body of a pure
+maiden; of velvet, soft and sweet but heavy and impenetrable as death,
+relentless, awful, appalling the soul, and freezing the marrow in the
+bones, it came near the earth. The figure of the gray old man grew
+mystically to gigantic and unearthly size, his vast old hands stretched
+forth their skinny palms to receive the great curtain as it descended
+between the moonlight and the sleeping earth. His eyes were as stars,
+his hoary head rose majestically to an incalculable height; still the
+thick, all-wrapping mist came down, falling on horse and rider and
+wrestler and robber and Amir; hiding all, covering all, folding all, in
+its soft samite arms, till not a man's own hand was visible to him a
+span's length from his face.
+
+I could feel the heaving chest of the captain beneath my knee; I could
+feel the twitching of the broken arm tortured under the pressure of my
+left hand; but I could see neither face nor arm nor breast, nor even my
+own fingers. Only above me, as I stared up, seemed to tower the
+supernatural proportions of Ram Lal, a white apparition visible through
+the opaque whiteness that hid everything else from view. It was only a
+moment. A hand was on my shoulder, Isaacs' voice was in my ear, speaking
+to Shere Ali. Ram Lal drew me away.
+
+"Be quick," he said; "take my hand, I will lead you to the light." We
+ran along the soft grass, following the sound of each other's feet,
+swiftly. A moment more and we were in the pass; the mist was lighter,
+and we could see our way. We rushed up the stony path fast and sure,
+till we reached the clear bright moonlight, blazing forth in silver
+splendour again. Far down below the velvet pall of mist lay thick and
+heavy, hiding the camp and its horses and men from our sight.
+
+"Friend," said Isaacs, "you are as free as I. Praise Allah, and let us
+depart in peace."
+
+The savage old warrior grasped the outstretched hand of the Persian and
+yelled aloud--
+
+"Illallaho-ho-ho-ho!" His throat was as brass.
+
+"La illah ill-allah!" repeated Isaacs in tones as of a hundred clarions,
+echoing by tree and mountain and river, down the valley.
+
+"Thank God!" I said to Ram Lal.
+
+"Call Him as you please, friend Griggs," answered the pundit.
+
+It was daylight when we reached the tent at the top of the pass.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+"Abdul Hafiz," said Ram Lal, as we sat round the fire we had made,
+preparing food, "if it is thy pleasure I will conduct thy friend to a
+place of safety and set his feet in the paths that lead to pleasant
+places. For thou art weary and wilt take thy rest until noon, but I am
+not weary and the limbs of the Afghan are as iron." He spoke in Persian,
+so that Shere Ali could understand what he said. The latter looked
+uneasy at first, but soon perceived that his best chance of safety lay
+in immediately leaving the neighbourhood, which was unpleasantly near
+Simla on the one side and the frontiers of Baithopoor on the other.
+
+"I thank thee, Ram Lal," replied Isaacs, "and I gladly accept thy offer.
+Whither wilt thou conduct our friend the Amir?"
+
+"I will lead him by a sure road into Thibet, and my brethren shall take
+care of him, and presently he shall journey safely northwards into the
+Tartar country, and thence to the Russ people, where the followers of
+your prophet are many, and if thou wilt give him the letters thou hast
+written, which he may present to the principal moolahs, he shall
+prosper. And as for money, if thou hast gold, give him of it, and if
+not, give him silver; and if thou hast none, take no thought, for the
+freedom of the spirit is better than the obesity of the body."
+
+"Bishmillah! Thou speakest with the tongue of wisdom, old man," said
+Shere Ali; "nevertheless a few rupees--"
+
+"Fear nothing," broke in Isaacs. "I have for thee a store of a few
+rupees in silver, and there are two hundred gold mohurs in this bag.
+They are scarce in Hind and pass not as money, but the value of them
+whither thou goest shall buy thee food many days. Take also this
+diamond, which if thou be in want thou shalt sell and be rich."
+
+Shere Ali, who had been suspicious of treachery, or at least was afraid
+to believe himself really free, was convinced by this generosity. The
+great rough warrior, the brave patriot who had shut the gates of Kabul
+in the face of Sir Neville Chamberlain, and who had faced every danger
+and defeat, rather than tamely suffer the advance of the all-devouring
+English into his dominions, was proud and unbending still, through all
+his captivity and poverty and trouble, and weariness of soul and
+suffering of body; he could bear his calamities like a man, the
+unrelenting chief of an unrelenting race. But when Isaacs stretched
+forth his hand and freed him, and bestowed upon him, moreover, a goodly
+stock of cash, and bid him go in peace, his gratitude got the better of
+him, and he fairly broke down. The big tears coursed down over his rough
+cheeks, and his face sank between his hands, which trembled violently
+for a moment. Then his habitual calm of outward manner returned.
+
+"Allah requite thee, my brother," he said, "I can never hope to."
+
+"I have done nothing," said Isaacs. "Shall believers languish and perish
+in the hands of swine without faith? Verily it is Allah's doing, whose
+name is great and powerful. He will not suffer the followers of His
+prophet to be devoured of jackals and unclean beasts. Masallah! There is
+no God but God."
+
+Therefore, when they had eaten some food, Ram Lal and Shere Ali
+departed, journeying north-east towards Thibet, and Isaacs and I
+remained sleeping in the tent until past noon. Then we arose and went
+our way, having packed up the little canvas house and the utensils and
+the pole into a neat bundle which we carried by turns along the steep
+rough paths, until we found the dooly-bearers squatting round the embers
+after their mid-day meal. As we journeyed we talked of the events of the
+night. It seemed to me that the whole thing might have been managed very
+much more simply. Isaacs did things in his own way, however, and, after
+all, he generally had a good reason for his actions.
+
+"I think not," he said in reply to my question. "While you were throwing
+that ruffian, who would have overmatched me in an instant, Shere Ali and
+I disposed of the sowars who ran up at the captain's signal. Shere Ali
+says he killed one of them with his hands, and my little knife here
+seems to have done some damage." He produced the vicious-looking dagger,
+stained above the hilt with dark blood, which he began to scrape off
+with a bit of stick.
+
+"My dear fellow," I objected, "I am delighted to have served you, and I
+see that since Shere Ali could not be warned of the signal, I was the
+only person there who could tackle that Punjabi man; yet I am completely
+at a loss to explain why, if Ram Lal can command the forces of nature to
+the extent of calling down a thick mist under the cover of which we
+might escape, he could not have calmly destroyed the whole band by
+lightning, or indigestion, or some simple and efficacious means, so that
+we need not have risked our lives in supplementing what he only half
+did."
+
+"There are plenty of answers to that question," Isaacs answered. "In the
+first place, how do you know that Ram Lal could do anything more than
+discover the preconcerted signal and bring down that fog? He pretends to
+no supernatural power; he only asserts that he understands the workings
+of nature better than you do. How do you know that the fog was his doing
+at all? Your excited imagination, developed suddenly by the tussle with
+the captain, which undoubtedly sent the blood to your head, made you
+think you saw Ram Lal's figure magnified beyond human proportion. If
+there had been no mist at all, we should most likely have got away
+unhurt all the same. Those fellows would not fight after their leader
+was down. Again, I like to let Ram Lal feel that I am able to do
+something for myself, and that I have other friends as powerful. He aims
+at obtaining too much ascendency over me. I do not like it."
+
+"Oh--if you look at it in that light, I have nothing to say. It has been
+a very pleasant and interesting excursion to me, and I am rather glad I
+only broke that fellow's arm instead of killing him, as you and Shere
+Ali did your sowars."
+
+"I don't know whether I killed him. I suppose I did. Poor fellow.
+However, he would certainly have killed me."
+
+"Of course. No use crying over spilt milk," I answered.
+
+So we got into the doolies and swung away. As we neared Simla my
+friend's spirits rose, and he chanted wild Persian and Arabic
+love-songs, and kept up a fire of conversation all day and all night,
+singing and talking alternately.
+
+"Griggs," he said, as we approached the end of our journey, "did you
+have occasion to tell Miss Westonhaugh where I had gone?"
+
+"Yes. She asked me, and I answered that you had gone to save a man's
+life. She looked very much pleased, I thought, but just then somebody
+came up, and we did not talk any more about it. I got your message the
+evening of the day you left."
+
+"She looked pleased?"
+
+"Very much. I remember the colour came into her cheeks."
+
+"Was she so pale, then?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Why, yes. You remember how she looked the night before you left? She
+was even paler the next day, but when I said you had gone to do a good
+deed, the light came into her face for a moment."
+
+"Do you think she was ill, Griggs?"
+
+"She did not look well, but of course she was anxious about you, and a
+good deal cut up about your going."
+
+"No; but did you really think she was ill?" he insisted.
+
+"Oh no, nothing but your going."
+
+His spirits were gone again, and he said very little more that day. As
+we were ascending the last hills, some eight or nine hours from Simla,
+the moon rose majestically behind us. It must have been ten o'clock, for
+she could not have been seen above the notch in the mountains to
+eastward until she had been risen an hour at least.
+
+"I wonder where they are now, those two," said Isaacs.
+
+"Shere Ali and Ram Lal?"
+
+"Yes. They are probably across the borders into Thibet, watching the
+moon rise from the door of some Buddhist monastery. I am glad I am not
+there."
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "I would really like to know why you took so much
+trouble about Shere Ali. It seems to me you might have procured his
+liberation in some simpler way, if it was merely an act of charity that
+you contemplated."
+
+"Call it anything you like. I had read about the poor man until my
+imagination was wrought up, and I could not bear to think of a man so
+brave and patriotic and at the same time a true believer, lying in the
+clutches of that old beast of a maharajah. And as for the method of my
+procedure, do you realise the complete secrecy of the whole affair? Do
+you see that no one but you and I and the Baithopoor people know
+anything of the transaction? Do you suppose that I should be tolerated a
+day in the country if the matter were known? Above all, what do you
+imagine Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would think of me if he knew I had been
+liberating and enriching the worst foe of his little god, Lord
+Beaconsfield?"
+
+There was truth in what he said. By no arrangement could the liberation
+of Shere Ali have been effected with such secrecy and despatch as by the
+simple plan of going ourselves. And now we toiled up the last hills,
+vainly attempting to keep our horses in a canter; long before the relay
+was reached they had relapsed into a dogged jog-trot.
+
+So we reached Simla at sunrise, and crawled wearily up the steps of the
+hotel to our rooms, tired with the cramp of dooly and saddle for so many
+days, and longing for the luxury of the bath, the civilised meal, and
+the arm-chair. Of course I did not suppose Isaacs would go to bed. He
+expected that the Westonhaughs would have returned by this time, and he
+would doubtless go to them as soon as he had breakfasted. So we
+separated to dress and be shaved--my beard was a week old at least--and
+to make ourselves as comfortable as we deserved to be after our manifold
+exertions. We had been three days and a half from Keitung to Simla.
+
+At my door stood the faithful Kiramat Ali, salaaming and making a
+pretence of putting dust on his head according to his ideas of
+respectful greeting. On the table lay letters; one of these, a note, lay
+in a prominent position. I took it instinctively, though I did not know
+the hand. It was from Mr. Currie Ghyrkins.
+
+
+     _Saturday morning_.
+
+     MY DEAR MR. GRIGGS--If you have returned to
+     Simla, I should be glad to see you for half an hour on
+     a matter of urgent importance. I would come to you
+     if I could. My niece, Miss Westonhaugh, is, I am
+     sorry to say, dangerously ill.--Sincerely yours,
+
+     A. CURRIE GHYRKINS.
+
+
+It was dated two days before, for to-day was Monday. I made every
+possible haste in my toilet and ordered a horse. I wondered whether
+Isaacs had received a similar missive. What could be the matter? What
+might not have happened in those two days since the note was written? I
+felt sure that the illness had begun before I left them in the Terai,
+hastened probably by the pain she had felt at Isaacs' departure; there
+is nothing like a little mental worry to hasten an illness, if it is to
+come at all. Poor Miss Westonhaugh! So, after all her gaiety and all the
+enjoyment she had from the tiger-hunt on which she had set her heart,
+she had come back to be ill in Simla. Well, the air was fresh enough
+now--almost cold, in fact. She would soon be well. Still, it was a great
+pity. We might have had such a gay week before breaking up.
+
+I was dressed, and I went down the steps, passing Isaacs' open door. He
+was calmly reading a newspaper and having a morning smoke, until it
+should be time to go out. Clearly he had not heard anything of Miss
+Westonhaugh's illness. I resolved I would say nothing until I knew the
+worst, so I merely put my head in and said I should be back in an hour
+to breakfast with him, and passed on. Once on horseback, I galloped as
+hard as I could, scattering chuprassies and children and marketers to
+right and left in the bazaar. It was not long before I left my horse at
+the corner of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' lawn, and walking to the verandah,
+which looked suspiciously neat and unused, inquired for the master of
+the house. I was shown into his bedroom, for it was still very early and
+he was dressing.
+
+I noticed a considerable change in the old gentleman's manner and
+appearance in the last ten days. His bright red colour was nearly faded,
+his eyes had grown larger and less bright, he had lost flesh, and his
+tone was subdued in the extreme. He came from his dressing-glass to
+greet me with a ghost of the old smile on his face, and his hand
+stretched eagerly out.
+
+"My dear Mr. Griggs, I am sincerely glad to see you."
+
+"I have not been in Simla two hours," I answered, "and I found your
+note. How is Miss Westonhaugh? I am so sorry to----"
+
+"Don't talk about her, Griggs. I am afraid she's g--g--goin' to die." He
+nearly broke down, but he struggled bravely. I was terribly shocked,
+though a moment's reflection told me that so strong and healthy a person
+would not die so easily. I expressed my sympathy as best I could.
+
+"What is it? What is the illness?" I asked when he was quieter.
+
+"Jungle fever, my dear fellow, jungle fever; caught in that beastly
+tiger-hunt. Oh! I wish I had never taken her. I wish we had never gone.
+Why wasn't I firm? Damn it all, sir, why wasn't I firm, eh?" In his
+anger at himself something of the former jerky energy of the man showed
+itself. Then it faded away into the jaded sorrowful look that was on his
+face when I came in. He sat down with his elbows on his knees and his
+hands in his scanty gray hair, his suspenders hanging down at his
+sides--the picture of misery. I tried to console him, but I confess I
+felt very much like breaking down myself. I did not see what I could do,
+except break the bad news to Isaacs.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," he said at last, "she has been asking for you all the
+time, and the doctor thought if you came she had best see you, as it
+might quiet her. Understand?" I understood better than he thought.
+
+People who are dangerously ill have no morning and no evening. Their
+hours are eternally the same, save for the alternation of suffering and
+rest. The nurse and the doctor are their sun and moon, relieving each
+other in the watches of day and night. As they are worse--as they draw
+nearer to eternity, they are less and less governed by ideas of time. A
+dying person will receive a visit at midnight or at mid-day with no
+thought but to see the face of friend--or foe--once more. So I was not
+surprised to find that Miss Westonhaugh would see me; in an interval of
+the fever she had been moved to a chair in her room, and her brother was
+with her. I might go in--indeed she sent a very urgent message imploring
+that I would go. I went.
+
+The morning sun was beating brightly on the shutters, and the room
+looked cheerful as I entered. John Westonhaugh, paler than death, came
+quickly to the door and grasped my hand.
+
+On a long cane-chair by the window, carefully covered from the possible
+danger of any insidious draught, with a mass of soft white wraps and
+shawls, lay Katharine Westonhaugh--the transparant phantasm of her
+brilliant self. The rich masses of pale hair were luxuriously nestled
+around her shoulders and the blazing eyes flamed, lambently, under the
+black brows--but that was all. Colour, beside the gold hair and the
+black eyes, there was hardly any. The strong clean-cut outline of the
+features was there, but absolutely startling in emaciation, so that
+there seemed to be no flesh at all; the pale lips scarcely closed over
+the straight white teeth. A wonderful and a fearful sight to see, that
+stately edifice of queenly strength and beauty thus laid low and
+pillaged and stript of all colour save purple and white--the hues of
+mourning--the purple lips and the white cheek. I have seen many people
+die, and the moment I looked at Katharine Westonhaugh I felt that the
+hand of death was already closed over her, gripped round, never to
+relax. John led me to her side, and a faint smile showed she was glad to
+see me. I knelt reverently down, as one would kneel beside one already
+dead. She spoke first, clearly and easily, as it seemed. People who are
+ill from fever seldom lose the faculty of speech.
+
+"I am so glad you are come. There are many things I want you to do."
+
+"Yes, Miss Westonhaugh. I will do everything."
+
+"Is he come back?" she asked--then, as I looked at her brother, she
+added, "John knows, he is very glad."
+
+"Yes, we came back this morning together; I came here at once."
+
+"Thank you--it was kind. Did you give him the box?"
+
+"Yes--he does not know you are ill. He means to come at eleven."
+
+"Tell him to come now. _Now_--do you understand?" Then she added in a
+low tone, for my ear only, "I don't think they know it; I am dying. I
+shall be dead before to-night. Don't tell him that. Make him come now.
+John knows. Now go. I am tired. No--wait! Did he save the man's life?"
+
+"Yes; the man is safe and free in Thibet."
+
+"That was nobly done. Now go. You have always been kind to me, and you
+love him. When you see me again I shall be gone." Her voice was
+perceptibly weaker, though still clearly audible. "When I am gone, put
+some flowers on me for friendship's sake. You have always been so kind.
+Good-bye, dear Mr. Griggs. Good-bye. God keep you." I moved quickly to
+the door, fearing lest the piteous sight should make a coward of me. It
+was so ineffably pathetic--this lovely creature, just tasting of the cup
+of life and love and dying so.
+
+"Bring him here at once, Griggs, please. I know all about it. It may
+save her." John Westonhaugh clasped my hand in his again, and pushed me
+out to speed me on my errand. I tore along the crooked paths and the
+winding road, up through the bazaar, past the church and the narrow
+causeway beyond to the hotel. I found him still smoking and reading the
+paper.
+
+"Well?" said he cheerfully, for the morning sun had dispelled the doubts
+of the night.
+
+"My dear friend," I said, "Miss Westonhaugh wants to see you
+immediately."
+
+"How? What? Of course; I will go at once, but how did you know?"
+
+"Wait a minute, Isaacs; she is not well at all--in fact, she is quite
+ill."
+
+"What's the matter--for God's sake--Why, Griggs, man, how white you
+are--O my God, my God--she is dead!" I seized him quickly in my arms or
+he would have thrown himself on the ground.
+
+"No," I said, "she is not dead. But, my dear boy, she is dying. I do not
+believe she will live till this evening. Therefore get to horse and ride
+there quickly, before it is too late."
+
+Isaacs was a brave man, and of surpassing strength to endure. After the
+first passionate outburst, his manner never changed as he mechanically
+ordered his horse and pulled on his boots. He was pale naturally, and
+great purple rings seemed to come out beneath his eyes--as if he had
+received a blow--from the intensity of his suppressed emotion. Once only
+he spoke before he mounted.
+
+"What is it?" he asked.
+
+"Jungle fever," I answered. He groaned. "Shall I go with you?" asked I,
+thinking it might be as well. He shook his head, and was off in a
+moment.
+
+I turned to my rooms and threw myself on my bed. Poor fellow; was there
+ever a more piteous case? Oh the cruel misery of feeling that nothing
+could save her! And he--he who would give life and wealth and fortune
+and power to give her back a shade of colour--as much as would tinge a
+rose-leaf, even a very little rose-leaf--and could not. Poor fellow!
+What would he do to-night--to-morrow. I could see him kneeling by her
+side and weeping hot tears over the wasted hands. I could almost hear
+his smothered sob--his last words of speeding to the parting soul--the
+picture grew intensely in my thoughts. How beautiful she would look when
+she was dead!
+
+I started as the thought came into my mind. How superficial was my
+acquaintance with her, poor girl,--how little was she a part of my life,
+since I could really so heartlessly think of her beauty when her breath
+should be gone! Of course, though, it was natural enough, why should I
+feel any personal pang for her? It was odd that I should even expect
+to--I, who never felt a "personal pang" of regret for the death of any
+human creature, excepting poor dear old Lucia, who brought me up, and
+sent me to school, and gave me roast chestnuts when I knew my lessons,
+in the streets of Rome, thirty years ago. When she died, I was there;
+poor old soul, how fond she was of me! And I of her! I remember the
+tears I shed, though I was a bearded man even then. How long is that?
+Since she died, it must be ten years.
+
+My thoughts wandered about among all sorts of _bric-à-brac_ memories.
+Presently something brought me back to the present. Why must this fair
+girl from the north die miserably here in India? Ah yes! the eternal
+why. Why did we go at such a season into the forests of the Terai? it
+was madness; we knew it was, and Ram Lal knew it too. Hence his warning.
+O Ram Lal, you are a wise old man, with your gray beard and you mists of
+wet white velvet and your dark sayings! Ram Lal, will you riddle me,
+also, my weird that I must dree?
+
+A cold draught passed over my head, and I turned on my couch to see
+whence it came. I started bolt upright, and my hair stood on end with
+sudden terror. I had uttered the name of Ram Lal aloud in my reverie,
+and there he sat on a chair by the door, as gray as ever, with his long
+staff leaning from his feet across his breast and shoulder. He looked at
+me quietly.
+
+"I come opportunely, Mr. Griggs, it seems. _Lupus in fabula._ I hear my
+name pronounced as I enter the door. This is flattering to a man of my
+modest pretensions to social popularity. You would like me to tell you
+your fortune? Well, I am not a fortune-teller."
+
+"Never mind my fortune. Will Miss Westonhaugh recover?"
+
+"No. She will die at sundown."
+
+"How do you know, since you say you are no prophet?"
+
+"Because I am a doctor of medicine. M.D. of Edinburgh."
+
+"Why can you not save her then? A man who is a Scotch doctor, and who
+possesses the power of performing such practical jokes on nature as you
+exhibited the other night, might do something. However, I suppose I am
+not talking to you at all. You are in Thibet with Shere Ali. This is
+your astral body, and if I were near enough, I could poke my fingers
+right through you, as you sit there, telling me you are an Edinburgh
+doctor, forsooth."
+
+"Quite right, Mr. Griggs. At the present moment my body is quietly
+asleep in a lamastery in Thibet, and this is my astral shape, which,
+from force of habit, I begin to like almost as well. But to be
+serious----"
+
+"I think it is very serious, your going about in this casual manner."
+
+"To be serious. I warned Isaacs that he should not allow the tiger-hunt
+to come off. He would not heed my warning. It is too late now. I am not
+omnipotent."
+
+"Of course not. Still, you might be of some use if you went there. While
+there is life there is hope."
+
+"Proverbs," said Earn Lai scornfully, "are the wisdom of wise men
+prepared in portable doses for the foolish; and the saying you quote is
+one of them. There is life yet, but there is no hope."
+
+"Well, I am afraid you are right. I saw her this morning--I suppose I
+shall never see her again, not alive, at least. She looked nearly dead
+then. Poor girl; poor Isaacs, left behind!"
+
+"You may well say that, Mr. Griggs," said the adept. "On the whole,
+perhaps he is to be less pitied than she; who knows? Perhaps we should
+pity neither, but rather envy both."
+
+"Why? Either you are talking the tritest of cant, or you are indulging
+in more of your dark sayings, to be interpreted, _post facto_, entirely
+to your own satisfaction, and to every one else's disgust." I was
+impatient with the man. If he had such extraordinary powers as were
+ascribed to him--I never heard him assert that he possessed any; if he
+could prophesy, he might as well do so to some purpose. Why could he not
+speak plainly? He could not impose on me, who was ready to give him
+credit for what he really could do, while finding fault with the way he
+did it.
+
+"I understand what passes in your mind, friend Griggs," he said, not in
+the least disconcerted at my attack. "You want me to speak plainly to
+you, because you think you are a plain-spoken, clear-headed man of
+science yourself. Very well, I will. I think you might yourself become a
+brother some day, if you would. But you will not now, neither will in
+the future. Yet you understand some little distant inkling of the
+science. When you ask your scornful questions of me, you know perfectly
+well that you are putting an inquiry which you yourself can answer as
+well as I. I am not omnipotent. I have very little more power than you.
+Given certain conditions and I can produce certain results, palpable,
+visible, and appreciable to all; but my power, as you know, is itself
+merely the knowledge of the laws of nature, which Western scientists, in
+their wisdom, ignore. I can replenish the oil in the lamp, and while
+there is wick the lamp shall burn--ay, even for hundreds of years. But
+give me a lamp wherein the wick is consumed, and I shall waste my oil;
+for it will not burn unless there be the fibre to carry it. So also is
+the body of man. While there is the flame of vitality and the essence of
+life in his nerves and finer tissues, I will put blood in his veins, and
+if he meet with no accident he may live to see hundreds of generations
+pass by him. But where there is no vitality and no essence of life in a
+man, he must die; for though I fill his veins with blood, and cause his
+heart to beat for a time, there is no spark in him--no fire, no nervous
+strength. So is Miss Westonhaugh now--dead while yet breathing, and
+sighing her sweet farewells to her lover."
+
+"I know. I understand you very well. But do not deny that you might have
+saved her. Why did you not?" Ram Lal smiled a strange smile, which I
+should have described as self-satisfied, had it not been so gentle and
+kind.
+
+"Ah yes!" he said, with something like a sigh, though there was no
+sorrow or regret in it. "Yes, Griggs, I might have saved her life. I
+would certainly have saved her--well, if he had not persuaded her to go
+down into that steaming country at this time of year, since it was my
+advice to remain here. But it is no use talking about it."
+
+"I think you might have conveyed your meaning to him a little more
+clearly. He had no idea that you meant danger to her."
+
+"No, very likely not. It is not my business to mould men's destinies for
+them. If I give them advice that is good, it is quite enough. It is like
+a man playing cards: if he does not seize his chance it does not return.
+Besides, it is much better for him that she should die."
+
+"Your moral reflections are insufferable. Can you not find some one else
+to whom you may confide your secret joy of my friend's misfortunes?"
+
+"Calm yourself. I say it is better for her, better for him, better for
+both. Remember what you said to him yourself about the difference
+between pleasure and happiness. They shall be one yet, their happiness
+shall not be less eternal because their pleasure in this life has been
+brief. Can you not conceive of immortal peace and joy without the
+satisfaction of earthly lust?"
+
+"I would not call such a beautiful union as theirs might have been by
+such a name. For myself, I confess to a very real desire for pleasure
+first and happiness afterwards."
+
+"I know you better than you think, Mr. Griggs. You are merely
+argumentative, rarely sceptical. If I had begun by denying what I
+instead asserted, you would by this time have been arguing as strongly
+on my side as you now are on yours. You are often very near degenerating
+into a common sophist."
+
+"Very likely, it was a charming profession. Meanwhile, by going to the
+very opposite extreme from sophistry, I mean by a more than Quixotic
+veneration for an abstract dogma you hold to be true, and by your
+determination to make people die for it, you are causing fearful misery
+of body, untold agony of soul, to a woman and a man whom you should have
+every reason to like. Go to, Ram Lal, adept, magician, enthusiast, and
+prophet, you are mistaken, like all your kind!"
+
+"No, I am not mistaken, time will show. Moreover, I would have you
+remark that the lady in question is not suffering at all, and that the
+'untold agony of soul' you attribute to Isaacs is a wholesome medicine
+for one with such a soul as his. And now I am going, for you are not the
+sort of person with whom I can enjoy talking very long. You are violent
+and argumentative, though you are sometimes amusing. I am rarely
+violent, and I never argue: life is too short. And yet I have more time
+for it than you, seeing my life will be indefinitely longer than yours.
+Good-bye, for the present; and believe me, those two will be happier
+far, and far more blessed, in a few short years hence, than ever you or
+I shall be in all the unreckonable cycles of this or any future world."
+Ram Lal sighed as he uttered the last words, and he was gone; yet the
+musical cadence of the deep-drawn breath of a profound sorrow, vibrated
+whisperingly through the room where I lay. Poor Ram Lal, he must have
+had some disappointment in his youth, which, with all his wisdom and
+superiority over the common earth, still left a sore place in his heart.
+
+I was not inclined to move. I knew where Isaacs was, where he would
+remain to the bitter end, and I would not go out into the world that
+day, while he was kneeling in the chamber of death. He might come back
+at any time. How long would it last? God in his mercy grant it might be
+soon and quickly over, without suffering. Oh! but those strong people
+die so deathly hard. I have seen a man--No, I was sure of that. She
+would not suffer any more now.
+
+I lay thinking. Would Isaacs send for me when he returned, or would he
+face his grief alone for a night before he spoke? The latter, I thought;
+I hoped so too. How little sympathy there must be for any one, even the
+dearest, in our souls and hearts, when it is so hard to look forward to
+speaking half-a-dozen words of comfort to some poor wretch of a friend
+who has lost everything in the wide world that is dear to him. We would
+rather give him all we possess outright than attempt to console him for
+the loss. And yet--what is there in life more sweet than to be consoled
+and comforted, and to have the true sympathy of some one, even a little
+near to us, when we ourselves are suffering. The people we do not want
+shower cards of condolence on us, and carriage-loads of flowers on the
+poor dead thing; the ones who could be of some help to the tortured soul
+are afraid to speak; the very delicacy of kind-heartedness in them,
+which makes us wish they would come, makes them stay away.
+
+I hope Isaacs will not send for me, poor fellow.
+
+If he does, what shall I say? God help me.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+The hours came and went, and though worn out with the exertions of the
+past days, and with the emotions of the morning, I lay in my rooms,
+unable to sleep even for a moment. I went down once or twice to Isaacs'
+rooms to know whether he had returned, but he had not, nor had any one
+heard from him. At last the evening shadows crept stealthily up,
+darkening first one room, then another, until there was not light enough
+to read by. Then I dropped my book and went out to breathe the cold air
+on the verandah. Wearily the hours went by, and still there was no sign
+of my friend.
+
+Towards eleven o'clock the moon, now waning, once more rose above the
+hills and shed her light across the lawn, splendid still, but with the
+first tinge of melancholy that clouds her departing glory. Exhausted
+nature asserted herself, and chilled to the bone I went to bed, and, at
+last, to sleep.
+
+I slept peacefully at first, but soon the events that had come over my
+life began to weave themselves in wild disharmony through my restful
+visions, and the events that were to come cast their lengthening shadows
+before them. The world of past, present, and future thoughts, came into
+my soul, distorted, without perspective, nothing to help me to discern
+the good from the evil, the suffering gone and long-forgotten from the
+pain in store. The triumph of discrepancy over waking reason, the
+fancied victories of the sleep-dulled intellect over the outrageous
+discord of the wakeful imagination. I passed a most miserable night. It
+seemed rest to wake, until I was awake, and then it seemed rest to sleep
+again, until my eyes were closed. At last it came, no dream this time;
+Isaacs stood by my bed-side in the gray of the morning, himself grayer
+than the soft neutral-tinted dawn. It was a terrible moment to me,
+though I had expected it since yesterday. I felt like the condemned
+criminal in France, who does not know the day or hour of his death. The
+first intimation is when the executioner at daybreak enters his cell and
+bids him come forth to die, sometimes in less than sixty seconds from
+his waking.[2]
+
+How gray he looked, and how infinitely tried. I rose swiftly and took
+his hands, which were deadly cold, and led him to the outer room. I
+could not say anything, for I did not know how such a terribly sudden
+blow would affect him; he was so unlike any one else. Why is it so hard
+to comfort the afflicted? Why should the most charitable duty it is ever
+given us to perform be, without exception, the hardest of tasks?
+
+I am sure most people feel as I do. It is far less painful to suffer
+wounds and sickness in one's own body than to stand by and see the cold
+clean knife go through skin and flesh and cartilage; it is surely easier
+to suffer disease than to smooth daily and hourly the bed and pillows of
+some poor tormented wretch, calling on God and man to end his misery.
+There is a hidden instinct--of a low and cowardly kind, but human
+nevertheless--which bids us turn away from spectacles of agony whether
+harrowing or repulsive, until the good angel comes and whispers that we
+must trample on such coarse impulse and do our duty. "Show pity," said
+the wise old Frenchman, "do anything to alleviate distress, but avoid
+actually feeling either compassion or sympathy. They can lead to no
+good." That was only his way of making to himself an excuse for doing a
+good action, for Larochefoucauld was a man who really possessed every
+virtue that he disclaimed for himself and denied in others.
+
+I felt much of this as I led Isaacs to the outer room, not knowing what
+form his sorrow might take, but feeling in my own person a grief as
+poignant, perhaps, for the moment, as his own. I had known he would
+come, that was all, though I had hoped he would not, and I knew that I
+must do my best to send him away a little less sorrowful than he had
+come. I was not prepared for the extreme calm of voice and manner that
+marked his first words, coming with measured rhythm and even cadence
+from his pale lips.
+
+"It is all over, my friend," he said.
+
+"It has but begun," said the solemn tones of Ram Lal, the Buddhist, from
+the door. He entered and approached us.
+
+"Friend Isaacs," he continued, "I am not here to mock at your grief or
+to weary your strained heartstrings with such petty condolence as
+well-nigh drove Ayoub of old to impatience. But I love you, my brother,
+and I have somewhat to say to you in your trouble, some advice to give
+you in your distress. You are suffering greatly, past the power of
+reason to alleviate, for you no longer know yourself, nor are aware what
+you really think. But I will show to you three pictures of yourself that
+shall rouse you to what you are, to what you were, and to what you shall
+be.
+
+"I found you, not many years ago, a very young man, most exceptionally
+placed in regard to the world. You were even then rich, though not so
+rich as you now are. You were beautiful and full of vigour, but you have
+now upon you the glow of a higher beauty, the overflowing promise of a
+more glorious life. You were happy because you thought you were, but
+such happiness as you had proceeded from without rather than from
+within. You were a materially thinking man. Your thoughts were of the
+flesh, and your delights--harmless it is true--were in the things that
+were under your eyes--wealth, power, book knowledge, and perhaps woman,
+if you can call the creatures you believed in women.
+
+"You gathered wealth in great heaps, and your precious stones in
+storehouses. You laid your hand upon the diamond of the river and upon
+the pearl of the sea, and they abode with you, as the light of the sun
+and the moon. And you said, 'Behold it is my star, which is the lord of
+the dog-heat in summer, and it is my kismet.' You also took to yourself
+wives of rare qualities, having both golden and raven black hair, whose
+skin was as fine silk, and their breath as the freshness of the dawning,
+and their eyes as jewels. Then said you, rejoicing in your heart, that
+you were happy; and so you dwelt in peace and plenty, and waxed glad.
+
+"Therefore you accomplished your first destiny, and you drank of the cup
+that was filled to overflowing. And if it had been the law of nature
+that from pleasure man should derive permanent lasting peace, you had
+been happy so long as you lived. But, though you have the faultless life
+of the body to enjoy all things of the earth, even as other men, though
+in another degree, you have within you something more. There is in your
+breast a heart beating--an organ so wonderful in its sensitiveness, so
+perfect in its consciousness of good, that the least throb and thrill of
+pleasure that it feels is worth years and ages of mere sensual life
+enjoyment. The body having tasted of all happiness whereof it is
+capable, and having found that it is good, is saturated with its own
+ease and enjoys less keenly. But the heart is the border-land between
+body and soul. The heart can love and the body can love, but the body
+can only love itself; the heart is the wellspring of the lore that goes
+beyond self. Therefore your heart awoke.
+
+"Shall I tell you of the first early stirrings of your love? Think you,
+because I am gray and loveless, that I have never known youth and
+gladness of heart? Ah, I know, better than you can think. It is not
+sudden, really, the blossoming out of the tree of life. The small leaves
+grow larger and stronger though still closely folded in the bud, until
+the bright warmth of the spring makes them burst into bloom. The little
+lark in the nest among the grass grows beneath the mother's wing and
+idly moves, now and then, unconscious of the cloud-cleaving gift of
+flight, until all at once, in the fair dawning, there wells up in his
+tiny breast the mighty sense of power to rise.
+
+"The human heart is like the budded folded leaves, and like the untaught
+lark. The quiet sleep before the day of blooming is, while it lasts, a
+state of happiness. But it is not comparable with the breathing joy of
+the leaf that feels and sees the wonderful life around it, whispering
+divine answers to the wooing breeze. The humble nest where it has first
+seen light is for many days a happy home to the tender songster, soon
+left behind, when the first wing-strokes waft the small body upwards to
+the sky, and forgotten as the first glad trill and quaver of the
+new-found voice roll out the prelude to the glorious life-long hymn of
+praise. The heart of man--your heart, my dear friend--gave a great leap
+from earth to sky, when first it felt the magic of the other life. The
+grosser scales of material vision fell away from your inner sight on the
+day when you met, and knew you had met, the woman you were to love.
+
+"I found you again, a different man, a far happier man, though you would
+hardly allow that. A sweet uncertainty of the future half-tinged your
+joy with a shadow of sadness, which you had not known before: but love
+sadness is only the shading and gentle pencilling in love's wondrous
+picture, whereby the whole light of the painting is made clearer and
+stronger. A new world opened out before you in endless vistas of untold
+and undreamed bliss. You looked back at your former self, so careless
+and sunny, so consciously happy in the strong sense of life and power,
+and you wondered how you could have been even contented through so many
+years. The good and evil deeds of your past life lost colour and
+perspective, and fell back into a dull, flat background, against which
+the ineffable vision of beautiful and immortal womanhood stood forth in
+transcendent glory. The eternal womanly element of the great universe
+beckoned you on, as it did Doctor Faustus of old. You had hitherto
+accepted woman and ignored womanhood, as so many of the followers of the
+prophet have always done. Henceforth there was to be a change, entire,
+complete, and enduring. No doubts now, or careless scepticism; no cant
+about women having no souls and no individual being; you had made a
+great step to a better understanding of the world you live in. Filled
+with a new life, you went on your way rejoicing and longing to do great
+deeds for her who had come into your destiny. From dawn to sunset, and
+from evening to dawn, one picture ever was before you leading you on.
+You were ready to run any risk for a smile and a blush of pleasure, you
+were willing to sacrifice anything and everything for her praise. And
+when, down there among the mango-trees in the Terai, your lips first
+touched hers and your arm pressed her to your side, the joy that was
+yours was as the joy of the immortals."
+
+Ram Lal paused, and Isaacs, who had been sitting by the table, stony and
+dry-eyed, hid his face in his hands, clutching with his white fingers
+among his bright black hair--all that seemed left to him of life, so
+dead and ashy was his face. He remained thus without looking up, as the
+old man continued.
+
+"Think not, dear friend and brother, that I have come here to dwell
+needlessly on your grief, to rouse again the keen agonies that have so
+lately burned through and through you to the quick. I love you well, and
+would but trace the past in order to paint the future. All that you felt
+and knew in those short days of perfect love on earth was good and true
+and noble, and shall not be forgotten hereafter. But last night closed
+the second of your three destinies--as true love always must close on
+earth--in bitter grief and sorrow because the one is gone before. Rather
+should you rejoice, Abdul Hafiz, that she is gone in virgin whiteness,
+whither ere long you shall follow and be with her till time shall chase
+the crumbling world out over the broad quicksands of eternity, and
+nought shall survive of all this but the pure and the constant and the
+faithful to death. There is before you a third, destiny, great and
+awful, but grand beyond power of telling. Body and heart have had their
+full cup of happiness, have enjoyed to the full what has been set in
+their way to enjoy. To the full you have enjoyed wealth and success and
+the sensuality of a refined and artistic luxury; to the full, as only a
+few rarely-gifted men can, you have enjoyed the purest and highest love
+that earth can give. Think not that all ends here. The greatest of
+destinies is but begun, and it is the destiny of the soul. Two days ago
+if I had told you there was something higher in you than the loving
+heart, you would not have believed me; now you do. It is the ethereal
+portion of the heart, that which longs to be loosed from the body and
+floating upwards to rejoin its other half.
+
+"Your love has been of the best kind that falls to the lot of man. Not a
+single shadow of doubting fell between you. It has been sweet if it has
+seemed short--but it has really lasted a long time, as long as some
+people's lives. You are many years older than you were when it began,
+for a month or two ago--or whenever it was that your heart first
+awoke--you were entirely immersed in the material view of things that
+belonged naturally enough to your position and mode of life. Now you
+have passed the critical border-land wherein love wanders, himself not
+knowing whither he shall lead his followers, whether back to the thick
+green pasture and heavy-scented groves of sensual existence or forward
+to free wind-swept heights of spiritual blessedness, where those who are
+true until they die walk forth into truth everlasting. Yours is the
+faith and the truth that abide always, yours henceforward shall be the
+perfect union of souls, yours the ethereal range of the outer firmament.
+Take my hand, brother, in yours, and seek with me the path to those
+heights--to that pinnacle of paradise where you shall meet once more the
+spirit elected to yours."
+
+Ram Lal stood beside Isaacs, whose face was still hidden, and laid his
+hand with tender gentleness on the weary head. The old man looked kindly
+down as he touched the thick black hair, and then raised his eyes and
+looked out through the door at the brightening landscape over which the
+morning sun was shedding warmth and beauty once more.
+
+"Brother," he continued, "come forth with me. You have suffered too much
+to mix again with the world, even if you wished it. Come forth, and your
+soul shall live for ever. Your grief shall be turned to joy, and the
+sinking heart shall be lifted to heights untried. As now the sun
+steadily rises in his unerring course, following the pale footsteps of
+the fleet dawning, and fulfilling her half spoken promises a
+million-fold in his goodness; as now the all-muffling heaviness of the
+sad dark night is forgotten in the gladness of day--so shall your brief
+time of darkness and dull distress perish and vanish swiftly at the
+first glimpses of the heavenly day on which follows no creeping night
+nor shadow of earthly care. I come not to bid you forget; I come to bid
+you remember. Remember all that is past, treasure it in the secret
+storehouse of the soul where the few flowers culled from life's abundant
+thorn are laid in their fragrance and garnered up. Remember also the
+future. Think that your time is short, and that the labour shall be
+sweet; so that in a few quick years you shall reap a harvest of
+unearthly blooming. Fear not to tread boldly in the tracks of those who
+have climbed before you, and who have attained and have conquered. What
+can anything earthly ever be to you? What can you ever care again for
+gold, or gem, or horse, or slave? Do with those things as it may seem
+good in your eyes, but leave them behind. The weight of the money-bags
+is a weariness and soreness to the feet that toil to overtake eternity.
+The flesh itself is weariness to the spirit, and soon leaves it to wing
+its flight untrammelled and untiring. Come, I will give you of my poor
+strength what shall carry your uncertain steps over the first great
+difficulties, or at least over so many as you have not yet surmounted.
+Be bold, aspiring, fearless, and firm of purpose. What guerdon can man
+or Heaven offer, higher than eternal communion with the bright spirit
+that waits and watches for your coming? With her--you said it while she
+lived--was your life, your light, and your love; it is true tenfold now,
+for with her is life eternal, light ethereal, and love spiritual. Come,
+brother, come with me!"
+
+Slowly Isaacs raised his head from his hands and gazed long on the old
+man. And while he gazed it was as if his pale face were transparent and
+the whiteness of the burning spirit, dazzling to see, came and went
+quickly and came again as flashes in the northern sky. Slowly he rose to
+his feet, and laying his hand in the Buddhist's, spoke at last.
+
+"Brother, I come," he said. "Show me the way."
+
+"Right gladly will I be thy guide, Abdul," Ram Lal gave answer. "Right
+willingly will I go with thee whither thou wouldest. Never was teacher
+sought by more worthy pupil; never did man embrace the pure life of the
+brethren with more single heart or truer purpose. The way shall be short
+that leads thee upward, the stones that are therein shall be as wings to
+lift thy feet instead of stumbling-blocks for thy destruction. The
+hidden forces of nature shall lend thee strength, and her secrets
+wisdom; the deep sweet springs of the eternal water shall refresh thee
+and the food of the angels shall be thine. Thy sorrows shall turn from
+bitter into sweet, and from the stings of thy past agonies shall grow up
+the golden flowers of thy future crown. Thou shalt not tire in the way,
+nor crave rest by the wayside."
+
+"Friend, tell me what I shall do that I may attain all this."
+
+"Be faithful to her who has preceded you, and learn of us, who know it,
+wherein consists true happiness. You need but little help, dear friend.
+Banish only from your thoughts the human suggestion that what you love
+most is lost, gone irrevocably. Rejoice, and mourn not, that she has
+entered in already where all your striving is to follow. Be glad because
+she looks on those sights and hears those sounds which are too bright
+and strong yet for your eyes and ears. Some of these unspeakable things
+you shall perceive with your perishable body; but the more perfect and
+glorious remain hidden to our mortal senses, be they ever so keen and
+exquisite. Believe me, you shall reach that state before I do. My poor
+soul is still bound to earth by some slender bonds of pleasure and
+contemptible pain, fine indeed as threads of gossamer, and soon, I
+trust, to be shaken off for ever. Yet am I bound and not utterly free.
+You, my brother, have been wrenched suddenly from the life of the body
+to the life of the soul. In you the vile desire to live for living's
+sake will soon be dead, if it is not dead already. Your soul, drawn
+strongly upward to other spheres, is well nigh loosed from love of life
+and fear of death. If at this moment you could lie down and die, you
+would meet your end joyfully. Very subtle are the fast-vanishing links
+between you and the world; very thin and impalpable the faint shadows
+that mar to your vision those transcendent hues of heavenly glory you
+shall so soon behold. Look forward, look upward, look onward--never once
+look back, and your waiting shall not be long, nor her watching many
+days. She stands before you, beckoning and praying that you tarry not.
+See that you do her bidding faithfully, as being near the blessed end,
+and fearful of losing even one moment in the attainment of what you
+seek."
+
+"Fear not, Ram Lal. My determination shall not fail me, nor my courage
+waver, until all is reached."
+
+The light of another world was on the beautiful brow and features as he
+looked full at his future teacher. What strange powers these adept
+brethren have! What marvellous magnetism over the souls of lesser
+men--whereby they turn sorrow into gladness, and defeat into triumph by
+mere words. I myself, bound by thought and word and deed to the lesser
+life, was not unmoved by the glorious promises that flowed with glowing
+eloquence from the lips of that gray old man in the early morning. They
+moved toward the door. Ram Lal spoke as he turned away.
+
+"We leave you, friend Griggs, but we will return this evening and bid
+you farewell." So I was left alone. Another comforter had taken my
+place; one knowing human nature better, and well versed in the learning
+of the spirit. One of that small band of high priests who in all ages
+and nations and religions and societies have been the mediators between
+time and eternity, to cheer and comfort the broken-hearted, to rebuke
+him who would lose his own soul, to speed the awakening spirit in its
+heavenward flight.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As I sat in my room that night the door opened and they were with me,
+standing hand in hand.
+
+"My friend," said Isaacs, "I have come to bid you farewell. You will
+never see me again. I am here once more to thank you, from the bottom of
+my heart, for your friendship and kind offices, for the strength of your
+arm in the hour of need, and for the gold of your words in time of
+uncertainty."
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "I know little of the journey you are undertaking, and
+I cannot go with you. This I know, that you are very near to a life I
+cannot hope for; and I pray God that you may speed quickly to the
+desired end, that you may attain that happiness which your brave soul
+and honest heart so well deserve. Once more, then, I offer you my
+fullest service, if there is anything that I still can do."
+
+"There is nothing," he answered, "though if there were I know you would
+do it gladly and entirely. I have bestowed all my worldly possessions on
+the one man besides yourself to whom I owe a debt of gratitude--John
+Westonhaugh. Had I known you less well, I would have made you a sharer
+in my forsaken wealth. Only this I beg of you. Take this gem and keep it
+always for my sake. No--do not look at it in that way. Do not consider
+its value. It is to recall one who will often think of you, for you have
+been a great deal to me in this month."
+
+"I would I might have been more," I said, and it was all I could say,
+for my voice failed me.
+
+"Think of me," he continued, and the bright light shone through his face
+in the dusk, "think of me, not as you see me now, or as I was this
+morning, bowed beneath a great sorrow, but as looking forward to a
+happiness that transcends this mortal joy that I have lost, even as the
+glory of things celestial transcends the glory of the terrestrial. Think
+of me, not as mourning the departed day, but as watching longingly for
+the first faint dawn of the day eternal. Above all, think of me not as
+alone but as wedded for all ages to her who has gone before me."
+
+Ram Lal laid his hand on my arm and looked long into my eyes.
+
+"Farewell for the present, my chance acquaintance," he said, "and
+remember that in me you have a friend. The day may come when you too
+will be in dire distress, beyond the skill of mere solitude and books to
+soothe. Farewell, and may all good things be with you."
+
+Isaacs laid his two hands on my shoulders, and once more I met the
+wondrous lustre of his eyes, now veiled but not darkened with the last
+look of his tender friendship.
+
+"Good-bye, my dear Griggs. You have been the instructor and the genius
+of my love. Learn yourself the lessons you can teach others so well. Be
+yourself what you would have made me."
+
+One last loving look--one more pressure of the reluctant fingers, and
+those two went out, hand in hand, under the clear stars, and I saw them
+no more.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+Footnote 1: Sir Gore Ousely, _Notices of the Persian Poets_.
+
+Footnote 2: A fact, as is well known.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13340 ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Mr. Isaacs
+
+Author: F. Marion Crawford
+
+Release Date: August 31, 2004 [EBook #13340]
+[Last updated: September 24, 2015]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. ISAACS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+MR. ISAACS
+A TALE OF MODERN INDIA
+
+BY F. MARION CRAWFORD
+
+
+1882
+
+
+
+BY F. MARION CRAWFORD
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+In spite of Jean-Jacques and his school, men are not everywhere born
+free, any more than they are everywhere in chains, unless these be of
+their own individual making. Especially in countries where excessive
+liberty or excessive tyranny favours the growth of that class most
+usually designated as adventurers, it is true that man, by his own
+dominant will, or by a still more potent servility, may rise to any
+grade of elevation; as by the absence of these qualities he may fall to
+any depth in the social scale.
+
+Wherever freedom degenerates into license, the ruthless predatory
+instinct of certain bold and unscrupulous persons may, and almost
+certainly will, place at their disposal the goods, the honours, and the
+preferment justly the due of others; and in those more numerous and
+certainly more unhappy countries, where the rule of the tyrant is
+substituted for the law of God, the unwearying flatterer, patient under
+blows and abstemious under high-feeding, will assuredly make his way to
+power.
+
+Without doubt the Eastern portion of the world, where an hereditary, or
+at least traditional, despotism has never ceased since the earliest
+social records, and where a mode of thought infinitely more degrading
+than any feudalism has become ingrained in the blood and soul of the
+chief races, presents far more favourable conditions to the growth and
+development of the true adventurer than are offered in any free country.
+For in a free country the majority can rise and overthrow the favourite
+of fortune, whereas in a despotic country they cannot. Of Eastern
+countries in this condition, Russia is the nearest to us; though perhaps
+we understand the Chinese character better than the Russian. The Ottoman
+empire and Persia are, and always have been, swayed by a clever band of
+flatterers acting through their nominal master; while India, under the
+kindly British rule, is a perfect instance of a ruthless military
+despotism, where neither blood nor stratagem have been spared in
+exacting the uttermost farthing from the miserable serfs--they are
+nothing else--and in robbing and defrauding the rich of their just and
+lawful possessions. All these countries teem with stories of adventurers
+risen from the ranks to the command of armies, of itinerant merchants
+wedded to princesses, of hardy sailors promoted to admiralties, of
+half-educated younger sons of English peers dying in the undisputed
+possession of ill-gotten millions. With the strong personal despotism of
+the First Napoleon began a new era of adventurers in France; not of
+elegant and accomplished adventurers like M. de St. Germain, Cagliostro,
+or the Comtesse de la Motte, but regular rag-tag-and-bobtail cut-throat
+moss-troopers, who carved and slashed themselves into notice by sheer
+animal strength and brutality.
+
+There is infinitely more grace and romance about the Eastern adventurer.
+There is very little slashing and hewing to be done there, and what
+there is, is managed as quietly as possible. When a Sultan must be rid
+of the last superfluous wife, she is quietly done up in a parcel with a
+few shot, and dropped into the Bosphorus without more ado. The good
+old-fashioned Rajah of Mudpoor did his killing without scandal, and when
+the kindly British wish to keep a secret, the man is hanged in a quiet
+place where there are no reporters. As in the Greek tragedies, the
+butchery is done behind the scenes, and there is no glory connected with
+the business, only gain. The ghosts of the slain sometimes appear in the
+columns of the recalcitrant Indian newspapers and gibber a feeble little
+"Otototoi!" after the manner of the shade of Dareios, but there is very
+little heed paid to such visitations by the kindly British. But though
+the "raw head and bloody bones" type of adventurer is little in demand
+in the East, there is plenty of scope for the intelligent and wary
+flatterer, and some room for the honest man of superior gifts, who is
+sufficiently free from Oriental prejudice to do energetically the thing
+which comes in his way, distancing all competitors for the favours of
+fortune by sheer industry and unerring foresight.
+
+I once knew a man in the East who was neither a flatterer nor
+freebooter, but who by his own masterly perseverance worked his way to
+immense wealth, and to such power as wealth commands, though his high
+view of the social aims of mankind deterred him from mixing in political
+questions. _Bon chien chasse de race_ is a proverb which applies to
+horses, cattle, and men, as well as to dogs; and in this man, who was a
+noble type of the Aryan race, the qualities which have made that race
+dominant were developed in the highest degree. The sequel, indeed, might
+lead the ethnographer into a labyrinth of conjecture, but the story is
+too tempting a one for me to forego telling it, although the said
+ethnographer should lose his wits in striving to solve the puzzle.
+
+In September, 1879, I was at Simla in the lower Himalayas,--at the time
+of the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari at Kabul,--being called there in
+the interests of an Anglo-Indian newspaper, of which I was then editor.
+In other countries, notably in Europe and in America, there are hundreds
+of spots by the sea-shore, or on the mountain-side, where specific ills
+may be cured by their corresponding antidotes of air or water, or both.
+Following the aristocratic and holy example of the Bishops of Salzburg
+for the last eight centuries, the sovereigns of the Continent are told
+that the air and waters of Hofgastein are the only nenuphar for the
+over-taxed brain in labour beneath a crown. The self-indulgent sybarite
+is recommended to Ems, or Wiesbaden, or Aix-la-Chapelle, and the
+quasi-incurable sensualist to Aix in Savoy, or to Karlsbad in Bohemia.
+In our own magnificent land Bethesdas abound, in every state, from the
+attractive waters of lotus-eating Saratoga to the magnetic springs of
+Lansing, Michigan; from Virginia, the carcanet of sources, the heaving,
+the warm, the hot sulphur springs, the white sulphur, the alum, to the
+hot springs of Arkansas, the Ultima Thule of our migratory and
+despairing humanity. But in India, whatever the ailing, low fever, high
+fever, "brandy pawnee" fever, malaria caught in the chase of tigers in
+the Terai, or dysentery imbibed on the banks of the Ganges, there is
+only one cure, the "hills;" and chief of "hill-stations" is Simla.
+
+On the hip rather than on the shoulder of the aspiring Himalayas,
+Simla--or Shumla, as the natives call it--presents during the wet
+monsoon period a concourse of pilgrims more varied even than the
+Bagnères de Bigorre in the south of France, where the gay Frenchman asks
+permission of the lady with whom he is conversing to leave her abruptly,
+in order to part with his remaining lung, the loss of the first having
+brought him there. "Pardon, madame," said he, "je m'en vais cracher mon
+autre poumon."
+
+To Simla the whole supreme Government migrates for the summer--Viceroy,
+council, clerks, printers, and hangers-on. Thither the high official
+from the plains takes his wife, his daughters, and his liver. There the
+journalists congregate to pick up the news that oozes through the
+pent-house of Government secrecy, and failing such scant drops of
+information, to manufacture as much as is necessary to fill the columns
+of their dailies. On the slopes of "Jako"--the wooded eminence that
+rises above the town--the enterprising German establishes his
+concert-hall and his beer-garden; among the rhododendron trees Madame
+Blavatzky, Colonel Olcott and Mr. Sinnett move mysteriously in the
+performance of their wonders; and the wealthy tourist from America, the
+botanist from Berlin, and the casual peer from Great Britain, are not
+wanting to complete the motley crowd. There are no roads in Simla proper
+where it is possible to drive, excepting one narrow way, reserved when I
+was there, and probably still set apart, for the exclusive delectation
+of the Viceroy. Every one rides--man, woman, and child; and every
+variety of horseflesh may be seen in abundance, from Lord Steepleton
+Kildare's thoroughbreds to the broad-sterned equestrian vessel of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, the Revenue Commissioner of Mudnugger in Bengal. But I
+need not now dwell long on the description of this highly-favoured spot,
+where Baron de Zach might have added force to his demonstration of the
+attraction of mountains for the pendulum. Having achieved my orientation
+and established my servants and luggage in one of the reputed hotels, I
+began to look about me, and, like an intelligent American observer, as I
+pride myself that I am, I found considerable pleasure in studying out
+the character of such of the changing crowd on the verandah and on the
+mall as caught my attention.
+
+At last the dinner-hour came. With the rest I filed into the large
+dining-room and took my seat. The place allotted to me was the last at
+one side of the long table, and the chair opposite was vacant, though
+two remarkably well-dressed servants, in turbans of white and gold,
+stood with folded arms behind it, apparently awaiting their master. Nor
+was he long in coming. I never remember to have been so much struck by
+the personal appearance of any man in my life. He sat down opposite me,
+and immediately one of his two servants, or _khitmatgars_, as they are
+called, retired, and came back bearing a priceless goblet and flask of
+the purest old Venetian mould. Filling the former, he ceremoniously
+presented his master with a brimming beaker of cold water. A
+water-drinker in India is always a phenomenon, but a water-drinker who
+did the thing so artistically was such a manifestation as I had never
+seen. I was interested beyond the possibility of holding my peace, and
+as I watched the man's abstemious meal,--for he ate little,--I
+contrasted him with our neighbours at the board, who seemed to be vying,
+like the captives of Circe, to ascertain by trial who could swallow the
+most beef and mountain mutton, and who could absorb the most
+"pegs"--those vile concoctions of spirits, ice, and soda-water, which
+have destroyed so many splendid constitutions under the tropical sun. As
+I watched him an impression came over me that he must be an Italian. I
+scanned his appearance narrowly, and watched for a word that should
+betray his accent. He spoke to his servant in Hindustani, and I noticed
+at once the peculiar sound of the dental consonants, never to be
+acquired by a northern-born person.
+
+Before I go farther, let me try and describe Mr. Isaacs; I certainly
+could not have done so satisfactorily after my first meeting, but
+subsequent acquaintance, and the events I am about to chronicle, threw
+me so often in his society, and gave me such ample opportunities of
+observation, that the minutest details of his form and feature, as well
+as the smallest peculiarities of his character and manner, are indelibly
+graven in my memory.
+
+Isaacs was a man of more than medium stature, though he would never be
+spoken of as tall. An easy grace marked his movements at all times,
+whether deliberate or vehement,--and he often went to each extreme,--a
+grace which no one acquainted with the science of the human frame would
+be at a loss to explain for a moment. The perfect harmony of all the
+parts, the even symmetry of every muscle, the equal distribution of a
+strength, not colossal and overwhelming, but ever ready for action, the
+natural courtesy of gesture--all told of a body in which true proportion
+of every limb and sinew were at once the main feature and the pervading
+characteristic. This infinitely supple and swiftly-moving figure was but
+the pedestal, as it were, for the noble face and nobler brain to which
+it owed its life and majestic bearing. A long oval face of a wondrous
+transparent olive tint, and of a decidedly Oriental type. A prominent
+brow and arched but delicate eyebrows fitly surmounted a nose smoothly
+aquiline, but with the broad well-set nostrils that bespeak active
+courage. His mouth, often smiling, never laughed, and the lips, though
+closely meeting, were not thin and writhing and cunning, as one so often
+sees in eastern faces, but rather inclined to a generous Greek fullness,
+the curling lines ever ready to express a sympathy or a scorn which, the
+commanding features above seemed to control and curb, as the stern,
+square-elbowed Arab checks his rebellious horse, or gives him the rein,
+at will.
+
+But though Mr. Isaacs was endowed with exceptional gifts of beauty by a
+bountiful nature, those I have enumerated were by no means what first
+attracted the attention of the observer. I have spoken of his graceful
+figure and perfect Iranian features, but I hardly noticed either at our
+first meeting. I was enthralled and fascinated by his eyes. I once saw
+in France a jewel composed of six precious stones, each a gem of great
+value, so set that they appeared to form but one solid mass, yielding a
+strange radiance that changed its hue at every movement, and multiplied
+the sunlight a thousand-fold. Were I to seek a comparison for my
+friend's eyes, I might find an imperfect one in this masterpiece of the
+jeweler's art. They were dark and of remarkable size; when half closed
+they were long and almond-shaped; when suddenly opened in anger or
+surprise they had the roundness and bold keenness of the eagle's sight.
+There was a depth of life and vital light in them that told of the
+pent-up force of a hundred generations of Persian magii. They blazed
+with the splendour of a god-like nature, needing neither meat nor strong
+drink to feed its power.
+
+My mind was made up. Between his eyes, his temperance, and his dental
+consonants, he certainly might be an Italian. Being myself a native of
+Italy, though an American by parentage, I addressed him in the language,
+feeling comparatively sure of his answer. To my surprise, and somewhat
+to my confusion, he answered in two words of modern Greek--"[Greek: _den
+enoêsa_]"--"I do not understand." He evidently supposed I was speaking a
+Greek dialect, and answered in the one phrase of that tongue which he
+knew, and not a good phrase at that.
+
+"Pardon me," said I in English, "I believed you a countryman, and
+ventured to address you in my native tongue. May I inquire whether you
+speak English?"
+
+I was not a little astonished when he answered me in pure English, and
+with an evident command of the language. We fell into conversation, and
+I found him pungent, ready, impressive, and most entertaining,
+thoroughly acquainted with Anglo-Indian and English topics, and
+apparently well read. An Indian dinner is a long affair, so that we had
+ample time to break the ice, an easy matter always for people who are
+not English, and when, after the fruit, he invited me to come down and
+smoke with him in his rooms, I gladly availed myself of the opportunity.
+We separated for a few moments, and I despatched my servant to the
+manager of the hotel to ascertain the name of the strange gentleman who
+looked like an Italian and spoke like a fellow of Balliol. Having
+discovered that he was a "Mr. Isaacs," I wended my way through verandahs
+and corridors, preceded by a _chuprassie_ and followed by my
+pipe-bearer, till I came to his rooms.
+
+The fashion of the hookah or narghyle in India has long disappeared from
+the English portion of society. Its place has been assumed and usurped
+by the cheroot from Burmah or Trichinopoli, by the cigarette from Egypt,
+or the more expensive Manilla and Havana cigars. I, however, in an early
+burst of Oriental enthusiasm, had ventured upon the obsolete fashion,
+and so charmed was I by the indolent aromatic enjoyment I got from the
+rather cumbrous machine, that I never gave it up while in the East. So
+when Mr. Isaacs invited me to come and smoke in his rooms, or rather
+before his rooms, for the September air was still warm in the hills, I
+ordered my "bearer" to bring down the apparatus and to prepare it for
+use. I myself passed through the glass door in accordance with my new
+acquaintance's invitation, curious to see the kind of abode in which a
+man who struck me as being so unlike his fellows spent his summer
+months. For some minutes after I entered I did not speak, and indeed I
+hardly breathed. It seemed to me that I was suddenly transported into
+the subterranean chambers whither the wicked magician sent Aladdin in
+quest of the lamp. A soft but strong light filled the room, though I did
+not immediately comprehend whence it came, nor did I think to look, so
+amazed was I by the extraordinary splendour of the objects that met my
+eyes. In the first glance it appeared as if the walls and the ceiling
+were lined with gold and precious stones; and in reality it was almost
+literally the truth. The apartment, I soon saw, was small,--for India at
+least,--and every available space, nook and cranny, were filled with
+gold and jeweled ornaments, shining weapons, or uncouth but resplendent
+idols. There were sabres in scabbards set from end to end with diamonds
+and sapphires, with cross hilts of rubies in massive gold mounting, the
+spoil of some worsted rajah or Nawab of the mutiny. There were narghyles
+four feet high, crusted with gems and curiously wrought work from
+Baghdad or Herat; water flasks of gold and drinking cups of jade;
+yataghans from Bourn and idols from the far East. Gorgeous lamps of the
+octagonal Oriental shape hung from the ceiling, and, fed by aromatic
+oils, shed their soothing light on all around. The floor was covered
+with a rich soft pile, and low divans were heaped with cushions of
+deep-tinted silk and gold. On the floor, in a corner which seemed the
+favourite resting-place of my host, lay open two or three superbly
+illuminated Arabic manuscripts, and from a chafing dish of silver near
+by a thin thread of snow-white smoke sent up its faint perfume through
+the still air. To find myself transported from the conventionalities of
+a stiff and starched Anglo-Indian hotel to such a scene was something
+novel and delicious in the extreme. No wonder I stood speechless and
+amazed. Mr. Isaacs remained near the door while I breathed in the
+strange sights to which he had introduced me. At last I turned, and from
+contemplating the magnificence of inanimate wealth I was riveted by the
+majestic face and expression of the beautiful living creature who, by a
+turn of his wand, or, to speak prosaically, by an invitation to smoke,
+had lifted me out of humdrum into a land peopled with all the effulgent
+phantasies and the priceless realities of the magic East. As I gazed, it
+seemed as if the illumination from the lamps above were caught up and
+flung back with the vitality of living fire by his dark eyes, in which
+more than ever I saw and realised the inexplicable blending of the
+precious stones with the burning spark of a divine soul breathing
+within. For some moments we stood thus; he evidently amused at my
+astonishment, and I fascinated and excited by the problem presented me
+for solution in his person and possessions.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, "you are naturally surprised at my little Eldorado,
+so snugly hidden away in the lower story of a commonplace hotel. Perhaps
+you are surprised at finding me here, too. But come out into the air,
+your hookah is blazing, and so are the stars."
+
+I followed him into the verandah, where the long cane chairs of the
+country were placed, and taking the tube of the pipe from the solemn
+Mussulman whose duty it was to prepare it, I stretched myself out in
+that indolent lazy peace which is only to be enjoyed in tropical
+countries. Silent and for the nonce perfectly happy, I slowly inhaled
+the fragrant vapour of tobacco and aromatic herbs and honey with which
+the hookah is filled. No sound save the monotonous bubbling and
+chuckling of the smoke through the water, or the gentle rustle of the
+leaves on the huge rhododendron-tree which reared its dusky branches to
+the night in the middle of the lawn. There was no moon, though the stars
+were bright and clear, the foaming path of the milky way stretching
+overhead like the wake of some great heavenly ship; a soft mellow lustre
+from the lamps in Isaacs' room threw a golden stain half across the
+verandah, and the chafing dish within, as the light breeze fanned the
+coals, sent out a little cloud of perfume which mingled pleasantly with
+the odour of the _chillum_ in the pipe. The turbaned servant squatted on
+the edge of the steps at a little distance, peering into the dusk, as
+Indians will do for hours together. Isaacs lay quite still in his chair,
+his hands above his head, the light through the open door just falling
+on the jeweled mouthpiece of his narghyle. He sighed--a sigh only half
+regretful, half contented, and seemed about to speak, but the spirit did
+not move him, and the profound silence continued. For my part, I was so
+much absorbed in my reflections on the things I had seen that I had
+nothing to say, and the strange personality of the man made me wish to
+let him begin upon his own subject, if perchance I might gain some
+insight into his mind and mode of thought. There are times when silence
+seems to be sacred, even unaccountably so. A feeling is in us that to
+speak would be almost a sacrilege, though we are unable to account in
+any way for the pause. At such moments every one seems instinctively to
+feel the same influence, and the first person who breaks the spell
+either experiences a sensation of awkwardness, and says something very
+foolish, or, conscious of the odds against him, delivers himself of a
+sentiment of ponderous severity and sententiousness. As I smoked,
+watching the great flaming bowl of the water pipe, a little coal, forced
+up by the expansion of the heat, toppled over the edge and fell tinkling
+on the metal foot below. The quick ear of the servant on the steps
+caught the sound, and he rose and came forward to trim the fire. Though
+he did not speak, his act was a diversion. The spell was broken.
+
+"The Germans," said Isaacs, "say that an angel is passing over the
+house. I do not believe it."
+
+I was surprised at the remark. It did not seem quite natural for Mr.
+Isaacs to begin talking about the Germans, and from the tone of his
+voice I could almost have fancied he thought the proverb was held as an
+article of faith by the Teutonic races in general.
+
+"I do not believe it," he repeated reflectively. "There is no such thing
+as an angel 'passing'; it is a misuse of terms. If there are such things
+as angels, their changes of place cannot be described as motion, seeing
+that from the very nature of things such changes must be instantaneous,
+not involving time as a necessary element. Have you ever thought much
+about angels? By-the-bye, pardon my abruptness, but as there is no one
+to introduce us, what is your name?"
+
+"My name is Griggs--Paul Griggs. I am an American, but was born in
+Italy. I know your name is Isaacs; but, frankly, I do not comprehend how
+you came by the appellation, for I do not believe you are either,
+English, American, or Jewish of origin."
+
+"Quite right," he replied, "I am neither Yankee, Jew, nor beef-eater; in
+fact, I am not a European at all. And since you probably would not guess
+my nationality, I will tell you that I am a Persian, a pure Iranian, a
+degenerate descendant of Zoroaster, as you call him, though by religion
+I follow the prophet, whose name be blessed," he added, with an
+expression of face I did not then understand. "I call myself Isaacs for
+convenience in business. There is no concealment about it, as many know
+my story; but it has an attractive Semitic twang that suite my
+occupation, and is simpler and shorter for Englishmen to write than
+Abdul Hafizben-Isâk, which is my lawful name."
+
+"Since you lay sufficient store by your business to have been willing to
+change your name, may I inquire what your business is? It seems to be a
+lucrative one, to judge by the accumulations of wealth you have allowed
+me a glimpse of."
+
+"Yes. Wealth is my occupation. I am a dealer in precious stones and
+similar objects of value. Some day I will show you my diamonds; they are
+worth seeing."
+
+It is no uncommon thing to meet in India men of all Asiatic
+nationalities buying and selling stones of worth, and enriching
+themselves in the business. I supposed he had come with a caravan by way
+of Baghdad, and had settled. But again, his perfect command of English,
+as pure as though he had been educated at Eton and Oxford, his extremely
+careful, though quiet, English dress, and especially his polished
+manners, argued a longer residence in the European civilisation of his
+adopted home than agreed with his young looks, supposing him to have
+come to India at sixteen or seventeen. A pardonable curiosity led me to
+remark this.
+
+"You must have come here very young," I said. "A thoroughbred Persian
+does not learn to speak English like a university man, and to quote
+German proverbs, in a residence of a few years; unless, indeed, he
+possess the secret by which the initiated absorb knowledge without
+effort, and assimilate it without the laborious process of intellectual
+digestion."
+
+"I am older than I look--considerably. I have been in India twelve
+years, and with a natural talent for languages, stimulated by constant
+intercourse with Englishmen who know their own speech well, I have
+succeeded, as you say, in acquiring a certain fluency and mastery of
+accent. I have had an adventurous life enough. I see no reason why I
+should not tell you something of it, especially as you are not English,
+and can therefore hear me with an unprejudiced ear. But, really, do you
+care for a yarn?"
+
+I begged him to proceed, and I beckoned the servant to arrange our
+pipes, that we might not be disturbed. When this was done, Isaacs began.
+
+"I am going to try and make a long story short. We Persians like to
+listen to long stories, as we like to sit and look on at a wedding
+nautch. But we are radically averse to dancing or telling long tales
+ourselves, so I shall condense as much as possible. I was born in
+Persia, of Persian parents, as I told you, but I will not burden your
+memory with names you are not familiar with. My father was a merchant in
+prosperous circumstances, and a man of no mean learning in Arabic and
+Persian literature. I soon showed a strong taste for books, and every
+opportunity was given me for pursuing my inclinations in this respect.
+At the early age of twelve I was kidnapped by a party of slave-dealers,
+and carried off into Roum--Turkey you call it. I will not dwell upon my
+tears and indignation. We travelled rapidly, and my captors treated me
+well, as they invariably do their prizes, well knowing how much of the
+value of a slave depends on his plump and sleek condition when brought
+to market. In Istamboul I was soon disposed of, my fair skin and
+accomplishments as a writer and a singer of Persian songs fetching a
+high price.
+
+"It is no uncommon thing for boys to be stolen and sold in this way. A
+rich pacha will pay almost anything. The fate of such slaves is not
+generally a happy one." Isaacs paused a moment, and drew in two or three
+long breaths of smoke. "Do you see that bright star in the south?" he
+said, pointing with his long jewel-set mouthpiece.
+
+"Yes. It must be Sirius."
+
+"That is my star. Do you believe in the agency of the stars in human
+affairs? Of course you do not; you are a European: how should you? But
+to proceed. The stars, or the fates or Kâli, or whatever you like to
+term your kismet, your portion of good and evil, allotted me a somewhat
+happier existence than generally falls to the share of young slaves in
+Roum. I was bought by an old man of great wealth and of still greater
+learning, who was so taken with my proficiency in Arabic and in writing
+that he resolved to make of me a pupil instead of a servant to carry his
+coffee and pipe, or a slave to bear the heavier burden of his vices.
+Nothing better could have happened to me. I was installed in his house
+and treated with exemplary kindness, though he kept me rigorously at
+work with my books. I need not tell you that with such a master I made
+fair progress, and that at the age of twenty-one I was, for a Turk, a
+young man of remarkably good education. Then my master died suddenly,
+and I was thrown into great distress. I was of course nothing but a
+slave, and liable to be sold at any time. I escaped. Active and
+enduring, though never possessing any vast muscular strength, I bore
+with ease the hardships of a long journey on foot with little food and
+scant lodging. Falling in with a band of pilgrims, I recognised the
+wisdom of joining them on their march to Mecca. I was, of course, a
+sound Mohammedan, as I am to this day, and my knowledge of the Koran
+soon gained me some reputation in the caravan. I was considered a
+creditable addition, and altogether an eligible pilgrim. My exceptional
+physique protected me from the disease and exhaustion of which not a few
+of our number died by the wayside, and the other pilgrims, in
+consideration of my youth and piety, gave me willingly the few handfuls
+of rice and dates that I needed to support life and strength.
+
+"You have read about Mecca; and your _hadji_ barber, who of course has
+been there, has doubtless related his experiences to you scores of times
+in the plains, as he does everywhere. As you may imagine, I had no
+intention of returning towards Roum with my companions. When I had
+fulfilled all the observances required, I made my way to Yeddah and
+shipped on board an Arabian craft, touching at Mocha, and bearing coffee
+to Bombay. I had to work my passage, and as I had no experience of the
+sea, save in the caïques of the Golden Horn, you will readily conceive
+that the captain of the vessel had plenty of fault to find. But my
+agility and quick comprehension stood me in good stead, and in a few
+days I had learned enough to haul on a rope or to reef the great latteen
+sails as well as any of them. The knowledge that I was just returning
+from a pilgrimage to Mecca obtained for me also a certain respect among
+the crew. It makes very little difference what the trade, business, or
+branch of learning; in mechanical labour, or intellectual effort, the
+educated man is always superior to the common labourer. One who is in
+the habit of applying his powers in the right way will carry his system
+into any occupation, and it will help him as much to handle a rope as to
+write a poem.
+
+"At last we landed in Bombay. I was in a wretched condition. What little
+clothes I had had were in tatters; hard work and little food had made me
+even thinner than my youthful age and slight frame tolerated. I had in
+all about three pence money in small copper coins, carefully hoarded
+against a rainy day. I could not speak a word of the Indian dialects,
+still less of English, and I knew no one save the crew of the vessel I
+had come in, as poor as I, but saved from starvation by the slender
+pittance allowed them on land. I wandered about all day through the
+bazaars, occasionally speaking to some solemn looking old shopkeeper or
+long-bearded Mussulman, who, I hoped, might understand a little Arabic.
+But not one did I find. At evening I bathed in the tank of a temple full
+from the recent rains, and I lay down supperless to sleep on the steps
+of the great mosque. As I lay on the hard stones I looked up to my star,
+and took comfort, and slept. That night a dream came to me. I thought I
+was still awake and lying on the steps, watching the wondrous ruler of
+my fate. And as I looked he glided down from his starry throne with an
+easy swinging motion, like a soap-bubble settling to the earth. And the
+star came and poised among the branches of the palm-tree over the tank,
+opalescent, unearthly, heart shaking. His face was as the face of the
+prophet, whose name be blessed, and his limbs were as the limbs of the
+Hameshaspenthas of old. Garments he had none, being of heavenly birth,
+but he was clothed with light as with a garment, and the crest of his
+silver hair was to him a crown of glory. And he spoke with the tongues
+of a thousand lutes, sweet strong tones, that rose and fell on the night
+air as the song of a lover beneath the lattice of his mistress, the song
+of the mighty star wooing the beautiful sleeping earth. And then he
+looked on me and said: 'Abdul Hafiz, be of good cheer. I am with thee
+and will not forsake thee, even to the day when thou shalt pass over the
+burning bridge of death. Thou shalt touch the diamond of the rivers and
+the pearl of the sea, and they shall abide with thee, and great shall be
+thy wealth. And the sunlight which is in the diamond shall warm thee and
+comfort thy heart; and the moonlight which is in the pearl shall give
+thee peace in the night-time, and thy children shall be to thee a
+garland of roses in the land of the unbeliever.' And the star floated
+down from the palm-branches and touched me with his hand, and breathed
+upon my lips the cool breath of the outer firmament, and departed. Then
+I awoke and saw him again in his place far down the horizon, and he was
+alone, for the dawn was in the sky and the lesser lights were
+extinguished. And I rose from the stony stairway that seemed like a bed
+of flowers for the hopeful dream, and I turned westward, and praised
+Allah, and went my way.
+
+"The sun being up, all was life, and the life in me spoke of a most
+capacious appetite. So I cast about for a shop where I might buy a
+little food with my few coppers, and seeing a confectioner spreading out
+his wares, I went near and took stock of the queer balls of flour and
+sugar, and strange oily-looking sweetmeats. Having selected what I
+thought would be within my modest means, I addressed the shopkeeper to
+call his attention, though I knew he would not understand me, and I
+touched with my hand the article I wanted, showing with the other some
+of the small coins I had. As soon as I touched the sweetmeats the man
+became very angry, and bounding from his seat called his neighbours
+together, and they all shouted and screamed at me, and called a man I
+thought to be a soldier, though he looked more like an ape in his long
+loose trousers of dirty black, and his untidy red turban, under which
+cumbrous garments his thin and stunted frame seemed even blacker and
+more contemptible than nature had made them. I afterwards discovered him
+to be one of the Bombay police. He seized me by the arm, and I, knowing
+I had done no wrong, and curious to discover, if possible, what the
+trouble was, accompanied him whither he led me. After waiting many hours
+in a kind of little shed where there were more policemen, I was brought
+before an Englishman. Of course all attempts at explanation were
+useless. I could speak not a word of anything but Arabic and Persian,
+and no one present understood either. At last, when I was in despair,
+trying to muster a few words of Greek I had learned in Istamboul, and
+failing signally therein, an old man with a long beard looked curiously
+in at the door of the crowded court. Some instinct told me to appeal to
+him, and I addressed him in Arabic. To my infinite relief he replied in
+that tongue, and volunteered to be interpreter. In a few moments I
+learned that my crime was that I had _touched_ the sweetmeats on the
+counter.
+
+"In India, as you who have lived here doubtless know, it is a criminal
+offence, punishable by fine or imprisonment, for a non-Hindu person to
+defile the food of even the lowest caste man. To touch one sweetmeat in
+a trayful defiles the whole baking, rendering it all unfit for the use
+of any Hindu, no matter how mean. Knowing nothing of caste and its
+prejudices, it was with the greatest difficulty that the _moolah_, who
+was trying to help me out of my trouble, could make me comprehend
+wherein my wrong-doing lay, and that the English courts, being obliged
+in their own interest to uphold and protect the caste practices of the
+Hindus, at the risk of another mutiny, could not make any exception in
+favour of a stranger unacquainted with Indian customs. So the Englishman
+who presided said he would have to inflict a fine, but being a very
+young man, not yet hardened to the despotic ways of Eastern life, he
+generously paid the fine himself, and gave me a rupee as a present into
+the bargain. It was only two shillings, but as I had not had so much
+money for months I was as grateful as though it had been a hundred. If I
+ever meet him I will requite him, for I owe him all I now possess.
+
+"My case being dismissed, I left the court with the old _moolah_, who
+took me to his house and inquired of my story, having first given me a
+good meal of rice and sweetmeats, and that greatest of luxuries, a
+little pot of fragrant Mocha coffee; he sat in silence while I ate,
+ministering to my wants, and evidently pleased with the good he was
+doing. Then he brought out a package of _birris_, those little
+cigarettes rolled in leaves that they smoke in Bombay, and I told him
+what had happened to me. I implored him to put me in the way of
+obtaining some work by which I could at least support life, and he
+promised to do so, begging me to stay with him until I should be
+independent. The day following I was engaged to pull a punkah in the
+house of an English lawyer connected with an immense lawsuit involving
+one of the Mohammedan principalities. For this irksome work I was to
+receive six rupees--twelve shillings--monthly, but before the month was
+up I was transferred, by the kindness of the English lawyer and the good
+offices of my co-religionist the _moolah_, to the retinue of the Nizam
+of Haiderabad, then in Bombay. Since that time I have never known want.
+
+"I soon mastered enough of the dialects to suit my needs, and applied
+myself to the study of English, for which opportunities were not
+lacking. At the end of two years I could speak the language enough to be
+understood, and my accent from the first was a matter of surprise to
+all; I had also saved out of my gratuities about one hundred rupees.
+Having been conversant with the qualities of many kinds of precious
+stones from my youth up, I determined to invest my economies in a
+diamond or a pearl. Before long I struck a bargain with an old
+_marwarri_ over a small stone, of which I thought he misjudged the
+value, owing to the rough cutting. The fellow was cunning and hard in
+his dealings, but my superior knowledge of diamonds gave me the
+advantage. I paid him ninety-three rupees for the little gem, and sold
+it again in a month for two hundred to a young English 'collector and
+magistrate,' who wanted to make his wife a present. I bought a larger
+stone, and again made nearly a hundred per cent on the money. Then I
+bought two, and so on, until having accumulated sufficient capital, I
+bade farewell to the Court of the Nizam, where my salary never exceeded
+sixteen rupees a month as scribe and Arabic interpreter, and I went my
+way with about two thousand rupees in cash and precious stones. I came
+northwards, and finally settled in Delhi, where I set up as a dealer in
+gems and objects of intrinsic value. It is now twelve years since I
+landed in Bombay. I have never soiled my hands with usury, though I have
+twice advanced large sums at legal interest for purposes I am not at
+liberty to disclose; I have never cheated a customer or underrated a gem
+I bought of a poor man, and my wealth, as you may judge from what you
+have seen, is considerable. Moreover, though in constant intercourse
+with Hindus and English, I have not forfeited my title to be called a
+true believer and a follower of the prophet, whose name be blessed."
+
+Isaacs ceased speaking, and presently the waning moon rose pathetically
+over the crest of the mountains with that curiously doleful look she
+wears after the full is past, as if weeping over the loss of her better
+half. The wind rose and soughed drearily through the rhododendrons and
+the pines; and Kiramat Ali, the pipe-bearer, shivered audibly as he drew
+his long cloth uniform around him. We rose and entered my friend's
+rooms, where the warmth of the lights, the soft rugs and downy cushions,
+invited us temptingly to sit down and continue our conversation. But it
+was late, for Isaacs, like a true Oriental, had not hurried himself over
+his narrative, and it had been nine o'clock when we sat down to smoke.
+So I bade him good-night, and, musing on all I had heard and seen,
+retired to my own apartments, glancing at Sirius and at the
+unhappy-looking moon before I turned in from the verandah.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+In India--in the plains--people rise before dawn, and it is not till
+after some weeks' residence in the cooler atmosphere of the mountains
+that they return to the pernicious habit of allowing the sun to be
+before them. The hours of early morning, when one either mopes about in
+loose flannel clothes, or goes for a gallop on the green _maidán_, are
+without exception the most delicious of the day. I shall have occasion
+hereafter to describe the morning's proceedings in the plains. On the
+day after the events recorded in the last chapter I awoke as usual at
+five o'clock, and meandered out on to the verandah to have a look at the
+hills, so novel and delicious a sight after the endless flats of the
+northwest provinces. It was still nearly dark, but there was a faint
+light in the east, which rapidly grew as I watched it, till, turning the
+angle of the house, I distinguished a snow-peak over the tops of the
+dark rhododendrons, and, while I gazed, the first tinge of distant
+dawning caught the summit, and the beautiful hill blushed, as a fair
+woman, at the kiss of the awakening sun. The old story, the heaven
+wooing the earth with a wondrous shower of gold.
+
+"Prati 'shya sunarî janî"--the exquisite lines of the old Vedic hymn to
+the dawn maiden, rose to my lips. I had never appreciated or felt their
+truth down in the dusty plains, but here, on the free hills, the glad
+welcoming of the morning light seemed to run through every fibre, as
+thousands of years ago the same joyful thrill of returning life inspired
+the pilgrim fathers of the Aryan race. Almost unconsciously, I softly
+intoned the hymn, as I had heard my old Brahmin teacher in Allahabad
+when he came and sat under the porch at daybreak, until I was ready for
+him--
+
+    The lissome heavenly maiden here,
+    Forth flashing from her sister's arms,
+    High heaven's daughter, now is come.
+
+    In rosy garments, shining like
+    A swift bay mare; the twin knights' friend,
+    Mother of all our herds of kine.
+
+    Yea, thou art she, the horseman's friend;
+    Of grazing cattle mother thou,
+    All wealth is thine, thou blushing dawn.
+
+    Thou who hast driven the foeman back,
+    With praise we call on thee to wake
+    In tender reverence, beauteous one.
+
+    The spreading beams of morning light
+    Are countless as our hosts of kine,
+    They fill the atmosphere of space.
+
+    Filling the sky, thou openedst wide
+    The gates of night, thou glorious dawn--
+    Rejoicing-run thy daily race!
+
+    The heaven above thy rays have filled,
+    The broad belovèd room of air,
+    O splendid, brightest maid of morn!
+
+I went indoors again to attend to my correspondence, and presently a
+gorgeously liveried white-bearded _chuprassie_ appeared at the door, and
+bending low as he touched his hand to his forehead, intimated that "if
+the great lord of the earth, the protector of the poor, would turn his
+ear to the humblest of his servants, he would hear of something to his
+advantage."
+
+So saying, he presented a letter from the official with whom I had to
+do, an answer to my note of the previous afternoon, requesting an
+interview. In due course, therefore, the day wore on, and I transacted
+my business, returned to "tiffin," and then went up to my rooms for a
+little quiet. I might have been there an hour, smoking and dreaming over
+a book, when the servant announced a sahib who wanted to see me, and
+Isaacs walked in, redolent of the sunshine without, his luminous eyes
+shining brightly in the darkened room. I was delighted, for I felt my
+wits stagnating in the unwonted idleness of the autumn afternoon, and
+the book I had taken up was not conducive to wakefulness or brilliancy.
+It was a pleasant surprise too. It is not often that an hotel
+acquaintance pushes an intimacy much, and besides I had feared my
+silence during the previous evening might have produced the impression
+of indifference, on which reflection I had resolved to make myself
+agreeable at our next meeting.
+
+Truly, had I asked myself the cause of a certain attraction I felt for
+Mr. Isaacs, it would have been hard to find an answer. I am generally
+extremely shy of persons who begin an acquaintance by making
+confidences, and, in spite of Isaacs' charm of manner, I had certainly
+speculated on his reasons for suddenly telling an entire stranger his
+whole story. My southern birth had not modified the northern character
+born in me, though it gave me the more urbane veneer of the Italian; and
+the early study of Larochefoucauld and his school had not predisposed me
+to an unlimited belief in the disinterestedness of mankind. Still there
+was something about the man which seemed to sweep away unbelief and
+cynicism and petty distrust, as the bright mountain freshet sweeps away
+the wretched little mud puddles and the dust and impurities from the bed
+of a half dry stream. It was a new sensation and a novel era in my
+experience of humanity, and the desire to get behind that noble
+forehead, and see its inmost workings, was strong beyond the strength of
+puny doubts and preconceived prejudice. Therefore, when Isaacs appeared,
+looking like the sun-god for all his quiet dress of gray and his
+unobtrusive manner, I felt the "little thrill of pleasure" so aptly
+compared by Swinburne to the soft touch of a hand stroking the outer
+hair.
+
+"What a glorious day after all that detestable rain!" were his first
+words. "Three mortal months of water, mud, and Mackintoshes, not to
+mention the agreeable sensation of being glued to a wet saddle with your
+feet in water-buckets, and mountain torrents running up and down the
+inside of your sleeves, in defiance of the laws of gravitation; such is
+life in the monsoon. Pah!" And he threw himself down on a cane chair and
+stretched out his dainty feet, so that the sunlight through the crack of
+the half-closed door might fall comfortingly on his toes, and remind him
+that it was fine outside.
+
+"What have you been doing all day?" I asked, for lack of a better
+question, not having yet recovered from the mental stagnation induced by
+the last number of the serial story I had been reading.
+
+"Oh--I don't know. Are you married?" he asked irrelevantly.
+
+"God forbid!" I answered reverently, and with some show of feeling.
+
+"Amen," was the answer. "As for me--I am, and my wives have been
+quarreling."
+
+"Your wives! Did I understand you to use the plural number?"
+
+"Why, yes. I have three; that is the worst of it. If there were only
+two, they might get on better. You know 'two are company and three are
+none,' as your proverb has it." He said this reflectively, as if
+meditating a reduction in the number.
+
+The application of the proverb to such a case was quite new in my
+recollection. As for the plurality of my friend's conjugal relations, I
+remembered he was a Mohammedan, and my surprise vanished. Isaacs was
+lost in meditation. Suddenly he rose to his feet, and took a cigarette
+from the table.
+
+"I wonder"--the match would not light, and he struggled a moment with
+another. Then he blew a great cloud of smoke, and sat down in a
+different chair--"I wonder whether a fourth would act as a fly-wheel,"
+and he looked straight at me, as if asking my opinion.
+
+I had never been in direct relations with a Mussulman of education and
+position. To be asked point-blank whether I thought four wives better
+than three on general principles, and quite independently of the
+contemplated spouse, was a little embarrassing. He seemed perfectly
+capable of marrying another before dinner for the sake of peace, and I
+do not believe he would have considered it by any means a bad move.
+
+"Diamond cut diamond," I said. "You too have proverbs, and one of them
+is that a man is better sitting than standing; better lying than
+sitting; better dead than lying down. Now I should apply that same
+proverb to marriage. A man is, by a similar successive reasoning, better
+with no wife at all than with three."
+
+His subtle mind caught the flaw instantly. "To be without a wife at all
+would be about as conducive to happiness as to be dead. Negative
+happiness, very negative."
+
+"Negative happiness is better than positive discomfort."
+
+"Come, come," he answered, "we are bandying terms and words, as if empty
+breath amounted to anything but inanity. Do you really doubt the value
+of the institution of marriage?"
+
+"No. Marriage is a very good thing when two people are so poor that they
+depend on each other, mutually, for daily bread, or if they are rich
+enough to live apart. For a man in my own position marriage would be the
+height of folly; an act of rashness only second to deliberate suicide.
+Now, you are rich, and if you had but one wife, she living in Delhi and
+you in Simla, you would doubtless be very happy."
+
+"There is something in that," said Isaacs. "She might mope and beat the
+servants, but she could not quarrel if she were alone. Besides, it is so
+much easier to look after one camel than three. I think I must try it."
+
+There was a pause, during which he seemed settling the destiny of the
+two who were to be shelved in favour of a monogamic experiment.
+Presently he asked if I had brought any horses, and hearing I had not,
+offered me a mount, and proposed we should ride round Jako, and perhaps,
+if there were time, take a look at Annandale in the valley, where there
+was polo, and a racing-ground. I gladly accepted, and Isaacs despatched
+one of my servants, the faithful Kiramat Ali, to order the horses.
+Meantime the conversation turned on the expedition to Kabul to avenge
+the death of Cavagnari. I found Isaacs held the same view that I did in
+regard to the whole business. He thought the sending of four Englishmen,
+with a handful of native soldiers of the guide regiment to protect them,
+a piece of unparalleled folly, on a par with the whole English policy in
+regard to Afghanistan.
+
+"You English--pardon me, I forgot you did not belong to them--the
+English, then, have performed most of their great acts of valour as a
+direct consequence of having wantonly exposed themselves in situations
+where no sane man would have placed himself. Look at Balaclava; think of
+the things they did in the mutiny, and in the first Afghan war; look at
+the mutiny itself, the result of a hair-brained idea that a country like
+India could be held for ever with no better defences than the
+trustworthiness of native officers, and the gratitude of the people for
+the 'kindly British rule.' Poor Cavagnari! when he was here last summer,
+before leaving on his mission, he said several times he should never
+came back. And yet no better man could have been chosen, whether for
+politics or fighting; if only they had had the sense to protect him."
+
+Having delivered himself of this eulogy, my friend dropped his exhausted
+cigarette, lit another, and appeared again absorbed in the triangulation
+of his matrimonial problem. I imagined him weighing the question whether
+he should part with Zobeida and Zuleika and keep Anima, or send Zuleika
+and Amina about their business, and keep Zobeida to be a light in his
+household. At last Kiramat Ali, on the watch in the verandah, announced
+the saices with the horses, and we descended.
+
+I had expected that a man of Isaacs' tastes and habits would not be
+stingy about his horseflesh, and so was prepared for the character of
+the animals that awaited us. They were two superb Arab stallions, one of
+them being a rare specimen of the weight-carrying kind, occasionally
+seen in the far East. Small head, small feet, and feather-tailed, but
+broad in the quarters and deep in the chest, able to carry a
+twelve-stone man for hours at the stretching, even gallop, that never
+trembles and never tires; surefooted as a mule, and tender-tempered as a
+baby.
+
+So we mounted the gentle creatures and rode away. The mountain on which
+Simla is situated has a double summit, like a Swiss peak, the one higher
+than the other. On the lower height and the neck between the two is
+built the town, and the bungalows used as offices and residences for the
+Government officials cover a very considerable, area. "Jako," the higher
+eminence, is thickly covered with a forest of primeval rhododendrons and
+pines, and though there are outlying bungalows and villas scattered
+about among the trees near the town, they are so far back from the main
+road, reserved as I have said for the use of the Viceroy, as far as
+driving is concerned, that they are not seen in riding along the shady
+way; and on the opposite side, where the trees are thin, the magnificent
+view looks far out over the spurs of the mountains, the only human
+habitation visible being a Catholic convent, which rears its little
+Italian _campanile_ against the blue sky, and rather adds to the beauty
+of the scene than otherwise. As we rode along we continued our talk
+about the new Afghan war, though neither of us was very much in the
+humour for animated conversation. The sweet scent of the pines, the
+matchless motion of the Arab, and the joyous feeling that the worst part
+of the tropical year was passed, were enough for me, and I drank in the
+high, rarefied air, with the intense delight of a man who has been
+smothered with dust and heat, and then steamed to a jelly by a spring
+and summer in the plains of Hindustan.
+
+The road abounds in sharp turns, and I, as the heavier mount, rode on
+the inside as we went round the mountain. On reaching the open part on
+the farther side, we drew rein for a moment to look down at the deep
+valleys, now dark with the early shade, at the higher peaks red with the
+westering sun, and at the black masses of foliage, through which some
+giant trunk here and there caught a lingering ray of the departing
+light. Then, as we felt the cool of the evening coming on, we wheeled
+and scampered along the level stretch, stirrup to stirrup and knee to
+knee. The sharp corner at the end pulled us up, but before we had quite
+reined in our horses, as delighted as we to have a couple of minutes'
+straight run, we swung past the angle and cannoned into a man ambling
+peaceably along with his reins on one finger and his large gray felt hat
+flapping at the back of his neck. There was a moment's confusion,
+profuse apologies on our part, and some ill-concealed annoyance on the
+part of the victim, who was, however, only a little jostled and taken by
+surprise.
+
+"Really, sir," he began. "Oh! Mr. Isaacs. No harm done, I assure you,
+that is, not much. Bad thing riding fast round corners. No harm, no
+harm, not much. How are you?" all in a breath.
+
+"How d'ye do! Mr. Ghyrkins; my friend Mr. Griggs."
+
+"The real offender," I added in a conciliatory tone, for I had kept my
+place on the inside.
+
+"Mr. Griggs?" said Mr. Currie Ghyrkins. "Mr. Griggs of Allahabad? _Daily
+Howler?_ Yes, yes, corresponded; glad to see you in the flesh."
+
+I did not think he looked particularly glad. He was a Revenue
+Commissioner residing in Mudnugger; a rank Conservative; a regular old
+"John Company" man, with whom I had had more than one tiff in the
+columns of the _Howler,_ leading to considerable correspondence.
+
+"I trust that our collision in the flesh has had no worse results than
+our tilts in print, Mr. Ghyrkins?"
+
+"Not at all. Oh don't mention it. Bad enough, though, but no harm done,
+none whatever," pulling up and looking at me as he pronounced the hist
+two words with a peculiarly English slowness after a very quick
+sentence.
+
+While he was speaking, I was aware of a pair of riders walking their
+horses toward us, and apparently struggling to suppress their amusement
+at the mishap to the old gentleman, which they must have witnessed. In
+truth, Mr. Ghyrkins, who was stout and rode a broad-backed obese "tat,"
+can have presented no very dignified appearance, for he was jerked half
+out of the saddle by the concussion, and his near leg, returning to its
+place, had driven his nether garment half way to his knee, while the
+large felt hat was settling back on to his head at a rakish angle, and
+his coat collar had gone well up the back of his neck.
+
+"Dear uncle," said the lady as she rode up, "I hope you are not hurt?"
+She was very handsome as she sat there trying not to laugh. A lithe
+figure in a gray habit and a broad-brimmed hat, fair as a Swede, but
+with dark eyes and heavy lashes. Just then she was showing her brilliant
+teeth, ostensibly in delight at her dear uncle's escape, and her whole
+expression was animated and amused. Her companion was a soldierly
+looking young Englishman, with a heavy moustache and a large nose. A
+certain devil-may-care look about his face was attractive as he sat
+carelessly watching us. I noticed his long stirrups and the curb rein
+hanging loose, while he held the snaffle, and concluded he was a cavalry
+officer. Isaacs bowed low to the lady and wheeled his horse. She replied
+by a nod, indifferent enough; but as he turned, her eyes instantly went
+back to him, and a pleasant thoughtful look passed over her face, which
+betrayed at least a trifling interest in the stranger, if stranger he
+were.
+
+All this time Mr. Ghyrkins was talking and asking questions of me. When
+had I come? what brought me here? how long would I stay? and so on,
+showing that whether friendly or not he had an interest in my movements.
+In answering his questions I found an opportunity of calling the Queen
+the "Empress," of lauding Lord Beaconsfield's policy in India, and of
+congratulating Mr. Ghyrkins upon the state of his district, with which
+he had nothing to do, of course; but he swallowed the bait, all in a
+breath, as he seemed to do everything. Then he introduced us.
+
+"Katharine, you know Mr. Isaacs; Mr. Griggs, Miss Westonhaugh, Lord
+Steepleton Kildare, Mr. Isaacs."
+
+We bowed and rode back together over the straight piece we passed before
+the encounter. Isaacs and the Englishman walked their horses on each
+side of Miss Westonhaugh, and Ghyrkins and I brought up the rear. I
+tried to turn the conversation to Isaacs, but with little result.
+
+"Yes, yes, good fellow Isaacs, for a fire-worshipper, or whatever he is.
+Good judge of a horse. Lots of rupees too. Queer fish. By-the-bye, Mr.
+Griggs, this new expedition is going to cost us something handsome, eh?"
+
+"Why, yes. I doubt whether you will get off under ten millions sterling.
+And where is it to come from? You will have a nice time making your
+assessments in Bengal, Mr. Ghyrkins, and we shall have an income-tax and
+all sorts of agreeable things."
+
+"Income-tax? Well, I think not. You see, Mr. Griggs, it would hit the
+members of the council, so they won't do it, for their own sakes, and
+the Viceroy too. Ha, ha, how do you think Lord Lytton would like an
+income-tax, eh?" And the old fellow chuckled.
+
+We reached the end of the straight, and Isaacs reined in and bid Miss
+Westonhaugh and her companion good evening. I bowed from where I was,
+and took Mr. Ghyrkins' outstretched hand. He was in a good humour again,
+and called out to us to come and see him, as we rode away. I thought to
+myself I certainly would; and we paced back, crossing the open stretch
+for the third time.
+
+It was almost dark under the trees as we re-entered the woods; I pulled
+out a cheroot and lit it. Isaacs did the same, and we walked our horses
+along in silence. I was thinking of the little picture I had just seen.
+The splendid English girl on her thoroughbred beside the beautiful Arab
+steed and his graceful rider. What a couple, I thought: what noble
+specimens of great races. Why did not this fiery young Persian, with his
+wealth, his beauty, and his talents, wed some such wife as that, some
+high-bred Englishwoman, who should love him and give him home and
+children--and, I was forced to add, commonplace happiness? How often
+does it happen that some train of thought, unacknowledged almost to
+ourselves, runs abruptly into a blind alley; especially when we try to
+plan out the future life of some one else, or to sketch for him what we
+should call happiness. The accidental confronting of two individuals
+pleases the eye, we unite them in our imagination, carrying on the
+picture before us, and suddenly we find ourselves in a quagmire of
+absurd incongruities. Now what could be more laughable than to suppose
+the untamed, and probably untameable young man at my side, with his
+three wives, his notions about the stars and his Mussulman faith, bound
+for life to a girl like Miss Westonhaugh? A wise man of the East trying
+to live the life of an English country gentleman, hunting in pink and
+making speeches on the local hustings! I smiled to myself in the dark
+and puffed at my cigar.
+
+Meanwhile Isaacs was palpably uneasy. First he kicked his feet free of
+the stirrups, and put them back again. Then he hummed a few words of a
+Persian song and let his cigar go out, after which he swore loudly in
+Arabic at the eternal matches that never would light. Finally he put his
+horse into a hand gallop, which could not last on such a road in the
+dark, and at last he broke down completely in his efforts to do
+impossible things, and began talking to me.
+
+"You know Mr. Ghyrkins by correspondence, then?"
+
+"Yes, and by controversy. And you, I see, know Miss Westonhaugh?"
+
+"Yes; what do you think of her?"
+
+"A charming creature of her type. Fair and English, she will be fat at
+thirty-five, and will probably paint at forty, but at present she is
+perfection--of her kind of course," I added, not wishing to engage my
+friend in the defence of his three wives on the score of beauty.
+
+"I see very little of Englishwomen," said Isaacs. "My position is
+peculiar, and though the men, many of whom I know quite intimately,
+often ask me to their houses, I fancy when I meet their women I can
+detect a certain scorn of my nationality, a certain undefinable manner
+toward me, by which I suppose they mean to convey to my obtuse
+comprehension that I am but a step better than a 'native'--a 'nigger' in
+fact, to use the term they love so well. So I simply avoid them, as a
+rule, for my temper is hasty. Of course I understand it well enough;
+they are brought up or trained by their fathers and husbands to regard
+the native Indian as an inferior being, an opinion in which, on the
+whole, I heartily concur. But they go a step farther and include all
+Asiatics in the same category. I do not choose to be confounded with a
+race I consider worn out and effete. As for the men, it is different.
+They know I am rich and influential in many ways that are useful to them
+now, and they hope that the fortunes of war or revolution may give them
+a chance of robbing me hereafter, in which they are mistaken. Now there
+is our stout friend, whom we nearly brought to grief a few minutes ago;
+he is always extremely civil, and never meets me that he does not renew
+his invitation to visit him."
+
+"I should like to see something more of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins myself. I do
+not believe he is half as bad as I thought. Do you ever go there?"
+
+"Sometimes. Yes, on second thoughts I believe I call on Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins pretty often." Then after a pause he added, "I like her."
+
+I pointed out the confusion of genders. Isaacs must have smiled to
+himself in the gloom, but he answered quietly--
+
+"I mean Miss Westonhaugh. I like her--yes, I am quite sure I do. She is
+beautiful and sensible, though if she stays here much longer she will be
+like all the rest. We will go and see them to-morrow. Here we are; just
+in time for dinner. Come and smoke afterwards."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+A loose robe of light material from Kashmir thrown around him, Isaacs
+half sat, half lay, on the soft dark cushions in the corner of his outer
+room. His feet were slipperless, Eastern fashion, and his head covered
+with an embroidered cap of curious make. By the yellow light of the
+hanging lamps he was reading an Arabic book, and his face wore a puzzled
+look that sat strangely on the bold features. As I entered the book fell
+back on the cushion, sinking deep into the down by its weight, and one
+of the heavy gold clasps clanged sharply as it turned. He looked up, but
+did not rise, and greeted me, smiling, with the Arabic salutation--
+
+"Peace be with you!"
+
+"And with you, peace," I answered in the same tongue. He smiled again at
+my unfamiliar pronunciation. I established myself on the divan near him,
+and inquired whether he had arrived at any satisfactory solution of his
+domestic difficulties.
+
+"My father," he said, "upon whom be peace, had but one wife, my mother.
+You know Mussulmans are allowed four lawful wives. Here is the passage
+in the beginning of the fourth chapter, 'If ye fear that ye shall not
+act with equity towards orphans of the female sex, take in marriage of
+such other women as please you, two, or three, or four, and not more.
+But, if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably towards so many, marry one
+only, or the slaves which ye shall have acquired.'
+
+"The first part of this passage," continued Isaacs, "is disputed; I mean
+the words referring to orphans. But the latter portion is plain enough.
+When the apostle warns those who fear they 'cannot act equitably towards
+so many,' I am sure that in his wisdom he meant something more by
+'equitable' treatment than the mere supplying of bodily wants. He meant
+us to so order our households that there should be no jealousies, no
+heart-burnings, no unnecessary troubling of the peace. Now woman is a
+thing of the devil, jealous; and to manage a number of such creatures so
+that they shall be even passably harmonious among themselves is a
+fearful task, soul-wearying, heart-hardening, never-ending, leading to
+no result."
+
+"Just what I told you; a man is better with no wife at all than with
+three. But why do you talk about such matters with me, an unbeliever, a
+Christian, who, in the words of your prophet, 'shall swallow down
+nothing but fire into my belly, and shall broil in raging flames' when I
+die? Surely it is contrary to the custom of your co-religionists; and
+how can you expect an infidel Frank to give you advice?"
+
+"I don't," laconically replied my host.
+
+"Besides, with your views of women in general, their vocation, their
+aims, and their future state, is it at all likely that we should ever
+arrive at even a fair discussion of marriage and marriage laws? With us,
+women have souls, and, what is a great deal more, seem likely to have
+votes. They certainly have the respectful and courteous service of a
+large proportion of the male sex. You call a woman a thing of the devil;
+we call her an angel from heaven; and though some eccentric persons like
+myself refuse to ally themselves for life with any woman, I confess, as
+far as I am concerned, that it is because I cannot contemplate the
+constant society of an angel with the degree of appreciation such a
+privilege justly deserves; and I suspect that most confirmed bachelors,
+knowingly or unconsciously, think as I do. The Buddhists are not
+singular in their theory that permanent happiness should be the object."
+
+"They say," said Isaacs, quickly interrupting, "that the aim of the
+ignorant is pleasure; the pursuit of the wise, happiness. Pray, under
+which category would you class marriage? I suppose it comes under one or
+the other."
+
+"I cannot say I see the force of that. Look at your own case, since you
+have introduced it."
+
+"Never mind my own case. I mean with your ideas of one wife, and
+heavenly woman, and voting, and domestic joy, and all the rest of it.
+Take the ideal creature you rave about--"
+
+"I never rave about anything."
+
+"Take the fascinating female you describe, and for the sake of argument
+imagine yourself very poor or very rich, since you would not enter
+wedlock in your present circumstances. Suppose you married your object
+of 'courteous service and respectful adoration;' which should you say
+you would attain thereby, pleasure or happiness?"
+
+"Pleasure is but the refreshment that cheers us in the pursuit of true
+happiness," I answered, hoping to evade the direct question by a
+sententious phrase.
+
+"I will not let you off so easily. You shall answer my question," he
+said. He looked full at me with a deep searching gaze that seemed hardly
+warranted by the lightness of the argument. I hesitated, and he
+impatiently leaned forward, uncrossing his legs and clasping his hands
+over one knee to bring himself nearer to me.
+
+"Pleasure or happiness?" he repeated, "which is it to be?"
+
+A sudden light flashed over my obscured intellect.
+
+"Both," I answered. "Could you see the ideal woman as I would fain paint
+her to you, you would understand me better. The pleasure you enjoy in
+the society of a noble and beautiful woman should be but the refreshment
+by the wayside as you journey through life together. The day will come
+when she will be beautiful no longer, only noble and good, and true to
+you as to herself; and then, if pleasure has been to you what it should
+be, you will find that in the happiness attained it is no longer
+counted, or needed, or thought of. It will have served its end, as the
+crib holds the ship in her place while she is building; and when your
+white-winged vessel has smoothly glided off into the great ocean of
+happiness, the crib and the stocks and the artificial supports will fall
+to pieces and be forgotten for ever. Yet have they had a purpose, and
+have borne a very important part in the life of your ship."
+
+Having heard me attentively till I had finished, Isaacs relaxed his hold
+on his knee and threw himself back on the cushions, as if to entrench
+himself for a better fight. I had made an impression on him, but he was
+not the man to own it easily. Presumably to gain time, he called for
+hookahs and sherbet, and though the servants moved noiselessly in
+preparing them, their presence was an interruption.
+
+When we were settled again he had taken a nearly upright position on the
+couch, and as he pulled at the long tube his face assumed that stolid
+look of Oriental indifference which is the most discouraging shower-bath
+to the persuasive powers. I had really no interest in converting him to
+my own point of view about women. Honestly, was it my own point of view
+at all? Would anything under heaven induce me, Paul Griggs, rich, or
+poor, or comfortably off, to marry any one--Miss Westonhaugh, for
+instance? Probably not. But then my preference for single blessedness
+did not prevent me from believing that women have souls. That morning
+the question of the marriage of the whole universe had been a matter of
+the utmost indifference, and now I, a confirmed and hopelessly contented
+bachelor, was trying to convince a man with three wives that matrimony
+was a most excellent thing in its way, and that the pleasure of the
+honeymoon was but the faint introduction to the bliss of the silver
+wedding. It certainly must be Isaacs' own doing. He had launched on a
+voyage of discovery and had taken me in tow. I had a strong suspicion
+that he wanted to be convinced, and was playing indifference to soothe
+his conscience.
+
+"Well," said I at last, "have you any fault to find with my reasoning or
+my simile?"
+
+"With your simile--none. It is faultlessly perfect. You have not mixed
+up your metaphors in the least. Crib, stocks, ocean, ship--all correct,
+and very nautical. As for your reasoning, I do not believe there is
+anything in it. I do not believe that pleasure leads to happiness; I do
+not believe that a woman has a soul, and I deny the whole argument from
+beginning to end. There," he added with a smile that belied the
+brusqueness of his words, "that is my position. Talk me out of it if you
+can; the night is long, and my patience as that of the ass."
+
+"I do not think this is a case for rigid application of logic. When the
+feelings are concerned--and where can they be more concerned than in our
+intercourse with women?--the only way to arrive at any conclusion is by
+a sort of trying-on process, imagining ourselves in the position
+indicated, and striving to fancy how it would suit us. Let us begin in
+that way. Suppose yourself unmarried, your three wives and their
+children removed--"
+
+"Allah in his mercy grant it!" ejaculated Isaacs with great fervour.
+
+"--removed from the question altogether. Then imagine yourself thrown
+into daily conversation with some beautiful woman who has read what you
+have read, thought what you have thought, and dreamed the dreams of a
+nobler destiny that have visited you in waking and sleeping hours. A
+woman who, as she learned your strange story, should weep for the pains
+you suffered and rejoice for the difficulties overcome, who should
+understand your half spoken thoughts and proudly sympathise in your
+unuttered aspirations; in whom you might see the twin nature to your
+own, and detect the strong spirit and the brave soul, half revealed
+through the feminine gentleness and modesty that clothe her as with a
+garment. Imagine all this, and then suppose it lay in your power, was a
+question of choice, for you to take her hand in yours and go through
+life and death together, till death seem life for the joy of being
+united for ever. Suppose you married her--not to lock her up in an
+indolent atmosphere of rosewater, narghyles, and sweetmeats, to die of
+inanition or to pester you to death with complaints and jealousies and
+inopportune caresses; but to be with you and help your life when you
+most need help, by word and thought and deed, to grow more and more a
+part of you, an essential element of you in action or repose, to part
+from which would be to destroy at a blow the whole fabric of your
+existence. Would you not say that with such a woman the transitory
+pleasure of early conversation and intercourse had been the
+stepping-stone to the lasting happiness of such a friendship as you
+could never hope for in your old age among your sex? Would not her
+faithful love and abounding sympathy be dearer to you every day, though
+the roses in her cheek should fade and the bright hair whiten with the
+dust of life's journey? Would you not feel that when you died your
+dearest wish must be to join her where there should be no parting--her
+from whom there could be no parting here, short of death itself? Would
+you not believe she had a soul?"
+
+"There is no end of your 'supposing,' but it is quite pretty. I am half
+inclined to 'suppose' too." He took a sip of sherbet from the tall
+crystal goblet the servant had placed on a little three-legged stool
+beside him, and as he drank the cool liquid slowly, looked over the
+glass into my eyes, with a curious, half earnest, half smiling glance; I
+could not tell whether my enthusiastic picture of conjugal bliss amused
+him or attracted him, so I waited for him to speak again.
+
+"Now that you have had your cruise in your ship of happiness on the
+waters of your cerulean imagination, permit me, who am land-born and a
+lover of the chase, to put my steed at a few fences in the difficult
+country of unadorned facts over which I propose to hunt the wily fox,
+matrimony. I have never hunted a fox, but I can quite well imagine what
+it is like.
+
+"In the first place, it is all very well to suppose that it had pleased
+Allah in his goodness to relieve me of my three incumbrances--meanwhile,
+there they are, and they are very real difficulties I assure you.
+Nevertheless are there means provided us by the foresight of the
+apostle, by which we may ease ourselves of domestic burdens when they
+are too heavy for us to bear. It would be quite within the bounds of
+possibility for me to divorce them all three, without making any special
+scandal. But if I did this thing, do you not think that my experience of
+married life has given me the most ineradicable prejudices against women
+as daily companions? Am I not persuaded that they all bicker and chatter
+and nibble sweetmeats alike--absolutely alike? Or if I looked abroad--"
+
+"Stop," I said, "I am not reasoner enough to persuade you that all women
+have souls. Very likely in Persia and India they have not. I only want
+you to believe that there may be women so fortunate as to possess a
+modicum of immortality. Well, pardon my interruption, 'if you looked
+abroad,' as you were saying?--"
+
+"If I looked abroad, I should probably discover little petty traits of
+the same class, if not exactly identical. I know little of Englishmen,
+and might be the more readily deceived. Supposing, if you will, that,
+after freeing myself from all my present ties, in order to start afresh,
+I were to find myself attracted by some English girl here"--there must
+have been something wrong with the mouthpiece of his pipe, for he
+examined it very attentively-- "attracted," he continued, "by some one,
+for instance, by Miss Westonhaugh--" he stopped short.
+
+So my inspiration was right. My little picture, framed as we rode
+homeward, and indignantly scoffed at by my calmer reason, had visited
+his brain too. He had looked on the fair northern woman and fancied
+himself at her side, her lover, her husband. All this conversation and
+argument had been only a set plan to give himself the pleasure of
+contemplating and discussing such a union, without exciting surprise or
+comment. I had been suspecting it for some time, and now his sudden
+interest in his mouthpiece, to conceal a very real embarrassment, put
+the matter beyond all doubt.
+
+He was probably in love, my acquaintance of two days. He saw in me a
+plain person, who could not possibly be a rival, having some knowledge
+of the world, and he was in need of a confidant, like a school-girl. I
+reflected that he was probably a victim for the first time. There is
+very little romance in India, and he had, of course, married for
+convenience and respectability rather than for any real affection. His
+first passion! This man who had been tossed about like a bit of
+driftwood, who had by his own determination and intelligence carved his
+way to wealth and power in the teeth of every difficulty. Just now, in
+his embarrassment, he looked very boyish. His troubles had left no
+wrinkles on his smooth forehead, his bright black hair was untinged by a
+single thread of gray, and as he looked up, after the pause that
+followed when he mentioned the name of the woman he loved, there was a
+very really youthful look of mingled passion and distress in his
+beautiful eyes.
+
+"I think, Mr. Isaacs, that you have used a stronger argument against the
+opinions you profess to hold than I could have found in my whole armoury
+of logic."
+
+As he looked at me, the whole field of possibilities seemed opened. I
+must have been mistaken in thinking this marriage impossible and
+incongruous. What incongruity could there be in Isaacs marrying Miss
+Westonhaugh? My conclusions were false. Why must he necessarily return
+with her to England, and wear a red coat, and make himself ridiculous at
+the borough elections? Why should not this ideal couple choose some
+happy spot, as far from the corrosive influence of Anglo-Saxon prejudice
+as from the wretched sensualism of prosperous life east of the
+Mediterranean? I was carried away by the idea, returning with redoubled
+strength as a sequel to what I had argued and to what I had guessed.
+"Why not?" was the question I repeated to myself over and over again in
+the half minute's pause after Isaacs finished speaking.
+
+"You are right," he said slowly, his half-closed eyes fixed on his feet.
+"Yes, you are right. Why not? Indeed, indeed, why not?"
+
+It must have been pure guess-work, this reading of my thoughts. When he
+was last speaking his manner was all indifference, scorn of my ideas,
+and defiance of every western mode of reasoning. And now, apparently by
+pure intuition, he gave a direct answer to the direct question I had
+mentally asked, and, what is more, his answer came with a quiet,
+far-away tone of conviction that had not a shade of unbelief in it. It
+was delivered as monotonously and naturally as a Christian says "Credo
+in unum Deum," as if it were not worth disputing; or as the devout
+Mussulman says "La Illah illallah," not stooping to consider the
+existence of any one bold enough to deny the dogma. No argument, not
+hours of patient reasoning, or weeks of well directed persuasion, could
+have wrought the change in the man's tone that came over it at the mere
+mention of the woman he loved. I had no share in his conversion. My
+arguments had been the excuse by which he had converted himself. Was he
+converted? was it real?
+
+"Yes--I think I am," he replied in the same mechanical monotonous
+accent.
+
+I shook myself, drank some sherbet, and kicked off one shoe impatiently.
+Was I dreaming? or had I been speaking aloud, really putting the
+questions he answered so quickly and appositively? Pshaw! a coincidence.
+I called the servant and ordered my hookah to be refilled. Isaacs sat
+still, immovable, lost in thought, looking at his toes; an expression,
+almost stupid in its vacancy, was on his face, and the smoke curled
+slowly up in lazy wreaths from his neglected narghyle.
+
+"You are converted then at last?" I said aloud. No answer followed my
+question; I watched him attentively.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs!" still silence, was it possible that he had fallen asleep?
+his eyes were open, but I thought he was very pale. His upright
+position, however, belied any symptoms of unconsciousness.
+
+"Isaacs! Abdul Hafiz! what is the matter!" He did not move. I rose to my
+feet and knelt beside him where he sat rigid, immovable, like a statue.
+Kiramat Ali, who had been watching, clapped his hands wildly and cried,
+"Wah! wah! Sahib margyâ!"--"The lord is dead." I motioned him away with
+a gesture and he held his peace, cowering in the corner, his eyes fixed
+on us. Then I bent low as I knelt and looked under my friend's brows,
+into his eyes. It was clear he did not see me, though he was looking
+straight at his feet. I felt for his pulse. It was very low, almost
+imperceptible, and certainly below forty beats to the minute. I took his
+right arm and tried to put it on my shoulder. It was perfectly rigid.
+There was no doubt about it--the man was in a cataleptic trance. I felt
+for the pulse again; it was lost.
+
+I was no stranger to this curious phenomenon, where the mind is
+perfectly awake, but every bodily faculty is lulled to sleep beyond
+possible excitation, unless the right means be employed. I went out and
+breathed the cool night air, bidding the servants be quiet, as the sahib
+was asleep. When sufficiently refreshed I re-entered the room, cast off
+my slippers, and stood a moment by my friend, who was as rigid as ever.
+
+Nature, in her bountiful wisdom, has compensated me for a singular
+absence of beauty by endowing me with great strength, and with one of
+those exceptional constitutions which seem constantly charged with
+electricity. Without being what is called a mesmerist, I am possessed of
+considerable magnetic power, which I have endeavoured to develop as far
+as possible. In many a long conversation with old Manu Lal, my Brahmin
+instructor in languages and philosophy while in the plains, we had
+discussed the trance state in all its bearings. This old pundit was
+himself a distinguished mesmerist, and though generally unwilling to
+talk about what is termed occultism, on finding in me a man naturally
+endowed with the physical characteristics necessary to those pursuits,
+he had given me several valuable hints as to the application of my
+powers. Here was a worthy opportunity.
+
+I rubbed my feet on the soft carpet, and summoning all my strength,
+began to make the prescribed passes over my friend's head and body. Very
+gradually the look of life returned to his face, the generous blood
+welled up under the clear olive skin, the lips parted, and he sighed
+softly. Animation, as always happens in such cases, began at the precise
+point at which it had been suspended, and his first movement was to
+continue his examination of the mouthpiece in his hand. Then he looked
+up suddenly, and seeing me standing over him, gave a little shake, half
+turning his shoulders forward and back, and speaking once more in his
+natural voice, said--
+
+"I must have been asleep! Have I? What has happened? Why are you
+standing there looking at me in that way?" Then, after a short
+interrogatory silence, his face changed and a look of annoyance shaded
+his features as he added in a low tone, "Oh! I see. It has happened to
+me once before. Sit down. I am all right now." He sipped a little
+sherbet and leaned back in his old position. I begged him to go to bed,
+and prepared to withdraw, but he would not let me, and he seemed so
+anxious that I should stay, that I resumed my place. The whole incident
+had passed in ten minutes.
+
+"Stay with me a little longer," he repeated. "I need your company,
+perhaps your advice. I have had a vision, and you must hear about it."
+
+"I thought as I sat here that my spirit left my body and passed out
+through the night air and hovered over Simla. I could see into every
+bungalow, and was conscious of what passed in each, but there was only
+one where my gaze rested, for I saw upon a couch in a spacious chamber
+the sleeping form of one I knew. The masses of fair hair were heaped as
+they fell upon the pillow, as if she had lain down weary of bearing the
+burden of such wealth of gold. The long dark lashes threw little shadows
+on her cheeks, and the parted lips seemed to smile at the sweetness of
+the gently heaving breath that fanned them as it came and went. And
+while I looked, the breath of her body became condensed, as it were, and
+took shape and form and colour, so that the image of herself floated up
+between her body and my watching spirit. Nearer and nearer to me came
+the exquisite vision of beauty, till we were face to face, my soul and
+hers, high up in the night. And there came from her eyes, as the long
+lids lifted, a look of perfect trust, and of love, and of infinite joy.
+Then she turned her face southward and pointed to my life star burning
+bright among his lesser fellows; and with a long sweet glance that bid
+me follow where she led, her maiden soul floated away, half lingering at
+first, as I watched her; then, with dizzy speed, vanishing in the
+firmament as a falling star, and leaving no trace behind, save an
+infinitely sad regret, and a longing to enter with her into that
+boundless empire of peace. But I could not, for my spirit was called
+back to this body. And I bless Allah that he has given me to see her
+once so, and to know that she has a soul, even as I have, for I have
+looked upon her spirit and I know it."
+
+Isaacs rose slowly to his feet and moved towards the open door. I
+followed him, and for a few moments we stood looking out at the scene
+below us. It was near midnight, and the ever-decreasing moon was
+dragging herself up, as if ashamed of her waning beauty and tearful
+look.
+
+"Griggs," said my friend, dropping the formal prefix for the first time,
+"all this is very strange. I believe I am in love!"
+
+"I have not a doubt of it," I replied. "Peace be with you!"
+
+"And with you peace."
+
+So we parted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+In Simla people make morning calls in the morning instead of after dark,
+as in more civilised countries. Soon after dawn I received a note from
+Isaacs, saying that he had business with the Maharajah of Baithopoor
+about some precious stones, but that he would be ready to go with me to
+call on Mr. Currie Ghyrkins at ten o'clock, or soon after. I had been
+thinking a great deal about the events of the previous evening, and I
+was looking forward to my next meeting with Isaacs with intense
+interest. After what had passed, nothing could be such a test of his
+true feelings as the visit to Miss Westonhaugh, which we proposed to
+make together, and I promised myself to lose no gesture, no word, no
+expression, which might throw light on the question that interested
+me--whether such a union were practical, possible, and wise.
+
+At the appointed time, therefore, I was ready, and we mounted and
+sallied forth into the bright autumn day. All visits are made on
+horseback in Simla, as the distances are often considerable. You ride
+quietly along, and the saice follows you, walking or keeping pace with
+your gentle trot, as the case may be. We rode along the bustling mall,
+crowded with men and women on horseback, with numbers of gorgeously
+arrayed native servants and _chuprassies_ of the Government offices
+hurrying on their respective errands, or dawdling for a chat with some
+shabby-looking acquaintance in private life; we passed by the crowded
+little shops on the hill below the church, and glanced at the
+conglomeration of grain-sellers, jewellers, confectioners, and dealers
+in metal or earthen vessels, every man sitting knee-deep in his wares,
+smoking the eternal "hubble-bubble;" we noted the keen eyes of the
+buyers and the hawk's glance of the sellers, the long snake-like fingers
+eagerly grasping the passing coin, and seemingly convulsed into
+serpentine contortion when they relinquished their clutch on a single
+"pi;" we marked this busy scene, set down, like a Punch and Judy show,
+in the midst of the trackless waste of the Himalayas, as if for the
+delectation and pastime of some merry _genius loci_ weary of the solemn
+silence in his awful mountains, and we chatted carelessly of the sights
+animate and inanimate before us, laughing at the asseverations of the
+salesmen, and at the hardened scepticism of the customer, at the
+portentous dignity of the superb old messenger, white-bearded and clad
+in scarlet and gold, as he bombastically described to the knot of poor
+relations and admirers that elbowed him the splendours of the last
+entertainment at "Peterhof," where Lord Lytton still reigned. I smiled,
+and Isaacs frowned at the ancient and hairy ascetic believer, who
+suddenly rose from his lair in a corner, and bustled through the crowd
+of Hindoos, shouting at the top of his voice the confession of his
+faith--"Beside God there is no God, and Muhammad is his apostle!" The
+universality of the Oriental spirit is something amazing. Customs,
+dress, thought, and language, are wonderfully alike among all Asiatics
+west of Thibet and south of Turkistan. The greatest difference is in
+language, and yet no one unacquainted with the dialects could
+distinguish by the ear between Hindustani, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish.
+
+So we moved along, and presently found ourselves on the road we had
+traversed the previous evening, leading round Jako. On the slope of the
+hill, hidden by a dense growth of rhododendrons, lay the bungalow of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, and a board at the entrance of the ride--drive there
+was none--informed us that the estate bore the high-sounding title of
+"Carisbrooke Castle," in accordance with the Simla custom of calling
+little things by big names.
+
+Having reached the lawn near the house, we left our horses in charge of
+the saice and strolled up the short walk to the verandah. A charming
+picture it was, prepared as if on purpose for our especial delectation.
+The bungalow was a large one for Simla, and the verandah was deep and
+shady; many chairs of all sorts and conditions stood about in natural
+positions, as if they had just been sat in, instead of being ranged in
+stiff rows against the wall, and across one angle hung a capacious
+hammock. Therein, swinging her feet to the ground, and holding on by the
+edge rope, sat the beautiful Miss Westonhaugh, clad in one of those
+close-fitting unadorned costumes of plain dark-blue serge, which only
+suit one woman in ten thousand, though, when they clothe a really
+beautiful young figure, I know of no garment better calculated to
+display grace of form and motion. She was kicking a ball of worsted with
+her dainty toes, for the amusement and instruction of a small tame
+jackal--the only one I ever saw thoroughly domesticated. A charming
+little beast it was, with long gray fur and bright twinkling eyes,
+mischievous and merry as a gnome's. From a broad blue ribbon round its
+neck was suspended a small silver bell that tinkled spasmodically, as
+the lively little thing sprang from side to side in pursuit of the ball,
+alighting with apparent indifference on its head or its heels.
+
+So busy was the girl with her live plaything that she had not seen us
+dismount and approach her, and it was not till our feet sounded on the
+boards of the verandah that she looked up with a little start, and tried
+to rise to her feet. Now any one who has sat sideways in a netted
+hammock, with feet swinging to the ground, and all the weight in the
+middle of the thing, knows how difficult it is to get out with grace, or
+indeed in any way short of rolling out and running for luck. You may
+break all your bones in the feat, and you both look and feel as if you
+were going to. Though we both sprang forward to her assistance, Miss
+Westonhaugh had recognised the inexpediency of moving after the first
+essay, and, with a smile of greeting, and the faintest tinge of
+embarrassment on her fair cheek, abandoned the attempt; the quaint
+little jackal sat up, backing against the side of the house, and, eyeing
+us critically, growled a little.
+
+"I'm so glad to see you, Mr. Isaacs. How do you do, Mr.----"
+
+"Griggs," murmured Isaacs, as he straightened a rope of the hammock by
+her side.
+
+"Mr. Griggs?" she continued. "We met last night, briefly, but to the
+point, or at least you and my uncle did. I am alone; my uncle is gone
+down towards Kalka to meet my brother, who is coming up for a fortnight
+at the end of the season to get rid of the Bombay mould. Bring up some
+of those chairs and sit down. I cannot tell what has become of the
+'bearer' and the 'boy,' and the rest of the servants, and I could not
+make them understand me if they were here. So you must wait on
+yourselves."
+
+I was the first to lay hands on a chair, and as I turned to bring it I
+noticed she was following Isaacs with the same expression I had seen on
+her face the previous evening; but I could see it better now. A pleasant
+friendly look, not tender so much as kind, while the slightest possible
+contraction of the eyes showed a feeling of curiosity. She was evidently
+going to speak to him as soon as he turned his face.
+
+"You see I have been giving him lessons," she said, as he brought back
+the seat he had chosen.
+
+Isaacs looked at the queer small beast sitting up against the boards
+under the window, his brush tail curled round him, and his head turned
+inquiringly on one side.
+
+"He seems to be learning manners, at all events," said my friend.
+
+"Yes; I think I may say now, with safety, that his bark is worse than
+his bite."
+
+"I am sure you could not have said so the last time I came. Do you
+remember what fearful havoc he made among my nether garments? And yet he
+is my god-child, so to speak, for I gave him into your care, and named
+him into the bargain."
+
+"Don't suppose I am ungrateful for the gift," answered Miss Westonhaugh.
+"Snap! Snap! here! come here, darling, to your mistress, and be petted!"
+In spite of this eloquent appeal Snap, the baby jackal, only growled
+pleasantly and whisked his brush right and left. "You see," she went on,
+"your sponsorship has had no very good results. He will not obey any
+more than you yourself." Her glance, turning towards Isaacs, did not
+reach him, and, in fact, she could not have seen anything beyond the
+side of his chair. Isaacs, on the contrary, seemed to be counting her
+eyelashes, and taking a mental photograph of her brows.
+
+"Snap!" said he. The jackal instantly rose and trotted to him, fawning
+on his outstretched hand.
+
+"You malign me, Miss Westonhaugh. Snap is no less obedient than I."
+
+"Then why did you insist on playing tennis left-handed the other day,
+though you know very well how it puzzles me?"
+
+"My dear Miss Westonhaugh," he answered, "I am not a tennis-player at
+all, to begin with, and as I do not understand the _finesse_ of the
+game, to use a word I do not understand either, you must pardon my
+clumsiness in employing the hand most convenient and ready."
+
+"Some people," I began, "are what is called ambidexter, and can use
+either hand with equal ease. Now the ancient Persians, who invented the
+game of polo----"
+
+"I do not quarrel so much with you, Mr. Isaacs--" as she said this, she
+looked at me, though entirely disregarding and interrupting my
+instructive sentence--"I don't quarrel with you so much for using your
+left hand at tennis as for employing left-handed weapons when you speak
+of other things, or beings, for you are never so left-handed and so
+adroit as when you are indulging in some elaborate abuse of our sex."
+
+"How can you say that?" protested Isaacs. "You know with what respectful
+and almost devotional reverence I look upon all women, and," his eyes
+brightening perceptibly, "upon you in particular."
+
+English women, especially in their youth, are not used to pretty
+speeches. They are so much accustomed to the men of their own
+nationality that they regard the least approach to a compliment as the
+inevitable introduction to the worst kind of insult. Miss Westonhaugh
+was no exception to this rule, and she drew herself up proudly.
+
+There was a moment's pause, during which Isaacs seemed penitent, and she
+appeared to be revolving the bearings of the affront conveyed in his
+last words. She looked along the floor, slowly, till she might have seen
+his toes; then her eyes opened a moment and met his, falling again
+instantly with a change of colour.
+
+"And pray, Mr. Isaacs, would you mind giving us a list of the ladies you
+look upon with 'respectful and devotional reverence?'" One of the horses
+held by the saice at the corner of the lawn neighed lowly, and gave
+Isaacs an opportunity of looking away.
+
+"Miss Westonhaugh," he said quietly, "you know I am a Mussulman, and
+that I am married. It may be that I have borrowed a phrase from your
+language which expresses more than I would convey, though it would ill
+become me to withdraw my last words, since they are true."
+
+It was my turn to be curious now. I wondered where his boldness would
+carry him. Among his other accomplishments, this man was capable of
+speaking the truth even to a woman, not as a luxury and a _bonne
+bouche_, but as a matter of habit. As I looked, the hot blood mantled up
+to his brows. She was watching him, and womanlike, seeing he was in
+earnest and embarrassed, she regained her perfect natural composure.
+
+"Oh, I had forgotten!" she said. "I forgot about your wife in Delhi."
+She half turned in the hammock, and after some searching, during which
+we were silent, succeeded in finding a truant piece of worsted work
+behind her. The wool was pulled out of the needle, and she held the
+steel instrument up against the light, as she doubled the worsted round
+the eye and pushed it back through the little slit. I observed that
+Isaacs was apparently in a line with the light, and that the threading
+took some time.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," she said slowly, and by the very slowness of the address I
+knew she was going to talk to me, and at my friend, as women will; "Mr.
+Griggs, do you know anything about Mohammedans?"
+
+"That is a very broad question," I answered; "almost as broad as the
+Mussulman creed." She began making stitches in the work she held, and
+with a little side shake settled herself to listen, anticipating a
+discourse. The little jackal sidled up and fawned on her feet. I had no
+intention, however, of delivering a lecture on the faith of the prophet.
+I saw my friend was embarrassed in the conversation, and I resolved, if
+possible, to interest her.
+
+"Among primitive people and very young persons," I continued, "marriage
+is an article of faith, a moral precept, and a social law."
+
+"I suppose you are married, Mr. Griggs," she said, with an air of
+childlike simplicity.
+
+"Pardon me, Miss Westonhaugh, I neither condescend to call myself
+primitive, nor aspire to call myself young."
+
+She laughed. I had put a wedge into my end of the conversation.
+
+"I thought," said she, "from the way in which you spoke of 'primitive
+and young persons' that you considered their opinion in regard to--to
+this question, as being the natural and proper opinion of the original
+and civilised young man."
+
+"I repeat that I do not claim to be very civilised, or very
+young--certainly not to be very original, and my renunciation of all
+these qualifications is my excuse for the confirmed bachelorhood to
+which I adhere. Many Mohammedans are young and original; some of them
+are civilised, as you see, and all of them are married. 'There is no
+God but God, Muhammad is his prophet, and if you refuse to marry you are
+not respectable,' is their full creed."
+
+Isaacs frowned at my profanity, but I continued--"I do not mean to say
+anything disrespectful to a creed so noble and social. I think you have
+small chance of converting Mr. Isaacs."
+
+"I would not attempt it," she said, laying down her work in her lap, and
+looking at me for a moment. "But since you speak of creeds, to what
+confession do you yourself belong, if I may ask?"
+
+"I am a Roman Catholic," I answered; adding presently--"Really, though,
+I do not see how my belief in the papal infallibility affects my opinion
+of Mohammedan marriages."
+
+"And what _do_ you think of them?" she inquired, resuming her work and
+applying herself thereto with great attention.
+
+"I think that, though justified in principle by the ordinary
+circumstances of Eastern life, there are cases in which the system acts
+very badly. I think that young men are often led by sheer force of
+example into marrying several wives before they have sufficiently
+reflected on the importance of what they are doing. I think that both
+marriage and divorce are too easily managed in consideration of their
+importance to a man's life, and I am convinced that no civilised man of
+Western education, if he were to adopt Islam, would take advantage of
+his change of faith to marry four wives. It is a case of theory _versus_
+practice, which I will not attempt to explain. It may often be good in
+logic, but it seems to me it is very often bad in real life."
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs; "there are cases----" He stopped, and Miss
+Westonhaugh, who had been very busy over her work, looked quietly up,
+only to find that he was profoundly interested in the horses cropping
+the short grass, as far as the saice would let them stretch their necks,
+on the other side of the lawn.
+
+"I confess," said Miss Westonhaugh, "that my ideas about Mohammedans are
+chiefly the result of reading the Arabian Nights, ever so long ago. It
+seems to me that they treat women as if they had no souls and no minds,
+and were incapable of doing anything rational if left to themselves. It
+is a man's religion. My uncle says so too, and he ought to know."
+
+The conversation was meandering in a kind of vicious circle. Both Isaacs
+and I were far too deeply interested in the question to care for such
+idle discussion. How could this beautiful but not very intellectual
+English girl, with her prejudices and her clumsiness at repartee or
+argument, ever comprehend or handle delicately so difficult a subject? I
+was disappointed in her. Perhaps this was natural enough, considering
+that with two such men as we she must be entirely out of her element.
+She was of the type of brilliant, healthy, northern girls, who depend
+more on their animal spirits and enjoyment of living for their happiness
+than upon any natural or acquired mental powers. With a horse, or a
+tennis court, or even a ball to amuse her, she would appear at her very
+best; would be at ease and do the right thing. But when called upon to
+sustain a conversation, such as that into which her curiosity about
+Isaacs had plunged her, she did not know what to do. She was
+constrained, and even some of her native grace of manner forsook her.
+Why did she avoid his eyes and resort to such a petty little trick as
+threading a needle in order to get a look at him? An American girl, or a
+French woman, would have seen that her strength lay in perfect
+frankness; that Isaacs' straightforward nature would make him tell her
+unhesitatingly anything she wanted to know about himself, and that her
+position was strong enough for her to look him in the face and ask him
+what she pleased. But she allowed herself to be embarrassed, and though
+she had been really glad to see him, and liked him and thought him
+handsome, she was beginning to wish he would go, merely because she did
+not know what to talk about, and would not give him a chance to choose
+his own subject. As neither of us were inclined to carry the analysis of
+matrimony any farther, nor to dispute the opinions of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins as quoted by his niece, there was a pause. I struck in and
+boldly changed the subject.
+
+"Are you going to see the polo this afternoon, Miss Westonhaugh? I heard
+at the hotel that there was to be a match to-day of some interest."
+
+"Oh yes, of course. I would not miss it for anything. Lord Steepleton is
+coming to tiffin, and we shall ride down together to Annandale. Of
+course you are going too; it will be a splendid thing. Do you play polo,
+Mr. Griggs? Mr. Isaacs is a great player, when he can be induced to take
+the trouble. He knows more about it than he does about tennis."
+
+"I am very fond of the game," I answered, "but I have no horses here,
+and with my weight it is not easy to get a mount for such rough work."
+
+"Do not disturb yourself on that score," said Isaacs; "you know my
+stable is always at your disposal, and I have a couple of ponies that
+would carry you well enough. Let us have a game one of those days,
+whenever we can get the ground. We will play on opposite sides and match
+the far west against the far east."
+
+"What fun!" cried Miss Westonhaugh, her face brightening at the idea,
+"and I will hold the stakes and bestow the crown on the victor."
+
+"What is to be the prize?" asked Isaacs, with a smile of pleasure. He
+was very literal and boyish sometimes.
+
+"That depends on which is the winner," she answered.
+
+There was a noise among the trees of horses' hoofs on the hard path, and
+presently we heard a voice calling loudly for a saice who seemed to be
+lagging far behind. It was a clear strong voice, and the speaker abused
+the groom's female relations to the fourth and fifth generations with
+considerable command of the Hindustani language. Miss Westonhaugh, who
+had not been in the country long, did not understand a word of the very
+free swearing that was going on in the woods, but Isaacs looked annoyed,
+and I registered a black mark against the name of the new-comer, whoever
+he might be.
+
+"Oh! it is Lord Steepleton," said the young girl. "He seems to be always
+having a row with his servants. Don't go," she went on as I took up my
+hat; "he is such a good fellow, you ought to know him."
+
+Lord Steepleton Kildare now appeared at the corner of the lawn, hotly
+pursued by his breathless groom, who had been loitering on the way, and
+had thus roused his master's indignation. He was, as I have said, a fine
+specimen of a young Englishman, though being Irish by descent he would
+have indignantly denied any such nationality. I saw when he had
+dismounted that he was tall and straight, though not a very heavily
+built man. He carried his head high, and looked every inch a soldier as
+he strode across the grass, carefully avoiding the pegs of the tennis
+net. He wore a large gray felt hat, like every one else, and he shook
+hands all round before he took it off, and settled himself in an easy
+chair as near as he could get to Miss Westonhaugh's hammock.
+
+"How are ye? Ah--yes, Mr. Isaacs, Mr. Griggs of Allahabad. Jolly day,
+isn't it?" and he looked vaguely at the grass. "Really, Miss
+Westonhaugh, I got in such a rage with my rascal of a saice that I did
+not remember I was so near the house. I am really very sorry I talked
+like that. I hope you did not think I was murdering him?"
+
+Isaacs looked annoyed.
+
+"Yes," said he, "we thought Mahmoud was going to have a bad time of it.
+I believe Miss Westonhaugh does not understand Hindustani."
+
+A look of genuine distress came into the Englishman's face.
+
+"Really," said he, very simply. "You don't know how sorry I am that any
+one should have heard me. I am so hasty. But let me apologise to you all
+most sincerely for disturbing you with my brutal temper."
+
+His misdeed had not been a very serious crime after all, and there was
+something so frank and honest about his awkward little apology that I
+was charmed. The man was a gentleman. Isaacs bowed in silence, and Miss
+Westonhaugh had evidently never thought much about it.
+
+"We were talking about polo when you came, Lord Steepleton; Mr. Isaacs
+and Mr. Griggs are going to play a match, and I am to hold the stakes.
+Do you not want to make one in the game?"
+
+"May I?" said the young man, grateful to her for having helped him out.
+"May I? I should like it awfully. I so rarely get a chance of playing
+with any except the regular set here." And he looked inquiringly at us.
+
+"We should be delighted, of course," said Isaacs. "By the way, can you
+help us to make up the number? And when shall it be?" He seemed suddenly
+very much interested in this projected contest.
+
+"Oh yes," said Kildare, "I will manage to fill up the game, and we can
+play next Monday. I know the ground is free then."
+
+"Very good; on Monday. We are at Laurie's on the hill."
+
+"I am staying with Jack Tygerbeigh, near Peterhof. Come and see us. I
+will let you know before Monday. Oh, Mr. Griggs, I saw such a nice thing
+about me in the _Howler_ the other day--so many thanks. No, really,
+greatly obliged, you know; people say horrid things about me sometimes.
+Good-bye, good-bye, delighted to have seen you."
+
+"Good morning, Miss Westonhaugh."
+
+"Good morning; so good of you to take pity on my solitude." She smiled
+kindly at Isaacs and civilly at me. And we went our way. As we looked
+back after mounting to lift our hats once more, I saw that Miss
+Westonhaugh had succeeded in getting out of the hammock and was tying on
+a pith hat, while Lord Steepleton had armed himself with balls and
+rackets from a box on the verandah. As we bowed they came down the
+steps, looking the very incarnation of animal life and spirits in the
+anticipation of the game they loved best. The bright autumn sun threw
+their figures into bold relief against the dark shadow of the verandah,
+and I thought to myself they made a very pretty picture. I seemed to be
+always seeing pictures, and my imagination was roused in a new
+direction.
+
+We rode away under the trees. My impression of the whole visit was
+unsatisfactory. I had thought Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would be there, and
+that I would be able to engage him in a political discussion. We could
+have talked income-tax, and cotton duties, and Kabul by the hour, and
+Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs would have had a pleasant _tête-à-tête._
+Instead of this I had been decidedly the unlucky third who destroys the
+balance of so much pleasure in life, for I felt that Isaacs was not a
+man to be embarrassed if left alone with a woman, or to embarrass her.
+He was too full of tact, and his sensibilities were so fine that, with
+his easy command of language, he must be agreeable _quand même_; and
+such an opportunity would have given him an easy lead away from the
+athletic Kildare, whom I suspected strongly of being a rival for Miss
+Westonhaugh's favour. There is an easy air of familiar proprietorship
+about an Englishman in love that is not to be mistaken. It is a subtle
+thing, and expresses itself neither in word nor deed in its earlier
+stages of development; but it is there all the same, and the combination
+of this possessive mood, with a certain shyness which often goes with
+it, is amusing.
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs, "have you ever seen the Rajah of Baithopoor?"
+
+"No; you had some business with him this morning, had you not?"
+
+"Yes--some--business--if you call it so. If you would like to see him I
+can take you there, and I think you would be interested in the--the
+business. It is not often such gems are bought and sold in such a way,
+and besides, he is very amusing. He is at least two thousand years old,
+and will go to Saturn when he dies. His fingers are long and crooked,
+and that which he putteth into his pockets, verily he shall not take it
+out."
+
+"A pleasing picture; a good contrast to the one we have left behind us.
+I like contrasts, and I should like to see him."
+
+"You shall." And we lit our cheroots.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+"We will go there at four," said Isaacs, coming into my rooms after
+tiffin, a meal of which I found he rarely partook. "I said three, this
+morning, but it is not a bad plan to keep natives waiting. It makes them
+impatient, and then they commit themselves."
+
+"You are Machiavellian. It is pretty clear which of you is asking the
+favour."
+
+"Yes, it is pretty clear." He sat down and took up the last number of
+the _Howler_ which lay on the table. Presently he looked up. "Griggs,
+why do you not come to Delhi? We might start a newspaper there, you
+know, in the Conservative interest."
+
+"In the interest of Mr. Algernon Currie Ghyrkins?" I inquired.
+
+"Precisely. You anticipate my thoughts with a true sympathy. I suppose
+you have no conscience?"
+
+"Political conscience? No, certainly not, out of my own country, which
+is the only one where that sort of thing commands a high salary. No, I
+have no conscience."
+
+"You would really write as willingly for the Conservatives as you do for
+the Liberals?"
+
+"Oh yes. I could not write so well on the Conservative side just now,
+because they are 'in,' and it is more blessed to abuse than to be
+abused, and ever so much easier. But as far as any prejudice on the
+subject is concerned, I have none. I had as lief defend a party that
+robs India 'for her own good,' as support those who would rob her with a
+more cynical frankness and unblushingly transfer the proceeds to their
+own pockets. I do not care a rush whether they rob Peter to pay Paul, or
+fraudulently deprive Paul of his goods for the benefit of Peter."
+
+"That is the way to look at it. I could tell you some very pretty
+stories about that kind of thing. As for the journalistic enterprise, it
+is only a possible card to be played if the old gentleman is obdurate."
+
+"Isaacs," said I, "I have only known you three days, but you have taken
+me into your confidence to some extent; probably because I am not
+English. I may be of use to you, and I am sure I sincerely hope so.
+Meanwhile I want to ask you a question, if you will allow me to." I
+paused for an answer. We were standing by the open door, and Isaacs
+leaned back against the door-post, his eyes fixed on me, half closed, as
+he threw his head back. He looked at me somewhat curiously, and I
+thought a smile flickered round his mouth, as if he anticipated what the
+question would be.
+
+"Certainly," he said slowly. "Ask me anything you like. I have nothing
+to conceal."
+
+"Do you seriously think of marrying, or proposing to marry, Miss
+Katharine Westonhaugh?"
+
+"I do seriously think of proposing to marry, and of marrying, Miss
+Westonhaugh." He looked very determined as he thus categorically
+affirmed his intention. I knew he meant it, and I knew enough of
+Oriental character to understand that a man like Abdul Hafizben-Isâk, of
+strong passions, infinite wit, and immense wealth, was not likely to
+fail in anything he undertook to do. When Asiatic indifference gives way
+under the strong pressure of some master passion, there is no length to
+which the hot and impetuous temper beneath may not carry the man. Isaacs
+had evidently made up his mind. I did not think he could know much about
+the usual methods of wooing English girls, but as I glanced at his
+graceful figure, his matchless eyes, and noted for the hundredth time
+the commanding, high-bred air that was the breath of his character, I
+felt that his rival would have but a poor chance of success. He guessed
+my thoughts.
+
+"What do you think of me?" he asked, smiling. "Will you back me for a
+place? I have advantages, you must allow--and worldly advantages too.
+They are not rich people at all."
+
+"My dear Isaacs, I will back you to win. But as far as 'worldly
+advantages' are concerned, do not trust to wealth for a moment. Do not
+flatter yourself that there will be any kind of a bargain, as if you
+were marrying a Persian girl. There is nothing venal in that young
+lady's veins, I am sure."
+
+"Allah forbid! But there is something very venal in the veins of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins. I propose to carry the outworks one by one. He is her
+uncle, her guardian, her only relation, save her brother. I do not think
+either of those men would be sorry to see her married to a man of
+stainless name and considerable fortune."
+
+"You forget your three incumbrances, as you called them last night."
+
+"No--I do not forget them. It is allowed me by my religion to marry a
+fourth, and I need not tell you that she would be thenceforth my only
+wife."
+
+"But would her guardian and brother ever think of allowing her to take
+such a position?"
+
+"Why not? You know very well that the English in general hardly consider
+our marriages to be marriages at all--knowing the looseness of the bond.
+That is the prevailing impression."
+
+"Yes, I know. But then they would consider your marriage with Miss
+Westonhaugh in the same light, which would not make matters any easier,
+as far as I can see."
+
+"Pardon me. I should marry Miss Westonhaugh by the English marriage
+service and under English law. I should be as much bound to her, and to
+her alone, as if I were an Englishman myself."
+
+"Well, you have evidently thought it out and taken legal advice; and
+really, as far as the technical part of it goes, I suppose you have as
+good a chance as Lord Steepleton Kildare."
+
+Isaacs frowned, and his eyes flashed. I saw at once that he considered
+the Irish officer a rival, and a dangerous one. I did not think that if
+Isaacs had fair play and the same opportunities Kildare had much chance.
+Besides there was a difficulty in the way.
+
+"As far as religion is concerned, Lord Steepleton is not much better off
+than you, if he wants to marry Miss Westonhaugh. The Kildares have been
+Roman Catholics since the memory of man, and they are very proud of it.
+Theoretically, it is as hard for a Roman Catholic man to marry a
+Protestant woman, as for a Mussulman to wed a Christian of any
+denomination. Harder, in fact, for your marriage depends upon the
+consent of the lady, and his upon the consent of the Church. He has all
+sorts of difficulties to surmount, while you have only to get your
+personality accepted--which, when I look at you, I think might be done,"
+I added, laughing.
+
+"_Jo hoga, so hoga_--what will be, will be," he said; "but religion or
+no religion, I mean to do it." Then he lighted a cigarette and said,
+"Come, it is time to go and see his Saturnine majesty, the Maharajah of
+Baithopoor."
+
+I called for my hat and gloves.
+
+"By-the-bye, Griggs, you may as well put on a black coat. You know the
+old fellow is a king, after all, and you had better produce a favourable
+impression." I retired to comply with his request, and as I came back he
+turned quickly and came towards me, holding out both hands, with a very
+earnest look in his face.
+
+"Griggs, I care for that lady more than I can tell you," he said, taking
+my hands in his.
+
+"My dear fellow, I am sure you do. People do not go suddenly into
+trances at a name that is indifferent to them. I am sure you love her
+very honestly and dearly."
+
+"You and she have come into my life almost together, for it was not
+until I talked with you last night that I made up my mind. Will you help
+me? I have not a friend in the world." The simple, boyish look was in
+his eyes, and he stood holding my hands and waiting for my answer. I was
+so fascinated that I would have then and there gone through fire and
+water for him, as I would now.
+
+"Yes. I will help you. I will be a friend to you."
+
+"Thank you. I believe you." He dropped my hands, and we turned and went
+out, silent.
+
+In all my wanderings I had never promised any man my friendship and
+unconditional support before. There was something about Isaacs that
+overcame and utterly swept away preconceived ideas, rules, and
+prejudices. It was but the third day of our acquaintance, and here was I
+swearing eternal friendship like a school-girl; promising to help a man,
+of whose very existence I knew nothing three days ago, to marry a woman
+whom I had seen for the first time yesterday. But I resolved that,
+having pledged myself, I would do my part with my might, whatever that
+part might be. Meanwhile we rode along, and Isaacs began to talk about
+the visit we were going to make.
+
+"I think," he said, "that you had better know something about this
+matter beforehand. The way is long, and we cannot ride fast over the
+steep roads, so there is plenty of time. Do not imagine that I have idly
+asked you to go with me because I supposed it would amuse you. Dismiss
+also from your mind the impression that it is a question of buying and
+selling jewels. It is a very serious matter, and if you would prefer to
+have nothing to do with it, do not hesitate to say so. I promised the
+maharajah this morning that I would bring, this afternoon, a reliable
+person of experience, who could give advice, and who might be induced to
+give his assistance as well as his counsel. I have not known you long,
+but I know you by reputation, and I decided to bring you, if you would
+come. From the very nature of the case I can tell you nothing more,
+unless you consent to go with me."
+
+"I will go," I said.
+
+"In that case I will try and explain the situation in as few words as
+possible. The maharajah is in a tight place. You will readily understand
+that the present difficulties in Kabul cause him endless anxiety,
+considering the position of his dominions. The unexpected turn of
+events, following now so rapidly on each other since the English
+wantonly sacrificed Cavagnari and his friends to a vainglorious love of
+bravado, has shaken the confidence of the native princes in the
+stability of English rule. They are frightened out of their senses,
+having the fear of the tribes before them if the English should be
+worsted; and they dread, on the other hand, lest the English, finding
+themselves in great straits, should levy heavy contributions on
+them--the native princes--for the consolidation of what they term the
+'Empire.' They have not much sense, these poor old kings and boy
+princes, or they would see that the English do not dare to try any of
+those old-fashioned Clive tactics now. But old Baithopoor has heard all
+about the King of Oude, and thinks he may share the same fate."
+
+"I think he may make his mind easy on that score. The kingdom of
+Baithopoor is too inconveniently situated and too full of mosquitoes to
+attract the English. Besides, there are more roses than rubies there
+just now."
+
+"True, and that question interests me closely, for the old man owes me a
+great deal of money. It was I who pulled him through the last famine."
+
+"Not a very profitable investment, I should think. Shall you ever see a
+rupee of that money again?"
+
+"Yes; he will pay me; though I did not think so a week ago, or indeed
+yesterday. I lent him the means of feeding his people and saving many of
+them from actual death by starvation, because there are so many
+Mussulmans among them, though the maharajah is a Hindoo. As for him, he
+might starve to-morrow, the infidel hound; I would not give him a
+_chowpatti_ or a mouthful of _dal_ to keep his wretched old body alive."
+
+"Do I understand that this interview relates to the repayment of the
+moneys you have advanced?"
+
+"Yes; though that is not the most interesting part of it. He wanted to
+pay me in flesh--human flesh, and he offered to make me a king into the
+bargain, if I would forgive him the debt. The latter part of the
+proposal was purely visionary. The promise to pay in so much humanity he
+is able to perform. I have not made up my mind."
+
+I looked at Isaacs in utter astonishment. What in the world could he
+mean? Had the maharajah offered him some more wives--creatures of
+peerless beauty and immense value? No; I knew he would not hesitate now
+to refuse such a proposition.
+
+"Will you please to explain what you mean by his paying you in man?" I
+asked.
+
+"In two words. The Maharajah of Baithopoor has in his possession a man.
+Safely stowed away under a triple watch and carefully tended, this man
+awaits his fate as the maharajah may decide. The English Government
+would pay an enormous sum for this man, but Baithopoor fears that they
+would ask awkward questions, and perhaps not believe the answers he
+would give them. So, as he owes me a good deal, he thinks I might be
+induced to take his prisoner and realise him, so to speak; thus
+cancelling the debt, and saving him from the alternative of putting the
+man to death privately, or of going through dangerous negotiations with
+the Government. Now this thing is perfectly feasible, and it depends
+upon me to say 'yes' or 'no' to the proposition. Do you see now? It is a
+serious matter enough."
+
+"But the man--who is he? Why do the English want him so much?"
+
+Isaacs pressed his horse close to mine, and looking round to see that
+the saice was a long way behind, he put his hand on my shoulder, and,
+leaning out of the saddle till his mouth almost touched my ear, he
+whispered quickly--
+
+"Shere Ali."
+
+"The devil, you say!" I ejaculated, surprised out of grammar and decorum
+by the startling news. Persons who were in India in 1879 will not have
+forgotten the endless speculation caused by the disappearance of the
+Emir of Afghanistan, Shere Ali, in the spring of that year. Defeated by
+the English at Ali Musjid and Peiwar, and believing his cause lost, he
+fled, no one knew whither; though there is reason to think that he might
+have returned to power and popularity among the Afghan tribes if he had
+presented himself after the murder of Cavagnari.
+
+"Yes," continued Isaacs, "he has been a prisoner in the palace of
+Baithopoor for six weeks, and not a soul save the maharajah and you and
+I know it. He came to Baithopoor, humbly disguised as a Yogi from the
+hills, though he is a Mussulman, and having obtained a private hearing,
+disclosed his real name, proposing to the sovereign a joint movement on
+Kabul, then just pacified by the British, and promising all manner of
+things for the assistance. Old Baitho, who is no fool, clapped him into
+prison under a guard of Punjabi soldiers who could not speak a word of
+Afghan, and after due consideration packed up his traps and betook
+himself to Simla by short stages, for the journey is not an easy one for
+a man of his years. He arrived the day before yesterday, and has
+ostensibly come to congratulate the Viceroy on the success of the
+British arms. He has had to modify the enthusiasm of his proposed
+address, in consequence of the bad news from Kabul. Of course, his first
+move was to send for me, and I had a long interview this morning, in
+which he explained everything. I told him that I would not move in the
+matter without a third person--necessary as a witness when dealing with
+such people--and I have brought you."
+
+"But what was his proposal to invest you with a crown? Did he think you
+were a likely person for a new Emir of Kabul?"
+
+"Exactly. My faith, and above all, my wealth, suggested to him that I,
+as a born Persian, might be the very man for the vacant throne. No
+doubt, the English would be delighted to have me there. But the whole
+thing is visionary and ridiculous. I think I shall accept the other
+proposition, and take the prisoner. It is a good bargain."
+
+I was silent. The intimate way in which I had seen Isaacs hitherto had
+made me forget his immense wealth and his power. I had not realised that
+he could be so closely connected with intrigues of such importance as
+this, or that independant native princes were likely to look upon him as
+a possible Emir of Afghanistan. I had nothing to say, and I determined
+to keep to the part I was brought to perform, which was that of a
+witness, and nothing more. If my advice were asked, I would speak boldly
+for Shere Ali's liberation and protest against the poor man being bought
+and sold in this way. This train of thought reminded me of Isaacs' words
+when we left Miss Westonhaugh that morning. "It is not often," he had
+said, "that you see such jewels bought and sold." No, indeed!
+
+"You see," said Isaacs, as we neared our destination, "Baithopoor is in
+my power, body and soul, for a word from me would expose him to the
+British Government as 'harbouring traitors,' as they would express it.
+On the other hand, the fact that you, the third party, are a journalist,
+and could at a moment's notice give publicity to the whole thing, will
+be an additional safeguard. I have him as in a vice. And now put on your
+most formal manners and look as if you were impenetrable as the rock and
+unbending as cast iron, for we have reached his bungalow."
+
+I could not but admire the perfect calm and caution with which he was
+conducting an affair involving millions of money, a possible indictment
+for high treason, and the key-note of the Afghan question, while I knew
+that his whole soul was absorbed in the contemplation of a beautiful
+picture ever before him, sleeping or waking. Whatever I might think of
+his bargaining for the possession of Shere Ali, he had a great, even
+untiring, intellect. He had the elements of a leader of men, and I
+fondly hoped he might be a ruler some day.
+
+The bungalow in which the Maharajah of Baithopoor had taken up his
+residence during his visit was very much like all the rest of the houses
+I saw in Simla. The verandah, however, was crowded with servants and
+sowars in gorgeous but rather tawdry liveries, not all of them as clean
+as they should have been. Horses with elaborate high saddles and
+embroidered trappings rather the worse for wear were being led up and
+down the walk. As we neared the door there was a strong smell of
+rosewater and native perfumes and hookah tobacco--the indescribable
+odour of Eastern high life. There was also a general air of wasteful and
+tawdry dowdiness, if I may coin such a word, which one constantly sees
+in the retinues of native princes and rich native merchants, ill
+contrasting with the great intrinsic value of some of the ornaments worn
+by the chief officers of the train.
+
+Isaacs spoke a few words in a low voice to the jemadar at the door, and
+we were admitted into a small room in the side of the house, opening, as
+all rooms do in India, on to the verandah. There were low wooden
+charpoys around the walls, and we sat down, waiting till the maharajah
+should be advised of our arrival. Very soon a jemadar came in and
+informed us that "if the _sahib log_, who were the protectors of the
+poor, would deign to be led by him," we should be shown into the royal
+presence. So we rose and followed the obsequious official into another
+apartment.
+
+The room where the maharajah awaited us was even smaller than the one
+into which we had been first shown. It was on the back of the house, and
+only half lighted by the few rays of afternoon sun that struggled
+through the dense foliage outside. I suppose this apartment had been
+chosen as the scene of the interview on account of its seclusion.
+Outside the window, which was closed, a sowar paced slowly up and down
+to keep away any curious listeners. A heavy curtain hung before the door
+through which we had entered. I thought that on the whole the place
+seemed pretty safe.
+
+The old maharajah sat cross-legged upon a great pile of dark-red
+cushions, his slippers by his side, and a huge hookah before him. He
+wore a plain white pugree with a large jewel set on one side, and his
+body was swathed and wrapped in dark thick stuffs, as if he felt keenly
+the cold autumn air. His face was long, of an ashy yellowish colour, and
+an immense white moustache hung curling down over his sombre robe. One
+hand protruded from the folds and held the richly-jewelled mouthpiece of
+the pipe to his lips, and I noticed that the fingers were long and
+crooked, winding themselves curiously round the gold stem, as if
+revelling in the touch of the precious metal and the gems. As we came
+within his range of vision, his dark eyes shot a quick glance of
+scrutiny at me and then dropped again. Not a movement of the head or
+body betrayed a consciousness of our presence. Isaacs made a long
+salutation in Hindustani, and I followed his example, but he did not
+take off his shoes or make anything more than an ordinary bow. It was
+quite evident that he was master of the situation. The old man took the
+pipe from his mouth and replied in a deep hollow voice that he was glad
+to see us, and that, in consideration of our wealth, fame, and renowned
+wisdom, he would waive all ceremony and beg us to be seated. We sat down
+cross-legged on cushions before him, and as near as we could get, so
+that it seemed as if we three were performing some sacred rite of which
+the object was the tall hookah that stood in the centre of our triangle.
+
+Being seated, Isaacs addressed the prince, still in Hindustani, and said
+that the splendour of his sublime majesty, which was like the sun
+dispelling the clouds, so overcame him with fear and trembling, that he
+humbly implored permission to make use of the Persian tongue, which, he
+was aware, the lord of boundless wisdom spoke with even greater ease
+than himself.
+
+Without waiting for an answer, and with no perceptible manifestation of
+any such "fear and trembling" as he professed, Isaacs at once began to
+speak in his native tongue, and dropping all forms of ceremony or
+circumlocution plunged boldly into business. He did not hesitate to
+explain to the maharajah the strength of his position, dwelling on the
+fact that, by a word to the English of the whereabouts of Shere Ali, he
+could plunge Baithopoor into hopeless and endless entanglements, to
+which there could be but one issue--absorption into the British Râj. He
+dwelt on the large sums the maharajah owed him for assistance lent
+during the late famine, and he skilfully produced the impression that he
+wanted the money down, then and there.
+
+"If your majesty should refuse to satisfy my just claims, I have ample
+weapons by which to satisfy them for myself, and no considerations of
+mercy or pity for your majesty will tempt me to abate one rupee in the
+account of your indebtedness, which, as you well know, is not swelled by
+any usurious interest. You could not have borrowed the money on such
+easy terms from any bank in India or England, and if I have been
+merciful hitherto, I will be so no longer. What saith the Apostle of
+Allah? 'Verily, life for life, and eye for eye, and nose for nose, and
+ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and for wounding retaliation.' And the
+time of your promise is expired and you shall pay me. And is not the
+wise Frank, who sitteth at my right hand, the ready writer, who giveth
+to the public every day a new book to read, the paper of news,
+_Khabar-i-Khagaz_ wherein are written the misdeeds of the wicked, and
+the dealings of the fraudulent and the unwary receive their just reward?
+And think you he will not make a great writing, several columns in
+length, and deliver it to the devils that perform his bidding, and shall
+they not multiply what he hath written, and sow it broadcast over the
+British Râj for the minor consideration of one anna a copy, that all
+shall see how the Maharajah of Baithopoor doth scandalously repudiate
+his debts, and harbour traitors to the Râj in his palace?"
+
+Isaacs said all this in a solemn and impressive manner, calculated to
+inspire awe and terror in the soul of the unhappy debtor. As for the
+maharajah, the cold sweat stood on his face, and at the last words his
+anxiety was so great that the long fingers uncurled spasmodically and
+the jewelled mouthpiece fell back, as the head of a snake, among the
+silken coils of the tube at his feet. Instantly, on feeling the grasping
+hand empty, his majesty, with more alacrity than I would have expected,
+darted forward with outstretched claws, as a hawk on his prey, and
+seizing the glittering thing returned it to his lips with a look of
+evident relief. It was habit, of course, for we were not exactly the men
+to plunder him of his toy, but there was a fierceness about the whole
+action that spoke of the real miser. Then there was silence for a
+moment. The old man was evidently greatly impressed by the perils of his
+situation. Isaacs continued.
+
+"Your majesty well perceives that you have surrounded yourself with
+dangers on all sides. No danger threatens me. I could buy you and
+Baithopoor to-morrow if I chose. But I am a just man. When the prophet,
+whose name be blessed, saith that we shall have eye for eye, and nose
+for nose, and for wounding retaliation, he saith also that 'he that
+remitteth the same as alms it shall be an atonement unto him.' Now your
+majesty is a hard man, and I well know that if I force you to pay me now
+you will cruelly tax and oppress your subjects to refill your coffers.
+And many of your subjects are true believers, following the prophet,
+upon whom be peace; and it is also written 'Thou shalt rob a stranger,
+but thou shalt not rob a brother,'--and if I cause you to rob my
+brethren is not the sin mine, and the atonement thereof? Now also has
+the lawful interest on your bond mounted up to several lakhs of rupees.
+But for the sake of my brethren who are in bondage to you, who are an
+unbeliever and shall broil everlastingly in raging flames, I will yet
+make a covenant with you, and the agreement thereof shall be this:
+
+"You shall deliver into my hand, before the dark half of the next moon,
+the man"--Isaacs lowered his voice to a whisper, barely audible in the
+still room, where the only sound heard as he paused was the tread of the
+sowar on the verandah outside-- "the man Shere Ali, formerly Emir of
+Afghanistan, now hidden in your palace of Baithopoor. Him you shall give
+to me safe and untouched at the place which I shall choose, northwards
+from here, in the pass towards Keitung. And there shall not be an hair
+of his head touched, and if it is good in my eyes I will give him up to
+the British; and if it is good in my eyes, I will slay him, and you
+shall ask no questions. And if you refuse to do this I will go to the
+great lord sahib and tell him of your doings, and you will be arrested
+before this night and shall not escape. But if you consent and put your
+hand to this agreement, I will speak no word, and you shall depart in
+peace; and moreover, for the sake of the true believers in your kingdom
+I will remit to you the whole of the interest on your debt; and the bond
+you shall pay at your convenience. I have spoken, do you answer me."
+Isaacs calmly took from his pocket two rolls covered with Persian
+writing, and lighting a cigarette, proceeded to peruse them carefully,
+to detect any flaw or error in their composition. The face of the old
+maharajah betrayed great emotion, but he bravely pulled away at his
+hookah and tried to think over the situation. In the hope of delivering
+himself from his whole debt he had rashly given himself into the hands
+of a man who hated him, though he had discovered that hatred too late.
+He had flattered himself that the loan had been made out of friendly
+feeling and a desire for his interest and support; he found that Isaacs
+had lent the money, for real or imaginary religious motives, in the
+interest of his co-religionists. I sat silently watching the varying
+passions as they swept over the repulsive face of the old man. The
+silence must have lasted a quarter of an hour.
+
+"Give me the covenant," he said at last, "for I am in the tiger's
+clutches. I will sign it, since I must. But it shall be requited to you,
+Abdul Hafiz; and when your body has been eaten of jackals and wild pigs
+in the forest, your soul shall enter into the shape of a despised
+sweeper, and you and your off-spring shall scavenge the streets of the
+cities of my kingdom and of the kingdom of my son, and son's son, to ten
+thousand generations." A Hindoo cannot express scorn more deadly or hate
+more lasting than this. Isaacs smiled, but there was a concentrated look
+in his face, relentless and hard, as he answered the insult.
+
+"I am not going to bandy words with you. But if you are not quick about
+signing that paper I may change my mind, and send for the Angrezi sowars
+from Peterhof. So you had better hurry yourself." Isaacs produced a
+small inkhorn and a reed pen from his pocket. "Sign," he said, rising to
+his feet "before that soldier outside passes the window three times, or
+I will deliver you to the British."
+
+Trembling in every joint, and the perspiration standing on his face like
+beads, the old man seized the pen and traced his name and titles at the
+foot, first of one copy, and then of the other. Isaacs followed, writing
+his full name in the Persian character, and I signed my name last, "Paul
+Griggs," in large letters at the bottom of each roll, adding the word
+"witness," in case of the transaction becoming known.
+
+"And now," said Isaacs to the maharajah, "despatch at once a messenger,
+and let the man here mentioned be brought under a strong guard and by
+circuitous roads to the pass of Keitung, and let them there encamp
+before the third week from to-day, when the moon is at the full. And I
+will be there and will receive the man. And woe to you if he come not;
+and woe to you if you oppress the true believers in your realm." He
+turned on his heel, and I followed him out of the room after making a
+brief salutation to the old man, cowering among his cushions, a ceremony
+which Isaacs omitted, whether intentionally or from forgetfulness, I
+could not say. We passed through the house out into the air, and
+mounting our horses rode away, leaving the double row of servants
+salaaming to the ground. The duration of our private interview with the
+maharajah had given them an immense idea of our importance. We had come
+at four and it was now nearly five. The long pauses and the Persian
+circumlocutions had occupied a good deal of time.
+
+"You do not seem to have needed my counsel or assistance much," I said.
+"With such an armoury of weapons you could manage half-a-dozen
+maharajahs."
+
+"Yes--perhaps so. But I have strong reasons for wishing this affair
+quickly over, and the editor of a daily paper is a thing of terror to a
+native prince; you must have seen that."
+
+"What do you mean to do with your man when he is safely in your hands,
+if it is not an indiscreet question?"
+
+"Do with him?" asked Isaacs with some astonishment. "Is it possible you
+have not guessed? He is a brave man, and a true believer. I will give
+him money and letters, that he may make his way to Baghdad, or wherever
+he will be safe. He shall depart in peace, and be as free as air."
+
+I had half suspected my friend of some such generous intention, but he
+had played his part of unrelenting hardness so well in our late
+interview with the Hindoo prince that it seemed incomprehensible that a
+man should be so pitiless and so kind on the same day. There was not a
+trace of hardness on his beautiful features now, and as we rounded the
+hill and caught the last beams of the sun, now sinking behind the
+mountains, his face seemed transfigured as with a glory, and I could
+hardly bear to look at him. He held his hat in his hand and faced the
+west for an instant, as though thanking the declining day for its
+freshness and beauty; and I thought to myself that the sun was lucky to
+see such an exquisite picture before he bid Simla good-night, and that
+he should shine the brighter for it the next day, since he would look on
+nothing fairer in his twelve hours' wandering over the other half of
+creation.
+
+"And now," said he, "it is late, but if we ride towards Annandale we may
+meet them coming back from the polo match we have missed." His eyes
+glowed at the thought. Shere Ali, the maharajah, bonds, principal, and
+interest, were all forgotten in the anticipation of a brief meeting with
+the woman he loved.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+"Why did you not come and see the game? After all your enthusiasm about
+polo this morning, I did not think you would miss anything so good,"
+were the first words of Miss Westonhaugh as we met her and Kildare in
+the narrow path that leads down to Annandale. Two men were riding behind
+them, who proved to be Mr. Currie Ghyrkins and Mr. John Westonhaugh. The
+latter was duly introduced to us; a quiet, spare man, with his sister's
+features, but without a trace of her superb colour and animal spirits.
+He had the real Bombay paleness, and had been steamed to the bone
+through the rains. As we were introduced, Isaacs started and said
+quickly that he believed he had met Mr. Westonhaugh before.
+
+"It is possible, quite possible," said that gentleman affably,
+"especially if you ever go to Bombay."
+
+"Yes--it was in Bombay--some twelve years ago. You have probably
+forgotten me."
+
+"Ah, yes. I was young and green then. I wonder you remember me." He did
+not show any very lively interest in the matter, though he smiled
+pleasantly.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh must have been teasing Lord Steepleton, for he looked
+flushed and annoyed, and she was in capital spirits. We turned to go
+back with the party, and by a turn of the wrist Isaacs wheeled his horse
+to the side of Miss Westonhaugh's, a position he did not again abandon.
+They were leading, and I resolved they should have a chance, as the path
+was not broad enough for more than two to ride abreast. So I furtively
+excited my horse by a touch of the heel and a quick strain on the curb,
+throwing him across the road, and thus producing a momentary delay, of
+which the two riders in front took advantage to increase their distance.
+Then we fell in, Mr. Ghyrkins and I in front, while the dejected Kildare
+rode behind with Mr. John Westonhaugh. Ghyrkins and I, being heavy men,
+heavily mounted, controlled the situation, and before long Isaacs and
+Miss Westonhaugh were a couple of hundred yards ahead, and we only
+caught occasional glimpses of them through the trees as they wound in
+and out along the path.
+
+"What are those youngsters talking about, back there? Tigers, I'll be
+bound," said Mr. Ghyrkins to me. Sure enough, they were.
+
+"What do you suppose I found when we got back this afternoon, Mr.
+Griggs? Why, this hair-brained young Kildare has been proposing to my
+niece----" his horse stumbled, but recovered himself in a moment.
+
+"You don't mean it," said I, rather startled.
+
+"Oh no, no, no. I don't mean that at all. Ha! ha! ha! very good, very
+good. No, no. Lord Steepleton wants us all to go on a tiger-hunt to
+amuse John, and he proposes--ha! ha!--really too funny of me--that Miss
+Westonhaugh should go with us."
+
+"I suppose you have no objection, Mr. Ghyrkins? Ladies constantly go on
+such expeditions, and they do not appear to be the least in the way."
+
+"Objections? Of course I have objections. Do you suppose I want to drag
+my niece to a premature grave? Think of the fever and the rough living
+and all, and she only just out from England."
+
+"She looks as if she could stand anything," I said, as just then an open
+space in the trees gave us a glimpse of Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs
+ambling along and apparently in earnest conversation. She certainly
+looked strong enough to go tiger-hunting that minute, as she sat erect
+but half turned to the off side, listening to what Isaacs seemed to be
+saying.
+
+"I hope you will not go and tell her so," said Ghyrkins. "If she gets an
+idea that the thing is possible, there will be no holding her. You don't
+know her. I hardly know her myself. Never saw her since she was a baby
+till the other day. Now you are the sort of person to go after tigers.
+Why do you not go off with my nephew and Mr. Isaacs and Kildare, and
+kill as many of them as you like?"
+
+"I have no objection, I am sure. I suppose the _Howler_ could spare me
+for a fortnight, now that I have converted the Press Commissioner, your
+new _deus ex machina_ for the obstruction of news. What a motley party
+we should be. Let me see.--a Bombay Civil Servant, an Irish nobleman, a
+Persian millionaire, and a Yankee newspaper man. By Jove! add to that a
+famous Revenue Commissioner and a reigning beauty, and the sextett is
+complete." Mr. Ghyrkins looked pleased at the gross flattery of himself.
+I recollected suddenly that, though he was far from famous as a revenue
+commissioner, I had read of some good shooting he had done in his
+younger days. Here was a chance.
+
+"Besides, Mr. Ghyrkins, a tiger-hunting party would not be the thing
+without some seasoned Nimrod to advise and direct us. Who so fitted for
+the post as the man of many a chase, the companion of Maori, the slayer
+of the twelve foot tiger in the Nepaul hills in 1861?"
+
+"You have a good memory, Mr. Griggs," said the old fellow, perfectly
+delighted, and now fairly launched on his favourite topic. "By Gad, sir,
+if I thought I should get such another chance I would go with you
+to-morrow!"
+
+"Why not? there are lots of big man-eaters about," and I incontinently
+reeled off half a page of statistics, more or less accurate, about the
+number of persons destroyed by snakes and wild beasts in the last year.
+"Of course most of those deaths were from tigers, and it is a really
+good action to kill a few. Many people can see tigers but cannot shoot
+them, whereas your deeds of death amongst them ate a matter of history.
+You really ought to be philanthropic, Mr. Ghyrkins, and go with us. We
+might stand a chance of seeing some real sport then."
+
+"Why, really, now that you make me think of it, I believe I should like
+it amazingly, and I could leave my niece with
+Lady--Lady--Stick-in-the-mud; what the deuce is her name? The wife of
+the Chief Justice, you know. You ought to know, really--I never remember
+names much;" he jerked out his sentences irately.
+
+"Certainly, Lady Smith-Tompkins, you mean. Yes, you might do that--that
+is, if Miss Westonhaugh has had the measles, and is not afraid of them.
+I heard this morning that three of the little Smith-Tompkinses had them
+quite badly."
+
+"You don't say so! Well, well, we shall find some one else, no doubt."
+
+I was certain that at that very moment Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were
+planning the whole expedition, and so I returned to the question of
+sport and inquired where we should go. This led to considerable
+discussion, and before we arrived at Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow--still in
+the same order--it was very clear that the old sportsman had made up his
+mind to kill one more tiger at all events; and that, rather than forego
+the enjoyment of the chase, he would be willing to take his niece with
+him. As for the direction of the expedition, that could be decided in a
+day or two. It was not the best season for tigers--the early spring is
+better--but they are always to be found in the forests of the Terai, the
+country along the base of the hills, north of Oude.
+
+When we reached the house it was quite dark, for we had ridden slowly.
+The light from the open door, falling across the verandah, showed us
+Miss Westonhaugh seated in a huge chair, and Isaacs standing by her side
+slightly bending, and holding his hat in his hand. They were still
+talking, but as we rode up to the lawn and shouted for the saices,
+Isaacs stood up and looked across towards us, and their voices ceased.
+It was evident that he had succeeded in thoroughly interesting her, for
+I thought--though it was some distance, and the light on them was not
+strong--that as he straightened himself and stopped speaking, she looked
+up to his face as if regretting that he did not go on. I dismounted with
+the rest and walked up to bid Miss Westonhaugh good-night.
+
+"You must come and dine to-morrow night," said Mr. Ghyrkins, "and we
+will arrange all about it. Sharp seven. To-morrow is Sunday, you know.
+Kildare, you must come too, if you mean business. Seven. We must look
+sharp and start, if we mean to come back here before the Viceroy goes."
+
+"Oh in that case," said Kildare, turning to me, "we can settle all about
+the polo match for Monday, can't we?"
+
+"Of course, very good of you to take the trouble."
+
+"Not a bit of it. Good-night." We bowed and went back to find our horses
+in the gloom. After some fumbling, for it was intensely dark after
+facing the light in the doorway of the bungalow, we got into the saddle
+and turned homeward through the trees.
+
+"Thank you, Griggs," said Isaacs. "May your feet never weary, and your
+shadow never be less."
+
+"Don't mention it, and thanks about the shadow. Only it is never likely
+to be less than at the present moment. How dark it is, to be sure!" I
+knew well enough what he was thanking me for. I lit a cheroot.
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "you are a pretty cool hand, upon my word."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why, indeed! Here you and Miss Westonhaugh have been calmly planning an
+extensive tiger-hunt, when you have promised to be in the neighbourhood
+of Keitung in three weeks, wherever that may be. I suppose it is in the
+opposite direction from here, for you will not find any tigers nearer
+than the Terai at this time of year."
+
+"I do not see the difficulty," he answered. "We can be in Oude in two
+days from here; shoot tigers for ten days, and be here again in two days
+more. That is just a fortnight. It will not take me a week to reach
+Keitung. I am much mistaken if I do not get there in three days. I shall
+lay a _dâk_ by messengers before I go to Oude, and between a double set
+of coolies and lots of ponies wherever the roads are good enough, I
+shall be at the place of meeting soon enough, never fear."
+
+"Oh, very well; but I hardly think Ghyrkins will want to return under
+three weeks; and--I did not think you would want to leave the party." He
+had evidently planned the whole three weeks' business carefully. I did
+not continue the conversation. He was naturally absorbed in the
+arrangement of his numerous schemes--no easy matter, when affairs of
+magnitude have to be ordered to suit the exigencies of a _grande
+passion_. I shrank from intruding on his reflections, and I had quite
+enough to do in keeping my horse on his feet in the thick darkness.
+Suddenly he reared violently, and then stood still, quivering in every
+limb. Isaacs' horse plunged and snorted by my side, and cannoned heavily
+against me. Then all was quiet. I could see nothing. Presently a voice,
+low and musical, broke on the darkness, and I thought I could
+distinguish a tall figure on foot at Isaacs' knee. Whoever the man was
+he must be on the other side of my companion, but I made out a head from
+which the voice proceeded.
+
+"Peace, Abdul Hafiz!" it said.
+
+"Aleikum Salaam, Ram Lal!" answered Isaacs. He must have recognised the
+man by his voice.
+
+"Abdul," continued the stranger, speaking Persian. "I have business with
+thee this night; thou art going home. If it is thy pleasure I will be
+with thee in two hours in thy dwelling."
+
+"Thy pleasure is my pleasure. Be it so." I thought the head disappeared.
+
+"Be it so," the voice echoed, growing faint, as if moving rapidly away
+from us. The horses, momentarily startled by the unexpected pedestrian,
+regained their equanimity. I confess the incident gave me a curiously
+unpleasant sensation. It was so very odd that a man on foot--a Persian,
+I judged, by his accent--should know of my companion's whereabouts, and
+that they should recognise each other by their voices. I recollected
+that our coming to Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow was wholly unpremeditated, and
+I was sure Isaacs had spoken to none but our party--not even to his
+saice--since our meeting with the Westonhaughs on the Annandale road an
+hour and a half before.
+
+"I wonder what he wants," said my friend, apparently soliloquising.
+
+"He seems to know where to find you, at all events," I answered. "He
+must have second sight to know you had been to Carisbrooke."
+
+"He has. He is a very singular personage altogether. However, he has
+done me more than one service before now, and though I do not comprehend
+his method of arriving at conclusions, still less his mode of
+locomotion, I am always glad of his advice."
+
+"But what is he? Is he a Persian?--you called him by an Indian name, but
+that may be a disguise--is he a wise man from Iran?"
+
+"He is a very wise man, but not from Iran. No. He is a Brahmin by birth,
+a Buddhist by adopted religion, and he calls himself an 'adept' by
+profession, I suppose, if he can be said to have any. He comes and goes
+unexpectedly, with amazing rapidity. His visits are brief, but he always
+seems to be perfectly conversant with the matter in hand, whatever it
+be. He will come to-night and give me about twenty words of advice,
+which I may follow or may not, as my judgment dictates; and before I
+have answered or recovered from my surprise, he will have vanished,
+apparently into space; for if I ask my servants where he is gone they
+will stare at me as if I were crazy, until I show them that the room is
+empty, and accuse them of going to sleep instead of seeing who goes in
+and out of my apartment. He speaks more languages than I do, and better.
+He once told me he was educated in Edinburgh, and his perfect knowledge
+of European affairs and of European topics leads me to think he must
+have been there a long time. Have you ever looked into the higher phases
+of Buddhism? It is a very interesting study."
+
+"Yes, I have read something about it. Indeed I have read a good deal,
+and have thought more. The subject is full of interest, as you say. If I
+had been an Asiatic by birth, I am sure I should have sought to attain
+_moksha_, even if it required a lifetime to pass through all the degrees
+of initiation. There is something so rational about their theories,
+disclaiming, as they do, all supernatural power; and, at the same time,
+there is something so pure and high in their conception of life, in
+their ideas about the ideal, if you will allow me the expression, that I
+do not wonder Edwin Arnold has set our American transcendentalists and
+Unitarians and freethinkers speculating about it all, and wondering
+whether the East may not have had men as great as Emerson and Channing
+among its teachers." I paused. My greatest fault is that if any one
+starts me upon a subject I know anything about, I immediately become
+didactic. So I paused and reflected that Isaacs, being, as he himself
+declared, frequently in the society of an "adept" of a high class, was
+sure to know a great deal more than I.
+
+"I too," he said, "have been greatly struck, and sometimes almost
+converted, by the beauty of the higher Buddhist thoughts. As for their
+apparently supernatural powers and what they do with them, I care
+nothing about phenomena of that description. We live in a land where
+marvels are common enough. Who has ever explained the mango trick, or
+the basket trick, or the man who throws a rope up into the air and then
+climbs up it and takes the rope after him, disappearing into blue space?
+And yet you have seen those things--I have seen them, every one has seen
+them,--and the performers claim no supernatural agency or assistance. It
+is merely a difference of degree, whether you make a mango grow from the
+seed to the tree in half an hour, or whether you transport yourself ten
+thousand miles in as many seconds, passing through walls of brick and
+stone on your way, and astonishing some ordinary mortal by showing that
+you know all about his affairs. I see no essential difference between
+the two 'phenomena,' as the newspapers call them, since Madame Blavatsky
+has set them all by the ears in this country. It is just the difference
+in the amount of power brought to bear on the action. That is all. I
+have seen, in a workshop in Calcutta, a hammer that would crack an
+eggshell without crushing it, or bruise a lump of iron as big as your
+head into a flat cake. 'Phenomena' may amuse women and children, but the
+real beauty of the system lies in the promised attainment of happiness.
+Whether that state of supreme freedom from earthly care gives the
+fortunate initiate the power of projecting himself to the antipodes by a
+mere act of volition, or of condensing the astral fluid into articles of
+daily use, or of stimulating the vital forces of nature to an abnormal
+activity, is to me a matter of supreme indifference. I am tolerably
+happy in my own way as things are. I should not be a whit happier if I
+were able to go off after dinner and take a part in American politics
+for a few hours, returning to business here to-morrow morning."
+
+"That is an extreme case," I said. "No man in his senses ever connects
+the idea of happiness with American politics."
+
+"Of one thing I am sure, though." He paused as if choosing his words. "I
+am sure of this. If any unforeseen event, whether an act of folly of my
+own, or the hand of Allah, who is wise, should destroy the peace of mind
+I have enjoyed for ten years, with very trifling interruption,--if
+anything should occur to make me permanently unhappy, beyond the
+possibility of ordinary consolation,--I should seek comfort in the study
+of the pure doctrines of the higher Buddhists. The pursuit of a
+happiness, so immeasurably beyond all earthly considerations of bodily
+comfort or of physical enjoyment, can surely not be inconsistent with my
+religion--or with yours."
+
+"No indeed," said I. "But, considering that you are the strictest of
+Mohammedans, it seems to me you are wonderfully liberal. So you have
+seriously contemplated the possibility of your becoming one of the
+'brethren'--as they style themselves?"
+
+"It never struck me until to-day that anything might occur by which my
+life could be permanently disturbed. Something to-day has whispered to
+me that such an existence could not be permanent. I am sure that it
+cannot be. The issue must be either to an infinite happiness or to a
+still more infinite misery. I cannot tell which." His clear, evenly
+modulated voice trembled a little. We were in sight of the lights from
+the hotel.
+
+"I shall not dine with you to-night, Griggs. I will have something in my
+own rooms. Come in as soon as you have done--that is if you are free.
+There is no reason why you should not see Ram Lal the adept, since we
+think alike about his religion, or school, or philosophy--find a name
+for it while you are dining." And we separated for a time.
+
+It had been a long and exciting day to me. I felt no more inclined than
+he did for the din and racket and lights of the public dining-room. So I
+followed his example and had something in my own apartment. Then I
+settled myself to a hookah, resolved not to take advantage of Isaacs'
+invitation until near the time when he expected Ram Lal. I felt the need
+of an hour's solitude to collect my thoughts and to think over the
+events of the last twenty-four hours. I recognised that I was fast
+becoming very intimate with Isaacs, and I wanted to think about him and
+excogitate the problem of his life; but when I tried to revolve the
+situation logically, and deliver to myself a verdict, I found myself
+carried off at a tangent by the wonderful pictures that passed before my
+eyes. I could not detach the events from the individual. His face was
+ever before me, whether I thought of Miss Westonhaugh, or of the
+wretched old maharajah, or of Ram Lal the Buddhist. Isaacs was the
+central figure in every picture, always in the front, always calm and
+beautiful, always controlling the events around him. Then I entered on a
+series of trite reflections to soothe my baffled reason, as a man will
+who is used to understanding what goes on before him and suddenly finds
+himself at a loss. Of course, I said to myself, it is no wonder he
+controls things, or appears to. The circumstances in which I find this
+three days' acquaintance are emphatically those of his own making. He
+has always been a successful man, and he would not raise spirits that he
+could not keep well in hand. He knows perfectly well what he is about in
+making love to that beautiful creature, and is no doubt at this moment
+laughing in his sleeve at my simplicity in believing that he was really
+asking my advice. Pshaw! as if any advice could influence a man like
+that! Absurd.
+
+I sipped my coffee in disgust with myself. All the time, while trying to
+persuade myself that Isaacs was only a very successful schemer, neither
+better nor worse than other men, I was conscious of the face that would
+not be banished from my sight. I saw the beautiful boyish look in his
+deep dark eyes, the gentle curve of the mouth, the grand smooth
+architrave of the brows. No--I was a fool! I had never met a man like
+him, nor should again. How could Miss Westonhaugh save herself from
+loving such a perfect creature? I thought, too, of his generosity. He
+would surely keep his promise and deliver poor Shere Ali, hunted to
+death by English and Afghan foes, from all his troubles. Had he not the
+Maharajah of Baithopoor in his power? He might have exacted the full
+payment of the debt, principal and interest, and saved the Afghan chief
+into the bargain. But he feared lest the poor Mohammedans should suffer
+from the prince's extortion, and he forgave freely the interest,
+amounting now to a huge sum, and put off the payment of the bond itself
+to the maharajah's convenience. Did ever an Oriental forgive a debt
+before even to his own brother? Not in my experience.
+
+I rose and went down to Isaacs. I found him as on the previous evening,
+among his cushions with a manuscript book. He looked up smiling and
+motioned me to be seated, keeping his place on the page with one finger.
+He finished the verse before he spoke, and then laid the book down and
+leaned back.
+
+"So you have made up your mind that you would like to see Ram Lal. He
+will be here in a minute, unless he changes his mind and does not come
+after all."
+
+There was a sound of voices outside. Some one asked if Isaacs were in,
+and the servant answered. A tall figure in a gray _caftán_ and a plain
+white turban stood in the door.
+
+"I never change my mind," said the stranger, in excellent English,
+though with an accent peculiar to the Hindoo tongue when struggling with
+European languages. His voice was musical and high in pitch, though soft
+and sweet in tone. The quality of voice that can be heard at a great
+distance, with no apparent effort to the speaker. "I never change my
+mind. I am here. Is it well with you?"
+
+"It is well, Ram Lal. I thank you. Be seated, if you will stay with us a
+while. This is my friend Mr. Griggs, of whom you probably know. He
+thinks as I do on many points, and I was anxious that you should meet."
+
+While Isaacs was speaking, Ram Lal advanced into the room and stood a
+moment under the soft light, a gray figure, very tall, but not otherwise
+remarkable. He was all gray. The long _caftán_ wrapped round him, the
+turban which I had first thought white, the skin of his face, the
+pointed beard and long moustache, the heavy eyebrows--a study of grays
+against the barbaric splendour of the richly hung wall--a soft outline
+on which the yellow light dwelt lovingly, as if weary of being cast back
+and reflected from the glory of gold and the thousand facets of the
+priceless gems. Ram Lal looked toward me, and as I gazed into his eyes I
+saw that they too were gray--a very singular thing in the East--and that
+they were very far apart, giving his face a look of great dignity and
+fearless frankness. To judge by his features he seemed to be very thin,
+and his high shoulders were angular, though the long loose garment
+concealed the rest of his frame from view. I had plenty of time to note
+these details, for he stood a full minute in the middle of the room, as
+if deciding whether to remain or to go. Then he moved quietly to a divan
+and sat down cross-legged.
+
+"Abdul, you have done a good deed to-day, and I trust you will not
+change your mind before you have carried out your present intentions."
+
+"I never change my mind, Bam Lai," said Isaacs, smiling as he quoted his
+visitor's own words. I was startled at first. What good deed was the
+Buddhist referring to if not to the intended liberation of Shere Ali?
+How could he know of it? Then I reflected that this man was, according
+to Isaacs' declaration, an adept of the higher grades, a seer and a
+knower of men's hearts. I resolved not to be astonished at anything that
+occurred, only marvelling that it should have pleased this extraordinary
+man to make his entrance like an ordinary mortal, instead of through the
+floor or the ceiling.
+
+"Pardon me," answered Ram Lal, "if I venture to contradict you. You do
+change your mind sometimes. Who was it who lately scoffed at women,
+their immortality, their virtue, and their intellect? Will you tell me
+now, friend Abdul, that you have not changed your mind? Do you think of
+anything, sleeping or waking, but the one woman for whom you _have_
+changed your mind? Is not her picture ever before you, and the breath of
+her beauty upon your soul? Have you not met her in the spirit as well as
+in the flesh? Surely we shall hear no more of your doubts about women
+for some time to come. I congratulate you, as far as that goes, on your
+conversion. You have made a step towards a higher understanding of the
+world you live in."
+
+Isaacs did not seem in the least surprised at his visitor's intimate
+acquaintance with his affairs. He bowed his head in silence, acquiescing
+to what Bam Lai had said, and waited for him to proceed.
+
+"I have come," continued the Buddhist, "to give you some good
+advice--the best I have for you. You will probably not take it, for you
+are the most self-reliant man I know, though you have changed a little
+since you have been in love, witness your sudden intimacy with Mr.
+Griggs." He looked at me, and there was a faint approach to a smile in
+his gray eyes. "My advice to you is, do not let this projected
+tiger-hunt take place if you can prevent it. No good can come of it, and
+harm may. Now I have spoken because my mind would not be at rest if I
+did not warn you. Of course you will do as you please, only never forget
+that I pointed out to you the right course in time."
+
+"Thank you, Ram Lal, for your friendly concern in my behalf. I do not
+think I shall act as you suggest, but I am nevertheless grateful to you.
+There is one thing I want to ask you, and consult you about, however."
+
+"My friend, what is the use of my giving you advice that you will not
+follow? If I lived with you, and were your constant companion, you would
+ask me to advise you twenty times a day, and then you would go and do
+the diametric opposite of what I suggested. If I did not see in you
+something that I see in few other men, I would not be here. There are
+plenty of fools who have wit enough to take counsel of a wise man. There
+are few men of wit wise enough to be guided by their betters, as if they
+were only fools for the time. Yet because you are so wayward I will help
+you once or twice more, and then I will leave you to your own
+course--which you, in your blindness, will call your kismet, not seeing
+that your fate is continually in your own hands--more so at this moment
+than ever before. Ask, and I will answer."
+
+"Thanks, Ram Lal. It is this I would know. You are aware that I have
+undertaken a novel kind of bargain. The man you wot of is to be
+delivered to me near Keitung. I am anxious for the man's safety
+afterwards, and I would be glad of some hint about disposing of him. I
+must go alone, for I do not want any witness of what I am going to do,
+and as a mere matter of personal safety for myself and the man I am
+going to set free, I must decide on some plan of action when I meet the
+band of sowars who will escort him. They are capable of murdering us
+both if the maharajah instructs them to. As long as I am alive to bring
+the old man into disgrace with the British, the captive is safe; but it
+would be an easy matter for those fellows to dispose of us together, and
+there would be an end of the business."
+
+"Of course they could," replied Ram Lal, adding in an ironical tone "and
+if you insist upon putting your head down the tiger's throat, how do you
+expect me to prevent the brute from snapping it off? That would be a
+'phenomenon,' would it not? And only this evening you were saying that
+you despised 'phenomena.'"
+
+"I said that such things were indifferent to me. I did not say I
+despised them. But I think that this thing may be done without
+performing any miracles."
+
+"If it were not such a good action on your part I would have nothing to
+do with it. But since you mean to risk your neck for your own peculiar
+views of what is right, I will endeavour that you shall not break it. I
+will meet you a day's journey before you reach Keitung, somewhere on the
+road, and we will go together and do the business. But if I am to help
+you I will not promise not to perform some miracles, as you call them,
+though you know very well they are no such thing. Meanwhile, do as you
+please about the tiger-hunt; I shall say no more about it." He paused,
+and then, withdrawing one delicate hand from the folds of his _caftán_,
+he pointed to the wall behind Isaacs and me, and said, "What a very
+singular piece of workmanship is that yataghan!"
+
+We both naturally turned half round to look at the weapon he spoke of,
+which was the central piece in a trophy of jewelled sabres and Afghan
+knives.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, turning back to answer his guest, "it is a ----" He
+stopped, and I, who had not seen the weapon before, lost among so many,
+and was admiring its singular beauty, turned too; to my astonishment I
+saw that Isaacs was gazing into empty space. The divan where Ram Lal had
+been sitting an instant before, was vacant. He was gone.
+
+"That is rather sudden," I said.
+
+"More so than usual," was the reply. "Did you see him go? Did he go out
+by the door?"
+
+"Not I," I answered, "when I looked round at the wall he was placidly
+sitting on that divan pointing with one hand at the yataghan. Does he
+generally go so quickly?"
+
+"Yes, more or less. Now I will show you some pretty sport." He rose to
+his feet and went to the door. "Narain!" he cried. Narain, the bearer,
+who was squatting against the door-post outside, sprang up and stood
+before his master. "Narain, why did you not show that pundit the way
+downstairs? What do you mean? have you no manners?"
+
+Narain stood open mouthed. "What pundit, sahib?" he asked.
+
+"Why, the pundit who came a quarter of an hour ago, you donkey! He has
+just gone out, and you did not even get up and make a salaam, you
+impertinent vagabond!" Narain protested that no pundit, or sahib, or any
+one else, had passed the threshold since Ram Lal had entered. "Ha! you
+_budmash_. You lazy dog of a Hindoo! you have been asleep again, you
+swine, you son of a pig, you father of piglings! Is that the way you do
+your work in my service?" Isaacs was enjoying the joke in a quiet way
+immensely.
+
+"Sahib," said the trembling Narain, apparently forgetting the genealogy
+his master had thrust upon him, "Sahib, you are protector of the poor,
+you are my father and my mother, and my brother, and all my relations,"
+the common form of Hindoo supplication, "but, Sri Krishnaji! by the
+blessed Krishna, I have not slept a wink."
+
+"Then I suppose you mean me to believe that the pundit went through the
+ceiling, or is hidden under the cushions. Swear not by your false idols,
+slave; I shall not believe you for that, you dog of an unbeliever, you
+soor-be-iman, you swine without faith!"
+
+"Han, sahib, han!" cried Narain, seizing at the idea that the pundit had
+disappeared mysteriously through the walls. "Yes, sahib, the pundit is a
+great yogi, and has made the winds carry him off." The fellow thought
+this was a bright idea, not by any means beneath consideration. Isaacs
+appeared somewhat pacified.
+
+"What makes you think he is a yogi, dog?" he inquired in a milder tone.
+Narain had no answer ready, but stood looking rather stupidly through
+the door at the room whence the unearthly visitor had so suddenly
+disappeared. "Well," continued Isaacs, "you are more nearly right than
+you imagine. The pundit is a bigger yogi than any your idiotic religion
+can produce. Never mind, there is an eight anna bit for you, because I
+said you were asleep when you were not." Narain bent to the ground in
+thanks, as his master turned on his heel. "Not that he minds being told
+that he is a pig, in the least," said Isaacs. "I would not call a
+Mussulman so, but you can insult these Hindoos so much worse in other
+ways that I think the porcine simile is quite merciful by comparison."
+He sat down again among the cushions, and putting off his slippers,
+curled himself comfortably together for a chat.
+
+"What do you think of Ram Lal?" he asked, when Narain had brought
+hookahs and sherbet.
+
+"My dear fellow, I have hardly made up my mind what to think. I have not
+altogether recovered from my astonishment. I confess that there was
+nothing startling about his manner or his person. He behaved and talked
+like a well educated native, in utter contrast to the amazing things he
+said, and to his unprecedented mode of leave-taking. It would have
+seemed more natural--I would say, more fitting--if he had appeared in
+the classic dress of an astrologer, surrounded with zodiacs, and blue
+lights, and black cats. Why do you suppose he wants you to abandon the
+tiger-hunt?"
+
+"I cannot tell. Perhaps he thinks something may happen to me to prevent
+my keeping the other engagement. Perhaps he does not approve----" he
+stopped, as if not wanting to approach the subject of Ram Lal's
+disapprobation. "I intend, nevertheless, that the expedition come off,
+and I mean, moreover, to have a very good time, and to kill a tiger if I
+see one."
+
+"I thought he seemed immensely pleased at your conversion, as he calls
+it. He said that your newly acquired belief in woman was a step towards
+a better understanding of life."
+
+"Of the world, he said," answered-Isaacs, correcting me. "There is a
+great difference between the 'world' and 'life.' The one is a finite,
+the other an infinite expression. I believe, from what I have learned of
+Ram Lal, that the ultimate object of the adepts is happiness, only to be
+attained by wisdom, and I apprehend that by wisdom they mean a knowledge
+of the world in the broadest sense of the word. The world to them is a
+great repository of facts, physical and social, of which they propose to
+acquire a specific knowledge by transcendental methods. If that seems to
+you a contradiction of terms, I will try and express myself better. If
+you understand me, I am satisfied. Of course I use transcendental in the
+sense in which it is applied by Western mathematicians to a mode of
+reasoning which I very imperfectly comprehend, save that it consists in
+reaching finite results by an adroit use of the infinite."
+
+"Not a bad definition of transcendental analysis for a man who professes
+to know nothing about it," said I. "I would not accuse you of a
+contradiction of terms, either. I have often thought that what some
+people call the 'philosophy of the nineteenth century,' is nothing after
+all but the unconscious application of transcendental analysis to the
+everyday affairs of life. Consider the theories of Darwin, for instance.
+What are they but an elaborate application of the higher calculus? He
+differentiates men into protoplasms, and integrates protoplasms into
+monkeys, and shows the caudal appendage to be the independent variable,
+a small factor in man, a large factor in monkey. And has not the idea of
+successive development supplanted the early conception of spontaneous
+perfection? Take an illustration from India--the new system of
+competition, which the natives can never understand. Formerly the
+members of the Civil Service received their warrants by divine
+authority, so to speak. They were born perfect, as Aphrodite from the
+foam of the sea; they sprang armed and ready from the head of old John
+Company as Pallas Athene from the head of Zeus. Now all that is changed;
+they are selected from a great herd of candidates by methods of extreme
+exactness, and when they are chosen they represent the final result of
+infinite probabilities for and against their election. They are all
+exactly alike; they are a formula for taxation and the administration of
+justice, and so long as you do not attempt to use the formula for any
+other purpose, such, for instance, as political negotiation or the
+censorship of the public press, the equation will probably be amenable
+to solution."
+
+"As I told you," said Isaacs, "I know nothing, or next to nothing, of
+Western mathematics, but I have a general idea of the comparison you
+make. In Asia and in Asiatic minds, there prevails an idea that
+knowledge can be assimilated once and for all. That if you can obtain
+it, you immediately possess the knowledge of everything--the pass-key
+that shall unlock every door. That is the reason of the prolonged
+fasting and solitary meditation of the ascetics. They believe that by
+attenuating the bond between soul and body, the soul can be liberated
+and can temporarily identify itself with other objects, animate and
+inanimate, besides the especial body to which it belongs, acquiring thus
+a direct knowledge of those objects, and they believe that this direct
+knowledge remains. Western philosophers argue that the only acquaintance
+a man can have with bodies external to his mind is that which he
+acquires by the medium of his bodily senses--though these, are
+themselves external to his mind, in the truest sanse. The senses not
+being absolutely reliable, knowledge acquired by means of them is not
+absolutely reliable either. So the ultimate difference between the
+Asiatic saint and the European man of science is, that while the former
+believes all knowledge to be directly within the grasp of the soul,
+under certain conditions, the latter, on the other hand, denies that any
+knowledge can be absolute, being all obtained indirectly through a
+medium not absolutely reliable. The reasoning, by which the Western mind
+allows itself to act fearlessly on information which is not (according
+to its own verdict) necessarily accurate, depends on a clever use of the
+infinite in unconsciously calculating the probabilities of that
+accuracy--and this entirely falls in with what you said about the
+application of transcendental analysis to the affairs of everyday life."
+
+"I see you have entirely comprehended me," I said. "But as for the
+Asiatic mind--you seem to deny to it the use of the calculus of thought,
+and yet you denned adepts as attempting to acquire specific knowledge by
+general and transcendental methods. Here is a real contradiction."
+
+"No; I see no confusion, for I do not include the higher adepts in
+either class, since they have the wisdom to make use of the learning and
+of the methods of both. They seem to me to be endeavouring, roughly
+speaking, to combine the two. They believe absolute knowledge
+attainable, and they devote much time to the study of nature, in which
+pursuit they make use of highly analytical methods. They subdivide
+phenomena to an extent that would surprise and probably amuse a Western
+thinker. They count fourteen distinct colours in the rainbow, and
+invariably connect sound, even to the finest degrees, with shades of
+colour. I could name many other peculiarities of their mode of studying
+natural phenomena, which displays a much more minute subdivision and
+classification of results than you are accustomed to. But beside all
+this they consider that the senses of the normal man are susceptible of
+infinite refinement, and that upon a greater or less degree of acquired
+acuteness of perception the value of his results must depend. To attain
+this high degree of sensitiveness, necessary to the perception of very
+subtle phenomena, the adepts find it necessary to train their faculties,
+bodily and mental, by a life of rigid abstention from all pleasures or
+indulgences not indispensable in maintaining the relation between the
+physical and intellectual powers."
+
+"The common _fakir_ aims at the same thing," I remarked.
+
+"But he does not attain it. The common _fakir_ is an idiot. He may, by
+fasting and self-torture, of a kind no adept would approve, sharpen his
+senses till he can hear and see some sounds and sights inaudible and
+invisible to you and me. But his whole system lacks any intellectual
+basis: he regards knowledge as something instantaneously attainable when
+it comes at last; he believes he will have a vision, and that everything
+will be revealed to him. His devotion to his object is admirable, when
+he is a genuine ascetic and not, as is generally the case, a
+good-for-nothing who makes his piety pay for his subsistence; but it is
+devotion of a very low intellectual order. The true adept thinks the
+training of the mind in intellectual pursuits no less necessary than the
+moderate and reasonable mortification of the flesh, and higher Buddhism
+pays as much attention to the one as to the other."
+
+"Excuse me," said I, "if I make a digression. I think there are two
+classes of minds commonly to be found among thinkers all over the world.
+The one seek to attain to knowledge, the others strive to acquire it.
+There is a class of commonplace intellects who regard knowledge of all
+kinds in the light of a ladder; one ladder for each science, and the
+rungs of the ladders are the successive facts mastered by an effort and
+remembered in the order they have been passed. These persons think it is
+possible to attain to high eminence on one particular ladder, that is,
+in one particular science, without having been up any of the other
+ladders, that is, without a knowledge of other branches of seience. This
+is the mind of the plodder, the patient man who climbs, step by step, in
+his own unvarying round of thought; not seeing that it is but the wheel
+of a treadmill over which he is labouring, and that though every step
+may pass, and repass, beneath his toiling feet, he can never obtain a
+birdseye view of what he is doing, because his eyes are continually
+fixed on the step in front."
+
+"But," I continued, as Isaacs assented to my simile by a nod, "there is
+another class of minds also. There are persons who regard the whole
+imaginable and unimaginable knowledge of mankind, past, present, and
+future, as a boundless plain over which they hang suspended and can look
+down. Immediately beneath them there is a map spread out which
+represents, in the midst of the immense desert, the things they
+themselves know. It is a puzzle map, like those they make for children,
+where each piece fits into its appointed place, and will fit nowhere
+else; every piece of knowledge acquired fits into the space allotted to
+it, and when there is a piece, that is, a fact, wanting, it is still
+possible to define its extent and shape by the surrounding portions,
+though all the details of colour and design are lacking. These are the
+people who regard knowledge as a whole, harmonious, when every science
+and fragment of a science has its appointed station and is necessary to
+completeness of perfect knowledge. I hope I have made clear to you what
+I mean, though I am conscious of only sketching the outlines of a
+distinction which I believe to be fundamental."
+
+"Of course it is fundamental. Broadly, it is the difference between
+analytic and synthetic thought; between the subjective and the objective
+views; between the finite conception of a limited world and the infinite
+ideal of perfect wisdom. I understand you perfectly."
+
+"You puzzle me continually, Isaacs. Where did you learn to talk about
+'analytic' and 'synthetic,' and 'subjective' and 'objective,' and
+transcendental analysis, and so forth?" It seemed so consistent with his
+mind that he should understand the use of philosophical terms, that I
+had not realised how odd it was that a man of his purely Oriental
+education should know anything about the subject. His very broad
+application of the words 'analytic' and 'synthetic' to my pair of
+illustrations attracted my attention and prompted the question I had
+asked.
+
+"I read a good deal," he said simply. Then he added in a reflective
+tone, "I rather think I have a philosophical mind. The old man who
+taught me theology in Istamboul when I was a boy used to talk philosophy
+to me by the hour, though I do not believe he knew much about it. He was
+a plodder, and went up ladders in search of information, like the man
+you describe. But he was very patient and good to me; the peace of Allah
+be with him."
+
+It was late, and soon afterwards we parted for the night. The next day
+was Sunday, and I had a heap of unanswered letters to attend to, so we
+agreed to meet after tiffin and ride together before dining with Mr.
+Ghyrkins and the Westonhaughs.
+
+I went to my room and sat a while over a volume of Kant, which I always
+travel with--a sort of philosopher's stone on which to whet the mind's
+tools when they are dulled with boring into the geological strata of
+other people's ideas. I was too much occupied with the personality of
+the man I had been talking with to read long, and so I abandoned myself
+to a reverie, passing in review the events of the long day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+The Sabbatarian tendency of the English mind at home and abroad is
+proverbial, and if they are well-behaved on Sunday in London they are
+models of virtue in Simla on the same day. Whether they labour and are
+well-fed and gouty in their island home, or suffer themselves to be
+boiled for gain in the tropical kettles of Ceylon and Singapore; whether
+they risk their lives in hunting for the north pole or the northwest
+passage, or endanger their safety in the pursuit of tigers in the Terai,
+they will have their Sunday, come rain, come shine. On the deck of the
+steamer in the Red Sea, in the cabin of the inbound Arctic explorer, in
+the crowded Swiss hotel, or the straggling Indian hill station, there is
+always a parson of some description, in a surplice of no description at
+all, who produces a Bible and a couple of well-thumbed sermons from the
+recesses of his trunk or his lunch basket, or his gun-case, and goes at
+the work of weekly redemption with a will. And, what is more, he is
+listened to, and for the time being--though on week days he is styled a
+bore by the old and a prig by the young--he becomes temporarily invested
+with a dignity not his own, with an authority he could not claim on any
+other day. It is the dignity of a people who with all their faults have
+the courage of their opinions, and it is the authority that they have
+been taught from their childhood to reverence, whenever their traditions
+give it the right to assert itself. Not otherwise. It is a fine trait of
+national character, though it is one which has brought upon the English
+much unmerited ridicule. One may differ from them in faith and in one's
+estimate of the real value of these services, which are often only saved
+from being irreverent in their performance by the perfect sincerity of
+parson and congregation. But no one who dispassionately judges them can
+deny that the custom inspires respect for English consistency and
+admiration for their supreme contempt of surroundings.
+
+I presume that the periodical manifestations of religious belief to
+which I refer are intimately and indissolubly connected with the staid
+and funereal solemnity which marks an Englishman's dress, conversation,
+and conduct on Sunday. He is a different being for the nonce, and must
+sustain the entire character of his dual existence, or it will fall to
+the ground and forsake him altogether. He cannot take his religion in
+the morning and enjoy himself the rest of the day. He must abstain from
+everything that could remind him that he has a mind at all, besides a
+soul. No amusement will he tolerate, no reading of even the most
+harmless fiction can he suffer, while he is in the weekly devotional
+trance.
+
+I cannot explain these things; they are race questions, problems for the
+ethnologist. Certain it is, however, that the partial decay of strict
+Sabbatarianism which seems to have set in during the last quarter of a
+century has not been attended by any notable development of power in
+English thought of that class. The first Republic tried the experiment
+of the decimal week, and it was a failure. The English who attempt to
+put off even a little of the quaint armour of righteousness, which they
+have been accustomed to buckle on every seventh day for so many
+generations, are not so successful in the attempt as to attract many to
+follow them. They are not graceful in their holiday gambols.
+
+Meditating somewhat on this wise I lay in my long chair by the open door
+that Sunday morning in September. It was a little warmer again and the
+sun shone pleasantly across the lawn on the great branches and bright
+leaves of the rhododendron. The house was very quiet. All the inmates
+were gone to the church on the mall, and the servants were basking in
+the last few days of warmth they would enjoy before their masters
+returned to the plains. The Hindoo servant hates the cold. He fears it
+as he fears cobras, fever, and freemasons. His ideal life is nothing to
+do, nothing to wear, and plenty to eat, with the thermometer at 135
+degrees in the verandah and 110 inside. Then he is happy. His body
+swells with much good rice and _dal_, and his heart with pride; he will
+wear as little as you will let him, and whether you will let him or not,
+he will do less work in a given time than any living description of
+servant. So they basked in rows in the sunshine, and did not even
+quarrel or tell yarns among themselves; it was quiet and warm and
+sleepy. I dozed lazily, dropped my book in my lap, struggled once, and
+then fairly fell asleep.
+
+I was roused by Kiramat Ali pulling at my foot, as natives will when
+they are afraid of the consequences of waking their master. When I
+opened my eyes he presented a card on a salver, and explained that the
+gentleman wanted to see me. I looked, and was rather surprised to see it
+was Kildare's card. "Lord Steepleton Kildare, 33d Lancers "--there was
+no word in pencil, or any message. I told Kiramat to show the sahib in,
+wondering why he should call on me. By Indian etiquette, if there was to
+be any calling, it was my duty to make the first visit. Before I had
+time to think more I heard the clanking of spurs and sabre on the
+verandah, and the young man walked in, clad in the full uniform of his
+regiment. I rose to greet him, and was struck by his soldierly bearing
+and straight figure, as I had been at our first meeting. He took off his
+bearskin --for he was in the fullest of full dress--and sat down.
+
+"I am so glad to find you at home," he said: "I feared you might have
+gone to church, like everybody else in this place."
+
+"No. I went early this morning. I belong to a different persuasion. I
+suppose you are on your way to Peterhof?"
+
+"Yes. There is some sort of official reception to somebody,--I forget
+who,--and we had notice to turn out. It is a detestable nuisance."
+
+"I should think so."
+
+"Mr. Griggs, I came to ask you about something. You heard of my proposal
+to get up a tiger-hunt? Mr. Ghyrkins was speaking of it."
+
+"Yes. He wanted us to go,--Mr. Isaacs and me,--and suggested leaving his
+niece, Miss Westonhaugh, with Lady Smith-Tompkins."
+
+"It would be so dull without a lady in the party. Nothing but tigers and
+shikarries and other native abominations to talk to. Do you not think
+so?"
+
+"Why, yes. I told Mr. Ghyrkins that all the little Smith-Tompkins
+children had the measles, and the house was not safe. If they have not
+had them, they will, I have no doubt. Heaven is just, and will not leave
+you to the conversational mercies of the entertaining tiger and the
+engaging shikarry."
+
+"By Jove, Mr. Griggs, that was a brilliant idea: and, as you say, they
+may all get the measles yet. The fact is, I have set my heart on this
+thing. Miss Westonhaugh said she had never seen a tiger, except in cages
+and that kind of thing, and so I made up my mind she should. Besides, it
+will be no end of a lark; just when nobody is thinking about tigers, you
+go off and kill a tremendous fellow, fifteen or sixteen feet long, and
+come back covered with glory and mosquito bites, and tell everybody that
+Miss Westonhaugh shot him herself with a pocket pistol. That will be
+glorious!"
+
+"I should like it very much too; and I really see no reason why it
+should not be done. Mr. Ghyrkins seemed in a very cheerful humour about
+tigers last night, and I have no doubt a little persuasion from you will
+bring him to a proper view of his obligations to Miss Westonhaugh." He
+looked pleased and bright and hopeful, thoroughly enthusiastic, as
+became his Irish blood. He evidently intended to have quite as "good" a
+"time" as Isaacs proposed to enjoy. I thought the spectacle of those
+rivals for the beautiful girl's favour would be extremely interesting.
+Lord Steepleton was doubtless a good shot and a brave man, and would
+risk anything to secure Miss Westonhaugh's approval; Isaacs, on the
+other hand, was the sort of man who is very much the same in danger as
+anywhere else.
+
+"That is what I came to ask you about. We shall all meet there at dinner
+this evening, and I wanted to secure as many allies as possible."
+
+"You may count on me, Lord Steepleton, at all events. There is nothing I
+should enjoy better than such a fortnight's holiday, in such good
+company."
+
+"All right," said Lord Steepleton, rising, "I must be off now to
+Peterhof. It is an organised movement on Mr. Ghyrkins this evening,
+then. Is it understood?" He took his bearskin from the table, and
+prepared to go, pulling his straps and belts into place, and dusting a
+particle of ash from his sleeve.
+
+"Perfectly," I answered. "We will drag him forth into the arena before
+three days are past." We shook hands, and he went out.
+
+I was glad he had come, though I had been waked from a pleasant nap to
+receive him. He was so perfectly gay, and natural, and healthy, that one
+could not help liking him. You felt at once that he was honest and would
+do the right thing in spite of any one, according to his light; that he
+would stand by a friend in danger, and face any odds in fight, with as
+much honest determination to play fair and win, as he would bring to a
+cricket match or a steeple-chase. His Irish blood gave him a somewhat
+less formal manner than belongs to the Englishman; more enthusiasm and
+less regard for "form," while his good heart and natural courtesy would
+lead him right in the long-run. He seemed all sunshine, with his bright
+blue eyes and great fair moustache and brown face; the closely fitting
+uniform showed off his erect figure and elastic gait, and the whole
+impression was fresh and exhilarating in the extreme. I was sorry he had
+gone. I would have liked to talk with him about boating and fishing and
+shooting; about athletics and horses and tandem-driving, and many things
+I used, to like years ago at college, before I began my wandering life.
+I watched him as he swung himself into the military saddle, and he
+threw up his hand in a parting salute as he rode away. Poor fellow! was
+he, too, going to be food for powder and Afghan knives in the avenging
+army on its way to Kabul? I went back to my books and remained reading
+until the afternoon sun slanted in through the open door, and falling
+across my book warned me it was time to keep my appointment with Isaacs.
+
+As we passed the church the people were coming out from the evening
+service, and I saw Kildare, once more in the garb of a civilian,
+standing near the door, apparently watching for some one to appear. I
+knew that, with his strict observance of Catholic rules--often depending
+more on pride of family than on religious conviction, in the house of
+Kildare--he would not have entered the English Church at such a time,
+and I was sure he was lying in wait for Miss Westonhaugh, probably
+intending to surprise her and join her on her homeward ride. The road
+winds down below the Church, so that for some minutes after passing the
+building you may get a glimpse of the mall above and of the people upon
+it--or at least of their heads--if they are moving near the edge of the
+path. I was unaccountably curious this evening, and I dropped a little
+behind Isaacs, craning my neck and turning back in the saddle as I
+watched the stream of heads and shoulders, strongly foreshortened
+against the blue sky above, moving ceaselessly along the parapet over my
+head. Before long I was rewarded; Miss Westonhaugh's fair hair and broad
+hat entered the field of my vision, and a moment later Lord Steepleton,
+who must have pushed through the crowd from the other side, appeared
+struggling after her. She turned quickly, and I saw no more, but I did
+not think she had changed colour.
+
+I began to be deeply interested in ascertaining whether she had any
+preference for one or the other of the two young men. Kildare's visit in
+the morning--though he had said very little--had given me a new
+impression of the man, and I felt that he was no contemptible rival. I
+saw from the little incident I had just witnessed that he neglected no
+opportunity of being with Miss Westonhaugh, and that he had the patience
+to wait and the boldness to find her in a crowd. I had seen very little
+of her myself; but I had been amply satisfied that Isaacs was capable of
+interesting her in a _tête-à-tête_ conversation. "The talker has the
+best chance, if he is bold enough," I said to myself; but I was not
+satisfied, and I resolved that if I could manage it Isaacs should have
+another chance that very evening after the dinner. Meanwhile I would
+involve Isaacs in a conversation on some one of those subjects that
+seemed to interest him most. He had not seen the couple on the mall, and
+was carelessly ambling along with his head in the air and one hand in
+the pocket of his short coat, the picture of unconcern.
+
+I was trying to make up my mind whether I would open fire upon the
+immortality of the soul, matrimony, or the differential calculus, when,
+as we passed from the narrow street into the road leading sound Jako,
+Isaacs spoke.
+
+"Look here, Griggs," said he, "there is something I want to impress upon
+your mind."
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"It is all very well for Ram Lal to give advice about things he
+understands. I have a very sincere regard for him, but I do not believe
+he was ever in my position. I have set my heart on this tiger-hunt. Miss
+Westonhaugh said the other day that she had never seen a tiger, and I
+then and there made up my mind that she should."
+
+I laughed. There seemed to be no essential difference of opinion between
+the Irishman and the Persian in regard to the pleasures of the chase.
+Miss Westonhaugh was evidently anxious to see tigers, and meant to do
+it, since she had expressed her wish to the two men most likely to
+procure her that innocent recreation. Lord Steepleton Kildare by his
+position, and Isaacs by his wealth, could, if they chose, get up such a
+tiger-hunt for her benefit as had never been seen. I thought she might
+have waited till the spring--but I had learned that she intended to
+return to England in April, and was to spend the early months of the
+year with her brother in Bombay.
+
+"You want to see Miss Westonhaugh, and Miss Westonhaugh wants to see
+tigers! My dear fellow, go in and win; I will back you."
+
+"Why do you laugh, Griggs?" asked Isaacs, who saw nothing particularly
+amusing in what he had said.
+
+"Oh, I laughed because another young gentleman expressed the same
+opinions to me, in identically the same words, this morning."
+
+"Mr. Westonhaugh?"
+
+"No. You know very well that Mr. Westonhaugh cares nothing about it, one
+way or the other. The little plan for 'amusing brother John' is a hoax.
+The thing cannot be done. You might as well try to amuse an undertaker
+as to make a man from Bombay laugh. The hollowness of life is ever upon
+them. No. It was Kildare; he called and said that Miss Westonhaugh had
+never seen a tiger, and he seemed anxious to impress upon me his
+determination that she should. Pshaw! what does Kildare care about
+brother John?"
+
+"Brother John, as you call him, is a better fellow than he looks. I owe
+a great deal to brother John." Isaacs' olive skin flushed a little, and
+he emphasised the epithet by which I had designated Mr. John Westonhaugh
+as if he were offended by it.
+
+"I mean nothing against Mr. Westonhaugh," said I half apologetically. "I
+remember when you met yesterday afternoon you said you had seen him in
+Bombay a long time ago."
+
+"Do you remember the story I told you of myself the other night?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"Westonhaugh was the young civil servant who paid my fine and gave me a
+rupee, when I was a ragged sailor from a Mocha craft, and could not
+speak a word of English. To that rupee I ultimately owe my entire
+fortune. I never forget a face, and I am sure it is he--do you
+understand me now? I owe to his kindness everything I possess in the
+world."
+
+"The unpardonable sin is ingratitude," I answered, "of which you will
+certainly not be accused. That is a very curious coincidence."
+
+"I think it is something more. A man has always at least one opportunity
+of repaying a debt, and, besm Illah! I will repay what I can of it. By
+the beard of the apostle, whose name is blessed, I am not ungrateful!"
+Isaacs was excited as he said this. He was no longer the calm Mr.
+Isaacs, he was Abdul Hafiz the Persian, fiery and enthusiastic.
+
+"You say well, my friend," he continued earnestly, "that the
+unpardonable sin is ingratitude. Doubtless, had the blessed prophet of
+Allah lived in our day, he would have spoken of the doom that hangs over
+the ungrateful. It is the curse of this age; for he who forgets or
+refuses to remember the kindness done to him by others sets himself
+apart, and worships his miserable self, and he makes an idol of himself,
+saying, 'I am of more importance than my fellows in the world, and it is
+meet and right that they should give and that I should receive.'
+Ingratitude is selfishness, and selfishness is the worship of oneself,
+the setting of oneself higher than man and goodness and God. And when
+man perishes and the angel Al Sijil, the recorder, rolls up his scroll,
+what is written therein is written; and Israfil shall call men to
+judgment, and the scrolls shall be unfolded, and he that has taken of
+others and not given in return, but has ungratefully forgotten and put
+away the remembrance of the kindness received, shall be counted among
+the unbelievers and the extortioners and the unjust, and shall broil in
+raging flames. By the hairs of the prophet's beard, whose name is
+blessed."
+
+I had not seen Isaacs so thoroughly roused before upon any subject. The
+flush had left his face and given place to a perfect paleness, and his
+eyes shone like coals of fire as he looked upward in pronouncing the
+last words. I said to myself that there was a strong element of
+religious exaltation in all Asiatics, and put his excitement down to
+this cause. His religion was a very beautiful and real thing to him,
+ever present in his life, and I mused on the future of the man, with his
+great endowments, his exquisite sensitiveness, and his high view of his
+obligations to his fellows. I am not a worshipper of heroes, but I felt
+that, for the first time in my life, I was intimate with a man who was
+ready to stand in the breach and to die for what he thought and believed
+to be right. After a pause of some minutes, during which we had ridden
+beyond the last straggling bungalows of the town, he spoke again,
+quietly, his temporary excitement having subsided.
+
+"I feel very strongly about these things," he said, and then stopped
+short.
+
+"I can see you do, and I honour you for it. I think you are the first
+grateful person I have ever met; a rare and unique bird in the earth."
+
+"Do not say that."
+
+"I do say it. There is very little of the philosophy of the nineteenth
+century about you, Isaacs. Your belief in the obligations of gratitude
+and in the general capacity of the human race for redemption, savours
+little of 'transcendental analysis.'"
+
+"You have too much of it," he answered seriously. "I do not think you
+see how much your cynicism involves. You would very likely, if you are
+the man I take you for, be very much offended if I accused you of not
+believing any particular dogma of your religion. And yet, with all your
+faith, you do not believe in God."
+
+"I cannot see how you get at that conclusion," I replied. "I must deny
+your hypothesis, at the risk of engaging you in an argument." I could
+not see what he was driving at.
+
+"How can you believe in God, and yet condemn the noblest of His works as
+altogether bad? You are not consistent."
+
+"What makes you think I am so cynical?" I inquired, harking back to gain
+time.
+
+"A little cloud, a little sultriness in the air, is all that betrays the
+coming _khemsin_, that by and by shall overwhelm and destroy man and
+beast in its sandy darkness. You have made one or two remarks lately
+that show little faith in human nature, and if you do not believe in
+human nature what is there left for you to believe in? You said a moment
+ago that I was the first grateful person you had ever met. Then the rest
+of humanity are all selfish, and worshippers of themselves, and
+altogether vile, since you yourself say, as I do, that ingratitude is
+the unpardonable sin; and God has made a world full of unpardonable
+sinners, and unless you include yourself in the exception you graciously
+make in my favour, no one but I shall be saved. And yet you say also
+with me that God is good. Do you deny that you are utterly
+inconsistent?"
+
+"I may make you some concession in a few minutes, but I am not going to
+yield to such logic. You have committed the fallacy of the undistributed
+middle term, if you care to know the proper name for it. I did not say
+that all men, saving you, were ungrateful. I said that, saving you, the
+persons I have met in my life have been ungrateful. You ought to
+distinguish."
+
+"All I can say is, then, that you have had a very unfortunate experience
+of life," retorted Isaacs warmly.
+
+"I have," said I, "but since you yield the technical point of logic, I
+will confess that I made the assertion hastily and overshot the mark. I
+do not remember, however, to have met any one who felt so strongly on
+the point as you do."
+
+"Now you speak like a rational being," said Isaacs, quite pacified.
+"Extraordinary feelings are the result of unusual circumstances. I was
+in such distress as rarely falls to the lot of an innocent man of fine
+temperament and good abilities. I am now in a position of such wealth
+and prosperity as still more seldom are given to a man of my age and
+antecedents. I remember that I obtained the first step on my road to
+fortune through the kindness of John Westonhaugh, though I could never
+learn his name, and I met him at last, as you saw, by an accident. I
+call that accident a favour, and an opportunity bestowed on me by Allah,
+and the meeting has roused in me those feelings of thankfulness which,
+for want of an object upon which to show them, have been put away out of
+sight as a thing sacred for many years. I am willing you should say
+that, were my present fortune less, my gratitude would be
+proportionately less felt--it is very likely--though the original gift
+remain the same, one rupee and no more. You are entitled to think of any
+man as grateful in proportion to the gift, so long as you allow the
+gratitude at all." He made this speech in a perfectly natural and
+unconcerned way, as if he were contemplating the case of another person.
+
+"Seriously, Isaacs, I would not do so for the world. I believe you were
+as grateful twelve years ago, when you were poor, as you are now that
+you are rich." Isaacs was silent, but a look of great gentleness crossed
+his face. There was at times something almost angelic in the perfect
+kindness of his eyes.
+
+"To return," I said at last, "to the subject from which we started, the
+tigers. If we are really going, we must leave here the day after
+to-morrow morning--indeed, why not to-morrow?"
+
+"No; to-morrow we are to play that game of polo, which I am looking
+forward to with pleasure. Besides, it will take the men three days to
+get the elephants together, and I only telegraphed this morning to the
+collector of the district to make the arrangements."
+
+"So you have already taken steps? Does Kildare know you have sent
+orders?"
+
+"Certainly. He came to me this morning at daybreak, and we determined to
+arrange everything and take uncle Ghyrkins for granted. You need not
+look astonished; Kildare and I are allies, and very good friends." What
+a true Oriental! How wise and far-sighted was the Persian, how bold and
+reckless the Irishman! It was odd, I thought, that Kildare had not
+mentioned the interview with Isaacs. Yet there was a certain rough
+delicacy--contradictory and impulsive--in his silence about this
+coalition with his rival. We rode along and discussed the plans for the
+expedition. All the men in the party, except Lord Steepleton, who had
+not been long in India, had killed tigers before. There would be enough
+of us, without asking any one else to join. The collector to whom Isaacs
+had telegraphed was an old acquaintance of his, and would probably go
+out for a few days with us. It all seemed easy enough and plain sailing.
+In the course of time we returned to our hotel, dressed, and made our
+way through the winding roads to Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' bungalow.
+
+We were met on the verandah by the old commissioner, who welcomed us
+warmly and praised our punctuality, for the clock was striking seven in
+the drawing-room, as we divested ourselves of our light top-coats. In
+the vestibule, Miss Westonhaugh and her brother came forward to greet
+us.
+
+"John," said the young lady, "you know I told you there was some one
+here whom you got out of trouble ever so many years ago in Bombay. Here
+he is. This is a new introduction. Mr. John Westonhaugh, Mr. Abdul
+Hafiz-ben-Isâk, commonly known to his friends as Mr. Isaacs." Her face
+beamed with pleasure, and I thought with pride, as she led her brother
+to Isaacs, and her eyes rested long on the Persian with a look that, to
+me, argued something more than a mere interest. The two men clasped
+hands and stood for some seconds looking at each other in silence, but
+with very different expressions. Westonhaugh wore a look of utter
+amazement, though he certainly seemed pleased. The good heart that had
+prompted the good action twelve years before was still in the right
+place, above any petty considerations about nationality. His
+astonishment gradually changed to a smile of real greeting and pleasure,
+as he began to shake the hand he still held. I thought that even the
+faintest tinge of blood coloured his pale cheek.
+
+"God bless my soul," said he, "I remember you perfectly well now. But it
+is so unexpected; my sister reminded me of the story, which I had not
+forgotten, and now I look at you I remember you perfectly. I am so
+glad."
+
+As Isaacs answered, his voice trembled, and his face was very pale.
+There was a moisture in the brilliant eyes that told of genuine emotion.
+
+"Mr. Westonhaugh, I consider that I owe to you everything I have in the
+world. This is a greater pleasure than I thought was in store for me.
+Indeed I thank you again."
+
+His voice would not serve him. He stopped short and turned away to look
+for something in his coat.
+
+"Indeed," said Westonhaugh, "it was a very little thing I did for you."
+And presently the two men went together into the drawing-room,
+Westonhaugh asking all manner of questions, which Isaacs, who was
+himself again, began to answer. The rest of us remained in the vestibule
+to meet Lord Steepleton, who at that moment came up the steps. There
+were more greetings, and then the head _khitmatgar_ appeared and
+informed the "_Sahib log_, protectors of the poor, that their meat was
+ready." So we filed into the dining-room.
+
+Isaacs was placed at Miss Westonhaugh's right, and her brother sat on
+his other side. Ghyrkins was opposite his niece at the other end, and
+Kildare and I were together, facing Westonhaugh and Isaacs, a party of
+six. Of course Kildare sat beside the lady.
+
+The dinner opened very pleasantly. _I_ could see that Isaacs'
+undisguised gratitude and delight in having at last met the man who had
+helped him had strongly predisposed John Westonhaugh in his favour. Who
+is it that is not pleased at finding that some deed of kindness, done
+long ago with hardly a thought, has borne fruit and been remembered and
+treasured up by the receiver as the turning-point in his life? Is there
+any pleasure greater than that we enjoy through the happiness of
+others--in those rare cases where kindness is not misplaced? I had had
+time to reflect that Isaacs had most likely told a part of his story to
+Miss Westonhaugh on the previous afternoon as soon as he had recognised
+her brother. He might have told her before; I did not know how long he
+had known her, but it must have been some time. Presently she turned to
+him.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "some of us know something of your history. Why
+will you not tell us the rest now? My uncle has heard nothing of it, and
+I know Lord Steepleton is fond of novels."
+
+Isaacs hesitated long, but as every one pressed him in turn, he yielded
+at last. And he told it well. It was exactly the narrative he had given
+me, in every detail of fact, but the whole effect was different. I saw
+how true a mastery he had of the English language, for he knew his
+audience thoroughly, and by a little colour here and an altered
+expression there he made it graphic and striking, not without humour,
+and altogether free of a certain mystical tinge he had imparted to it
+when we were alone. He talked easily, with no more constraint than on
+other occasions, and his narrative was a small social success. I had not
+seen him in evening dress before, and I could not help thinking how much
+more thoroughly he looked the polished man of the world than the other
+men. Kildare never appeared to greater advantage than in the uniform and
+trappings of his profession. In a black coat and a white tie he looked
+like any other handsome young Englishman, utterly without individuality.
+But Isaacs, with his pale complexion and delicate high-bred features,
+bore himself like a noble of the old school. Westonhaugh beside him
+looked washed-out and deathly, Kildare was too coarsely healthy, and
+Ghyrkins and I, representing different types of extreme plainness,
+served as foils to all three.
+
+I watched Miss Westonhaugh while Isaacs was speaking. She had evidently
+heard the whole story, for her expression showed beforehand the emotion
+she expected to feel at each point. Her colour came and went softly, and
+her eyes brightened with a warm light beneath the dark brows that
+contrasted so strangely yet delightfully with the mass of flaxen-white
+hair. She wore something dark and soft, cut square at the neck, and a
+plain circlet of gold was her only ornament. She was a beautiful
+creature, certainly; one of those striking-looking women of whom
+something is always expected, until they drop quietly out of youth into
+middle age, and the world finds out that they are, after all, not
+heroines of romance, but merely plain, honest, good women; good wives
+and good mothers who love their homes and husbands well, though it has
+pleased nature in some strange freak to give them the form and feature
+of a Semiramis, a Cleopatra, or a Jeanne d'Arc.
+
+"Dear me, how very interesting!" exclaimed Mr. Ghyrkins, looking up from
+his hill mutton as Isaacs finished, and a little murmur of sympathetic
+applause went round the table.
+
+"I would give a great deal to have been through all that," said Lord
+Steepleton, slowly proceeding to sip a glass of claret.
+
+"Just think!" ejaculated John Westonhaugh. "And I was entertaining such
+a Sinbad unawares!" and he took another green pepper from the dish his
+servant handed him.
+
+"Upon my word, Isaacs," I said, "some one ought to make a novel of that
+story; it would sell like wildfire."
+
+"Why don't you do it yourself, Griggs?" he asked. "You are a pressman,
+and I am sure you are welcome to the whole thing."
+
+"I will," I answered.
+
+"Oh do, Mr. Griggs," said the young lady, "and make it wind up with a
+tiger-hunt. You could lay the scene in Australia or the Barbadoes, or
+some of those places, and put us all in--and kill us all off, if you
+like, you know. It would be such fun." Poor Miss Westonhaugh!
+
+"It is easy to see what you are thinking about most, Miss Westonhaugh,"
+said Lord Steepleton: "the tigers are uppermost in your mind; and
+therefore in mine also," he added gallantly.
+
+"Indeed, no--I was thinking about Mr. Isaacs." She blushed scarlet--the
+first time I had ever seen her really embarrassed. It was very natural
+that she should be thinking of Isaacs and the strange adventures he had
+just recounted; and if she had not cared about him she would not have
+changed colour. So I thought, at all events.
+
+"My dear, drink some water immediately, this curry is very hot--deuced
+hot, in fact," said Mr. Ghyrkins, in perfectly good faith.
+
+John Westonhaugh, who was busy breaking up biscuits and green peppers
+and "Bombay ducks" into his curry, looked up slowly at his sister and
+smiled.
+
+"Why, you are quite a griffin, Katharine," said he, "how they will laugh
+at you in Bombay!" I was amused; of course the remarks of her uncle and
+brother did not make the blush subside--on the contrary. Kildare was
+drinking more claret, to conceal his annoyance. Isaacs had a curious
+expression. There was a short silence, and for one instant he turned his
+eyes to Miss Westonhaugh. It was only a look, but it betrayed to me--who
+knew what he felt--infinite surprise, joy, and sympathy. His quick
+understanding had comprehended that he had scored his first victory over
+his rival.
+
+As her eyes met those of Isaacs, the colour left her cheeks as suddenly
+as it had come, leaving her face dead white. She drank a little water,
+and presently seemed at ease again. I was beginning to think she cared
+for him seriously.
+
+"And pray, John," she asked, "what may a griffin be? It is not a very
+pretty name to call a young lady, is it?"
+
+"Why, a griffin," put in Mr. Ghyrkins, "is the 'Mr. Verdant Green' of
+the Civil Service. A young civilian--or anybody else--who is just out
+from home is called a griffin. John calls you a griffin because you
+don't understand eating pepper. You don't find it as _chilly_ as he
+does! Ha! ha! ha!" and the old fellow laughed heartily, till he was red
+in the face, at his bleared old pun. Of course every one was amused or
+professed to be, for it was a diversion welcomed by the three men of us
+who had seen the young girl's embarrassment.
+
+"A griffin," said I, "is a thing of joy. Mr. Westonhaugh was a griffin
+when he gave Mr. Isaacs that historical rupee." I cast my little
+bombshell into the conversation, and placidly went on manipulating my
+rice.
+
+Isaacs was in too gay a humour to be offended, and he only said, turning
+to Miss Westonhaugh--
+
+"Mr. Griggs is a cynyic, you know. You must not believe anything he
+says."
+
+"If doing kind things makes one a griffin, I hope I may be one always,"
+said Miss Westonhaugh quickly, "and I trust my brother is as much a
+griffin as ever."
+
+"I am, I assure you," said he. "But Mr. Griggs is quite right, and shows
+a profound knowledge of Indian life. No one but a griffin of the
+greenest ever gave anybody a rupee in Bombay--or ever will now, I should
+think."
+
+"Oh, John, are you going to be cynical too?"
+
+"No, Katharine, I am not cynical at all. I do not think you are quite
+sure what a 'cynic' is."
+
+"Oh yes, I know quite well. Diogenes was a cynic, and Saint Jerome, and
+other people of that class."
+
+"A man who lives in a tub, and abuses Alexander the Great, and that sort
+of thing," remarked Kildare, who had not spoken for some time.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," said John Westonhaugh, "since you are the accused, pray
+define what you mean by a cynic, and then Mr. Isaacs, as the accuser,
+can have a chance too."
+
+"Very well, I will. A man is a cynic if he will do no good to any one
+because he believes every one past improvement. Most men who do good
+actions are also cynics, because they well know that they are doing more
+harm than good by their charity. Mr. Westonhaugh has the discrimination
+to appreciate this, and therefore he is not a cynic."
+
+"It is well you introduced the saving clause, Griggs," said Isaacs to me
+from across the table. "I am going to define you now; for I strongly
+suspect that you are the very ideal of a philosopher of that class. You
+are a man who believes in all that is good and beautiful in theory, but
+by too much indifference to good in small measures--for you want a thing
+perfect, or you want it not at all--you have abstracted yourself from
+perceiving it anywhere, except in the most brilliant examples of heroism
+that history affords. You set up in your imagination an ideal which you
+call the good man, and you are utterly dissatisfied with anything less
+perfect than perfection. The result is that, though you might do a good
+action from your philosophical longing to approach the ideal in your own
+person, you will not suffer yourself to believe that others are
+consciously or unconsciously striving to make themselves better also.
+And you do not believe that any one can be made a better man by any one
+else, by any exterior agency, by any good that you or others may do to
+him. What makes you what you are is the fact that you really cherish
+this beautiful ideal image of your worship and reverence, and love it;
+but for this, you would be the most insufferable man of my acquaintance,
+instead of being the most agreeable."
+
+Isaacs was gifted with a marvellous frankness of speech. He always said
+what he meant, with a supreme indifference to consequences; but he said
+it with such perfect honesty and evident appreciation of what was good,
+even when he most vehemently condemned what he did not like, that it was
+impossible to be annoyed. Every one laughed at his attack on me, and
+having satisfied my desire to observe Miss Westonhaugh, which had
+prompted my first remark about griffins, I thought it was time to turn
+the conversation to the projected hunt.
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, "I think that in spite of your Parthian shaft,
+your definition of a cynic is as complimentary to the school at large as
+to me in particular. Meanwhile, however," I added, turning to Mr.
+Ghyrkins, "I am inclined to believe with Lord Steepleton that the
+subject uppermost in the thoughts of most of us is the crusade against
+the tigers. What do you say? Shall we not all go as we are, a neat party
+of six?"
+
+"Well, well, Mr. Griggs, we shall see, you know. Now, if we are going at
+all, when do you mean to start?"
+
+"The sooner the better of course," broke in Kildare, and he launched
+into a host of reasons for going immediately, including the wildest
+statistics about the habits of tigers in winter. This was quite natural,
+however, as he was a thorough Irishman and had never seen a tiger in his
+life. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins vainly attempted to stem the torrent of his
+eloquence, but at last pinned him on some erratic statement about tigers
+moulting later in the year and their skins not being worth taking.
+Kildare would have asserted with equal equanimity that all tigers shed
+their teeth and their tails in December; he was evidently trying to
+rouse Mr. Ghyrkins into a discussion on the subject of tiger shooting in
+general, a purpose very easily accomplished. The old gentleman was soon
+goaded to madness by Kildare's wonderful opinions, and before long he
+vowed that the youngster had never seen a tiger,--not one in his whole
+life, sir,--and that it was high time he did, high time indeed, and he
+swore he should see one before he was a week older. Yes, sir, before he
+was a week older, "if I have to carry you among 'em like a baby in arms,
+sir, by gad, sir--I should think so!"
+
+This was all we wanted, and in another ten minutes we were drinking a
+bumper to the health of the whole tiger-hunt and of Miss Westonhaugh in
+particular. Isaacs joined with the rest, and though he only drank some
+sherbet, as I watched his bright eyes and pale cheek, I thought that
+never knight drank truer toast to his lady. Miss Westonhaugh rose and
+went out, leaving us to smoke for a while. The conversation was general,
+and turned on the chase, of course. In a few minutes Isaacs dropped his
+cigarette and went quietly out. I determined to detain the rest as long
+as possible, and I seconded Mr. Ghyrkins in passing the claret briskly
+round, telling all manner of stories of all nations and peoples--ancient
+tales that would not amuse a schoolboy in America, but which were a
+revelation of profound wit and brilliant humour to the unsophisticated
+British mind. By immense efforts--and I hate to exert myself in
+conversation--I succeeded in prolonging the session through a cigar and
+a half, but at last I was forced to submit to a move; and with a
+somewhat ancient remark from Mr. Ghyrkins, to the effect that all good
+things must come to an end, we returned to the drawing-room.
+
+Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were looking over some English photographs,
+and she was enthusiastically praising the beauties of Gothic
+architecture, while Isaacs was making the most of his opportunity, and
+taking a good look at her as she bent over the album. After we came in,
+she made a little music at the tuneless piano--there never was a piano
+in India yet that had any tune in it--playing and singing a little, very
+prettily. She sang something about a body in the rye, and then something
+else about drinking only with the eyes, to which her brother sang a sort
+of second very nicely. I do not understand much about music, but I
+thought the allusion to Isaacs' temperance in only drinking with his
+eyes was rather pointed. He said, however, that he liked it even better
+with a second than when she sang it alone, so I argued that it was not
+the first time he had heard it.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "you have often promised to sing something
+Persian for us. Will you not keep your word now?"
+
+"When we are among the tigers, Miss Westonhaugh, next week. Then I will
+try and borrow a lute and sing you something."
+
+It was late for an Indian dinner-party, so we took our departure soon
+afterwards, having agreed to meet the following afternoon at Annandale
+for the game of polo, in which Westonhaugh said he would also play. He
+and Isaacs made some appointment for the morning; they seemed to be very
+sympathetic to each other. Kildare mounted and rode homeward with us,
+though he had much farther to go than we. If he felt any annoyance at
+the small successes Isaacs had achieved during the evening, he was far
+too courteous a gentleman to show it; and so, as we groped our way
+through the trees by the starlight, chiefly occupied in keeping our
+horses on their legs, the snatches of conversation that were possible
+were pleasant, if not animated, and there was a cordial "Good-night" on
+both sides, as we left Kildare to pursue his way alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon when Isaacs and I emerged
+from the narrow road upon the polo ground. We were clad in the
+tight-fitting garments which are necessary for the game, and wrapped in
+light top-coats; as we came out on the green we saw a number of other
+men in similar costume standing about, and a great many native grooms
+leading ponies up and down. Miss Westonhaugh was there in her gray habit
+and broad hat, and by her side, on foot, Lord Steepleton Kildare was
+making the most of his time, as he waited for the rest of the players.
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was ambling about on his broad little horse, and
+John Westonhaugh stood with his hands in his pockets and a large
+Trichinopoli cheroot between his lips, apparently gazing into space.
+Several other men, more or less known to us and to each other, moved
+about or chatted disconnectedly, and one or two arrived after us. Some
+of them wore coloured jerseys that showed brightly over the open collars
+of their coats, others were in ordinary dress and had come to see the
+game. Farther off, at one side of the ground, one or two groups of
+ladies and their escorting cavaliers haunted at a short distance by
+their saices in many-coloured turbans and belts, or _cummer-bunds,_ as
+the sash is called in India, moved slowly about, glancing from time to
+time towards the place where the players and their ponies were preparing
+for the contest.
+
+Few games require so little preparation and so few preliminaries as
+polo, descended as it is from an age when more was thought of good
+horsemanship and quick eye than of any little refinements depending on
+an accurate knowledge of fixed rules. Any one who is a firstrate rider
+and is quick with his hands can learn to play polo. The stiffest of arms
+can be limbered and the most recalcitrant wrist taught to turn nimbly in
+its socket; but the essential condition is, that the player should know
+how to ride. This being established, there is no reason why anybody who
+likes should not play the game, if he will only use a certain amount of
+caution, and avoid braining the other players and injuring the ponies by
+too wild a use of his mallet. Presently it was found that all who were
+to play had arrived--eight of us all told. Kildare had arranged the
+sides and had brought the other men necessary to make the number
+complete, so we mounted and took up our positions on the ground. Kildare
+and Isaacs were together, and Westonhaugh and I on the other side, with
+two men I knew slightly. We won the charge, and Westonhaugh, who was a
+celebrated player, struck the ball off cleverly, and I followed him up
+with a rush as he raced after it. Isaacs, on the other side, swept along
+easily, and as the ball swerved on striking the ground bent far over
+till he looked as though he were out of the saddle and stopped it
+cleverly, while Kildare, who was close behind, got a good stroke in just
+in time, as Westonhaugh and I galloped down on him, and landed the ball
+far to the rear near our goal. As we wheeled quickly, I saw that one of
+the other two men on our side had stopped it and was beginning to
+"dribble" it along. This was very bad play, both Westonhaugh and I being
+so far forward, and it met its reward. Isaacs and Kildare raced down on
+him, but the latter soon pulled up on finding himself passed, and
+waited. Isaacs rushed upon the temporising player and got the ball away
+from him in no time; eluded the other man, and with a neat stroke sent
+the ball right between the poles. The game had hardly lasted three
+minutes, and a little sound of clapping was heard from where the
+spectators were standing, far off on one side. I could see Miss
+Westonhaugh plainly, as she cantered with her uncle to where the victors
+were standing together on the other side, patting their ponies and
+adjusting stirrup and saddle. Isaacs had his back turned, but wheeled
+round as he heard the sound of hoofs behind him and bowed low in his
+saddle to the fair girl, whose face, I could see even at that distance,
+was flushed with pleasure. They remained a few minutes in conversation,
+and then the two spectators rode away, and we took up our positions once
+more.
+
+The next game was a much longer one. It was the turn of the other party
+to hit off, for Kildare won the charge. There were encounters of all
+kinds; twice the ball was sent over the line, but outside the goal, by
+long sweeping blows from Isaacs, who ever hovered on the edge of the
+scrimmage, and, by his good riding, and the help of a splendid pony,
+often had a chance where another would have had none. At last it
+happened that I was chasing the ball back towards our goal, from one of
+his hits, and he was pursuing me. I had the advantage of a long start,
+and before he could reach me I got in a heavy "backhander" that sent the
+ball far away to one side, where, as good luck would have it,
+Westonhaugh was waiting. Quick as thought he carried it along, and in
+another minute we had scored a goal, amidst enthusiastic shouts from the
+spectators, who had been kept long in suspense by the protracted game.
+This time it was to our side that the young girl came, riding up to her
+brother to congratulate him on his success. I thought she had less
+colour as she came nearer, and though she smiled sweetly as she said,
+"It was splendidly played, John," there was not so much enthusiasm in
+her voice as the said John, who had really won the game with masterly
+neatness, might have expected. Then she sat quietly looking over the
+ground, while we dismounted from our ponies, breathless, and foaming,
+and lathery, from the hard-fought battle. The grooms ran up with
+blankets and handfuls of grass to give the poor beasts a rub, and
+covering them carefully after removing the saddles, led them away.
+
+The sun leaves Annandale early, and I put on a coat and lit a cigarette,
+while the saice saddled our second mounts. There are few prettier sights
+than an English game, of any kind, on a beautiful stretch of turf. The
+English live, and move and have their being out of doors. A
+cricket-match, tennis, a racecourse, or a game of polo, show them at
+their greatest advantage, whether as players or spectators. Their fresh
+complexions suit the green of the grass and of the trees as naturally as
+a bed of roses, or cyclamens, or any fresh and healthy flower will
+combine with the grass and the ferns in garden or glen. The glorious
+vitality that belongs to their race seems to blossom freshly in the
+contact with their mother earth, and the physical capacity for motion
+with which nature endows them makes them graceful and fascinating to
+watch, when in some free and untrammelled dress of white they are at
+their games, batting and bowling and galloping and running; they have
+the same natural grace then as a herd of deer or antelopes; they are
+beautiful animals in the full enjoyment of life and vigour, of health
+and strength; they are intensely alive. Something of this kind passed
+through my mind, in all probability, and, combined with the delightful
+sensation any strong man feels in the pause after great exertion,
+disposed me well towards my fellows and towards mankind at large.
+Besides we had won the last game.
+
+"You look pleased, Mr. Griggs," said Miss Westonhaugh, who had probably
+been watching me for a moment or two. "I did not know cynics were ever
+pleased."
+
+"I remember who it was that promised to crown the victors of this match,
+Miss Westonhaugh, and I cherish some hopes of being one of them. Would
+you mind very much?"
+
+"Mind? Oh dear no; you had better try. But if you stand there with your
+coat on, you will not have much chance. They are all mounted, and
+waiting for you."
+
+"Well, here goes," I said to myself, as I got into the saddle again. "I
+hope he may win, but he would find me out in a minute if I tried to play
+into his hands." We were only to play the best out of three goals, and
+the score was "one all." All eight of us had fresh mounts, and the
+experience of each other's play we had got in the preceding games made
+it likely that the game would be a long one. And so it turned out.
+
+From the first things went badly. John Westonhaugh's fresh pony was very
+wild, and he had to take him a breather half over the ground before he
+could take his place for the charge. When at last the first stroke was
+made, the ball went low along the ground, spinning and twisting to right
+and left. Both Kildare and Isaacs missed it and wheeled across to
+return, when a prolonged scrimmage ensued less than thirty yards from
+their goal. Every one played his best, and we wheeled and spun round in
+a way that reminded one of a cavalry skirmish. Strokes and back-strokes
+followed quickly, till at last I got the ball as it came rolling out
+between my horse's legs, and, hotly pursued, beyond the possibility of
+making a fair stroke, I moved away with it in front of me.
+
+Then began one of those interminable circular games that all polo
+players know so well, round and round the battlefield, riding close
+together, sometimes one succeeding in driving the ball a little, only to
+be foiled by the next man's ill-delivered back-stroke; racing, and
+pulling up short, and racing again, till horses and riders were in a
+perspiration and a state of madness not to be attained by any peaceful
+means. At last, as we were riding near our own goal, some one, I could
+not see who, struck the ball out into the open. Isaacs, who had just
+missed, and was ahead, rode for it like a madman, his club raised high
+for a back-stroke. He was hotly pressed by the man who had roused my
+wrath in the first game by his "dribbling" policy. He was a light weight
+and had kept his best horse for the last game, so that as Isaacs spun
+along at lightning speed the little man was very close to him, his club
+well back for a sweeping hit. He rode well, but was evidently not so old
+a hand in the game as the rest of us. They neared the ball rapidly and
+Isaacs swerved a little to the left in order to get it well under his
+right hand, thus throwing himself somewhat across the track of his
+pursuer. As the Persian struck with all his force downwards and
+backwards, his adversary, excited by the chase, beyond all judgment or
+reckoning of his chances, hit out wildly, as beginners will. The long
+elastic handle of his weapon struck Isaacs' horse on the flank and
+glanced upward, the head of the club striking Isaacs just above the back
+of the neck. We saw him throw up his arms, the club in his right hand
+hanging to his wrist by the strap. The infuriated little arab pony tore
+on, and in a moment more the iron grip of the rider's knees relaxed,
+Isaacs swayed heavily in the saddle and fell over on the near side, his
+left foot hanging in the stirrup and dragging him along some paces
+before the horse finally shook himself clear and scampered away across
+the turf. The whole catastrophe occurred in a moment; the man who had
+done the mischief threw away his club to reach the injured player the
+sooner, and as we thundered after him, my pony stumbled over the long
+handle, and falling, threw me heavily over his head. I escaped with a
+very slight kick from one of the other horses, and leaving my beast to
+take care of himself, ran as fast as I could to where Isaacs lay, now
+surrounded by the six players as they dismounted to help him. But there
+was some one there before them.
+
+The accident had occurred near the middle of the ground, and opposite
+the place where Miss Westonhaugh and her uncle had taken up their stand
+to watch the contest. With a shake of the reins and a blow of the hand
+that made the thoroughbred bound his length as he plunged into a gallop,
+the girl rode wildly to where Isaacs lay, and reining the animal back on
+his haunches, sprang to the ground and knelt quickly down, so that
+before the others had reached them she had propped up his head and was
+rubbing his hands in hers. There was no mistaking the impulse that
+prompted her. She had seen many an accident in the hunting-field, and
+knew well that when a man fell like that it was ten to one he was badly
+hurt.
+
+Isaacs was ghastly pale, and there was a little blood on Miss
+Westonhaugh's white gauntlet. Her face was whiter even than his, though
+not a quiver of mouth or eyelash betrayed emotion. The man who had done
+it knelt on the other side, rubbing one of the hands. Kildare and
+Westonhaugh galloped off at full speed, and presently returned bearing a
+brandy-flask and a smelling-bottle, and followed by a groom with some
+water in a native _lota_. I wanted to make him swallow some of the
+liquor, but Miss Westonhaugh took the flask from my hands.
+
+"He would not like it. He never drinks it, you know," she said in a
+quiet low voice, and pouring some of the contents on her handkerchief,
+moistened all his brows and face and hair with the powerful alcohol.
+
+"Loosen his belt! pull off his boots, some of you!" cried Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins, as he came up breathless. "Take off his belt--damn it, you
+know! Dear, dear!" and he got off his _tat_ with all the alacrity he
+could muster.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh never took her eyes from the face of the prostrate
+man--pressing the wet handkerchief to his brow, and moistening the palm
+of the hand she held with brandy. In a few minutes Isaacs breathed a
+long heavy breath, and opened his eyes.
+
+"What is the matter?" he said; then, recollecting himself and trying to
+move his head--"Oh! I have had a tumble. Give me some water to drink."
+There was a sigh of relief from every one present as he spoke, quite
+naturally, and I held the _lota_ to his lips. "What became of the ball?"
+he asked quickly, as he sat up. Then turning round, he saw the beautiful
+girl kneeling at his side. The blood rushed violently to his face, and
+his eyes, a moment ago dim with unconsciousness, flashed brightly.
+"What! Miss Westonhaugh--you?" he bounded to his feet, but would have
+fallen back if I had not caught him in my arms, for he was still dizzy
+from the heavy blow that had stunned him. The blood came and went in his
+cheeks, and he hung on my arm confused and embarrassed, looking on the
+ground.
+
+"I really owe you all manner of apologies--" he began.
+
+"Not a bit of it, my dear boy," broke in Ghyrkins, "my niece was nearest
+to you when you fell, and so she came up and did the right thing, like
+the brave girl she is." The old fellow helped her to rise as he said
+this, and he looked so pleased and proud of her that I was delighted
+with him. "And now," he went on, "we must see how much you are hurt--the
+deuce of a knock, you know, enough to kill you--and if you are not able
+to ride, why, we will carry you home, you know; the devil of a way off
+it is, too, confound it all." As he jerked out his sentences he was
+feeling the back of Isaacs' head, to ascertain, if he could, how much
+harm had been done. All this time the man who had done the mischief was
+standing by, looking very penitent, and muttering sentences of apology
+as he tried to perform any little office for his victim that came in his
+way. Isaacs stretched out his arm, while Ghyrkins was feeling and
+twisting his head, and taking the man's hand, held it a moment.
+
+"My dear sir," he said, "I am not in the least hurt, I assure you, and
+it was my fault for crossing you at such a moment. Please do not think
+anything more about it." He smiled kindly at the young fellow, who
+seemed very grateful, and who from that day on would have risked
+everything in the world for him. I heard behind me the voice of Kildare,
+soliloquising softly.
+
+"Faith," said he, "that fellow is a gentleman if I ever saw one. I am
+afraid I should not have let that infernal duffer off so easily.
+By-the-bye, Isaacs," he said aloud, coming up to us, "you know you won
+the game. Nobody stopped the ball after you hit it, and the saices say
+it ran right through the goal. So cheer up; you have got something for
+your pains and your tumble." It was quite true; the phlegmatic saices
+had watched the ball instead of the falling man. Miss Westonhaugh, who
+was really a sensible and self-possessed young woman, and had begun to
+be sure that the accident would have no serious results, expressed the
+most unbounded delight.
+
+"Thank you, Miss Westonhaugh," said Isaacs; "you have kept your promise;
+you have crowned the victor."
+
+"With brandy," I remarked, folding up a scarf which somebody had given
+me wherewith to tie a wet compress to the back of his head.
+
+"There is nothing the matter," said Ghyrkins; "no end of a bad bruise,
+that's all. He will be all right in the morning, and the skin is only a
+little broken."
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs, who could now stand quite firm again, "hold the
+wet handkerchief in place, and give me that scarf." I did as he
+directed, and he took the white woollen shawl, and in half a dozen turns
+wound it round his head in a turban, deftly and gracefully. It was
+wonderfully becoming to his Oriental features and dark eyes, and I could
+see that Miss Westonhaugh thought so. There was a murmur of approbation
+from the native grooms who were looking on, and who understood the
+thing.
+
+"You see I have done it before," he said, smiling. "And now give me my
+coat, and we will be getting home. Oh yes! I can ride quite well."
+
+"That man has no end of pluck in him," said John Westonhaugh to Kildare.
+
+"By Jove! yes," was the answer. "I have seen men at home make twice the
+fuss over a tumble in a ploughed field, when they were not even stunned.
+I would not have thought it."
+
+"He is not the man to make much fuss about anything of that kind."
+
+Isaacs stoutly refused any further assistance, and after walking up and
+down a few minutes, he said he had got his legs back, and demanded a
+cigarette. He lit it carefully, and mounted as if nothing had happened,
+and we moved homeward, followed by the spectators, many of whom, of
+course, were acquaintances, and who had ridden up more or less quickly
+to make polite inquiries about the accident. No one disputed with Isaacs
+the right to ride beside Miss Westonhaugh on the homeward road. He was
+the victor of the day, and of course was entitled to the best place. We
+were all straggling along, but without any great intervals between us,
+so that the two were not able to get away as they had done on Saturday
+evening, but they talked, and I heard Miss Westonhaugh laugh. Isaacs was
+determined to show that he appreciated his advantage, and though, for
+all I know, he might be suffering a good deal of pain, he talked gaily
+and sat his horse easily, rather a strange figure in his light-coloured
+English overcoat, surmounted by the large white turban he had made out
+of the shawl. As we came out on the mall at the top of the hill, Mr.
+Ghyrkins called a council of war.
+
+"Of course we shall have to put off the tiger-hunt."
+
+"I suppose so," muttered Kildare, disconsolately.
+
+"Why?" said Isaacs. "Not a bit of it. Head or no head, we will start
+to-morrow morning. I am well enough, never fear."
+
+"Nonsense, you know it's nonsense," said Ghyrkins, "you will be in bed
+all day with a raging headache. Horrid things, knocks on the back of the
+head."
+
+"Not I. My traps are all packed, and my servants have gone down to
+Kalka, and I am going to-morrow morning."
+
+"Well, of course, if you really think you can," etc. etc. So he was
+prevailed upon to promise that if he should be suffering in the morning
+he would send word in time to put off the party. "Besides," he added,
+"even if I could not go, that is no reason why you should not."
+
+"Stuff," said Ghyrkins.
+
+"Oh!" said Miss Westonhaugh, looking rather blank.
+
+"That would never do," said John.
+
+"Preposterous! we could not think of going without you," said Lord
+Steepleton Kildare loudly; he was beginning to like Isaacs in spite of
+himself. And so we parted.
+
+"I shall not dine to-night, Griggs," said Isaacs, as we paused before
+his door. "Come in for a moment: you can help me." We entered the richly
+carpeted room, and he went to a curious old Japanese cabinet, and after
+opening various doors and divisions, showed a small iron safe. This he
+opened by some means known to himself, for he used no key, and he took
+out a small vessel of jade and brought it to the light. "Now," he said,
+"be good enough to warm this little jar in your hands while I go into
+the next room and get my boots and spurs and things off. But do not open
+it on any account--not on any account, until I come back," he added very
+emphatically.
+
+"All right, go ahead," said I, and began to warm the cold thing that
+felt like a piece of ice between my hands. He returned in a few minutes
+robed in loose garments from Kashmir, with the low Eastern slippers he
+generally wore indoors. He sat down among his cushions and leaned back,
+looking pale and tired; after ordering the lamps to be lit and the doors
+closed, he motioned me to sit down beside him.
+
+"I have had a bad shaking," he said, "and my head is a good deal
+bruised. But I mean to go to-morrow in spite of everything. In that
+little vial there is a powerful remedy unknown in your Western medicine.
+Now I want you to apply it, and to follow with the utmost exactness my
+instructions. If you fear you should forget what I tell you, write it
+down, for a mistake might be fatal to you, and would certainly be fatal
+to me."
+
+I took out an old letter and a pencil, not daring to trust my memory.
+
+"Put the vial in your bosom while you write: it must be near the
+temperature of the body. Now listen to me. In that silver box is wax.
+Tie first this piece of silk over your mouth, and then stop your
+nostrils carefully with the wax. Then open the vial quickly and pour a
+little of the contents into your hand. You must be quick, for it is very
+volatile. Rub that on the back of my head, keeping the vial closed. When
+your hand is dry, hold the vial open to my nostrils for two minutes by
+your watch. By that time, I shall be asleep. Put the vial in this pocket
+of my _caftán_; open all the doors and windows, and tell my servant to
+leave them so, but not to admit any one. Then you can leave me; I shall
+sleep very comfortably. Come back and wake me a little before midnight.
+You will wake me easily by lifting my head and pressing one of my hands.
+Remember, if you should forget to wake me, and I should still be asleep
+at one o'clock, I should never open my eyes again, and should be dead
+before morning. Do as I tell you, for friendship's sake, and when I wake
+I shall bathe and sleep naturally the rest of the night."
+
+I carefully fulfilled his instructions. Before I had finished rubbing
+his head he was drowsy, and when I took the vial from his nostrils he
+was sound asleep. I placed the precious thing where he had told me, and
+arranged his limbs on the cushions. Then I opened everything, and
+leaving the servant in charge went my way to my rooms. On removing the
+silk and the wax which had protected me from the powerful drug, an
+indescribable odour which permeated my clothes ascended to my nostrils;
+aromatic, yet pungent and penetrating; I never smelt anything that it
+reminded me of, but I presume the compound contained something of the
+nature of an opiate. I took some books down to Isaacs' rooms and passed
+the evening there, unwilling to leave him to the care of an inquisitive
+servant, and five minutes before midnight I awoke him in the manner he
+had directed. He seemed to be sleeping lightly, for he was awake in a
+moment, and his first action was to replace the vial in the curious
+safe. He professed himself perfectly restored; and, indeed, on examining
+his bruise I found there was no swelling or inflammation. The odour of
+the medicament, which, as he had said, seemed to be very volatile, had
+almost entirely disappeared. He begged me to go to bed, saying that he
+would bathe and then do likewise, and I left him for the night;
+speculating on the nature of this secret and precious remedy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+The Himalayan _tonga_ is a thing of delight. It is easily described, for
+in principle it is the ancient Persian war-chariot, though the
+accommodation is so modified as to allow four persons to sit in it back
+to back; that is, three besides the driver. It is built for great
+strength, the wheels being enormously heavy, and the pole of the size of
+a mast. Harness the horses have none, save a single belt with a sort of
+lock at the top, which fits into the iron yoke through the pole, and can
+slide from it to the extremity; there is neither breeching nor trace nor
+collar, and the reins run from the heavy curb bit directly through loops
+on the yoke to the driver's hands. The latter, a wiry, long-bearded
+Mohammedan, is armed with a long whip attached to a short thick stock,
+and though he sits low, on the same level as the passenger beside him on
+the front seat, he guides his half broken horses with amazing dexterity
+round sharp curves and by giddy precipices, where neither parapet nor
+fencing give the startled mind even a momentary impression of security.
+The road from Simla to Kalka at the foot of the hills is so narrow that
+if two vehicles meet, the one has to draw up to the edge of the road,
+while the other passes on its way. In view of the frequent encounters,
+every tonga-driver is provided with a post horn of tremendous power and
+most discordant harmony; for the road is covered with bullock carts
+bearing provisions and stores to the hill station. Smaller loads, such
+as trunks and other luggage, are generally carried by coolies, who
+follow a shorter path, the carriage road being ninety-two miles from
+Umballa, the railroad station, to Simla, but a certain amount may be
+stowed away in the tonga, of which the capacity is considerable.
+
+In three of these vehicles our party of six began the descent on Tuesday
+morning, wrapped in linen "dusters" of various shades and shapes, and
+armed with countless varieties of smoking gear. The roughness of the
+road precludes all possibility of reading, and, after all, the rapid
+motion and the constant appearance of danger--which in reality does not
+exist--prevent any overpowering _ennui_ from assailing the dusty
+traveller. So we spun along all day, stopping once or twice for a little
+refreshment, and changing horses every five or six miles. Everybody was
+in capital spirits, and we changed seats often, thus obtaining some
+little variety. Isaacs, who to every one's astonishment, seemed not to
+feel any inconvenience from his accident, clung to his seat in Miss
+Westonhaugh's tonga, sitting in front with the driver, while she and her
+uncle or brother occupied the seat behind, which is far more
+comfortable. At last, however, he was obliged to give his place to
+Kildare, who had been very patient, but at last said it "really wasn't
+fair, you know," and so Isaacs courteously yielded. At last we reached
+Kalka, where the tongas are exchanged for _dâk gharry_ or mail carriage,
+a thing in which you can sit up in the daytime and lie down at night,
+there being an extension under the driver's box calculated for the
+accommodation of the longest legs. When lying down in one of these
+vehicles the sensation is that of being in a hearse and playing a game
+of funeral. On this occasion, however, it was still early when we made
+the change, and we paired off, two and two, for the last part of the
+drive. By the well planned arrangements of Isaacs and Kildare, two
+carriages were in readiness for us on the express train, and though the
+difference in temperature was enormous between Simla and the plains,
+still steaming from the late rainy season, the travelling was made easy
+for us, and we settled ourselves for the journey, after dining at the
+little hotel; Miss Westonhaugh bidding us all a cheery "good-night" as
+she retired with her _ayah_ into the carriage prepared for her. I will
+not go into tedious details of the journey--we slept and woke and slept
+again, and smoked, and occasionally concocted iced drinks from our
+supplies, for in India the carriages are so large that the traveller
+generally provides himself with a generous basket of provisions and a
+travelling ice-chest full of bottles, and takes a trunk or two with him
+in his compartment. Suffice it to say that we arrived on the following
+day at Fyzabad in Oude, and that we were there met by guides and
+shikarries--the native huntsmen--who assured us that there were tigers
+about near the outlying station of Pegnugger, where the elephants,
+previously ordered, would all be in readiness for us on the following
+day. The journey from Fyzabad to Pegnugger was not a long one, and we
+set out in the cool of the evening, sending our servants along in that
+"happy-go-lucky" fashion which characterises Indian life. It has always
+been a mystery to me how native servants manage always to turn up at the
+right moment. You say to your man, "Go there and wait for me," and you
+arrive and find him waiting; though how he transferred himself thither,
+with his queer-looking bundle, and his lota, and cooking utensils, and
+your best teapot wrapped up in a newspaper and ready for use, and with
+all the other hundred and one things that a native servant contrives to
+carry about without breaking or losing one of them, is an unsolved
+puzzle. Yet there he is, clean and grinning as ever, and if he were not
+clean and grinning and provided with tea and cheroots, you would not
+keep him in your service a day, though you would be incapable of looking
+half so spotless and pleased under the same circumstances yourself.
+
+On the following day, therefore, we found ourselves at Pegnugger,
+surrounded by shikarries and provided with every instrument of the chase
+that the ingenuity of man and the foresight of Isaacs and Ghyrkins could
+provide. There were numbers of tents, sleeping tents, cooking tents, and
+servants' tents; guns and ammunition of every calibre likely to be
+useful; _kookries_, broad strong weapons not unlike the famous American
+bowie knives (which are all made in Sheffield, to the honour, glory, and
+gain, of British trade); there were huge packs of provisions edible and
+potable; baskets of utensils for the kitchen and the table, and piles of
+blankets and tenting gear for the camp. There was also the little
+collector of Pegnugger, whose small body housed a stout heart, for he
+had shot tigers on foot before now in company with a certain German
+doctor of undying sporting fame, whose big round spectacles seemed to
+direct his bullets with unerring precision. But the doctor was not here
+now, and so the sturdy Englishman condescended to accept a seat in the
+howdah, and to kill his game with somewhat less risk than usual.
+
+This first day was occupied in transferring our party, now swelled by
+countless beaters and numerous huntsmen, not to mention all the retinue
+of servants necessary for an Indian camp, to the neighbourhood of the
+battlefield. There is not much conversation on these occasions, for the
+party is apt to become scattered, and there is a general tone of
+expectancy in the air, the old hands conversing more with the natives
+who know the district than with each other, and the young ones either
+wondering how many tigers they will kill, or listening open mouthed to
+the tales of adventure reeled off by the yard by the old bearded
+shikarry, who has slain the king of the jungle with a _kookrie_ in hand
+to hand struggle when he was young, and bears the scars of the deadly
+encounter on his brown chest to this day. Old Ghyrkins, who was
+evidently in his element, rode about on a little _tat_, questioning
+beaters and shikarries, and coming back every now and then to bawl up
+some piece of information to the little collector, who had established
+himself on one of the elephants and looked down over the edge of the
+howdah, the great pith hat on his head making him look like an immense
+mushroom with a very thin stem sprouting suddenly from the back of the
+huge beast. He smiled pleasantly at the old sportsman from his
+elevation, and seemed to know all about it. It so chanced that when he
+received Isaacs' telegrams he had been planning a little excursion on
+his own account, and had been sending out scouts and beaters for some
+days to ascertain where the game lay. This, of course, was so much clear
+gain to us, and the little man was delighted at the opportune
+coincidence which enabled him, by the unlimited money supplied, to join
+in such a hunt as he had not seen since the time when the Prince of
+Wales disported himself among the royal game, three years before. As for
+Miss Westonhaugh, she was in the gayest of spirits, as she sat with her
+brother on an elephant's back, while Isaacs, who loved the saddle,
+circled round her and kept up a fire of little compliments and pretty
+speeches, to which she was fast becoming inured. Kildare and I followed
+them closely on another elephant, discoursing seriously about the hunt,
+and occasionally shouting some question to John Westonhaugh, ahead,
+about sport in the south.
+
+Before evening we had arrived at our first camping ground, near a small
+village on the outskirts of the jungle, and the tents were pitched on a
+little elevation covered with grass, now green and waving. The men had
+mowed a patch clear, and were busy with the pegs and all the
+paraphernalia of a canvas house, and we strolled about, some of us
+directing the operations, others offering a sacrifice of cooling liquids
+and tobacco to the setting sun. Miss Westonhaugh had heard about living
+in tents ever since she came to India, and had often longed to sleep in
+one of those temporary chambers that are set up anywhere in the
+"compound" of an English bungalow for the accommodation of the bachelor
+guests whom the house itself is too small to hold; now she was enchanted
+at the prospect of a whole fortnight under canvas, and watched with rapt
+interest the driving of the pegs, the raising of the poles, and the
+careful furnishing of her dwelling. There was a carpet, and armchairs,
+and tables, and even a small bookcase with a few favourite volumes. To
+us in civilised life it seems a great deal of trouble to transport a
+lunch basket and a novel to some shady glen to enjoy a day's rest in the
+open air, and we would almost rather starve than take the trouble to
+carry provisions. In India you speak the word, and as by magic there
+arises in the wilderness a little village of tents, furnished with every
+necessary luxury--and the luxuries necessary to our degenerate age are
+many--a kitchen tent is raised, and a skilled dark-skinned artist
+provides you in an hour with a dinner such as you could eat in no hotel.
+The treasures of the huge portable ice-chest reveal cooling wines and
+soda water to the thirsty soul, and if you are going very far beyond the
+reach of the large towns, a small ice-machine is kept at work day and
+night to increase the supply while you sleep, and to maintain it while
+you wake. In the _connât_ or verandah of the tent, long chairs await you
+after your meal, and as you smoke the fragrant cigarette and watch the
+stars coming out, you feel as comfortable as though you had been dining
+in your own spacious bungalow in Mudnugger.
+
+It was not long before all was ready, and having made many ablutions and
+a little toilet, we assembled round the dinner table in the eating tent,
+the same party that had dined at Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' house on Sunday
+night, with the addition of the little collector of Pegnugger, whose
+stories of his outlying district were full of humour and anecdote. The
+talk bending in the direction of adventure, Kildare, who had been lately
+in South Africa with his regiment, told some tales of Zulus and assegais
+and Boers in the Hibernian style of hyperbole. The Irish blood never
+comes out so strongly as when a story is to be told, and no amount of
+English education and Oxford accent will suppress the tendency. The
+brogue is gone, but the love of the marvellous is there still. Isaacs
+related the experience of "a man he knew," who had been pulled off his
+elephant, howdah and all, and had killed the tiger with a revolver at
+half arm's length.
+
+"Ah yes," said the little collector, who had not caught the names of all
+the party when introduced, "I read about it at the time; I remember it
+very well. It happened in Purneah two years ago. The gentleman was a Mr.
+Isaacs of Delhi. Queer name too--remember perfectly." There was a roar
+of laughter at this, in which the collector joined vociferously on being
+informed that the man with the "queer name" was his neighbour at table.
+
+"You see what you get for your modesty," cried old Ghyrkins, laughing to
+convulsions.
+
+"And is it really true, Mr. Isaacs?" asked Miss Westonhaugh, looking
+admiringly across at the young man, who seemed rather annoyed.
+
+And so the conversation went round and all were merry, and some were
+sleepy after dinner, and we sat in long chairs under the awning or
+_connât_. There was no moon yet, but the stars shone out as they shine
+nowhere save in India, and the evening breeze played pleasantly through
+the ropes after the long hot day. Miss Westonhaugh assured everybody for
+the hundredth time that day that she rather liked the smell of cigars,
+and so we smoked and chatted a little, and presently there was a jerk
+and a sputtering sneeze from Mr. Ghyrkins, who, being weary with the
+march and the heat and the good dinner, and on the borders of sleep, had
+put the wrong end of his cigar in his mouth with destructive results.
+Then he threw it away with a small volley of harmless expletives, and
+swore he would go to bed, as he could not stand our dulness any longer;
+but he merely shifted his position a little, and was soon snoring
+merrily.
+
+"What a pity it is we have no piano, Katharine," said John Westonhaugh,
+who was fond of music. "Could you not sing something without any
+accompaniment?"
+
+"Oh no. Mr. Isaacs," she said, turning her voice to where she could see
+the light of his cigarette and the faint outline of his chair in the
+starlight, "here we are in the camp. Now where is the 'lute' you
+promised to produce for us? I think the time has come at last for you to
+keep your promise."
+
+"Well," said he, "I believe there really is an old guitar or something
+of the kind among my traps somewhere. But it might wake Mr. Ghyrkins,
+who, I understand from his tones, is asleep."
+
+Various opinions were expressed to the effect that Mr. Ghyrkins was not
+so easily disturbed, and a voice like Kildare's was heard to mumble that
+"it would not hurt him if he was," a sentence no one attempted to
+construe. So the faithful Narain was summoned, and instructed to bring
+the instrument if he could find it. I was rather surprised at Isaacs'
+readiness to sing; but in the first place I had never heard him, and
+besides I did not make allowance for the Oriental courtesy of his
+character, which would not refuse anything, or make any show of refusal
+in order to be pressed. Narain returned with a very modern-looking
+guitar-case, and, opening the box, presented his master with the
+instrument, which, as Isaacs took it to the light in the door of the
+tent to see if it had travelled safely, appeared to be a perfectly new
+German guitar. I suspected him of having purchased it at the little
+music shop at Simla, for the especial amusement of our party.
+
+"I thought it was a lute you played on," said Miss Westonhaugh, "a real,
+lovely, ancient Assyrian lute, or something of that kind."
+
+"Oh, a plain guitar is infinitely better and less troublesome," said
+Isaacs as he returned to his seat in the dark and began to tune the
+strings softly. "It takes so long to tune one of those old things, and
+then nothing will make them stand. Now this one, you see,--or rather you
+cannot see,--has an ingenious contrivance of screws by which you may
+tune it in a moment." While he was speaking he was altering the pitch of
+the strings, and presently he added, "There, it is done now," and two or
+three sounding chords fell on the still air. "Now what shall I sing? I
+await your commands."
+
+"Something soft, and sweet, and gentle."
+
+"A love-song?" asked he quietly.
+
+"Well yes--a love-song if you like. Why not?" said she.
+
+"No reason in the world that I can think of," I remarked. Whereat Lord
+Steepleton Kildare threw his cigar away, and began lighting another a
+moment after, as if he had discarded his weed by mistake.
+
+Isaacs struck a few chords softly, and then began a sort of running
+accompaniment. His voice, which seemed to me to be very high, was
+wonderfully smooth and round, and produced the impression of being much
+more powerful than he cared to show. He sang without the least effort,
+and yet there was none of that effeminate character that I have noticed
+in European male singers when producing high notes very softly. I do not
+understand music, but I am sure I never heard an opera tenor with a
+voice of such quality. The words of his song were Persian, and the pure
+accents of his native tongue seemed well suited to the half passionate,
+half plaintive air he had chosen. I afterwards found a translation of
+the sonnet by an English officer, which I here give, though it conveys
+little idea of the music of the original verse.
+
+    Last night, my eyes being closed in sleep, but my good fortune awake,
+    The whole night, the livelong night, the image of my beloved one was the
+    companion of my soul.
+    The sweetness of her melodious voice still remains vibrating on my soul;
+    Heavens! how did the sugared words fall from her sweeter lips;
+    Alas! all that she said to me in that dream has escaped from my memory,
+    Although it was my care till break of day to repeat over and over her
+    sweet words.
+    The day, unless illuminated by her beauty, is, to my eyes, of nocturnal
+    darkness.
+    Happy day that first I gazed upon that lovely face!
+    May the eyes of Jami long be blessed with pleasing visions, since they
+    presented to his view last night
+    The object, on whose account he passed his waking life in
+    expectation.[1]
+
+His beautiful voice ceased, and with infinite skill he wove a few
+strains of the melody into the final chords he played when he had
+finished singing. It was all so entirely novel, so unlike any music most
+of us had ever heard, and it was so undeniably good, that every one
+applauded and said something to the singer in turn, expressing the
+greatest admiration and appreciation. Miss Westonhaugh was the last to
+speak.
+
+"It is perfectly lovely," she said. "I wish I could understand the
+words--are they as sweet as the music?"
+
+"Sweeter," he answered, and he gave an offhand translation of two or
+three verses.
+
+"Beautiful indeed," she said; "and now sing me another, please." There
+was no resisting such an appeal, with the personal pronoun in the
+singular number. He moved a little nearer, and emphatically sang to her,
+and to no one else. A song of the same character as the first, but, I
+thought, more passionate and less dreamy, as his great sweet voice
+swelled and softened and rose again in burning vibrations and waves of
+sound. She did not ask a translation this time, but some one else did,
+after the applause had subsided.
+
+"I cannot translate these things," said Isaacs, "so as to do them
+justice, or give you any idea of the strength and vitality of the
+Persian verses. Perhaps Griggs, who understands Persian very well and is
+a literary man, may do it for you. I would rather not try." I professed
+my entire inability to comply with the request, and to turn the
+conversation asked him where he had learned to play the guitar so well.
+
+"Oh," he answered, "in Istamboul, years ago. Everybody plays in
+Istamboul--and most people sing love-songs. Besides it is so easy," and
+he ran scales up and down the strings with marvellous rapidity to
+illustrate what he said.
+
+"And do you never sing English songs, Mr. Isaacs?" asked the collector
+of Pegnugger, who was enchanted, not having heard a note of music for
+months.
+
+"Oh, sometimes," he answered. "I think I could sing 'Drink to me only
+with thine eyes'--do you know it?" He began to play the melody on the
+guitar while he spoke.
+
+"Rather--I should think so!" Kildare was heard to say. He was beginning
+to think the concert had lasted long enough.
+
+"Oh, do sing it, Mr. Isaacs," said the young girl, "and my brother and I
+will join in. It will be so pretty!"
+
+It certainly sounded very sweetly as he gave the melody in his clear,
+high tones, and Miss Westonhaugh and John sang with him. Having heard it
+several thousand times myself, I was beginning to recognise the tune
+well enough to enjoy it a good deal.
+
+"That is very nice," said Kildare, who was sorry he had made an
+impatient remark before, and wanted to atone.
+
+"Eh? what? how's that?" said Mr. Ghyrkins just waking up. "Oh! of
+course. My niece sings charmingly. Quite an artist, you know." And he
+struggled out of his chair and said it was high time we all went to bed
+if we meant to shoot straight in the morning. The magistrate of
+Pegnugger concurred in the opinion, and we reluctantly separated for the
+night to our respective quarters, Isaacs and I occupying a tent
+together, which he had caused to be sent on from Delhi, as being
+especially adapted to his comfort.
+
+On the following day at dawn we were roused by the sound of
+preparations, and before we were dressed the voices of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins and the collector were heard in the camp, stirring up the
+sleepy servants and ordering us to be waked. The two old sportsmen felt
+it their duty to be first on such an occasion as this, and in the calm
+security that they would do everything that was right, Isaacs and I
+discussed our tea and fruit--the _chota haziri_ or "little breakfast"
+usually taken in India on waking--sitting in the door of our tent, while
+Kiramat Ali and Narain and Mahmoud and the rest of the servants were
+giving a final rub to the weapons of the chase, and making all the
+little preparations for a long day. And we sat looking out and sipping
+our tea.
+
+In the cool of the dawn Miss Westonhaugh came tripping across the wet
+grass to where her uncle was giving his final directions about the
+furnishing of his howdah for the day; a lovely apparition of freshness
+in the gray morning, all dressed in dark blue, a light pith
+helmet-shaped hat pressing the rebellious white-gold hair almost out of
+sight. She walked so easily it seemed as if her dainty little feet had
+wings, as Hermes' of old, to ease the ground of their feather weight. A
+broad belt hung across her shoulder with little rows of cartridges set
+all along, and at the end hung a very business-like revolver case of
+brown leather and of goodly length. No toy miniature pistol would she
+carry, but a full-sized, heavy "six-shooter," that might really be of
+use at close quarters. She stood some minutes talking with Mr. Ghyrkins,
+not noticing us in the shadow of the tent some thirty yards away; Isaacs
+and I watched her intently--with very different feelings, possibly, but
+yet intensely admiring the fair creature, so strong and pliant, and yet
+so erect and straight. She turned half round towards us, and I saw there
+were flowers in the front of her dress. I wondered where they had come
+from; they were roses--of all flowers in the world to be blooming in the
+desert. Perhaps she had brought them carefully from Fyzabad, but that
+was improbable; or from Pegnugger--yes, there would be roses in the
+collector's garden there. Isaacs rose to his feet.
+
+"Oh, come along, Griggs. You have had quite enough tea!"
+
+"Go ahead; I will be with you in a moment." But a sudden thought struck
+me, and I went with him, bareheaded, to greet Miss Westonhaugh. She
+smiled brightly as she held out her hand.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Isaacs. Thank you so much for the roses. How _did_
+you do it? They are _too_ lovely!" So it was just as I thought. Isaacs
+had probably despatched a man back to Pegnugger in the night.
+
+"Very easy I assure you. I am so glad you like them. They are not very
+fresh after all though, I see," he added depreciatingly, as men do when
+they give flowers to people they care about. I never heard a man find
+fault with flowers he gave out of a sense of duty. It is perhaps that
+the woman best loved of all things in the world has for him a sweetness
+and a beauty that kills the coarser hues of the rose, and outvies the
+fragrance of the double violets.
+
+"Oh no!" she said, emphasising the negative vigorously. "I think they
+are perfectly beautiful, but I want you to tell me where you got them."
+I began talking to Ghyrkins, who was intent on the arrangement of his
+guns which was going on under his eyes, but I heard the answer, though
+Isaacs spoke in a low voice.
+
+"You must not say that, Miss Westonhaugh. You yourself are the most
+perfect and beautiful thing God ever made." By a superhuman effort I
+succeeded in keeping my eyes fixed on Ghyrkins, probably with a stony,
+unconscious stare, for he presently asked what I was looking at. I do
+not think Isaacs cared whether I heard him or not, knowing that I
+sympathised, but Mr. Ghyrkins was another matter. The Persian had made
+progress, for there was no trace of annoyance in Miss Westonhaugh's
+answer, though she entirely overlooked her companion's pretty speech.
+
+"Seriously, Mr. Isaacs, if you mean to have one of them for your badge
+to-day, you must tell me how you got them." I turned slowly round. She
+was holding a single rose in her fingers, and looking from it to him, as
+if to see if it would match his olive skin and his Karkee shooting-coat.
+He could not resist the bribe.
+
+"If you really want to know I will tell you, but it is a profound
+secret," he said, smiling. "Griggs, swear!"
+
+I raised my hand and murmured something about the graves of my
+ancestors.
+
+"Well," he continued, "yesterday morning at the collector's house I saw
+a garden; in the garden there were roses, carefully tended, for it is
+late. I took the gardener apart and said, 'My friend, behold, here is
+silver for thee, both rupees and pais. And if thou wilt pick the best of
+thy roses and deliver them to the swift runner whom I will send to thee
+at supper time when the stars are coming out, I will give thee as much
+as thou shalt earn in a month with thy English master. But if thou wilt
+not do it, or if thou failest to do it, having promised, I will cause
+the grave of thy father to be defiled with the slaughter of swine, and,
+moreover, I will return and beat thee with a thick stick!' The fellow
+was a Mussulman, and there was a merry twinkle in his eye as he took the
+money and swore a great oath. I left a running man at Pegnugger with a
+basket, and that is how you got the roses. Don't tell the collector,
+that is all."
+
+We all laughed, and Miss Westonhaugh gave the rose to Isaacs, who
+touched it to his lips, under pretence of smelling it, and put it in his
+buttonhole. Kildare came up at this moment and created a diversion; then
+the collector joined us and scattered us right and left, saying it was
+high time we were in the howdahs and on the way. So we buckled on our
+belts, and those who wore hats put them on, and those who preferred
+turbans bent while their bearers wound them on, and then we moved off to
+where the elephants were waiting and got into our places, and the
+_mahouts_ urged the huge beasts from their knees to their feet, and we
+went swinging off to the forest. The pad elephants, who serve as beaters
+and move between the howdah animals, joined us, and presently we went
+splashing through the reedy patches of fern, and crashing through the
+branches, towards the heart of the jungle.
+
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, whose long experience had made him as cool when
+after tigers as when reading the _Pioneer_ in his shady bungalow at
+Simla, had taken Miss Westonhaugh with him in his howdah, and as an
+additional precaution for her safety, the little collector of Pegnugger,
+who was a dead shot, only allowed two pad elephants to move between
+himself and Ghyrkins. As there were thirty-seven animals in all, the
+rest of the party were much scattered. I thought there were too many
+elephants for our six howdahs, but it turned out that I was mistaken,
+for we had capital sport. The magistrate of Pegnugger, who knew the
+country thoroughly, was made the despot of the day. His orders were
+obeyed unquestioningly and unconditionally, and we halted in long line
+or marched onwards, forcing a passage through every obstacle, at his
+word. We might have been out a couple of hours, watching every patch of
+jungle and blade of long rank grass for a sight of the striped skin,
+writhing through the reeds, that we so longed to see, when the quick,
+short crack of a rifle away to the right brought us to a halt, and every
+one drew a long breath and turned, gun in hand, in the direction whence
+the sound had come. It was Kildare; he had met his first tiger, and the
+first also of the hunt. He had put up the animal not five paces in front
+of him, stealing along in the cool grass and hoping to escape between
+the elephants, in the cunning way they often do. He had fired a snap
+shot too quickly, inflicting a wound in the flank which only served to
+rouse the tiger to madness. With a leap that seemed to raise its body
+perpendicularly from the ground, the gorgeous creature flew into the air
+and settled right on the head of Kildare's elephant, while the terrified
+_mahout_ wound himself round the howdah. It would have been a trying
+position for the oldest sportsman, but to be brought into such terrific
+encounter at arm's length, almost, at one's very first experience of the
+chase, was a terrible test of nerve. Those who were near said that in
+that awful moment Kildare never changed colour. The elephant plunged
+wildly in his efforts to shake off the beast from his head, but Kildare
+had seized his second gun the moment he had discharged the first, and
+aiming for one second only, as the tossing head and neck of the tusker
+brought the gigantic cat opposite him, fired again. The fearful claws,
+driven deep and sure into the thick hide of the poor elephant, relaxed
+their hold, the beautiful lithe limbs straightened by their own
+perpendicular weight, and the first prize of the day dropped to the
+ground like lead, dead, shot through the head.
+
+A great yell of triumph arose all along the line, and the little
+_mahout_ crept cautiously back from his lurking-place behind the howdah
+to see if the coast were clear. Kildare had behaved splendidly, and
+shouts of congratulation reached his ears from all sides. Miss
+Westonhaugh waved her handkerchief in token of approbation, every one
+applauded, and far away to the left Isaacs, who was in the last howdah,
+clapped his hands vigorously, and sent his high clear voice ringing like
+a trumpet down the line.
+
+"Well done, Kildare! well done, indeed!" and his rival's praise was not
+the least grateful to Lord Steepleton on that day. Meanwhile the
+shikarries gathered around the fallen beast. It proved to be a young
+tigress some eight feet long, and the clean bright coat showed that she
+was no man-eater. So the pad elephant came alongside, to use a nautical
+phrase not inappropriate, and kneeling down received its burden
+willingly, well knowing that the slain beauty was one of his deadly
+foes. The _mahout_ pronounced the elephant on which Kildare was mounted
+able to proceed, and only a few huge drops of blood marked where the
+tigress had kept her hold. We moved on again, beating the jungle,
+wheeling and doubling the long line, wherever it seemed likely that some
+striped monster might have eluded us. Marching and counter-marching
+through the heat of the day, we picked up another-prize in the
+afternoon. It was a large old tiger, nine feet six as he lay; he fell an
+easy prey to the gun of the little collector of Pegnugger, who sent a
+bullet through his heart at the first shot, and smiled rather
+contemptuously as he removed the empty shell of the cartridge from his
+gun. He would rather have had Kildare's chance in the morning.
+
+After all, two tigers in a day was not bad sport for the time of year. I
+knew Isaacs would be disappointed at not having had a shot, where his
+rival in a certain quarter had had so good an opportunity for displaying
+skill and courage; and I confessed to myself that I preferred a small
+party, say, a dozen elephants and three howdahs, to this tremendous and
+expensive _battue_. I had a shot-gun with me, and consoled myself by
+shooting a peacock or two as we rolled and swayed homewards. We had
+determined to keep to the same camp for a day or two, as we could enter
+the forest from another point on the morrow, and might even beat some of
+the same ground again with success.
+
+It was past five when we got down to the tents and descended from our
+howdahs, glad to stretch our stiffened limbs in a brisk walk. The dead
+tigers were hauled into the middle of the camp, and the servants ran
+together to see the result of the _sahib log's_ day out. We retired to
+dress and refresh ourselves for dinner.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+In Isaacs' tent I was pulling off my turban, all shapeless and crumpled
+by the long day, while Isaacs stood disconsolately looking at the clean
+guns and unbroken rows of cartridges which Narain deposited on the
+table. The sun was very low, and shone horizontally through the raised
+door of the tent on my friend's rather gloomy face. At that moment
+something intercepted the sunshine, and a dark shadow fell across the
+floor. I looked, and saw a native standing on the threshold, salaaming
+and waiting to be spoken to. He was not one of our men, but a common
+ryot, clad simply in a _dhoti_ or waist-cloth, and a rather dirty
+turban.
+
+"Kya chahte ho?"--"What do you want?" asked Isaacs impatiently. He was
+not in a good humour by any means. "Wilt thou deprive thy betters of the
+sunlight thou enjoyest thyself?"
+
+"The sahib's face is like the sun and the moon," replied the man
+deprecatingly. "But if the great lord will listen I will tell him what
+shall rejoice his heart."
+
+"Speak, unbeliever," said Isaacs.
+
+"Protector of the poor! you are my father and my mother! but I know
+where there lieth a great tiger, an eater of men, hard-hearted, that
+delighteth in blood."
+
+"Dog," answered Isaacs, calmly removing his coat, "the tiger you speak
+of was seen by you many moons since; what do you come to me with idle
+tales for?" Isaacs was familiar with the native trick of palming off old
+tigers on the unwary stranger, in the hope of a reward.
+
+"Sahib, I am no liar. I saw the tiger, who is the king of the forest,
+this morning." Isaacs' manner relaxed a little, and he sat down and
+lighted the eternal cigarette. "Slave," he said meditatively, "if it is
+as you say, I will kill the tiger, but if it is not as you say, I will
+kill you, and cause your body to be buried with the carcass of an ox,
+and your soul shall not live." The man did not seem much moved by the
+threat. He moved nearer, and salaamed again.
+
+"It is near to the dwelling of the sahib, who is my father," said the
+man, speaking low. "The day before yesterday he destroyed a man from the
+village. He has eaten five men in the last moon. I have seen him enter
+his lair, and he will surely return before the dawn; and the sahib shall
+strike him by his lightning; and the sahib will not refuse me the ears
+of the man-eater, that I may make a _jädu_, a charm against sudden
+death?"
+
+"Hound! if thou speakest the truth, and I kill the tiger, the monarch of
+game, I will make thee a rich man; but thou shalt not have his ears. I
+desire the _jädu_ for myself. I have spoken; wait thou here my
+pleasure." The ryot bent low to the earth, and then squatted by the
+tent-door to wait, in the patient way that a Hindoo can, for Isaacs to
+go and eat his dinner. As the latter came out ten minutes later, he
+paused and addressed the man once more. "Speak not to any man of thy
+tiger while I am gone, or I will cut off thine ears with a pork knife."
+And we passed on.
+
+The sun was now set and hovering in the afterglow, the new moon was
+following lazily down. I stopped a moment to look at her, and was
+surprised by Miss Westonhaugh's voice close behind me.
+
+"Are you wishing by the new moon, Mr. Griggs?" she asked.
+
+"Yes," said I, "I was. And what were you wishing, Miss Westonhaugh, if I
+may ask?" Isaacs came up, and paused beside us. The beautiful girl stood
+quite still, looking to westward, a red glow on the white-gold masses of
+her hair.
+
+"Did you say you were wishing for something, Miss Westonhaugh?" he
+asked. "Perhaps I can get it for you. More flowers, perhaps? They are
+very easily got."
+
+"No--that is, not especially. I was wishing--well, that a tiger-hunt
+might last for ever; and I want a pair of tiger's ears. My old _ayah_
+says they keep off evil spirits and sickness; and all sorts of things."
+
+"I know; it is a curious idea. I suppose both those beasts there have
+lost theirs already. These fellows cut them off in no time."
+
+"Yes. I have looked. So I suppose I must wait till to-morrow. But
+promise me, Mr. Isaacs, if you shoot one to-morrow, let me have the
+ears!"
+
+"I will promise that readily enough. I would promise anything you--" The
+last part of the sentence was lost to me, as I moved away and left them.
+
+At dinner, of course, every one talked of the day's sport, and
+compliments of all kinds were showered on Lord Steepleton, who looked
+very much pleased, and drank a good deal of wine. Ghyrkins and the
+little magistrate expressed their opinion that he would make a famous
+tiger-killer one of these days, when he had learned to wait. Every one
+was hungry and rather tired, and after a somewhat silent cigar, we
+parted for the night, Miss Westonhaugh rising first. Isaacs went to his
+quarters, and I remained alone in a long chair, by the deserted
+dining-tent. Kiramat Ali brought me a fresh hookah, and I lay quietly
+smoking and thinking of all kinds of things--things of all kinds,
+tigers, golden hair, more tigers, Isaacs, Shere Ali, Baithop--, what was
+his name--Baithop--p--. I fell asleep.
+
+Some one touched my hand, waking me suddenly. I sprang to my feet and
+seized the man by the throat, before I recognised in the starlight that
+it was Isaacs.
+
+"You are not a nice person to rouse," remarked he in a low voice, as I
+relaxed my grasp. "You will have fever if you sleep out-of-doors at this
+time of year. Now look here; it is past midnight, and I am going out a
+little way." I noticed that he had a _kookrie_ knife at his waist, and
+that his cartridge-belt was on his chest.
+
+"I will go with you," said I, guessing his intention. "I will be ready
+in a moment," and I began to move towards the tent.
+
+"No. I must go alone, and do this thing single-handed. I have a
+particular reason. I only wanted to warn you I was gone, in case you
+missed me. I shall take that ryot fellow with me to show me the way."
+
+"Give him a gun," I suggested.
+
+"He could not use one if I did. He has your _kookrie_ in case of
+accidents."
+
+"Oh, very well! do not let me interfere with any innocent and childlike
+pastime you may propose for your evening hours. I will attend to your
+funeral in the morning. Good-night."
+
+"Good-night; I shall be back before you are up." And he walked quickly
+off to where the ryot was waiting and holding his guns. He had the sense
+to take two. I was angry at the perverse temerity of the man. Why could
+he not have an elephant out and go like a sensible thinking being,
+instead of sneaking out with one miserable peasant to lie all night
+among the reeds, in as great danger from cobras as from the beast he
+meant to kill? And all for a girl --an English girl--a creature all fair
+hair and eyes, with no more intelligence than a sheep! Was it not she
+who sent him out to his death in the jungle, that her miserable caprice
+for a pair of tiger's ears might be immediately satisfied? If a woman
+ever loved me, Paul Griggs,--thank heaven no woman ever did,--would I go
+out into bogs and desert places and risk my precious skin to find her a
+pair of cat's ears? Not I;--wait a moment, though. If I were in his
+place, if Miss Westonhaugh loved _me_--I laughed at the conceit. But
+supposing she did. Just for the sake of argument, I would allow it. I
+think that I would risk something after all. What a glorious thing it
+would be to be loved by a woman, once, wholly and for ever. To meet the
+creature I described to him the other night, waiting for me to come into
+her life, and to be to her all I could be to the woman I should love.
+But she has never come; never will, now; still, there is a sort of rest
+to me in thinking of rest. Hearth, home, wife, children; the worn old
+staff resting in the corner, never to wander again. What a strange thing
+it is that men should have all these, and more, and yet never see that
+they have the simple elements of earthly happiness, if they would but
+use them. And we, outcasts and wanderers, children of sin and darkness,
+in whose hands one commandment seems hardly less fragile than another,
+would give anything--had we anything to give--for the happiness of a
+home, to call our own. How strange it is that what I said to Isaacs
+should be true. "Do not marry unless you must depend on each other for
+daily bread, or unless you are rich enough to live apart." Yes, it is
+true, in ninetynine cases out of a hundred. But then, I should add a
+saving clause, "and unless you are quite sure that you love each other."
+Ay, there is the _pons asinorum,_ the bridge whereon young asses and old
+fools come to such terrible grief. They are perfectly sure they love
+eternally; they will indignantly scorn the suggestions of prudence; love
+any other woman? never, while I live, answers the happy and
+unsophisticated youth. Be sorry I did it? Do you think I am a schoolboy
+in my first passion? demands the aged bridegroom. And so they marry, and
+in a year or two the enthusiastic young man runs away with some other
+enthusiastic man's wife, and the octogenarian spouse finds himself
+constituted into a pot of honey for his wife's swarming relations to
+settle on, like flies. But a man in strong middle prime of age, like me,
+knows his own mind; and--yes, on the whole I was unjust to Isaacs and to
+Miss Westonhaugh. If a woman loved me, she should have all the tiger's
+ears she wanted. "Still, I hope he will get back safely," I added, in
+afterthought to my reverie, as I turned into bed and ordered Kiramat Ali
+to wake me half an hour before dawn.
+
+I was restless, sleeping a little and dreaming much. At last I struck a
+light and looked at my watch. Four o'clock. It would not be dawn for
+more than an hour; I knew Isaacs had made for the place where the tiger
+passed his days, certain that he would return near daybreak, according
+to all common probability. He need not have gone so early, I thought.
+However, it might be a long way off. I lay still for a while, but it
+seemed very hot and close under the canvas. I got up and threw a
+_caftán_ round me, drew a chair into the _connât_ and sat, or rather
+lay, down in the cool morning breeze. Then I dozed again until Kiramat
+Ali woke me by pulling at my foot. He said it would be dawn in half an
+hour. I had passed a bad night, and went out, as I was, to walk on the
+grass. There was Miss Westonhaugh's tent away off at the other end. She
+was sleeping calmly enough, never doubting that at that very moment the
+man who loved her was risking his life for her pleasure--her slightest
+whim. She would be wide awake if she knew it, staring out into the
+darkness and listening for the crack of his rifle. A faint light
+appeared behind the dining-tent, over the distant trees, like the light
+of London seen from twenty or thirty miles' distance in the country, a
+faint, suggestive, murky grayness in the sky, making the stars look
+dimmer.
+
+The sound of a shot rang true and clear through the chill air; not far
+off I thought. I held my breath, listening for a second report, but none
+came. So it was over. Either he had killed the tiger with his first
+bullet, or the tiger had killed him before he could fire a second. I was
+intensely excited. If he were safe I wished him to have the glory of
+coming home quite alone. There was nothing for it but to wait, so I went
+into my tent and took a bath--a very simple operation where the bathing
+consists in pouring a huge jar of water over one's head. Tents in India
+have always a small side tent with a ditch dug to drain off the water
+from the copious ablutions of the inmate. I emerged into the room
+feeling better. It was now quite light, and I proceeded to dress
+leisurely to spin out the time. As I was drawing on my boots, Isaacs
+sauntered in quietly and laid his gun on the table. He was pale, and his
+Karkee clothes were covered with mud and leaves and bits of creeper, but
+his movements showed he was not hurt in any way; he hardly seemed tired.
+
+"Well?" I said anxiously.
+
+"Very well, thank you. Here they are," and he produced from the pocket
+of his coat the _spolia opima_ in the shape of a pair of ears, that
+looked very large to me. There was a little blood on them and on his
+hands as he handed the precious trophies to me for inspection. We stood
+by the open door, and while I was turning over the ears curiously in my
+hands, he looked down at his clothes.
+
+"I think I will take a bath," he said; "I must have been in a dirty
+place."
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, taking his hand, "this is absurd. I mean all
+this affected calmness. I was angry at your going in that way, to risk
+your head in a tiger's mouth; but I am sincerely glad to see you back
+alive. I congratulate you most heartily."
+
+"Thank you, old man," he said, his pale face brightening a little. "I am
+very glad myself. Do you know I have a superstition that I must fulfil
+every wish of--like that--even half expressed, to the very letter?"
+
+"The 'superstition,' as you call it, is worthy of the bravest knight
+that ever laid lance in rest. Don't part with superstitions like that.
+They are noble and generous things."
+
+"Perhaps," he answered, "but I really am very superstitious," he added,
+as he turned into the bathing _connât_. Soon I heard him splashing among
+the water jars.
+
+"By-the-bye, Griggs," he called out through the canvas, "I forgot to
+tell you. They are bringing that beast home on an elephant. It was much
+nearer than we supposed. They will be here in twenty minutes." A
+tremendous splashing interrupted him. "You can go and attend to that
+funeral you were talking about last night," he added, and his voice was
+again drowned in the swish and souse of the water. "He was rather
+large--over ten feet--I should say. Measure him as soon as he--" another
+cascade completed the sentence. I went out, taking the measuring tape
+from the table.
+
+In a few minutes the procession appeared. Two or three matutinal
+shikarries had gone out and come back, followed by the elephant, for
+which Isaacs had sent the ryot at full speed the moment he was sure the
+beast was dead. And so they came up the little hill behind the
+dining-tent. The great tusker moved evenly along, bearing on the pad an
+enormous yellow carcass, at which the little _mahout_ glanced
+occasionally over his shoulder. Astride of the dead king sat the ryot,
+who had directed Isaacs, crooning a strange psalm of victory in his
+outlandish northern dialect, and occasionally clapping his hands over
+his head with an expression of the most intense satisfaction I have ever
+seen on a human face. The little band came to the middle of the camp
+where the other tigers, now cut up and skinned elsewhere, had been
+deposited the night before, and as the elephant knelt down, the
+shikarries pulled the whole load over, pad, tiger, ryot and all, the
+latter skipping nimbly aside. There he lay, the great beast that had
+taken so many lives. We stretched him out and measured him--eleven feet
+from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, all but an inch--as a
+little more straightening fills the measure, eleven feet exactly.
+
+Meanwhile, the servant and shikarries collected, and the noise of the
+exploit went abroad. The sun was just rising when Mr. Ghyrkins put his
+head out of his tent and wanted to know "what the deuce all this
+_tamäsha_ was about."
+
+"Oh, nothing especial," I called out. "Isaacs has killed an eleven foot
+man-eater in the night. That is all."
+
+"Well I'm damned," said Mr. Ghyrkins briefly, and to the point, as he
+stared from his tent at the great carcass, which lay stretched out for
+all to see, the elephant having departed.
+
+"Clear off those fellows and let me have a look at him, can't you?" he
+called out, gathering the tent curtains round his neck; and there he
+stood, his jolly red face and dishevelled gray hair looking as if they
+had no body attached at all.
+
+I went back to our quarters. Isaacs was putting the ears, which he had
+carefully cleansed from blood, into a silver box of beautiful
+workmanship, which Narain had extracted from his master's numerous
+traps.
+
+"Take that box to Miss Westonhaugh's tent," he said, giving it to the
+servant, "with a greeting from me--with 'much peace.'" The man went out.
+
+"She will send the box back," said I. "Such is the Englishwoman. She
+will take a pair of tiger's ears that nearly cost you your life, and she
+would rather die than accept the bit of silver in which you enclose
+them, without the 'permission of her uncle.'"
+
+"I do not care," he said, "so long as she keeps the ears. But unless I
+am much mistaken, she will keep the box too. She is not like other
+Englishwomen in the least."
+
+I was not sure of that. We had some tea in the door of our tent, and
+Isaacs seemed hungry and thirsty, as well he might be. Now that he was
+refreshed by bathing and the offices of the camp barber, he looked much
+as usual, save that the extreme paleness I had noticed when he came in
+had given place to a faint flush beneath the olive, probably due to his
+excitement, the danger being past. As we sat there, the rest of the
+party, who had slept rather later than usual after their fatigues of the
+previous day, came out one by one and stood around the dead tiger,
+wondering at the tale told by the delighted ryot, who squatted at the
+beast's head to relate the adventure to all comers. We could see the
+group from where we sat, in the shadow of the _connât_, and the
+different expressions of the men as they came out. The little collector
+of Pegnugger measured and measured again; Mr. Ghyrkins stood with his
+hands in his coat pockets and his legs apart, then going to the other
+side he took up the same position again. Lord Steepleton Kildare
+sauntered round and twirled his big moustache, saying nothing the while,
+but looking rather serious. John Westonhaugh, who seemed to be the
+artistic genius of the party, sent for a chair and made his servant hold
+an umbrella over him while he sketched the animal in his notebook, and
+presently his sister came out, a big bunch of roses in her belt, and a
+broad hat half hiding her face, and looked at the tiger and then round
+the party quickly, searching for Isaacs. In her hand she held a little
+package wrapped in white tissue paper. I strolled up to the group,
+leaving Isaacs in his tent. I thought I might as well play innocence.
+
+"Of course," I remarked, "those fellows have bagged his ears as usual."
+
+"They never omit that," said Ghyrkins.
+
+"Oh no, uncle," broke in Miss Westonhaugh, "he gave them to me!"
+
+"Who?" asked Ghyrkins, opening his little eyes wide.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs. Did not he kill the tiger? He sent me the ears in a little
+silver box. Here it is--the box, I mean. I am going to give it back to
+him, of course."
+
+"How did Mr. Isaacs know you wanted them?" asked her uncle, getting red
+in the face.
+
+"Why, we were talking about them last night before dinner, and he
+promised that if he shot a tiger to-day he would give me the ears." Mr.
+Ghyrkins was redder and redder in the morning sun. There was a storm of
+some kind brewing. We were collected together on the other side of the
+dead tiger and exchanged all kinds of spontaneous civilities and
+remarks, not wishing to witness Mr. Ghyrkins' wrath, nor to go away too
+suddenly. I heard the conversation, however, for the old gentleman made
+no pretence of lowering his voice.
+
+"And do you mean to say you let him go off like that? He must have been
+out all night. That beast of a nigger says so. On foot, too. I say on
+foot! Do you know what you are talking about? Eh? Shooting tigers on
+foot? What? Eh? Might have been killed as easily as not! And then what
+would you have said? Eh? What? Upon my soul! You girls from home have no
+more hearts than a parcel of old Juggernauts!" Ghyrkins was now furious.
+We edged away towards the dining-tent, making a great talk about the
+terrible heat of the sun in the morning. I caught the beginning of Miss
+Westonhaugh's answer. She had hardly appreciated the situation yet, and
+probably thought her uncle was joking, but she spoke very coldly, being
+properly annoyed at his talking in such a way.
+
+"You cannot suppose for a moment that I meant him to go," I heard her
+say, and something else followed in a lower tone. We then went into the
+dining-tent.
+
+"Now look here, Katharine," Mr. Ghyrkins' irate voice rang across the
+open space, "if any young woman asked me----" John Westonhaugh had risen
+from his chair and apparently interrupted his uncle. Miss Westonhaugh
+walked slowly to her tent, while her male relations remained talking. I
+thought Isaacs had shown some foresight in not taking part in the
+morning discussion. The two men went into their tents together and the
+dead tiger lay alone in the grass, the sun rising higher and higher,
+pouring down his burning rays on man and beast and green thing. And soon
+the shikarries came with a small elephant and dragged the carcass away
+to be skinned and cut up. Kildare and the collector said they would go
+and shoot some small game for dinner. Isaacs, I supposed, was sleeping,
+and I was alone in the dining-tent. I shouted for Kiramat Ali and sent
+for books, paper, and pens, and a hookah, resolved to have a quiet
+morning to myself, since it was clear we were not going out to-day. I
+saw Ghyrkins' servant enter his tent with bottles and ice, and I
+suspected the old fellow was going to cool his wrath with a "peg," and
+would be asleep most of the morning. John would take a peg too, but he
+would not sleep in consequence, being of Bombay, iron-headed and
+spirit-proof. So I read on and wrote, and was happy, for I like the heat
+of the noon-day and the buzzing of the flies, and the smell of the
+parched grass, being southern born.
+
+About twelve o'clock, when I was beginning to think I had done enough
+work for one day, I saw Miss Westonhaugh's native maid come out of her
+mistress's tent and survey the landscape, shading her eyes with her
+hand. She was dressed, of course, in spotless white drapery, and there
+were heavy anklets on her feet and bangles of silver on her wrist. She
+seemed satisfied by her inspection and went in again, returning
+presently with Miss Westonhaugh and a large package of work and novels
+and letter-writing materials. They came straight to where I was sitting
+under the airy tent where we dined, and Miss Westonhaugh established
+herself at one side of the table at the end of which I was writing.
+
+"It is so hot in my tent," she said almost apologetically, and began to
+unroll some worsted work.
+
+"Yes, it is quite unbearable," I answered politely, though I had not
+thought much about the temperature. There was a long silence, and I
+collected my papers in a bundle and leaned back in my chair. I did not
+know what to say, nor was anything expected of me. I looked occasionally
+at the young girl, who had laid her hat on the table, allowing the rich
+coils of dazzling hair to assert their independence. Her dark eyes were
+bent over her work as her fingers deftly pushed the needle in and out of
+the brown linen she worked on.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," she began at last without looking up, "did you know Mr.
+Isaacs was going out last night to kill that horrid thing?" I had
+expected the question for some time.
+
+"Yes; he told me about midnight, when he started."
+
+"Then why did you let him go?" she asked, looking suddenly at me, and
+knitting her dark eyebrows rather fiercely.
+
+"I do not think I could have prevented him. I do not think anybody could
+prevent him from doing anything he had made up his mind to. I nearly
+quarrelled with him, as it was."
+
+"I am sure I could have stopped him, if I had been you," she said
+innocently.
+
+"I have not the least doubt that you could. Unfortunately, however, you
+were not available at the time, or I would have suggested it to you."
+
+"I wish I had known," she went on, plunging deeper and deeper. "I would
+not have had him go for--for anything."
+
+"Oh! Well, I suppose not. But, seriously, Miss Westonhaugh, are you not
+flattered that a man should be willing and ready to risk life and limb
+in satisfying your lightest fancy?"
+
+"Flattered?" she looked at me with much astonishment and some anger. I
+was sure the look was genuine and not assumed.
+
+"At all events the tiger's ears will always be a charming reminiscence,
+a token of esteem that any one might be proud of."
+
+"I am not proud of them in the least, though I shall always keep them as
+a warning not to wish for such things. I hope that the next time Mr.
+Isaacs is going to do a foolish thing you will have the common sense to
+prevent him." She returned to her starting-point; but I saw no use in
+prolonging the skirmish, and turned the talk upon other things. And soon
+John Westonhaugh joined us, and found in me a sympathetic talker and
+listener, as we both cared a great deal more for books than for tigers,
+though not averse to a stray shot now and then.
+
+In this kind of life the week passed, shooting to-day and staying in
+camp to-morrow. We shifted our ground several times, working along the
+borders of the forest and crashing through the jungle after tiger with
+varying success. In the evenings, when not tired with the day's work, we
+sat together, and Isaacs sang, and at last even prevailed upon Miss
+Westonhaugh to let him accompany her with his guitar, in which he proved
+very successful. They were constantly together, and Ghyrkins was heard
+to say that Isaacs was "a very fine fellow, and it was a pity he wasn't
+English," to which Kildare assented somewhat mournfully, allowing that
+it was quite true. His chance was gone, and he knew it, and bore it like
+a gentleman, though he still made use of every opportunity he had to
+make himself acceptable to Miss Westonhaugh. The girl liked his manly
+ways, and was always grateful for any little attention from him that
+attracted her notice, but it was evident that all her interest ceased
+there. She liked him in the same way she liked her brother, but rather
+less, if anything. She hardly knew, for she had seen so little of John
+since she was a small child. I suppose Isaacs must have talked to her
+about me, for she treated me with a certain consideration, and often
+referred questions to me, on which I thought she might as well have
+consulted some one else. For my part, I served the lovers in every way I
+could think of. I would have done anything for Isaacs then as now, and I
+liked her for the honest good feeling she had shown about him,
+especially in the matter of the tiger's ears, for which she could not
+forgive herself--though in truth she had been innocent enough. And they
+were really lovers, those two. Any one might have seen it, and but for
+the wondrous fascination Isaacs exercised over every one who came near
+him, and the circumstances of his spotless name and reputation for
+integrity in the large transactions in which he was frequently known to
+be engaged, it is certain that Mr. Ghyrkins would have looked askance at
+the whole affair, and very likely would have broken up the party.
+
+In the course of time we became a little _blasé_ about tigers, till on
+the eighth day from the beginning of the hunt, which was a Thursday, I
+remember, an incident occurred which left a lasting impression on the
+mind of every one who witnessed it. It was a very hot morning, the
+hottest day we had had, and we had just crossed a _nullah_ in the
+forest, full from the recent rains, wherein the elephants lingered
+lovingly to splash the water over their heated sides, drowning the
+swarms of mosquitoes from which they suffer such torments, in spite of
+their thick skins. The collector called a halt on the opposite side; our
+line of march had become somewhat disordered by the passage, and
+numerous tracks in the pasty black mud showed that the _nullah_ was a
+favourite resort of tigers--though at this time of day they might be a
+long distance off. I had come next to the collector after we emerged
+from the stream, the pad elephants having lingered longer in the water,
+and Mr. Ghyrkins with Miss Westonhaugh was three or four places beyond
+me. It was shady and cool under the thick trees, and the light was not
+good. The collector bent over his howdah, looking at some tracks.
+
+"Those tracks look suspiciously fresh, Mr. Griggs," said the collector,
+scrutinising the holes, not yet filled by the oozing back water of the
+_nullah_. "Don't you think so?"
+
+"Indeed, yes. I do not understand it at all," I replied. At the
+collector's call a couple of beaters came forward and stooped down to
+examine the trail. One of them, a good-looking young _gowala_, or
+cowherd, followed along the footprints, examining each to be sure he was
+not going on a false spoor; he moved slowly, scrutinising each hole, as
+the traces grew shallower on the rising ground, approaching a bit of
+small jungle. My sight followed the probable course of the track ahead
+of him and something caught my eyes, which are remarkably good, even at
+a great distance. The object was brown and hairy; a dark brown, not the
+kind of colour one expects to see in the jungle in September. I looked
+closely, and was satisfied that it must be part of an animal; still more
+clearly I saw it, and no doubt remained in my mind; it was the head of a
+bullock or a heifer. I shouted to the man to be careful, to stop and let
+the elephants plough through the undergrowth, as only elephants can. But
+he did not understand my Hindustani, which was of the civilised _Urdu_
+kind learnt in the North-West Provinces. The man went quickly along, and
+I tried to make the collector comprehend what I saw. But the pad
+elephants were coming out of the water and forcing themselves between
+our beasts, and he hardly caught what I said in the confusion. The track
+led away to my left, nearly opposite to the elephant bearing Mr.
+Ghyrkins and his niece. The little Pegnugger man was on my right. The
+native held on, moving more and more rapidly as he found himself
+following a single track. I shouted to him--to Ghyrkins--to everybody,
+but they could not make the doomed man understand what I saw--the
+freshly slain head of the tiger's last victim. There was little doubt
+that the king himself was near by--probably in that suspicious-looking
+bit of green jungle, slimy green too, as green is, that grows in sticky
+chocolate-coloured mud. The young fellow was courageous, and ignorant of
+the immediate danger, and, above all, he was on the look out for
+bucksheesh. He reached the reeds and unclean vegetables that grew thick
+and foul together in the little patch. He put one foot into the bush.
+
+A great fiery yellow and black head rose cautiously above the level of
+the green and paused a moment, glaring. The wretched man, transfixed
+with terror, stood stock still, expecting death. Then he moved, as if to
+throw himself on one side, and at the same instant the tiger made a dash
+at his naked body, such a dash as a great relentless cat makes at a
+gold-fish trying to slide away from its grip. The tiger struck the man a
+heavy blow on the right shoulder, felling him like a log, and coming
+down to a standing position over his prey, with one paw on the native's
+right arm. Probably the parade of elephants and bright coloured howdahs,
+and the shouts of the beaters and shikarries, distracted his attention
+for a moment. He stood whirling his tail to right and left, with half
+dropped jaw and flaming eyes, half pressing, half grabbing the fleshy
+arm of the senseless man beneath him--impatient, alarmed, and horrible.
+
+"Pack!!! Pi-i-i-i-ing ..." went the crack and the sing of the merry
+rifle, and the scene changed.
+
+With a yell like a soul in everlasting torment the great beast whirled
+himself into the air ten feet at least, and fell dead beside his victim,
+shot through breast and breastbone and heart. A dead silence fell on the
+spectators. Then I looked, and saw Miss Westonhaugh holding out a second
+gun to Mr. Ghyrkins, while he, seeing that the first had done its work,
+leaned forward, his broad face pale with the extremity of his horror for
+the man's danger, and his hands gripping at the empty rifle.
+
+"You've done it this time," cried the collector from the right. "Take
+six to four the man's dead!"
+
+"Done," called Kildare from the other end. I was the nearest to the
+scene, after Ghyrkins. I dropped over the edge of the howdah and made
+for the spot, running. I think I reflected as I ran that it was rather
+low for men to bet on the poor fellow's life in that way. Tigers are
+often very deceptive and always die hard, and I am a cautious person, so
+when I was near I pulled out my long army six-shooter, and, going
+within arm's length, quietly put a bullet through the beast's eye as a
+matter of safety. When he was cut up, however, the ball from the rifle
+of Mr. Ghyrkins was found in his heart; the old fellow was a dead shot
+still. I went up and examined the prostrate man. He was lying on his
+face, and so I picked him up and propped his head against the dead
+tiger. He was still breathing, but a very little examination proved that
+his right collar-bone and the bone of his upper arm were broken. A
+little brandy revived him, and he immediately began to scream with pain.
+I was soon joined by the collector, who with characteristic promptitude
+had torn and hewed some broad slats of bamboo from his howdah, and with
+a little pulling and wrenching, and the help of my long, tough
+turban-cloth, a real native pugree, we set and bound the arm as best we
+could, giving the poor fellow brandy all the while. The collar-bone we
+left to its own devices; an injury there takes care of itself.
+
+An elephant came up and received the dead tiger, and the man was carried
+off and placed in my howdah. The other animals with their riders had
+gathered near the scene, and every one had something to say to Ghyrkins,
+who by his brilliant shot and the life he had saved, had maintained his
+reputation, and come off the hero of the whole campaign. Miss
+Westonhaugh was speechless with horror at the whole thing, and seemed to
+cling to her uncle, as if fearing something of the same kind might
+happen to her at any moment. Isaacs, as usual the last on the line of
+beating, came up and called out his congratulations.
+
+"After saving a life so well, Mr. Ghyrkins, you will not grudge me the
+poor honour of risking one, will you?"
+
+"Not I, my boy!" answered the delighted old sportsman, "only if that
+mangy old man-eater had got you down the other day, I should not have
+been there to pot him!"
+
+"Great shot, sir! I envy you," said Kildare.
+
+"Splendid shot. A hundred yards at least," said John Westonhaugh
+meditatively, but in a loud voice.
+
+So we swung away toward the camp, though it was early. Ghyrkins
+chuckled, and the man with the broken bones groaned. But between the
+different members of the party he would be a rich man before he was
+well. I amused myself with my favourite sport of potting peacocks with
+bullets; it is very good practice. Isaacs had told me that morning when
+we started that he would leave us the next day to meet Shere Ali near
+Keitung. We reached camp about three o'clock, in the heat of the
+afternoon. The injured beater was put in a servant's tent to be sent off
+to Pegnugger in a litter in the cool of the night. There was a doctor
+there who would take care of him under the collector's written orders.
+
+The camp was in a shady place, quite unlike the spot where we had first
+pitched our tents. There was a little grove of mango-trees, rather
+stunted, as they are in the north, and away at one corner of the
+plantation was a well with a small temple where a Brahmin, related to
+all the best families in the neighbouring village, dwelt and collected
+the gifts bestowed on him and his simple shrine by the superstitious,
+devout, or worldly pilgrims who yearly and monthly visited him in search
+of counsel, spiritual or social. The men had mowed the grass smooth
+under the trees, and the shade was not so close as to make it damp. Some
+ryots had been called in to dig a ditch and raised a rough _chapudra_ or
+terrace, some fifteen feet in diameter, opposite the dining-tent, on
+which elevation we could sit, even late at night, in reasonable security
+from cobras and other evil beasts. It was a pleasant place in the
+afternoon, and pleasanter still at night. As I turned into our tent
+after we got back, I thought I would go and sit there when I had bathed,
+and send for a hookah and a novel, and go to sleep.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+I observed that Isaacs was very quick about his toilet, and when I came
+out and ascended the terrace, followed by Kiramat Ali with books and
+tobacco, I glanced lazily over the quiet scene, settling myself in my
+chair, and fully expecting to see my friend somewhere among the trees,
+not unaccompanied by some one else. I was not mistaken. Turning my eyes
+towards the corner of the grove where the old Brahmin had his shrine, I
+saw the two well-known figures of Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh sauntering
+towards the well. Having satisfied the expectations of my curiosity, I
+turned over the volume of philosophy, well thumbed and hard used as a
+priest's breviary, and I inhaled long draughts of tobacco, debating
+whether I should read, or meditate, or dream. Deciding in favour of the
+more mechanical form of intellectuality, I fixed on a page that looked
+inviting, and followed the lines, from left to right, lazily at first,
+then with increased interest, and finally in that absorbed effort of
+continued comprehension which constitutes real study. Page after page,
+syllogism after syllogism, conclusion after conclusion, I followed for
+the hundredth time in the book I love well--the book of him that would
+destroy the religion I believe, but whose brilliant failure is one of
+the grandest efforts of the purely human mind. I finished a chapter and,
+in thought still, but conscious again of life, I looked up. They were
+still down there by the well, those two, but while I looked the old
+priest, bent and white, came out of the little temple where he had been
+sprinkling his image of Vishnu, and dropped his aged limbs from one step
+to the other painfully, steadying his uncertain descent with a stick. He
+went to the beautiful couple seated on the edge of the well, built of
+mud and sun-dried bricks, and he seemed to speak to Isaacs, I watched,
+and became interested in the question whether Isaacs would give him a
+two-anna bit or a copper, and whether I could distinguish with the naked
+eye at that distance between the silver and the baser metal. Curious,
+thought I, how odd little trifles will absorb the attention. The
+interview which was to lead to the expected act of charity seemed to be
+lasting a long time.
+
+Suddenly Isaacs turned and called to me; his high, distinct tones
+seeming to gather volume from the hollow of the well. He was calling me
+to join them. I rose, rather reluctantly, from my books and moved
+through the trees to where they were.
+
+"Griggs," Isaacs called out before I had reached him, "here is an old
+fellow who knows something. I really believe he is something of a yogi."
+
+"What ridiculous nonsense," I said impatiently, "who ever heard of a
+yogi living in a temple and feeding on the fat of the land in the way
+all these men do? Is that all you wanted?" Miss Westonhaugh, peering
+down into the depths of the well, laughed gaily.
+
+"I told you so! Never try to make Mr. Griggs swallow that kind of thing.
+Besides, he is a 'cynic' you know."
+
+"As far as personal appearance goes, Miss Westonhaugh, I think your
+friend the Brahmin there stands more chance of being taken for a
+philosopher of that school. He really does not look particularly well
+fed, in spite of the riches I thought he possessed." He was a
+strange-looking old man, with a white beard and a small badly-rolled
+pugree. His black eyes were filmy and disagreeable to look at. I
+addressed him in Hindustani, and told him what Isaacs said, that he
+thought he was a yogi. The old fellow did not look at me, nor did the
+bleared eyes give any sign of intelligence. Nevertheless he answered my
+question.
+
+"Of what avail that I do wonders for you who believe not?" he asked, and
+his voice sounded cracked and far off.
+
+"It will avail thee several coins, friend," I answered, "both rupees and
+pais. Reflect that there may be bucksheesh in store for thee, and do a
+miracle."
+
+"I will not do wonders for bucksheesh," said the priest, and began to
+hobble away. Isaacs stepped lightly to his side and whispered something
+in his ear. The ancient Brahmin turned.
+
+"Then I will do a wonder for you, but I want no bucksheesh. I will do it
+for the lady with white hair, whose face resembles Chunder." He looked
+long and fixedly at Miss Westonhaugh. "Let the _sáhib log_ come with me
+a stone's throw from the well, and let one sáhib call his servant and
+bid him draw water that he may wash his hands. And I will do this
+wonder; the man shall not draw any water, though he had the strength of
+Siva, until I say the word." So we moved away under the trees, and I
+shouted for Kiramat Ali, who came running down, and I told him to send a
+_bhisti_, a water-carrier, with his leathern bucket. Then we waited.
+Presently the man came, with bucket and rope.
+
+"Draw water, that I may wash my hands," said I.
+
+"Achhá, sáhib," and he strode to the well and lowered his pail by the
+rope. The priest looked intently at him as he shook the rope to turn the
+bucket over and let it fill; then he began to pull. The bucket seemed to
+be caught. He jerked, and then bent his whole weight back, drawing the
+rope across the edge of the brickwork. The thing was immovable. He
+seemed astonished and looked down into the well, thinking the pail was
+caught in a stone. I could not resist the temptation to go down and
+inspect the thing. No. The bucket was full and lying in the middle of
+the round sheet of water at the bottom of the well. The man tugged,
+while the Brahmin never took his eyes, now bright and fiery, off him. I
+went back to where they all stood. The thing had lasted five minutes.
+Then the priest's lips moved silently.
+
+Instantly the strain was released and the stout water-carrier fell
+headlong backwards on the grass, his heels in the air, jerking the
+bucket right over the edge of the well. He bounded to his feet and ran
+up the grove, shouting "Bhût, Bhût," "devils, devils," at the top of his
+voice. His obstinacy had lasted so long as the bucket would not move,
+but then his terror got the better of him and he fled.
+
+"Did you ever see anything of that kind before, Miss Westonhaugh?" I
+inquired.
+
+"No indeed; have you? How is it done?"
+
+"I have seen similar things done, but not often. There are not many of
+them that know how. But I cannot tell you the process any more than I
+can explain the mango trick, which belongs, distantly, to the same class
+of phenomena."
+
+The Brahmin, whose eyes were again dim and filmy, turned to Isaacs.
+
+"I have done a wonder for you. I will also tell you a saying. You have
+done wrong in not taking the advice of your friend. You should not have
+come forth to kill the king of game, nor have brought the white-haired
+lady into the tiger's jaws. I have spoken. Peace be with you." And he
+moved away.
+
+"And with you peace, friend," answered Isaacs mechanically, but as I
+looked at him he turned white to the very lips.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh did not understand the language, and Isaacs would have
+been the last person to translate such a speech as the Brahmin had made.
+We turned and strolled up the hill, and presently I bethought me of some
+errand, and left them together under the trees. They were so happy and
+so beautiful together, the fair lily from the English dale and the deep
+red rose of Persian Gulistán. The sun slanted low through the trees and
+sank in rose-coloured haze, and the moon, now just at the half, began to
+shine out softly through the mangoes, and still the lovers walked,
+pacing slowly to and fro near the well. No wonder they dallied long; it
+was their last evening together, and I doubted not that Isaacs was
+telling her of his sudden departure, necessary for reasons which I knew
+he would not explain to her or to any one else.
+
+At last we all assembled in the dining-tent. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was
+among the first, and his niece was the last to enter the room. He was
+glorious that evening, his kindly red face beamed on every one, and he
+carried himself like a victorious general at a ladies' tea-party. He had
+reason to be happy, and his jerky good spirits were needed to
+counterbalance the deep melancholy that seemed to have settled upon his
+niece. The colour was gone from her cheeks, and her dark eyes, heavily
+fringed by the black brows and lashes, shone out strangely; the contrast
+between the white flaxen hair, drawn back in simple massive waves like a
+Greek statue, and the broad level eyes as dark as night, was almost
+startling this evening in the singularity of its beauty. She sat like a
+queenly marble at the end of the table, not silent, by any means, but so
+evidently out of spirits that John Westonhaugh, who did not know that
+Isaacs was going in the morning, and would not have supposed that his
+sister could care so much, if he had known, remarked upon her
+depression.
+
+"What is the matter, Katharine?" he asked kindly. "Have you a headache
+this evening?" She was just then staring rather blankly into space.
+
+"Oh no," she said, trying to smile. "I was thinking."
+
+"Ah," said Mr. Ghyrkins merrily, "that is why you look so unlike
+yourself, my dear!" And he laughed at his rough little joke.
+
+"Do I?" asked the girl absently.
+
+But Ghyrkins was not to be repressed, and as Kildare and the Pegnugger
+man were gay and wide awake, the dinner was not as dull as might have
+been expected. When it was over, Isaacs announced his intention of
+leaving early the next morning. Very urgent business recalled him
+suddenly, he explained. A messenger had arrived just before dinner. He
+must leave without fail in the morning. Miss Westonbaugh of course was
+forewarned; but the others were not. Lord Steepleton Kildare, in the act
+of lighting a cheroot, dropped the vesuvian incontinently, and stood
+staring at Isaacs with an indescribable expression of empty wonder in
+his face, while the match sputtered and smouldered and died away in the
+grass by the door. John Westonhaugh, who liked Isaacs sincerely, and had
+probably contemplated the possibility of the latter marrying Katharine,
+looked sorry at first, and then a half angry expression crossed his
+face, which softened instantly again. Currie Ghyrkins swore loudly that
+it was out of the question--that it would break up the party--that he
+would not hear of it, and so on.
+
+"I must go," said Isaacs quietly. "It is a very serious matter. I am
+sorry--more sorry than I can tell you; but I must."
+
+"But you cannot, you know. Damn it, sir, you are the life of the party,
+you know! Come, come, this will never do!"
+
+"My dear sir," said Isaacs, addressing Ghyrkins, "if, when you were
+about to fire this morning to save that poor devil's life, I had begged
+you not to shoot, would you have complied?"
+
+"Why, of course not," ejaculated Ghyrkins angrily.
+
+"Well, neither can I comply, though I would give anything to stay with
+you all."
+
+"But nobody's life depends on your going away to-morrow morning. What do
+you mean? The deuce and all, you know, I don't understand you a bit."
+
+"I cannot tell you, Mr. Ghyrkins; but something depends on my going,
+which is of as great importance to the person concerned as life itself.
+Believe me," he said, going near to the old gentleman and laying a hand
+on his arm, "I do not go willingly."
+
+"Well, I hope not, I am sure," said Ghyrkins gruffly, though yielding.
+"If you will, you will, and there's no holding you; but we are all very
+sorry. That's all. Mahmoud! bring fire, you lazy pigling, that I may
+smoke." And he threw himself into a chair, the very creaking of the cane
+wicker expressing annoyance and dissatisfaction.
+
+So there was an end of it, and Isaacs strode off through the moonlight
+to his quarters, to make some arrangement, I supposed. But he did not
+come back. Miss Westonhaugh retired also to her tent, and no one was
+surprised to see her go. Kildare rose presently and asked if I would not
+stroll to the well, or anywhere, it was such a jolly night. I went with
+him, and arm in arm we walked slowly down. The young moon was bright
+among the mango-trees, striking the shining leaves, that reflected a
+strange greenish light. We moved leisurely, and spoke little. I
+understood Kildare's silence well enough, and I had nothing to say. The
+ground was smooth and even, for the men had cut the grass close, and the
+little humped cow that belonged to the old Brahmin cropped all she could
+get at.
+
+We skirted round the edge of the grove, intending to go back to the
+tents another way. Suddenly I saw something in front that arrested my
+attention. Two figures, some thirty yards away. They stood quite still,
+turned from us. A man and a woman between the trees, an opening in the
+leaves just letting a ray of moonlight slip through on them. His arm
+around her, the tall lissome figure of her bent, and her head resting on
+his shoulder. I have good eyes and was not mistaken, but I trusted
+Kildare had not seen. A quick twitch of his arm, hanging carelessly
+through mine, told me the mischief was done before I could turn his
+attention. By a common instinct we wheeled to the left, and passing into
+the open strolled back in the direction whence we had come. I did not
+look at Kildare, but after a minute he began to talk about the moonlight
+and tigers, and whether tigers were ever shot by moonlight, and
+altogether was rather incoherent; but I took up the question, and we
+talked bravely till we got back to the dining-tent, where we sat down
+again, secretly wishing we had not gone for a stroll after all. In a few
+minutes Isaacs came from his tent, which he must have entered from the
+other side. He was perfectly at his ease, and at once began talking
+about the disagreeable journey he had before him. Then, after a time, we
+broke up, and he said good-bye to every one in turn, and Ghyrkins told
+John to call his sister, if she were still visible, for "Mr. Isaacs
+wanted to say good-bye." So she came and took his hand, and made a
+simple speech about "meeting again before long," as she stood with her
+uncle; and my friend and I went away to our tent.
+
+We sat long in the _connât_. Isaacs did not seem to want rest, and I
+certainly did not. For the first half hour he was engaged in giving
+directions to the faithful Narain, who moved about noiselessly among the
+portmanteaus and gun-cases and boots which strewed the floor. At last
+all was settled for the start before dawn, and he turned to me.
+
+"We shall meet again in Simla, Griggs, of course?"
+
+"I hope so. Of course we shall, unless you are killed by those fellows
+at Keitung. I would not trust them."
+
+"I do not trust them in the least, but I have an all-powerful ally in
+Ram Lal. Did you not think it very singular that the Brahmin should know
+all about Ram Lal's warning? and that he should have the same opinion?"
+
+"We live in a country where nothing should astonish us, as I remember
+saying to you a fortnight ago, when we first met," I answered. "That the
+Brahmin possesses some knowledge of _yog-vidya_ is more clearly shown by
+his speech about Ram Lal than by that ridiculous trick with my
+water-carrier."
+
+"You are not easily astonished, Griggs. But I agree with you as to that.
+I am still at a loss to understand why I should not have come or let the
+others come. I was startled at the Brahmin."
+
+"I saw you were; you were as white as a sheet, and yet you turned up
+your nose at Ram Lal when he told you not to come."
+
+"The Brahmin said something more than Ram Lal. He said I should not have
+brought the white-haired lady into the tiger's jaws. I saw that the
+first warning had been on her account, and I suppose the impression of
+possible danger for her frightened me."
+
+"It would not have frightened you three weeks ago about any woman," I
+said. "It appears to me that your ideas in certain quarters have
+undergone some little change. You are as different from the Isaacs I
+knew at first as Philip drunk was different from Philip sober. Such is
+human nature--scoffing at women the one day, and risking life and soul
+for their whims the next."
+
+"I hate your reflections about the human kind, Griggs, and I do not like
+your way of looking at women. You hate women so!"
+
+"No. You like my descriptions of the 'ideal creatures I rave about' much
+better, it seems. Upon my soul, friend, if you want a criterion of
+yourself, take this conversation. A fortnight ago to-day--or to-morrow,
+will it be?--I was lecturing you about the way to regard women; begging
+you to consider that they had souls and were capable of loving, as well
+as of being loved. And here you are accusing me of hating the whole sex,
+and without the slightest provocation on my part, either. Here is Birnam
+wood coming to Dunsinane with a vengeance!"
+
+"Oh, I don't deny it. I don't pretend to argue about it. I have changed
+a good deal in the last month." He pensively crossed one leg over the
+other as he lay back on the long chair and pulled at his slipper. "I
+suppose I have--changed a good deal."
+
+"No wonder. I presume your views of immortality, the future state of the
+fair sex, and the application of transcendental analysis to matrimony,
+all changed about the same time?"
+
+"Don't be unreasonable," he answered. "It all dates from that evening
+when I had that singular fit and the vision I related to you. I have
+never been the same man since; and I am glad of it. I now believe women
+to be much more adorable than you painted them, and not half enough
+adored." Suddenly he dropped the extremely English manner which he
+generally affected in the idiom and construction of his speech, and
+dropped back into something more like his own language. "The star that
+was over my life is over it no longer. I have no life-star any longer.
+The jewel of the southern sky withdraws his light, paling before the
+white gold from the northern land. The gold that shall be mine through
+all the cycles of the sun, the gold that neither man nor monarch shall
+take from me. What have I to do with stars in heaven? Is not my star
+come down to earth to abide with me through life? And when life is over
+and the scroll is full, shall not my star bear me hence, beyond the
+fiery foot-bridge, beyond the paradise of my people and its senseless
+sensuality of houris and strong wine? Beyond the very memory of limited
+and bounded life, to that life eternal where there is neither limit, nor
+bound, nor sorrow? Shall our two souls not unite and be one soul to roam
+through the countless circles of revolving outer space? Not through
+years, or for times, or for ages--but for ever? The light of life is
+woman, the love of life is the love of woman; the light that pales not,
+the life that cannot die, the love that can know not any ending; _my_
+light, _my_ life, and _my_ love!" His whole soul was in his voice, and
+his whole heart; the twining white fingers, the half-closed eyes, and
+the passionate quivering tone, told all he had left unsaid. It was
+surely a high and a noble thing that he felt, worthy of the man in his
+beauty of mind and body. He loved an ideal, revealed to him, as he
+thought, in the shape of the fair English girl; he worshipped his ideal
+through her, without a thought that he could be mistaken. Happy man!
+Perhaps he had a better chance of going through life without any cruel
+revelation of his mistake than falls to the lot of most lovers, for she
+was surpassingly beautiful, and most good and true hearted. But are not
+people always mistaken who think to find the perfect comprehended in the
+imperfect, the infinite enchained and made tangible in the finite? Bah!
+The same old story, the same old vicious circle, the everlastingly
+recurring mathematical view of things that cannot be treated
+mathematically; the fruitless attempt to measure the harmonious circle
+of the soul by the angular square of the book. What poor things our
+minds are, after all. We have but one way of thinking derived from what
+we know, and we incontinently apply it to things of which we can know
+nothing, and then we quarrel with the result, which is a mere _reductio
+ad absurdum_, showing how utterly false and meagre are our hypotheses,
+premisses, and so-called axioms. Confucius, who began his system with
+the startling axiom that "man is good," arrived at much more really
+serviceable conclusions than Schopenhauer and all the pessimists put
+together. Meanwhile, Isaacs was in love, and, I supposed, expected me to
+say something appreciative.
+
+"My dear friend," I began, "it is a rare pleasure to hear any one talk
+like that; it refreshes a man's belief in human nature, and enthusiasm,
+and all kinds of things. I talked like that some time ago because you
+would not. I think you are a most satisfactory convert."
+
+"I am indeed a convert. I would not have believed it possible, and now I
+cannot believe that I ever thought differently. I suppose it is the way
+with all converts--in religion as well--and with all people who are
+taken up by a fair-winged genius from an arid desert and set down in a
+garden of roses." He could not long confine himself to ordinary
+language. "And yet the hot sand of the desert, and the cool of the
+night, and the occasional patch of miserable, languishing green, with
+the little kindly spring in the camel-trodden oasis, seemed all so
+delightful in the past life that one was quite content, never suspecting
+the existence of better things. But now--I could almost laugh to think
+of it. I stand in the midst of the garden that is filled with all things
+fair, and the tree of life is beside me, blossoming straight and broad
+with the flowers that wither not, and the fruit that is good to the
+parched lips and the thirsty spirit. And the garden is for us to dwell
+in now, and the eternity of the heavenly spheres is ours hereafter." He
+was all on fire again. I kept silence for some time; and his hands
+unfolded, and he raised them and clasped them under his head, and drew a
+deep long breath, as if to taste the new life that was in him.
+
+"Forgive my bringing you down to earth again," I said after a while,
+"but have you made all necessary arrangements? Is there anything I can
+do, after you are gone? Anything to be said to these good people, if
+they question me about your sudden departure?"
+
+"Yes. I was forgetting. If you will be so kind, I wish you would see the
+expedition out, and take charge of the expenses. There are some bags of
+rupees somewhere among my traps. Narain knows. I shall not take him with
+me--or, no; on second thoughts I will hand you over the money, and take
+him to Simla. Then, about the other thing. Do not tell any one where I
+have gone, unless it be Miss Westonhaugh, and use your own discretion
+about her. We shall all be in Simla in ten days, and I do not want this
+thing known, as you may imagine. I do not think there is anything else,
+thanks." He paused, as if thinking. "Yes, there is one more
+consideration. If anything out of the way should occur in this
+transaction with Baithopoor, I should want your assistance, if you will
+give it. Would you mind?"
+
+"Of course not. Anything----"
+
+"In that case, if Ram Lal thinks you are wanted, he will send a swift
+messenger to you with a letter signed by me, in the Persian
+_shikast_--which you read.--Will you come by the way he will direct you,
+if I send? He will answer for your safety."
+
+"I will come," I said, though I thought it was rather rash of me, who am
+a cautious man, to trust my life in the hands of a shadowy person like
+Ram Lal, who seemed to come and go in strange ways, and was in
+communication with suspicious old Brahmin jugglers. But I trusted Isaacs
+better than his adept friend.
+
+"I suppose," I said, vaguely hoping there might yet be a possibility of
+detaining him, "that there is no way of doing this business so that you
+could remain here."
+
+"No, friend Griggs. If there were any other way, I would not go now. I
+would not go to-day, of all days in the year--of all days in my life.
+There is no other way, by the grave of my father, on whom be the peace
+of Allah." So we went to bed.
+
+At four o'clock Narain waked us, and in twenty minutes Isaacs was on
+horseback. I had ordered a _tat_ to be in readiness for me, thinking I
+would ride with him an hour or two in the cool of the morning. So we
+passed along by the quiet tents, Narain disappearing in the manner
+peculiar to Hindoo servants, to be found at the end of the day's march,
+smiling as ever. The young moon had set some time before, but the stars
+were bright, though it was dark under the trees.
+
+Twenty yards beyond the last tent, a dark figure swept suddenly out from
+the blackness and laid a hand on Isaacs' rein. He halted and bent over,
+and I heard some whispering. It only lasted a moment, and the figure
+shot away again. I was sure I heard something like a kiss, in the gloom,
+and there was a most undeniable smell of roses in the air. I held my
+peace, though I was astonished. I could not have believed her capable of
+it. Lying in wait in the dusk of the morning to give her lover a kiss
+and a rose and a parting word. She must have taken me for his servant in
+the dark.
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs as we parted some six or seven miles farther
+on,--"an odd thing happened this morning. I have left something more in
+your keeping than money."
+
+"I know. Trust me. Good-bye," and he cantered off.
+
+I confess I was very dejected and low-spirited when I came back into
+camp. My acquaintance with Isaacs, so suddenly grown into intimacy, had
+become a part of my life. I felt a sort of devotion to him that I had
+never felt for any man in my life before. I would rather have gone with
+him to Keitung, for a presentiment told me there was trouble in the
+wind. He had not talked to me about the Baithopoor intrigue, for
+everything was as much settled beforehand as it was possible to settle
+anything. There was nothing to be said, for all that was to come was
+action; but I knew Isaacs distrusted the maharajah, and that without Ram
+Lal's assistance--of whatever nature that might prove to be--he would
+not have ventured to go alone to such a tryst.
+
+When I returned the camp was all alive, for it was nearly seven o'clock.
+Kildare and the collector, my servant said, had gone off on _tats_ to
+shoot some small game. Mr. Ghyrkins was occupied with the shikarries in
+the stretching and dressing of the skin he had won the previous day.
+Neither Miss Westonhaugh nor her brother had been seen. So I dressed and
+rested myself and had some tea, and sat wondering what the camp would be
+like without Isaacs, who, to me and to one other person, was
+emphatically, as Ghyrkins had said the night before, the life of the
+party. The weather was not so warm as on the previous day, and I was
+debating whether I should not try and induce the younger men to go and
+stick a pig--the shikarry said there were plenty in some place he knew
+of--or whether I should settle myself in the dining-tent for a long day
+with my books, when the arrival of a mounted messenger with some letters
+from the distant post-office decided me in favour of the more peaceful
+disposition of my time. So I glanced at the papers, and assured myself
+that the English were going deeper and deeper into the mire of
+difficulties and reckless expenditure that characterised their campaign
+in Afghanistan in the autumn of 1879; and when I had assured myself,
+furthermore, by the perusal of a request for the remittance of twenty
+pounds, that my nephew, the only relation, male or female, that I have
+in the world, had not come to the untimely death he so richly deserved,
+I fell to considering what book I should read. And from one thing to
+another, I found myself established about ten o'clock at the table in
+the dining-tent, with Miss Westonhaugh at one side, worsted work,
+writing materials and all, just as she had been at the same table a week
+or so before. At her request I had continued my writing when she came
+in. I was finishing off a column of a bloodthirsty article for the
+_Howler_; it probably would come near enough to the mark, for in India
+you may print a leader anywhere within a month of its being written, and
+if it was hot enough to begin with, it will still answer the purpose.
+Journalism is not so rapid in its requirements as in New York, but, on
+the other hand, it is more lucrative.
+
+"Mr. Griggs, are you _very_ busy?"
+
+"Oh dear, no--nothing to speak of," I went on writing--the
+unprecedented--folly--the--blatant--charlatanism----
+
+"Mr. Griggs, do you understand these things?"
+
+----Lord Beaconsfield's--"I think so, Miss Westonhaugh"--Afghan
+policy----There, I thought,
+
+I think that would rouse Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, if he ever saw it, which I
+trust he never will. I had done, and I folded the numbered sheets in an
+oblong bundle.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Miss Westonhaugh; I was just finishing a sentence. I
+am quite at your service."
+
+"Oh no! I see you are too busy."
+
+"Not in the least, I assure you. Is it that tangled skein? Let me help
+you."
+
+"Oh thank you. It is so tiresome, and I am not in the least inclined to
+be industrious."
+
+I took the wool and set to work. It was very easy, after all; I pulled
+the loops through, and back again and through from the other side, and I
+found the ends, and began to wind it up on a piece of paper. It is
+singular, though, how the unaided wool can tie itself into every kind of
+a knot--reef, carrick bend, bowline, bowline in a bight, not to mention
+a variety of hitches and indescribable perversions of entanglement. I
+was getting on very well, though. I looked up at her face, pale and
+weary with a sleepless night, but beautiful--ah yes--beautiful beyond
+compare. She smiled faintly.
+
+"You are very clever with your fingers. Where did you learn it? Have you
+a sister who makes you wind her wool for her at home?"
+
+"No. I have no sister. I went to sea once upon a time."
+
+"Were you ever in the navy, Mr. Griggs?"
+
+"Oh no. I went before the mast."
+
+"But you would not learn to unravel wool before the mast. I suppose your
+mother taught you when you were small--if you ever were small."
+
+"I never had a mother that I can remember--I learned to do all those
+things at sea."
+
+"Forgive me," she said, guessing she had struck some tender chord in my
+existence. "What an odd life you must have had."
+
+"Perhaps. I never had any relations that I can remember, except a
+brother, much older than I. He died years ago, and his son is my only
+living relation. I was born in Italy."
+
+"But when did you learn so many things? You seem to know every language
+under the sun."
+
+"I had a good education when I got ashore. Some one was very kind to me,
+and I had learned Latin and Greek in the common school in Rome before I
+ran away to sea."
+
+I answered her questions reluctantly. I did not want to talk about my
+history, especially to a girl like her. I suppose she saw my
+disinclination, for as I handed her the card with the wool neatly wound
+on it, she thanked me and presently changed the subject, or at least
+shifted the ground.
+
+"There is something so free about the life of an adventurer--I mean a
+man who wanders about doing brave things. If I were a man I would be an
+adventurer like you."
+
+"Not half so much of an adventurer, as you call it, as our friend who
+went off this morning."
+
+It was the first mention of Isaacs since his departure. I had said the
+thing inadvertently, for I would not have done anything to increase her
+trouble for the world. She leaned back, dropping her hands with her work
+in her lap, and stared straight out through the doorway, as pale as
+death--pale as only fair-skinned people are when they are ill, or hurt.
+She sat quite still. I wondered if she were ill, or if it were only
+Isaacs' going that had wrought this change in her brilliant looks.
+"Would you like me to read something to you, Miss Westonhaugh? Here is a
+comparatively new book--_The Light of Asia_, by Mr. Edwin Arnold. It is
+a poem about India. Would it give you any pleasure?" She guessed the
+kind intention, and a little shadow of a smile passed over her lips.
+
+"You are so kind, Mr. Griggs. Please, you are so very kind."
+
+I began to read, and read on and on through the exquisite rise and fall
+of the stanzas, through the beautiful clear high thoughts which seem to
+come as a breath and a breeze from an unattainable heaven, from the
+Nirvana we all hope for in our inmost hearts, whatever our confession of
+faith. And the poor girl was soothed, and touched and lulled by the
+music of thought and the sigh of verse that is in the poem; and the
+morning passed. I suppose the quiet and the poetry wrought up in her the
+feeling of confidence she felt in me, as being her lover's friend, for
+after I had paused a minute or two, seeing some one coming toward the
+tent, she said quite simply--
+
+"Where is he gone?"
+
+"He is gone to do a very noble deed. He is gone to save the life of a
+man he never saw." A bright light came into her face, and all the
+chilled heart's blood, driven from her cheeks by the weariness of her
+first parting, rushed joyously back, and for one moment there dwelt on
+her features the glory and bloom of the love and happiness that had been
+hers all day yesterday, that would be hers again--when? Poor Miss
+Westonhaugh, it seemed so long to wait.
+
+The day passed somehow, but the dinner was dismal. Miss Westonhaugh was
+evidently far from well, and I could not conceive that the pain of a
+temporary parting should make so sudden a change in one so perfectly
+strong and healthy--even were her nature ever so sensitive. Kildare and
+the Pegnugger magistrate tried to keep up the spirits of the party, but
+John Westonhaugh was anxious about his sister, and even old Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins was beginning to fancy there must be something wrong. We sat
+smoking outside, and the young girl refused to leave us, though John
+begged her to. As we sat, it may have been half an hour after dinner, a
+messenger came galloping up in hot haste, and leaping to the ground
+asked for "Gurregis Sahib," with the usual native pronunciation of my
+euphonious name. Being informed, he salaamed low and handed me a letter,
+which I took to the light. It was in _shikast_ Persian, and signed
+"Abdul Hafiz-ben-Isâk." "Ram Lal," he said, "has met me unexpectedly,
+and sends you this by his own means, which are swift as the flight of
+the eagle. It is indispensable that you meet us below Keitung, towards
+Sultanpoor, on the afternoon of the day when the moon is full. Travel by
+Julinder and Sultanpoor; you will easily overtake me, since I go by
+Simla. For friendship's sake, for love's sake, come. It is life and
+death. Give the money to the Irishman. Peace be with you."
+
+I sighed a sigh of the most undetermined description. Was I glad to
+rejoin my friend? or was I pained to leave the woman he loved in her
+present condition? I hardly knew.
+
+"I think we had all better go back to Simla," said John, when I
+explained that the most urgent business called me away at dawn.
+
+"There will be none of us left soon," said Ghyrkins quite quietly and
+mournfully.
+
+I found means to let Miss Westonhaugh understand where I was going. I
+gave Kildare the money in charge.
+
+In the dark of the morning, as I cleared the tents, the same shadow I
+had seen before shot out and laid a hand on my rein. I halted on the
+same spot where Isaacs had drawn rein twenty-four hours before.
+
+"Give him this from me. God be with you!" She was gone in a moment,
+leaving a small package in my right hand. I thrust it in my bosom and
+rode away.
+
+"How she loves him," I thought, wondering greatly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+It was not an agreeable journey I had undertaken. In order to reach the
+inaccessible spot, chosen by Isaacs for the scene of Shere Ali's
+liberation, in time to be of any use, it was necessary that I should
+travel by a more direct and arduous route than that taken by my friend.
+He had returned to Simla, and by his carefully made arrangements would
+be able to reach Keitung, or the spot near it, where the transaction was
+to take place, by constant changes of horses where riding was possible,
+and by a strong body of dooly-bearers wherever the path should prove too
+steep for four-footed beasts of burden. I, on the other hand, must leave
+the road at Julinder, a place I had never visited, and must trust to my
+own unaided wits and a plentiful supply of rupees to carry me over at
+least two hundred miles of country I did not know--difficult certainly,
+and perhaps impracticable for riding. The prospect was not a pleasant
+one, but I was convinced that in a matter of this importance a man of
+Isaacs' wit and wealth would have made at least some preliminary
+arrangements for me, since he probably knew the country well enough
+himself. I had but six days at the outside to reach my destination.
+
+I had resolved to take one servant, Kiramat Ali, with me as far as
+Julinder, whence I would send him back to Simla with what slender
+luggage we carried, for I meant to ride as light as possible, with no
+encumbrance to delay me when once I left the line of the railway. I
+might have ridden five miles with Kiramat Ali behind me on a sturdy
+_tat_, when I was surprised by the appearance of an unknown saice in
+plain white clothes, holding a pair of strong young ponies by the halter
+and salaaming low.
+
+"Pundit Ram Lal sends your highness his peace, and bids you ride without
+sparing. The _dâk_ is laid to the fire-carriages."
+
+The saddles were changed in a moment, Kiramat Ali and I assisting in the
+operation. It was clear that Ram Lal's messengers were swift, for even
+if he had met Isaacs when the latter reached the railroad, no ordinary
+horse could have returned with the message at the time I had received
+it. Still less would any ordinary Hindus be capable of laying a _dâk_,
+or post route of relays, over a hundred miles long in twelve hours. Once
+prepared, it was a mere matter of physical endurance in the rider to
+cover the ground, for the relays were stationed every five or six miles.
+It was well known that Lord Steepleton Kildare had lately ridden from
+Simla to Umballa one night and back the next day, ninety-two miles each
+way, with constant change of cattle. What puzzled me was the rapidity
+with which the necessary dispositions had been made. On the whole, I was
+reassured. If Ram Lal had been able to prepare my way at such short
+notice here, with two more days at his disposal he would doubtless
+succeed in laying me a _dâk_ most of the way from Julinder to Keitung. I
+will not dwell upon the details of the journey. I reached the railroad
+and prepared for forty-eight hours of jolting and jostling and broken
+sleep. It is true that railway travelling is nowhere so luxurious as in
+India, where a carriage has but two compartments, each holding as a rule
+only two persons, though four can be accommodated by means of hanging
+berths. Each compartment has a spacious bathroom attached, where you may
+bathe as often as you please, and there are various contrivances for
+ventilating and cooling the air. Nevertheless the heat is sometimes
+unbearable, and a journey from Bombay to Calcutta direct during the warm
+months is a severe trial to the strongest constitution. On this occasion
+I had about forty-eight hours to travel, and I was resolved to get all
+the rest in that time that the jolting made possible; for I knew that
+once in the saddle again it might be days before I got a night's sleep.
+And so we rumbled along, through the vast fields of sugar-cane, now
+mostly tied in huge sheaves upright, through boundless stretches of
+richly-cultivated soil, intersected with the regularity of a chess-board
+by the rivulets and channels of a laborious irrigation. Here and there
+stood the high frames made by planting four bamboos in a square and
+wickering the top, whereon the ryots sit when the crops are ripening, to
+watch against thieves and cattle, and to drive away the birds of the
+air. On we spun, past Meerut and Mozuffernugger, past Umballa and
+Loodhiana, till we reached our station of Julinder at dawn. Descending
+from the train, I was about to begin making inquiries about my next
+move, when I was accosted by a tall and well-dressed Mussulman, in a
+plain cloth _caftán_ and a white turban, but exquisitely clean and fresh
+looking, as it seemed to me, for my eyes were smarting with dust and
+wearied with the perpetual shaking of the train.
+
+The courteous native soon explained that he was Isaacs' agent in
+Julinder, and that a _târ ki khaber_, a telegram in short, had warned
+him to be on the lookout for me. I was greatly relieved, for it was
+evident that every arrangement had been made for my comfort, so far as
+comfort was possible. Isaacs had asked my assistance, but he had taken
+every precaution against all superfluous bodily inconvenience to me, and
+I felt sure that from this point I should move quickly and easily
+through every difficulty. And so it proved. The Mussulman took me to his
+house, where there was a spacious apartment, occupied by Isaacs when he
+passed that way. Every luxury was prepared for the enjoyment of the
+bath, and a breakfast of no mean taste was served me in my own room.
+Then my host entered and explained that he had been directed to make
+certain arrangements for my journey. He had laid a _dâk_ nearly a
+hundred miles ahead, and had been ordered to tell me that similar steps
+had been taken beyond that point as far as my ultimate destination, of
+which, however, he was ignorant. My servant, he said, must stay with him
+and return to Simla with my traps.
+
+So an hour later I mounted for my long ride, provided with a revolver
+and some rupees in a bag, in case of need. The country, my entertainer
+informed me, was considered perfectly safe, unless I feared the _tap_,
+the bad kind of fever which infests all the country at the base of the
+hills. I was not afraid of this. My experience is that some people are
+predisposed to fever, and will generally be attacked by it in their
+first year in India, whether they are much exposed to it or not, while
+others seem naturally proof against any amount of malaria, and though
+they sleep out of doors through the whole rainy season, and tramp about
+the jungles in the autumn, will never catch the least ague, though they
+may have all other kinds of ills to contend with.
+
+On and on, galloping along the heavy roads, sometimes over no road at
+all, only a broad green track, where the fresh grass that had sprung up
+after the rains was not yet killed by the trampling of the bullocks and
+the grinding jolt of the heavy cart. At intervals of seven or eight
+miles I found a saice with a fresh pony picketed and grazing at the end
+of the long rope. The saice was generally squatting near by, with his
+bag of food and his three-sided kitchen of stones, blackened with the
+fire from his last meal, beside him; sometimes in the act of cooking his
+chowpatties, sometimes eating them, according to the time of day.
+Several times I stopped to drink some water where it seemed to be good,
+and I ate a little chocolate from my supply, well knowing the
+miraculous, sustaining powers of the simple little block of "Menier,"
+which, with its six small tablets, will not only sustain life, but will
+supply vigour and energy, for as much as two days, with no other food.
+On and on, through the day and the night, past sleeping villages, where
+the jackals howled around the open doors of the huts; and across vast
+fields of late crops, over hills thickly grown with trees, past the
+broad bend of the Sutlej river, and over the plateau toward Sultanpoor,
+the cultivation growing scantier and the villages rarer all the while,
+as the vast masses of the Himalayas defined themselves more and more
+distinctly in the moonlight. Horses of all kinds under me, lean and fat,
+short and high, roman-nosed and goose-necked, broken and unbroken; away
+and away, shifting saddle and bridle and saddle-bag as I left each tired
+mount behind me. Once I passed a stream, and pulling off my boots to
+cool my feet, the temptation way too strong, so I hastily threw off my
+clothes and plunged in and had a short refreshing bath. Then on, with,
+the galloping even triplet of the house's hoofs beneath me, as they came
+down in quick succession, as if the earth were a muffled drum and we
+were beating an untiring _rataplan_ on her breast.
+
+I must have ridden a hundred and thirty miles before dawn, and the pace
+was beginning to tell, even on my strong frame. True, to a man used to
+the saddle, the effort of riding is reduced to a minimum when every hour
+or two gives him a fresh horse. There is then no heed for the welfare of
+the animal necessary; he has but his seven or eight miles to gallop, and
+then his work is done; there are none of those thousand little cares and
+sympathetic shiftings and adjustings of weight and seat to be thought
+of, which must constantly engage the attention of a man who means to
+ride the same horse a hundred miles, or even fifty or forty. Conscious
+that a fresh mount awaits him, he sits back lazily and never eases his
+weight for a moment; before he has gone thirty miles he will kick his
+feet out of the stirrups about once in twenty minutes, and if he has for
+the moment a quiet old stager who does not mind tricks, he will probably
+fetch one leg over and go a few miles sitting sideways. He will go to
+sleep once or twice, and wake up apparently in the very act to
+fall--though I believe that a man will sleep at a full gallop and never
+loosen his knees until the moment of waking startles him. Nevertheless,
+and notwithstanding Lord Steepleton Kildare and his ride to Umballa and
+back in twenty-four hours, when a man, be he ever so strong, has ridden
+over a hundred miles, he feels inclined for a rest, and a walk, and a
+little sleep.
+
+Once more an emissary of Ram Lal strode to my side as I rolled off the
+saddle into the cool grass at sunrise in a very impracticable-looking
+country. The road had been steeper and less defined during the last two
+hours of the ride, and as I crossed one leg high over the other lying on
+my back in the grass, the morning light caught my spur, and there was
+blood on it, bright and red. I had certainly come as fast as I could; if
+I should be too late, it would not be my fault. The agent, whoever he
+might be, was a striking-looking fellow in a dirty brown cloth _caftán_
+and an enormous sash wound round his middle. A pointed cap with some
+tawdry gold lace on it covered his head, and greasy black love-locks
+writhed filthily over his high cheek bones and into his scanty tangled
+beard; a suspicious hilt bound with brass wire reared its snake-like
+head from the folds of his belt, and his legs, terminating in
+thick-soled native shoes, reminded one of a tarantula in boots. He
+salaamed awkwardly with a tortuous grin, and addressed me with the
+northern salutation, "May your feet never be weary with the march."
+Having been twenty-four hours in the saddle, my feet were not that
+portion of my body most wearied, but I replied to the effect that I
+trusted the shadow of the greasy gentleman might not diminish a
+hairsbreadth in the next ten thousand years. We then proceeded to
+business, and I observed that the man spoke a very broken and hardly
+intelligible Hindustani. I tried him in Persian, but it was of no avail.
+He spoke Persian, he said, but it was not of the kind that any human
+being could understand; so we returned to the first language, and I
+concluded that he was a wandering kábuli.
+
+As an introduction of himself he mentioned Isaacs, calling him Abdul
+Hafiz Sáhib, and he seemed to know him personally. Abdul, he said, was
+not far off as distances go in the Himalayas. He thought I should find
+him the day after to-morrow, _mungkul_. He said I should not be able to
+ride much farther, as the pass beyond Sultanpoor was utterly
+impracticable for horses; coolies, however, awaited me with a dooly, one
+of those low litters slung on a bamboo, in which you may travel swiftly
+and without effort, but to the destruction of the digestive organs. He
+said also that he would accompany me the next stage as far as the
+doolies, and I thought he showed some curiosity to know whither I was
+going; but he was a wise man in his generation, and knowing his orders,
+did not press me overmuch with questions. I remarked in a mild way that
+the saddle was the throne of the warrior, and that the air of the black
+mountains was the breath of freedom; but I added that the voice of the
+empty stomach was as the roar of the king of the forest. Whereupon the
+man replied that the forest was mine and the game therein, whereof I was
+lord, as I probably was of the rest of the world, since I was his father
+and mother and most of his relations; but that, perceiving that I was
+occupied with the cares of a mighty empire, he had ventured to slay with
+his own hand a kid and some birds, which, if I would condescend to
+partake of them, he would proceed to cook. I replied that the light of
+my countenance would shine upon my faithful servant to the extent of
+several coins, both rupees and pais, but that the peculiar customs of my
+caste forbid me to touch food cooked by any one but myself. I would,
+however, in consideration of his exertions and his guileless heart,
+invite the true follower of the prophet, whose name is blessed, to
+partake with me of the food which I should presently prepare. Whereat he
+was greatly delighted, and fetched the meat, which he had stowed away in
+a kind of horse-cloth, for safety against ants.
+
+I am not a bad cook at a pinch, and so we sat down and made a
+cooking-place with stones, and built a fire, and let the flame die down
+into coals, and I dressed the meat as best I could, and flavoured it
+with gunpowder and pepper, and we were merry. The man was thenceforth
+mine, and I knew I could trust him; a bivouac in the Himalayas, when one
+is alone and far from any kind of assistance, is not the spot to indulge
+in any prejudice about colour. I did not think much about it as I
+hungrily gnawed the meat and divided the birds with my pocket-knife.
+
+The lower Himalayas are at first extremely disappointing. The scenery is
+enormous but not grand, and at first hardly seems large. The lower parts
+are at first sight a series of gently undulating hills and wooded dells;
+in some places it looks as if one might almost hunt the country. It is
+long before you realise that it is all on a gigantic scale; that the
+quickset hedges are belts of rhododendrons of full growth, the
+water-jumps rivers, and the stone walls mountain-ridges; that to hunt a
+country like that you would have to ride a horse at least two hundred
+feet high. You cannot see at first, or even for some time, that the
+gentle-looking hill is a mountain of five or six thousand feet; in Simla
+you will not believe you are three thousand feet above the level of the
+Rhigi Kulm in Switzerland. Persons who are familiar with the aspect of
+the Rocky Mountains are aware of the singular lack of dignity in those
+enormous elevations. They are merely big, without any superior beauty,
+until you come to the favoured spots of nature's art, where some great
+contrast throws out into appalling relief the gulf between the high and
+the low. It is so in the Himalayas.
+
+You may travel for hours and days amidst vast forests and hills without
+the slightest sensation of pleasure or sense of admiration for the
+scene, till suddenly your path leads you out on to the dizzy brink of an
+awful precipice--a sheer fall, so exaggerated in horror that your most
+stirring memories of Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, and the hideous _arête_
+of the Pitz Bernina, sink into vague insignificance. The gulf that
+divides you from the distant mountain seems like a huge bite taken
+bodily out of the world by some voracious god; far away rise snow peaks
+such as were not dreamt of in your Swiss tour; the bottomless valley at
+your feet is misty and gloomy with blackness, streaked with mist, while
+the peaks above shoot gladly to the sun and catch his broadside rays
+like majestic white standards. Between you, as you stand leaning
+cautiously against the hill behind you, and the wonderful background far
+away in front, floats a strange vision, scarcely moving, but yet not
+still. A great golden shield sails steadily in vast circles, sending
+back the sunlight in every tint of burnished glow. The golden eagle of
+the Himalayas hangs in mid-air, a sheet of polished metal to the eye,
+pausing sometimes in the full blaze of reflection, as ages ago the sun
+and the moon stood still in the valley of Ajalon; too magnificent for
+description, as he is too dazzling to look at. The whole scene, if no
+greater name can be given to it, is on a scale so Titanic in its massive
+length and breadth and depth, that you stand utterly trembling and weak
+and foolish as you look for the first time. You have never seen such
+masses of the world before.
+
+It was in such a spot as this that, nearly at noon on the appointed day,
+my dooly-bearers set me down and warned me I was at my journey's end. I
+stepped out and stood on the narrow way, pausing to look and to enjoy
+all that I saw. I had been in other parts of the lower Himalayas before,
+and the first sensations I had experienced had given way to those of a
+contemplative admiration. No longer awed or overpowered or oppressed by
+the sense of physical insignificance in my own person, I could endure to
+look on the stupendous panorama before me, and could even analyse what I
+felt. But before long my pardonable reverie was disturbed by a
+well-known voice. The clear tones rang like a trumpet along the
+mountain-side in a glad shout of welcome. I turned and saw Isaacs coming
+quickly towards me, bounding along the edge of the precipice as if his
+life had been passed in tending goats and robbing eagles' nests. I, too,
+moved on to meet him, and in a moment we clasped hands in unfeigned
+delight at being again together. What was Ghyrkins or his party to me?
+Here was the man I sought; the one man on earth who seemed worth having
+for a friend. And yet it was but three weeks since we first met, and I
+am not enthusiastic by temperament.
+
+"What news, friend Griggs?"
+
+"She greets you and sends you this," I said, taking from my bosom the
+parcel she had thrust into my hand as I left in the dark. His face fell
+suddenly. It was the silver box he had given her; was it possible she
+had taken so much trouble to return it? He turned it over mournfully.
+
+"You had better open it. There is probably something in it."
+
+I never saw a more complete change in a man's face during a single
+second than came over Isaacs' in that moment. He had not thought of
+opening it, in his first disappointment at finding it returned. He
+turned back the lid. Bound with a bit of narrow ribbon and pressed down
+carefully, he found a heavy lock of gold-white hair, so fair that it
+made everything around it seem dark--the grass, our clothes, and even
+the white streamer that hung down from Isaacs' turban. It seemed to shed
+a bright light, even in the broad noon-day, as it lay there in the
+curiously wrought box--just as the body of some martyred saint found
+jealously concealed in the dark corner of an ancient crypt, and broken
+in upon by unsuspecting masons delving a king's grave, might throw up in
+their dusky faces a dazzling halo of soft radiance--the glory of the
+saint hovering lovingly by the body wherein the soul's sufferings were
+perfected.
+
+The moment Isaacs realised what it was, he turned away, his face all
+gladness, and moved on a few steps with bent head, evidently
+contemplating his new treasure. Then he snapped the spring, and putting
+the casket in his vest turned round to me.
+
+"Thank you, Griggs; how are they all?"
+
+"It was worth a two-hundred mile ride to see your face when you opened
+that box. They are pretty well. I left them swearing that the party was
+broken up, and that they would all go back to Simla."
+
+"The sooner the better. We shall be there in three days from here, by
+the help of Ram Lal's wonderful post."
+
+"Between you I managed to get here quite well. How did you do it? I
+never missed a relay all the way from Julinder."
+
+"Oh, it is very easy," answered Isaacs. "You could have a _dâk_ to the
+moon from India if you would pay for it; or any other thing in heaven or
+earth or hell that you might fancy. Money, that is all. But, my dear
+fellow, you have lost flesh sensibly since we parted. You take your
+travelling hard."
+
+"Where is Ram Lal?" I asked, curious to learn something of our movements
+for the night.
+
+"Oh, I don't know. He is probably somewhere about the place charming
+cobras or arresting avalanches, or indulging in some of those playful
+freaks he says he learned in Edinburgh. We have had a great good time
+the last two days. He has not disappeared, or swallowed himself even
+once, or delivered himself of any fearful and mysterious prophecies. We
+have been talking transcendentalism. He knows as much about 'functional
+gamma' and 'All X is Y' and the rainbow, and so on, as you do yourself.
+I recommend him. I think he would be a charming companion for you. There
+he is now, with his pockets full of snakes and evil beasts. I wanted him
+to catch a golden eagle this morning, and tame it for Miss Westonhaugh,
+but he said it would eat the jackal and probably the servants, so I have
+given it up for the present." Isaacs was evidently in a capital humour.
+Ram Lal approached us.
+
+I saw at a glance that Ram Lal the Buddhist, when on his beats in the
+civilisation of Simla, was one person. Ram Lal, the cultured votary of
+science, among the hills and the beasts and the specimens that he loved,
+was a very different man. He was as gray as ever, it is true, but better
+defined, the outlines sharper, the features more Dantesque and easier to
+discern in the broad light of the sun. He did not look now as if he
+could sit down and cross his legs and fade away into thin air, like the
+Cheshire cat. He looked more solid and fleshly, his voice was fuller,
+and sounded close to me as he spoke, without a shadow of the curious
+distant ring I had noticed before.
+
+"Ah!" he said in English, "Mr. Griggs, at last! Well, you are in plenty
+of time. The gentleman who is not easily astonished. That is just as
+well, too. I like people with quiet nerves. I see by your appearance
+that you are hungry, Mr. Griggs. Abdul Hafiz, why should we not dine? It
+is much better to get that infliction of the flesh over before this
+evening."
+
+"By all means. Come along. But first send those dooly-bearers about
+their business. They can wait till to-morrow over there on the other
+side. They always carry food, and there is any amount of fuel."
+
+Just beyond the shoulder of the hill, sheltered from the north by the
+projecting boulders, was a small tent, carefully pitched and adjusted to
+stand the storms if any should come. Thither we all three bent our steps
+and sat down by the fire, for it was chilly, even cold, in the passes in
+September. Food was brought out by Isaacs, and we ate together as if no
+countless ages of different nationalities separated us. Ram Lal was
+perfectly natural and easy in his manners, and affable in what he said.
+Until the meal was finished no reference was made to the strange
+business that brought us from different points of the compass to the
+Himalayan heights. Then, at last, Ram Lal spoke; his meal had been the
+most frugal of the three, and he had soon eaten his fill, but he
+employed himself in rolling cigarettes, which he did with marvellous
+skill, until we two had satisfied our younger and healthier appetites.
+
+"Abdul Hafiz," he said, his gray face bent over his colourless hands as
+he twisted the papers, "shall we not tell Mr. Griggs what is to be done?
+Afterward he can lie in the tent and sleep until evening, for he is
+weary and needs to recruit his strength."
+
+"So be it, Ram Lal," answered Isaacs.
+
+"Very well. The position is this, Mr. Griggs. Neither Mr. Isaacs nor I
+trust those men that we are to meet, and therefore, as we are afraid of
+being killed unawares, we thought we would send for you to protect us."
+He smiled pleasantly as he saw the blank expression in my face.
+
+"Certainly, and you shall hear how it is to be done. The place is not
+far from here in the valley below. The band are already nearing the
+spot, and at midnight we will go down and meet them. The meeting will
+be, of course, like all formal rendezvous for the delivery of prisoners.
+The captain of the band will come forward accompanied by his charge, and
+perhaps by a sowar. We three will stand together, side by side, and
+await their coming. Now the plot is this. They have determined if
+possible to murder both Shere Ali and Isaacs then and there together.
+They have not counted on us, but they probably expect that our friend
+will arrive guarded by a troop of horse. The maharajah's men will try
+and sneak up close to where we stand, and at a signal, which the leader,
+in conversation with Isaacs, will give by laying his hand on his
+shoulder, the men will rush in and cut Shere Ali to pieces, and Isaacs
+too if the captain cannot do it alone. Now look here, Mr. Griggs. What
+we want you to do is this. Your friend--my friend--wants no miracles, so
+that you have got to do by strength what might be done by stratagem,
+though not so quickly. When you see the leader lay his hand on Isaacs'
+shoulder, seize him by the throat and mind his other arm, which will be
+armed. Prevent him from injuring Isaacs, and I will attend to the rest,
+who will doubtless require my whole attention."
+
+"But," I objected, "supposing that this captain turned out to be
+stronger or more active than I. What then?"
+
+"Never fear," said Isaacs, smiling. "There aren't any."
+
+"No," continued Ram Lal, "never disturb yourself about that, but just
+knock your man down and be done with it. I will guarantee you can do it
+well enough, and if he gives you trouble I may be able to help you."
+
+"All right; give me some cigarettes;" and before I had smoked one I was
+asleep.
+
+When I awoke the sun was down, but there was a great light over
+everything. The full moon had just risen above the hills to eastward and
+bathed every object in silver sheen. The far peaks, covered with snow,
+caught the reflection and sent the beams floating across the deep dark
+valleys between. The big boulder, against which the tent was pitched,
+caught it too, and seemed changed from rough stone to precious metal; it
+was on the tent-pegs and the ropes, it was upon Isaacs' lithe figure, as
+he tightened his sash round his waist and looked to his pocket-book for
+the agreement. It made Ram Lal, the gray and colourless, look like a
+silver statue, and it made the smouldering flame of the watch-fire
+utterly dim and faint. It was a wonderful moon. I looked at my watch; it
+was eight o'clock.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, "you were tired and have slept long. It is time to
+be off. There is some whiskey in that flask. I don't take those things,
+but Ram Lal says you had better have some, as you might get fever." So I
+did. Then we started, leaving everything in the tent, of which we pegged
+down the flap. There were no natives about, the dooly-bearers having
+retired to the other side of the valley, and the jackals would find
+nothing to attract them, as we had thrown the remainder of our meal over
+the edge. As for weapons, I had a good revolver and a thick stick;
+Isaacs had a revolver and a vicious-looking Turkish knife; and Ram Lal
+had nothing at all, as far as I could see, except a long light staff.
+
+The effect of the moonlight was wild in the extreme, as we descended the
+side of the mountain by paths which were very far from smooth or easy.
+Every now and then, as we neared the valley, we turned the corner of
+some ridge and got a fair view of the plain. Then a step farther, and we
+were in the dark again, behind boulders and picking our way over loose
+stones, or struggling with the wretched foothold afforded by a surface
+of light gravel, inclined to the horizontal at an angle of forty-five
+degrees. Then, with a scramble, a jump, and a little swearing in a great
+many languages--I think we counted that we spoke twenty-seven between
+us--we were on firm soil again, and swinging along over the bit of easy
+level path. It would have been out of the question to go in doolies, and
+no pony could keep a foothold for five minutes on the uncertain ground.
+
+At last, as we emerged into the bright moonlight on a little platform of
+rock at an angle of the path, we paused. Ram Lal, who seemed to know the
+way, was in front, and held up his hand to silence us; Isaacs and I
+kneeled down and looked over the brink. Some two hundred feet below, on
+a broad strip of green bordering the steep cliffs, was picketed a small
+body of horse. We could see the men squatting about in their small
+compact turbans and their shining accoutrements; the horses tethered at
+various distances on the sward, cropping so vigorously that even at that
+height we could hear the dull sound as they rhythmically munched the
+grass. We could see in the middle of the little camp a man seated on a
+rug and wrapped in a heavy garment of some kind, quietly smoking a
+common hubble-bubble. Beside him stood another who reflected more
+moonlight than the rest, and who was therefore, by his trappings, the
+captain of the band. The seated smoker could be no other than Shere Ali.
+
+Cautiously we descended the remaining windings of the steep path,
+turning whenever we had a chance, to look down on the horsemen and their
+prisoner below, till at last we emerged in the valley a quarter of a
+mile or so beyond where they were stationed. Here on the level of the
+plain we stopped a moment, and Ram Lal renewed his instructions to me.
+
+"If the captain," he said, "lays his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, seize him
+and throw him. If you cannot get him down kill him--any way you
+can--shoot him under the arm with your pistol. It is a matter of life
+and death."
+
+"All right." And we walked boldly along the broad strip of sward. The
+moon was now almost immediately overhead, for it was midnight, or near
+it. I confess the scene awed me, the giant masses of the mountains above
+us, the vast distances of mysterious blue air, through which the
+snow-peaks shone out with a strange look that was not natural. The swish
+of the quickly flowing stream at the edge of the plot we were walking
+over sounded hollow and unearthly; the velvety whirr of the great
+mountain bats as they circled near us, stirred from the branches as we
+passed out, was disagreeable and heavy to hear. The moon shone brighter
+and brighter.
+
+We were perhaps thirty yards from the little camp, in which there might
+be fifty men all told. Isaacs stood still and sung out a greeting.
+
+"Peace to you, men of Baithopoor!" he shouted. It was the preconcerted
+form of address. Instantly the captain turned and looked toward us. Then
+he gave some orders in a low voice, and taking his prisoner by the hand
+assisted him to rise. There was a scurrying to and fro in the camp. The
+men seemed to be collecting, and moving to the edge of the bivouac. Some
+began to saddle the horses. The moon was so intensely bright that their
+movements were as plain to us as though it had been broad daylight.
+
+Two figures came striding toward us--the captain and Shere Ali. As I
+looked at them, curiously enough, as may be imagined, I noticed that the
+captain was the taller man by two or three inches, but Shere Ali's broad
+chest and slightly-bowed legs produced an impression of enormous
+strength. He looked the fierce-hearted, hard-handed warrior, from head
+to heel; though in accordance with Isaacs' treaty he had been well taken
+care of and was dressed in the finest stuffs, his beard carefully
+clipped and his Indian turban rolled with great neatness round his dark
+and prominent brows.
+
+The first thing for the captain was to satisfy himself as far as
+possible that we had no troops in ambush up there in the jungle on the
+base of the mountain. He had probably sent scouts out before, and was
+pretty sure there was no one there. To gain time, he made a great show
+of reading the agreement through from beginning to end, comparing it all
+the while with a copy he held. While this was going on, and I had put
+myself as near as possible to the captain, Isaacs and Shere Ali were in
+earnest conversation in the Persian tongue. Shere Ali told Abdul that
+the captain's perusal of the contract must be a mere empty show, since
+the man did not know a word of the language. Isaacs, on hearing that the
+captain could not understand, immediately warned Shere Ali of the
+intended attempt to murder them both, of which Ram Lal, his friend, had
+heard, and I could see the old soldier's eye flash and his hand feel for
+his weapon, where there was none, at the mere mention of a fight. The
+captain began to talk to Isaacs, and I edged as near as I could to be
+ready for my grip. Still it did not come. He talked on, very civilly, in
+intelligible Hindustani. What was the matter with the moon?
+
+A few minutes before it had seemed as if there would be neither cloud
+nor mist in such a sky; and now a light filmy wreath was rising and
+darkening the splendour of the wonderful night. I looked across at Ram
+Lal. He was standing with one hand on his hip, and leaning with the
+other on his staff, and he was gazing up at the moon with as much
+interest as he ever displayed about anything. At that moment the captain
+handed Isaacs a prepared receipt for signature, to the effect that the
+prisoner had been duly delivered to his new owner. The light was growing
+dimmer, and Isaacs could hardly see to read the characters before he
+signed. He raised the scroll to his eyes and turned half round to see it
+better. At that moment the tall captain stretched forth his arm and laid
+his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, raising his other arm at the same time to
+his men, who had crept nearer and nearer to our group while the endless
+talking was going on. I was perfectly prepared, and the instant the
+soldier's hand touched Isaacs I had the man in my grip, catching his
+upraised arm in one hand and his throat with the other. The struggle did
+not last long, but it was furious in its agony. The tough Punjabi
+writhed and twisted like a cat in my grasp, his eyes gleaming like
+living coals, springing back and forward in his vain and furious efforts
+to reach my feet and trip me. But it was no use. I had his throat and
+one arm well in hand, and could hold him so that he could not reach me
+with the other. My fingers sank deeper and deeper in his neck as we
+swayed backwards and sideways tugging and hugging, breast to breast,
+till at last, with a fearful strain and wrench of every muscle in our
+two bodies, his arm went back with a jerk, broken like a pipe-stem, and
+his frame collapsing and bending backwards, fell heavily to the ground
+beneath me.
+
+The whole strength of me was at work in the struggle, but I could get a
+glimpse of the others as we whirled and swayed about.
+
+Like the heavy pall of virgin white that is laid on the body of a pure
+maiden; of velvet, soft and sweet but heavy and impenetrable as death,
+relentless, awful, appalling the soul, and freezing the marrow in the
+bones, it came near the earth. The figure of the gray old man grew
+mystically to gigantic and unearthly size, his vast old hands stretched
+forth their skinny palms to receive the great curtain as it descended
+between the moonlight and the sleeping earth. His eyes were as stars,
+his hoary head rose majestically to an incalculable height; still the
+thick, all-wrapping mist came down, falling on horse and rider and
+wrestler and robber and Amir; hiding all, covering all, folding all, in
+its soft samite arms, till not a man's own hand was visible to him a
+span's length from his face.
+
+I could feel the heaving chest of the captain beneath my knee; I could
+feel the twitching of the broken arm tortured under the pressure of my
+left hand; but I could see neither face nor arm nor breast, nor even my
+own fingers. Only above me, as I stared up, seemed to tower the
+supernatural proportions of Ram Lal, a white apparition visible through
+the opaque whiteness that hid everything else from view. It was only a
+moment. A hand was on my shoulder, Isaacs' voice was in my ear, speaking
+to Shere Ali. Ram Lal drew me away.
+
+"Be quick," he said; "take my hand, I will lead you to the light." We
+ran along the soft grass, following the sound of each other's feet,
+swiftly. A moment more and we were in the pass; the mist was lighter,
+and we could see our way. We rushed up the stony path fast and sure,
+till we reached the clear bright moonlight, blazing forth in silver
+splendour again. Far down below the velvet pall of mist lay thick and
+heavy, hiding the camp and its horses and men from our sight.
+
+"Friend," said Isaacs, "you are as free as I. Praise Allah, and let us
+depart in peace."
+
+The savage old warrior grasped the outstretched hand of the Persian and
+yelled aloud--
+
+"Illallaho-ho-ho-ho!" His throat was as brass.
+
+"La illah ill-allah!" repeated Isaacs in tones as of a hundred clarions,
+echoing by tree and mountain and river, down the valley.
+
+"Thank God!" I said to Ram Lal.
+
+"Call Him as you please, friend Griggs," answered the pundit.
+
+It was daylight when we reached the tent at the top of the pass.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+"Abdul Hafiz," said Ram Lal, as we sat round the fire we had made,
+preparing food, "if it is thy pleasure I will conduct thy friend to a
+place of safety and set his feet in the paths that lead to pleasant
+places. For thou art weary and wilt take thy rest until noon, but I am
+not weary and the limbs of the Afghan are as iron." He spoke in Persian,
+so that Shere Ali could understand what he said. The latter looked
+uneasy at first, but soon perceived that his best chance of safety lay
+in immediately leaving the neighbourhood, which was unpleasantly near
+Simla on the one side and the frontiers of Baithopoor on the other.
+
+"I thank thee, Ram Lal," replied Isaacs, "and I gladly accept thy offer.
+Whither wilt thou conduct our friend the Amir?"
+
+"I will lead him by a sure road into Thibet, and my brethren shall take
+care of him, and presently he shall journey safely northwards into the
+Tartar country, and thence to the Russ people, where the followers of
+your prophet are many, and if thou wilt give him the letters thou hast
+written, which he may present to the principal moolahs, he shall
+prosper. And as for money, if thou hast gold, give him of it, and if
+not, give him silver; and if thou hast none, take no thought, for the
+freedom of the spirit is better than the obesity of the body."
+
+"Bishmillah! Thou speakest with the tongue of wisdom, old man," said
+Shere Ali; "nevertheless a few rupees--"
+
+"Fear nothing," broke in Isaacs. "I have for thee a store of a few
+rupees in silver, and there are two hundred gold mohurs in this bag.
+They are scarce in Hind and pass not as money, but the value of them
+whither thou goest shall buy thee food many days. Take also this
+diamond, which if thou be in want thou shalt sell and be rich."
+
+Shere Ali, who had been suspicious of treachery, or at least was afraid
+to believe himself really free, was convinced by this generosity. The
+great rough warrior, the brave patriot who had shut the gates of Kabul
+in the face of Sir Neville Chamberlain, and who had faced every danger
+and defeat, rather than tamely suffer the advance of the all-devouring
+English into his dominions, was proud and unbending still, through all
+his captivity and poverty and trouble, and weariness of soul and
+suffering of body; he could bear his calamities like a man, the
+unrelenting chief of an unrelenting race. But when Isaacs stretched
+forth his hand and freed him, and bestowed upon him, moreover, a goodly
+stock of cash, and bid him go in peace, his gratitude got the better of
+him, and he fairly broke down. The big tears coursed down over his rough
+cheeks, and his face sank between his hands, which trembled violently
+for a moment. Then his habitual calm of outward manner returned.
+
+"Allah requite thee, my brother," he said, "I can never hope to."
+
+"I have done nothing," said Isaacs. "Shall believers languish and perish
+in the hands of swine without faith? Verily it is Allah's doing, whose
+name is great and powerful. He will not suffer the followers of His
+prophet to be devoured of jackals and unclean beasts. Masallah! There is
+no God but God."
+
+Therefore, when they had eaten some food, Ram Lal and Shere Ali
+departed, journeying north-east towards Thibet, and Isaacs and I
+remained sleeping in the tent until past noon. Then we arose and went
+our way, having packed up the little canvas house and the utensils and
+the pole into a neat bundle which we carried by turns along the steep
+rough paths, until we found the dooly-bearers squatting round the embers
+after their mid-day meal. As we journeyed we talked of the events of the
+night. It seemed to me that the whole thing might have been managed very
+much more simply. Isaacs did things in his own way, however, and, after
+all, he generally had a good reason for his actions.
+
+"I think not," he said in reply to my question. "While you were throwing
+that ruffian, who would have overmatched me in an instant, Shere Ali and
+I disposed of the sowars who ran up at the captain's signal. Shere Ali
+says he killed one of them with his hands, and my little knife here
+seems to have done some damage." He produced the vicious-looking dagger,
+stained above the hilt with dark blood, which he began to scrape off
+with a bit of stick.
+
+"My dear fellow," I objected, "I am delighted to have served you, and I
+see that since Shere Ali could not be warned of the signal, I was the
+only person there who could tackle that Punjabi man; yet I am completely
+at a loss to explain why, if Ram Lal can command the forces of nature to
+the extent of calling down a thick mist under the cover of which we
+might escape, he could not have calmly destroyed the whole band by
+lightning, or indigestion, or some simple and efficacious means, so that
+we need not have risked our lives in supplementing what he only half
+did."
+
+"There are plenty of answers to that question," Isaacs answered. "In the
+first place, how do you know that Ram Lal could do anything more than
+discover the preconcerted signal and bring down that fog? He pretends to
+no supernatural power; he only asserts that he understands the workings
+of nature better than you do. How do you know that the fog was his doing
+at all? Your excited imagination, developed suddenly by the tussle with
+the captain, which undoubtedly sent the blood to your head, made you
+think you saw Ram Lal's figure magnified beyond human proportion. If
+there had been no mist at all, we should most likely have got away
+unhurt all the same. Those fellows would not fight after their leader
+was down. Again, I like to let Ram Lal feel that I am able to do
+something for myself, and that I have other friends as powerful. He aims
+at obtaining too much ascendency over me. I do not like it."
+
+"Oh--if you look at it in that light, I have nothing to say. It has been
+a very pleasant and interesting excursion to me, and I am rather glad I
+only broke that fellow's arm instead of killing him, as you and Shere
+Ali did your sowars."
+
+"I don't know whether I killed him. I suppose I did. Poor fellow.
+However, he would certainly have killed me."
+
+"Of course. No use crying over spilt milk," I answered.
+
+So we got into the doolies and swung away. As we neared Simla my
+friend's spirits rose, and he chanted wild Persian and Arabic
+love-songs, and kept up a fire of conversation all day and all night,
+singing and talking alternately.
+
+"Griggs," he said, as we approached the end of our journey, "did you
+have occasion to tell Miss Westonhaugh where I had gone?"
+
+"Yes. She asked me, and I answered that you had gone to save a man's
+life. She looked very much pleased, I thought, but just then somebody
+came up, and we did not talk any more about it. I got your message the
+evening of the day you left."
+
+"She looked pleased?"
+
+"Very much. I remember the colour came into her cheeks."
+
+"Was she so pale, then?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Why, yes. You remember how she looked the night before you left? She
+was even paler the next day, but when I said you had gone to do a good
+deed, the light came into her face for a moment."
+
+"Do you think she was ill, Griggs?"
+
+"She did not look well, but of course she was anxious about you, and a
+good deal cut up about your going."
+
+"No; but did you really think she was ill?" he insisted.
+
+"Oh no, nothing but your going."
+
+His spirits were gone again, and he said very little more that day. As
+we were ascending the last hills, some eight or nine hours from Simla,
+the moon rose majestically behind us. It must have been ten o'clock, for
+she could not have been seen above the notch in the mountains to
+eastward until she had been risen an hour at least.
+
+"I wonder where they are now, those two," said Isaacs.
+
+"Shere Ali and Ram Lal?"
+
+"Yes. They are probably across the borders into Thibet, watching the
+moon rise from the door of some Buddhist monastery. I am glad I am not
+there."
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "I would really like to know why you took so much
+trouble about Shere Ali. It seems to me you might have procured his
+liberation in some simpler way, if it was merely an act of charity that
+you contemplated."
+
+"Call it anything you like. I had read about the poor man until my
+imagination was wrought up, and I could not bear to think of a man so
+brave and patriotic and at the same time a true believer, lying in the
+clutches of that old beast of a maharajah. And as for the method of my
+procedure, do you realise the complete secrecy of the whole affair? Do
+you see that no one but you and I and the Baithopoor people know
+anything of the transaction? Do you suppose that I should be tolerated a
+day in the country if the matter were known? Above all, what do you
+imagine Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would think of me if he knew I had been
+liberating and enriching the worst foe of his little god, Lord
+Beaconsfield?"
+
+There was truth in what he said. By no arrangement could the liberation
+of Shere Ali have been effected with such secrecy and despatch as by the
+simple plan of going ourselves. And now we toiled up the last hills,
+vainly attempting to keep our horses in a canter; long before the relay
+was reached they had relapsed into a dogged jog-trot.
+
+So we reached Simla at sunrise, and crawled wearily up the steps of the
+hotel to our rooms, tired with the cramp of dooly and saddle for so many
+days, and longing for the luxury of the bath, the civilised meal, and
+the arm-chair. Of course I did not suppose Isaacs would go to bed. He
+expected that the Westonhaughs would have returned by this time, and he
+would doubtless go to them as soon as he had breakfasted. So we
+separated to dress and be shaved--my beard was a week old at least--and
+to make ourselves as comfortable as we deserved to be after our manifold
+exertions. We had been three days and a half from Keitung to Simla.
+
+At my door stood the faithful Kiramat Ali, salaaming and making a
+pretence of putting dust on his head according to his ideas of
+respectful greeting. On the table lay letters; one of these, a note, lay
+in a prominent position. I took it instinctively, though I did not know
+the hand. It was from Mr. Currie Ghyrkins.
+
+
+     _Saturday morning_.
+
+     MY DEAR MR. GRIGGS--If you have returned to
+     Simla, I should be glad to see you for half an hour on
+     a matter of urgent importance. I would come to you
+     if I could. My niece, Miss Westonhaugh, is, I am
+     sorry to say, dangerously ill.--Sincerely yours,
+
+     A. CURRIE GHYRKINS.
+
+
+It was dated two days before, for to-day was Monday. I made every
+possible haste in my toilet and ordered a horse. I wondered whether
+Isaacs had received a similar missive. What could be the matter? What
+might not have happened in those two days since the note was written? I
+felt sure that the illness had begun before I left them in the Terai,
+hastened probably by the pain she had felt at Isaacs' departure; there
+is nothing like a little mental worry to hasten an illness, if it is to
+come at all. Poor Miss Westonhaugh! So, after all her gaiety and all the
+enjoyment she had from the tiger-hunt on which she had set her heart,
+she had come back to be ill in Simla. Well, the air was fresh enough
+now--almost cold, in fact. She would soon be well. Still, it was a great
+pity. We might have had such a gay week before breaking up.
+
+I was dressed, and I went down the steps, passing Isaacs' open door. He
+was calmly reading a newspaper and having a morning smoke, until it
+should be time to go out. Clearly he had not heard anything of Miss
+Westonhaugh's illness. I resolved I would say nothing until I knew the
+worst, so I merely put my head in and said I should be back in an hour
+to breakfast with him, and passed on. Once on horseback, I galloped as
+hard as I could, scattering chuprassies and children and marketers to
+right and left in the bazaar. It was not long before I left my horse at
+the corner of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' lawn, and walking to the verandah,
+which looked suspiciously neat and unused, inquired for the master of
+the house. I was shown into his bedroom, for it was still very early and
+he was dressing.
+
+I noticed a considerable change in the old gentleman's manner and
+appearance in the last ten days. His bright red colour was nearly faded,
+his eyes had grown larger and less bright, he had lost flesh, and his
+tone was subdued in the extreme. He came from his dressing-glass to
+greet me with a ghost of the old smile on his face, and his hand
+stretched eagerly out.
+
+"My dear Mr. Griggs, I am sincerely glad to see you."
+
+"I have not been in Simla two hours," I answered, "and I found your
+note. How is Miss Westonhaugh? I am so sorry to----"
+
+"Don't talk about her, Griggs. I am afraid she's g--g--goin' to die." He
+nearly broke down, but he struggled bravely. I was terribly shocked,
+though a moment's reflection told me that so strong and healthy a person
+would not die so easily. I expressed my sympathy as best I could.
+
+"What is it? What is the illness?" I asked when he was quieter.
+
+"Jungle fever, my dear fellow, jungle fever; caught in that beastly
+tiger-hunt. Oh! I wish I had never taken her. I wish we had never gone.
+Why wasn't I firm? Damn it all, sir, why wasn't I firm, eh?" In his
+anger at himself something of the former jerky energy of the man showed
+itself. Then it faded away into the jaded sorrowful look that was on his
+face when I came in. He sat down with his elbows on his knees and his
+hands in his scanty gray hair, his suspenders hanging down at his
+sides--the picture of misery. I tried to console him, but I confess I
+felt very much like breaking down myself. I did not see what I could do,
+except break the bad news to Isaacs.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," he said at last, "she has been asking for you all the
+time, and the doctor thought if you came she had best see you, as it
+might quiet her. Understand?" I understood better than he thought.
+
+People who are dangerously ill have no morning and no evening. Their
+hours are eternally the same, save for the alternation of suffering and
+rest. The nurse and the doctor are their sun and moon, relieving each
+other in the watches of day and night. As they are worse--as they draw
+nearer to eternity, they are less and less governed by ideas of time. A
+dying person will receive a visit at midnight or at mid-day with no
+thought but to see the face of friend--or foe--once more. So I was not
+surprised to find that Miss Westonhaugh would see me; in an interval of
+the fever she had been moved to a chair in her room, and her brother was
+with her. I might go in--indeed she sent a very urgent message imploring
+that I would go. I went.
+
+The morning sun was beating brightly on the shutters, and the room
+looked cheerful as I entered. John Westonhaugh, paler than death, came
+quickly to the door and grasped my hand.
+
+On a long cane-chair by the window, carefully covered from the possible
+danger of any insidious draught, with a mass of soft white wraps and
+shawls, lay Katharine Westonhaugh--the transparant phantasm of her
+brilliant self. The rich masses of pale hair were luxuriously nestled
+around her shoulders and the blazing eyes flamed, lambently, under the
+black brows--but that was all. Colour, beside the gold hair and the
+black eyes, there was hardly any. The strong clean-cut outline of the
+features was there, but absolutely startling in emaciation, so that
+there seemed to be no flesh at all; the pale lips scarcely closed over
+the straight white teeth. A wonderful and a fearful sight to see, that
+stately edifice of queenly strength and beauty thus laid low and
+pillaged and stript of all colour save purple and white--the hues of
+mourning--the purple lips and the white cheek. I have seen many people
+die, and the moment I looked at Katharine Westonhaugh I felt that the
+hand of death was already closed over her, gripped round, never to
+relax. John led me to her side, and a faint smile showed she was glad to
+see me. I knelt reverently down, as one would kneel beside one already
+dead. She spoke first, clearly and easily, as it seemed. People who are
+ill from fever seldom lose the faculty of speech.
+
+"I am so glad you are come. There are many things I want you to do."
+
+"Yes, Miss Westonhaugh. I will do everything."
+
+"Is he come back?" she asked--then, as I looked at her brother, she
+added, "John knows, he is very glad."
+
+"Yes, we came back this morning together; I came here at once."
+
+"Thank you--it was kind. Did you give him the box?"
+
+"Yes--he does not know you are ill. He means to come at eleven."
+
+"Tell him to come now. _Now_--do you understand?" Then she added in a
+low tone, for my ear only, "I don't think they know it; I am dying. I
+shall be dead before to-night. Don't tell him that. Make him come now.
+John knows. Now go. I am tired. No--wait! Did he save the man's life?"
+
+"Yes; the man is safe and free in Thibet."
+
+"That was nobly done. Now go. You have always been kind to me, and you
+love him. When you see me again I shall be gone." Her voice was
+perceptibly weaker, though still clearly audible. "When I am gone, put
+some flowers on me for friendship's sake. You have always been so kind.
+Good-bye, dear Mr. Griggs. Good-bye. God keep you." I moved quickly to
+the door, fearing lest the piteous sight should make a coward of me. It
+was so ineffably pathetic--this lovely creature, just tasting of the cup
+of life and love and dying so.
+
+"Bring him here at once, Griggs, please. I know all about it. It may
+save her." John Westonhaugh clasped my hand in his again, and pushed me
+out to speed me on my errand. I tore along the crooked paths and the
+winding road, up through the bazaar, past the church and the narrow
+causeway beyond to the hotel. I found him still smoking and reading the
+paper.
+
+"Well?" said he cheerfully, for the morning sun had dispelled the doubts
+of the night.
+
+"My dear friend," I said, "Miss Westonhaugh wants to see you
+immediately."
+
+"How? What? Of course; I will go at once, but how did you know?"
+
+"Wait a minute, Isaacs; she is not well at all--in fact, she is quite
+ill."
+
+"What's the matter--for God's sake--Why, Griggs, man, how white you
+are--O my God, my God--she is dead!" I seized him quickly in my arms or
+he would have thrown himself on the ground.
+
+"No," I said, "she is not dead. But, my dear boy, she is dying. I do not
+believe she will live till this evening. Therefore get to horse and ride
+there quickly, before it is too late."
+
+Isaacs was a brave man, and of surpassing strength to endure. After the
+first passionate outburst, his manner never changed as he mechanically
+ordered his horse and pulled on his boots. He was pale naturally, and
+great purple rings seemed to come out beneath his eyes--as if he had
+received a blow--from the intensity of his suppressed emotion. Once only
+he spoke before he mounted.
+
+"What is it?" he asked.
+
+"Jungle fever," I answered. He groaned. "Shall I go with you?" asked I,
+thinking it might be as well. He shook his head, and was off in a
+moment.
+
+I turned to my rooms and threw myself on my bed. Poor fellow; was there
+ever a more piteous case? Oh the cruel misery of feeling that nothing
+could save her! And he--he who would give life and wealth and fortune
+and power to give her back a shade of colour--as much as would tinge a
+rose-leaf, even a very little rose-leaf--and could not. Poor fellow!
+What would he do to-night--to-morrow. I could see him kneeling by her
+side and weeping hot tears over the wasted hands. I could almost hear
+his smothered sob--his last words of speeding to the parting soul--the
+picture grew intensely in my thoughts. How beautiful she would look when
+she was dead!
+
+I started as the thought came into my mind. How superficial was my
+acquaintance with her, poor girl,--how little was she a part of my life,
+since I could really so heartlessly think of her beauty when her breath
+should be gone! Of course, though, it was natural enough, why should I
+feel any personal pang for her? It was odd that I should even expect
+to--I, who never felt a "personal pang" of regret for the death of any
+human creature, excepting poor dear old Lucia, who brought me up, and
+sent me to school, and gave me roast chestnuts when I knew my lessons,
+in the streets of Rome, thirty years ago. When she died, I was there;
+poor old soul, how fond she was of me! And I of her! I remember the
+tears I shed, though I was a bearded man even then. How long is that?
+Since she died, it must be ten years.
+
+My thoughts wandered about among all sorts of _bric-à-brac_ memories.
+Presently something brought me back to the present. Why must this fair
+girl from the north die miserably here in India? Ah yes! the eternal
+why. Why did we go at such a season into the forests of the Terai? it
+was madness; we knew it was, and Ram Lal knew it too. Hence his warning.
+O Ram Lal, you are a wise old man, with your gray beard and you mists of
+wet white velvet and your dark sayings! Ram Lal, will you riddle me,
+also, my weird that I must dree?
+
+A cold draught passed over my head, and I turned on my couch to see
+whence it came. I started bolt upright, and my hair stood on end with
+sudden terror. I had uttered the name of Ram Lal aloud in my reverie,
+and there he sat on a chair by the door, as gray as ever, with his long
+staff leaning from his feet across his breast and shoulder. He looked at
+me quietly.
+
+"I come opportunely, Mr. Griggs, it seems. _Lupus in fabula._ I hear my
+name pronounced as I enter the door. This is flattering to a man of my
+modest pretensions to social popularity. You would like me to tell you
+your fortune? Well, I am not a fortune-teller."
+
+"Never mind my fortune. Will Miss Westonhaugh recover?"
+
+"No. She will die at sundown."
+
+"How do you know, since you say you are no prophet?"
+
+"Because I am a doctor of medicine. M.D. of Edinburgh."
+
+"Why can you not save her then? A man who is a Scotch doctor, and who
+possesses the power of performing such practical jokes on nature as you
+exhibited the other night, might do something. However, I suppose I am
+not talking to you at all. You are in Thibet with Shere Ali. This is
+your astral body, and if I were near enough, I could poke my fingers
+right through you, as you sit there, telling me you are an Edinburgh
+doctor, forsooth."
+
+"Quite right, Mr. Griggs. At the present moment my body is quietly
+asleep in a lamastery in Thibet, and this is my astral shape, which,
+from force of habit, I begin to like almost as well. But to be
+serious----"
+
+"I think it is very serious, your going about in this casual manner."
+
+"To be serious. I warned Isaacs that he should not allow the tiger-hunt
+to come off. He would not heed my warning. It is too late now. I am not
+omnipotent."
+
+"Of course not. Still, you might be of some use if you went there. While
+there is life there is hope."
+
+"Proverbs," said Earn Lai scornfully, "are the wisdom of wise men
+prepared in portable doses for the foolish; and the saying you quote is
+one of them. There is life yet, but there is no hope."
+
+"Well, I am afraid you are right. I saw her this morning--I suppose I
+shall never see her again, not alive, at least. She looked nearly dead
+then. Poor girl; poor Isaacs, left behind!"
+
+"You may well say that, Mr. Griggs," said the adept. "On the whole,
+perhaps he is to be less pitied than she; who knows? Perhaps we should
+pity neither, but rather envy both."
+
+"Why? Either you are talking the tritest of cant, or you are indulging
+in more of your dark sayings, to be interpreted, _post facto_, entirely
+to your own satisfaction, and to every one else's disgust." I was
+impatient with the man. If he had such extraordinary powers as were
+ascribed to him--I never heard him assert that he possessed any; if he
+could prophesy, he might as well do so to some purpose. Why could he not
+speak plainly? He could not impose on me, who was ready to give him
+credit for what he really could do, while finding fault with the way he
+did it.
+
+"I understand what passes in your mind, friend Griggs," he said, not in
+the least disconcerted at my attack. "You want me to speak plainly to
+you, because you think you are a plain-spoken, clear-headed man of
+science yourself. Very well, I will. I think you might yourself become a
+brother some day, if you would. But you will not now, neither will in
+the future. Yet you understand some little distant inkling of the
+science. When you ask your scornful questions of me, you know perfectly
+well that you are putting an inquiry which you yourself can answer as
+well as I. I am not omnipotent. I have very little more power than you.
+Given certain conditions and I can produce certain results, palpable,
+visible, and appreciable to all; but my power, as you know, is itself
+merely the knowledge of the laws of nature, which Western scientists, in
+their wisdom, ignore. I can replenish the oil in the lamp, and while
+there is wick the lamp shall burn--ay, even for hundreds of years. But
+give me a lamp wherein the wick is consumed, and I shall waste my oil;
+for it will not burn unless there be the fibre to carry it. So also is
+the body of man. While there is the flame of vitality and the essence of
+life in his nerves and finer tissues, I will put blood in his veins, and
+if he meet with no accident he may live to see hundreds of generations
+pass by him. But where there is no vitality and no essence of life in a
+man, he must die; for though I fill his veins with blood, and cause his
+heart to beat for a time, there is no spark in him--no fire, no nervous
+strength. So is Miss Westonhaugh now--dead while yet breathing, and
+sighing her sweet farewells to her lover."
+
+"I know. I understand you very well. But do not deny that you might have
+saved her. Why did you not?" Ram Lal smiled a strange smile, which I
+should have described as self-satisfied, had it not been so gentle and
+kind.
+
+"Ah yes!" he said, with something like a sigh, though there was no
+sorrow or regret in it. "Yes, Griggs, I might have saved her life. I
+would certainly have saved her--well, if he had not persuaded her to go
+down into that steaming country at this time of year, since it was my
+advice to remain here. But it is no use talking about it."
+
+"I think you might have conveyed your meaning to him a little more
+clearly. He had no idea that you meant danger to her."
+
+"No, very likely not. It is not my business to mould men's destinies for
+them. If I give them advice that is good, it is quite enough. It is like
+a man playing cards: if he does not seize his chance it does not return.
+Besides, it is much better for him that she should die."
+
+"Your moral reflections are insufferable. Can you not find some one else
+to whom you may confide your secret joy of my friend's misfortunes?"
+
+"Calm yourself. I say it is better for her, better for him, better for
+both. Remember what you said to him yourself about the difference
+between pleasure and happiness. They shall be one yet, their happiness
+shall not be less eternal because their pleasure in this life has been
+brief. Can you not conceive of immortal peace and joy without the
+satisfaction of earthly lust?"
+
+"I would not call such a beautiful union as theirs might have been by
+such a name. For myself, I confess to a very real desire for pleasure
+first and happiness afterwards."
+
+"I know you better than you think, Mr. Griggs. You are merely
+argumentative, rarely sceptical. If I had begun by denying what I
+instead asserted, you would by this time have been arguing as strongly
+on my side as you now are on yours. You are often very near degenerating
+into a common sophist."
+
+"Very likely, it was a charming profession. Meanwhile, by going to the
+very opposite extreme from sophistry, I mean by a more than Quixotic
+veneration for an abstract dogma you hold to be true, and by your
+determination to make people die for it, you are causing fearful misery
+of body, untold agony of soul, to a woman and a man whom you should have
+every reason to like. Go to, Ram Lal, adept, magician, enthusiast, and
+prophet, you are mistaken, like all your kind!"
+
+"No, I am not mistaken, time will show. Moreover, I would have you
+remark that the lady in question is not suffering at all, and that the
+'untold agony of soul' you attribute to Isaacs is a wholesome medicine
+for one with such a soul as his. And now I am going, for you are not the
+sort of person with whom I can enjoy talking very long. You are violent
+and argumentative, though you are sometimes amusing. I am rarely
+violent, and I never argue: life is too short. And yet I have more time
+for it than you, seeing my life will be indefinitely longer than yours.
+Good-bye, for the present; and believe me, those two will be happier
+far, and far more blessed, in a few short years hence, than ever you or
+I shall be in all the unreckonable cycles of this or any future world."
+Ram Lal sighed as he uttered the last words, and he was gone; yet the
+musical cadence of the deep-drawn breath of a profound sorrow, vibrated
+whisperingly through the room where I lay. Poor Ram Lal, he must have
+had some disappointment in his youth, which, with all his wisdom and
+superiority over the common earth, still left a sore place in his heart.
+
+I was not inclined to move. I knew where Isaacs was, where he would
+remain to the bitter end, and I would not go out into the world that
+day, while he was kneeling in the chamber of death. He might come back
+at any time. How long would it last? God in his mercy grant it might be
+soon and quickly over, without suffering. Oh! but those strong people
+die so deathly hard. I have seen a man--No, I was sure of that. She
+would not suffer any more now.
+
+I lay thinking. Would Isaacs send for me when he returned, or would he
+face his grief alone for a night before he spoke? The latter, I thought;
+I hoped so too. How little sympathy there must be for any one, even the
+dearest, in our souls and hearts, when it is so hard to look forward to
+speaking half-a-dozen words of comfort to some poor wretch of a friend
+who has lost everything in the wide world that is dear to him. We would
+rather give him all we possess outright than attempt to console him for
+the loss. And yet--what is there in life more sweet than to be consoled
+and comforted, and to have the true sympathy of some one, even a little
+near to us, when we ourselves are suffering. The people we do not want
+shower cards of condolence on us, and carriage-loads of flowers on the
+poor dead thing; the ones who could be of some help to the tortured soul
+are afraid to speak; the very delicacy of kind-heartedness in them,
+which makes us wish they would come, makes them stay away.
+
+I hope Isaacs will not send for me, poor fellow.
+
+If he does, what shall I say? God help me.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+The hours came and went, and though worn out with the exertions of the
+past days, and with the emotions of the morning, I lay in my rooms,
+unable to sleep even for a moment. I went down once or twice to Isaacs'
+rooms to know whether he had returned, but he had not, nor had any one
+heard from him. At last the evening shadows crept stealthily up,
+darkening first one room, then another, until there was not light enough
+to read by. Then I dropped my book and went out to breathe the cold air
+on the verandah. Wearily the hours went by, and still there was no sign
+of my friend.
+
+Towards eleven o'clock the moon, now waning, once more rose above the
+hills and shed her light across the lawn, splendid still, but with the
+first tinge of melancholy that clouds her departing glory. Exhausted
+nature asserted herself, and chilled to the bone I went to bed, and, at
+last, to sleep.
+
+I slept peacefully at first, but soon the events that had come over my
+life began to weave themselves in wild disharmony through my restful
+visions, and the events that were to come cast their lengthening shadows
+before them. The world of past, present, and future thoughts, came into
+my soul, distorted, without perspective, nothing to help me to discern
+the good from the evil, the suffering gone and long-forgotten from the
+pain in store. The triumph of discrepancy over waking reason, the
+fancied victories of the sleep-dulled intellect over the outrageous
+discord of the wakeful imagination. I passed a most miserable night. It
+seemed rest to wake, until I was awake, and then it seemed rest to sleep
+again, until my eyes were closed. At last it came, no dream this time;
+Isaacs stood by my bed-side in the gray of the morning, himself grayer
+than the soft neutral-tinted dawn. It was a terrible moment to me,
+though I had expected it since yesterday. I felt like the condemned
+criminal in France, who does not know the day or hour of his death. The
+first intimation is when the executioner at daybreak enters his cell and
+bids him come forth to die, sometimes in less than sixty seconds from
+his waking.[2]
+
+How gray he looked, and how infinitely tried. I rose swiftly and took
+his hands, which were deadly cold, and led him to the outer room. I
+could not say anything, for I did not know how such a terribly sudden
+blow would affect him; he was so unlike any one else. Why is it so hard
+to comfort the afflicted? Why should the most charitable duty it is ever
+given us to perform be, without exception, the hardest of tasks?
+
+I am sure most people feel as I do. It is far less painful to suffer
+wounds and sickness in one's own body than to stand by and see the cold
+clean knife go through skin and flesh and cartilage; it is surely easier
+to suffer disease than to smooth daily and hourly the bed and pillows of
+some poor tormented wretch, calling on God and man to end his misery.
+There is a hidden instinct--of a low and cowardly kind, but human
+nevertheless--which bids us turn away from spectacles of agony whether
+harrowing or repulsive, until the good angel comes and whispers that we
+must trample on such coarse impulse and do our duty. "Show pity," said
+the wise old Frenchman, "do anything to alleviate distress, but avoid
+actually feeling either compassion or sympathy. They can lead to no
+good." That was only his way of making to himself an excuse for doing a
+good action, for Larochefoucauld was a man who really possessed every
+virtue that he disclaimed for himself and denied in others.
+
+I felt much of this as I led Isaacs to the outer room, not knowing what
+form his sorrow might take, but feeling in my own person a grief as
+poignant, perhaps, for the moment, as his own. I had known he would
+come, that was all, though I had hoped he would not, and I knew that I
+must do my best to send him away a little less sorrowful than he had
+come. I was not prepared for the extreme calm of voice and manner that
+marked his first words, coming with measured rhythm and even cadence
+from his pale lips.
+
+"It is all over, my friend," he said.
+
+"It has but begun," said the solemn tones of Ram Lal, the Buddhist, from
+the door. He entered and approached us.
+
+"Friend Isaacs," he continued, "I am not here to mock at your grief or
+to weary your strained heartstrings with such petty condolence as
+well-nigh drove Ayoub of old to impatience. But I love you, my brother,
+and I have somewhat to say to you in your trouble, some advice to give
+you in your distress. You are suffering greatly, past the power of
+reason to alleviate, for you no longer know yourself, nor are aware what
+you really think. But I will show to you three pictures of yourself that
+shall rouse you to what you are, to what you were, and to what you shall
+be.
+
+"I found you, not many years ago, a very young man, most exceptionally
+placed in regard to the world. You were even then rich, though not so
+rich as you now are. You were beautiful and full of vigour, but you have
+now upon you the glow of a higher beauty, the overflowing promise of a
+more glorious life. You were happy because you thought you were, but
+such happiness as you had proceeded from without rather than from
+within. You were a materially thinking man. Your thoughts were of the
+flesh, and your delights--harmless it is true--were in the things that
+were under your eyes--wealth, power, book knowledge, and perhaps woman,
+if you can call the creatures you believed in women.
+
+"You gathered wealth in great heaps, and your precious stones in
+storehouses. You laid your hand upon the diamond of the river and upon
+the pearl of the sea, and they abode with you, as the light of the sun
+and the moon. And you said, 'Behold it is my star, which is the lord of
+the dog-heat in summer, and it is my kismet.' You also took to yourself
+wives of rare qualities, having both golden and raven black hair, whose
+skin was as fine silk, and their breath as the freshness of the dawning,
+and their eyes as jewels. Then said you, rejoicing in your heart, that
+you were happy; and so you dwelt in peace and plenty, and waxed glad.
+
+"Therefore you accomplished your first destiny, and you drank of the cup
+that was filled to overflowing. And if it had been the law of nature
+that from pleasure man should derive permanent lasting peace, you had
+been happy so long as you lived. But, though you have the faultless life
+of the body to enjoy all things of the earth, even as other men, though
+in another degree, you have within you something more. There is in your
+breast a heart beating--an organ so wonderful in its sensitiveness, so
+perfect in its consciousness of good, that the least throb and thrill of
+pleasure that it feels is worth years and ages of mere sensual life
+enjoyment. The body having tasted of all happiness whereof it is
+capable, and having found that it is good, is saturated with its own
+ease and enjoys less keenly. But the heart is the border-land between
+body and soul. The heart can love and the body can love, but the body
+can only love itself; the heart is the wellspring of the lore that goes
+beyond self. Therefore your heart awoke.
+
+"Shall I tell you of the first early stirrings of your love? Think you,
+because I am gray and loveless, that I have never known youth and
+gladness of heart? Ah, I know, better than you can think. It is not
+sudden, really, the blossoming out of the tree of life. The small leaves
+grow larger and stronger though still closely folded in the bud, until
+the bright warmth of the spring makes them burst into bloom. The little
+lark in the nest among the grass grows beneath the mother's wing and
+idly moves, now and then, unconscious of the cloud-cleaving gift of
+flight, until all at once, in the fair dawning, there wells up in his
+tiny breast the mighty sense of power to rise.
+
+"The human heart is like the budded folded leaves, and like the untaught
+lark. The quiet sleep before the day of blooming is, while it lasts, a
+state of happiness. But it is not comparable with the breathing joy of
+the leaf that feels and sees the wonderful life around it, whispering
+divine answers to the wooing breeze. The humble nest where it has first
+seen light is for many days a happy home to the tender songster, soon
+left behind, when the first wing-strokes waft the small body upwards to
+the sky, and forgotten as the first glad trill and quaver of the
+new-found voice roll out the prelude to the glorious life-long hymn of
+praise. The heart of man--your heart, my dear friend--gave a great leap
+from earth to sky, when first it felt the magic of the other life. The
+grosser scales of material vision fell away from your inner sight on the
+day when you met, and knew you had met, the woman you were to love.
+
+"I found you again, a different man, a far happier man, though you would
+hardly allow that. A sweet uncertainty of the future half-tinged your
+joy with a shadow of sadness, which you had not known before: but love
+sadness is only the shading and gentle pencilling in love's wondrous
+picture, whereby the whole light of the painting is made clearer and
+stronger. A new world opened out before you in endless vistas of untold
+and undreamed bliss. You looked back at your former self, so careless
+and sunny, so consciously happy in the strong sense of life and power,
+and you wondered how you could have been even contented through so many
+years. The good and evil deeds of your past life lost colour and
+perspective, and fell back into a dull, flat background, against which
+the ineffable vision of beautiful and immortal womanhood stood forth in
+transcendent glory. The eternal womanly element of the great universe
+beckoned you on, as it did Doctor Faustus of old. You had hitherto
+accepted woman and ignored womanhood, as so many of the followers of the
+prophet have always done. Henceforth there was to be a change, entire,
+complete, and enduring. No doubts now, or careless scepticism; no cant
+about women having no souls and no individual being; you had made a
+great step to a better understanding of the world you live in. Filled
+with a new life, you went on your way rejoicing and longing to do great
+deeds for her who had come into your destiny. From dawn to sunset, and
+from evening to dawn, one picture ever was before you leading you on.
+You were ready to run any risk for a smile and a blush of pleasure, you
+were willing to sacrifice anything and everything for her praise. And
+when, down there among the mango-trees in the Terai, your lips first
+touched hers and your arm pressed her to your side, the joy that was
+yours was as the joy of the immortals."
+
+Ram Lal paused, and Isaacs, who had been sitting by the table, stony and
+dry-eyed, hid his face in his hands, clutching with his white fingers
+among his bright black hair--all that seemed left to him of life, so
+dead and ashy was his face. He remained thus without looking up, as the
+old man continued.
+
+"Think not, dear friend and brother, that I have come here to dwell
+needlessly on your grief, to rouse again the keen agonies that have so
+lately burned through and through you to the quick. I love you well, and
+would but trace the past in order to paint the future. All that you felt
+and knew in those short days of perfect love on earth was good and true
+and noble, and shall not be forgotten hereafter. But last night closed
+the second of your three destinies--as true love always must close on
+earth--in bitter grief and sorrow because the one is gone before. Rather
+should you rejoice, Abdul Hafiz, that she is gone in virgin whiteness,
+whither ere long you shall follow and be with her till time shall chase
+the crumbling world out over the broad quicksands of eternity, and
+nought shall survive of all this but the pure and the constant and the
+faithful to death. There is before you a third, destiny, great and
+awful, but grand beyond power of telling. Body and heart have had their
+full cup of happiness, have enjoyed to the full what has been set in
+their way to enjoy. To the full you have enjoyed wealth and success and
+the sensuality of a refined and artistic luxury; to the full, as only a
+few rarely-gifted men can, you have enjoyed the purest and highest love
+that earth can give. Think not that all ends here. The greatest of
+destinies is but begun, and it is the destiny of the soul. Two days ago
+if I had told you there was something higher in you than the loving
+heart, you would not have believed me; now you do. It is the ethereal
+portion of the heart, that which longs to be loosed from the body and
+floating upwards to rejoin its other half.
+
+"Your love has been of the best kind that falls to the lot of man. Not a
+single shadow of doubting fell between you. It has been sweet if it has
+seemed short--but it has really lasted a long time, as long as some
+people's lives. You are many years older than you were when it began,
+for a month or two ago--or whenever it was that your heart first
+awoke--you were entirely immersed in the material view of things that
+belonged naturally enough to your position and mode of life. Now you
+have passed the critical border-land wherein love wanders, himself not
+knowing whither he shall lead his followers, whether back to the thick
+green pasture and heavy-scented groves of sensual existence or forward
+to free wind-swept heights of spiritual blessedness, where those who are
+true until they die walk forth into truth everlasting. Yours is the
+faith and the truth that abide always, yours henceforward shall be the
+perfect union of souls, yours the ethereal range of the outer firmament.
+Take my hand, brother, in yours, and seek with me the path to those
+heights--to that pinnacle of paradise where you shall meet once more the
+spirit elected to yours."
+
+Ram Lal stood beside Isaacs, whose face was still hidden, and laid his
+hand with tender gentleness on the weary head. The old man looked kindly
+down as he touched the thick black hair, and then raised his eyes and
+looked out through the door at the brightening landscape over which the
+morning sun was shedding warmth and beauty once more.
+
+"Brother," he continued, "come forth with me. You have suffered too much
+to mix again with the world, even if you wished it. Come forth, and your
+soul shall live for ever. Your grief shall be turned to joy, and the
+sinking heart shall be lifted to heights untried. As now the sun
+steadily rises in his unerring course, following the pale footsteps of
+the fleet dawning, and fulfilling her half spoken promises a
+million-fold in his goodness; as now the all-muffling heaviness of the
+sad dark night is forgotten in the gladness of day--so shall your brief
+time of darkness and dull distress perish and vanish swiftly at the
+first glimpses of the heavenly day on which follows no creeping night
+nor shadow of earthly care. I come not to bid you forget; I come to bid
+you remember. Remember all that is past, treasure it in the secret
+storehouse of the soul where the few flowers culled from life's abundant
+thorn are laid in their fragrance and garnered up. Remember also the
+future. Think that your time is short, and that the labour shall be
+sweet; so that in a few quick years you shall reap a harvest of
+unearthly blooming. Fear not to tread boldly in the tracks of those who
+have climbed before you, and who have attained and have conquered. What
+can anything earthly ever be to you? What can you ever care again for
+gold, or gem, or horse, or slave? Do with those things as it may seem
+good in your eyes, but leave them behind. The weight of the money-bags
+is a weariness and soreness to the feet that toil to overtake eternity.
+The flesh itself is weariness to the spirit, and soon leaves it to wing
+its flight untrammelled and untiring. Come, I will give you of my poor
+strength what shall carry your uncertain steps over the first great
+difficulties, or at least over so many as you have not yet surmounted.
+Be bold, aspiring, fearless, and firm of purpose. What guerdon can man
+or Heaven offer, higher than eternal communion with the bright spirit
+that waits and watches for your coming? With her--you said it while she
+lived--was your life, your light, and your love; it is true tenfold now,
+for with her is life eternal, light ethereal, and love spiritual. Come,
+brother, come with me!"
+
+Slowly Isaacs raised his head from his hands and gazed long on the old
+man. And while he gazed it was as if his pale face were transparent and
+the whiteness of the burning spirit, dazzling to see, came and went
+quickly and came again as flashes in the northern sky. Slowly he rose to
+his feet, and laying his hand in the Buddhist's, spoke at last.
+
+"Brother, I come," he said. "Show me the way."
+
+"Right gladly will I be thy guide, Abdul," Ram Lal gave answer. "Right
+willingly will I go with thee whither thou wouldest. Never was teacher
+sought by more worthy pupil; never did man embrace the pure life of the
+brethren with more single heart or truer purpose. The way shall be short
+that leads thee upward, the stones that are therein shall be as wings to
+lift thy feet instead of stumbling-blocks for thy destruction. The
+hidden forces of nature shall lend thee strength, and her secrets
+wisdom; the deep sweet springs of the eternal water shall refresh thee
+and the food of the angels shall be thine. Thy sorrows shall turn from
+bitter into sweet, and from the stings of thy past agonies shall grow up
+the golden flowers of thy future crown. Thou shalt not tire in the way,
+nor crave rest by the wayside."
+
+"Friend, tell me what I shall do that I may attain all this."
+
+"Be faithful to her who has preceded you, and learn of us, who know it,
+wherein consists true happiness. You need but little help, dear friend.
+Banish only from your thoughts the human suggestion that what you love
+most is lost, gone irrevocably. Rejoice, and mourn not, that she has
+entered in already where all your striving is to follow. Be glad because
+she looks on those sights and hears those sounds which are too bright
+and strong yet for your eyes and ears. Some of these unspeakable things
+you shall perceive with your perishable body; but the more perfect and
+glorious remain hidden to our mortal senses, be they ever so keen and
+exquisite. Believe me, you shall reach that state before I do. My poor
+soul is still bound to earth by some slender bonds of pleasure and
+contemptible pain, fine indeed as threads of gossamer, and soon, I
+trust, to be shaken off for ever. Yet am I bound and not utterly free.
+You, my brother, have been wrenched suddenly from the life of the body
+to the life of the soul. In you the vile desire to live for living's
+sake will soon be dead, if it is not dead already. Your soul, drawn
+strongly upward to other spheres, is well nigh loosed from love of life
+and fear of death. If at this moment you could lie down and die, you
+would meet your end joyfully. Very subtle are the fast-vanishing links
+between you and the world; very thin and impalpable the faint shadows
+that mar to your vision those transcendent hues of heavenly glory you
+shall so soon behold. Look forward, look upward, look onward--never once
+look back, and your waiting shall not be long, nor her watching many
+days. She stands before you, beckoning and praying that you tarry not.
+See that you do her bidding faithfully, as being near the blessed end,
+and fearful of losing even one moment in the attainment of what you
+seek."
+
+"Fear not, Ram Lal. My determination shall not fail me, nor my courage
+waver, until all is reached."
+
+The light of another world was on the beautiful brow and features as he
+looked full at his future teacher. What strange powers these adept
+brethren have! What marvellous magnetism over the souls of lesser
+men--whereby they turn sorrow into gladness, and defeat into triumph by
+mere words. I myself, bound by thought and word and deed to the lesser
+life, was not unmoved by the glorious promises that flowed with glowing
+eloquence from the lips of that gray old man in the early morning. They
+moved toward the door. Ram Lal spoke as he turned away.
+
+"We leave you, friend Griggs, but we will return this evening and bid
+you farewell." So I was left alone. Another comforter had taken my
+place; one knowing human nature better, and well versed in the learning
+of the spirit. One of that small band of high priests who in all ages
+and nations and religions and societies have been the mediators between
+time and eternity, to cheer and comfort the broken-hearted, to rebuke
+him who would lose his own soul, to speed the awakening spirit in its
+heavenward flight.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As I sat in my room that night the door opened and they were with me,
+standing hand in hand.
+
+"My friend," said Isaacs, "I have come to bid you farewell. You will
+never see me again. I am here once more to thank you, from the bottom of
+my heart, for your friendship and kind offices, for the strength of your
+arm in the hour of need, and for the gold of your words in time of
+uncertainty."
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "I know little of the journey you are undertaking, and
+I cannot go with you. This I know, that you are very near to a life I
+cannot hope for; and I pray God that you may speed quickly to the
+desired end, that you may attain that happiness which your brave soul
+and honest heart so well deserve. Once more, then, I offer you my
+fullest service, if there is anything that I still can do."
+
+"There is nothing," he answered, "though if there were I know you would
+do it gladly and entirely. I have bestowed all my worldly possessions on
+the one man besides yourself to whom I owe a debt of gratitude--John
+Westonhaugh. Had I known you less well, I would have made you a sharer
+in my forsaken wealth. Only this I beg of you. Take this gem and keep it
+always for my sake. No--do not look at it in that way. Do not consider
+its value. It is to recall one who will often think of you, for you have
+been a great deal to me in this month."
+
+"I would I might have been more," I said, and it was all I could say,
+for my voice failed me.
+
+"Think of me," he continued, and the bright light shone through his face
+in the dusk, "think of me, not as you see me now, or as I was this
+morning, bowed beneath a great sorrow, but as looking forward to a
+happiness that transcends this mortal joy that I have lost, even as the
+glory of things celestial transcends the glory of the terrestrial. Think
+of me, not as mourning the departed day, but as watching longingly for
+the first faint dawn of the day eternal. Above all, think of me not as
+alone but as wedded for all ages to her who has gone before me."
+
+Ram Lal laid his hand on my arm and looked long into my eyes.
+
+"Farewell for the present, my chance acquaintance," he said, "and
+remember that in me you have a friend. The day may come when you too
+will be in dire distress, beyond the skill of mere solitude and books to
+soothe. Farewell, and may all good things be with you."
+
+Isaacs laid his two hands on my shoulders, and once more I met the
+wondrous lustre of his eyes, now veiled but not darkened with the last
+look of his tender friendship.
+
+"Good-bye, my dear Griggs. You have been the instructor and the genius
+of my love. Learn yourself the lessons you can teach others so well. Be
+yourself what you would have made me."
+
+One last loving look--one more pressure of the reluctant fingers, and
+those two went out, hand in hand, under the clear stars, and I saw them
+no more.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+Footnote 1: Sir Gore Ousely, _Notices of the Persian Poets_.
+
+Footnote 2: A fact, as is well known.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
+
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
+  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type"
+        content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
+  <title>Mr. Isaacs</title>
+  <style type="text/css">
+
+  body
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+
+  p
+  {text-align: justify;}
+
+  blockquote
+  {text-align: justify;}
+
+  h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6
+  {text-align: center;}
+
+  hr
+  {text-align: center; width: 50%;}
+
+  html>body hr
+  {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;}
+
+  hr.full
+  {width: 100%;}
+  html>body hr.full
+  {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;}
+
+  pre
+  {font-size: 0.7em; color: #000; background-color: #FFF;}
+
+  .poetry
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 0%;
+  text-align: left;}
+
+  .footnote
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;
+  font-size: 0.9em;}
+
+  .index
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;
+  text-align: center;}
+
+  .figure
+  {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;
+  text-align: center; font-size: 0.8em;}
+  .figure img
+  {border: none;}
+
+  .date
+  {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;
+  text-align: right;}
+
+  span.rightnote
+  {position: absolute; left: 92%; right: 1%;
+  font-size: 0.7em; border-bottom: solid 1px;}
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+
+  span.linenum
+  {float:right;
+  text-align: right; font-size: 0.7em;}
+  </style>
+</head>
+
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Mr. Isaacs
+
+Author: F. Marion Crawford
+
+Release Date: August 31, 2004 [EBook #13340]
+[Last updated: September 24, 2015]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. ISAACS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+<h1>MR. ISAACS</h1>
+<h2>A Tale of Modern India</h2>
+<br />
+<h3>BY</h3>
+<h2>F. MARION CRAWFORD</h2>
+<br />
+<h4>WITH FRONTISPIECE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<br />
+<h4>1882</h4> <h4>BY F. MARION CRAWFORD</h4>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="figure"> <a name="isaacs001"><img width="80%" alt="Illustration:
+HER FACE WAS WHITER THAN HIS" src="isaacs001.png" /></a><br
+/> HER FACE WAS WHITER THAN HIS, THOUGH NOT A QUIVER OF MOUTH OR EYELASH
+BETRAYED HER EMOTION. &mdash;<i>Mr. Isaacs</i>.</p>
+<br />
+
+
+
+
+<p>CONTENTS</p>
+
+<a href='#CHAPTER_I'>CHAPTER I</a><br />
+<a href='#Chapter_II'>CHAPTER II</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_III'>CHAPTER III</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_IV'>CHAPTER IV</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_V'>CHAPTER V</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_VI'>CHAPTER VI</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_VII'>CHAPTER VII</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_VIII'>CHAPTER VIII</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_IX'>CHAPTER IX</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_X'>CHAPTER X</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_XI'>CHAPTER XI</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_XII'>CHAPTER XII</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_XIII'>CHAPTER XIII</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_XIV'>CHAPTER XIV</a><br />
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_1"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_I'></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In spite of Jean-Jacques and his school, men are not everywhere born
+free, any more than they are everywhere in chains, unless these be of their
+own individual making. Especially in countries where excessive liberty or
+excessive tyranny favours the growth of that class most usually designated
+as adventurers, it is true that man, by his own dominant will, or by a
+still more potent servility, may rise to any grade of elevation; as by the
+absence of these qualities he may fall to any depth in the social
+scale.</p>
+
+<p>Wherever freedom degenerates into license, the ruthless predatory
+instinct of certain bold and unscrupulous persons may, and almost certainly
+will, place at their disposal the goods, the honours, and the preferment
+justly the due of others; and in those more numerous and certainly more
+unhappy countries, where the rule of the tyrant is substituted for <a
+name="Page_2"></a>the law of God, the unwearying flatterer, patient under
+blows and abstemious under high-feeding, will assuredly make his way to
+power.</p>
+
+<p>Without doubt the Eastern portion of the world, where an hereditary, or
+at least traditional, despotism has never ceased since the earliest social
+records, and where a mode of thought infinitely more degrading than any
+feudalism has become ingrained in the blood and soul of the chief races,
+presents far more favourable conditions to the growth and development of
+the true adventurer than are offered in any free country. For in a free
+country the majority can rise and overthrow the favourite of fortune,
+whereas in a despotic country they cannot. Of Eastern countries in this
+condition, Russia is the nearest to us; though perhaps we understand the
+Chinese character better than the Russian. The Ottoman empire and Persia
+are, and always have been, swayed by a clever band of flatterers acting
+through their nominal master; while India, under the kindly British rule,
+is a perfect instance of a ruthless military despotism, where neither blood
+nor stratagem have been spared in exacting the uttermost farthing from the
+miserable serfs&mdash;they are nothing else&mdash;and in robbing and defrauding the
+rich of their just and lawful possessions. All these countries teem with
+stories of adventurers risen from the ranks to the command of armies, of
+itinerant merchants wedded to princesses, of hardy sailors promoted to
+admiralties, of half-educated younger sons of English peers dying in the
+undisputed possession <a name="Page_3"></a>of ill-gotten millions. With the
+strong personal despotism of the First Napoleon began a new era of
+adventurers in France; not of elegant and accomplished adventurers like M.
+de St. Germain, Cagliostro, or the Comtesse de la Motte, but regular
+rag-tag-and-bobtail cut-throat moss-troopers, who carved and slashed
+themselves into notice by sheer animal strength and brutality.</p>
+
+<p>There is infinitely more grace and romance about the Eastern adventurer.
+There is very little slashing and hewing to be done there, and what there
+is, is managed as quietly as possible. When a Sultan must be rid of the
+last superfluous wife, she is quietly done up in a parcel with a few shot,
+and dropped into the Bosphorus without more ado. The good old-fashioned
+Rajah of Mudpoor did his killing without scandal, and when the kindly
+British wish to keep a secret, the man is hanged in a quiet place where
+there are no reporters. As in the Greek tragedies, the butchery is done
+behind the scenes, and there is no glory connected with the business, only
+gain. The ghosts of the slain sometimes appear in the columns of the
+recalcitrant Indian newspapers and gibber a feeble little "Otototoi!" after
+the manner of the shade of Dareios, but there is very little heed paid to
+such visitations by the kindly British. But though the "raw head and bloody
+bones" type of adventurer is little in demand in the East, there is plenty
+of scope for the intelligent and wary flatterer, and some room for the
+honest man of superior gifts, <a name="Page_4"></a>who is sufficiently free
+from Oriental prejudice to do energetically the thing which comes in his
+way, distancing all competitors for the favours of fortune by sheer
+industry and unerring foresight.</p>
+
+<p>I once knew a man in the East who was neither a flatterer nor
+freebooter, but who by his own masterly perseverance worked his way to
+immense wealth, and to such power as wealth commands, though his high view
+of the social aims of mankind deterred him from mixing in political
+questions. <i>Bon chien chasse de race</i> is a proverb which applies to
+horses, cattle, and men, as well as to dogs; and in this man, who was a
+noble type of the Aryan race, the qualities which have made that race
+dominant were developed in the highest degree. The sequel, indeed, might
+lead the ethnographer into a labyrinth of conjecture, but the story is too
+tempting a one for me to forego telling it, although the said ethnographer
+should lose his wits in striving to solve the puzzle.</p>
+
+<p>In September, 1879, I was at Simla in the lower Himalayas,&mdash;at the time
+of the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari at Kabul,&mdash;being called there in the
+interests of an Anglo-Indian newspaper, of which I was then editor. In
+other countries, notably in Europe and in America, there are hundreds of
+spots by the sea-shore, or on the mountain-side, where specific ills may be
+cured by their corresponding antidotes of air or water, or both. Following
+the aristocratic and holy example of the Bishops of Salzburg for the last
+eight centuries, the sovereigns of the Continent are told <a
+name="Page_5"></a>that the air and waters of Hofgastein are the only
+nenuphar for the over-taxed brain in labour beneath a crown. The
+self-indulgent sybarite is recommended to Ems, or Wiesbaden, or
+Aix-la-Chapelle, and the quasi-incurable sensualist to Aix in Savoy, or to
+Karlsbad in Bohemia. In our own magnificent land Bethesdas abound, in every
+state, from the attractive waters of lotus-eating Saratoga to the magnetic
+springs of Lansing, Michigan; from Virginia, the carcanet of sources, the
+heaving, the warm, the hot sulphur springs, the white sulphur, the alum, to
+the hot springs of Arkansas, the Ultima Thule of our migratory and
+despairing humanity. But in India, whatever the ailing, low fever, high
+fever, "brandy pawnee" fever, malaria caught in the chase of tigers in the
+Terai, or dysentery imbibed on the banks of the Ganges, there is only one
+cure, the "hills;" and chief of "hill-stations" is Simla.</p>
+
+<p>On the hip rather than on the shoulder of the aspiring Himalayas,
+Simla&mdash;or Shumla, as the natives call it&mdash;presents during the wet monsoon
+period a concourse of pilgrims more varied even than the Bagn&egrave;res de
+Bigorre in the south of France, where the gay Frenchman asks permission of
+the lady with whom he is conversing to leave her abruptly, in order to part
+with his remaining lung, the loss of the first having brought him there.
+"Pardon, madame," said he, "je m'en vais cracher mon autre poumon."</p>
+
+<p>To Simla the whole supreme Government migrates for the summer&mdash;Viceroy,
+council, clerks, printers, <a name="Page_6"></a>and hangers-on. Thither the
+high official from the plains takes his wife, his daughters, and his liver.
+There the journalists congregate to pick up the news that oozes through the
+pent-house of Government secrecy, and failing such scant drops of
+information, to manufacture as much as is necessary to fill the columns of
+their dailies. On the slopes of "Jako"&mdash;the wooded eminence that rises
+above the town&mdash;the enterprising German establishes his concert-hall and
+his beer-garden; among the rhododendron trees Madame Blavatzky, Colonel
+Olcott and Mr. Sinnett move mysteriously in the performance of their
+wonders; and the wealthy tourist from America, the botanist from Berlin,
+and the casual peer from Great Britain, are not wanting to complete the
+motley crowd. There are no roads in Simla proper where it is possible to
+drive, excepting one narrow way, reserved when I was there, and probably
+still set apart, for the exclusive delectation of the Viceroy. Every one
+rides&mdash;man, woman, and child; and every variety of horseflesh may be seen
+in abundance, from Lord Steepleton Kildare's thoroughbreds to the
+broad-sterned equestrian vessel of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, the Revenue
+Commissioner of Mudnugger in Bengal. But I need not now dwell long on the
+description of this highly-favoured spot, where Baron de Zach might have
+added force to his demonstration of the attraction of mountains for the
+pendulum. Having achieved my orientation and established my servants and
+luggage in one of the reputed hotels, I <a name="Page_7"></a>began to look
+about me, and, like an intelligent American observer, as I pride myself
+that I am, I found considerable pleasure in studying out the character of
+such of the changing crowd on the verandah and on the mall as caught my
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>At last the dinner-hour came. With the rest I filed into the large
+dining-room and took my seat. The place allotted to me was the last at one
+side of the long table, and the chair opposite was vacant, though two
+remarkably well-dressed servants, in turbans of white and gold, stood with
+folded arms behind it, apparently awaiting their master. Nor was he long in
+coming. I never remember to have been so much struck by the personal
+appearance of any man in my life. He sat down opposite me, and immediately
+one of his two servants, or <i>khitmatgars</i>, as they are called,
+retired, and came back bearing a priceless goblet and flask of the purest
+old Venetian mould. Filling the former, he ceremoniously presented his
+master with a brimming beaker of cold water. A water-drinker in India is
+always a phenomenon, but a water-drinker who did the thing so artistically
+was such a manifestation as I had never seen. I was interested beyond the
+possibility of holding my peace, and as I watched the man's abstemious
+meal,&mdash;for he ate little,&mdash;I contrasted him with our neighbours at the
+board, who seemed to be vying, like the captives of Circe, to ascertain by
+trial who could swallow the most beef and mountain mutton, and who could
+absorb the most "pegs"&mdash;those vile <a name="Page_8"></a>concoctions of
+spirits, ice, and soda-water, which have destroyed so many splendid
+constitutions under the tropical sun. As I watched him an impression came
+over me that he must be an Italian. I scanned his appearance narrowly, and
+watched for a word that should betray his accent. He spoke to his servant
+in Hindustani, and I noticed at once the peculiar sound of the dental
+consonants, never to be acquired by a northern-born person.</p>
+
+<p>Before I go farther, let me try and describe Mr. Isaacs; I certainly
+could not have done so satisfactorily after my first meeting, but
+subsequent acquaintance, and the events I am about to chronicle, threw me
+so often in his society, and gave me such ample opportunities of
+observation, that the minutest details of his form and feature, as well as
+the smallest peculiarities of his character and manner, are indelibly
+graven in my memory.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was a man of more than medium stature, though he would never be
+spoken of as tall. An easy grace marked his movements at all times, whether
+deliberate or vehement,&mdash;and he often went to each extreme,&mdash;a grace which
+no one acquainted with the science of the human frame would be at a loss to
+explain for a moment. The perfect harmony of all the parts, the even
+symmetry of every muscle, the equal distribution of a strength, not
+colossal and overwhelming, but ever ready for action, the natural courtesy
+of gesture&mdash;all told of a body in which true proportion of every limb and
+sinew were at once <a name="Page_9"></a>the main feature and the pervading
+characteristic. This infinitely supple and swiftly-moving figure was but
+the pedestal, as it were, for the noble face and nobler brain to which it
+owed its life and majestic bearing. A long oval face of a wondrous
+transparent olive tint, and of a decidedly Oriental type. A prominent brow
+and arched but delicate eyebrows fitly surmounted a nose smoothly aquiline,
+but with the broad well-set nostrils that bespeak active courage. His
+mouth, often smiling, never laughed, and the lips, though closely meeting,
+were not thin and writhing and cunning, as one so often sees in eastern
+faces, but rather inclined to a generous Greek fullness, the curling lines
+ever ready to express a sympathy or a scorn which, the commanding features
+above seemed to control and curb, as the stern, square-elbowed Arab checks
+his rebellious horse, or gives him the rein, at will.</p>
+
+<p>But though Mr. Isaacs was endowed with exceptional gifts of beauty by a
+bountiful nature, those I have enumerated were by no means what first
+attracted the attention of the observer. I have spoken of his graceful
+figure and perfect Iranian features, but I hardly noticed either at our
+first meeting. I was enthralled and fascinated by his eyes. I once saw in
+France a jewel composed of six precious stones, each a gem of great value,
+so set that they appeared to form but one solid mass, yielding a strange
+radiance that changed its hue at every movement, and multiplied the
+sunlight a thousand-fold. Were I to seek <a name="Page_10"></a>a comparison
+for my friend's eyes, I might find an imperfect one in this masterpiece of
+the jeweler's art. They were dark and of remarkable size; when half closed
+they were long and almond-shaped; when suddenly opened in anger or surprise
+they had the roundness and bold keenness of the eagle's sight. There was a
+depth of life and vital light in them that told of the pent-up force of a
+hundred generations of Persian magii. They blazed with the splendour of a
+god-like nature, needing neither meat nor strong drink to feed its
+power.</p>
+
+<p>My mind was made up. Between his eyes, his temperance, and his dental
+consonants, he certainly might be an Italian. Being myself a native of
+Italy, though an American by parentage, I addressed him in the language,
+feeling comparatively sure of his answer. To my surprise, and somewhat to
+my confusion, he answered in two words of modern Greek&mdash;"[Greek: <i>den
+eno&ecirc;sa</i>]"&mdash;"I do not understand." He evidently supposed I was
+speaking a Greek dialect, and answered in the one phrase of that tongue
+which he knew, and not a good phrase at that.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," said I in English, "I believed you a countryman, and
+ventured to address you in my native tongue. May I inquire whether you
+speak English?"</p>
+
+<p>I was not a little astonished when he answered me in pure English, and
+with an evident command of the language. We fell into conversation, and I
+found him pungent, ready, impressive, and most <a
+name="Page_11"></a>entertaining, thoroughly acquainted with Anglo-Indian
+and English topics, and apparently well read. An Indian dinner is a long
+affair, so that we had ample time to break the ice, an easy matter always
+for people who are not English, and when, after the fruit, he invited me to
+come down and smoke with him in his rooms, I gladly availed myself of the
+opportunity. We separated for a few moments, and I despatched my servant to
+the manager of the hotel to ascertain the name of the strange gentleman who
+looked like an Italian and spoke like a fellow of Balliol. Having
+discovered that he was a "Mr. Isaacs," I wended my way through verandahs
+and corridors, preceded by a <i>chuprassie</i> and followed by my
+pipe-bearer, till I came to his rooms.</p>
+
+<p>The fashion of the hookah or narghyle in India has long disappeared from
+the English portion of society. Its place has been assumed and usurped by
+the cheroot from Burmah or Trichinopoli, by the cigarette from Egypt, or
+the more expensive Manilla and Havana cigars. I, however, in an early burst
+of Oriental enthusiasm, had ventured upon the obsolete fashion, and so
+charmed was I by the indolent aromatic enjoyment I got from the rather
+cumbrous machine, that I never gave it up while in the East. So when Mr.
+Isaacs invited me to come and smoke in his rooms, or rather before his
+rooms, for the September air was still warm in the hills, I ordered my
+"bearer" to bring down the apparatus and to prepare it for use. I myself
+passed through the glass <a name="Page_12"></a>door in accordance with my
+new acquaintance's invitation, curious to see the kind of abode in which a
+man who struck me as being so unlike his fellows spent his summer months.
+For some minutes after I entered I did not speak, and indeed I hardly
+breathed. It seemed to me that I was suddenly transported into the
+subterranean chambers whither the wicked magician sent Aladdin in quest of
+the lamp. A soft but strong light filled the room, though I did not
+immediately comprehend whence it came, nor did I think to look, so amazed
+was I by the extraordinary splendour of the objects that met my eyes. In
+the first glance it appeared as if the walls and the ceiling were lined
+with gold and precious stones; and in reality it was almost literally the
+truth. The apartment, I soon saw, was small,&mdash;for India at least,&mdash;and
+every available space, nook and cranny, were filled with gold and jeweled
+ornaments, shining weapons, or uncouth but resplendent idols. There were
+sabres in scabbards set from end to end with diamonds and sapphires, with
+cross hilts of rubies in massive gold mounting, the spoil of some worsted
+rajah or Nawab of the mutiny. There were narghyles four feet high, crusted
+with gems and curiously wrought work from Baghdad or Herat; water flasks of
+gold and drinking cups of jade; yataghans from Bourn and idols from the far
+East. Gorgeous lamps of the octagonal Oriental shape hung from the ceiling,
+and, fed by aromatic oils, shed their soothing light on all around. The
+floor was covered <a name="Page_13"></a>with a rich soft pile, and low
+divans were heaped with cushions of deep-tinted silk and gold. On the
+floor, in a corner which seemed the favourite resting-place of my host, lay
+open two or three superbly illuminated Arabic manuscripts, and from a
+chafing dish of silver near by a thin thread of snow-white smoke sent up
+its faint perfume through the still air. To find myself transported from
+the conventionalities of a stiff and starched Anglo-Indian hotel to such a
+scene was something novel and delicious in the extreme. No wonder I stood
+speechless and amazed. Mr. Isaacs remained near the door while I breathed
+in the strange sights to which he had introduced me. At last I turned, and
+from contemplating the magnificence of inanimate wealth I was riveted by
+the majestic face and expression of the beautiful living creature who, by a
+turn of his wand, or, to speak prosaically, by an invitation to smoke, had
+lifted me out of humdrum into a land peopled with all the effulgent
+phantasies and the priceless realities of the magic East. As I gazed, it
+seemed as if the illumination from the lamps above were caught up and flung
+back with the vitality of living fire by his dark eyes, in which more than
+ever I saw and realised the inexplicable blending of the precious stones
+with the burning spark of a divine soul breathing within. For some moments
+we stood thus; he evidently amused at my astonishment, and I fascinated and
+excited by the problem presented me for solution in his person and
+possessions.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_14"></a>"Yes," said Isaacs, "you are naturally surprised
+at my little Eldorado, so snugly hidden away in the lower story of a
+commonplace hotel. Perhaps you are surprised at finding me here, too. But
+come out into the air, your hookah is blazing, and so are the stars."</p>
+
+<p>I followed him into the verandah, where the long cane chairs of the
+country were placed, and taking the tube of the pipe from the solemn
+Mussulman whose duty it was to prepare it, I stretched myself out in that
+indolent lazy peace which is only to be enjoyed in tropical countries.
+Silent and for the nonce perfectly happy, I slowly inhaled the fragrant
+vapour of tobacco and aromatic herbs and honey with which the hookah is
+filled. No sound save the monotonous bubbling and chuckling of the smoke
+through the water, or the gentle rustle of the leaves on the huge
+rhododendron-tree which reared its dusky branches to the night in the
+middle of the lawn. There was no moon, though the stars were bright and
+clear, the foaming path of the milky way stretching overhead like the wake
+of some great heavenly ship; a soft mellow lustre from the lamps in Isaacs'
+room threw a golden stain half across the verandah, and the chafing dish
+within, as the light breeze fanned the coals, sent out a little cloud of
+perfume which mingled pleasantly with the odour of the <i>chillum</i> in
+the pipe. The turbaned servant squatted on the edge of the steps at a
+little distance, peering into the dusk, as Indians will do for hours
+together. Isaacs <a name="Page_15"></a>lay quite still in his chair, his
+hands above his head, the light through the open door just falling on the
+jeweled mouthpiece of his narghyle. He sighed&mdash;a sigh only half regretful,
+half contented, and seemed about to speak, but the spirit did not move him,
+and the profound silence continued. For my part, I was so much absorbed in
+my reflections on the things I had seen that I had nothing to say, and the
+strange personality of the man made me wish to let him begin upon his own
+subject, if perchance I might gain some insight into his mind and mode of
+thought. There are times when silence seems to be sacred, even
+unaccountably so. A feeling is in us that to speak would be almost a
+sacrilege, though we are unable to account in any way for the pause. At
+such moments every one seems instinctively to feel the same influence, and
+the first person who breaks the spell either experiences a sensation of
+awkwardness, and says something very foolish, or, conscious of the odds
+against him, delivers himself of a sentiment of ponderous severity and
+sententiousness. As I smoked, watching the great flaming bowl of the water
+pipe, a little coal, forced up by the expansion of the heat, toppled over
+the edge and fell tinkling on the metal foot below. The quick ear of the
+servant on the steps caught the sound, and he rose and came forward to trim
+the fire. Though he did not speak, his act was a diversion. The spell was
+broken.</p>
+
+<p>"The Germans," said Isaacs, "say that an angel is passing over the
+house. I do not believe it."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_16"></a>I was surprised at the remark. It did not seem
+quite natural for Mr. Isaacs to begin talking about the Germans, and from
+the tone of his voice I could almost have fancied he thought the proverb
+was held as an article of faith by the Teutonic races in general.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not believe it," he repeated reflectively. "There is no such thing
+as an angel 'passing'; it is a misuse of terms. If there are such things as
+angels, their changes of place cannot be described as motion, seeing that
+from the very nature of things such changes must be instantaneous, not
+involving time as a necessary element. Have you ever thought much about
+angels? By-the-bye, pardon my abruptness, but as there is no one to
+introduce us, what is your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Griggs&mdash;Paul Griggs. I am an American, but was born in
+Italy. I know your name is Isaacs; but, frankly, I do not comprehend how
+you came by the appellation, for I do not believe you are either, English,
+American, or Jewish of origin."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite right," he replied, "I am neither Yankee, Jew, nor beef-eater; in
+fact, I am not a European at all. And since you probably would not guess my
+nationality, I will tell you that I am a Persian, a pure Iranian, a
+degenerate descendant of Zoroaster, as you call him, though by religion I
+follow the prophet, whose name be blessed," he added, with an expression of
+face I did not then understand. "I call myself Isaacs for convenience in
+business. There is <a name="Page_17"></a>no concealment about it, as many
+know my story; but it has an attractive Semitic twang that suite my
+occupation, and is simpler and shorter for Englishmen to write than Abdul
+Hafizben-Is&acirc;k, which is my lawful name."</p>
+
+<p>"Since you lay sufficient store by your business to have been willing to
+change your name, may I inquire what your business is? It seems to be a
+lucrative one, to judge by the accumulations of wealth you have allowed me
+a glimpse of."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Wealth is my occupation. I am a dealer in precious stones and
+similar objects of value. Some day I will show you my diamonds; they are
+worth seeing."</p>
+
+<p>It is no uncommon thing to meet in India men of all Asiatic
+nationalities buying and selling stones of worth, and enriching themselves
+in the business. I supposed he had come with a caravan by way of Baghdad,
+and had settled. But again, his perfect command of English, as pure as
+though he had been educated at Eton and Oxford, his extremely careful,
+though quiet, English dress, and especially his polished manners, argued a
+longer residence in the European civilisation of his adopted home than
+agreed with his young looks, supposing him to have come to India at sixteen
+or seventeen. A pardonable curiosity led me to remark this.</p>
+
+<p>"You must have come here very young," I said. "A thoroughbred Persian
+does not learn to speak English like a university man, and to quote German
+<a name="Page_18"></a>proverbs, in a residence of a few years; unless,
+indeed, he possess the secret by which the initiated absorb knowledge
+without effort, and assimilate it without the laborious process of
+intellectual digestion."</p>
+
+<p>"I am older than I look&mdash;considerably. I have been in India twelve
+years, and with a natural talent for languages, stimulated by constant
+intercourse with Englishmen who know their own speech well, I have
+succeeded, as you say, in acquiring a certain fluency and mastery of
+accent. I have had an adventurous life enough. I see no reason why I should
+not tell you something of it, especially as you are not English, and can
+therefore hear me with an unprejudiced ear. But, really, do you care for a
+yarn?"</p>
+
+<p>I begged him to proceed, and I beckoned the servant to arrange our
+pipes, that we might not be disturbed. When this was done, Isaacs
+began.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to try and make a long story short. We Persians like to
+listen to long stories, as we like to sit and look on at a wedding nautch.
+But we are radically averse to dancing or telling long tales ourselves, so
+I shall condense as much as possible. I was born in Persia, of Persian
+parents, as I told you, but I will not burden your memory with names you
+are not familiar with. My father was a merchant in prosperous
+circumstances, and a man of no mean learning in Arabic and Persian
+literature. I soon showed a strong taste for books, and every opportunity
+<a name="Page_19"></a>was given me for pursuing my inclinations in this
+respect. At the early age of twelve I was kidnapped by a party of
+slave-dealers, and carried off into Roum&mdash;Turkey you call it. I will not
+dwell upon my tears and indignation. We travelled rapidly, and my captors
+treated me well, as they invariably do their prizes, well knowing how much
+of the value of a slave depends on his plump and sleek condition when
+brought to market. In Istamboul I was soon disposed of, my fair skin and
+accomplishments as a writer and a singer of Persian songs fetching a high
+price.</p>
+
+<p>"It is no uncommon thing for boys to be stolen and sold in this way. A
+rich pacha will pay almost anything. The fate of such slaves is not
+generally a happy one." Isaacs paused a moment, and drew in two or three
+long breaths of smoke. "Do you see that bright star in the south?" he said,
+pointing with his long jewel-set mouthpiece.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It must be Sirius."</p>
+
+<p>"That is my star. Do you believe in the agency of the stars in human
+affairs? Of course you do not; you are a European: how should you? But to
+proceed. The stars, or the fates or K&acirc;li, or whatever you like to
+term your kismet, your portion of good and evil, allotted me a somewhat
+happier existence than generally falls to the share of young slaves in
+Roum. I was bought by an old man of great wealth and of still greater
+learning, who was so taken with my proficiency in Arabic and in writing
+that he <a name="Page_20"></a>resolved to make of me a pupil instead of a
+servant to carry his coffee and pipe, or a slave to bear the heavier burden
+of his vices. Nothing better could have happened to me. I was installed in
+his house and treated with exemplary kindness, though he kept me rigorously
+at work with my books. I need not tell you that with such a master I made
+fair progress, and that at the age of twenty-one I was, for a Turk, a young
+man of remarkably good education. Then my master died suddenly, and I was
+thrown into great distress. I was of course nothing but a slave, and liable
+to be sold at any time. I escaped. Active and enduring, though never
+possessing any vast muscular strength, I bore with ease the hardships of a
+long journey on foot with little food and scant lodging. Falling in with a
+band of pilgrims, I recognised the wisdom of joining them on their march to
+Mecca. I was, of course, a sound Mohammedan, as I am to this day, and my
+knowledge of the Koran soon gained me some reputation in the caravan. I was
+considered a creditable addition, and altogether an eligible pilgrim. My
+exceptional physique protected me from the disease and exhaustion of which
+not a few of our number died by the wayside, and the other pilgrims, in
+consideration of my youth and piety, gave me willingly the few handfuls of
+rice and dates that I needed to support life and strength.</p>
+
+<p>"You have read about Mecca; and your <i>hadji</i> barber, who of course
+has been there, has doubtless <a name="Page_21"></a>related his experiences
+to you scores of times in the plains, as he does everywhere. As you may
+imagine, I had no intention of returning towards Roum with my companions.
+When I had fulfilled all the observances required, I made my way to Yeddah
+and shipped on board an Arabian craft, touching at Mocha, and bearing
+coffee to Bombay. I had to work my passage, and as I had no experience of
+the sea, save in the ca&iuml;ques of the Golden Horn, you will readily
+conceive that the captain of the vessel had plenty of fault to find. But my
+agility and quick comprehension stood me in good stead, and in a few days I
+had learned enough to haul on a rope or to reef the great latteen sails as
+well as any of them. The knowledge that I was just returning from a
+pilgrimage to Mecca obtained for me also a certain respect among the crew.
+It makes very little difference what the trade, business, or branch of
+learning; in mechanical labour, or intellectual effort, the educated man is
+always superior to the common labourer. One who is in the habit of applying
+his powers in the right way will carry his system into any occupation, and
+it will help him as much to handle a rope as to write a poem.</p>
+
+<p>"At last we landed in Bombay. I was in a wretched condition. What little
+clothes I had had were in tatters; hard work and little food had made me
+even thinner than my youthful age and slight frame tolerated. I had in all
+about three pence money in small copper coins, carefully hoarded <a
+name="Page_22"></a>against a rainy day. I could not speak a word of the
+Indian dialects, still less of English, and I knew no one save the crew of
+the vessel I had come in, as poor as I, but saved from starvation by the
+slender pittance allowed them on land. I wandered about all day through the
+bazaars, occasionally speaking to some solemn looking old shopkeeper or
+long-bearded Mussulman, who, I hoped, might understand a little Arabic. But
+not one did I find. At evening I bathed in the tank of a temple full from
+the recent rains, and I lay down supperless to sleep on the steps of the
+great mosque. As I lay on the hard stones I looked up to my star, and took
+comfort, and slept. That night a dream came to me. I thought I was still
+awake and lying on the steps, watching the wondrous ruler of my fate. And
+as I looked he glided down from his starry throne with an easy swinging
+motion, like a soap-bubble settling to the earth. And the star came and
+poised among the branches of the palm-tree over the tank, opalescent,
+unearthly, heart shaking. His face was as the face of the prophet, whose
+name be blessed, and his limbs were as the limbs of the Hameshaspenthas of
+old. Garments he had none, being of heavenly birth, but he was clothed with
+light as with a garment, and the crest of his silver hair was to him a
+crown of glory. And he spoke with the tongues of a thousand lutes, sweet
+strong tones, that rose and fell on the night air as the song of a lover
+beneath the lattice of his mistress, the song of the mighty star wooing the
+<a name="Page_23"></a>beautiful sleeping earth. And then he looked on me
+and said: 'Abdul Hafiz, be of good cheer. I am with thee and will not
+forsake thee, even to the day when thou shalt pass over the burning bridge
+of death. Thou shalt touch the diamond of the rivers and the pearl of the
+sea, and they shall abide with thee, and great shall be thy wealth. And the
+sunlight which is in the diamond shall warm thee and comfort thy heart; and
+the moonlight which is in the pearl shall give thee peace in the
+night-time, and thy children shall be to thee a garland of roses in the
+land of the unbeliever.' And the star floated down from the palm-branches
+and touched me with his hand, and breathed upon my lips the cool breath of
+the outer firmament, and departed. Then I awoke and saw him again in his
+place far down the horizon, and he was alone, for the dawn was in the sky
+and the lesser lights were extinguished. And I rose from the stony stairway
+that seemed like a bed of flowers for the hopeful dream, and I turned
+westward, and praised Allah, and went my way.</p>
+
+<p>"The sun being up, all was life, and the life in me spoke of a most
+capacious appetite. So I cast about for a shop where I might buy a little
+food with my few coppers, and seeing a confectioner spreading out his
+wares, I went near and took stock of the queer balls of flour and sugar,
+and strange oily-looking sweetmeats. Having selected what I thought would
+be within my modest means, I addressed the shopkeeper to call his
+attention, though I knew he <a name="Page_24"></a>would not understand me,
+and I touched with my hand the article I wanted, showing with the other
+some of the small coins I had. As soon as I touched the sweetmeats the man
+became very angry, and bounding from his seat called his neighbours
+together, and they all shouted and screamed at me, and called a man I
+thought to be a soldier, though he looked more like an ape in his long
+loose trousers of dirty black, and his untidy red turban, under which
+cumbrous garments his thin and stunted frame seemed even blacker and more
+contemptible than nature had made them. I afterwards discovered him to be
+one of the Bombay police. He seized me by the arm, and I, knowing I had
+done no wrong, and curious to discover, if possible, what the trouble was,
+accompanied him whither he led me. After waiting many hours in a kind of
+little shed where there were more policemen, I was brought before an
+Englishman. Of course all attempts at explanation were useless. I could
+speak not a word of anything but Arabic and Persian, and no one present
+understood either. At last, when I was in despair, trying to muster a few
+words of Greek I had learned in Istamboul, and failing signally therein, an
+old man with a long beard looked curiously in at the door of the crowded
+court. Some instinct told me to appeal to him, and I addressed him in
+Arabic. To my infinite relief he replied in that tongue, and volunteered to
+be interpreter. In a few moments I learned that my crime was that I had
+<i>touched</i> the sweetmeats on the counter.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_25"></a>"In India, as you who have lived here doubtless
+know, it is a criminal offence, punishable by fine or imprisonment, for a
+non-Hindu person to defile the food of even the lowest caste man. To touch
+one sweetmeat in a trayful defiles the whole baking, rendering it all unfit
+for the use of any Hindu, no matter how mean. Knowing nothing of caste and
+its prejudices, it was with the greatest difficulty that the <i>moolah</i>,
+who was trying to help me out of my trouble, could make me comprehend
+wherein my wrong-doing lay, and that the English courts, being obliged in
+their own interest to uphold and protect the caste practices of the Hindus,
+at the risk of another mutiny, could not make any exception in favour of a
+stranger unacquainted with Indian customs. So the Englishman who presided
+said he would have to inflict a fine, but being a very young man, not yet
+hardened to the despotic ways of Eastern life, he generously paid the fine
+himself, and gave me a rupee as a present into the bargain. It was only two
+shillings, but as I had not had so much money for months I was as grateful
+as though it had been a hundred. If I ever meet him I will requite him, for
+I owe him all I now possess.</p>
+
+<p>"My case being dismissed, I left the court with the old <i>moolah</i>,
+who took me to his house and inquired of my story, having first given me a
+good meal of rice and sweetmeats, and that greatest of luxuries, a little
+pot of fragrant Mocha coffee; he sat in silence while I ate, ministering to
+my wants, and evidently <a name="Page_26"></a>pleased with the good he was
+doing. Then he brought out a package of <i>birris</i>, those little
+cigarettes rolled in leaves that they smoke in Bombay, and I told him what
+had happened to me. I implored him to put me in the way of obtaining some
+work by which I could at least support life, and he promised to do so,
+begging me to stay with him until I should be independent. The day
+following I was engaged to pull a punkah in the house of an English lawyer
+connected with an immense lawsuit involving one of the Mohammedan
+principalities. For this irksome work I was to receive six rupees&mdash;twelve
+shillings&mdash;monthly, but before the month was up I was transferred, by the
+kindness of the English lawyer and the good offices of my co-religionist
+the <i>moolah</i>, to the retinue of the Nizam of Haiderabad, then in
+Bombay. Since that time I have never known want.</p>
+
+<p>"I soon mastered enough of the dialects to suit my needs, and applied
+myself to the study of English, for which opportunities were not lacking.
+At the end of two years I could speak the language enough to be understood,
+and my accent from the first was a matter of surprise to all; I had also
+saved out of my gratuities about one hundred rupees. Having been conversant
+with the qualities of many kinds of precious stones from my youth up, I
+determined to invest my economies in a diamond or a pearl. Before long I
+struck a bargain with an old <i>marwarri</i> over a small stone, of which I
+thought he misjudged the value, owing to the rough cutting. The fellow was
+cunning <a name="Page_27"></a>and hard in his dealings, but my superior
+knowledge of diamonds gave me the advantage. I paid him ninety-three rupees
+for the little gem, and sold it again in a month for two hundred to a young
+English 'collector and magistrate,' who wanted to make his wife a present.
+I bought a larger stone, and again made nearly a hundred per cent on the
+money. Then I bought two, and so on, until having accumulated sufficient
+capital, I bade farewell to the Court of the Nizam, where my salary never
+exceeded sixteen rupees a month as scribe and Arabic interpreter, and I
+went my way with about two thousand rupees in cash and precious stones. I
+came northwards, and finally settled in Delhi, where I set up as a dealer
+in gems and objects of intrinsic value. It is now twelve years since I
+landed in Bombay. I have never soiled my hands with usury, though I have
+twice advanced large sums at legal interest for purposes I am not at
+liberty to disclose; I have never cheated a customer or underrated a gem I
+bought of a poor man, and my wealth, as you may judge from what you have
+seen, is considerable. Moreover, though in constant intercourse with Hindus
+and English, I have not forfeited my title to be called a true believer and
+a follower of the prophet, whose name be blessed."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs ceased speaking, and presently the waning moon rose pathetically
+over the crest of the mountains with that curiously doleful look she wears
+after the full is past, as if weeping over the loss of her <a
+name="Page_28"></a>better half. The wind rose and soughed drearily through
+the rhododendrons and the pines; and Kiramat Ali, the pipe-bearer, shivered
+audibly as he drew his long cloth uniform around him. We rose and entered
+my friend's rooms, where the warmth of the lights, the soft rugs and downy
+cushions, invited us temptingly to sit down and continue our conversation.
+But it was late, for Isaacs, like a true Oriental, had not hurried himself
+over his narrative, and it had been nine o'clock when we sat down to smoke.
+So I bade him good-night, and, musing on all I had heard and seen, retired
+to my own apartments, glancing at Sirius and at the unhappy-looking moon
+before I turned in from the verandah.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_29"></a><h2><a name='Chapter_II'></a>Chapter II.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In India&mdash;in the plains&mdash;people rise before dawn, and it is not till
+after some weeks' residence in the cooler atmosphere of the mountains that
+they return to the pernicious habit of allowing the sun to be before them.
+The hours of early morning, when one either mopes about in loose flannel
+clothes, or goes for a gallop on the green <i>maidán</i>, are without
+exception the most delicious of the day. I shall have occasion hereafter to
+describe the morning's proceedings in the plains. On the day after the
+events recorded in the last chapter I awoke as usual at five o'clock, and
+meandered out on to the verandah to have a look at the hills, so novel and
+delicious a sight after the endless flats of the northwest provinces. It
+was still nearly dark, but there was a faint light in the east, which
+rapidly grew as I watched it, till, turning the angle of the house, I
+distinguished a snow-peak over the tops of the dark rhododendrons, and,
+while I gazed, the first tinge of distant dawning caught the summit, and
+the beautiful hill blushed, as a fair woman, at the kiss of the awakening
+sun. The old story, the heaven wooing the earth with a wondrous shower of
+gold.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_30"></a>"Prati 'shya sunar&icirc; jan&icirc;"&mdash;the
+exquisite lines of the old Vedic hymn to the dawn maiden, rose to my lips.
+I had never appreciated or felt their truth down in the dusty plains, but
+here, on the free hills, the glad welcoming of the morning light seemed to
+run through every fibre, as thousands of years ago the same joyful thrill
+of returning life inspired the pilgrim fathers of the Aryan race. Almost
+unconsciously, I softly intoned the hymn, as I had heard my old Brahmin
+teacher in Allahabad when he came and sat under the porch at daybreak,
+until I was ready for him&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+The lissome heavenly maiden here,<br />
+Forth flashing from her sister's arms,<br />
+High heaven's daughter, now is come.<br />
+<br />
+In rosy garments, shining like<br />
+A swift bay mare; the twin knights' friend,<br />
+Mother of all our herds of kine.<br />
+<br />
+Yea, thou art she, the horseman's friend;<br />
+Of grazing cattle mother thou,<br />
+All wealth is thine, thou blushing dawn.<br />
+<br />
+Thou who hast driven the foeman back,<br />
+With praise we call on thee to wake<br />
+In tender reverence, beauteous one.<br />
+<br />
+The spreading beams of morning light<br />
+Are countless as our hosts of kine,<br />
+They fill the atmosphere of space.<br />
+<br />
+Filling the sky, thou openedst wide<br />
+The gates of night, thou glorious dawn&mdash;<br />
+Rejoicing-run thy daily race!<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Page_31"></a>The heaven above thy rays have filled,<br />
+The broad belov&egrave;d room of air,<br />
+O splendid, brightest maid of morn!<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>I went indoors again to attend to my correspondence, and presently a
+gorgeously liveried white-bearded <i>chuprassie</i> appeared at the door,
+and bending low as he touched his hand to his forehead, intimated that "if
+the great lord of the earth, the protector of the poor, would turn his ear
+to the humblest of his servants, he would hear of something to his
+advantage."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he presented a letter from the official with whom I had to
+do, an answer to my note of the previous afternoon, requesting an
+interview. In due course, therefore, the day wore on, and I transacted my
+business, returned to "tiffin," and then went up to my rooms for a little
+quiet. I might have been there an hour, smoking and dreaming over a book,
+when the servant announced a sahib who wanted to see me, and Isaacs walked
+in, redolent of the sunshine without, his luminous eyes shining brightly in
+the darkened room. I was delighted, for I felt my wits stagnating in the
+unwonted idleness of the autumn afternoon, and the book I had taken up was
+not conducive to wakefulness or brilliancy. It was a pleasant surprise too.
+It is not often that an hotel acquaintance pushes an intimacy much, and
+besides I had feared my silence during the previous evening might have
+produced the impression of indifference, on which reflection I had resolved
+to make myself agreeable at our next meeting.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_32"></a>Truly, had I asked myself the cause of a certain
+attraction I felt for Mr. Isaacs, it would have been hard to find an
+answer. I am generally extremely shy of persons who begin an acquaintance
+by making confidences, and, in spite of Isaacs' charm of manner, I had
+certainly speculated on his reasons for suddenly telling an entire stranger
+his whole story. My southern birth had not modified the northern character
+born in me, though it gave me the more urbane veneer of the Italian; and
+the early study of Larochefoucauld and his school had not predisposed me to
+an unlimited belief in the disinterestedness of mankind. Still there was
+something about the man which seemed to sweep away unbelief and cynicism
+and petty distrust, as the bright mountain freshet sweeps away the wretched
+little mud puddles and the dust and impurities from the bed of a half dry
+stream. It was a new sensation and a novel era in my experience of
+humanity, and the desire to get behind that noble forehead, and see its
+inmost workings, was strong beyond the strength of puny doubts and
+preconceived prejudice. Therefore, when Isaacs appeared, looking like the
+sun-god for all his quiet dress of gray and his unobtrusive manner, I felt
+the "little thrill of pleasure" so aptly compared by Swinburne to the soft
+touch of a hand stroking the outer hair.</p>
+
+<p>"What a glorious day after all that detestable rain!" were his first
+words. "Three mortal months of water, mud, and Mackintoshes, not to mention
+the <a name="Page_33"></a>agreeable sensation of being glued to a wet
+saddle with your feet in water-buckets, and mountain torrents running up
+and down the inside of your sleeves, in defiance of the laws of
+gravitation; such is life in the monsoon. Pah!" And he threw himself down
+on a cane chair and stretched out his dainty feet, so that the sunlight
+through the crack of the half-closed door might fall comfortingly on his
+toes, and remind him that it was fine outside.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you been doing all day?" I asked, for lack of a better
+question, not having yet recovered from the mental stagnation induced by
+the last number of the serial story I had been reading.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh&mdash;I don't know. Are you married?" he asked irrelevantly.</p>
+
+<p>"God forbid!" I answered reverently, and with some show of feeling.</p>
+
+<p>"Amen," was the answer. "As for me&mdash;I am, and my wives have been
+quarreling."</p>
+
+<p>"Your wives! Did I understand you to use the plural number?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes. I have three; that is the worst of it. If there were only
+two, they might get on better. You know 'two are company and three are
+none,' as your proverb has it." He said this reflectively, as if meditating
+a reduction in the number.</p>
+
+<p>The application of the proverb to such a case was quite new in my
+recollection. As for the plurality of my friend's conjugal relations, I
+remembered he was a Mohammedan, and my surprise vanished. <a
+name="Page_34"></a>Isaacs was lost in meditation. Suddenly he rose to his
+feet, and took a cigarette from the table.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder"&mdash;the match would not light, and he struggled a moment with
+another. Then he blew a great cloud of smoke, and sat down in a different
+chair&mdash;"I wonder whether a fourth would act as a fly-wheel," and he looked
+straight at me, as if asking my opinion.</p>
+
+<p>I had never been in direct relations with a Mussulman of education and
+position. To be asked point-blank whether I thought four wives better than
+three on general principles, and quite independently of the contemplated
+spouse, was a little embarrassing. He seemed perfectly capable of marrying
+another before dinner for the sake of peace, and I do not believe he would
+have considered it by any means a bad move.</p>
+
+<p>"Diamond cut diamond," I said. "You too have proverbs, and one of them
+is that a man is better sitting than standing; better lying than sitting;
+better dead than lying down. Now I should apply that same proverb to
+marriage. A man is, by a similar successive reasoning, better with no wife
+at all than with three."</p>
+
+<p>His subtle mind caught the flaw instantly. "To be without a wife at all
+would be about as conducive to happiness as to be dead. Negative happiness,
+very negative."</p>
+
+<p>"Negative happiness is better than positive discomfort."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_35"></a>"Come, come," he answered, "we are bandying terms
+and words, as if empty breath amounted to anything but inanity. Do you
+really doubt the value of the institution of marriage?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Marriage is a very good thing when two people are so poor that they
+depend on each other, mutually, for daily bread, or if they are rich enough
+to live apart. For a man in my own position marriage would be the height of
+folly; an act of rashness only second to deliberate suicide. Now, you are
+rich, and if you had but one wife, she living in Delhi and you in Simla,
+you would doubtless be very happy."</p>
+
+<p>"There is something in that," said Isaacs. "She might mope and beat the
+servants, but she could not quarrel if she were alone. Besides, it is so
+much easier to look after one camel than three. I think I must try it."</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause, during which he seemed settling the destiny of the
+two who were to be shelved in favour of a monogamic experiment. Presently
+he asked if I had brought any horses, and hearing I had not, offered me a
+mount, and proposed we should ride round Jako, and perhaps, if there were
+time, take a look at Annandale in the valley, where there was polo, and a
+racing-ground. I gladly accepted, and Isaacs despatched one of my servants,
+the faithful Kiramat Ali, to order the horses. Meantime the conversation
+turned on the expedition to Kabul to avenge the death of Cavagnari. I found
+Isaacs held <a name="Page_36"></a>the same view that I did in regard to the
+whole business. He thought the sending of four Englishmen, with a handful
+of native soldiers of the guide regiment to protect them, a piece of
+unparalleled folly, on a par with the whole English policy in regard to
+Afghanistan.</p>
+
+<p>"You English&mdash;pardon me, I forgot you did not belong to them&mdash;the
+English, then, have performed most of their great acts of valour as a
+direct consequence of having wantonly exposed themselves in situations
+where no sane man would have placed himself. Look at Balaclava; think of
+the things they did in the mutiny, and in the first Afghan war; look at the
+mutiny itself, the result of a hair-brained idea that a country like India
+could be held for ever with no better defences than the trustworthiness of
+native officers, and the gratitude of the people for the 'kindly British
+rule.' Poor Cavagnari! when he was here last summer, before leaving on his
+mission, he said several times he should never came back. And yet no better
+man could have been chosen, whether for politics or fighting; if only they
+had had the sense to protect him."</p>
+
+<p>Having delivered himself of this eulogy, my friend dropped his exhausted
+cigarette, lit another, and appeared again absorbed in the triangulation of
+his matrimonial problem. I imagined him weighing the question whether he
+should part with Zobeida and Zuleika and keep Anima, or send Zuleika and
+Amina about their business, and keep Zobeida to be a light <a
+name="Page_37"></a>in his household. At last Kiramat Ali, on the watch in
+the verandah, announced the saices with the horses, and we descended.</p>
+
+<p>I had expected that a man of Isaacs' tastes and habits would not be
+stingy about his horseflesh, and so was prepared for the character of the
+animals that awaited us. They were two superb Arab stallions, one of them
+being a rare specimen of the weight-carrying kind, occasionally seen in the
+far East. Small head, small feet, and feather-tailed, but broad in the
+quarters and deep in the chest, able to carry a twelve-stone man for hours
+at the stretching, even gallop, that never trembles and never tires;
+surefooted as a mule, and tender-tempered as a baby.</p>
+
+<p>So we mounted the gentle creatures and rode away. The mountain on which
+Simla is situated has a double summit, like a Swiss peak, the one higher
+than the other. On the lower height and the neck between the two is built
+the town, and the bungalows used as offices and residences for the
+Government officials cover a very considerable, area. "Jako," the higher
+eminence, is thickly covered with a forest of primeval rhododendrons and
+pines, and though there are outlying bungalows and villas scattered about
+among the trees near the town, they are so far back from the main road,
+reserved as I have said for the use of the Viceroy, as far as driving is
+concerned, that they are not seen in riding along the shady way; and on the
+opposite side, where the trees are thin, the magnificent view looks far out
+over the spurs of the <a name="Page_38"></a>mountains, the only human
+habitation visible being a Catholic convent, which rears its little Italian
+<i>campanile</i> against the blue sky, and rather adds to the beauty of the
+scene than otherwise. As we rode along we continued our talk about the new
+Afghan war, though neither of us was very much in the humour for animated
+conversation. The sweet scent of the pines, the matchless motion of the
+Arab, and the joyous feeling that the worst part of the tropical year was
+passed, were enough for me, and I drank in the high, rarefied air, with the
+intense delight of a man who has been smothered with dust and heat, and
+then steamed to a jelly by a spring and summer in the plains of
+Hindustan.</p>
+
+<p>The road abounds in sharp turns, and I, as the heavier mount, rode on
+the inside as we went round the mountain. On reaching the open part on the
+farther side, we drew rein for a moment to look down at the deep valleys,
+now dark with the early shade, at the higher peaks red with the westering
+sun, and at the black masses of foliage, through which some giant trunk
+here and there caught a lingering ray of the departing light. Then, as we
+felt the cool of the evening coming on, we wheeled and scampered along the
+level stretch, stirrup to stirrup and knee to knee. The sharp corner at the
+end pulled us up, but before we had quite reined in our horses, as
+delighted as we to have a couple of minutes' straight run, we swung past
+the angle and cannoned into a man ambling peaceably along with his reins on
+one finger and his <a name="Page_39"></a>large gray felt hat flapping at
+the back of his neck. There was a moment's confusion, profuse apologies on
+our part, and some ill-concealed annoyance on the part of the victim, who
+was, however, only a little jostled and taken by surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, sir," he began. "Oh! Mr. Isaacs. No harm done, I assure you,
+that is, not much. Bad thing riding fast round corners. No harm, no harm,
+not much. How are you?" all in a breath.</p>
+
+<p>"How d'ye do! Mr. Ghyrkins; my friend Mr. Griggs."</p>
+
+<p>"The real offender," I added in a conciliatory tone, for I had kept my
+place on the inside.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs?" said Mr. Currie Ghyrkins. "Mr. Griggs of Allahabad?
+<i>Daily Howler?</i> Yes, yes, corresponded; glad to see you in the
+flesh."</p>
+
+<p>I did not think he looked particularly glad. He was a Revenue
+Commissioner residing in Mudnugger; a rank Conservative; a regular old
+"John Company" man, with whom I had had more than one tiff in the columns
+of the <i>Howler,</i> leading to considerable correspondence.</p>
+
+<p>"I trust that our collision in the flesh has had no worse results than
+our tilts in print, Mr. Ghyrkins?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all. Oh don't mention it. Bad enough, though, but no harm done,
+none whatever," pulling up and looking at me as he pronounced the hist two
+words with a peculiarly English slowness after a very quick sentence.</p>
+
+<p>While he was speaking, I was aware of a pair of <a
+name="Page_40"></a>riders walking their horses toward us, and apparently
+struggling to suppress their amusement at the mishap to the old gentleman,
+which they must have witnessed. In truth, Mr. Ghyrkins, who was stout and
+rode a broad-backed obese "tat," can have presented no very dignified
+appearance, for he was jerked half out of the saddle by the concussion, and
+his near leg, returning to its place, had driven his nether garment half
+way to his knee, while the large felt hat was settling back on to his head
+at a rakish angle, and his coat collar had gone well up the back of his
+neck.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear uncle," said the lady as she rode up, "I hope you are not hurt?"
+She was very handsome as she sat there trying not to laugh. A lithe figure
+in a gray habit and a broad-brimmed hat, fair as a Swede, but with dark
+eyes and heavy lashes. Just then she was showing her brilliant teeth,
+ostensibly in delight at her dear uncle's escape, and her whole expression
+was animated and amused. Her companion was a soldierly looking young
+Englishman, with a heavy moustache and a large nose. A certain
+devil-may-care look about his face was attractive as he sat carelessly
+watching us. I noticed his long stirrups and the curb rein hanging loose,
+while he held the snaffle, and concluded he was a cavalry officer. Isaacs
+bowed low to the lady and wheeled his horse. She replied by a nod,
+indifferent enough; but as he turned, her eyes instantly went back to him,
+and a pleasant thoughtful look passed over her face, which betrayed at
+least a trifling interest in the stranger, if stranger he were.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_41"></a>All this time Mr. Ghyrkins was talking and asking
+questions of me. When had I come? what brought me here? how long would I
+stay? and so on, showing that whether friendly or not he had an interest in
+my movements. In answering his questions I found an opportunity of calling
+the Queen the "Empress," of lauding Lord Beaconsfield's policy in India,
+and of congratulating Mr. Ghyrkins upon the state of his district, with
+which he had nothing to do, of course; but he swallowed the bait, all in a
+breath, as he seemed to do everything. Then he introduced us.</p>
+
+<p>"Katharine, you know Mr. Isaacs; Mr. Griggs, Miss Westonhaugh, Lord
+Steepleton Kildare, Mr. Isaacs."</p>
+
+<p>We bowed and rode back together over the straight piece we passed before
+the encounter. Isaacs and the Englishman walked their horses on each side
+of Miss Westonhaugh, and Ghyrkins and I brought up the rear. I tried to
+turn the conversation to Isaacs, but with little result.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, good fellow Isaacs, for a fire-worshipper, or whatever he is.
+Good judge of a horse. Lots of rupees too. Queer fish. By-the-bye, Mr.
+Griggs, this new expedition is going to cost us something handsome,
+eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes. I doubt whether you will get off under ten millions sterling.
+And where is it to come from? You will have a nice time making your
+assessments in Bengal, Mr. Ghyrkins, and we shall have an income-tax and
+all sorts of agreeable things."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_42"></a>"Income-tax? Well, I think not. You see, Mr.
+Griggs, it would hit the members of the council, so they won't do it, for
+their own sakes, and the Viceroy too. Ha, ha, how do you think Lord Lytton
+would like an income-tax, eh?" And the old fellow chuckled.</p>
+
+<p>We reached the end of the straight, and Isaacs reined in and bid Miss
+Westonhaugh and her companion good evening. I bowed from where I was, and
+took Mr. Ghyrkins' outstretched hand. He was in a good humour again, and
+called out to us to come and see him, as we rode away. I thought to myself
+I certainly would; and we paced back, crossing the open stretch for the
+third time.</p>
+
+<p>It was almost dark under the trees as we re-entered the woods; I pulled
+out a cheroot and lit it. Isaacs did the same, and we walked our horses
+along in silence. I was thinking of the little picture I had just seen. The
+splendid English girl on her thoroughbred beside the beautiful Arab steed
+and his graceful rider. What a couple, I thought: what noble specimens of
+great races. Why did not this fiery young Persian, with his wealth, his
+beauty, and his talents, wed some such wife as that, some high-bred
+Englishwoman, who should love him and give him home and children&mdash;and, I
+was forced to add, commonplace happiness? How often does it happen that
+some train of thought, unacknowledged almost to ourselves, runs abruptly
+into a blind alley; especially when we try to plan out the future life of
+some one <a name="Page_43"></a>else, or to sketch for him what we should
+call happiness. The accidental confronting of two individuals pleases the
+eye, we unite them in our imagination, carrying on the picture before us,
+and suddenly we find ourselves in a quagmire of absurd incongruities. Now
+what could be more laughable than to suppose the untamed, and probably
+untameable young man at my side, with his three wives, his notions about
+the stars and his Mussulman faith, bound for life to a girl like Miss
+Westonhaugh? A wise man of the East trying to live the life of an English
+country gentleman, hunting in pink and making speeches on the local
+hustings! I smiled to myself in the dark and puffed at my cigar.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Isaacs was palpably uneasy. First he kicked his feet free of
+the stirrups, and put them back again. Then he hummed a few words of a
+Persian song and let his cigar go out, after which he swore loudly in
+Arabic at the eternal matches that never would light. Finally he put his
+horse into a hand gallop, which could not last on such a road in the dark,
+and at last he broke down completely in his efforts to do impossible
+things, and began talking to me.</p>
+
+<p>"You know Mr. Ghyrkins by correspondence, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and by controversy. And you, I see, know Miss Westonhaugh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; what do you think of her?"</p>
+
+<p>"A charming creature of her type. Fair and <a
+name="Page_44"></a>English, she will be fat at thirty-five, and will
+probably paint at forty, but at present she is perfection&mdash;of her kind of
+course," I added, not wishing to engage my friend in the defence of his
+three wives on the score of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>"I see very little of Englishwomen," said Isaacs. "My position is
+peculiar, and though the men, many of whom I know quite intimately, often
+ask me to their houses, I fancy when I meet their women I can detect a
+certain scorn of my nationality, a certain undefinable manner toward me, by
+which I suppose they mean to convey to my obtuse comprehension that I am
+but a step better than a 'native'&mdash;a 'nigger' in fact, to use the term they
+love so well. So I simply avoid them, as a rule, for my temper is hasty. Of
+course I understand it well enough; they are brought up or trained by their
+fathers and husbands to regard the native Indian as an inferior being, an
+opinion in which, on the whole, I heartily concur. But they go a step
+farther and include all Asiatics in the same category. I do not choose to
+be confounded with a race I consider worn out and effete. As for the men,
+it is different. They know I am rich and influential in many ways that are
+useful to them now, and they hope that the fortunes of war or revolution
+may give them a chance of robbing me hereafter, in which they are mistaken.
+Now there is our stout friend, whom we nearly brought to grief a few
+minutes ago; he is always extremely civil, and never meets me that he does
+not renew his invitation to visit him."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_45"></a>"I should like to see something more of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins myself. I do not believe he is half as bad as I thought. Do you
+ever go there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes. Yes, on second thoughts I believe I call on Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins pretty often." Then after a pause he added, "I like her."</p>
+
+<p>I pointed out the confusion of genders. Isaacs must have smiled to
+himself in the gloom, but he answered quietly&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I mean Miss Westonhaugh. I like her&mdash;yes, I am quite sure I do. She is
+beautiful and sensible, though if she stays here much longer she will be
+like all the rest. We will go and see them to-morrow. Here we are; just in
+time for dinner. Come and smoke afterwards."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_46"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_III'></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A loose robe of light material from Kashmir thrown around him, Isaacs
+half sat, half lay, on the soft dark cushions in the corner of his outer
+room. His feet were slipperless, Eastern fashion, and his head covered with
+an embroidered cap of curious make. By the yellow light of the hanging
+lamps he was reading an Arabic book, and his face wore a puzzled look that
+sat strangely on the bold features. As I entered the book fell back on the
+cushion, sinking deep into the down by its weight, and one of the heavy
+gold clasps clanged sharply as it turned. He looked up, but did not rise,
+and greeted me, smiling, with the Arabic salutation&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Peace be with you!"</p>
+
+<p>"And with you, peace," I answered in the same tongue. He smiled again at
+my unfamiliar pronunciation. I established myself on the divan near him,
+and inquired whether he had arrived at any satisfactory solution of his
+domestic difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>"My father," he said, "upon whom be peace, had but one wife, my mother.
+You know Mussulmans are allowed four lawful wives. Here is the passage in
+the beginning of the fourth chapter, 'If ye fear <a name="Page_47"></a>that
+ye shall not act with equity towards orphans of the female sex, take in
+marriage of such other women as please you, two, or three, or four, and not
+more. But, if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably towards so many, marry
+one only, or the slaves which ye shall have acquired.'</p>
+
+<p>"The first part of this passage," continued Isaacs, "is disputed; I mean
+the words referring to orphans. But the latter portion is plain enough.
+When the apostle warns those who fear they 'cannot act equitably towards so
+many,' I am sure that in his wisdom he meant something more by 'equitable'
+treatment than the mere supplying of bodily wants. He meant us to so order
+our households that there should be no jealousies, no heart-burnings, no
+unnecessary troubling of the peace. Now woman is a thing of the devil,
+jealous; and to manage a number of such creatures so that they shall be
+even passably harmonious among themselves is a fearful task, soul-wearying,
+heart-hardening, never-ending, leading to no result."</p>
+
+<p>"Just what I told you; a man is better with no wife at all than with
+three. But why do you talk about such matters with me, an unbeliever, a
+Christian, who, in the words of your prophet, 'shall swallow down nothing
+but fire into my belly, and shall broil in raging flames' when I die?
+Surely it is contrary to the custom of your co-religionists; and how can
+you expect an infidel Frank to give you advice?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't," laconically replied my host.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_48"></a>"Besides, with your views of women in general,
+their vocation, their aims, and their future state, is it at all likely
+that we should ever arrive at even a fair discussion of marriage and
+marriage laws? With us, women have souls, and, what is a great deal more,
+seem likely to have votes. They certainly have the respectful and courteous
+service of a large proportion of the male sex. You call a woman a thing of
+the devil; we call her an angel from heaven; and though some eccentric
+persons like myself refuse to ally themselves for life with any woman, I
+confess, as far as I am concerned, that it is because I cannot contemplate
+the constant society of an angel with the degree of appreciation such a
+privilege justly deserves; and I suspect that most confirmed bachelors,
+knowingly or unconsciously, think as I do. The Buddhists are not singular
+in their theory that permanent happiness should be the object."</p>
+
+<p>"They say," said Isaacs, quickly interrupting, "that the aim of the
+ignorant is pleasure; the pursuit of the wise, happiness. Pray, under which
+category would you class marriage? I suppose it comes under one or the
+other."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say I see the force of that. Look at your own case, since you
+have introduced it."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind my own case. I mean with your ideas of one wife, and
+heavenly woman, and voting, and domestic joy, and all the rest of it. Take
+the ideal creature you rave about&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I never rave about anything."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_49"></a>"Take the fascinating female you describe, and for
+the sake of argument imagine yourself very poor or very rich, since you
+would not enter wedlock in your present circumstances. Suppose you married
+your object of 'courteous service and respectful adoration;' which should
+you say you would attain thereby, pleasure or happiness?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pleasure is but the refreshment that cheers us in the pursuit of true
+happiness," I answered, hoping to evade the direct question by a
+sententious phrase.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not let you off so easily. You shall answer my question," he
+said. He looked full at me with a deep searching gaze that seemed hardly
+warranted by the lightness of the argument. I hesitated, and he impatiently
+leaned forward, uncrossing his legs and clasping his hands over one knee to
+bring himself nearer to me.</p>
+
+<p>"Pleasure or happiness?" he repeated, "which is it to be?"</p>
+
+<p>A sudden light flashed over my obscured intellect.</p>
+
+<p>"Both," I answered. "Could you see the ideal woman as I would fain paint
+her to you, you would understand me better. The pleasure you enjoy in the
+society of a noble and beautiful woman should be but the refreshment by the
+wayside as you journey through life together. The day will come when she
+will be beautiful no longer, only noble and good, and true to you as to
+herself; and then, if pleasure has been to you what it should be, you will
+find that in the happiness attained it is no longer counted, or <a
+name="Page_50"></a>needed, or thought of. It will have served its end, as
+the crib holds the ship in her place while she is building; and when your
+white-winged vessel has smoothly glided off into the great ocean of
+happiness, the crib and the stocks and the artificial supports will fall to
+pieces and be forgotten for ever. Yet have they had a purpose, and have
+borne a very important part in the life of your ship."</p>
+
+<p>Having heard me attentively till I had finished, Isaacs relaxed his hold
+on his knee and threw himself back on the cushions, as if to entrench
+himself for a better fight. I had made an impression on him, but he was not
+the man to own it easily. Presumably to gain time, he called for hookahs
+and sherbet, and though the servants moved noiselessly in preparing them,
+their presence was an interruption.</p>
+
+<p>When we were settled again he had taken a nearly upright position on the
+couch, and as he pulled at the long tube his face assumed that stolid look
+of Oriental indifference which is the most discouraging shower-bath to the
+persuasive powers. I had really no interest in converting him to my own
+point of view about women. Honestly, was it my own point of view at all?
+Would anything under heaven induce me, Paul Griggs, rich, or poor, or
+comfortably off, to marry any one&mdash;Miss Westonhaugh, for instance? Probably
+not. But then my preference for single blessedness did not prevent me from
+believing that women have souls. That morning the question of the marriage
+of the whole universe had <a name="Page_51"></a>been a matter of the utmost
+indifference, and now I, a confirmed and hopelessly contented bachelor, was
+trying to convince a man with three wives that matrimony was a most
+excellent thing in its way, and that the pleasure of the honeymoon was but
+the faint introduction to the bliss of the silver wedding. It certainly
+must be Isaacs' own doing. He had launched on a voyage of discovery and had
+taken me in tow. I had a strong suspicion that he wanted to be convinced,
+and was playing indifference to soothe his conscience.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said I at last, "have you any fault to find with my reasoning or
+my simile?"</p>
+
+<p>"With your simile&mdash;none. It is faultlessly perfect. You have not mixed
+up your metaphors in the least. Crib, stocks, ocean, ship&mdash;all correct, and
+very nautical. As for your reasoning, I do not believe there is anything in
+it. I do not believe that pleasure leads to happiness; I do not believe
+that a woman has a soul, and I deny the whole argument from beginning to
+end. There," he added with a smile that belied the brusqueness of his
+words, "that is my position. Talk me out of it if you can; the night is
+long, and my patience as that of the ass."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think this is a case for rigid application of logic. When the
+feelings are concerned&mdash;and where can they be more concerned than in our
+intercourse with women?&mdash;the only way to arrive at any conclusion is by a
+sort of trying-on process, imagining ourselves in the position indicated,
+and striving <a name="Page_52"></a>to fancy how it would suit us. Let us
+begin in that way. Suppose yourself unmarried, your three wives and their
+children removed&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Allah in his mercy grant it!" ejaculated Isaacs with great fervour.</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;removed from the question altogether. Then imagine yourself thrown
+into daily conversation with some beautiful woman who has read what you
+have read, thought what you have thought, and dreamed the dreams of a
+nobler destiny that have visited you in waking and sleeping hours. A woman
+who, as she learned your strange story, should weep for the pains you
+suffered and rejoice for the difficulties overcome, who should understand
+your half spoken thoughts and proudly sympathise in your unuttered
+aspirations; in whom you might see the twin nature to your own, and detect
+the strong spirit and the brave soul, half revealed through the feminine
+gentleness and modesty that clothe her as with a garment. Imagine all this,
+and then suppose it lay in your power, was a question of choice, for you to
+take her hand in yours and go through life and death together, till death
+seem life for the joy of being united for ever. Suppose you married
+her&mdash;not to lock her up in an indolent atmosphere of rosewater, narghyles,
+and sweetmeats, to die of inanition or to pester you to death with
+complaints and jealousies and inopportune caresses; but to be with you and
+help your life when you most need help, by word and thought and deed, to
+grow more and more a part of you, an essential <a
+name="Page_53"></a>element of you in action or repose, to part from which
+would be to destroy at a blow the whole fabric of your existence. Would you
+not say that with such a woman the transitory pleasure of early
+conversation and intercourse had been the stepping-stone to the lasting
+happiness of such a friendship as you could never hope for in your old age
+among your sex? Would not her faithful love and abounding sympathy be
+dearer to you every day, though the roses in her cheek should fade and the
+bright hair whiten with the dust of life's journey? Would you not feel that
+when you died your dearest wish must be to join her where there should be
+no parting&mdash;her from whom there could be no parting here, short of death
+itself? Would you not believe she had a soul?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no end of your 'supposing,' but it is quite pretty. I am half
+inclined to 'suppose' too." He took a sip of sherbet from the tall crystal
+goblet the servant had placed on a little three-legged stool beside him,
+and as he drank the cool liquid slowly, looked over the glass into my eyes,
+with a curious, half earnest, half smiling glance; I could not tell whether
+my enthusiastic picture of conjugal bliss amused him or attracted him, so I
+waited for him to speak again.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that you have had your cruise in your ship of happiness on the
+waters of your cerulean imagination, permit me, who am land-born and a
+lover of the chase, to put my steed at a few fences in the difficult
+country of unadorned facts over which I propose to <a
+name="Page_54"></a>hunt the wily fox, matrimony. I have never hunted a fox,
+but I can quite well imagine what it is like.</p>
+
+<p>"In the first place, it is all very well to suppose that it had pleased
+Allah in his goodness to relieve me of my three incumbrances&mdash;meanwhile,
+there they are, and they are very real difficulties I assure you.
+Nevertheless are there means provided us by the foresight of the apostle,
+by which we may ease ourselves of domestic burdens when they are too heavy
+for us to bear. It would be quite within the bounds of possibility for me
+to divorce them all three, without making any special scandal. But if I did
+this thing, do you not think that my experience of married life has given
+me the most ineradicable prejudices against women as daily companions? Am I
+not persuaded that they all bicker and chatter and nibble sweetmeats
+alike&mdash;absolutely alike? Or if I looked abroad&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop," I said, "I am not reasoner enough to persuade you that all women
+have souls. Very likely in Persia and India they have not. I only want you
+to believe that there may be women so fortunate as to possess a modicum of
+immortality. Well, pardon my interruption, 'if you looked abroad,' as you
+were saying?&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"If I looked abroad, I should probably discover little petty traits of
+the same class, if not exactly identical. I know little of Englishmen, and
+might be the more readily deceived. Supposing, if you will, that, after
+freeing myself from all my present <a name="Page_55"></a>ties, in order to
+start afresh, I were to find myself attracted by some English girl
+here"&mdash;there must have been something wrong with the mouthpiece of his
+pipe, for he examined it very attentively&mdash; "attracted," he continued, "by
+some one, for instance, by Miss Westonhaugh&mdash;" he stopped short.</p>
+
+<p>So my inspiration was right. My little picture, framed as we rode
+homeward, and indignantly scoffed at by my calmer reason, had visited his
+brain too. He had looked on the fair northern woman and fancied himself at
+her side, her lover, her husband. All this conversation and argument had
+been only a set plan to give himself the pleasure of contemplating and
+discussing such a union, without exciting surprise or comment. I had been
+suspecting it for some time, and now his sudden interest in his mouthpiece,
+to conceal a very real embarrassment, put the matter beyond all doubt.</p>
+
+<p>He was probably in love, my acquaintance of two days. He saw in me a
+plain person, who could not possibly be a rival, having some knowledge of
+the world, and he was in need of a confidant, like a school-girl. I
+reflected that he was probably a victim for the first time. There is very
+little romance in India, and he had, of course, married for convenience and
+respectability rather than for any real affection. His first passion! This
+man who had been tossed about like a bit of driftwood, who had by his own
+determination and intelligence carved his way to wealth and power in the
+teeth of every difficulty. Just <a name="Page_56"></a>now, in his
+embarrassment, he looked very boyish. His troubles had left no wrinkles on
+his smooth forehead, his bright black hair was untinged by a single thread
+of gray, and as he looked up, after the pause that followed when he
+mentioned the name of the woman he loved, there was a very really youthful
+look of mingled passion and distress in his beautiful eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I think, Mr. Isaacs, that you have used a stronger argument against the
+opinions you profess to hold than I could have found in my whole armoury of
+logic."</p>
+
+<p>As he looked at me, the whole field of possibilities seemed opened. I
+must have been mistaken in thinking this marriage impossible and
+incongruous. What incongruity could there be in Isaacs marrying Miss
+Westonhaugh? My conclusions were false. Why must he necessarily return with
+her to England, and wear a red coat, and make himself ridiculous at the
+borough elections? Why should not this ideal couple choose some happy spot,
+as far from the corrosive influence of Anglo-Saxon prejudice as from the
+wretched sensualism of prosperous life east of the Mediterranean? I was
+carried away by the idea, returning with redoubled strength as a sequel to
+what I had argued and to what I had guessed. "Why not?" was the question I
+repeated to myself over and over again in the half minute's pause after
+Isaacs finished speaking.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right," he said slowly, his half-closed <a
+name="Page_57"></a>eyes fixed on his feet. "Yes, you are right. Why not?
+Indeed, indeed, why not?"</p>
+
+<p>It must have been pure guess-work, this reading of my thoughts. When he
+was last speaking his manner was all indifference, scorn of my ideas, and
+defiance of every western mode of reasoning. And now, apparently by pure
+intuition, he gave a direct answer to the direct question I had mentally
+asked, and, what is more, his answer came with a quiet, far-away tone of
+conviction that had not a shade of unbelief in it. It was delivered as
+monotonously and naturally as a Christian says "Credo in unum Deum," as if
+it were not worth disputing; or as the devout Mussulman says "La Illah
+illallah," not stooping to consider the existence of any one bold enough to
+deny the dogma. No argument, not hours of patient reasoning, or weeks of
+well directed persuasion, could have wrought the change in the man's tone
+that came over it at the mere mention of the woman he loved. I had no share
+in his conversion. My arguments had been the excuse by which he had
+converted himself. Was he converted? was it real?</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;I think I am," he replied in the same mechanical monotonous
+accent.</p>
+
+<p>I shook myself, drank some sherbet, and kicked off one shoe impatiently.
+Was I dreaming? or had I been speaking aloud, really putting the questions
+he answered so quickly and appositively? Pshaw! a coincidence. I called the
+servant and ordered my hookah to be refilled. Isaacs sat still, immovable,
+<a name="Page_58"></a>lost in thought, looking at his toes; an expression,
+almost stupid in its vacancy, was on his face, and the smoke curled slowly
+up in lazy wreaths from his neglected narghyle.</p>
+
+<p>"You are converted then at last?" I said aloud. No answer followed my
+question; I watched him attentively.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Isaacs!" still silence, was it possible that he had fallen asleep?
+his eyes were open, but I thought he was very pale. His upright position,
+however, belied any symptoms of unconsciousness.</p>
+
+<p>"Isaacs! Abdul Hafiz! what is the matter!" He did not move. I rose to my
+feet and knelt beside him where he sat rigid, immovable, like a statue.
+Kiramat Ali, who had been watching, clapped his hands wildly and cried,
+"Wah! wah! Sahib margy&acirc;!"&mdash;"The lord is dead." I motioned him away
+with a gesture and he held his peace, cowering in the corner, his eyes
+fixed on us. Then I bent low as I knelt and looked under my friend's brows,
+into his eyes. It was clear he did not see me, though he was looking
+straight at his feet. I felt for his pulse. It was very low, almost
+imperceptible, and certainly below forty beats to the minute. I took his
+right arm and tried to put it on my shoulder. It was perfectly rigid. There
+was no doubt about it&mdash;the man was in a cataleptic trance. I felt for the
+pulse again; it was lost.</p>
+
+<p>I was no stranger to this curious phenomenon, where the mind is
+perfectly awake, but every bodily <a name="Page_59"></a>faculty is lulled
+to sleep beyond possible excitation, unless the right means be employed. I
+went out and breathed the cool night air, bidding the servants be quiet, as
+the sahib was asleep. When sufficiently refreshed I re-entered the room,
+cast off my slippers, and stood a moment by my friend, who was as rigid as
+ever.</p>
+
+<p>Nature, in her bountiful wisdom, has compensated me for a singular
+absence of beauty by endowing me with great strength, and with one of those
+exceptional constitutions which seem constantly charged with electricity.
+Without being what is called a mesmerist, I am possessed of considerable
+magnetic power, which I have endeavoured to develop as far as possible. In
+many a long conversation with old Manu Lal, my Brahmin instructor in
+languages and philosophy while in the plains, we had discussed the trance
+state in all its bearings. This old pundit was himself a distinguished
+mesmerist, and though generally unwilling to talk about what is termed
+occultism, on finding in me a man naturally endowed with the physical
+characteristics necessary to those pursuits, he had given me several
+valuable hints as to the application of my powers. Here was a worthy
+opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>I rubbed my feet on the soft carpet, and summoning all my strength,
+began to make the prescribed passes over my friend's head and body. Very
+gradually the look of life returned to his face, the generous blood welled
+up under the clear olive skin, the lips <a name="Page_60"></a>parted, and
+he sighed softly. Animation, as always happens in such cases, began at the
+precise point at which it had been suspended, and his first movement was to
+continue his examination of the mouthpiece in his hand. Then he looked up
+suddenly, and seeing me standing over him, gave a little shake, half
+turning his shoulders forward and back, and speaking once more in his
+natural voice, said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I must have been asleep! Have I? What has happened? Why are you
+standing there looking at me in that way?" Then, after a short
+interrogatory silence, his face changed and a look of annoyance shaded his
+features as he added in a low tone, "Oh! I see. It has happened to me once
+before. Sit down. I am all right now." He sipped a little sherbet and
+leaned back in his old position. I begged him to go to bed, and prepared to
+withdraw, but he would not let me, and he seemed so anxious that I should
+stay, that I resumed my place. The whole incident had passed in ten
+minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay with me a little longer," he repeated. "I need your company,
+perhaps your advice. I have had a vision, and you must hear about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought as I sat here that my spirit left my body and passed out
+through the night air and hovered over Simla. I could see into every
+bungalow, and was conscious of what passed in each, but there was only one
+where my gaze rested, for I saw upon a couch in a spacious chamber the
+sleeping form of one I knew. The masses of fair hair were heaped as <a
+name="Page_61"></a>they fell upon the pillow, as if she had lain down weary
+of bearing the burden of such wealth of gold. The long dark lashes threw
+little shadows on her cheeks, and the parted lips seemed to smile at the
+sweetness of the gently heaving breath that fanned them as it came and
+went. And while I looked, the breath of her body became condensed, as it
+were, and took shape and form and colour, so that the image of herself
+floated up between her body and my watching spirit. Nearer and nearer to me
+came the exquisite vision of beauty, till we were face to face, my soul and
+hers, high up in the night. And there came from her eyes, as the long lids
+lifted, a look of perfect trust, and of love, and of infinite joy. Then she
+turned her face southward and pointed to my life star burning bright among
+his lesser fellows; and with a long sweet glance that bid me follow where
+she led, her maiden soul floated away, half lingering at first, as I
+watched her; then, with dizzy speed, vanishing in the firmament as a
+falling star, and leaving no trace behind, save an infinitely sad regret,
+and a longing to enter with her into that boundless empire of peace. But I
+could not, for my spirit was called back to this body. And I bless Allah
+that he has given me to see her once so, and to know that she has a soul,
+even as I have, for I have looked upon her spirit and I know it."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs rose slowly to his feet and moved towards the open door. I
+followed him, and for a few moments we stood looking out at the scene below
+us. <a name="Page_62"></a>It was near midnight, and the ever-decreasing
+moon was dragging herself up, as if ashamed of her waning beauty and
+tearful look.</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," said my friend, dropping the formal prefix for the first time,
+"all this is very strange. I believe I am in love!"</p>
+
+<p>"I have not a doubt of it," I replied. "Peace be with you!"</p>
+
+<p>"And with you peace."</p>
+
+<p>So we parted.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_63"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_IV'></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In Simla people make morning calls in the morning instead of after dark,
+as in more civilised countries. Soon after dawn I received a note from
+Isaacs, saying that he had business with the Maharajah of Baithopoor about
+some precious stones, but that he would be ready to go with me to call on
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins at ten o'clock, or soon after. I had been thinking a
+great deal about the events of the previous evening, and I was looking
+forward to my next meeting with Isaacs with intense interest. After what
+had passed, nothing could be such a test of his true feelings as the visit
+to Miss Westonhaugh, which we proposed to make together, and I promised
+myself to lose no gesture, no word, no expression, which might throw light
+on the question that interested me&mdash;whether such a union were practical,
+possible, and wise.</p>
+
+<p>At the appointed time, therefore, I was ready, and we mounted and
+sallied forth into the bright autumn day. All visits are made on horseback
+in Simla, as the distances are often considerable. You ride quietly along,
+and the saice follows you, walking or keeping pace with your gentle trot,
+as the case may <a name="Page_64"></a>be. We rode along the bustling mall,
+crowded with men and women on horseback, with numbers of gorgeously arrayed
+native servants and <i>chuprassies</i> of the Government offices hurrying
+on their respective errands, or dawdling for a chat with some
+shabby-looking acquaintance in private life; we passed by the crowded
+little shops on the hill below the church, and glanced at the
+conglomeration of grain-sellers, jewellers, confectioners, and dealers in
+metal or earthen vessels, every man sitting knee-deep in his wares, smoking
+the eternal "hubble-bubble;" we noted the keen eyes of the buyers and the
+hawk's glance of the sellers, the long snake-like fingers eagerly grasping
+the passing coin, and seemingly convulsed into serpentine contortion when
+they relinquished their clutch on a single "pi;" we marked this busy scene,
+set down, like a Punch and Judy show, in the midst of the trackless waste
+of the Himalayas, as if for the delectation and pastime of some merry
+<i>genius loci</i> weary of the solemn silence in his awful mountains, and
+we chatted carelessly of the sights animate and inanimate before us,
+laughing at the asseverations of the salesmen, and at the hardened
+scepticism of the customer, at the portentous dignity of the superb old
+messenger, white-bearded and clad in scarlet and gold, as he bombastically
+described to the knot of poor relations and admirers that elbowed him the
+splendours of the last entertainment at "Peterhof," where Lord Lytton still
+reigned. I smiled, and Isaacs frowned at the ancient and hairy <a
+name="Page_65"></a>ascetic believer, who suddenly rose from his lair in a
+corner, and bustled through the crowd of Hindoos, shouting at the top of
+his voice the confession of his faith&mdash;"Beside God there is no God, and
+Muhammad is his apostle!" The universality of the Oriental spirit is
+something amazing. Customs, dress, thought, and language, are wonderfully
+alike among all Asiatics west of Thibet and south of Turkistan. The
+greatest difference is in language, and yet no one unacquainted with the
+dialects could distinguish by the ear between Hindustani, Persian, Arabic,
+and Turkish.</p>
+
+<p>So we moved along, and presently found ourselves on the road we had
+traversed the previous evening, leading round Jako. On the slope of the
+hill, hidden by a dense growth of rhododendrons, lay the bungalow of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, and a board at the entrance of the ride&mdash;drive there was
+none&mdash;informed us that the estate bore the high-sounding title of
+"Carisbrooke Castle," in accordance with the Simla custom of calling little
+things by big names.</p>
+
+<p>Having reached the lawn near the house, we left our horses in charge of
+the saice and strolled up the short walk to the verandah. A charming
+picture it was, prepared as if on purpose for our especial delectation. The
+bungalow was a large one for Simla, and the verandah was deep and shady;
+many chairs of all sorts and conditions stood about in natural positions,
+as if they had just been sat in, instead of <a name="Page_66"></a>being
+ranged in stiff rows against the wall, and across one angle hung a
+capacious hammock. Therein, swinging her feet to the ground, and holding on
+by the edge rope, sat the beautiful Miss Westonhaugh, clad in one of those
+close-fitting unadorned costumes of plain dark-blue serge, which only suit
+one woman in ten thousand, though, when they clothe a really beautiful
+young figure, I know of no garment better calculated to display grace of
+form and motion. She was kicking a ball of worsted with her dainty toes,
+for the amusement and instruction of a small tame jackal&mdash;the only one I
+ever saw thoroughly domesticated. A charming little beast it was, with long
+gray fur and bright twinkling eyes, mischievous and merry as a gnome's.
+From a broad blue ribbon round its neck was suspended a small silver bell
+that tinkled spasmodically, as the lively little thing sprang from side to
+side in pursuit of the ball, alighting with apparent indifference on its
+head or its heels.</p>
+
+<p>So busy was the girl with her live plaything that she had not seen us
+dismount and approach her, and it was not till our feet sounded on the
+boards of the verandah that she looked up with a little start, and tried to
+rise to her feet. Now any one who has sat sideways in a netted hammock,
+with feet swinging to the ground, and all the weight in the middle of the
+thing, knows how difficult it is to get out with grace, or indeed in any
+way short of rolling out and running for luck. You may break all your bones
+in <a name="Page_67"></a>the feat, and you both look and feel as if you
+were going to. Though we both sprang forward to her assistance, Miss
+Westonhaugh had recognised the inexpediency of moving after the first
+essay, and, with a smile of greeting, and the faintest tinge of
+embarrassment on her fair cheek, abandoned the attempt; the quaint little
+jackal sat up, backing against the side of the house, and, eyeing us
+critically, growled a little.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so glad to see you, Mr. Isaacs. How do you do, Mr.&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," murmured Isaacs, as he straightened a rope of the hammock by
+her side.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs?" she continued. "We met last night, briefly, but to the
+point, or at least you and my uncle did. I am alone; my uncle is gone down
+towards Kalka to meet my brother, who is coming up for a fortnight at the
+end of the season to get rid of the Bombay mould. Bring up some of those
+chairs and sit down. I cannot tell what has become of the 'bearer' and the
+'boy,' and the rest of the servants, and I could not make them understand
+me if they were here. So you must wait on yourselves."</p>
+
+<p>I was the first to lay hands on a chair, and as I turned to bring it I
+noticed she was following Isaacs with the same expression I had seen on her
+face the previous evening; but I could see it better now. A pleasant
+friendly look, not tender so much as kind, while the slightest possible
+contraction of the eyes showed a feeling of curiosity. She was evidently
+going to speak to him as soon as he turned his face.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_68"></a>"You see I have been giving him lessons," she
+said, as he brought back the seat he had chosen.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs looked at the queer small beast sitting up against the boards
+under the window, his brush tail curled round him, and his head turned
+inquiringly on one side.</p>
+
+<p>"He seems to be learning manners, at all events," said my friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I think I may say now, with safety, that his bark is worse than
+his bite."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure you could not have said so the last time I came. Do you
+remember what fearful havoc he made among my nether garments? And yet he is
+my god-child, so to speak, for I gave him into your care, and named him
+into the bargain."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't suppose I am ungrateful for the gift," answered Miss Westonhaugh.
+"Snap! Snap! here! come here, darling, to your mistress, and be petted!" In
+spite of this eloquent appeal Snap, the baby jackal, only growled
+pleasantly and whisked his brush right and left. "You see," she went on,
+"your sponsorship has had no very good results. He will not obey any more
+than you yourself." Her glance, turning towards Isaacs, did not reach him,
+and, in fact, she could not have seen anything beyond the side of his
+chair. Isaacs, on the contrary, seemed to be counting her eyelashes, and
+taking a mental photograph of her brows.</p>
+
+<p>"Snap!" said he. The jackal instantly rose and trotted to him, fawning
+on his outstretched hand.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_69"></a>"You malign me, Miss Westonhaugh. Snap is no less
+obedient than I."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why did you insist on playing tennis left-handed the other day,
+though you know very well how it puzzles me?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Miss Westonhaugh," he answered, "I am not a tennis-player at
+all, to begin with, and as I do not understand the <i>finesse</i> of the
+game, to use a word I do not understand either, you must pardon my
+clumsiness in employing the hand most convenient and ready."</p>
+
+<p>"Some people," I began, "are what is called ambidexter, and can use
+either hand with equal ease. Now the ancient Persians, who invented the
+game of polo&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not quarrel so much with you, Mr. Isaacs&mdash;" as she said this, she
+looked at me, though entirely disregarding and interrupting my instructive
+sentence&mdash;"I don't quarrel with you so much for using your left hand at
+tennis as for employing left-handed weapons when you speak of other things,
+or beings, for you are never so left-handed and so adroit as when you are
+indulging in some elaborate abuse of our sex."</p>
+
+<p>"How can you say that?" protested Isaacs. "You know with what respectful
+and almost devotional reverence I look upon all women, and," his eyes
+brightening perceptibly, "upon you in particular."</p>
+
+<p>English women, especially in their youth, are not used to pretty
+speeches. They are so much accustomed <a name="Page_70"></a>to the men of
+their own nationality that they regard the least approach to a compliment
+as the inevitable introduction to the worst kind of insult. Miss
+Westonhaugh was no exception to this rule, and she drew herself up
+proudly.</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's pause, during which Isaacs seemed penitent, and she
+appeared to be revolving the bearings of the affront conveyed in his last
+words. She looked along the floor, slowly, till she might have seen his
+toes; then her eyes opened a moment and met his, falling again instantly
+with a change of colour.</p>
+
+<p>"And pray, Mr. Isaacs, would you mind giving us a list of the ladies you
+look upon with 'respectful and devotional reverence?'" One of the horses
+held by the saice at the corner of the lawn neighed lowly, and gave Isaacs
+an opportunity of looking away.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Westonhaugh," he said quietly, "you know I am a Mussulman, and
+that I am married. It may be that I have borrowed a phrase from your
+language which expresses more than I would convey, though it would ill
+become me to withdraw my last words, since they are true."</p>
+
+<p>It was my turn to be curious now. I wondered where his boldness would
+carry him. Among his other accomplishments, this man was capable of
+speaking the truth even to a woman, not as a luxury and a <i>bonne
+bouche</i>, but as a matter of habit. As I looked, the hot blood mantled up
+to his brows. <a name="Page_71"></a>She was watching him, and womanlike,
+seeing he was in earnest and embarrassed, she regained her perfect natural
+composure.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I had forgotten!" she said. "I forgot about your wife in Delhi."
+She half turned in the hammock, and after some searching, during which we
+were silent, succeeded in finding a truant piece of worsted work behind
+her. The wool was pulled out of the needle, and she held the steel
+instrument up against the light, as she doubled the worsted round the eye
+and pushed it back through the little slit. I observed that Isaacs was
+apparently in a line with the light, and that the threading took some
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs," she said slowly, and by the very slowness of the address I
+knew she was going to talk to me, and at my friend, as women will; "Mr.
+Griggs, do you know anything about Mohammedans?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is a very broad question," I answered; "almost as broad as the
+Mussulman creed." She began making stitches in the work she held, and with
+a little side shake settled herself to listen, anticipating a discourse.
+The little jackal sidled up and fawned on her feet. I had no intention,
+however, of delivering a lecture on the faith of the prophet. I saw my
+friend was embarrassed in the conversation, and I resolved, if possible, to
+interest her.</p>
+
+<p>"Among primitive people and very young persons," I continued, "marriage
+is an article of faith, a moral precept, and a social law."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_72"></a>"I suppose you are married, Mr. Griggs," she said,
+with an air of childlike simplicity.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, Miss Westonhaugh, I neither condescend to call myself
+primitive, nor aspire to call myself young."</p>
+
+<p>She laughed. I had put a wedge into my end of the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought," said she, "from the way in which you spoke of 'primitive
+and young persons' that you considered their opinion in regard to&mdash;to this
+question, as being the natural and proper opinion of the original and
+civilised young man."</p>
+
+<p>"I repeat that I do not claim to be very civilised, or very
+young&mdash;certainly not to be very original, and my renunciation of all these
+qualifications is my excuse for the confirmed bachelorhood to which I
+adhere. Many Mohammedans are young and original; some of them are
+civilised, as you see, and all of them are married. 'There is no God but
+God, Muhammad is his prophet, and if you refuse to marry you are not
+respectable,' is their full creed."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs frowned at my profanity, but I continued&mdash;"I do not mean to say
+anything disrespectful to a creed so noble and social. I think you have
+small chance of converting Mr. Isaacs."</p>
+
+<p>"I would not attempt it," she said, laying down her work in her lap, and
+looking at me for a moment. "But since you speak of creeds, to what
+confession do you yourself belong, if I may ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a Roman Catholic," I answered; adding <a
+name="Page_73"></a>presently&mdash;"Really, though, I do not see how my belief
+in the papal infallibility affects my opinion of Mohammedan marriages."</p>
+
+<p>"And what <i>do</i> you think of them?" she inquired, resuming her work
+and applying herself thereto with great attention.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that, though justified in principle by the ordinary
+circumstances of Eastern life, there are cases in which the system acts
+very badly. I think that young men are often led by sheer force of example
+into marrying several wives before they have sufficiently reflected on the
+importance of what they are doing. I think that both marriage and divorce
+are too easily managed in consideration of their importance to a man's
+life, and I am convinced that no civilised man of Western education, if he
+were to adopt Islam, would take advantage of his change of faith to marry
+four wives. It is a case of theory <i>versus</i> practice, which I will not
+attempt to explain. It may often be good in logic, but it seems to me it is
+very often bad in real life."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Isaacs; "there are cases&mdash;&mdash;" He stopped, and Miss
+Westonhaugh, who had been very busy over her work, looked quietly up, only
+to find that he was profoundly interested in the horses cropping the short
+grass, as far as the saice would let them stretch their necks, on the other
+side of the lawn.</p>
+
+<p>"I confess," said Miss Westonhaugh, "that my ideas about Mohammedans are
+chiefly the result of <a name="Page_74"></a>reading the Arabian Nights,
+ever so long ago. It seems to me that they treat women as if they had no
+souls and no minds, and were incapable of doing anything rational if left
+to themselves. It is a man's religion. My uncle says so too, and he ought
+to know."</p>
+
+<p>The conversation was meandering in a kind of vicious circle. Both Isaacs
+and I were far too deeply interested in the question to care for such idle
+discussion. How could this beautiful but not very intellectual English
+girl, with her prejudices and her clumsiness at repartee or argument, ever
+comprehend or handle delicately so difficult a subject? I was disappointed
+in her. Perhaps this was natural enough, considering that with two such men
+as we she must be entirely out of her element. She was of the type of
+brilliant, healthy, northern girls, who depend more on their animal spirits
+and enjoyment of living for their happiness than upon any natural or
+acquired mental powers. With a horse, or a tennis court, or even a ball to
+amuse her, she would appear at her very best; would be at ease and do the
+right thing. But when called upon to sustain a conversation, such as that
+into which her curiosity about Isaacs had plunged her, she did not know
+what to do. She was constrained, and even some of her native grace of
+manner forsook her. Why did she avoid his eyes and resort to such a petty
+little trick as threading a needle in order to get a look at him? An
+American girl, or a French woman, would <a name="Page_75"></a>have seen
+that her strength lay in perfect frankness; that Isaacs' straightforward
+nature would make him tell her unhesitatingly anything she wanted to know
+about himself, and that her position was strong enough for her to look him
+in the face and ask him what she pleased. But she allowed herself to be
+embarrassed, and though she had been really glad to see him, and liked him
+and thought him handsome, she was beginning to wish he would go, merely
+because she did not know what to talk about, and would not give him a
+chance to choose his own subject. As neither of us were inclined to carry
+the analysis of matrimony any farther, nor to dispute the opinions of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins as quoted by his niece, there was a pause. I struck in and
+boldly changed the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to see the polo this afternoon, Miss Westonhaugh? I heard
+at the hotel that there was to be a match to-day of some interest."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, of course. I would not miss it for anything. Lord Steepleton is
+coming to tiffin, and we shall ride down together to Annandale. Of course
+you are going too; it will be a splendid thing. Do you play polo, Mr.
+Griggs? Mr. Isaacs is a great player, when he can be induced to take the
+trouble. He knows more about it than he does about tennis."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very fond of the game," I answered, "but I have no horses here,
+and with my weight it is not easy to get a mount for such rough work."</p>
+
+<p>"Do not disturb yourself on that score," said <a
+name="Page_76"></a>Isaacs; "you know my stable is always at your disposal,
+and I have a couple of ponies that would carry you well enough. Let us have
+a game one of those days, whenever we can get the ground. We will play on
+opposite sides and match the far west against the far east."</p>
+
+<p>"What fun!" cried Miss Westonhaugh, her face brightening at the idea,
+"and I will hold the stakes and bestow the crown on the victor."</p>
+
+<p>"What is to be the prize?" asked Isaacs, with a smile of pleasure. He
+was very literal and boyish sometimes.</p>
+
+<p>"That depends on which is the winner," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>There was a noise among the trees of horses' hoofs on the hard path, and
+presently we heard a voice calling loudly for a saice who seemed to be
+lagging far behind. It was a clear strong voice, and the speaker abused the
+groom's female relations to the fourth and fifth generations with
+considerable command of the Hindustani language. Miss Westonhaugh, who had
+not been in the country long, did not understand a word of the very free
+swearing that was going on in the woods, but Isaacs looked annoyed, and I
+registered a black mark against the name of the new-comer, whoever he might
+be.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! it is Lord Steepleton," said the young girl. "He seems to be always
+having a row with his servants. Don't go," she went on as I took up my hat;
+"he is such a good fellow, you ought to know him."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_77"></a>Lord Steepleton Kildare now appeared at the corner
+of the lawn, hotly pursued by his breathless groom, who had been loitering
+on the way, and had thus roused his master's indignation. He was, as I have
+said, a fine specimen of a young Englishman, though being Irish by descent
+he would have indignantly denied any such nationality. I saw when he had
+dismounted that he was tall and straight, though not a very heavily built
+man. He carried his head high, and looked every inch a soldier as he strode
+across the grass, carefully avoiding the pegs of the tennis net. He wore a
+large gray felt hat, like every one else, and he shook hands all round
+before he took it off, and settled himself in an easy chair as near as he
+could get to Miss Westonhaugh's hammock.</p>
+
+<p>"How are ye? Ah&mdash;yes, Mr. Isaacs, Mr. Griggs of Allahabad. Jolly day,
+isn't it?" and he looked vaguely at the grass. "Really, Miss Westonhaugh, I
+got in such a rage with my rascal of a saice that I did not remember I was
+so near the house. I am really very sorry I talked like that. I hope you
+did not think I was murdering him?"</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs looked annoyed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said he, "we thought Mahmoud was going to have a bad time of it.
+I believe Miss Westonhaugh does not understand Hindustani."</p>
+
+<p>A look of genuine distress came into the Englishman's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Really," said he, very simply. "You don't know how sorry I am that any
+one should have heard me. <a name="Page_78"></a>I am so hasty. But let me
+apologise to you all most sincerely for disturbing you with my brutal
+temper."</p>
+
+<p>His misdeed had not been a very serious crime after all, and there was
+something so frank and honest about his awkward little apology that I was
+charmed. The man was a gentleman. Isaacs bowed in silence, and Miss
+Westonhaugh had evidently never thought much about it.</p>
+
+<p>"We were talking about polo when you came, Lord Steepleton; Mr. Isaacs
+and Mr. Griggs are going to play a match, and I am to hold the stakes. Do
+you not want to make one in the game?"</p>
+
+<p>"May I?" said the young man, grateful to her for having helped him out.
+"May I? I should like it awfully. I so rarely get a chance of playing with
+any except the regular set here." And he looked inquiringly at us.</p>
+
+<p>"We should be delighted, of course," said Isaacs. "By the way, can you
+help us to make up the number? And when shall it be?" He seemed suddenly
+very much interested in this projected contest.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," said Kildare, "I will manage to fill up the game, and we can
+play next Monday. I know the ground is free then."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good; on Monday. We are at Laurie's on the hill."</p>
+
+<p>"I am staying with Jack Tygerbeigh, near Peterhof. Come and see us. I
+will let you know before Monday. Oh, Mr. Griggs, I saw such a nice thing
+about me in the <i>Howler</i> the other day&mdash;so many <a
+name="Page_79"></a>thanks. No, really, greatly obliged, you know; people
+say horrid things about me sometimes. Good-bye, good-bye, delighted to have
+seen you."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Miss Westonhaugh."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning; so good of you to take pity on my solitude." She smiled
+kindly at Isaacs and civilly at me. And we went our way. As we looked back
+after mounting to lift our hats once more, I saw that Miss Westonhaugh had
+succeeded in getting out of the hammock and was tying on a pith hat, while
+Lord Steepleton had armed himself with balls and rackets from a box on the
+verandah. As we bowed they came down the steps, looking the very
+incarnation of animal life and spirits in the anticipation of the game they
+loved best. The bright autumn sun threw their figures into bold relief
+against the dark shadow of the verandah, and I thought to myself they made
+a very pretty picture. I seemed to be always seeing pictures, and my
+imagination was roused in a new direction.</p>
+
+<p>We rode away under the trees. My impression of the whole visit was
+unsatisfactory. I had thought Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would be there, and that
+I would be able to engage him in a political discussion. We could have
+talked income-tax, and cotton duties, and Kabul by the hour, and Miss
+Westonhaugh and Isaacs would have had a pleasant
+<i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te.</i> Instead of this I had been decidedly
+the unlucky third who destroys the balance of so much pleasure in life, for
+I felt that Isaacs was not a man <a name="Page_80"></a>to be embarrassed if
+left alone with a woman, or to embarrass her. He was too full of tact, and
+his sensibilities were so fine that, with his easy command of language, he
+must be agreeable <i>quand m&ecirc;me</i>; and such an opportunity would
+have given him an easy lead away from the athletic Kildare, whom I
+suspected strongly of being a rival for Miss Westonhaugh's favour. There is
+an easy air of familiar proprietorship about an Englishman in love that is
+not to be mistaken. It is a subtle thing, and expresses itself neither in
+word nor deed in its earlier stages of development; but it is there all the
+same, and the combination of this possessive mood, with a certain shyness
+which often goes with it, is amusing.</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," said Isaacs, "have you ever seen the Rajah of Baithopoor?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; you had some business with him this morning, had you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;some&mdash;business&mdash;if you call it so. If you would like to see him I
+can take you there, and I think you would be interested in the&mdash;the
+business. It is not often such gems are bought and sold in such a way, and
+besides, he is very amusing. He is at least two thousand years old, and
+will go to Saturn when he dies. His fingers are long and crooked, and that
+which he putteth into his pockets, verily he shall not take it out."</p>
+
+<p>"A pleasing picture; a good contrast to the one we have left behind us.
+I like contrasts, and I should like to see him."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall." And we lit our cheroots.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_81"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_V'></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"We will go there at four," said Isaacs, coming into my rooms after
+tiffin, a meal of which I found he rarely partook. "I said three, this
+morning, but it is not a bad plan to keep natives waiting. It makes them
+impatient, and then they commit themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"You are Machiavellian. It is pretty clear which of you is asking the
+favour."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is pretty clear." He sat down and took up the last number of
+the <i>Howler</i> which lay on the table. Presently he looked up. "Griggs,
+why do you not come to Delhi? We might start a newspaper there, you know,
+in the Conservative interest."</p>
+
+<p>"In the interest of Mr. Algernon Currie Ghyrkins?" I inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely. You anticipate my thoughts with a true sympathy. I suppose
+you have no conscience?"</p>
+
+<p>"Political conscience? No, certainly not, out of my own country, which
+is the only one where that sort of thing commands a high salary. No, I have
+no conscience."</p>
+
+<p>"You would really write as willingly for the Conservatives as you do for
+the Liberals?"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_82"></a>"Oh yes. I could not write so well on the
+Conservative side just now, because they are 'in,' and it is more blessed
+to abuse than to be abused, and ever so much easier. But as far as any
+prejudice on the subject is concerned, I have none. I had as lief defend a
+party that robs India 'for her own good,' as support those who would rob
+her with a more cynical frankness and unblushingly transfer the proceeds to
+their own pockets. I do not care a rush whether they rob Peter to pay Paul,
+or fraudulently deprive Paul of his goods for the benefit of Peter."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the way to look at it. I could tell you some very pretty
+stories about that kind of thing. As for the journalistic enterprise, it is
+only a possible card to be played if the old gentleman is obdurate."</p>
+
+<p>"Isaacs," said I, "I have only known you three days, but you have taken
+me into your confidence to some extent; probably because I am not English.
+I may be of use to you, and I am sure I sincerely hope so. Meanwhile I want
+to ask you a question, if you will allow me to." I paused for an answer. We
+were standing by the open door, and Isaacs leaned back against the
+door-post, his eyes fixed on me, half closed, as he threw his head back. He
+looked at me somewhat curiously, and I thought a smile flickered round his
+mouth, as if he anticipated what the question would be.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," he said slowly. "Ask me anything you like. I have nothing
+to conceal."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you seriously think of marrying, or proposing to marry, Miss
+Katharine Westonhaugh?"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_83"></a>"I do seriously think of proposing to marry, and
+of marrying, Miss Westonhaugh." He looked very determined as he thus
+categorically affirmed his intention. I knew he meant it, and I knew enough
+of Oriental character to understand that a man like Abdul
+Hafizben-Is&acirc;k, of strong passions, infinite wit, and immense wealth,
+was not likely to fail in anything he undertook to do. When Asiatic
+indifference gives way under the strong pressure of some master passion,
+there is no length to which the hot and impetuous temper beneath may not
+carry the man. Isaacs had evidently made up his mind. I did not think he
+could know much about the usual methods of wooing English girls, but as I
+glanced at his graceful figure, his matchless eyes, and noted for the
+hundredth time the commanding, high-bred air that was the breath of his
+character, I felt that his rival would have but a poor chance of success.
+He guessed my thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think of me?" he asked, smiling. "Will you back me for a
+place? I have advantages, you must allow&mdash;and worldly advantages too. They
+are not rich people at all."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Isaacs, I will back you to win. But as far as 'worldly
+advantages' are concerned, do not trust to wealth for a moment. Do not
+flatter yourself that there will be any kind of a bargain, as if you were
+marrying a Persian girl. There is nothing venal in that young lady's veins,
+I am sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Allah forbid! But there is something very venal <a
+name="Page_84"></a>in the veins of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins. I propose to carry
+the outworks one by one. He is her uncle, her guardian, her only relation,
+save her brother. I do not think either of those men would be sorry to see
+her married to a man of stainless name and considerable fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"You forget your three incumbrances, as you called them last night."</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;I do not forget them. It is allowed me by my religion to marry a
+fourth, and I need not tell you that she would be thenceforth my only
+wife."</p>
+
+<p>"But would her guardian and brother ever think of allowing her to take
+such a position?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? You know very well that the English in general hardly consider
+our marriages to be marriages at all&mdash;knowing the looseness of the bond.
+That is the prevailing impression."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know. But then they would consider your marriage with Miss
+Westonhaugh in the same light, which would not make matters any easier, as
+far as I can see."</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me. I should marry Miss Westonhaugh by the English marriage
+service and under English law. I should be as much bound to her, and to her
+alone, as if I were an Englishman myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you have evidently thought it out and taken legal advice; and
+really, as far as the technical part of it goes, I suppose you have as good
+a chance as Lord Steepleton Kildare."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs frowned, and his eyes flashed. I saw at <a
+name="Page_85"></a>once that he considered the Irish officer a rival, and a
+dangerous one. I did not think that if Isaacs had fair play and the same
+opportunities Kildare had much chance. Besides there was a difficulty in
+the way.</p>
+
+<p>"As far as religion is concerned, Lord Steepleton is not much better off
+than you, if he wants to marry Miss Westonhaugh. The Kildares have been
+Roman Catholics since the memory of man, and they are very proud of it.
+Theoretically, it is as hard for a Roman Catholic man to marry a Protestant
+woman, as for a Mussulman to wed a Christian of any denomination. Harder,
+in fact, for your marriage depends upon the consent of the lady, and his
+upon the consent of the Church. He has all sorts of difficulties to
+surmount, while you have only to get your personality accepted&mdash;which, when
+I look at you, I think might be done," I added, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Jo hoga, so hoga</i>&mdash;what will be, will be," he said; "but religion
+or no religion, I mean to do it." Then he lighted a cigarette and said,
+"Come, it is time to go and see his Saturnine majesty, the Maharajah of
+Baithopoor."</p>
+
+<p>I called for my hat and gloves.</p>
+
+<p>"By-the-bye, Griggs, you may as well put on a black coat. You know the
+old fellow is a king, after all, and you had better produce a favourable
+impression." I retired to comply with his request, and as I came back he
+turned quickly and came towards me, holding out both hands, with a very
+earnest look in his face.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_86"></a>"Griggs, I care for that lady more than I can tell
+you," he said, taking my hands in his.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, I am sure you do. People do not go suddenly into
+trances at a name that is indifferent to them. I am sure you love her very
+honestly and dearly."</p>
+
+<p>"You and she have come into my life almost together, for it was not
+until I talked with you last night that I made up my mind. Will you help
+me? I have not a friend in the world." The simple, boyish look was in his
+eyes, and he stood holding my hands and waiting for my answer. I was so
+fascinated that I would have then and there gone through fire and water for
+him, as I would now.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I will help you. I will be a friend to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. I believe you." He dropped my hands, and we turned and went
+out, silent.</p>
+
+<p>In all my wanderings I had never promised any man my friendship and
+unconditional support before. There was something about Isaacs that
+overcame and utterly swept away preconceived ideas, rules, and prejudices.
+It was but the third day of our acquaintance, and here was I swearing
+eternal friendship like a school-girl; promising to help a man, of whose
+very existence I knew nothing three days ago, to marry a woman whom I had
+seen for the first time yesterday. But I resolved that, having pledged
+myself, I would do my part with my might, whatever that part might be.
+Meanwhile we rode along, and <a name="Page_87"></a>Isaacs began to talk
+about the visit we were going to make.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," he said, "that you had better know something about this
+matter beforehand. The way is long, and we cannot ride fast over the steep
+roads, so there is plenty of time. Do not imagine that I have idly asked
+you to go with me because I supposed it would amuse you. Dismiss also from
+your mind the impression that it is a question of buying and selling
+jewels. It is a very serious matter, and if you would prefer to have
+nothing to do with it, do not hesitate to say so. I promised the maharajah
+this morning that I would bring, this afternoon, a reliable person of
+experience, who could give advice, and who might be induced to give his
+assistance as well as his counsel. I have not known you long, but I know
+you by reputation, and I decided to bring you, if you would come. From the
+very nature of the case I can tell you nothing more, unless you consent to
+go with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"In that case I will try and explain the situation in as few words as
+possible. The maharajah is in a tight place. You will readily understand
+that the present difficulties in Kabul cause him endless anxiety,
+considering the position of his dominions. The unexpected turn of events,
+following now so rapidly on each other since the English wantonly
+sacrificed Cavagnari and his friends to a vainglorious love of bravado, has
+shaken the confidence of the <a name="Page_88"></a>native princes in the
+stability of English rule. They are frightened out of their senses, having
+the fear of the tribes before them if the English should be worsted; and
+they dread, on the other hand, lest the English, finding themselves in
+great straits, should levy heavy contributions on them&mdash;the native
+princes&mdash;for the consolidation of what they term the 'Empire.' They have
+not much sense, these poor old kings and boy princes, or they would see
+that the English do not dare to try any of those old-fashioned Clive
+tactics now. But old Baithopoor has heard all about the King of Oude, and
+thinks he may share the same fate."</p>
+
+<p>"I think he may make his mind easy on that score. The kingdom of
+Baithopoor is too inconveniently situated and too full of mosquitoes to
+attract the English. Besides, there are more roses than rubies there just
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"True, and that question interests me closely, for the old man owes me a
+great deal of money. It was I who pulled him through the last famine."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a very profitable investment, I should think. Shall you ever see a
+rupee of that money again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he will pay me; though I did not think so a week ago, or indeed
+yesterday. I lent him the means of feeding his people and saving many of
+them from actual death by starvation, because there are so many Mussulmans
+among them, though the maharajah is a Hindoo. As for him, he might starve
+to-morrow, the infidel hound; I would not give him a <a
+name="Page_89"></a><i>chowpatti</i> or a mouthful of <i>dal</i> to keep his
+wretched old body alive."</p>
+
+<p>"Do I understand that this interview relates to the repayment of the
+moneys you have advanced?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; though that is not the most interesting part of it. He wanted to
+pay me in flesh&mdash;human flesh, and he offered to make me a king into the
+bargain, if I would forgive him the debt. The latter part of the proposal
+was purely visionary. The promise to pay in so much humanity he is able to
+perform. I have not made up my mind."</p>
+
+<p>I looked at Isaacs in utter astonishment. What in the world could he
+mean? Had the maharajah offered him some more wives&mdash;creatures of peerless
+beauty and immense value? No; I knew he would not hesitate now to refuse
+such a proposition.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you please to explain what you mean by his paying you in man?" I
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"In two words. The Maharajah of Baithopoor has in his possession a man.
+Safely stowed away under a triple watch and carefully tended, this man
+awaits his fate as the maharajah may decide. The English Government would
+pay an enormous sum for this man, but Baithopoor fears that they would ask
+awkward questions, and perhaps not believe the answers he would give them.
+So, as he owes me a good deal, he thinks I might be induced to take his
+prisoner and realise him, so to speak; thus cancelling the debt, and saving
+him from the alternative of putting the man to death privately, or of going
+through dangerous <a name="Page_90"></a>negotiations with the Government.
+Now this thing is perfectly feasible, and it depends upon me to say 'yes'
+or 'no' to the proposition. Do you see now? It is a serious matter
+enough."</p>
+
+<p>"But the man&mdash;who is he? Why do the English want him so much?"</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs pressed his horse close to mine, and looking round to see that
+the saice was a long way behind, he put his hand on my shoulder, and,
+leaning out of the saddle till his mouth almost touched my ear, he
+whispered quickly&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Shere Ali."</p>
+
+<p>"The devil, you say!" I ejaculated, surprised out of grammar and decorum
+by the startling news. Persons who were in India in 1879 will not have
+forgotten the endless speculation caused by the disappearance of the Emir
+of Afghanistan, Shere Ali, in the spring of that year. Defeated by the
+English at Ali Musjid and Peiwar, and believing his cause lost, he fled, no
+one knew whither; though there is reason to think that he might have
+returned to power and popularity among the Afghan tribes if he had
+presented himself after the murder of Cavagnari.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," continued Isaacs, "he has been a prisoner in the palace of
+Baithopoor for six weeks, and not a soul save the maharajah and you and I
+know it. He came to Baithopoor, humbly disguised as a Yogi from the hills,
+though he is a Mussulman, and having obtained a private hearing, disclosed
+his real name, proposing to the sovereign a joint movement on <a
+name="Page_91"></a>Kabul, then just pacified by the British, and promising
+all manner of things for the assistance. Old Baitho, who is no fool,
+clapped him into prison under a guard of Punjabi soldiers who could not
+speak a word of Afghan, and after due consideration packed up his traps and
+betook himself to Simla by short stages, for the journey is not an easy one
+for a man of his years. He arrived the day before yesterday, and has
+ostensibly come to congratulate the Viceroy on the success of the British
+arms. He has had to modify the enthusiasm of his proposed address, in
+consequence of the bad news from Kabul. Of course, his first move was to
+send for me, and I had a long interview this morning, in which he explained
+everything. I told him that I would not move in the matter without a third
+person&mdash;necessary as a witness when dealing with such people&mdash;and I have
+brought you."</p>
+
+<p>"But what was his proposal to invest you with a crown? Did he think you
+were a likely person for a new Emir of Kabul?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. My faith, and above all, my wealth, suggested to him that I,
+as a born Persian, might be the very man for the vacant throne. No doubt,
+the English would be delighted to have me there. But the whole thing is
+visionary and ridiculous. I think I shall accept the other proposition, and
+take the prisoner. It is a good bargain."</p>
+
+<p>I was silent. The intimate way in which I had seen Isaacs hitherto had
+made me forget his immense <a name="Page_92"></a>wealth and his power. I
+had not realised that he could be so closely connected with intrigues of
+such importance as this, or that independant native princes were likely to
+look upon him as a possible Emir of Afghanistan. I had nothing to say, and
+I determined to keep to the part I was brought to perform, which was that
+of a witness, and nothing more. If my advice were asked, I would speak
+boldly for Shere Ali's liberation and protest against the poor man being
+bought and sold in this way. This train of thought reminded me of Isaacs'
+words when we left Miss Westonhaugh that morning. "It is not often," he had
+said, "that you see such jewels bought and sold." No, indeed!</p>
+
+<p>"You see," said Isaacs, as we neared our destination, "Baithopoor is in
+my power, body and soul, for a word from me would expose him to the British
+Government as 'harbouring traitors,' as they would express it. On the other
+hand, the fact that you, the third party, are a journalist, and could at a
+moment's notice give publicity to the whole thing, will be an additional
+safeguard. I have him as in a vice. And now put on your most formal manners
+and look as if you were impenetrable as the rock and unbending as cast
+iron, for we have reached his bungalow."</p>
+
+<p>I could not but admire the perfect calm and caution with which he was
+conducting an affair involving millions of money, a possible indictment for
+high treason, and the key-note of the Afghan question, <a
+name="Page_93"></a>while I knew that his whole soul was absorbed in the
+contemplation of a beautiful picture ever before him, sleeping or waking.
+Whatever I might think of his bargaining for the possession of Shere Ali,
+he had a great, even untiring, intellect. He had the elements of a leader
+of men, and I fondly hoped he might be a ruler some day.</p>
+
+<p>The bungalow in which the Maharajah of Baithopoor had taken up his
+residence during his visit was very much like all the rest of the houses I
+saw in Simla. The verandah, however, was crowded with servants and sowars
+in gorgeous but rather tawdry liveries, not all of them as clean as they
+should have been. Horses with elaborate high saddles and embroidered
+trappings rather the worse for wear were being led up and down the walk. As
+we neared the door there was a strong smell of rosewater and native
+perfumes and hookah tobacco&mdash;the indescribable odour of Eastern high life.
+There was also a general air of wasteful and tawdry dowdiness, if I may
+coin such a word, which one constantly sees in the retinues of native
+princes and rich native merchants, ill contrasting with the great intrinsic
+value of some of the ornaments worn by the chief officers of the train.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs spoke a few words in a low voice to the jemadar at the door, and
+we were admitted into a small room in the side of the house, opening, as
+all rooms do in India, on to the verandah. There were low wooden charpoys
+around the walls, and we sat <a name="Page_94"></a>down, waiting till the
+maharajah should be advised of our arrival. Very soon a jemadar came in and
+informed us that "if the <i>sahib log</i>, who were the protectors of the
+poor, would deign to be led by him," we should be shown into the royal
+presence. So we rose and followed the obsequious official into another
+apartment.</p>
+
+<p>The room where the maharajah awaited us was even smaller than the one
+into which we had been first shown. It was on the back of the house, and
+only half lighted by the few rays of afternoon sun that struggled through
+the dense foliage outside. I suppose this apartment had been chosen as the
+scene of the interview on account of its seclusion. Outside the window,
+which was closed, a sowar paced slowly up and down to keep away any curious
+listeners. A heavy curtain hung before the door through which we had
+entered. I thought that on the whole the place seemed pretty safe.</p>
+
+<p>The old maharajah sat cross-legged upon a great pile of dark-red
+cushions, his slippers by his side, and a huge hookah before him. He wore a
+plain white pugree with a large jewel set on one side, and his body was
+swathed and wrapped in dark thick stuffs, as if he felt keenly the cold
+autumn air. His face was long, of an ashy yellowish colour, and an immense
+white moustache hung curling down over his sombre robe. One hand protruded
+from the folds and held the richly-jewelled mouthpiece of the pipe to his
+lips, and I noticed that the fingers were long <a name="Page_95"></a>and
+crooked, winding themselves curiously round the gold stem, as if revelling
+in the touch of the precious metal and the gems. As we came within his
+range of vision, his dark eyes shot a quick glance of scrutiny at me and
+then dropped again. Not a movement of the head or body betrayed a
+consciousness of our presence. Isaacs made a long salutation in Hindustani,
+and I followed his example, but he did not take off his shoes or make
+anything more than an ordinary bow. It was quite evident that he was master
+of the situation. The old man took the pipe from his mouth and replied in a
+deep hollow voice that he was glad to see us, and that, in consideration of
+our wealth, fame, and renowned wisdom, he would waive all ceremony and beg
+us to be seated. We sat down cross-legged on cushions before him, and as
+near as we could get, so that it seemed as if we three were performing some
+sacred rite of which the object was the tall hookah that stood in the
+centre of our triangle.</p>
+
+<p>Being seated, Isaacs addressed the prince, still in Hindustani, and said
+that the splendour of his sublime majesty, which was like the sun
+dispelling the clouds, so overcame him with fear and trembling, that he
+humbly implored permission to make use of the Persian tongue, which, he was
+aware, the lord of boundless wisdom spoke with even greater ease than
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>Without waiting for an answer, and with no perceptible manifestation of
+any such "fear and trembling" <a name="Page_96"></a>as he professed, Isaacs
+at once began to speak in his native tongue, and dropping all forms of
+ceremony or circumlocution plunged boldly into business. He did not
+hesitate to explain to the maharajah the strength of his position, dwelling
+on the fact that, by a word to the English of the whereabouts of Shere Ali,
+he could plunge Baithopoor into hopeless and endless entanglements, to
+which there could be but one issue&mdash;absorption into the British R&acirc;j.
+He dwelt on the large sums the maharajah owed him for assistance lent
+during the late famine, and he skilfully produced the impression that he
+wanted the money down, then and there.</p>
+
+<p>"If your majesty should refuse to satisfy my just claims, I have ample
+weapons by which to satisfy them for myself, and no considerations of mercy
+or pity for your majesty will tempt me to abate one rupee in the account of
+your indebtedness, which, as you well know, is not swelled by any usurious
+interest. You could not have borrowed the money on such easy terms from any
+bank in India or England, and if I have been merciful hitherto, I will be
+so no longer. What saith the Apostle of Allah? 'Verily, life for life, and
+eye for eye, and nose for nose, and ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and
+for wounding retaliation.' And the time of your promise is expired and you
+shall pay me. And is not the wise Frank, who sitteth at my right hand, the
+ready writer, who giveth to the public every day a new book to read, the
+paper of news, <i>Khabar-i-Khagaz</i> wherein are written the <a
+name="Page_97"></a>misdeeds of the wicked, and the dealings of the
+fraudulent and the unwary receive their just reward? And think you he will
+not make a great writing, several columns in length, and deliver it to the
+devils that perform his bidding, and shall they not multiply what he hath
+written, and sow it broadcast over the British R&acirc;j for the minor
+consideration of one anna a copy, that all shall see how the Maharajah of
+Baithopoor doth scandalously repudiate his debts, and harbour traitors to
+the R&acirc;j in his palace?"</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs said all this in a solemn and impressive manner, calculated to
+inspire awe and terror in the soul of the unhappy debtor. As for the
+maharajah, the cold sweat stood on his face, and at the last words his
+anxiety was so great that the long fingers uncurled spasmodically and the
+jewelled mouthpiece fell back, as the head of a snake, among the silken
+coils of the tube at his feet. Instantly, on feeling the grasping hand
+empty, his majesty, with more alacrity than I would have expected, darted
+forward with outstretched claws, as a hawk on his prey, and seizing the
+glittering thing returned it to his lips with a look of evident relief. It
+was habit, of course, for we were not exactly the men to plunder him of his
+toy, but there was a fierceness about the whole action that spoke of the
+real miser. Then there was silence for a moment. The old man was evidently
+greatly impressed by the perils of his situation. Isaacs continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Your majesty well perceives that you have surrounded <a
+name="Page_98"></a>yourself with dangers on all sides. No danger threatens
+me. I could buy you and Baithopoor to-morrow if I chose. But I am a just
+man. When the prophet, whose name be blessed, saith that we shall have eye
+for eye, and nose for nose, and for wounding retaliation, he saith also
+that 'he that remitteth the same as alms it shall be an atonement unto
+him.' Now your majesty is a hard man, and I well know that if I force you
+to pay me now you will cruelly tax and oppress your subjects to refill your
+coffers. And many of your subjects are true believers, following the
+prophet, upon whom be peace; and it is also written 'Thou shalt rob a
+stranger, but thou shalt not rob a brother,'&mdash;and if I cause you to rob my
+brethren is not the sin mine, and the atonement thereof? Now also has the
+lawful interest on your bond mounted up to several lakhs of rupees. But for
+the sake of my brethren who are in bondage to you, who are an unbeliever
+and shall broil everlastingly in raging flames, I will yet make a covenant
+with you, and the agreement thereof shall be this:</p>
+
+<p>"You shall deliver into my hand, before the dark half of the next moon,
+the man"&mdash;Isaacs lowered his voice to a whisper, barely audible in the
+still room, where the only sound heard as he paused was the tread of the
+sowar on the verandah outside&mdash; "the man Shere Ali, formerly Emir of
+Afghanistan, now hidden in your palace of Baithopoor. Him you shall give to
+me safe and untouched at the place <a name="Page_99"></a>which I shall
+choose, northwards from here, in the pass towards Keitung. And there shall
+not be an hair of his head touched, and if it is good in my eyes I will
+give him up to the British; and if it is good in my eyes, I will slay him,
+and you shall ask no questions. And if you refuse to do this I will go to
+the great lord sahib and tell him of your doings, and you will be arrested
+before this night and shall not escape. But if you consent and put your
+hand to this agreement, I will speak no word, and you shall depart in
+peace; and moreover, for the sake of the true believers in your kingdom I
+will remit to you the whole of the interest on your debt; and the bond you
+shall pay at your convenience. I have spoken, do you answer me." Isaacs
+calmly took from his pocket two rolls covered with Persian writing, and
+lighting a cigarette, proceeded to peruse them carefully, to detect any
+flaw or error in their composition. The face of the old maharajah betrayed
+great emotion, but he bravely pulled away at his hookah and tried to think
+over the situation. In the hope of delivering himself from his whole debt
+he had rashly given himself into the hands of a man who hated him, though
+he had discovered that hatred too late. He had flattered himself that the
+loan had been made out of friendly feeling and a desire for his interest
+and support; he found that Isaacs had lent the money, for real or imaginary
+religious motives, in the interest of his co-religionists. I sat silently
+watching the varying passions as they swept over the <a
+name="Page_100"></a>repulsive face of the old man. The silence must have
+lasted a quarter of an hour.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me the covenant," he said at last, "for I am in the tiger's
+clutches. I will sign it, since I must. But it shall be requited to you,
+Abdul Hafiz; and when your body has been eaten of jackals and wild pigs in
+the forest, your soul shall enter into the shape of a despised sweeper, and
+you and your off-spring shall scavenge the streets of the cities of my
+kingdom and of the kingdom of my son, and son's son, to ten thousand
+generations." A Hindoo cannot express scorn more deadly or hate more
+lasting than this. Isaacs smiled, but there was a concentrated look in his
+face, relentless and hard, as he answered the insult.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not going to bandy words with you. But if you are not quick about
+signing that paper I may change my mind, and send for the Angrezi sowars
+from Peterhof. So you had better hurry yourself." Isaacs produced a small
+inkhorn and a reed pen from his pocket. "Sign," he said, rising to his feet
+"before that soldier outside passes the window three times, or I will
+deliver you to the British."</p>
+
+<p>Trembling in every joint, and the perspiration standing on his face like
+beads, the old man seized the pen and traced his name and titles at the
+foot, first of one copy, and then of the other. Isaacs followed, writing
+his full name in the Persian character, and I signed my name last, "Paul
+Griggs," in large letters at the bottom of each roll, adding the <a
+name="Page_101"></a>word "witness," in case of the transaction becoming
+known.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," said Isaacs to the maharajah, "despatch at once a messenger,
+and let the man here mentioned be brought under a strong guard and by
+circuitous roads to the pass of Keitung, and let them there encamp before
+the third week from to-day, when the moon is at the full. And I will be
+there and will receive the man. And woe to you if he come not; and woe to
+you if you oppress the true believers in your realm." He turned on his
+heel, and I followed him out of the room after making a brief salutation to
+the old man, cowering among his cushions, a ceremony which Isaacs omitted,
+whether intentionally or from forgetfulness, I could not say. We passed
+through the house out into the air, and mounting our horses rode away,
+leaving the double row of servants salaaming to the ground. The duration of
+our private interview with the maharajah had given them an immense idea of
+our importance. We had come at four and it was now nearly five. The long
+pauses and the Persian circumlocutions had occupied a good deal of
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not seem to have needed my counsel or assistance much," I said.
+"With such an armoury of weapons you could manage half-a-dozen
+maharajahs."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;perhaps so. But I have strong reasons for wishing this affair
+quickly over, and the editor of a daily paper is a thing of terror to a
+native prince; you must have seen that."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_102"></a>"What do you mean to do with your man when he is
+safely in your hands, if it is not an indiscreet question?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do with him?" asked Isaacs with some astonishment. "Is it possible you
+have not guessed? He is a brave man, and a true believer. I will give him
+money and letters, that he may make his way to Baghdad, or wherever he will
+be safe. He shall depart in peace, and be as free as air."</p>
+
+<p>I had half suspected my friend of some such generous intention, but he
+had played his part of unrelenting hardness so well in our late interview
+with the Hindoo prince that it seemed incomprehensible that a man should be
+so pitiless and so kind on the same day. There was not a trace of hardness
+on his beautiful features now, and as we rounded the hill and caught the
+last beams of the sun, now sinking behind the mountains, his face seemed
+transfigured as with a glory, and I could hardly bear to look at him. He
+held his hat in his hand and faced the west for an instant, as though
+thanking the declining day for its freshness and beauty; and I thought to
+myself that the sun was lucky to see such an exquisite picture before he
+bid Simla good-night, and that he should shine the brighter for it the next
+day, since he would look on nothing fairer in his twelve hours' wandering
+over the other half of creation.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," said he, "it is late, but if we ride towards Annandale we may
+meet them coming back <a name="Page_103"></a>from the polo match we have
+missed." His eyes glowed at the thought. Shere Ali, the maharajah, bonds,
+principal, and interest, were all forgotten in the anticipation of a brief
+meeting with the woman he loved.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_104"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_VI'></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Why did you not come and see the game? After all your enthusiasm about
+polo this morning, I did not think you would miss anything so good," were
+the first words of Miss Westonhaugh as we met her and Kildare in the narrow
+path that leads down to Annandale. Two men were riding behind them, who
+proved to be Mr. Currie Ghyrkins and Mr. John Westonhaugh. The latter was
+duly introduced to us; a quiet, spare man, with his sister's features, but
+without a trace of her superb colour and animal spirits. He had the real
+Bombay paleness, and had been steamed to the bone through the rains. As we
+were introduced, Isaacs started and said quickly that he believed he had
+met Mr. Westonhaugh before.</p>
+
+<p>"It is possible, quite possible," said that gentleman affably,
+"especially if you ever go to Bombay."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;it was in Bombay&mdash;some twelve years ago. You have probably
+forgotten me."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes. I was young and green then. I wonder you remember me." He did
+not show any very lively interest in the matter, though he smiled
+pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Westonhaugh must have been teasing Lord <a
+name="Page_105"></a>Steepleton, for he looked flushed and annoyed, and she
+was in capital spirits. We turned to go back with the party, and by a turn
+of the wrist Isaacs wheeled his horse to the side of Miss Westonhaugh's, a
+position he did not again abandon. They were leading, and I resolved they
+should have a chance, as the path was not broad enough for more than two to
+ride abreast. So I furtively excited my horse by a touch of the heel and a
+quick strain on the curb, throwing him across the road, and thus producing
+a momentary delay, of which the two riders in front took advantage to
+increase their distance. Then we fell in, Mr. Ghyrkins and I in front,
+while the dejected Kildare rode behind with Mr. John Westonhaugh. Ghyrkins
+and I, being heavy men, heavily mounted, controlled the situation, and
+before long Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were a couple of hundred yards
+ahead, and we only caught occasional glimpses of them through the trees as
+they wound in and out along the path.</p>
+
+<p>"What are those youngsters talking about, back there? Tigers, I'll be
+bound," said Mr. Ghyrkins to me. Sure enough, they were.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suppose I found when we got back this afternoon, Mr.
+Griggs? Why, this hair-brained young Kildare has been proposing to my
+niece&mdash;&mdash;" his horse stumbled, but recovered himself in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean it," said I, rather startled.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, no, no. I don't mean that at all. Ha! <a name="Page_106"></a>ha!
+ha! very good, very good. No, no. Lord Steepleton wants us all to go on a
+tiger-hunt to amuse John, and he proposes&mdash;ha! ha!&mdash;really too funny of
+me&mdash;that Miss Westonhaugh should go with us."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you have no objection, Mr. Ghyrkins? Ladies constantly go on
+such expeditions, and they do not appear to be the least in the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Objections? Of course I have objections. Do you suppose I want to drag
+my niece to a premature grave? Think of the fever and the rough living and
+all, and she only just out from England."</p>
+
+<p>"She looks as if she could stand anything," I said, as just then an open
+space in the trees gave us a glimpse of Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs ambling
+along and apparently in earnest conversation. She certainly looked strong
+enough to go tiger-hunting that minute, as she sat erect but half turned to
+the off side, listening to what Isaacs seemed to be saying.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will not go and tell her so," said Ghyrkins. "If she gets an
+idea that the thing is possible, there will be no holding her. You don't
+know her. I hardly know her myself. Never saw her since she was a baby till
+the other day. Now you are the sort of person to go after tigers. Why do
+you not go off with my nephew and Mr. Isaacs and Kildare, and kill as many
+of them as you like?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have no objection, I am sure. I suppose the <i>Howler</i> could spare
+me for a fortnight, now that I have converted the Press Commissioner, your
+new <a name="Page_107"></a><i>deus ex machina</i> for the obstruction of
+news. What a motley party we should be. Let me see.&mdash;a Bombay Civil
+Servant, an Irish nobleman, a Persian millionaire, and a Yankee newspaper
+man. By Jove! add to that a famous Revenue Commissioner and a reigning
+beauty, and the sextett is complete." Mr. Ghyrkins looked pleased at the
+gross flattery of himself. I recollected suddenly that, though he was far
+from famous as a revenue commissioner, I had read of some good shooting he
+had done in his younger days. Here was a chance.</p>
+
+<p>"Besides, Mr. Ghyrkins, a tiger-hunting party would not be the thing
+without some seasoned Nimrod to advise and direct us. Who so fitted for the
+post as the man of many a chase, the companion of Maori, the slayer of the
+twelve foot tiger in the Nepaul hills in 1861?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have a good memory, Mr. Griggs," said the old fellow, perfectly
+delighted, and now fairly launched on his favourite topic. "By Gad, sir, if
+I thought I should get such another chance I would go with you
+to-morrow!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? there are lots of big man-eaters about," and I incontinently
+reeled off half a page of statistics, more or less accurate, about the
+number of persons destroyed by snakes and wild beasts in the last year. "Of
+course most of those deaths were from tigers, and it is a really good
+action to kill a few. Many people can see tigers but cannot shoot them,
+whereas your deeds of death amongst them <a name="Page_108"></a>ate a
+matter of history. You really ought to be philanthropic, Mr. Ghyrkins, and
+go with us. We might stand a chance of seeing some real sport then."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, really, now that you make me think of it, I believe I should like
+it amazingly, and I could leave my niece with Lady&mdash;Lady&mdash;Stick-in-the-mud;
+what the deuce is her name? The wife of the Chief Justice, you know. You
+ought to know, really&mdash;I never remember names much;" he jerked out his
+sentences irately.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, Lady Smith-Tompkins, you mean. Yes, you might do that&mdash;that
+is, if Miss Westonhaugh has had the measles, and is not afraid of them. I
+heard this morning that three of the little Smith-Tompkinses had them quite
+badly."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't say so! Well, well, we shall find some one else, no
+doubt."</p>
+
+<p>I was certain that at that very moment Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were
+planning the whole expedition, and so I returned to the question of sport
+and inquired where we should go. This led to considerable discussion, and
+before we arrived at Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow&mdash;still in the same order&mdash;it
+was very clear that the old sportsman had made up his mind to kill one more
+tiger at all events; and that, rather than forego the enjoyment of the
+chase, he would be willing to take his niece with him. As for the direction
+of the expedition, that could be decided in a day or two. It was not the
+best season for tigers&mdash;the early spring is better&mdash;but they are <a
+name="Page_109"></a>always to be found in the forests of the Terai, the
+country along the base of the hills, north of Oude.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached the house it was quite dark, for we had ridden slowly.
+The light from the open door, falling across the verandah, showed us Miss
+Westonhaugh seated in a huge chair, and Isaacs standing by her side
+slightly bending, and holding his hat in his hand. They were still talking,
+but as we rode up to the lawn and shouted for the saices, Isaacs stood up
+and looked across towards us, and their voices ceased. It was evident that
+he had succeeded in thoroughly interesting her, for I thought&mdash;though it
+was some distance, and the light on them was not strong&mdash;that as he
+straightened himself and stopped speaking, she looked up to his face as if
+regretting that he did not go on. I dismounted with the rest and walked up
+to bid Miss Westonhaugh good-night.</p>
+
+<p>"You must come and dine to-morrow night," said Mr. Ghyrkins, "and we
+will arrange all about it. Sharp seven. To-morrow is Sunday, you know.
+Kildare, you must come too, if you mean business. Seven. We must look sharp
+and start, if we mean to come back here before the Viceroy goes."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh in that case," said Kildare, turning to me, "we can settle all about
+the polo match for Monday, can't we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, very good of you to take the trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of it. Good-night." We bowed and went back to find our horses
+in the gloom. After <a name="Page_110"></a>some fumbling, for it was
+intensely dark after facing the light in the doorway of the bungalow, we
+got into the saddle and turned homeward through the trees.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Griggs," said Isaacs. "May your feet never weary, and your
+shadow never be less."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't mention it, and thanks about the shadow. Only it is never likely
+to be less than at the present moment. How dark it is, to be sure!" I knew
+well enough what he was thanking me for. I lit a cheroot.</p>
+
+<p>"Isaacs," I said, "you are a pretty cool hand, upon my word."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, indeed! Here you and Miss Westonhaugh have been calmly planning an
+extensive tiger-hunt, when you have promised to be in the neighbourhood of
+Keitung in three weeks, wherever that may be. I suppose it is in the
+opposite direction from here, for you will not find any tigers nearer than
+the Terai at this time of year."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not see the difficulty," he answered. "We can be in Oude in two
+days from here; shoot tigers for ten days, and be here again in two days
+more. That is just a fortnight. It will not take me a week to reach
+Keitung. I am much mistaken if I do not get there in three days. I shall
+lay a <i>d&acirc;k</i> by messengers before I go to Oude, and between a
+double set of coolies and lots of ponies wherever the roads are good
+enough, I shall be at the place of meeting soon enough, never fear."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_111"></a>"Oh, very well; but I hardly think Ghyrkins will
+want to return under three weeks; and&mdash;I did not think you would want to
+leave the party." He had evidently planned the whole three weeks' business
+carefully. I did not continue the conversation. He was naturally absorbed
+in the arrangement of his numerous schemes&mdash;no easy matter, when affairs of
+magnitude have to be ordered to suit the exigencies of a <i>grande
+passion</i>. I shrank from intruding on his reflections, and I had quite
+enough to do in keeping my horse on his feet in the thick darkness.
+Suddenly he reared violently, and then stood still, quivering in every
+limb. Isaacs' horse plunged and snorted by my side, and cannoned heavily
+against me. Then all was quiet. I could see nothing. Presently a voice, low
+and musical, broke on the darkness, and I thought I could distinguish a
+tall figure on foot at Isaacs' knee. Whoever the man was he must be on the
+other side of my companion, but I made out a head from which the voice
+proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>"Peace, Abdul Hafiz!" it said.</p>
+
+<p>"Aleikum Salaam, Ram Lal!" answered Isaacs. He must have recognised the
+man by his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Abdul," continued the stranger, speaking Persian. "I have business with
+thee this night; thou art going home. If it is thy pleasure I will be with
+thee in two hours in thy dwelling."</p>
+
+<p>"Thy pleasure is my pleasure. Be it so." I thought the head
+disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Be it so," the voice echoed, growing faint, as if <a
+name="Page_112"></a>moving rapidly away from us. The horses, momentarily
+startled by the unexpected pedestrian, regained their equanimity. I confess
+the incident gave me a curiously unpleasant sensation. It was so very odd
+that a man on foot&mdash;a Persian, I judged, by his accent&mdash;should know of my
+companion's whereabouts, and that they should recognise each other by their
+voices. I recollected that our coming to Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow was wholly
+unpremeditated, and I was sure Isaacs had spoken to none but our party&mdash;not
+even to his saice&mdash;since our meeting with the Westonhaughs on the Annandale
+road an hour and a half before.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what he wants," said my friend, apparently soliloquising.</p>
+
+<p>"He seems to know where to find you, at all events," I answered. "He
+must have second sight to know you had been to Carisbrooke."</p>
+
+<p>"He has. He is a very singular personage altogether. However, he has
+done me more than one service before now, and though I do not comprehend
+his method of arriving at conclusions, still less his mode of locomotion, I
+am always glad of his advice."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is he? Is he a Persian?&mdash;you called him by an Indian name, but
+that may be a disguise&mdash;is he a wise man from Iran?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is a very wise man, but not from Iran. No. He is a Brahmin by birth,
+a Buddhist by adopted religion, and he calls himself an 'adept' by
+profession, I suppose, if he can be said to have any. He <a
+name="Page_113"></a>comes and goes unexpectedly, with amazing rapidity. His
+visits are brief, but he always seems to be perfectly conversant with the
+matter in hand, whatever it be. He will come to-night and give me about
+twenty words of advice, which I may follow or may not, as my judgment
+dictates; and before I have answered or recovered from my surprise, he will
+have vanished, apparently into space; for if I ask my servants where he is
+gone they will stare at me as if I were crazy, until I show them that the
+room is empty, and accuse them of going to sleep instead of seeing who goes
+in and out of my apartment. He speaks more languages than I do, and better.
+He once told me he was educated in Edinburgh, and his perfect knowledge of
+European affairs and of European topics leads me to think he must have been
+there a long time. Have you ever looked into the higher phases of Buddhism?
+It is a very interesting study."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have read something about it. Indeed I have read a good deal,
+and have thought more. The subject is full of interest, as you say. If I
+had been an Asiatic by birth, I am sure I should have sought to attain
+<i>moksha</i>, even if it required a lifetime to pass through all the
+degrees of initiation. There is something so rational about their theories,
+disclaiming, as they do, all supernatural power; and, at the same time,
+there is something so pure and high in their conception of life, in their
+ideas about the ideal, if you will allow me the expression, that I do <a
+name="Page_114"></a>not wonder Edwin Arnold has set our American
+transcendentalists and Unitarians and freethinkers speculating about it
+all, and wondering whether the East may not have had men as great as
+Emerson and Channing among its teachers." I paused. My greatest fault is
+that if any one starts me upon a subject I know anything about, I
+immediately become didactic. So I paused and reflected that Isaacs, being,
+as he himself declared, frequently in the society of an "adept" of a high
+class, was sure to know a great deal more than I.</p>
+
+<p>"I too," he said, "have been greatly struck, and sometimes almost
+converted, by the beauty of the higher Buddhist thoughts. As for their
+apparently supernatural powers and what they do with them, I care nothing
+about phenomena of that description. We live in a land where marvels are
+common enough. Who has ever explained the mango trick, or the basket trick,
+or the man who throws a rope up into the air and then climbs up it and
+takes the rope after him, disappearing into blue space? And yet you have
+seen those things&mdash;I have seen them, every one has seen them,&mdash;and the
+performers claim no supernatural agency or assistance. It is merely a
+difference of degree, whether you make a mango grow from the seed to the
+tree in half an hour, or whether you transport yourself ten thousand miles
+in as many seconds, passing through walls of brick and stone on your way,
+and astonishing some ordinary mortal by showing that you know all about his
+affairs. I see <a name="Page_115"></a>no essential difference between the
+two 'phenomena,' as the newspapers call them, since Madame Blavatsky has
+set them all by the ears in this country. It is just the difference in the
+amount of power brought to bear on the action. That is all. I have seen, in
+a workshop in Calcutta, a hammer that would crack an eggshell without
+crushing it, or bruise a lump of iron as big as your head into a flat cake.
+'Phenomena' may amuse women and children, but the real beauty of the system
+lies in the promised attainment of happiness. Whether that state of supreme
+freedom from earthly care gives the fortunate initiate the power of
+projecting himself to the antipodes by a mere act of volition, or of
+condensing the astral fluid into articles of daily use, or of stimulating
+the vital forces of nature to an abnormal activity, is to me a matter of
+supreme indifference. I am tolerably happy in my own way as things are. I
+should not be a whit happier if I were able to go off after dinner and take
+a part in American politics for a few hours, returning to business here
+to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"That is an extreme case," I said. "No man in his senses ever connects
+the idea of happiness with American politics."</p>
+
+<p>"Of one thing I am sure, though." He paused as if choosing his words. "I
+am sure of this. If any unforeseen event, whether an act of folly of my
+own, or the hand of Allah, who is wise, should destroy the peace of mind I
+have enjoyed for ten years, with very trifling interruption,&mdash;if anything
+should occur <a name="Page_116"></a>to make me permanently unhappy, beyond
+the possibility of ordinary consolation,&mdash;I should seek comfort in the
+study of the pure doctrines of the higher Buddhists. The pursuit of a
+happiness, so immeasurably beyond all earthly considerations of bodily
+comfort or of physical enjoyment, can surely not be inconsistent with my
+religion&mdash;or with yours."</p>
+
+<p>"No indeed," said I. "But, considering that you are the strictest of
+Mohammedans, it seems to me you are wonderfully liberal. So you have
+seriously contemplated the possibility of your becoming one of the
+'brethren'&mdash;as they style themselves?"</p>
+
+<p>"It never struck me until to-day that anything might occur by which my
+life could be permanently disturbed. Something to-day has whispered to me
+that such an existence could not be permanent. I am sure that it cannot be.
+The issue must be either to an infinite happiness or to a still more
+infinite misery. I cannot tell which." His clear, evenly modulated voice
+trembled a little. We were in sight of the lights from the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not dine with you to-night, Griggs. I will have something in my
+own rooms. Come in as soon as you have done&mdash;that is if you are free. There
+is no reason why you should not see Ram Lal the adept, since we think alike
+about his religion, or school, or philosophy&mdash;find a name for it while you
+are dining." And we separated for a time.</p>
+
+<p>It had been a long and exciting day to me. I felt no more inclined than
+he did for the din and racket <a name="Page_117"></a>and lights of the
+public dining-room. So I followed his example and had something in my own
+apartment. Then I settled myself to a hookah, resolved not to take
+advantage of Isaacs' invitation until near the time when he expected Ram
+Lal. I felt the need of an hour's solitude to collect my thoughts and to
+think over the events of the last twenty-four hours. I recognised that I
+was fast becoming very intimate with Isaacs, and I wanted to think about
+him and excogitate the problem of his life; but when I tried to revolve the
+situation logically, and deliver to myself a verdict, I found myself
+carried off at a tangent by the wonderful pictures that passed before my
+eyes. I could not detach the events from the individual. His face was ever
+before me, whether I thought of Miss Westonhaugh, or of the wretched old
+maharajah, or of Ram Lal the Buddhist. Isaacs was the central figure in
+every picture, always in the front, always calm and beautiful, always
+controlling the events around him. Then I entered on a series of trite
+reflections to soothe my baffled reason, as a man will who is used to
+understanding what goes on before him and suddenly finds himself at a loss.
+Of course, I said to myself, it is no wonder he controls things, or appears
+to. The circumstances in which I find this three days' acquaintance are
+emphatically those of his own making. He has always been a successful man,
+and he would not raise spirits that he could not keep well in hand. He
+knows perfectly well what he is about in making love to that beautiful <a
+name="Page_118"></a>creature, and is no doubt at this moment laughing in
+his sleeve at my simplicity in believing that he was really asking my
+advice. Pshaw! as if any advice could influence a man like that!
+Absurd.</p>
+
+<p>I sipped my coffee in disgust with myself. All the time, while trying to
+persuade myself that Isaacs was only a very successful schemer, neither
+better nor worse than other men, I was conscious of the face that would not
+be banished from my sight. I saw the beautiful boyish look in his deep dark
+eyes, the gentle curve of the mouth, the grand smooth architrave of the
+brows. No&mdash;I was a fool! I had never met a man like him, nor should again.
+How could Miss Westonhaugh save herself from loving such a perfect
+creature? I thought, too, of his generosity. He would surely keep his
+promise and deliver poor Shere Ali, hunted to death by English and Afghan
+foes, from all his troubles. Had he not the Maharajah of Baithopoor in his
+power? He might have exacted the full payment of the debt, principal and
+interest, and saved the Afghan chief into the bargain. But he feared lest
+the poor Mohammedans should suffer from the prince's extortion, and he
+forgave freely the interest, amounting now to a huge sum, and put off the
+payment of the bond itself to the maharajah's convenience. Did ever an
+Oriental forgive a debt before even to his own brother? Not in my
+experience.</p>
+
+<p>I rose and went down to Isaacs. I found him as on the previous evening,
+among his cushions with a <a name="Page_119"></a>manuscript book. He looked
+up smiling and motioned me to be seated, keeping his place on the page with
+one finger. He finished the verse before he spoke, and then laid the book
+down and leaned back.</p>
+
+<p>"So you have made up your mind that you would like to see Ram Lal. He
+will be here in a minute, unless he changes his mind and does not come
+after all."</p>
+
+<p>There was a sound of voices outside. Some one asked if Isaacs were in,
+and the servant answered. A tall figure in a gray <i>caftán</i> and a plain
+white turban stood in the door.</p>
+
+<p>"I never change my mind," said the stranger, in excellent English,
+though with an accent peculiar to the Hindoo tongue when struggling with
+European languages. His voice was musical and high in pitch, though soft
+and sweet in tone. The quality of voice that can be heard at a great
+distance, with no apparent effort to the speaker. "I never change my mind.
+I am here. Is it well with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is well, Ram Lal. I thank you. Be seated, if you will stay with us a
+while. This is my friend Mr. Griggs, of whom you probably know. He thinks
+as I do on many points, and I was anxious that you should meet."</p>
+
+<p>While Isaacs was speaking, Ram Lal advanced into the room and stood a
+moment under the soft light, a gray figure, very tall, but not otherwise
+remarkable. He was all gray. The long <i>caftán</i> wrapped round him, the
+turban which I had first <a name="Page_120"></a>thought white, the skin of
+his face, the pointed beard and long moustache, the heavy eyebrows&mdash;a study
+of grays against the barbaric splendour of the richly hung wall&mdash;a soft
+outline on which the yellow light dwelt lovingly, as if weary of being cast
+back and reflected from the glory of gold and the thousand facets of the
+priceless gems. Ram Lal looked toward me, and as I gazed into his eyes I
+saw that they too were gray&mdash;a very singular thing in the East&mdash;and that
+they were very far apart, giving his face a look of great dignity and
+fearless frankness. To judge by his features he seemed to be very thin, and
+his high shoulders were angular, though the long loose garment concealed
+the rest of his frame from view. I had plenty of time to note these
+details, for he stood a full minute in the middle of the room, as if
+deciding whether to remain or to go. Then he moved quietly to a divan and
+sat down cross-legged.</p>
+
+<p>"Abdul, you have done a good deed to-day, and I trust you will not
+change your mind before you have carried out your present intentions."</p>
+
+<p>"I never change my mind, Bam Lai," said Isaacs, smiling as he quoted his
+visitor's own words. I was startled at first. What good deed was the
+Buddhist referring to if not to the intended liberation of Shere Ali? How
+could he know of it? Then I reflected that this man was, according to
+Isaacs' declaration, an adept of the higher grades, a seer and a knower of
+men's hearts. I resolved not to be astonished at anything that occurred,
+only marvelling that it should <a name="Page_121"></a>have pleased this
+extraordinary man to make his entrance like an ordinary mortal, instead of
+through the floor or the ceiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," answered Ram Lal, "if I venture to contradict you. You do
+change your mind sometimes. Who was it who lately scoffed at women, their
+immortality, their virtue, and their intellect? Will you tell me now,
+friend Abdul, that you have not changed your mind? Do you think of
+anything, sleeping or waking, but the one woman for whom you <i>have</i>
+changed your mind? Is not her picture ever before you, and the breath of
+her beauty upon your soul? Have you not met her in the spirit as well as in
+the flesh? Surely we shall hear no more of your doubts about women for some
+time to come. I congratulate you, as far as that goes, on your conversion.
+You have made a step towards a higher understanding of the world you live
+in."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs did not seem in the least surprised at his visitor's intimate
+acquaintance with his affairs. He bowed his head in silence, acquiescing to
+what Bam Lai had said, and waited for him to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>"I have come," continued the Buddhist, "to give you some good
+advice&mdash;the best I have for you. You will probably not take it, for you are
+the most self-reliant man I know, though you have changed a little since
+you have been in love, witness your sudden intimacy with Mr. Griggs." He
+looked at me, and there was a faint approach to a smile in his gray eyes.
+"My advice to you is, do not let this projected <a
+name="Page_122"></a>tiger-hunt take place if you can prevent it. No good
+can come of it, and harm may. Now I have spoken because my mind would not
+be at rest if I did not warn you. Of course you will do as you please, only
+never forget that I pointed out to you the right course in time."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Ram Lal, for your friendly concern in my behalf. I do not
+think I shall act as you suggest, but I am nevertheless grateful to you.
+There is one thing I want to ask you, and consult you about, however."</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, what is the use of my giving you advice that you will not
+follow? If I lived with you, and were your constant companion, you would
+ask me to advise you twenty times a day, and then you would go and do the
+diametric opposite of what I suggested. If I did not see in you something
+that I see in few other men, I would not be here. There are plenty of fools
+who have wit enough to take counsel of a wise man. There are few men of wit
+wise enough to be guided by their betters, as if they were only fools for
+the time. Yet because you are so wayward I will help you once or twice
+more, and then I will leave you to your own course&mdash;which you, in your
+blindness, will call your kismet, not seeing that your fate is continually
+in your own hands&mdash;more so at this moment than ever before. Ask, and I will
+answer."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, Ram Lal. It is this I would know. You are aware that I have
+undertaken a novel kind of <a name="Page_123"></a>bargain. The man you wot
+of is to be delivered to me near Keitung. I am anxious for the man's safety
+afterwards, and I would be glad of some hint about disposing of him. I must
+go alone, for I do not want any witness of what I am going to do, and as a
+mere matter of personal safety for myself and the man I am going to set
+free, I must decide on some plan of action when I meet the band of sowars
+who will escort him. They are capable of murdering us both if the maharajah
+instructs them to. As long as I am alive to bring the old man into disgrace
+with the British, the captive is safe; but it would be an easy matter for
+those fellows to dispose of us together, and there would be an end of the
+business."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course they could," replied Ram Lal, adding in an ironical tone "and
+if you insist upon putting your head down the tiger's throat, how do you
+expect me to prevent the brute from snapping it off? That would be a
+'phenomenon,' would it not? And only this evening you were saying that you
+despised 'phenomena.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I said that such things were indifferent to me. I did not say I
+despised them. But I think that this thing may be done without performing
+any miracles."</p>
+
+<p>"If it were not such a good action on your part I would have nothing to
+do with it. But since you mean to risk your neck for your own peculiar
+views of what is right, I will endeavour that you shall not break it. I
+will meet you a day's journey before you reach Keitung, somewhere on the
+road, and we will <a name="Page_124"></a>go together and do the business.
+But if I am to help you I will not promise not to perform some miracles, as
+you call them, though you know very well they are no such thing. Meanwhile,
+do as you please about the tiger-hunt; I shall say no more about it." He
+paused, and then, withdrawing one delicate hand from the folds of his
+<i>caftán</i>, he pointed to the wall behind Isaacs and me, and said, "What
+a very singular piece of workmanship is that yataghan!"</p>
+
+<p>We both naturally turned half round to look at the weapon he spoke of,
+which was the central piece in a trophy of jewelled sabres and Afghan
+knives.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Isaacs, turning back to answer his guest, "it is a &mdash;&mdash;" He
+stopped, and I, who had not seen the weapon before, lost among so many, and
+was admiring its singular beauty, turned too; to my astonishment I saw that
+Isaacs was gazing into empty space. The divan where Ram Lal had been
+sitting an instant before, was vacant. He was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"That is rather sudden," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"More so than usual," was the reply. "Did you see him go? Did he go out
+by the door?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not I," I answered, "when I looked round at the wall he was placidly
+sitting on that divan pointing with one hand at the yataghan. Does he
+generally go so quickly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, more or less. Now I will show you some pretty sport." He rose to
+his feet and went to the door. "Narain!" he cried. Narain, the bearer, <a
+name="Page_125"></a>who was squatting against the door-post outside, sprang
+up and stood before his master. "Narain, why did you not show that pundit
+the way downstairs? What do you mean? have you no manners?"</p>
+
+<p>Narain stood open mouthed. "What pundit, sahib?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the pundit who came a quarter of an hour ago, you donkey! He has
+just gone out, and you did not even get up and make a salaam, you
+impertinent vagabond!" Narain protested that no pundit, or sahib, or any
+one else, had passed the threshold since Ram Lal had entered. "Ha! you
+<i>budmash</i>. You lazy dog of a Hindoo! you have been asleep again, you
+swine, you son of a pig, you father of piglings! Is that the way you do
+your work in my service?" Isaacs was enjoying the joke in a quiet way
+immensely.</p>
+
+<p>"Sahib," said the trembling Narain, apparently forgetting the genealogy
+his master had thrust upon him, "Sahib, you are protector of the poor, you
+are my father and my mother, and my brother, and all my relations," the
+common form of Hindoo supplication, "but, Sri Krishnaji! by the blessed
+Krishna, I have not slept a wink."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I suppose you mean me to believe that the pundit went through the
+ceiling, or is hidden under the cushions. Swear not by your false idols,
+slave; I shall not believe you for that, you dog of an unbeliever, you
+soor-be-iman, you swine without faith!"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_126"></a>"Han, sahib, han!" cried Narain, seizing at the
+idea that the pundit had disappeared mysteriously through the walls. "Yes,
+sahib, the pundit is a great yogi, and has made the winds carry him off."
+The fellow thought this was a bright idea, not by any means beneath
+consideration. Isaacs appeared somewhat pacified.</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you think he is a yogi, dog?" he inquired in a milder tone.
+Narain had no answer ready, but stood looking rather stupidly through the
+door at the room whence the unearthly visitor had so suddenly disappeared.
+"Well," continued Isaacs, "you are more nearly right than you imagine. The
+pundit is a bigger yogi than any your idiotic religion can produce. Never
+mind, there is an eight anna bit for you, because I said you were asleep
+when you were not." Narain bent to the ground in thanks, as his master
+turned on his heel. "Not that he minds being told that he is a pig, in the
+least," said Isaacs. "I would not call a Mussulman so, but you can insult
+these Hindoos so much worse in other ways that I think the porcine simile
+is quite merciful by comparison." He sat down again among the cushions, and
+putting off his slippers, curled himself comfortably together for a
+chat.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think of Ram Lal?" he asked, when Narain had brought
+hookahs and sherbet.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, I have hardly made up my mind what to think. I have not
+altogether recovered from my astonishment. I confess that there was nothing
+<a name="Page_127"></a>startling about his manner or his person. He behaved
+and talked like a well educated native, in utter contrast to the amazing
+things he said, and to his unprecedented mode of leave-taking. It would
+have seemed more natural&mdash;I would say, more fitting&mdash;if he had appeared in
+the classic dress of an astrologer, surrounded with zodiacs, and blue
+lights, and black cats. Why do you suppose he wants you to abandon the
+tiger-hunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell. Perhaps he thinks something may happen to me to prevent
+my keeping the other engagement. Perhaps he does not approve&mdash;&mdash;" he
+stopped, as if not wanting to approach the subject of Ram Lal's
+disapprobation. "I intend, nevertheless, that the expedition come off, and
+I mean, moreover, to have a very good time, and to kill a tiger if I see
+one."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought he seemed immensely pleased at your conversion, as he calls
+it. He said that your newly acquired belief in woman was a step towards a
+better understanding of life."</p>
+
+<p>"Of the world, he said," answered-Isaacs, correcting me. "There is a
+great difference between the 'world' and 'life.' The one is a finite, the
+other an infinite expression. I believe, from what I have learned of Ram
+Lal, that the ultimate object of the adepts is happiness, only to be
+attained by wisdom, and I apprehend that by wisdom they mean a knowledge of
+the world in the broadest sense of the word. The world to them is a great
+repository of facts, <a name="Page_128"></a>physical and social, of which
+they propose to acquire a specific knowledge by transcendental methods. If
+that seems to you a contradiction of terms, I will try and express myself
+better. If you understand me, I am satisfied. Of course I use
+transcendental in the sense in which it is applied by Western
+mathematicians to a mode of reasoning which I very imperfectly comprehend,
+save that it consists in reaching finite results by an adroit use of the
+infinite."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bad definition of transcendental analysis for a man who professes
+to know nothing about it," said I. "I would not accuse you of a
+contradiction of terms, either. I have often thought that what some people
+call the 'philosophy of the nineteenth century,' is nothing after all but
+the unconscious application of transcendental analysis to the everyday
+affairs of life. Consider the theories of Darwin, for instance. What are
+they but an elaborate application of the higher calculus? He differentiates
+men into protoplasms, and integrates protoplasms into monkeys, and shows
+the caudal appendage to be the independent variable, a small factor in man,
+a large factor in monkey. And has not the idea of successive development
+supplanted the early conception of spontaneous perfection? Take an
+illustration from India&mdash;the new system of competition, which the natives
+can never understand. Formerly the members of the Civil Service received
+their warrants by divine authority, so to speak. They were born perfect, as
+Aphrodite from the foam of the sea; they sprang <a
+name="Page_129"></a>armed and ready from the head of old John Company as
+Pallas Athene from the head of Zeus. Now all that is changed; they are
+selected from a great herd of candidates by methods of extreme exactness,
+and when they are chosen they represent the final result of infinite
+probabilities for and against their election. They are all exactly alike;
+they are a formula for taxation and the administration of justice, and so
+long as you do not attempt to use the formula for any other purpose, such,
+for instance, as political negotiation or the censorship of the public
+press, the equation will probably be amenable to solution."</p>
+
+<p>"As I told you," said Isaacs, "I know nothing, or next to nothing, of
+Western mathematics, but I have a general idea of the comparison you make.
+In Asia and in Asiatic minds, there prevails an idea that knowledge can be
+assimilated once and for all. That if you can obtain it, you immediately
+possess the knowledge of everything&mdash;the pass-key that shall unlock every
+door. That is the reason of the prolonged fasting and solitary meditation
+of the ascetics. They believe that by attenuating the bond between soul and
+body, the soul can be liberated and can temporarily identify itself with
+other objects, animate and inanimate, besides the especial body to which it
+belongs, acquiring thus a direct knowledge of those objects, and they
+believe that this direct knowledge remains. Western philosophers argue that
+the only acquaintance a man can have with <a name="Page_130"></a>bodies
+external to his mind is that which he acquires by the medium of his bodily
+senses&mdash;though these, are themselves external to his mind, in the truest
+sanse. The senses not being absolutely reliable, knowledge acquired by
+means of them is not absolutely reliable either. So the ultimate difference
+between the Asiatic saint and the European man of science is, that while
+the former believes all knowledge to be directly within the grasp of the
+soul, under certain conditions, the latter, on the other hand, denies that
+any knowledge can be absolute, being all obtained indirectly through a
+medium not absolutely reliable. The reasoning, by which the Western mind
+allows itself to act fearlessly on information which is not (according to
+its own verdict) necessarily accurate, depends on a clever use of the
+infinite in unconsciously calculating the probabilities of that
+accuracy&mdash;and this entirely falls in with what you said about the
+application of transcendental analysis to the affairs of everyday
+life."</p>
+
+<p>"I see you have entirely comprehended me," I said. "But as for the
+Asiatic mind&mdash;you seem to deny to it the use of the calculus of thought,
+and yet you denned adepts as attempting to acquire specific knowledge by
+general and transcendental methods. Here is a real contradiction."</p>
+
+<p>"No; I see no confusion, for I do not include the higher adepts in
+either class, since they have the wisdom to make use of the learning and of
+the methods of both. They seem to me to be endeavouring, <a
+name="Page_131"></a>roughly speaking, to combine the two. They believe
+absolute knowledge attainable, and they devote much time to the study of
+nature, in which pursuit they make use of highly analytical methods. They
+subdivide phenomena to an extent that would surprise and probably amuse a
+Western thinker. They count fourteen distinct colours in the rainbow, and
+invariably connect sound, even to the finest degrees, with shades of
+colour. I could name many other peculiarities of their mode of studying
+natural phenomena, which displays a much more minute subdivision and
+classification of results than you are accustomed to. But beside all this
+they consider that the senses of the normal man are susceptible of infinite
+refinement, and that upon a greater or less degree of acquired acuteness of
+perception the value of his results must depend. To attain this high degree
+of sensitiveness, necessary to the perception of very subtle phenomena, the
+adepts find it necessary to train their faculties, bodily and mental, by a
+life of rigid abstention from all pleasures or indulgences not
+indispensable in maintaining the relation between the physical and
+intellectual powers."</p>
+
+<p>"The common <i>fakir</i> aims at the same thing," I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"But he does not attain it. The common <i>fakir</i> is an idiot. He may,
+by fasting and self-torture, of a kind no adept would approve, sharpen his
+senses till he can hear and see some sounds and sights inaudible and
+invisible to you and me. But his whole system <a name="Page_132"></a>lacks
+any intellectual basis: he regards knowledge as something instantaneously
+attainable when it comes at last; he believes he will have a vision, and
+that everything will be revealed to him. His devotion to his object is
+admirable, when he is a genuine ascetic and not, as is generally the case,
+a good-for-nothing who makes his piety pay for his subsistence; but it is
+devotion of a very low intellectual order. The true adept thinks the
+training of the mind in intellectual pursuits no less necessary than the
+moderate and reasonable mortification of the flesh, and higher Buddhism
+pays as much attention to the one as to the other."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me," said I, "if I make a digression. I think there are two
+classes of minds commonly to be found among thinkers all over the world.
+The one seek to attain to knowledge, the others strive to acquire it. There
+is a class of commonplace intellects who regard knowledge of all kinds in
+the light of a ladder; one ladder for each science, and the rungs of the
+ladders are the successive facts mastered by an effort and remembered in
+the order they have been passed. These persons think it is possible to
+attain to high eminence on one particular ladder, that is, in one
+particular science, without having been up any of the other ladders, that
+is, without a knowledge of other branches of seience. This is the mind of
+the plodder, the patient man who climbs, step by step, in his own unvarying
+round of thought; not seeing that it is but the wheel of a treadmill over
+which he <a name="Page_133"></a>is labouring, and that though every step
+may pass, and repass, beneath his toiling feet, he can never obtain a
+birdseye view of what he is doing, because his eyes are continually fixed
+on the step in front."</p>
+
+<p>"But," I continued, as Isaacs assented to my simile by a nod, "there is
+another class of minds also. There are persons who regard the whole
+imaginable and unimaginable knowledge of mankind, past, present, and
+future, as a boundless plain over which they hang suspended and can look
+down. Immediately beneath them there is a map spread out which represents,
+in the midst of the immense desert, the things they themselves know. It is
+a puzzle map, like those they make for children, where each piece fits into
+its appointed place, and will fit nowhere else; every piece of knowledge
+acquired fits into the space allotted to it, and when there is a piece,
+that is, a fact, wanting, it is still possible to define its extent and
+shape by the surrounding portions, though all the details of colour and
+design are lacking. These are the people who regard knowledge as a whole,
+harmonious, when every science and fragment of a science has its appointed
+station and is necessary to completeness of perfect knowledge. I hope I
+have made clear to you what I mean, though I am conscious of only sketching
+the outlines of a distinction which I believe to be fundamental."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is fundamental. Broadly, it is the difference between
+analytic and synthetic thought; between the subjective and the objective
+views; <a name="Page_134"></a>between the finite conception of a limited
+world and the infinite ideal of perfect wisdom. I understand you
+perfectly."</p>
+
+<p>"You puzzle me continually, Isaacs. Where did you learn to talk about
+'analytic' and 'synthetic,' and 'subjective' and 'objective,' and
+transcendental analysis, and so forth?" It seemed so consistent with his
+mind that he should understand the use of philosophical terms, that I had
+not realised how odd it was that a man of his purely Oriental education
+should know anything about the subject. His very broad application of the
+words 'analytic' and 'synthetic' to my pair of illustrations attracted my
+attention and prompted the question I had asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I read a good deal," he said simply. Then he added in a reflective
+tone, "I rather think I have a philosophical mind. The old man who taught
+me theology in Istamboul when I was a boy used to talk philosophy to me by
+the hour, though I do not believe he knew much about it. He was a plodder,
+and went up ladders in search of information, like the man you describe.
+But he was very patient and good to me; the peace of Allah be with
+him."</p>
+
+<p>It was late, and soon afterwards we parted for the night. The next day
+was Sunday, and I had a heap of unanswered letters to attend to, so we
+agreed to meet after tiffin and ride together before dining with Mr.
+Ghyrkins and the Westonhaughs.</p>
+
+<p>I went to my room and sat a while over a volume of Kant, which I always
+travel with&mdash;a sort of <a name="Page_135"></a>philosopher's stone on which
+to whet the mind's tools when they are dulled with boring into the
+geological strata of other people's ideas. I was too much occupied with the
+personality of the man I had been talking with to read long, and so I
+abandoned myself to a reverie, passing in review the events of the long
+day.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_136"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_VII'></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Sabbatarian tendency of the English mind at home and abroad is
+proverbial, and if they are well-behaved on Sunday in London they are
+models of virtue in Simla on the same day. Whether they labour and are
+well-fed and gouty in their island home, or suffer themselves to be boiled
+for gain in the tropical kettles of Ceylon and Singapore; whether they risk
+their lives in hunting for the north pole or the northwest passage, or
+endanger their safety in the pursuit of tigers in the Terai, they will have
+their Sunday, come rain, come shine. On the deck of the steamer in the Red
+Sea, in the cabin of the inbound Arctic explorer, in the crowded Swiss
+hotel, or the straggling Indian hill station, there is always a parson of
+some description, in a surplice of no description at all, who produces a
+Bible and a couple of well-thumbed sermons from the recesses of his trunk
+or his lunch basket, or his gun-case, and goes at the work of weekly
+redemption with a will. And, what is more, he is listened to, and for the
+time being&mdash;though on week days he is styled a bore by the old and a prig
+by the young&mdash;he becomes temporarily invested with a dignity not his own,
+with an authority <a name="Page_137"></a>he could not claim on any other
+day. It is the dignity of a people who with all their faults have the
+courage of their opinions, and it is the authority that they have been
+taught from their childhood to reverence, whenever their traditions give it
+the right to assert itself. Not otherwise. It is a fine trait of national
+character, though it is one which has brought upon the English much
+unmerited ridicule. One may differ from them in faith and in one's estimate
+of the real value of these services, which are often only saved from being
+irreverent in their performance by the perfect sincerity of parson and
+congregation. But no one who dispassionately judges them can deny that the
+custom inspires respect for English consistency and admiration for their
+supreme contempt of surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>I presume that the periodical manifestations of religious belief to
+which I refer are intimately and indissolubly connected with the staid and
+funereal solemnity which marks an Englishman's dress, conversation, and
+conduct on Sunday. He is a different being for the nonce, and must sustain
+the entire character of his dual existence, or it will fall to the ground
+and forsake him altogether. He cannot take his religion in the morning and
+enjoy himself the rest of the day. He must abstain from everything that
+could remind him that he has a mind at all, besides a soul. No amusement
+will he tolerate, no reading of even the most harmless fiction can he
+suffer, while he is in the weekly devotional trance.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_138"></a>I cannot explain these things; they are race
+questions, problems for the ethnologist. Certain it is, however, that the
+partial decay of strict Sabbatarianism which seems to have set in during
+the last quarter of a century has not been attended by any notable
+development of power in English thought of that class. The first Republic
+tried the experiment of the decimal week, and it was a failure. The English
+who attempt to put off even a little of the quaint armour of righteousness,
+which they have been accustomed to buckle on every seventh day for so many
+generations, are not so successful in the attempt as to attract many to
+follow them. They are not graceful in their holiday gambols.</p>
+
+<p>Meditating somewhat on this wise I lay in my long chair by the open door
+that Sunday morning in September. It was a little warmer again and the sun
+shone pleasantly across the lawn on the great branches and bright leaves of
+the rhododendron. The house was very quiet. All the inmates were gone to
+the church on the mall, and the servants were basking in the last few days
+of warmth they would enjoy before their masters returned to the plains. The
+Hindoo servant hates the cold. He fears it as he fears cobras, fever, and
+freemasons. His ideal life is nothing to do, nothing to wear, and plenty to
+eat, with the thermometer at 135 degrees in the verandah and 110 inside.
+Then he is happy. His body swells with much good rice and <i>dal</i>, and
+his heart with pride; he will wear as little as you will let him, and <a
+name="Page_139"></a>whether you will let him or not, he will do less work
+in a given time than any living description of servant. So they basked in
+rows in the sunshine, and did not even quarrel or tell yarns among
+themselves; it was quiet and warm and sleepy. I dozed lazily, dropped my
+book in my lap, struggled once, and then fairly fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>I was roused by Kiramat Ali pulling at my foot, as natives will when
+they are afraid of the consequences of waking their master. When I opened
+my eyes he presented a card on a salver, and explained that the gentleman
+wanted to see me. I looked, and was rather surprised to see it was
+Kildare's card. "Lord Steepleton Kildare, 33d Lancers "&mdash;there was no word
+in pencil, or any message. I told Kiramat to show the sahib in, wondering
+why he should call on me. By Indian etiquette, if there was to be any
+calling, it was my duty to make the first visit. Before I had time to think
+more I heard the clanking of spurs and sabre on the verandah, and the young
+man walked in, clad in the full uniform of his regiment. I rose to greet
+him, and was struck by his soldierly bearing and straight figure, as I had
+been at our first meeting. He took off his bearskin &mdash;for he was in the
+fullest of full dress&mdash;and sat down.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad to find you at home," he said: "I feared you might have
+gone to church, like everybody else in this place."</p>
+
+<p>"No. I went early this morning. I belong to a <a
+name="Page_140"></a>different persuasion. I suppose you are on your way to
+Peterhof?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. There is some sort of official reception to somebody,&mdash;I forget
+who,&mdash;and we had notice to turn out. It is a detestable nuisance."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think so."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs, I came to ask you about something. You heard of my proposal
+to get up a tiger-hunt? Mr. Ghyrkins was speaking of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. He wanted us to go,&mdash;Mr. Isaacs and me,&mdash;and suggested leaving his
+niece, Miss Westonhaugh, with Lady Smith-Tompkins."</p>
+
+<p>"It would be so dull without a lady in the party. Nothing but tigers and
+shikarries and other native abominations to talk to. Do you not think
+so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes. I told Mr. Ghyrkins that all the little Smith-Tompkins
+children had the measles, and the house was not safe. If they have not had
+them, they will, I have no doubt. Heaven is just, and will not leave you to
+the conversational mercies of the entertaining tiger and the engaging
+shikarry."</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove, Mr. Griggs, that was a brilliant idea: and, as you say, they
+may all get the measles yet. The fact is, I have set my heart on this
+thing. Miss Westonhaugh said she had never seen a tiger, except in cages
+and that kind of thing, and so I made up my mind she should. Besides, it
+will be no end of a lark; just when nobody is thinking about tigers, you go
+off and kill a tremendous fellow, fifteen or sixteen feet long, and come
+back covered with glory <a name="Page_141"></a>and mosquito bites, and tell
+everybody that Miss Westonhaugh shot him herself with a pocket pistol. That
+will be glorious!"</p>
+
+<p>"I should like it very much too; and I really see no reason why it
+should not be done. Mr. Ghyrkins seemed in a very cheerful humour about
+tigers last night, and I have no doubt a little persuasion from you will
+bring him to a proper view of his obligations to Miss Westonhaugh." He
+looked pleased and bright and hopeful, thoroughly enthusiastic, as became
+his Irish blood. He evidently intended to have quite as "good" a "time" as
+Isaacs proposed to enjoy. I thought the spectacle of those rivals for the
+beautiful girl's favour would be extremely interesting. Lord Steepleton was
+doubtless a good shot and a brave man, and would risk anything to secure
+Miss Westonhaugh's approval; Isaacs, on the other hand, was the sort of man
+who is very much the same in danger as anywhere else.</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I came to ask you about. We shall all meet there at dinner
+this evening, and I wanted to secure as many allies as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"You may count on me, Lord Steepleton, at all events. There is nothing I
+should enjoy better than such a fortnight's holiday, in such good
+company."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Lord Steepleton, rising, "I must be off now to
+Peterhof. It is an organised movement on Mr. Ghyrkins this evening, then.
+Is it understood?" He took his bearskin from the table, and prepared to go,
+pulling his straps and belts into place, and dusting a particle of ash from
+his sleeve.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_142"></a>"Perfectly," I answered. "We will drag him forth
+into the arena before three days are past." We shook hands, and he went
+out.</p>
+
+<p>I was glad he had come, though I had been waked from a pleasant nap to
+receive him. He was so perfectly gay, and natural, and healthy, that one
+could not help liking him. You felt at once that he was honest and would do
+the right thing in spite of any one, according to his light; that he would
+stand by a friend in danger, and face any odds in fight, with as much
+honest determination to play fair and win, as he would bring to a cricket
+match or a steeple-chase. His Irish blood gave him a somewhat less formal
+manner than belongs to the Englishman; more enthusiasm and less regard for
+"form," while his good heart and natural courtesy would lead him right in
+the long-run. He seemed all sunshine, with his bright blue eyes and great
+fair moustache and brown face; the closely fitting uniform showed off his
+erect figure and elastic gait, and the whole impression was fresh and
+exhilarating in the extreme. I was sorry he had gone. I would have liked to
+talk with him about boating and fishing and shooting; about athletics and
+horses and tandem-driving, and many things I used, to like years ago at
+college, before I began my wandering life. I watched him as he swung
+himself into the military saddle, and he threw up his hand in a parting
+salute as he rode away. Poor fellow! was he, too, going to be food for
+powder and Afghan knives in the avenging army <a name="Page_143"></a>on its
+way to Kabul? I went back to my books and remained reading until the
+afternoon sun slanted in through the open door, and falling across my book
+warned me it was time to keep my appointment with Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>As we passed the church the people were coming out from the evening
+service, and I saw Kildare, once more in the garb of a civilian, standing
+near the door, apparently watching for some one to appear. I knew that,
+with his strict observance of Catholic rules&mdash;often depending more on pride
+of family than on religious conviction, in the house of Kildare&mdash;he would
+not have entered the English Church at such a time, and I was sure he was
+lying in wait for Miss Westonhaugh, probably intending to surprise her and
+join her on her homeward ride. The road winds down below the Church, so
+that for some minutes after passing the building you may get a glimpse of
+the mall above and of the people upon it&mdash;or at least of their heads&mdash;if
+they are moving near the edge of the path. I was unaccountably curious this
+evening, and I dropped a little behind Isaacs, craning my neck and turning
+back in the saddle as I watched the stream of heads and shoulders, strongly
+foreshortened against the blue sky above, moving ceaselessly along the
+parapet over my head. Before long I was rewarded; Miss Westonhaugh's fair
+hair and broad hat entered the field of my vision, and a moment later Lord
+Steepleton, who must have pushed through the crowd from the other side, <a
+name="Page_144"></a>appeared struggling after her. She turned quickly, and
+I saw no more, but I did not think she had changed colour.</p>
+
+<p>I began to be deeply interested in ascertaining whether she had any
+preference for one or the other of the two young men. Kildare's visit in
+the morning&mdash;though he had said very little&mdash;had given me a new impression
+of the man, and I felt that he was no contemptible rival. I saw from the
+little incident I had just witnessed that he neglected no opportunity of
+being with Miss Westonhaugh, and that he had the patience to wait and the
+boldness to find her in a crowd. I had seen very little of her myself; but
+I had been amply satisfied that Isaacs was capable of interesting her in a
+<i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te</i> conversation. "The talker has the
+best chance, if he is bold enough," I said to myself; but I was not
+satisfied, and I resolved that if I could manage it Isaacs should have
+another chance that very evening after the dinner. Meanwhile I would
+involve Isaacs in a conversation on some one of those subjects that seemed
+to interest him most. He had not seen the couple on the mall, and was
+carelessly ambling along with his head in the air and one hand in the
+pocket of his short coat, the picture of unconcern.</p>
+
+<p>I was trying to make up my mind whether I would open fire upon the
+immortality of the soul, matrimony, or the differential calculus, when, as
+we passed from the narrow street into the road leading sound Jako, Isaacs
+spoke.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_145"></a>"Look here, Griggs," said he, "there is something
+I want to impress upon your mind."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is all very well for Ram Lal to give advice about things he
+understands. I have a very sincere regard for him, but I do not believe he
+was ever in my position. I have set my heart on this tiger-hunt. Miss
+Westonhaugh said the other day that she had never seen a tiger, and I then
+and there made up my mind that she should."</p>
+
+<p>I laughed. There seemed to be no essential difference of opinion between
+the Irishman and the Persian in regard to the pleasures of the chase. Miss
+Westonhaugh was evidently anxious to see tigers, and meant to do it, since
+she had expressed her wish to the two men most likely to procure her that
+innocent recreation. Lord Steepleton Kildare by his position, and Isaacs by
+his wealth, could, if they chose, get up such a tiger-hunt for her benefit
+as had never been seen. I thought she might have waited till the
+spring&mdash;but I had learned that she intended to return to England in April,
+and was to spend the early months of the year with her brother in
+Bombay.</p>
+
+<p>"You want to see Miss Westonhaugh, and Miss Westonhaugh wants to see
+tigers! My dear fellow, go in and win; I will back you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you laugh, Griggs?" asked Isaacs, who saw nothing particularly
+amusing in what he had said.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I laughed because another young gentleman <a
+name="Page_146"></a>expressed the same opinions to me, in identically the
+same words, this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Westonhaugh?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. You know very well that Mr. Westonhaugh cares nothing about it, one
+way or the other. The little plan for 'amusing brother John' is a hoax. The
+thing cannot be done. You might as well try to amuse an undertaker as to
+make a man from Bombay laugh. The hollowness of life is ever upon them. No.
+It was Kildare; he called and said that Miss Westonhaugh had never seen a
+tiger, and he seemed anxious to impress upon me his determination that she
+should. Pshaw! what does Kildare care about brother John?"</p>
+
+<p>"Brother John, as you call him, is a better fellow than he looks. I owe
+a great deal to brother John." Isaacs' olive skin flushed a little, and he
+emphasised the epithet by which I had designated Mr. John Westonhaugh as if
+he were offended by it.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean nothing against Mr. Westonhaugh," said I half apologetically. "I
+remember when you met yesterday afternoon you said you had seen him in
+Bombay a long time ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember the story I told you of myself the other night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly."</p>
+
+<p>"Westonhaugh was the young civil servant who paid my fine and gave me a
+rupee, when I was a ragged sailor from a Mocha craft, and could not speak a
+word of English. To that rupee I ultimately <a name="Page_147"></a>owe my
+entire fortune. I never forget a face, and I am sure it is he&mdash;do you
+understand me now? I owe to his kindness everything I possess in the
+world."</p>
+
+<p>"The unpardonable sin is ingratitude," I answered, "of which you will
+certainly not be accused. That is a very curious coincidence."</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is something more. A man has always at least one opportunity
+of repaying a debt, and, besm Illah! I will repay what I can of it. By the
+beard of the apostle, whose name is blessed, I am not ungrateful!" Isaacs
+was excited as he said this. He was no longer the calm Mr. Isaacs, he was
+Abdul Hafiz the Persian, fiery and enthusiastic.</p>
+
+<p>"You say well, my friend," he continued earnestly, "that the
+unpardonable sin is ingratitude. Doubtless, had the blessed prophet of
+Allah lived in our day, he would have spoken of the doom that hangs over
+the ungrateful. It is the curse of this age; for he who forgets or refuses
+to remember the kindness done to him by others sets himself apart, and
+worships his miserable self, and he makes an idol of himself, saying, 'I am
+of more importance than my fellows in the world, and it is meet and right
+that they should give and that I should receive.' Ingratitude is
+selfishness, and selfishness is the worship of oneself, the setting of
+oneself higher than man and goodness and God. And when man perishes and the
+angel Al Sijil, the recorder, rolls up his scroll, what is written therein
+is written; and Israfil shall call <a name="Page_148"></a>men to judgment,
+and the scrolls shall be unfolded, and he that has taken of others and not
+given in return, but has ungratefully forgotten and put away the
+remembrance of the kindness received, shall be counted among the
+unbelievers and the extortioners and the unjust, and shall broil in raging
+flames. By the hairs of the prophet's beard, whose name is blessed."</p>
+
+<p>I had not seen Isaacs so thoroughly roused before upon any subject. The
+flush had left his face and given place to a perfect paleness, and his eyes
+shone like coals of fire as he looked upward in pronouncing the last words.
+I said to myself that there was a strong element of religious exaltation in
+all Asiatics, and put his excitement down to this cause. His religion was a
+very beautiful and real thing to him, ever present in his life, and I mused
+on the future of the man, with his great endowments, his exquisite
+sensitiveness, and his high view of his obligations to his fellows. I am
+not a worshipper of heroes, but I felt that, for the first time in my life,
+I was intimate with a man who was ready to stand in the breach and to die
+for what he thought and believed to be right. After a pause of some
+minutes, during which we had ridden beyond the last straggling bungalows of
+the town, he spoke again, quietly, his temporary excitement having
+subsided.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel very strongly about these things," he said, and then stopped
+short.</p>
+
+<p>"I can see you do, and I honour you for it. I <a
+name="Page_149"></a>think you are the first grateful person I have ever
+met; a rare and unique bird in the earth."</p>
+
+<p>"Do not say that."</p>
+
+<p>"I do say it. There is very little of the philosophy of the nineteenth
+century about you, Isaacs. Your belief in the obligations of gratitude and
+in the general capacity of the human race for redemption, savours little of
+'transcendental analysis.'"</p>
+
+<p>"You have too much of it," he answered seriously. "I do not think you
+see how much your cynicism involves. You would very likely, if you are the
+man I take you for, be very much offended if I accused you of not believing
+any particular dogma of your religion. And yet, with all your faith, you do
+not believe in God."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot see how you get at that conclusion," I replied. "I must deny
+your hypothesis, at the risk of engaging you in an argument." I could not
+see what he was driving at.</p>
+
+<p>"How can you believe in God, and yet condemn the noblest of His works as
+altogether bad? You are not consistent."</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you think I am so cynical?" I inquired, harking back to gain
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"A little cloud, a little sultriness in the air, is all that betrays the
+coming <i>khemsin</i>, that by and by shall overwhelm and destroy man and
+beast in its sandy darkness. You have made one or two remarks lately that
+show little faith in human nature, and if you do not believe in human
+nature what is there left for <a name="Page_150"></a>you to believe in? You
+said a moment ago that I was the first grateful person you had ever met.
+Then the rest of humanity are all selfish, and worshippers of themselves,
+and altogether vile, since you yourself say, as I do, that ingratitude is
+the unpardonable sin; and God has made a world full of unpardonable
+sinners, and unless you include yourself in the exception you graciously
+make in my favour, no one but I shall be saved. And yet you say also with
+me that God is good. Do you deny that you are utterly inconsistent?"</p>
+
+<p>"I may make you some concession in a few minutes, but I am not going to
+yield to such logic. You have committed the fallacy of the undistributed
+middle term, if you care to know the proper name for it. I did not say that
+all men, saving you, were ungrateful. I said that, saving you, the persons
+I have met in my life have been ungrateful. You ought to distinguish."</p>
+
+<p>"All I can say is, then, that you have had a very unfortunate experience
+of life," retorted Isaacs warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have," said I, "but since you yield the technical point of logic, I
+will confess that I made the assertion hastily and overshot the mark. I do
+not remember, however, to have met any one who felt so strongly on the
+point as you do."</p>
+
+<p>"Now you speak like a rational being," said Isaacs, quite pacified.
+"Extraordinary feelings are the result of unusual circumstances. I was in
+such distress <a name="Page_151"></a>as rarely falls to the lot of an
+innocent man of fine temperament and good abilities. I am now in a position
+of such wealth and prosperity as still more seldom are given to a man of my
+age and antecedents. I remember that I obtained the first step on my road
+to fortune through the kindness of John Westonhaugh, though I could never
+learn his name, and I met him at last, as you saw, by an accident. I call
+that accident a favour, and an opportunity bestowed on me by Allah, and the
+meeting has roused in me those feelings of thankfulness which, for want of
+an object upon which to show them, have been put away out of sight as a
+thing sacred for many years. I am willing you should say that, were my
+present fortune less, my gratitude would be proportionately less felt&mdash;it
+is very likely&mdash;though the original gift remain the same, one rupee and no
+more. You are entitled to think of any man as grateful in proportion to the
+gift, so long as you allow the gratitude at all." He made this speech in a
+perfectly natural and unconcerned way, as if he were contemplating the case
+of another person.</p>
+
+<p>"Seriously, Isaacs, I would not do so for the world. I believe you were
+as grateful twelve years ago, when you were poor, as you are now that you
+are rich." Isaacs was silent, but a look of great gentleness crossed his
+face. There was at times something almost angelic in the perfect kindness
+of his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"To return," I said at last, "to the subject from which we started, the
+tigers. If we are really going, <a name="Page_152"></a>we must leave here
+the day after to-morrow morning&mdash;indeed, why not to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; to-morrow we are to play that game of polo, which I am looking
+forward to with pleasure. Besides, it will take the men three days to get
+the elephants together, and I only telegraphed this morning to the
+collector of the district to make the arrangements."</p>
+
+<p>"So you have already taken steps? Does Kildare know you have sent
+orders?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. He came to me this morning at daybreak, and we determined to
+arrange everything and take uncle Ghyrkins for granted. You need not look
+astonished; Kildare and I are allies, and very good friends." What a true
+Oriental! How wise and far-sighted was the Persian, how bold and reckless
+the Irishman! It was odd, I thought, that Kildare had not mentioned the
+interview with Isaacs. Yet there was a certain rough
+delicacy&mdash;contradictory and impulsive&mdash;in his silence about this coalition
+with his rival. We rode along and discussed the plans for the expedition.
+All the men in the party, except Lord Steepleton, who had not been long in
+India, had killed tigers before. There would be enough of us, without
+asking any one else to join. The collector to whom Isaacs had telegraphed
+was an old acquaintance of his, and would probably go out for a few days
+with us. It all seemed easy enough and plain sailing. In the course of time
+we returned to our hotel, dressed, <a name="Page_153"></a>and made our way
+through the winding roads to Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' bungalow.</p>
+
+<p>We were met on the verandah by the old commissioner, who welcomed us
+warmly and praised our punctuality, for the clock was striking seven in the
+drawing-room, as we divested ourselves of our light top-coats. In the
+vestibule, Miss Westonhaugh and her brother came forward to greet us.</p>
+
+<p>"John," said the young lady, "you know I told you there was some one
+here whom you got out of trouble ever so many years ago in Bombay. Here he
+is. This is a new introduction. Mr. John Westonhaugh, Mr. Abdul
+Hafiz-ben-Is&acirc;k, commonly known to his friends as Mr. Isaacs." Her
+face beamed with pleasure, and I thought with pride, as she led her brother
+to Isaacs, and her eyes rested long on the Persian with a look that, to me,
+argued something more than a mere interest. The two men clasped hands and
+stood for some seconds looking at each other in silence, but with very
+different expressions. Westonhaugh wore a look of utter amazement, though
+he certainly seemed pleased. The good heart that had prompted the good
+action twelve years before was still in the right place, above any petty
+considerations about nationality. His astonishment gradually changed to a
+smile of real greeting and pleasure, as he began to shake the hand he still
+held. I thought that even the faintest tinge of blood coloured his pale
+cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless my soul," said he, "I remember you <a
+name="Page_154"></a>perfectly well now. But it is so unexpected; my sister
+reminded me of the story, which I had not forgotten, and now I look at you
+I remember you perfectly. I am so glad."</p>
+
+<p>As Isaacs answered, his voice trembled, and his face was very pale.
+There was a moisture in the brilliant eyes that told of genuine
+emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Westonhaugh, I consider that I owe to you everything I have in the
+world. This is a greater pleasure than I thought was in store for me.
+Indeed I thank you again."</p>
+
+<p>His voice would not serve him. He stopped short and turned away to look
+for something in his coat.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed," said Westonhaugh, "it was a very little thing I did for you."
+And presently the two men went together into the drawing-room, Westonhaugh
+asking all manner of questions, which Isaacs, who was himself again, began
+to answer. The rest of us remained in the vestibule to meet Lord
+Steepleton, who at that moment came up the steps. There were more
+greetings, and then the head <i>khitmatgar</i> appeared and informed the
+"<i>Sahib log</i>, protectors of the poor, that their meat was ready." So
+we filed into the dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was placed at Miss Westonhaugh's right, and her brother sat on
+his other side. Ghyrkins was opposite his niece at the other end, and
+Kildare and I were together, facing Westonhaugh and Isaacs, a party of six.
+Of course Kildare sat beside the lady.</p>
+
+<p>The dinner opened very pleasantly. <i>I</i> could see <a
+name="Page_155"></a>that Isaacs' undisguised gratitude and delight in
+having at last met the man who had helped him had strongly predisposed John
+Westonhaugh in his favour. Who is it that is not pleased at finding that
+some deed of kindness, done long ago with hardly a thought, has borne fruit
+and been remembered and treasured up by the receiver as the turning-point
+in his life? Is there any pleasure greater than that we enjoy through the
+happiness of others&mdash;in those rare cases where kindness is not misplaced? I
+had had time to reflect that Isaacs had most likely told a part of his
+story to Miss Westonhaugh on the previous afternoon as soon as he had
+recognised her brother. He might have told her before; I did not know how
+long he had known her, but it must have been some time. Presently she
+turned to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "some of us know something of your history. Why
+will you not tell us the rest now? My uncle has heard nothing of it, and I
+know Lord Steepleton is fond of novels."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs hesitated long, but as every one pressed him in turn, he yielded
+at last. And he told it well. It was exactly the narrative he had given me,
+in every detail of fact, but the whole effect was different. I saw how true
+a mastery he had of the English language, for he knew his audience
+thoroughly, and by a little colour here and an altered expression there he
+made it graphic and striking, not without humour, and altogether free of a
+certain mystical tinge he had imparted to it when we were alone. He talked
+<a name="Page_156"></a>easily, with no more constraint than on other
+occasions, and his narrative was a small social success. I had not seen him
+in evening dress before, and I could not help thinking how much more
+thoroughly he looked the polished man of the world than the other men.
+Kildare never appeared to greater advantage than in the uniform and
+trappings of his profession. In a black coat and a white tie he looked like
+any other handsome young Englishman, utterly without individuality. But
+Isaacs, with his pale complexion and delicate high-bred features, bore
+himself like a noble of the old school. Westonhaugh beside him looked
+washed-out and deathly, Kildare was too coarsely healthy, and Ghyrkins and
+I, representing different types of extreme plainness, served as foils to
+all three.</p>
+
+<p>I watched Miss Westonhaugh while Isaacs was speaking. She had evidently
+heard the whole story, for her expression showed beforehand the emotion she
+expected to feel at each point. Her colour came and went softly, and her
+eyes brightened with a warm light beneath the dark brows that contrasted so
+strangely yet delightfully with the mass of flaxen-white hair. She wore
+something dark and soft, cut square at the neck, and a plain circlet of
+gold was her only ornament. She was a beautiful creature, certainly; one of
+those striking-looking women of whom something is always expected, until
+they drop quietly out of youth into middle age, and the world finds out
+that they are, after all, not heroines of <a name="Page_157"></a>romance,
+but merely plain, honest, good women; good wives and good mothers who love
+their homes and husbands well, though it has pleased nature in some strange
+freak to give them the form and feature of a Semiramis, a Cleopatra, or a
+Jeanne d'Arc.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me, how very interesting!" exclaimed Mr. Ghyrkins, looking up from
+his hill mutton as Isaacs finished, and a little murmur of sympathetic
+applause went round the table.</p>
+
+<p>"I would give a great deal to have been through all that," said Lord
+Steepleton, slowly proceeding to sip a glass of claret.</p>
+
+<p>"Just think!" ejaculated John Westonhaugh. "And I was entertaining such
+a Sinbad unawares!" and he took another green pepper from the dish his
+servant handed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word, Isaacs," I said, "some one ought to make a novel of that
+story; it would sell like wildfire."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you do it yourself, Griggs?" he asked. "You are a pressman,
+and I am sure you are welcome to the whole thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I will," I answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh do, Mr. Griggs," said the young lady, "and make it wind up with a
+tiger-hunt. You could lay the scene in Australia or the Barbadoes, or some
+of those places, and put us all in&mdash;and kill us all off, if you like, you
+know. It would be such fun." Poor Miss Westonhaugh!</p>
+
+<p>"It is easy to see what you are thinking about <a
+name="Page_158"></a>most, Miss Westonhaugh," said Lord Steepleton: "the
+tigers are uppermost in your mind; and therefore in mine also," he added
+gallantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, no&mdash;I was thinking about Mr. Isaacs." She blushed scarlet&mdash;the
+first time I had ever seen her really embarrassed. It was very natural that
+she should be thinking of Isaacs and the strange adventures he had just
+recounted; and if she had not cared about him she would not have changed
+colour. So I thought, at all events.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, drink some water immediately, this curry is very hot&mdash;deuced
+hot, in fact," said Mr. Ghyrkins, in perfectly good faith.</p>
+
+<p>John Westonhaugh, who was busy breaking up biscuits and green peppers
+and "Bombay ducks" into his curry, looked up slowly at his sister and
+smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you are quite a griffin, Katharine," said he, "how they will laugh
+at you in Bombay!" I was amused; of course the remarks of her uncle and
+brother did not make the blush subside&mdash;on the contrary. Kildare was
+drinking more claret, to conceal his annoyance. Isaacs had a curious
+expression. There was a short silence, and for one instant he turned his
+eyes to Miss Westonhaugh. It was only a look, but it betrayed to me&mdash;who
+knew what he felt&mdash;infinite surprise, joy, and sympathy. His quick
+understanding had comprehended that he had scored his first victory over
+his rival.</p>
+
+<p>As her eyes met those of Isaacs, the colour left her <a
+name="Page_159"></a>cheeks as suddenly as it had come, leaving her face
+dead white. She drank a little water, and presently seemed at ease again. I
+was beginning to think she cared for him seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"And pray, John," she asked, "what may a griffin be? It is not a very
+pretty name to call a young lady, is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, a griffin," put in Mr. Ghyrkins, "is the 'Mr. Verdant Green' of
+the Civil Service. A young civilian&mdash;or anybody else&mdash;who is just out from
+home is called a griffin. John calls you a griffin because you don't
+understand eating pepper. You don't find it as <i>chilly</i> as he does!
+Ha! ha! ha!" and the old fellow laughed heartily, till he was red in the
+face, at his bleared old pun. Of course every one was amused or professed
+to be, for it was a diversion welcomed by the three men of us who had seen
+the young girl's embarrassment.</p>
+
+<p>"A griffin," said I, "is a thing of joy. Mr. Westonhaugh was a griffin
+when he gave Mr. Isaacs that historical rupee." I cast my little bombshell
+into the conversation, and placidly went on manipulating my rice.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was in too gay a humour to be offended, and he only said, turning
+to Miss Westonhaugh&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs is a cynyic, you know. You must not believe anything he
+says."</p>
+
+<p>"If doing kind things makes one a griffin, I hope I may be one always,"
+said Miss Westonhaugh quickly, "and I trust my brother is as much a griffin
+as ever."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_160"></a>"I am, I assure you," said he. "But Mr. Griggs is
+quite right, and shows a profound knowledge of Indian life. No one but a
+griffin of the greenest ever gave anybody a rupee in Bombay&mdash;or ever will
+now, I should think."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, John, are you going to be cynical too?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Katharine, I am not cynical at all. I do not think you are quite
+sure what a 'cynic' is."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, I know quite well. Diogenes was a cynic, and Saint Jerome, and
+other people of that class."</p>
+
+<p>"A man who lives in a tub, and abuses Alexander the Great, and that sort
+of thing," remarked Kildare, who had not spoken for some time.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs," said John Westonhaugh, "since you are the accused, pray
+define what you mean by a cynic, and then Mr. Isaacs, as the accuser, can
+have a chance too."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I will. A man is a cynic if he will do no good to any one
+because he believes every one past improvement. Most men who do good
+actions are also cynics, because they well know that they are doing more
+harm than good by their charity. Mr. Westonhaugh has the discrimination to
+appreciate this, and therefore he is not a cynic."</p>
+
+<p>"It is well you introduced the saving clause, Griggs," said Isaacs to me
+from across the table. "I am going to define you now; for I strongly
+suspect that you are the very ideal of a philosopher of that class. You are
+a man who believes in all that is good <a name="Page_161"></a>and beautiful
+in theory, but by too much indifference to good in small measures&mdash;for you
+want a thing perfect, or you want it not at all&mdash;you have abstracted
+yourself from perceiving it anywhere, except in the most brilliant examples
+of heroism that history affords. You set up in your imagination an ideal
+which you call the good man, and you are utterly dissatisfied with anything
+less perfect than perfection. The result is that, though you might do a
+good action from your philosophical longing to approach the ideal in your
+own person, you will not suffer yourself to believe that others are
+consciously or unconsciously striving to make themselves better also. And
+you do not believe that any one can be made a better man by any one else,
+by any exterior agency, by any good that you or others may do to him. What
+makes you what you are is the fact that you really cherish this beautiful
+ideal image of your worship and reverence, and love it; but for this, you
+would be the most insufferable man of my acquaintance, instead of being the
+most agreeable."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was gifted with a marvellous frankness of speech. He always said
+what he meant, with a supreme indifference to consequences; but he said it
+with such perfect honesty and evident appreciation of what was good, even
+when he most vehemently condemned what he did not like, that it was
+impossible to be annoyed. Every one laughed at his attack on me, and having
+satisfied my desire to observe Miss Westonhaugh, which had prompted my
+first <a name="Page_162"></a>remark about griffins, I thought it was time
+to turn the conversation to the projected hunt.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," I said, "I think that in spite of your Parthian shaft,
+your definition of a cynic is as complimentary to the school at large as to
+me in particular. Meanwhile, however," I added, turning to Mr. Ghyrkins, "I
+am inclined to believe with Lord Steepleton that the subject uppermost in
+the thoughts of most of us is the crusade against the tigers. What do you
+say? Shall we not all go as we are, a neat party of six?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, Mr. Griggs, we shall see, you know. Now, if we are going at
+all, when do you mean to start?"</p>
+
+<p>"The sooner the better of course," broke in Kildare, and he launched
+into a host of reasons for going immediately, including the wildest
+statistics about the habits of tigers in winter. This was quite natural,
+however, as he was a thorough Irishman and had never seen a tiger in his
+life. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins vainly attempted to stem the torrent of his
+eloquence, but at last pinned him on some erratic statement about tigers
+moulting later in the year and their skins not being worth taking. Kildare
+would have asserted with equal equanimity that all tigers shed their teeth
+and their tails in December; he was evidently trying to rouse Mr. Ghyrkins
+into a discussion on the subject of tiger shooting in general, a purpose
+very easily accomplished. The old gentleman was soon goaded to madness by
+Kildare's wonderful <a name="Page_163"></a>opinions, and before long he
+vowed that the youngster had never seen a tiger,&mdash;not one in his whole
+life, sir,&mdash;and that it was high time he did, high time indeed, and he
+swore he should see one before he was a week older. Yes, sir, before he was
+a week older, "if I have to carry you among 'em like a baby in arms, sir,
+by gad, sir&mdash;I should think so!"</p>
+
+<p>This was all we wanted, and in another ten minutes we were drinking a
+bumper to the health of the whole tiger-hunt and of Miss Westonhaugh in
+particular. Isaacs joined with the rest, and though he only drank some
+sherbet, as I watched his bright eyes and pale cheek, I thought that never
+knight drank truer toast to his lady. Miss Westonhaugh rose and went out,
+leaving us to smoke for a while. The conversation was general, and turned
+on the chase, of course. In a few minutes Isaacs dropped his cigarette and
+went quietly out. I determined to detain the rest as long as possible, and
+I seconded Mr. Ghyrkins in passing the claret briskly round, telling all
+manner of stories of all nations and peoples&mdash;ancient tales that would not
+amuse a schoolboy in America, but which were a revelation of profound wit
+and brilliant humour to the unsophisticated British mind. By immense
+efforts&mdash;and I hate to exert myself in conversation&mdash;I succeeded in
+prolonging the session through a cigar and a half, but at last I was forced
+to submit to a move; and with a somewhat ancient remark from Mr. Ghyrkins,
+to the effect that all good things <a name="Page_164"></a>must come to an
+end, we returned to the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were looking over some English photographs,
+and she was enthusiastically praising the beauties of Gothic architecture,
+while Isaacs was making the most of his opportunity, and taking a good look
+at her as she bent over the album. After we came in, she made a little
+music at the tuneless piano&mdash;there never was a piano in India yet that had
+any tune in it&mdash;playing and singing a little, very prettily. She sang
+something about a body in the rye, and then something else about drinking
+only with the eyes, to which her brother sang a sort of second very nicely.
+I do not understand much about music, but I thought the allusion to Isaacs'
+temperance in only drinking with his eyes was rather pointed. He said,
+however, that he liked it even better with a second than when she sang it
+alone, so I argued that it was not the first time he had heard it.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "you have often promised to sing something
+Persian for us. Will you not keep your word now?"</p>
+
+<p>"When we are among the tigers, Miss Westonhaugh, next week. Then I will
+try and borrow a lute and sing you something."</p>
+
+<p>It was late for an Indian dinner-party, so we took our departure soon
+afterwards, having agreed to meet the following afternoon at Annandale for
+the game of polo, in which Westonhaugh said he would also <a
+name="Page_165"></a>play. He and Isaacs made some appointment for the
+morning; they seemed to be very sympathetic to each other. Kildare mounted
+and rode homeward with us, though he had much farther to go than we. If he
+felt any annoyance at the small successes Isaacs had achieved during the
+evening, he was far too courteous a gentleman to show it; and so, as we
+groped our way through the trees by the starlight, chiefly occupied in
+keeping our horses on their legs, the snatches of conversation that were
+possible were pleasant, if not animated, and there was a cordial
+"Good-night" on both sides, as we left Kildare to pursue his way alone.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_166"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_VIII'></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon when Isaacs and I emerged
+from the narrow road upon the polo ground. We were clad in the
+tight-fitting garments which are necessary for the game, and wrapped in
+light top-coats; as we came out on the green we saw a number of other men
+in similar costume standing about, and a great many native grooms leading
+ponies up and down. Miss Westonhaugh was there in her gray habit and broad
+hat, and by her side, on foot, Lord Steepleton Kildare was making the most
+of his time, as he waited for the rest of the players. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins
+was ambling about on his broad little horse, and John Westonhaugh stood
+with his hands in his pockets and a large Trichinopoli cheroot between his
+lips, apparently gazing into space. Several other men, more or less known
+to us and to each other, moved about or chatted disconnectedly, and one or
+two arrived after us. Some of them wore coloured jerseys that showed
+brightly over the open collars of their coats, others were in ordinary
+dress and had come to see the game. Farther off, at one side of the ground,
+one or two groups of ladies and their escorting cavaliers haunted at a
+short distance <a name="Page_167"></a>by their saices in many-coloured
+turbans and belts, or <i>cummer-bunds,</i> as the sash is called in India,
+moved slowly about, glancing from time to time towards the place where the
+players and their ponies were preparing for the contest.</p>
+
+<p>Few games require so little preparation and so few preliminaries as
+polo, descended as it is from an age when more was thought of good
+horsemanship and quick eye than of any little refinements depending on an
+accurate knowledge of fixed rules. Any one who is a firstrate rider and is
+quick with his hands can learn to play polo. The stiffest of arms can be
+limbered and the most recalcitrant wrist taught to turn nimbly in its
+socket; but the essential condition is, that the player should know how to
+ride. This being established, there is no reason why anybody who likes
+should not play the game, if he will only use a certain amount of caution,
+and avoid braining the other players and injuring the ponies by too wild a
+use of his mallet. Presently it was found that all who were to play had
+arrived&mdash;eight of us all told. Kildare had arranged the sides and had
+brought the other men necessary to make the number complete, so we mounted
+and took up our positions on the ground. Kildare and Isaacs were together,
+and Westonhaugh and I on the other side, with two men I knew slightly. We
+won the charge, and Westonhaugh, who was a celebrated player, struck the
+ball off cleverly, and I followed him up with a rush as he raced after it.
+Isaacs, on the other side, swept <a name="Page_168"></a>along easily, and
+as the ball swerved on striking the ground bent far over till he looked as
+though he were out of the saddle and stopped it cleverly, while Kildare,
+who was close behind, got a good stroke in just in time, as Westonhaugh and
+I galloped down on him, and landed the ball far to the rear near our goal.
+As we wheeled quickly, I saw that one of the other two men on our side had
+stopped it and was beginning to "dribble" it along. This was very bad play,
+both Westonhaugh and I being so far forward, and it met its reward. Isaacs
+and Kildare raced down on him, but the latter soon pulled up on finding
+himself passed, and waited. Isaacs rushed upon the temporising player and
+got the ball away from him in no time; eluded the other man, and with a
+neat stroke sent the ball right between the poles. The game had hardly
+lasted three minutes, and a little sound of clapping was heard from where
+the spectators were standing, far off on one side. I could see Miss
+Westonhaugh plainly, as she cantered with her uncle to where the victors
+were standing together on the other side, patting their ponies and
+adjusting stirrup and saddle. Isaacs had his back turned, but wheeled round
+as he heard the sound of hoofs behind him and bowed low in his saddle to
+the fair girl, whose face, I could see even at that distance, was flushed
+with pleasure. They remained a few minutes in conversation, and then the
+two spectators rode away, and we took up our positions once more.</p>
+
+<p>The next game was a much longer one. It was <a name="Page_169"></a>the
+turn of the other party to hit off, for Kildare won the charge. There were
+encounters of all kinds; twice the ball was sent over the line, but outside
+the goal, by long sweeping blows from Isaacs, who ever hovered on the edge
+of the scrimmage, and, by his good riding, and the help of a splendid pony,
+often had a chance where another would have had none. At last it happened
+that I was chasing the ball back towards our goal, from one of his hits,
+and he was pursuing me. I had the advantage of a long start, and before he
+could reach me I got in a heavy "backhander" that sent the ball far away to
+one side, where, as good luck would have it, Westonhaugh was waiting. Quick
+as thought he carried it along, and in another minute we had scored a goal,
+amidst enthusiastic shouts from the spectators, who had been kept long in
+suspense by the protracted game. This time it was to our side that the
+young girl came, riding up to her brother to congratulate him on his
+success. I thought she had less colour as she came nearer, and though she
+smiled sweetly as she said, "It was splendidly played, John," there was not
+so much enthusiasm in her voice as the said John, who had really won the
+game with masterly neatness, might have expected. Then she sat quietly
+looking over the ground, while we dismounted from our ponies, breathless,
+and foaming, and lathery, from the hard-fought battle. The grooms ran up
+with blankets and handfuls of grass to give the poor beasts a rub, and
+covering them carefully after removing the saddles, led them away.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_170"></a>The sun leaves Annandale early, and I put on a
+coat and lit a cigarette, while the saice saddled our second mounts. There
+are few prettier sights than an English game, of any kind, on a beautiful
+stretch of turf. The English live, and move and have their being out of
+doors. A cricket-match, tennis, a racecourse, or a game of polo, show them
+at their greatest advantage, whether as players or spectators. Their fresh
+complexions suit the green of the grass and of the trees as naturally as a
+bed of roses, or cyclamens, or any fresh and healthy flower will combine
+with the grass and the ferns in garden or glen. The glorious vitality that
+belongs to their race seems to blossom freshly in the contact with their
+mother earth, and the physical capacity for motion with which nature endows
+them makes them graceful and fascinating to watch, when in some free and
+untrammelled dress of white they are at their games, batting and bowling
+and galloping and running; they have the same natural grace then as a herd
+of deer or antelopes; they are beautiful animals in the full enjoyment of
+life and vigour, of health and strength; they are intensely alive.
+Something of this kind passed through my mind, in all probability, and,
+combined with the delightful sensation any strong man feels in the pause
+after great exertion, disposed me well towards my fellows and towards
+mankind at large. Besides we had won the last game.</p>
+
+<p>"You look pleased, Mr. Griggs," said Miss Westonhaugh, who had probably
+been watching me for a <a name="Page_171"></a>moment or two. "I did not
+know cynics were ever pleased."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember who it was that promised to crown the victors of this match,
+Miss Westonhaugh, and I cherish some hopes of being one of them. Would you
+mind very much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mind? Oh dear no; you had better try. But if you stand there with your
+coat on, you will not have much chance. They are all mounted, and waiting
+for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, here goes," I said to myself, as I got into the saddle again. "I
+hope he may win, but he would find me out in a minute if I tried to play
+into his hands." We were only to play the best out of three goals, and the
+score was "one all." All eight of us had fresh mounts, and the experience
+of each other's play we had got in the preceding games made it likely that
+the game would be a long one. And so it turned out.</p>
+
+<p>From the first things went badly. John Westonhaugh's fresh pony was very
+wild, and he had to take him a breather half over the ground before he
+could take his place for the charge. When at last the first stroke was
+made, the ball went low along the ground, spinning and twisting to right
+and left. Both Kildare and Isaacs missed it and wheeled across to return,
+when a prolonged scrimmage ensued less than thirty yards from their goal.
+Every one played his best, and we wheeled and spun round in a way that
+reminded one of a cavalry skirmish. Strokes <a name="Page_172"></a>and
+back-strokes followed quickly, till at last I got the ball as it came
+rolling out between my horse's legs, and, hotly pursued, beyond the
+possibility of making a fair stroke, I moved away with it in front of
+me.</p>
+
+<p>Then began one of those interminable circular games that all polo
+players know so well, round and round the battlefield, riding close
+together, sometimes one succeeding in driving the ball a little, only to be
+foiled by the next man's ill-delivered back-stroke; racing, and pulling up
+short, and racing again, till horses and riders were in a perspiration and
+a state of madness not to be attained by any peaceful means. At last, as we
+were riding near our own goal, some one, I could not see who, struck the
+ball out into the open. Isaacs, who had just missed, and was ahead, rode
+for it like a madman, his club raised high for a back-stroke. He was hotly
+pressed by the man who had roused my wrath in the first game by his
+"dribbling" policy. He was a light weight and had kept his best horse for
+the last game, so that as Isaacs spun along at lightning speed the little
+man was very close to him, his club well back for a sweeping hit. He rode
+well, but was evidently not so old a hand in the game as the rest of us.
+They neared the ball rapidly and Isaacs swerved a little to the left in
+order to get it well under his right hand, thus throwing himself somewhat
+across the track of his pursuer. As the Persian struck with all his force
+downwards and backwards, his adversary, <a name="Page_173"></a>excited by
+the chase, beyond all judgment or reckoning of his chances, hit out wildly,
+as beginners will. The long elastic handle of his weapon struck Isaacs'
+horse on the flank and glanced upward, the head of the club striking Isaacs
+just above the back of the neck. We saw him throw up his arms, the club in
+his right hand hanging to his wrist by the strap. The infuriated little
+arab pony tore on, and in a moment more the iron grip of the rider's knees
+relaxed, Isaacs swayed heavily in the saddle and fell over on the near
+side, his left foot hanging in the stirrup and dragging him along some
+paces before the horse finally shook himself clear and scampered away
+across the turf. The whole catastrophe occurred in a moment; the man who
+had done the mischief threw away his club to reach the injured player the
+sooner, and as we thundered after him, my pony stumbled over the long
+handle, and falling, threw me heavily over his head. I escaped with a very
+slight kick from one of the other horses, and leaving my beast to take care
+of himself, ran as fast as I could to where Isaacs lay, now surrounded by
+the six players as they dismounted to help him. But there was some one
+there before them.</p>
+
+<p>The accident had occurred near the middle of the ground, and opposite
+the place where Miss Westonhaugh and her uncle had taken up their stand to
+watch the contest. With a shake of the reins and a blow of the hand that
+made the thoroughbred bound his length as he plunged into a gallop, the
+girl rode <a name="Page_174"></a>wildly to where Isaacs lay, and reining
+the animal back on his haunches, sprang to the ground and knelt quickly
+down, so that before the others had reached them she had propped up his
+head and was rubbing his hands in hers. There was no mistaking the impulse
+that prompted her. She had seen many an accident in the hunting-field, and
+knew well that when a man fell like that it was ten to one he was badly
+hurt.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was ghastly pale, and there was a little blood on Miss
+Westonhaugh's white gauntlet. Her face was whiter even than his, though not
+a quiver of mouth or eyelash betrayed emotion. The man who had done it
+knelt on the other side, rubbing one of the hands. Kildare and Westonhaugh
+galloped off at full speed, and presently returned bearing a brandy-flask
+and a smelling-bottle, and followed by a groom with some water in a native
+<i>lota</i>. I wanted to make him swallow some of the liquor, but Miss
+Westonhaugh took the flask from my hands.</p>
+
+<p>"He would not like it. He never drinks it, you know," she said in a
+quiet low voice, and pouring some of the contents on her handkerchief,
+moistened all his brows and face and hair with the powerful alcohol.</p>
+
+<p>"Loosen his belt! pull off his boots, some of you!" cried Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins, as he came up breathless. "Take off his belt&mdash;damn it, you know!
+Dear, dear!" and he got off his <i>tat</i> with all the alacrity he could
+muster.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_175"></a>Miss Westonhaugh never took her eyes from the
+face of the prostrate man&mdash;pressing the wet handkerchief to his brow, and
+moistening the palm of the hand she held with brandy. In a few minutes
+Isaacs breathed a long heavy breath, and opened his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" he said; then, recollecting himself and trying to
+move his head&mdash;"Oh! I have had a tumble. Give me some water to drink."
+There was a sigh of relief from every one present as he spoke, quite
+naturally, and I held the <i>lota</i> to his lips. "What became of the
+ball?" he asked quickly, as he sat up. Then turning round, he saw the
+beautiful girl kneeling at his side. The blood rushed violently to his
+face, and his eyes, a moment ago dim with unconsciousness, flashed
+brightly. "What! Miss Westonhaugh&mdash;you?" he bounded to his feet, but would
+have fallen back if I had not caught him in my arms, for he was still dizzy
+from the heavy blow that had stunned him. The blood came and went in his
+cheeks, and he hung on my arm confused and embarrassed, looking on the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>"I really owe you all manner of apologies&mdash;" he began.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of it, my dear boy," broke in Ghyrkins, "my niece was nearest
+to you when you fell, and so she came up and did the right thing, like the
+brave girl she is." The old fellow helped her to rise as he said this, and
+he looked so pleased and proud of her that I was delighted with him. "And
+now," he went on, "we must see how much you are hurt&mdash;the <a
+name="Page_176"></a>deuce of a knock, you know, enough to kill you&mdash;and if
+you are not able to ride, why, we will carry you home, you know; the devil
+of a way off it is, too, confound it all." As he jerked out his sentences
+he was feeling the back of Isaacs' head, to ascertain, if he could, how
+much harm had been done. All this time the man who had done the mischief
+was standing by, looking very penitent, and muttering sentences of apology
+as he tried to perform any little office for his victim that came in his
+way. Isaacs stretched out his arm, while Ghyrkins was feeling and twisting
+his head, and taking the man's hand, held it a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear sir," he said, "I am not in the least hurt, I assure you, and
+it was my fault for crossing you at such a moment. Please do not think
+anything more about it." He smiled kindly at the young fellow, who seemed
+very grateful, and who from that day on would have risked everything in the
+world for him. I heard behind me the voice of Kildare, soliloquising
+softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Faith," said he, "that fellow is a gentleman if I ever saw one. I am
+afraid I should not have let that infernal duffer off so easily.
+By-the-bye, Isaacs," he said aloud, coming up to us, "you know you won the
+game. Nobody stopped the ball after you hit it, and the saices say it ran
+right through the goal. So cheer up; you have got something for your pains
+and your tumble." It was quite true; the phlegmatic saices had watched the
+ball instead of the falling <a name="Page_177"></a>man. Miss Westonhaugh,
+who was really a sensible and self-possessed young woman, and had begun to
+be sure that the accident would have no serious results, expressed the most
+unbounded delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Miss Westonhaugh," said Isaacs; "you have kept your promise;
+you have crowned the victor."</p>
+
+<p>"With brandy," I remarked, folding up a scarf which somebody had given
+me wherewith to tie a wet compress to the back of his head.</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing the matter," said Ghyrkins; "no end of a bad bruise,
+that's all. He will be all right in the morning, and the skin is only a
+little broken."</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," said Isaacs, who could now stand quite firm again, "hold the
+wet handkerchief in place, and give me that scarf." I did as he directed,
+and he took the white woollen shawl, and in half a dozen turns wound it
+round his head in a turban, deftly and gracefully. It was wonderfully
+becoming to his Oriental features and dark eyes, and I could see that Miss
+Westonhaugh thought so. There was a murmur of approbation from the native
+grooms who were looking on, and who understood the thing.</p>
+
+<p>"You see I have done it before," he said, smiling. "And now give me my
+coat, and we will be getting home. Oh yes! I can ride quite well."</p>
+
+<p>"That man has no end of pluck in him," said John Westonhaugh to
+Kildare.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! yes," was the answer. "I have seen <a name="Page_178"></a>men
+at home make twice the fuss over a tumble in a ploughed field, when they
+were not even stunned. I would not have thought it."</p>
+
+<p>"He is not the man to make much fuss about anything of that kind."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs stoutly refused any further assistance, and after walking up and
+down a few minutes, he said he had got his legs back, and demanded a
+cigarette. He lit it carefully, and mounted as if nothing had happened, and
+we moved homeward, followed by the spectators, many of whom, of course,
+were acquaintances, and who had ridden up more or less quickly to make
+polite inquiries about the accident. No one disputed with Isaacs the right
+to ride beside Miss Westonhaugh on the homeward road. He was the victor of
+the day, and of course was entitled to the best place. We were all
+straggling along, but without any great intervals between us, so that the
+two were not able to get away as they had done on Saturday evening, but
+they talked, and I heard Miss Westonhaugh laugh. Isaacs was determined to
+show that he appreciated his advantage, and though, for all I know, he
+might be suffering a good deal of pain, he talked gaily and sat his horse
+easily, rather a strange figure in his light-coloured English overcoat,
+surmounted by the large white turban he had made out of the shawl. As we
+came out on the mall at the top of the hill, Mr. Ghyrkins called a council
+of war.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course we shall have to put off the tiger-hunt."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_179"></a>"I suppose so," muttered Kildare,
+disconsolately.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said Isaacs. "Not a bit of it. Head or no head, we will start
+to-morrow morning. I am well enough, never fear."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, you know it's nonsense," said Ghyrkins, "you will be in bed
+all day with a raging headache. Horrid things, knocks on the back of the
+head."</p>
+
+<p>"Not I. My traps are all packed, and my servants have gone down to
+Kalka, and I am going to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, of course, if you really think you can," etc. etc. So he was
+prevailed upon to promise that if he should be suffering in the morning he
+would send word in time to put off the party. "Besides," he added, "even if
+I could not go, that is no reason why you should not."</p>
+
+<p>"Stuff," said Ghyrkins.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Miss Westonhaugh, looking rather blank.</p>
+
+<p>"That would never do," said John.</p>
+
+<p>"Preposterous! we could not think of going without you," said Lord
+Steepleton Kildare loudly; he was beginning to like Isaacs in spite of
+himself. And so we parted.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not dine to-night, Griggs," said Isaacs, as we paused before
+his door. "Come in for a moment: you can help me." We entered the richly
+carpeted room, and he went to a curious old Japanese cabinet, and after
+opening various doors and divisions, <a name="Page_180"></a>showed a small
+iron safe. This he opened by some means known to himself, for he used no
+key, and he took out a small vessel of jade and brought it to the light.
+"Now," he said, "be good enough to warm this little jar in your hands while
+I go into the next room and get my boots and spurs and things off. But do
+not open it on any account&mdash;not on any account, until I come back," he
+added very emphatically.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, go ahead," said I, and began to warm the cold thing that
+felt like a piece of ice between my hands. He returned in a few minutes
+robed in loose garments from Kashmir, with the low Eastern slippers he
+generally wore indoors. He sat down among his cushions and leaned back,
+looking pale and tired; after ordering the lamps to be lit and the doors
+closed, he motioned me to sit down beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"I have had a bad shaking," he said, "and my head is a good deal
+bruised. But I mean to go to-morrow in spite of everything. In that little
+vial there is a powerful remedy unknown in your Western medicine. Now I
+want you to apply it, and to follow with the utmost exactness my
+instructions. If you fear you should forget what I tell you, write it down,
+for a mistake might be fatal to you, and would certainly be fatal to
+me."</p>
+
+<p>I took out an old letter and a pencil, not daring to trust my
+memory.</p>
+
+<p>"Put the vial in your bosom while you write: it must be near the
+temperature of the body. Now <a name="Page_181"></a>listen to me. In that
+silver box is wax. Tie first this piece of silk over your mouth, and then
+stop your nostrils carefully with the wax. Then open the vial quickly and
+pour a little of the contents into your hand. You must be quick, for it is
+very volatile. Rub that on the back of my head, keeping the vial closed.
+When your hand is dry, hold the vial open to my nostrils for two minutes by
+your watch. By that time, I shall be asleep. Put the vial in this pocket of
+my <i>caftán</i>; open all the doors and windows, and tell my servant to
+leave them so, but not to admit any one. Then you can leave me; I shall
+sleep very comfortably. Come back and wake me a little before midnight. You
+will wake me easily by lifting my head and pressing one of my hands.
+Remember, if you should forget to wake me, and I should still be asleep at
+one o'clock, I should never open my eyes again, and should be dead before
+morning. Do as I tell you, for friendship's sake, and when I wake I shall
+bathe and sleep naturally the rest of the night."</p>
+
+<p>I carefully fulfilled his instructions. Before I had finished rubbing
+his head he was drowsy, and when I took the vial from his nostrils he was
+sound asleep. I placed the precious thing where he had told me, and
+arranged his limbs on the cushions. Then I opened everything, and leaving
+the servant in charge went my way to my rooms. On removing the silk and the
+wax which had protected me from the powerful drug, an indescribable odour
+which <a name="Page_182"></a>permeated my clothes ascended to my nostrils;
+aromatic, yet pungent and penetrating; I never smelt anything that it
+reminded me of, but I presume the compound contained something of the
+nature of an opiate. I took some books down to Isaacs' rooms and passed the
+evening there, unwilling to leave him to the care of an inquisitive
+servant, and five minutes before midnight I awoke him in the manner he had
+directed. He seemed to be sleeping lightly, for he was awake in a moment,
+and his first action was to replace the vial in the curious safe. He
+professed himself perfectly restored; and, indeed, on examining his bruise
+I found there was no swelling or inflammation. The odour of the medicament,
+which, as he had said, seemed to be very volatile, had almost entirely
+disappeared. He begged me to go to bed, saying that he would bathe and then
+do likewise, and I left him for the night; speculating on the nature of
+this secret and precious remedy.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_183"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_IX'></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Himalayan <i>tonga</i> is a thing of delight. It is easily
+described, for in principle it is the ancient Persian war-chariot, though
+the accommodation is so modified as to allow four persons to sit in it back
+to back; that is, three besides the driver. It is built for great strength,
+the wheels being enormously heavy, and the pole of the size of a mast.
+Harness the horses have none, save a single belt with a sort of lock at the
+top, which fits into the iron yoke through the pole, and can slide from it
+to the extremity; there is neither breeching nor trace nor collar, and the
+reins run from the heavy curb bit directly through loops on the yoke to the
+driver's hands. The latter, a wiry, long-bearded Mohammedan, is armed with
+a long whip attached to a short thick stock, and though he sits low, on the
+same level as the passenger beside him on the front seat, he guides his
+half broken horses with amazing dexterity round sharp curves and by giddy
+precipices, where neither parapet nor fencing give the startled mind even a
+momentary impression of security. The road from Simla to Kalka at the foot
+of the hills is so narrow that if two vehicles meet, the one has to <a
+name="Page_184"></a>draw up to the edge of the road, while the other passes
+on its way. In view of the frequent encounters, every tonga-driver is
+provided with a post horn of tremendous power and most discordant harmony;
+for the road is covered with bullock carts bearing provisions and stores to
+the hill station. Smaller loads, such as trunks and other luggage, are
+generally carried by coolies, who follow a shorter path, the carriage road
+being ninety-two miles from Umballa, the railroad station, to Simla, but a
+certain amount may be stowed away in the tonga, of which the capacity is
+considerable.</p>
+
+<p>In three of these vehicles our party of six began the descent on Tuesday
+morning, wrapped in linen "dusters" of various shades and shapes, and armed
+with countless varieties of smoking gear. The roughness of the road
+precludes all possibility of reading, and, after all, the rapid motion and
+the constant appearance of danger&mdash;which in reality does not exist&mdash;prevent
+any overpowering <i>ennui</i> from assailing the dusty traveller. So we
+spun along all day, stopping once or twice for a little refreshment, and
+changing horses every five or six miles. Everybody was in capital spirits,
+and we changed seats often, thus obtaining some little variety. Isaacs, who
+to every one's astonishment, seemed not to feel any inconvenience from his
+accident, clung to his seat in Miss Westonhaugh's tonga, sitting in front
+with the driver, while she and her uncle or brother occupied the seat
+behind, which is far more comfortable. <a name="Page_185"></a>At last,
+however, he was obliged to give his place to Kildare, who had been very
+patient, but at last said it "really wasn't fair, you know," and so Isaacs
+courteously yielded. At last we reached Kalka, where the tongas are
+exchanged for <i>d&acirc;k gharry</i> or mail carriage, a thing in which
+you can sit up in the daytime and lie down at night, there being an
+extension under the driver's box calculated for the accommodation of the
+longest legs. When lying down in one of these vehicles the sensation is
+that of being in a hearse and playing a game of funeral. On this occasion,
+however, it was still early when we made the change, and we paired off, two
+and two, for the last part of the drive. By the well planned arrangements
+of Isaacs and Kildare, two carriages were in readiness for us on the
+express train, and though the difference in temperature was enormous
+between Simla and the plains, still steaming from the late rainy season,
+the travelling was made easy for us, and we settled ourselves for the
+journey, after dining at the little hotel; Miss Westonhaugh bidding us all
+a cheery "good-night" as she retired with her <i>ayah</i> into the carriage
+prepared for her. I will not go into tedious details of the journey&mdash;we
+slept and woke and slept again, and smoked, and occasionally concocted iced
+drinks from our supplies, for in India the carriages are so large that the
+traveller generally provides himself with a generous basket of provisions
+and a travelling ice-chest full of bottles, and takes a trunk or two with
+<a name="Page_186"></a>him in his compartment. Suffice it to say that we
+arrived on the following day at Fyzabad in Oude, and that we were there met
+by guides and shikarries&mdash;the native huntsmen&mdash;who assured us that there
+were tigers about near the outlying station of Pegnugger, where the
+elephants, previously ordered, would all be in readiness for us on the
+following day. The journey from Fyzabad to Pegnugger was not a long one,
+and we set out in the cool of the evening, sending our servants along in
+that "happy-go-lucky" fashion which characterises Indian life. It has
+always been a mystery to me how native servants manage always to turn up at
+the right moment. You say to your man, "Go there and wait for me," and you
+arrive and find him waiting; though how he transferred himself thither,
+with his queer-looking bundle, and his lota, and cooking utensils, and your
+best teapot wrapped up in a newspaper and ready for use, and with all the
+other hundred and one things that a native servant contrives to carry about
+without breaking or losing one of them, is an unsolved puzzle. Yet there he
+is, clean and grinning as ever, and if he were not clean and grinning and
+provided with tea and cheroots, you would not keep him in your service a
+day, though you would be incapable of looking half so spotless and pleased
+under the same circumstances yourself.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day, therefore, we found ourselves at Pegnugger,
+surrounded by shikarries and provided with every instrument of the chase
+that the <a name="Page_187"></a>ingenuity of man and the foresight of
+Isaacs and Ghyrkins could provide. There were numbers of tents, sleeping
+tents, cooking tents, and servants' tents; guns and ammunition of every
+calibre likely to be useful; <i>kookries</i>, broad strong weapons not
+unlike the famous American bowie knives (which are all made in Sheffield,
+to the honour, glory, and gain, of British trade); there were huge packs of
+provisions edible and potable; baskets of utensils for the kitchen and the
+table, and piles of blankets and tenting gear for the camp. There was also
+the little collector of Pegnugger, whose small body housed a stout heart,
+for he had shot tigers on foot before now in company with a certain German
+doctor of undying sporting fame, whose big round spectacles seemed to
+direct his bullets with unerring precision. But the doctor was not here
+now, and so the sturdy Englishman condescended to accept a seat in the
+howdah, and to kill his game with somewhat less risk than usual.</p>
+
+<p>This first day was occupied in transferring our party, now swelled by
+countless beaters and numerous huntsmen, not to mention all the retinue of
+servants necessary for an Indian camp, to the neighbourhood of the
+battlefield. There is not much conversation on these occasions, for the
+party is apt to become scattered, and there is a general tone of expectancy
+in the air, the old hands conversing more with the natives who know the
+district than with each other, and the young ones either wondering how <a
+name="Page_188"></a>many tigers they will kill, or listening open mouthed
+to the tales of adventure reeled off by the yard by the old bearded
+shikarry, who has slain the king of the jungle with a <i>kookrie</i> in
+hand to hand struggle when he was young, and bears the scars of the deadly
+encounter on his brown chest to this day. Old Ghyrkins, who was evidently
+in his element, rode about on a little <i>tat</i>, questioning beaters and
+shikarries, and coming back every now and then to bawl up some piece of
+information to the little collector, who had established himself on one of
+the elephants and looked down over the edge of the howdah, the great pith
+hat on his head making him look like an immense mushroom with a very thin
+stem sprouting suddenly from the back of the huge beast. He smiled
+pleasantly at the old sportsman from his elevation, and seemed to know all
+about it. It so chanced that when he received Isaacs' telegrams he had been
+planning a little excursion on his own account, and had been sending out
+scouts and beaters for some days to ascertain where the game lay. This, of
+course, was so much clear gain to us, and the little man was delighted at
+the opportune coincidence which enabled him, by the unlimited money
+supplied, to join in such a hunt as he had not seen since the time when the
+Prince of Wales disported himself among the royal game, three years before.
+As for Miss Westonhaugh, she was in the gayest of spirits, as she sat with
+her brother on an elephant's back, while Isaacs, who loved the saddle,
+circled <a name="Page_189"></a>round her and kept up a fire of little
+compliments and pretty speeches, to which she was fast becoming inured.
+Kildare and I followed them closely on another elephant, discoursing
+seriously about the hunt, and occasionally shouting some question to John
+Westonhaugh, ahead, about sport in the south.</p>
+
+<p>Before evening we had arrived at our first camping ground, near a small
+village on the outskirts of the jungle, and the tents were pitched on a
+little elevation covered with grass, now green and waving. The men had
+mowed a patch clear, and were busy with the pegs and all the paraphernalia
+of a canvas house, and we strolled about, some of us directing the
+operations, others offering a sacrifice of cooling liquids and tobacco to
+the setting sun. Miss Westonhaugh had heard about living in tents ever
+since she came to India, and had often longed to sleep in one of those
+temporary chambers that are set up anywhere in the "compound" of an English
+bungalow for the accommodation of the bachelor guests whom the house itself
+is too small to hold; now she was enchanted at the prospect of a whole
+fortnight under canvas, and watched with rapt interest the driving of the
+pegs, the raising of the poles, and the careful furnishing of her dwelling.
+There was a carpet, and armchairs, and tables, and even a small bookcase
+with a few favourite volumes. To us in civilised life it seems a great deal
+of trouble to transport a lunch basket and a novel to some shady glen to
+enjoy a day's rest in the open air, and we would <a
+name="Page_190"></a>almost rather starve than take the trouble to carry
+provisions. In India you speak the word, and as by magic there arises in
+the wilderness a little village of tents, furnished with every necessary
+luxury&mdash;and the luxuries necessary to our degenerate age are many&mdash;a
+kitchen tent is raised, and a skilled dark-skinned artist provides you in
+an hour with a dinner such as you could eat in no hotel. The treasures of
+the huge portable ice-chest reveal cooling wines and soda water to the
+thirsty soul, and if you are going very far beyond the reach of the large
+towns, a small ice-machine is kept at work day and night to increase the
+supply while you sleep, and to maintain it while you wake. In the
+<i>conn&acirc;t</i> or verandah of the tent, long chairs await you after
+your meal, and as you smoke the fragrant cigarette and watch the stars
+coming out, you feel as comfortable as though you had been dining in your
+own spacious bungalow in Mudnugger.</p>
+
+<p>It was not long before all was ready, and having made many ablutions and
+a little toilet, we assembled round the dinner table in the eating tent,
+the same party that had dined at Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' house on Sunday
+night, with the addition of the little collector of Pegnugger, whose
+stories of his outlying district were full of humour and anecdote. The talk
+bending in the direction of adventure, Kildare, who had been lately in
+South Africa with his regiment, told some tales of Zulus and assegais and
+Boers in the Hibernian style of hyperbole. The <a name="Page_191"></a>Irish
+blood never comes out so strongly as when a story is to be told, and no
+amount of English education and Oxford accent will suppress the tendency.
+The brogue is gone, but the love of the marvellous is there still. Isaacs
+related the experience of "a man he knew," who had been pulled off his
+elephant, howdah and all, and had killed the tiger with a revolver at half
+arm's length.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah yes," said the little collector, who had not caught the names of all
+the party when introduced, "I read about it at the time; I remember it very
+well. It happened in Purneah two years ago. The gentleman was a Mr. Isaacs
+of Delhi. Queer name too&mdash;remember perfectly." There was a roar of laughter
+at this, in which the collector joined vociferously on being informed that
+the man with the "queer name" was his neighbour at table.</p>
+
+<p>"You see what you get for your modesty," cried old Ghyrkins, laughing to
+convulsions.</p>
+
+<p>"And is it really true, Mr. Isaacs?" asked Miss Westonhaugh, looking
+admiringly across at the young man, who seemed rather annoyed.</p>
+
+<p>And so the conversation went round and all were merry, and some were
+sleepy after dinner, and we sat in long chairs under the awning or
+<i>conn&acirc;t</i>. There was no moon yet, but the stars shone out as they
+shine nowhere save in India, and the evening breeze played pleasantly
+through the ropes after the long hot day. Miss Westonhaugh assured
+everybody for the hundredth time that day that she rather <a
+name="Page_192"></a>liked the smell of cigars, and so we smoked and chatted
+a little, and presently there was a jerk and a sputtering sneeze from Mr.
+Ghyrkins, who, being weary with the march and the heat and the good dinner,
+and on the borders of sleep, had put the wrong end of his cigar in his
+mouth with destructive results. Then he threw it away with a small volley
+of harmless expletives, and swore he would go to bed, as he could not stand
+our dulness any longer; but he merely shifted his position a little, and
+was soon snoring merrily.</p>
+
+<p>"What a pity it is we have no piano, Katharine," said John Westonhaugh,
+who was fond of music. "Could you not sing something without any
+accompaniment?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no. Mr. Isaacs," she said, turning her voice to where she could see
+the light of his cigarette and the faint outline of his chair in the
+starlight, "here we are in the camp. Now where is the 'lute' you promised
+to produce for us? I think the time has come at last for you to keep your
+promise."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said he, "I believe there really is an old guitar or something
+of the kind among my traps somewhere. But it might wake Mr. Ghyrkins, who,
+I understand from his tones, is asleep."</p>
+
+<p>Various opinions were expressed to the effect that Mr. Ghyrkins was not
+so easily disturbed, and a voice like Kildare's was heard to mumble that
+"it would not hurt him if he was," a sentence no one attempted to construe.
+So the faithful Narain was <a name="Page_193"></a>summoned, and instructed
+to bring the instrument if he could find it. I was rather surprised at
+Isaacs' readiness to sing; but in the first place I had never heard him,
+and besides I did not make allowance for the Oriental courtesy of his
+character, which would not refuse anything, or make any show of refusal in
+order to be pressed. Narain returned with a very modern-looking
+guitar-case, and, opening the box, presented his master with the
+instrument, which, as Isaacs took it to the light in the door of the tent
+to see if it had travelled safely, appeared to be a perfectly new German
+guitar. I suspected him of having purchased it at the little music shop at
+Simla, for the especial amusement of our party.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it was a lute you played on," said Miss Westonhaugh, "a real,
+lovely, ancient Assyrian lute, or something of that kind."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a plain guitar is infinitely better and less troublesome," said
+Isaacs as he returned to his seat in the dark and began to tune the strings
+softly. "It takes so long to tune one of those old things, and then nothing
+will make them stand. Now this one, you see,&mdash;or rather you cannot
+see,&mdash;has an ingenious contrivance of screws by which you may tune it in a
+moment." While he was speaking he was altering the pitch of the strings,
+and presently he added, "There, it is done now," and two or three sounding
+chords fell on the still air. "Now what shall I sing? I await your
+commands."</p>
+
+<p>"Something soft, and sweet, and gentle."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_194"></a>"A love-song?" asked he quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well yes&mdash;a love-song if you like. Why not?" said she.</p>
+
+<p>"No reason in the world that I can think of," I remarked. Whereat Lord
+Steepleton Kildare threw his cigar away, and began lighting another a
+moment after, as if he had discarded his weed by mistake.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs struck a few chords softly, and then began a sort of running
+accompaniment. His voice, which seemed to me to be very high, was
+wonderfully smooth and round, and produced the impression of being much
+more powerful than he cared to show. He sang without the least effort, and
+yet there was none of that effeminate character that I have noticed in
+European male singers when producing high notes very softly. I do not
+understand music, but I am sure I never heard an opera tenor with a voice
+of such quality. The words of his song were Persian, and the pure accents
+of his native tongue seemed well suited to the half passionate, half
+plaintive air he had chosen. I afterwards found a translation of the sonnet
+by an English officer, which I here give, though it conveys little idea of
+the music of the original verse.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+Last night, my eyes being closed in sleep, but my good fortune awake,<br />
+The whole night, the livelong night, the image of my beloved one was the
+companion of my soul.<br />
+The sweetness of her melodious voice still remains vibrating on my soul;<br
+/>
+Heavens! how did the sugared words fall from her sweeter lips;<br />
+Alas! all that she said to me in that dream has escaped from my memory,<br
+/>
+<a name="Page_195"></a>Although it was my care till break of day to repeat
+over and over her sweet words.<br />
+The day, unless illuminated by her beauty, is, to my eyes, of nocturnal
+darkness.<br />
+Happy day that first I gazed upon that lovely face!<br />
+May the eyes of Jami long be blessed with pleasing visions, since they
+presented to his view last night<br />
+The object, on whose account he passed his waking life in
+expectation.<sup><a href="#fn1" name="rfn1">[1]</a></sup><br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>His beautiful voice ceased, and with infinite skill he wove a few
+strains of the melody into the final chords he played when he had finished
+singing. It was all so entirely novel, so unlike any music most of us had
+ever heard, and it was so undeniably good, that every one applauded and
+said something to the singer in turn, expressing the greatest admiration
+and appreciation. Miss Westonhaugh was the last to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"It is perfectly lovely," she said. "I wish I could understand the
+words&mdash;are they as sweet as the music?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sweeter," he answered, and he gave an offhand translation of two or
+three verses.</p>
+
+<p>"Beautiful indeed," she said; "and now sing me another, please." There
+was no resisting such an appeal, with the personal pronoun in the singular
+number. He moved a little nearer, and emphatically sang to her, and to no
+one else. A song of the same character as the first, but, I thought, more
+passionate and less dreamy, as his great sweet voice swelled and softened
+and rose again in burning vibrations <a name="Page_196"></a>and waves of
+sound. She did not ask a translation this time, but some one else did,
+after the applause had subsided.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot translate these things," said Isaacs, "so as to do them
+justice, or give you any idea of the strength and vitality of the Persian
+verses. Perhaps Griggs, who understands Persian very well and is a literary
+man, may do it for you. I would rather not try." I professed my entire
+inability to comply with the request, and to turn the conversation asked
+him where he had learned to play the guitar so well.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," he answered, "in Istamboul, years ago. Everybody plays in
+Istamboul&mdash;and most people sing love-songs. Besides it is so easy," and he
+ran scales up and down the strings with marvellous rapidity to illustrate
+what he said.</p>
+
+<p>"And do you never sing English songs, Mr. Isaacs?" asked the collector
+of Pegnugger, who was enchanted, not having heard a note of music for
+months.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sometimes," he answered. "I think I could sing 'Drink to me only
+with thine eyes'&mdash;do you know it?" He began to play the melody on the
+guitar while he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Rather&mdash;I should think so!" Kildare was heard to say. He was beginning
+to think the concert had lasted long enough.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do sing it, Mr. Isaacs," said the young girl, "and my brother and I
+will join in. It will be so pretty!"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_197"></a>It certainly sounded very sweetly as he gave the
+melody in his clear, high tones, and Miss Westonhaugh and John sang with
+him. Having heard it several thousand times myself, I was beginning to
+recognise the tune well enough to enjoy it a good deal.</p>
+
+<p>"That is very nice," said Kildare, who was sorry he had made an
+impatient remark before, and wanted to atone.</p>
+
+<p>"Eh? what? how's that?" said Mr. Ghyrkins just waking up. "Oh! of
+course. My niece sings charmingly. Quite an artist, you know." And he
+struggled out of his chair and said it was high time we all went to bed if
+we meant to shoot straight in the morning. The magistrate of Pegnugger
+concurred in the opinion, and we reluctantly separated for the night to our
+respective quarters, Isaacs and I occupying a tent together, which he had
+caused to be sent on from Delhi, as being especially adapted to his
+comfort.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day at dawn we were roused by the sound of
+preparations, and before we were dressed the voices of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins
+and the collector were heard in the camp, stirring up the sleepy servants
+and ordering us to be waked. The two old sportsmen felt it their duty to be
+first on such an occasion as this, and in the calm security that they would
+do everything that was right, Isaacs and I discussed our tea and fruit&mdash;the
+<i>chota haziri</i> or "little breakfast" usually taken in India on
+waking&mdash;sitting <a name="Page_198"></a>in the door of our tent, while
+Kiramat Ali and Narain and Mahmoud and the rest of the servants were giving
+a final rub to the weapons of the chase, and making all the little
+preparations for a long day. And we sat looking out and sipping our
+tea.</p>
+
+<p>In the cool of the dawn Miss Westonhaugh came tripping across the wet
+grass to where her uncle was giving his final directions about the
+furnishing of his howdah for the day; a lovely apparition of freshness in
+the gray morning, all dressed in dark blue, a light pith helmet-shaped hat
+pressing the rebellious white-gold hair almost out of sight. She walked so
+easily it seemed as if her dainty little feet had wings, as Hermes' of old,
+to ease the ground of their feather weight. A broad belt hung across her
+shoulder with little rows of cartridges set all along, and at the end hung
+a very business-like revolver case of brown leather and of goodly length.
+No toy miniature pistol would she carry, but a full-sized, heavy
+"six-shooter," that might really be of use at close quarters. She stood
+some minutes talking with Mr. Ghyrkins, not noticing us in the shadow of
+the tent some thirty yards away; Isaacs and I watched her intently&mdash;with
+very different feelings, possibly, but yet intensely admiring the fair
+creature, so strong and pliant, and yet so erect and straight. She turned
+half round towards us, and I saw there were flowers in the front of her
+dress. I wondered where they had come from; they were roses&mdash;of all flowers
+in the world to be blooming in the desert. Perhaps she <a
+name="Page_199"></a>had brought them carefully from Fyzabad, but that was
+improbable; or from Pegnugger&mdash;yes, there would be roses in the collector's
+garden there. Isaacs rose to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come along, Griggs. You have had quite enough tea!"</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead; I will be with you in a moment." But a sudden thought struck
+me, and I went with him, bareheaded, to greet Miss Westonhaugh. She smiled
+brightly as she held out her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Mr. Isaacs. Thank you so much for the roses. How
+<i>did</i> you do it? They are <i>too</i> lovely!" So it was just as I
+thought. Isaacs had probably despatched a man back to Pegnugger in the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>"Very easy I assure you. I am so glad you like them. They are not very
+fresh after all though, I see," he added depreciatingly, as men do when
+they give flowers to people they care about. I never heard a man find fault
+with flowers he gave out of a sense of duty. It is perhaps that the woman
+best loved of all things in the world has for him a sweetness and a beauty
+that kills the coarser hues of the rose, and outvies the fragrance of the
+double violets.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no!" she said, emphasising the negative vigorously. "I think they
+are perfectly beautiful, but I want you to tell me where you got them." I
+began talking to Ghyrkins, who was intent on the arrangement of his guns
+which was going on under his eyes, but I heard the answer, though Isaacs
+spoke in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_200"></a>"You must not say that, Miss Westonhaugh. You
+yourself are the most perfect and beautiful thing God ever made." By a
+superhuman effort I succeeded in keeping my eyes fixed on Ghyrkins,
+probably with a stony, unconscious stare, for he presently asked what I was
+looking at. I do not think Isaacs cared whether I heard him or not, knowing
+that I sympathised, but Mr. Ghyrkins was another matter. The Persian had
+made progress, for there was no trace of annoyance in Miss Westonhaugh's
+answer, though she entirely overlooked her companion's pretty speech.</p>
+
+<p>"Seriously, Mr. Isaacs, if you mean to have one of them for your badge
+to-day, you must tell me how you got them." I turned slowly round. She was
+holding a single rose in her fingers, and looking from it to him, as if to
+see if it would match his olive skin and his Karkee shooting-coat. He could
+not resist the bribe.</p>
+
+<p>"If you really want to know I will tell you, but it is a profound
+secret," he said, smiling. "Griggs, swear!"</p>
+
+<p>I raised my hand and murmured something about the graves of my
+ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he continued, "yesterday morning at the collector's house I saw
+a garden; in the garden there were roses, carefully tended, for it is late.
+I took the gardener apart and said, 'My friend, behold, here is silver for
+thee, both rupees and pais. And if thou wilt pick the best of thy roses and
+deliver them to the swift runner whom I will send to thee at supper <a
+name="Page_201"></a>time when the stars are coming out, I will give thee as
+much as thou shalt earn in a month with thy English master. But if thou
+wilt not do it, or if thou failest to do it, having promised, I will cause
+the grave of thy father to be defiled with the slaughter of swine, and,
+moreover, I will return and beat thee with a thick stick!' The fellow was a
+Mussulman, and there was a merry twinkle in his eye as he took the money
+and swore a great oath. I left a running man at Pegnugger with a basket,
+and that is how you got the roses. Don't tell the collector, that is
+all."</p>
+
+<p>We all laughed, and Miss Westonhaugh gave the rose to Isaacs, who
+touched it to his lips, under pretence of smelling it, and put it in his
+buttonhole. Kildare came up at this moment and created a diversion; then
+the collector joined us and scattered us right and left, saying it was high
+time we were in the howdahs and on the way. So we buckled on our belts, and
+those who wore hats put them on, and those who preferred turbans bent while
+their bearers wound them on, and then we moved off to where the elephants
+were waiting and got into our places, and the <i>mahouts</i> urged the huge
+beasts from their knees to their feet, and we went swinging off to the
+forest. The pad elephants, who serve as beaters and move between the howdah
+animals, joined us, and presently we went splashing through the reedy
+patches of fern, and crashing through the branches, towards the heart of
+the jungle.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_202"></a>Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, whose long experience had
+made him as cool when after tigers as when reading the <i>Pioneer</i> in
+his shady bungalow at Simla, had taken Miss Westonhaugh with him in his
+howdah, and as an additional precaution for her safety, the little
+collector of Pegnugger, who was a dead shot, only allowed two pad elephants
+to move between himself and Ghyrkins. As there were thirty-seven animals in
+all, the rest of the party were much scattered. I thought there were too
+many elephants for our six howdahs, but it turned out that I was mistaken,
+for we had capital sport. The magistrate of Pegnugger, who knew the country
+thoroughly, was made the despot of the day. His orders were obeyed
+unquestioningly and unconditionally, and we halted in long line or marched
+onwards, forcing a passage through every obstacle, at his word. We might
+have been out a couple of hours, watching every patch of jungle and blade
+of long rank grass for a sight of the striped skin, writhing through the
+reeds, that we so longed to see, when the quick, short crack of a rifle
+away to the right brought us to a halt, and every one drew a long breath
+and turned, gun in hand, in the direction whence the sound had come. It was
+Kildare; he had met his first tiger, and the first also of the hunt. He had
+put up the animal not five paces in front of him, stealing along in the
+cool grass and hoping to escape between the elephants, in the cunning way
+they often do. He had fired a snap shot too quickly, inflicting a wound in
+the flank which <a name="Page_203"></a>only served to rouse the tiger to
+madness. With a leap that seemed to raise its body perpendicularly from the
+ground, the gorgeous creature flew into the air and settled right on the
+head of Kildare's elephant, while the terrified <i>mahout</i> wound himself
+round the howdah. It would have been a trying position for the oldest
+sportsman, but to be brought into such terrific encounter at arm's length,
+almost, at one's very first experience of the chase, was a terrible test of
+nerve. Those who were near said that in that awful moment Kildare never
+changed colour. The elephant plunged wildly in his efforts to shake off the
+beast from his head, but Kildare had seized his second gun the moment he
+had discharged the first, and aiming for one second only, as the tossing
+head and neck of the tusker brought the gigantic cat opposite him, fired
+again. The fearful claws, driven deep and sure into the thick hide of the
+poor elephant, relaxed their hold, the beautiful lithe limbs straightened
+by their own perpendicular weight, and the first prize of the day dropped
+to the ground like lead, dead, shot through the head.</p>
+
+<p>A great yell of triumph arose all along the line, and the little
+<i>mahout</i> crept cautiously back from his lurking-place behind the
+howdah to see if the coast were clear. Kildare had behaved splendidly, and
+shouts of congratulation reached his ears from all sides. Miss Westonhaugh
+waved her handkerchief in token of approbation, every one applauded, and
+far away to the left Isaacs, who was in the last howdah, <a
+name="Page_204"></a>clapped his hands vigorously, and sent his high clear
+voice ringing like a trumpet down the line.</p>
+
+<p>"Well done, Kildare! well done, indeed!" and his rival's praise was not
+the least grateful to Lord Steepleton on that day. Meanwhile the shikarries
+gathered around the fallen beast. It proved to be a young tigress some
+eight feet long, and the clean bright coat showed that she was no
+man-eater. So the pad elephant came alongside, to use a nautical phrase not
+inappropriate, and kneeling down received its burden willingly, well
+knowing that the slain beauty was one of his deadly foes. The <i>mahout</i>
+pronounced the elephant on which Kildare was mounted able to proceed, and
+only a few huge drops of blood marked where the tigress had kept her hold.
+We moved on again, beating the jungle, wheeling and doubling the long line,
+wherever it seemed likely that some striped monster might have eluded us.
+Marching and counter-marching through the heat of the day, we picked up
+another-prize in the afternoon. It was a large old tiger, nine feet six as
+he lay; he fell an easy prey to the gun of the little collector of
+Pegnugger, who sent a bullet through his heart at the first shot, and
+smiled rather contemptuously as he removed the empty shell of the cartridge
+from his gun. He would rather have had Kildare's chance in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>After all, two tigers in a day was not bad sport for the time of year. I
+knew Isaacs would be disappointed at not having had a shot, where his rival
+in <a name="Page_205"></a>a certain quarter had had so good an opportunity
+for displaying skill and courage; and I confessed to myself that I
+preferred a small party, say, a dozen elephants and three howdahs, to this
+tremendous and expensive <i>battue</i>. I had a shot-gun with me, and
+consoled myself by shooting a peacock or two as we rolled and swayed
+homewards. We had determined to keep to the same camp for a day or two, as
+we could enter the forest from another point on the morrow, and might even
+beat some of the same ground again with success.</p>
+
+<p>It was past five when we got down to the tents and descended from our
+howdahs, glad to stretch our stiffened limbs in a brisk walk. The dead
+tigers were hauled into the middle of the camp, and the servants ran
+together to see the result of the <i>sahib log's</i> day out. We retired to
+dress and refresh ourselves for dinner.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_206"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_X'></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In Isaacs' tent I was pulling off my turban, all shapeless and crumpled
+by the long day, while Isaacs stood disconsolately looking at the clean
+guns and unbroken rows of cartridges which Narain deposited on the table.
+The sun was very low, and shone horizontally through the raised door of the
+tent on my friend's rather gloomy face. At that moment something
+intercepted the sunshine, and a dark shadow fell across the floor. I
+looked, and saw a native standing on the threshold, salaaming and waiting
+to be spoken to. He was not one of our men, but a common ryot, clad simply
+in a <i>dhoti</i> or waist-cloth, and a rather dirty turban.</p>
+
+<p>"Kya chahte ho?"&mdash;"What do you want?" asked Isaacs impatiently. He was
+not in a good humour by any means. "Wilt thou deprive thy betters of the
+sunlight thou enjoyest thyself?"</p>
+
+<p>"The sahib's face is like the sun and the moon," replied the man
+deprecatingly. "But if the great lord will listen I will tell him what
+shall rejoice his heart."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak, unbeliever," said Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"Protector of the poor! you are my father and my <a
+name="Page_207"></a>mother! but I know where there lieth a great tiger, an
+eater of men, hard-hearted, that delighteth in blood."</p>
+
+<p>"Dog," answered Isaacs, calmly removing his coat, "the tiger you speak
+of was seen by you many moons since; what do you come to me with idle tales
+for?" Isaacs was familiar with the native trick of palming off old tigers
+on the unwary stranger, in the hope of a reward.</p>
+
+<p>"Sahib, I am no liar. I saw the tiger, who is the king of the forest,
+this morning." Isaacs' manner relaxed a little, and he sat down and lighted
+the eternal cigarette. "Slave," he said meditatively, "if it is as you say,
+I will kill the tiger, but if it is not as you say, I will kill you, and
+cause your body to be buried with the carcass of an ox, and your soul shall
+not live." The man did not seem much moved by the threat. He moved nearer,
+and salaamed again.</p>
+
+<p>"It is near to the dwelling of the sahib, who is my father," said the
+man, speaking low. "The day before yesterday he destroyed a man from the
+village. He has eaten five men in the last moon. I have seen him enter his
+lair, and he will surely return before the dawn; and the sahib shall strike
+him by his lightning; and the sahib will not refuse me the ears of the
+man-eater, that I may make a <i>j&auml;du</i>, a charm against sudden
+death?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hound! if thou speakest the truth, and I kill the tiger, the monarch of
+game, I will make thee a rich man; but thou shalt not have his ears. I
+desire the <i>j&auml;du</i> for myself. I have spoken; wait thou here my <a
+name="Page_208"></a>pleasure." The ryot bent low to the earth, and then
+squatted by the tent-door to wait, in the patient way that a Hindoo can,
+for Isaacs to go and eat his dinner. As the latter came out ten minutes
+later, he paused and addressed the man once more. "Speak not to any man of
+thy tiger while I am gone, or I will cut off thine ears with a pork knife."
+And we passed on.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was now set and hovering in the afterglow, the new moon was
+following lazily down. I stopped a moment to look at her, and was surprised
+by Miss Westonhaugh's voice close behind me.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you wishing by the new moon, Mr. Griggs?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said I, "I was. And what were you wishing, Miss Westonhaugh, if I
+may ask?" Isaacs came up, and paused beside us. The beautiful girl stood
+quite still, looking to westward, a red glow on the white-gold masses of
+her hair.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you say you were wishing for something, Miss Westonhaugh?" he
+asked. "Perhaps I can get it for you. More flowers, perhaps? They are very
+easily got."</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;that is, not especially. I was wishing&mdash;well, that a tiger-hunt
+might last for ever; and I want a pair of tiger's ears. My old <i>ayah</i>
+says they keep off evil spirits and sickness; and all sorts of things."</p>
+
+<p>"I know; it is a curious idea. I suppose both those beasts there have
+lost theirs already. These fellows cut them off in no time."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_209"></a>"Yes. I have looked. So I suppose I must wait
+till to-morrow. But promise me, Mr. Isaacs, if you shoot one to-morrow,
+let me have the ears!"</p>
+
+<p>"I will promise that readily enough. I would promise anything you&mdash;" The
+last part of the sentence was lost to me, as I moved away and left
+them.</p>
+
+<p>At dinner, of course, every one talked of the day's sport, and
+compliments of all kinds were showered on Lord Steepleton, who looked very
+much pleased, and drank a good deal of wine. Ghyrkins and the little
+magistrate expressed their opinion that he would make a famous tiger-killer
+one of these days, when he had learned to wait. Every one was hungry and
+rather tired, and after a somewhat silent cigar, we parted for the night,
+Miss Westonhaugh rising first. Isaacs went to his quarters, and I remained
+alone in a long chair, by the deserted dining-tent. Kiramat Ali brought me
+a fresh hookah, and I lay quietly smoking and thinking of all kinds of
+things&mdash;things of all kinds, tigers, golden hair, more tigers, Isaacs,
+Shere Ali, Baithop&mdash;, what was his name&mdash;Baithop&mdash;p&mdash;. I fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Some one touched my hand, waking me suddenly. I sprang to my feet and
+seized the man by the throat, before I recognised in the starlight that it
+was Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"You are not a nice person to rouse," remarked he in a low voice, as I
+relaxed my grasp. "You will have fever if you sleep out-of-doors at this
+time of year. Now look here; it is past midnight, and I am going <a
+name="Page_210"></a>out a little way." I noticed that he had a
+<i>kookrie</i> knife at his waist, and that his cartridge-belt was on his
+chest.</p>
+
+<p>"I will go with you," said I, guessing his intention. "I will be ready
+in a moment," and I began to move towards the tent.</p>
+
+<p>"No. I must go alone, and do this thing single-handed. I have a
+particular reason. I only wanted to warn you I was gone, in case you missed
+me. I shall take that ryot fellow with me to show me the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Give him a gun," I suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"He could not use one if I did. He has your <i>kookrie</i> in case of
+accidents."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, very well! do not let me interfere with any innocent and childlike
+pastime you may propose for your evening hours. I will attend to your
+funeral in the morning. Good-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night; I shall be back before you are up." And he walked quickly
+off to where the ryot was waiting and holding his guns. He had the sense to
+take two. I was angry at the perverse temerity of the man. Why could he not
+have an elephant out and go like a sensible thinking being, instead of
+sneaking out with one miserable peasant to lie all night among the reeds,
+in as great danger from cobras as from the beast he meant to kill? And all
+for a girl &mdash;an English girl&mdash;a creature all fair hair and eyes, with no
+more intelligence than a sheep! Was it not she who sent him out to his
+death in the jungle, that <a name="Page_211"></a>her miserable caprice for
+a pair of tiger's ears might be immediately satisfied? If a woman ever
+loved me, Paul Griggs,&mdash;thank heaven no woman ever did,&mdash;would I go out
+into bogs and desert places and risk my precious skin to find her a pair of
+cat's ears? Not I;&mdash;wait a moment, though. If I were in his place, if Miss
+Westonhaugh loved <i>me</i>&mdash;I laughed at the conceit. But supposing she
+did. Just for the sake of argument, I would allow it. I think that I would
+risk something after all. What a glorious thing it would be to be loved by
+a woman, once, wholly and for ever. To meet the creature I described to him
+the other night, waiting for me to come into her life, and to be to her all
+I could be to the woman I should love. But she has never come; never will,
+now; still, there is a sort of rest to me in thinking of rest. Hearth,
+home, wife, children; the worn old staff resting in the corner, never to
+wander again. What a strange thing it is that men should have all these,
+and more, and yet never see that they have the simple elements of earthly
+happiness, if they would but use them. And we, outcasts and wanderers,
+children of sin and darkness, in whose hands one commandment seems hardly
+less fragile than another, would give anything&mdash;had we anything to
+give&mdash;for the happiness of a home, to call our own. How strange it is that
+what I said to Isaacs should be true. "Do not marry unless you must depend
+on each other for daily bread, or unless you are rich enough to live
+apart." Yes, it is true, in ninetynine <a name="Page_212"></a>cases out of
+a hundred. But then, I should add a saving clause, "and unless you are
+quite sure that you love each other." Ay, there is the <i>pons
+asinorum,</i> the bridge whereon young asses and old fools come to such
+terrible grief. They are perfectly sure they love eternally; they will
+indignantly scorn the suggestions of prudence; love any other woman? never,
+while I live, answers the happy and unsophisticated youth. Be sorry I did
+it? Do you think I am a schoolboy in my first passion? demands the aged
+bridegroom. And so they marry, and in a year or two the enthusiastic young
+man runs away with some other enthusiastic man's wife, and the octogenarian
+spouse finds himself constituted into a pot of honey for his wife's
+swarming relations to settle on, like flies. But a man in strong middle
+prime of age, like me, knows his own mind; and&mdash;yes, on the whole I was
+unjust to Isaacs and to Miss Westonhaugh. If a woman loved me, she should
+have all the tiger's ears she wanted. "Still, I hope he will get back
+safely," I added, in afterthought to my reverie, as I turned into bed and
+ordered Kiramat Ali to wake me half an hour before dawn.</p>
+
+<p>I was restless, sleeping a little and dreaming much. At last I struck a
+light and looked at my watch. Four o'clock. It would not be dawn for more
+than an hour; I knew Isaacs had made for the place where the tiger passed
+his days, certain that he would return near daybreak, according to all
+common probability. He need not have gone so early, I <a
+name="Page_213"></a>thought. However, it might be a long way off. I lay
+still for a while, but it seemed very hot and close under the canvas. I got
+up and threw a <i>caftán</i> round me, drew a chair into the
+<i>conn&acirc;t</i> and sat, or rather lay, down in the cool morning
+breeze. Then I dozed again until Kiramat Ali woke me by pulling at my foot.
+He said it would be dawn in half an hour. I had passed a bad night, and
+went out, as I was, to walk on the grass. There was Miss Westonhaugh's tent
+away off at the other end. She was sleeping calmly enough, never doubting
+that at that very moment the man who loved her was risking his life for her
+pleasure&mdash;her slightest whim. She would be wide awake if she knew it,
+staring out into the darkness and listening for the crack of his rifle. A
+faint light appeared behind the dining-tent, over the distant trees, like
+the light of London seen from twenty or thirty miles' distance in the
+country, a faint, suggestive, murky grayness in the sky, making the stars
+look dimmer.</p>
+
+<p>The sound of a shot rang true and clear through the chill air; not far
+off I thought. I held my breath, listening for a second report, but none
+came. So it was over. Either he had killed the tiger with his first bullet,
+or the tiger had killed him before he could fire a second. I was intensely
+excited. If he were safe I wished him to have the glory of coming home
+quite alone. There was nothing for it but to wait, so I went into my tent
+and took a bath&mdash;a very simple operation where the bathing consists in <a
+name="Page_214"></a>pouring a huge jar of water over one's head. Tents in
+India have always a small side tent with a ditch dug to drain off the water
+from the copious ablutions of the inmate. I emerged into the room feeling
+better. It was now quite light, and I proceeded to dress leisurely to spin
+out the time. As I was drawing on my boots, Isaacs sauntered in quietly and
+laid his gun on the table. He was pale, and his Karkee clothes were covered
+with mud and leaves and bits of creeper, but his movements showed he was
+not hurt in any way; he hardly seemed tired.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" I said anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, thank you. Here they are," and he produced from the pocket
+of his coat the <i>spolia opima</i> in the shape of a pair of ears, that
+looked very large to me. There was a little blood on them and on his hands
+as he handed the precious trophies to me for inspection. We stood by the
+open door, and while I was turning over the ears curiously in my hands, he
+looked down at his clothes.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I will take a bath," he said; "I must have been in a dirty
+place."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," I said, taking his hand, "this is absurd. I mean all
+this affected calmness. I was angry at your going in that way, to risk your
+head in a tiger's mouth; but I am sincerely glad to see you back alive. I
+congratulate you most heartily."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, old man," he said, his pale face brightening a little. "I am
+very glad myself. Do you know I have a superstition that I must fulfil <a
+name="Page_215"></a>every wish of&mdash;like that&mdash;even half expressed, to the
+very letter?"</p>
+
+<p>"The 'superstition,' as you call it, is worthy of the bravest knight
+that ever laid lance in rest. Don't part with superstitions like that. They
+are noble and generous things."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," he answered, "but I really am very superstitious," he added,
+as he turned into the bathing <i>conn&acirc;t</i>. Soon I heard him
+splashing among the water jars.</p>
+
+<p>"By-the-bye, Griggs," he called out through the canvas, "I forgot to
+tell you. They are bringing that beast home on an elephant. It was much
+nearer than we supposed. They will be here in twenty minutes." A tremendous
+splashing interrupted him. "You can go and attend to that funeral you were
+talking about last night," he added, and his voice was again drowned in the
+swish and souse of the water. "He was rather large&mdash;over ten feet&mdash;I should
+say. Measure him as soon as he&mdash;" another cascade completed the sentence. I
+went out, taking the measuring tape from the table.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the procession appeared. Two or three matutinal
+shikarries had gone out and come back, followed by the elephant, for which
+Isaacs had sent the ryot at full speed the moment he was sure the beast was
+dead. And so they came up the little hill behind the dining-tent. The great
+tusker moved evenly along, bearing on the pad an enormous yellow carcass,
+at which the little <i>mahout</i> glanced occasionally <a
+name="Page_216"></a>over his shoulder. Astride of the dead king sat the
+ryot, who had directed Isaacs, crooning a strange psalm of victory in his
+outlandish northern dialect, and occasionally clapping his hands over his
+head with an expression of the most intense satisfaction I have ever seen
+on a human face. The little band came to the middle of the camp where the
+other tigers, now cut up and skinned elsewhere, had been deposited the
+night before, and as the elephant knelt down, the shikarries pulled the
+whole load over, pad, tiger, ryot and all, the latter skipping nimbly
+aside. There he lay, the great beast that had taken so many lives. We
+stretched him out and measured him&mdash;eleven feet from the tip of his nose to
+the end of his tail, all but an inch&mdash;as a little more straightening fills
+the measure, eleven feet exactly.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the servant and shikarries collected, and the noise of the
+exploit went abroad. The sun was just rising when Mr. Ghyrkins put his head
+out of his tent and wanted to know "what the deuce all this
+<i>tam&auml;sha</i> was about."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing especial," I called out. "Isaacs has killed an eleven foot
+man-eater in the night. That is all."</p>
+
+<p>"Well I'm damned," said Mr. Ghyrkins briefly, and to the point, as he
+stared from his tent at the great carcass, which lay stretched out for all
+to see, the elephant having departed.</p>
+
+<p>"Clear off those fellows and let me have a look at him, can't you?" he
+called out, gathering the tent <a name="Page_217"></a>curtains round his
+neck; and there he stood, his jolly red face and dishevelled gray hair
+looking as if they had no body attached at all.</p>
+
+<p>I went back to our quarters. Isaacs was putting the ears, which he had
+carefully cleansed from blood, into a silver box of beautiful workmanship,
+which Narain had extracted from his master's numerous traps.</p>
+
+<p>"Take that box to Miss Westonhaugh's tent," he said, giving it to the
+servant, "with a greeting from me&mdash;with 'much peace.'" The man went
+out.</p>
+
+<p>"She will send the box back," said I. "Such is the Englishwoman. She
+will take a pair of tiger's ears that nearly cost you your life, and she
+would rather die than accept the bit of silver in which you enclose them,
+without the 'permission of her uncle.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not care," he said, "so long as she keeps the ears. But unless I
+am much mistaken, she will keep the box too. She is not like other
+Englishwomen in the least."</p>
+
+<p>I was not sure of that. We had some tea in the door of our tent, and
+Isaacs seemed hungry and thirsty, as well he might be. Now that he was
+refreshed by bathing and the offices of the camp barber, he looked much as
+usual, save that the extreme paleness I had noticed when he came in had
+given place to a faint flush beneath the olive, probably due to his
+excitement, the danger being past. As we sat there, the rest of the party,
+who had slept rather later than usual after their fatigues of the previous
+<a name="Page_218"></a>day, came out one by one and stood around the dead
+tiger, wondering at the tale told by the delighted ryot, who squatted at
+the beast's head to relate the adventure to all comers. We could see the
+group from where we sat, in the shadow of the <i>conn&acirc;t</i>, and the
+different expressions of the men as they came out. The little collector of
+Pegnugger measured and measured again; Mr. Ghyrkins stood with his hands in
+his coat pockets and his legs apart, then going to the other side he took
+up the same position again. Lord Steepleton Kildare sauntered round and
+twirled his big moustache, saying nothing the while, but looking rather
+serious. John Westonhaugh, who seemed to be the artistic genius of the
+party, sent for a chair and made his servant hold an umbrella over him
+while he sketched the animal in his notebook, and presently his sister came
+out, a big bunch of roses in her belt, and a broad hat half hiding her
+face, and looked at the tiger and then round the party quickly, searching
+for Isaacs. In her hand she held a little package wrapped in white tissue
+paper. I strolled up to the group, leaving Isaacs in his tent. I thought I
+might as well play innocence.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," I remarked, "those fellows have bagged his ears as
+usual."</p>
+
+<p>"They never omit that," said Ghyrkins.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, uncle," broke in Miss Westonhaugh, "he gave them to me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Who?" asked Ghyrkins, opening his little eyes wide.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_219"></a>"Mr. Isaacs. Did not he kill the tiger? He sent
+me the ears in a little silver box. Here it is&mdash;the box, I mean. I am going
+to give it back to him, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"How did Mr. Isaacs know you wanted them?" asked her uncle, getting red
+in the face.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, we were talking about them last night before dinner, and he
+promised that if he shot a tiger to-day he would give me the ears." Mr.
+Ghyrkins was redder and redder in the morning sun. There was a storm of
+some kind brewing. We were collected together on the other side of the dead
+tiger and exchanged all kinds of spontaneous civilities and remarks, not
+wishing to witness Mr. Ghyrkins' wrath, nor to go away too suddenly. I
+heard the conversation, however, for the old gentleman made no pretence of
+lowering his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"And do you mean to say you let him go off like that? He must have been
+out all night. That beast of a nigger says so. On foot, too. I say on foot!
+Do you know what you are talking about? Eh? Shooting tigers on foot? What?
+Eh? Might have been killed as easily as not! And then what would you have
+said? Eh? What? Upon my soul! You girls from home have no more hearts than
+a parcel of old Juggernauts!" Ghyrkins was now furious. We edged away
+towards the dining-tent, making a great talk about the terrible heat of the
+sun in the morning. I caught the beginning of Miss Westonhaugh's answer.
+She had hardly appreciated the situation <a name="Page_220"></a>yet, and
+probably thought her uncle was joking, but she spoke very coldly, being
+properly annoyed at his talking in such a way.</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot suppose for a moment that I meant him to go," I heard her
+say, and something else followed in a lower tone. We then went into the
+dining-tent.</p>
+
+<p>"Now look here, Katharine," Mr. Ghyrkins' irate voice rang across the
+open space, "if any young woman asked me&mdash;&mdash;" John Westonhaugh had risen
+from his chair and apparently interrupted his uncle. Miss Westonhaugh
+walked slowly to her tent, while her male relations remained talking. I
+thought Isaacs had shown some foresight in not taking part in the morning
+discussion. The two men went into their tents together and the dead tiger
+lay alone in the grass, the sun rising higher and higher, pouring down his
+burning rays on man and beast and green thing. And soon the shikarries came
+with a small elephant and dragged the carcass away to be skinned and cut
+up. Kildare and the collector said they would go and shoot some small game
+for dinner. Isaacs, I supposed, was sleeping, and I was alone in the
+dining-tent. I shouted for Kiramat Ali and sent for books, paper, and pens,
+and a hookah, resolved to have a quiet morning to myself, since it was
+clear we were not going out to-day. I saw Ghyrkins' servant enter his tent
+with bottles and ice, and I suspected the old fellow was going to cool his
+wrath with a "peg," and would be asleep most of the morning. <a
+name="Page_221"></a>John would take a peg too, but he would not sleep in
+consequence, being of Bombay, iron-headed and spirit-proof. So I read on
+and wrote, and was happy, for I like the heat of the noon-day and the
+buzzing of the flies, and the smell of the parched grass, being southern
+born.</p>
+
+<p>About twelve o'clock, when I was beginning to think I had done enough
+work for one day, I saw Miss Westonhaugh's native maid come out of her
+mistress's tent and survey the landscape, shading her eyes with her hand.
+She was dressed, of course, in spotless white drapery, and there were heavy
+anklets on her feet and bangles of silver on her wrist. She seemed
+satisfied by her inspection and went in again, returning presently with
+Miss Westonhaugh and a large package of work and novels and letter-writing
+materials. They came straight to where I was sitting under the airy tent
+where we dined, and Miss Westonhaugh established herself at one side of the
+table at the end of which I was writing.</p>
+
+<p>"It is so hot in my tent," she said almost apologetically, and began to
+unroll some worsted work.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is quite unbearable," I answered politely, though I had not
+thought much about the temperature. There was a long silence, and I
+collected my papers in a bundle and leaned back in my chair. I did not know
+what to say, nor was anything expected of me. I looked occasionally at the
+young girl, who had laid her hat on the table, allowing the rich coils of
+dazzling hair to assert their independence. Her <a name="Page_222"></a>dark
+eyes were bent over her work as her fingers deftly pushed the needle in and
+out of the brown linen she worked on.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs," she began at last without looking up, "did you know Mr.
+Isaacs was going out last night to kill that horrid thing?" I had expected
+the question for some time.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he told me about midnight, when he started."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why did you let him go?" she asked, looking suddenly at me, and
+knitting her dark eyebrows rather fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think I could have prevented him. I do not think anybody could
+prevent him from doing anything he had made up his mind to. I nearly
+quarrelled with him, as it was."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I could have stopped him, if I had been you," she said
+innocently.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not the least doubt that you could. Unfortunately, however, you
+were not available at the time, or I would have suggested it to you."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I had known," she went on, plunging deeper and deeper. "I would
+not have had him go for&mdash;for anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Well, I suppose not. But, seriously, Miss Westonhaugh, are you not
+flattered that a man should be willing and ready to risk life and limb in
+satisfying your lightest fancy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Flattered?" she looked at me with much astonishment and some anger. I
+was sure the look was genuine and not assumed.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_223"></a>"At all events the tiger's ears will always be a
+charming reminiscence, a token of esteem that any one might be proud
+of."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not proud of them in the least, though I shall always keep them as
+a warning not to wish for such things. I hope that the next time Mr. Isaacs
+is going to do a foolish thing you will have the common sense to prevent
+him." She returned to her starting-point; but I saw no use in prolonging
+the skirmish, and turned the talk upon other things. And soon John
+Westonhaugh joined us, and found in me a sympathetic talker and listener,
+as we both cared a great deal more for books than for tigers, though not
+averse to a stray shot now and then.</p>
+
+<p>In this kind of life the week passed, shooting to-day and staying in
+camp to-morrow. We shifted our ground several times, working along the
+borders of the forest and crashing through the jungle after tiger with
+varying success. In the evenings, when not tired with the day's work, we
+sat together, and Isaacs sang, and at last even prevailed upon Miss
+Westonhaugh to let him accompany her with his guitar, in which he proved
+very successful. They were constantly together, and Ghyrkins was heard to
+say that Isaacs was "a very fine fellow, and it was a pity he wasn't
+English," to which Kildare assented somewhat mournfully, allowing that it
+was quite true. His chance was gone, and he knew it, and bore it like a
+gentleman, though he still made use of every opportunity he had to make
+himself acceptable to <a name="Page_224"></a>Miss Westonhaugh. The girl
+liked his manly ways, and was always grateful for any little attention from
+him that attracted her notice, but it was evident that all her interest
+ceased there. She liked him in the same way she liked her brother, but
+rather less, if anything. She hardly knew, for she had seen so little of
+John since she was a small child. I suppose Isaacs must have talked to her
+about me, for she treated me with a certain consideration, and often
+referred questions to me, on which I thought she might as well have
+consulted some one else. For my part, I served the lovers in every way I
+could think of. I would have done anything for Isaacs then as now, and I
+liked her for the honest good feeling she had shown about him, especially
+in the matter of the tiger's ears, for which she could not forgive
+herself&mdash;though in truth she had been innocent enough. And they were really
+lovers, those two. Any one might have seen it, and but for the wondrous
+fascination Isaacs exercised over every one who came near him, and the
+circumstances of his spotless name and reputation for integrity in the
+large transactions in which he was frequently known to be engaged, it is
+certain that Mr. Ghyrkins would have looked askance at the whole affair,
+and very likely would have broken up the party.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of time we became a little <i>blas&eacute;</i> about
+tigers, till on the eighth day from the beginning of the hunt, which was a
+Thursday, I remember, an incident occurred which left a lasting impression
+on <a name="Page_225"></a>the mind of every one who witnessed it. It was a
+very hot morning, the hottest day we had had, and we had just crossed a
+<i>nullah</i> in the forest, full from the recent rains, wherein the
+elephants lingered lovingly to splash the water over their heated sides,
+drowning the swarms of mosquitoes from which they suffer such torments, in
+spite of their thick skins. The collector called a halt on the opposite
+side; our line of march had become somewhat disordered by the passage, and
+numerous tracks in the pasty black mud showed that the <i>nullah</i> was a
+favourite resort of tigers&mdash;though at this time of day they might be a long
+distance off. I had come next to the collector after we emerged from the
+stream, the pad elephants having lingered longer in the water, and Mr.
+Ghyrkins with Miss Westonhaugh was three or four places beyond me. It was
+shady and cool under the thick trees, and the light was not good. The
+collector bent over his howdah, looking at some tracks.</p>
+
+<p>"Those tracks look suspiciously fresh, Mr. Griggs," said the collector,
+scrutinising the holes, not yet filled by the oozing back water of the
+<i>nullah</i>. "Don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, yes. I do not understand it at all," I replied. At the
+collector's call a couple of beaters came forward and stooped down to
+examine the trail. One of them, a good-looking young <i>gowala</i>, or
+cowherd, followed along the footprints, examining each to be sure he was
+not going on a false spoor; he moved slowly, scrutinising each hole, as the
+traces grew <a name="Page_226"></a>shallower on the rising ground,
+approaching a bit of small jungle. My sight followed the probable course of
+the track ahead of him and something caught my eyes, which are remarkably
+good, even at a great distance. The object was brown and hairy; a dark
+brown, not the kind of colour one expects to see in the jungle in
+September. I looked closely, and was satisfied that it must be part of an
+animal; still more clearly I saw it, and no doubt remained in my mind; it
+was the head of a bullock or a heifer. I shouted to the man to be careful,
+to stop and let the elephants plough through the undergrowth, as only
+elephants can. But he did not understand my Hindustani, which was of the
+civilised <i>Urdu</i> kind learnt in the North-West Provinces. The man went
+quickly along, and I tried to make the collector comprehend what I saw. But
+the pad elephants were coming out of the water and forcing themselves
+between our beasts, and he hardly caught what I said in the confusion. The
+track led away to my left, nearly opposite to the elephant bearing Mr.
+Ghyrkins and his niece. The little Pegnugger man was on my right. The
+native held on, moving more and more rapidly as he found himself following
+a single track. I shouted to him&mdash;to Ghyrkins&mdash;to everybody, but they could
+not make the doomed man understand what I saw&mdash;the freshly slain head of
+the tiger's last victim. There was little doubt that the king himself was
+near by&mdash;probably in that suspicious-looking bit of green jungle, slimy
+green too, as green <a name="Page_227"></a>is, that grows in sticky
+chocolate-coloured mud. The young fellow was courageous, and ignorant of
+the immediate danger, and, above all, he was on the look out for
+bucksheesh. He reached the reeds and unclean vegetables that grew thick and
+foul together in the little patch. He put one foot into the bush.</p>
+
+<p>A great fiery yellow and black head rose cautiously above the level of
+the green and paused a moment, glaring. The wretched man, transfixed with
+terror, stood stock still, expecting death. Then he moved, as if to throw
+himself on one side, and at the same instant the tiger made a dash at his
+naked body, such a dash as a great relentless cat makes at a gold-fish
+trying to slide away from its grip. The tiger struck the man a heavy blow
+on the right shoulder, felling him like a log, and coming down to a
+standing position over his prey, with one paw on the native's right arm.
+Probably the parade of elephants and bright coloured howdahs, and the
+shouts of the beaters and shikarries, distracted his attention for a
+moment. He stood whirling his tail to right and left, with half dropped jaw
+and flaming eyes, half pressing, half grabbing the fleshy arm of the
+senseless man beneath him&mdash;impatient, alarmed, and horrible.</p>
+
+<p>"Pack!!! Pi-i-i-i-ing ..." went the crack and the sing of the merry
+rifle, and the scene changed.</p>
+
+<p>With a yell like a soul in everlasting torment the great beast whirled
+himself into the air ten feet at least, and fell dead beside his victim,
+shot through <a name="Page_228"></a>breast and breastbone and heart. A dead
+silence fell on the spectators. Then I looked, and saw Miss Westonhaugh
+holding out a second gun to Mr. Ghyrkins, while he, seeing that the first
+had done its work, leaned forward, his broad face pale with the extremity
+of his horror for the man's danger, and his hands gripping at the empty
+rifle.</p>
+
+<p>"You've done it this time," cried the collector from the right. "Take
+six to four the man's dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"Done," called Kildare from the other end. I was the nearest to the
+scene, after Ghyrkins. I dropped over the edge of the howdah and made for
+the spot, running. I think I reflected as I ran that it was rather low for
+men to bet on the poor fellow's life in that way. Tigers are often very
+deceptive and always die hard, and I am a cautious person, so when I was
+near I pulled out my long army six-shooter, and, going within arm's
+length, quietly put a bullet through the beast's eye as a matter of safety.
+When he was cut up, however, the ball from the rifle of Mr. Ghyrkins was
+found in his heart; the old fellow was a dead shot still. I went up and
+examined the prostrate man. He was lying on his face, and so I picked him
+up and propped his head against the dead tiger. He was still breathing, but
+a very little examination proved that his right collar-bone and the bone of
+his upper arm were broken. A little brandy revived him, and he immediately
+began to scream with pain. I was soon joined by the collector, who with
+characteristic promptitude had torn and hewed some broad <a
+name="Page_229"></a>slats of bamboo from his howdah, and with a little
+pulling and wrenching, and the help of my long, tough turban-cloth, a real
+native pugree, we set and bound the arm as best we could, giving the poor
+fellow brandy all the while. The collar-bone we left to its own devices; an
+injury there takes care of itself.</p>
+
+<p>An elephant came up and received the dead tiger, and the man was carried
+off and placed in my howdah. The other animals with their riders had
+gathered near the scene, and every one had something to say to Ghyrkins,
+who by his brilliant shot and the life he had saved, had maintained his
+reputation, and come off the hero of the whole campaign. Miss Westonhaugh
+was speechless with horror at the whole thing, and seemed to cling to her
+uncle, as if fearing something of the same kind might happen to her at any
+moment. Isaacs, as usual the last on the line of beating, came up and
+called out his congratulations.</p>
+
+<p>"After saving a life so well, Mr. Ghyrkins, you will not grudge me the
+poor honour of risking one, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not I, my boy!" answered the delighted old sportsman, "only if that
+mangy old man-eater had got you down the other day, I should not have been
+there to pot him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Great shot, sir! I envy you," said Kildare.</p>
+
+<p>"Splendid shot. A hundred yards at least," said John Westonhaugh
+meditatively, but in a loud voice.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_230"></a>So we swung away toward the camp, though it was
+early. Ghyrkins chuckled, and the man with the broken bones groaned. But
+between the different members of the party he would be a rich man before he
+was well. I amused myself with my favourite sport of potting peacocks with
+bullets; it is very good practice. Isaacs had told me that morning when we
+started that he would leave us the next day to meet Shere Ali near Keitung.
+We reached camp about three o'clock, in the heat of the afternoon. The
+injured beater was put in a servant's tent to be sent off to Pegnugger in a
+litter in the cool of the night. There was a doctor there who would take
+care of him under the collector's written orders.</p>
+
+<p>The camp was in a shady place, quite unlike the spot where we had first
+pitched our tents. There was a little grove of mango-trees, rather stunted,
+as they are in the north, and away at one corner of the plantation was a
+well with a small temple where a Brahmin, related to all the best families
+in the neighbouring village, dwelt and collected the gifts bestowed on him
+and his simple shrine by the superstitious, devout, or worldly pilgrims who
+yearly and monthly visited him in search of counsel, spiritual or social.
+The men had mowed the grass smooth under the trees, and the shade was not
+so close as to make it damp. Some ryots had been called in to dig a ditch
+and raised a rough <i>chapudra</i> or terrace, some fifteen feet in
+diameter, opposite the dining-tent, on which elevation we could sit, even
+late at night, in reasonable <a name="Page_231"></a>security from cobras
+and other evil beasts. It was a pleasant place in the afternoon, and
+pleasanter still at night. As I turned into our tent after we got back, I
+thought I would go and sit there when I had bathed, and send for a hookah
+and a novel, and go to sleep.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_232"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_XI'></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I observed that Isaacs was very quick about his toilet, and when I came
+out and ascended the terrace, followed by Kiramat Ali with books and
+tobacco, I glanced lazily over the quiet scene, settling myself in my
+chair, and fully expecting to see my friend somewhere among the trees, not
+unaccompanied by some one else. I was not mistaken. Turning my eyes towards
+the corner of the grove where the old Brahmin had his shrine, I saw the two
+well-known figures of Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh sauntering towards the
+well. Having satisfied the expectations of my curiosity, I turned over the
+volume of philosophy, well thumbed and hard used as a priest's breviary,
+and I inhaled long draughts of tobacco, debating whether I should read, or
+meditate, or dream. Deciding in favour of the more mechanical form of
+intellectuality, I fixed on a page that looked inviting, and followed the
+lines, from left to right, lazily at first, then with increased interest,
+and finally in that absorbed effort of continued comprehension which
+constitutes real study. Page after page, syllogism after syllogism,
+conclusion after conclusion, I followed for the hundredth time in the book
+I love well&mdash;the <a name="Page_233"></a>book of him that would destroy the
+religion I believe, but whose brilliant failure is one of the grandest
+efforts of the purely human mind. I finished a chapter and, in thought
+still, but conscious again of life, I looked up. They were still down there
+by the well, those two, but while I looked the old priest, bent and white,
+came out of the little temple where he had been sprinkling his image of
+Vishnu, and dropped his aged limbs from one step to the other painfully,
+steadying his uncertain descent with a stick. He went to the beautiful
+couple seated on the edge of the well, built of mud and sun-dried bricks,
+and he seemed to speak to Isaacs, I watched, and became interested in the
+question whether Isaacs would give him a two-anna bit or a copper, and
+whether I could distinguish with the naked eye at that distance between the
+silver and the baser metal. Curious, thought I, how odd little trifles will
+absorb the attention. The interview which was to lead to the expected act
+of charity seemed to be lasting a long time.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Isaacs turned and called to me; his high, distinct tones
+seeming to gather volume from the hollow of the well. He was calling me to
+join them. I rose, rather reluctantly, from my books and moved through the
+trees to where they were.</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," Isaacs called out before I had reached him, "here is an old
+fellow who knows something. I really believe he is something of a
+yogi."</p>
+
+<p>"What ridiculous nonsense," I said impatiently, <a
+name="Page_234"></a>"who ever heard of a yogi living in a temple and
+feeding on the fat of the land in the way all these men do? Is that all you
+wanted?" Miss Westonhaugh, peering down into the depths of the well,
+laughed gaily.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you so! Never try to make Mr. Griggs swallow that kind of thing.
+Besides, he is a 'cynic' you know."</p>
+
+<p>"As far as personal appearance goes, Miss Westonhaugh, I think your
+friend the Brahmin there stands more chance of being taken for a
+philosopher of that school. He really does not look particularly well fed,
+in spite of the riches I thought he possessed." He was a strange-looking
+old man, with a white beard and a small badly-rolled pugree. His black eyes
+were filmy and disagreeable to look at. I addressed him in Hindustani, and
+told him what Isaacs said, that he thought he was a yogi. The old fellow
+did not look at me, nor did the bleared eyes give any sign of intelligence.
+Nevertheless he answered my question.</p>
+
+<p>"Of what avail that I do wonders for you who believe not?" he asked, and
+his voice sounded cracked and far off.</p>
+
+<p>"It will avail thee several coins, friend," I answered, "both rupees and
+pais. Reflect that there may be bucksheesh in store for thee, and do a
+miracle."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not do wonders for bucksheesh," said the priest, and began to
+hobble away. Isaacs stepped <a name="Page_235"></a>lightly to his side and
+whispered something in his ear. The ancient Brahmin turned.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will do a wonder for you, but I want no bucksheesh. I will do it
+for the lady with white hair, whose face resembles Chunder." He looked long
+and fixedly at Miss Westonhaugh. "Let the <i>sáhib log</i> come with me a
+stone's throw from the well, and let one sáhib call his servant and bid him
+draw water that he may wash his hands. And I will do this wonder; the man
+shall not draw any water, though he had the strength of Siva, until I say
+the word." So we moved away under the trees, and I shouted for Kiramat Ali,
+who came running down, and I told him to send a <i>bhisti</i>, a
+water-carrier, with his leathern bucket. Then we waited. Presently the man
+came, with bucket and rope.</p>
+
+<p>"Draw water, that I may wash my hands," said I.</p>
+
+<p>"Achhá, sáhib," and he strode to the well and lowered his pail by the
+rope. The priest looked intently at him as he shook the rope to turn the
+bucket over and let it fill; then he began to pull. The bucket seemed to be
+caught. He jerked, and then bent his whole weight back, drawing the rope
+across the edge of the brickwork. The thing was immovable. He seemed
+astonished and looked down into the well, thinking the pail was caught in a
+stone. I could not resist the temptation to go down and inspect the thing.
+No. The bucket was full and lying in the middle of the round sheet of water
+at the bottom of the well. The man tugged, while the <a
+name="Page_236"></a>Brahmin never took his eyes, now bright and fiery, off
+him. I went back to where they all stood. The thing had lasted five
+minutes. Then the priest's lips moved silently.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the strain was released and the stout water-carrier fell
+headlong backwards on the grass, his heels in the air, jerking the bucket
+right over the edge of the well. He bounded to his feet and ran up the
+grove, shouting "Bhût, Bhût," "devils, devils," at the top of his voice.
+His obstinacy had lasted so long as the bucket would not move, but then his
+terror got the better of him and he fled.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever see anything of that kind before, Miss Westonhaugh?" I
+inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"No indeed; have you? How is it done?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen similar things done, but not often. There are not many of
+them that know how. But I cannot tell you the process any more than I can
+explain the mango trick, which belongs, distantly, to the same class of
+phenomena."</p>
+
+<p>The Brahmin, whose eyes were again dim and filmy, turned to Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"I have done a wonder for you. I will also tell you a saying. You have
+done wrong in not taking the advice of your friend. You should not have
+come forth to kill the king of game, nor have brought the white-haired lady
+into the tiger's jaws. I have spoken. Peace be with you." And he moved
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"And with you peace, friend," answered Isaacs mechanically, but as I
+looked at him he turned white to the very lips.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_237"></a>Miss Westonhaugh did not understand the language,
+and Isaacs would have been the last person to translate such a speech as
+the Brahmin had made. We turned and strolled up the hill, and presently I
+bethought me of some errand, and left them together under the trees. They
+were so happy and so beautiful together, the fair lily from the English
+dale and the deep red rose of Persian Gulistán. The sun slanted low through
+the trees and sank in rose-coloured haze, and the moon, now just at the
+half, began to shine out softly through the mangoes, and still the lovers
+walked, pacing slowly to and fro near the well. No wonder they dallied
+long; it was their last evening together, and I doubted not that Isaacs was
+telling her of his sudden departure, necessary for reasons which I knew he
+would not explain to her or to any one else.</p>
+
+<p>At last we all assembled in the dining-tent. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was
+among the first, and his niece was the last to enter the room. He was
+glorious that evening, his kindly red face beamed on every one, and he
+carried himself like a victorious general at a ladies' tea-party. He had
+reason to be happy, and his jerky good spirits were needed to
+counterbalance the deep melancholy that seemed to have settled upon his
+niece. The colour was gone from her cheeks, and her dark eyes, heavily
+fringed by the black brows and lashes, shone out strangely; the contrast
+between the white flaxen hair, drawn back in simple massive waves like a
+Greek statue, and the broad level eyes <a name="Page_238"></a>as dark as
+night, was almost startling this evening in the singularity of its beauty.
+She sat like a queenly marble at the end of the table, not silent, by any
+means, but so evidently out of spirits that John Westonhaugh, who did not
+know that Isaacs was going in the morning, and would not have supposed that
+his sister could care so much, if he had known, remarked upon her
+depression.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, Katharine?" he asked kindly. "Have you a headache
+this evening?" She was just then staring rather blankly into space.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no," she said, trying to smile. "I was thinking."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," said Mr. Ghyrkins merrily, "that is why you look so unlike
+yourself, my dear!" And he laughed at his rough little joke.</p>
+
+<p>"Do I?" asked the girl absently.</p>
+
+<p>But Ghyrkins was not to be repressed, and as Kildare and the Pegnugger
+man were gay and wide awake, the dinner was not as dull as might have been
+expected. When it was over, Isaacs announced his intention of leaving early
+the next morning. Very urgent business recalled him suddenly, he explained.
+A messenger had arrived just before dinner. He must leave without fail in
+the morning. Miss Westonbaugh of course was forewarned; but the others were
+not. Lord Steepleton Kildare, in the act of lighting a cheroot, dropped the
+vesuvian incontinently, and stood staring at Isaacs with an indescribable
+expression of empty wonder in his face, while the <a
+name="Page_239"></a>match sputtered and smouldered and died away in the
+grass by the door. John Westonhaugh, who liked Isaacs sincerely, and had
+probably contemplated the possibility of the latter marrying Katharine,
+looked sorry at first, and then a half angry expression crossed his face,
+which softened instantly again. Currie Ghyrkins swore loudly that it was
+out of the question&mdash;that it would break up the party&mdash;that he would not
+hear of it, and so on.</p>
+
+<p>"I must go," said Isaacs quietly. "It is a very serious matter. I am
+sorry&mdash;more sorry than I can tell you; but I must."</p>
+
+<p>"But you cannot, you know. Damn it, sir, you are the life of the party,
+you know! Come, come, this will never do!"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear sir," said Isaacs, addressing Ghyrkins, "if, when you were
+about to fire this morning to save that poor devil's life, I had begged you
+not to shoot, would you have complied?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course not," ejaculated Ghyrkins angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, neither can I comply, though I would give anything to stay with
+you all."</p>
+
+<p>"But nobody's life depends on your going away to-morrow morning. What do
+you mean? The deuce and all, you know, I don't understand you a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell you, Mr. Ghyrkins; but something depends on my going,
+which is of as great importance to the person concerned as life itself.
+Believe me," he said, going near to the old gentleman and <a
+name="Page_240"></a>laying a hand on his arm, "I do not go willingly."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I hope not, I am sure," said Ghyrkins gruffly, though yielding.
+"If you will, you will, and there's no holding you; but we are all very
+sorry. That's all. Mahmoud! bring fire, you lazy pigling, that I may
+smoke." And he threw himself into a chair, the very creaking of the cane
+wicker expressing annoyance and dissatisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>So there was an end of it, and Isaacs strode off through the moonlight
+to his quarters, to make some arrangement, I supposed. But he did not come
+back. Miss Westonhaugh retired also to her tent, and no one was surprised
+to see her go. Kildare rose presently and asked if I would not stroll to
+the well, or anywhere, it was such a jolly night. I went with him, and arm
+in arm we walked slowly down. The young moon was bright among the
+mango-trees, striking the shining leaves, that reflected a strange greenish
+light. We moved leisurely, and spoke little. I understood Kildare's silence
+well enough, and I had nothing to say. The ground was smooth and even, for
+the men had cut the grass close, and the little humped cow that belonged to
+the old Brahmin cropped all she could get at.</p>
+
+<p>We skirted round the edge of the grove, intending to go back to the
+tents another way. Suddenly I saw something in front that arrested my
+attention. Two figures, some thirty yards away. They stood quite still,
+turned from us. A man and a woman <a name="Page_241"></a>between the trees,
+an opening in the leaves just letting a ray of moonlight slip through on
+them. His arm around her, the tall lissome figure of her bent, and her head
+resting on his shoulder. I have good eyes and was not mistaken, but I
+trusted Kildare had not seen. A quick twitch of his arm, hanging carelessly
+through mine, told me the mischief was done before I could turn his
+attention. By a common instinct we wheeled to the left, and passing into
+the open strolled back in the direction whence we had come. I did not look
+at Kildare, but after a minute he began to talk about the moonlight and
+tigers, and whether tigers were ever shot by moonlight, and altogether was
+rather incoherent; but I took up the question, and we talked bravely till
+we got back to the dining-tent, where we sat down again, secretly wishing
+we had not gone for a stroll after all. In a few minutes Isaacs came from
+his tent, which he must have entered from the other side. He was perfectly
+at his ease, and at once began talking about the disagreeable journey he
+had before him. Then, after a time, we broke up, and he said good-bye to
+every one in turn, and Ghyrkins told John to call his sister, if she were
+still visible, for "Mr. Isaacs wanted to say good-bye." So she came and
+took his hand, and made a simple speech about "meeting again before long,"
+as she stood with her uncle; and my friend and I went away to our tent.</p>
+
+<p>We sat long in the <i>conn&acirc;t</i>. Isaacs did not seem to <a
+name="Page_242"></a>want rest, and I certainly did not. For the first half
+hour he was engaged in giving directions to the faithful Narain, who moved
+about noiselessly among the portmanteaus and gun-cases and boots which
+strewed the floor. At last all was settled for the start before dawn, and
+he turned to me.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall meet again in Simla, Griggs, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so. Of course we shall, unless you are killed by those fellows
+at Keitung. I would not trust them."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not trust them in the least, but I have an all-powerful ally in
+Ram Lal. Did you not think it very singular that the Brahmin should know
+all about Ram Lal's warning? and that he should have the same opinion?"</p>
+
+<p>"We live in a country where nothing should astonish us, as I remember
+saying to you a fortnight ago, when we first met," I answered. "That the
+Brahmin possesses some knowledge of <i>yog-vidya</i> is more clearly shown
+by his speech about Ram Lal than by that ridiculous trick with my
+water-carrier."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not easily astonished, Griggs. But I agree with you as to that.
+I am still at a loss to understand why I should not have come or let the
+others come. I was startled at the Brahmin."</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you were; you were as white as a sheet, and yet you turned up
+your nose at Ram Lal when he told you not to come."</p>
+
+<p>"The Brahmin said something more than Ram Lal. He said I should not have
+brought the white-haired <a name="Page_243"></a>lady into the tiger's jaws.
+I saw that the first warning had been on her account, and I suppose the
+impression of possible danger for her frightened me."</p>
+
+<p>"It would not have frightened you three weeks ago about any woman," I
+said. "It appears to me that your ideas in certain quarters have undergone
+some little change. You are as different from the Isaacs I knew at first as
+Philip drunk was different from Philip sober. Such is human
+nature&mdash;scoffing at women the one day, and risking life and soul for their
+whims the next."</p>
+
+<p>"I hate your reflections about the human kind, Griggs, and I do not like
+your way of looking at women. You hate women so!"</p>
+
+<p>"No. You like my descriptions of the 'ideal creatures I rave about' much
+better, it seems. Upon my soul, friend, if you want a criterion of
+yourself, take this conversation. A fortnight ago to-day&mdash;or to-morrow,
+will it be?&mdash;I was lecturing you about the way to regard women; begging you
+to consider that they had souls and were capable of loving, as well as of
+being loved. And here you are accusing me of hating the whole sex, and
+without the slightest provocation on my part, either. Here is Birnam wood
+coming to Dunsinane with a vengeance!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't deny it. I don't pretend to argue about it. I have changed
+a good deal in the last month." He pensively crossed one leg over the other
+as he lay back on the long chair and pulled at his slipper. "I suppose I
+have&mdash;changed a good deal."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_244"></a>"No wonder. I presume your views of immortality,
+the future state of the fair sex, and the application of transcendental
+analysis to matrimony, all changed about the same time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be unreasonable," he answered. "It all dates from that evening
+when I had that singular fit and the vision I related to you. I have never
+been the same man since; and I am glad of it. I now believe women to be
+much more adorable than you painted them, and not half enough adored."
+Suddenly he dropped the extremely English manner which he generally
+affected in the idiom and construction of his speech, and dropped back into
+something more like his own language. "The star that was over my life is
+over it no longer. I have no life-star any longer. The jewel of the
+southern sky withdraws his light, paling before the white gold from the
+northern land. The gold that shall be mine through all the cycles of the
+sun, the gold that neither man nor monarch shall take from me. What have I
+to do with stars in heaven? Is not my star come down to earth to abide with
+me through life? And when life is over and the scroll is full, shall not my
+star bear me hence, beyond the fiery foot-bridge, beyond the paradise of my
+people and its senseless sensuality of houris and strong wine? Beyond the
+very memory of limited and bounded life, to that life eternal where there
+is neither limit, nor bound, nor sorrow? Shall our two souls not unite and
+be one soul to roam through the countless circles of revolving <a
+name="Page_245"></a>outer space? Not through years, or for times, or for
+ages&mdash;but for ever? The light of life is woman, the love of life is the
+love of woman; the light that pales not, the life that cannot die, the love
+that can know not any ending; <i>my</i> light, <i>my</i> life, and
+<i>my</i> love!" His whole soul was in his voice, and his whole heart; the
+twining white fingers, the half-closed eyes, and the passionate quivering
+tone, told all he had left unsaid. It was surely a high and a noble thing
+that he felt, worthy of the man in his beauty of mind and body. He loved an
+ideal, revealed to him, as he thought, in the shape of the fair English
+girl; he worshipped his ideal through her, without a thought that he could
+be mistaken. Happy man! Perhaps he had a better chance of going through
+life without any cruel revelation of his mistake than falls to the lot of
+most lovers, for she was surpassingly beautiful, and most good and true
+hearted. But are not people always mistaken who think to find the perfect
+comprehended in the imperfect, the infinite enchained and made tangible in
+the finite? Bah! The same old story, the same old vicious circle, the
+everlastingly recurring mathematical view of things that cannot be treated
+mathematically; the fruitless attempt to measure the harmonious circle of
+the soul by the angular square of the book. What poor things our minds are,
+after all. We have but one way of thinking derived from what we know, and
+we incontinently apply it to things of which we can know nothing, and then
+we quarrel with the result, <a name="Page_246"></a>which is a mere
+<i>reductio ad absurdum</i>, showing how utterly false and meagre are our
+hypotheses, premisses, and so-called axioms. Confucius, who began his
+system with the startling axiom that "man is good," arrived at much more
+really serviceable conclusions than Schopenhauer and all the pessimists put
+together. Meanwhile, Isaacs was in love, and, I supposed, expected me to
+say something appreciative.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear friend," I began, "it is a rare pleasure to hear any one talk
+like that; it refreshes a man's belief in human nature, and enthusiasm, and
+all kinds of things. I talked like that some time ago because you would
+not. I think you are a most satisfactory convert."</p>
+
+<p>"I am indeed a convert. I would not have believed it possible, and now I
+cannot believe that I ever thought differently. I suppose it is the way
+with all converts&mdash;in religion as well&mdash;and with all people who are taken
+up by a fair-winged genius from an arid desert and set down in a garden of
+roses." He could not long confine himself to ordinary language. "And yet
+the hot sand of the desert, and the cool of the night, and the occasional
+patch of miserable, languishing green, with the little kindly spring in the
+camel-trodden oasis, seemed all so delightful in the past life that one was
+quite content, never suspecting the existence of better things. But now&mdash;I
+could almost laugh to think of it. I stand in the midst of the garden that
+is filled with all <a name="Page_247"></a>things fair, and the tree of life
+is beside me, blossoming straight and broad with the flowers that wither
+not, and the fruit that is good to the parched lips and the thirsty spirit.
+And the garden is for us to dwell in now, and the eternity of the heavenly
+spheres is ours hereafter." He was all on fire again. I kept silence for
+some time; and his hands unfolded, and he raised them and clasped them
+under his head, and drew a deep long breath, as if to taste the new life
+that was in him.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive my bringing you down to earth again," I said after a while,
+"but have you made all necessary arrangements? Is there anything I can do,
+after you are gone? Anything to be said to these good people, if they
+question me about your sudden departure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I was forgetting. If you will be so kind, I wish you would see the
+expedition out, and take charge of the expenses. There are some bags of
+rupees somewhere among my traps. Narain knows. I shall not take him with
+me&mdash;or, no; on second thoughts I will hand you over the money, and take him
+to Simla. Then, about the other thing. Do not tell any one where I have
+gone, unless it be Miss Westonhaugh, and use your own discretion about her.
+We shall all be in Simla in ten days, and I do not want this thing known,
+as you may imagine. I do not think there is anything else, thanks." He
+paused, as if thinking. "Yes, there is one more consideration. If anything
+out of the way should occur in this transaction with Baithopoor, I should
+<a name="Page_248"></a>want your assistance, if you will give it. Would you
+mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not. Anything&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"In that case, if Ram Lal thinks you are wanted, he will send a swift
+messenger to you with a letter signed by me, in the Persian
+<i>shikast</i>&mdash;which you read.&mdash;Will you come by the way he will direct
+you, if I send? He will answer for your safety."</p>
+
+<p>"I will come," I said, though I thought it was rather rash of me, who am
+a cautious man, to trust my life in the hands of a shadowy person like Ram
+Lal, who seemed to come and go in strange ways, and was in communication
+with suspicious old Brahmin jugglers. But I trusted Isaacs better than his
+adept friend.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose," I said, vaguely hoping there might yet be a possibility of
+detaining him, "that there is no way of doing this business so that you
+could remain here."</p>
+
+<p>"No, friend Griggs. If there were any other way, I would not go now. I
+would not go to-day, of all days in the year&mdash;of all days in my life. There
+is no other way, by the grave of my father, on whom be the peace of Allah."
+So we went to bed.</p>
+
+<p>At four o'clock Narain waked us, and in twenty minutes Isaacs was on
+horseback. I had ordered a <i>tat</i> to be in readiness for me, thinking I
+would ride with him an hour or two in the cool of the morning. So we passed
+along by the quiet tents, Narain disappearing in the manner peculiar to
+Hindoo servants, <a name="Page_249"></a>to be found at the end of the day's
+march, smiling as ever. The young moon had set some time before, but the
+stars were bright, though it was dark under the trees.</p>
+
+<p>Twenty yards beyond the last tent, a dark figure swept suddenly out from
+the blackness and laid a hand on Isaacs' rein. He halted and bent over, and
+I heard some whispering. It only lasted a moment, and the figure shot away
+again. I was sure I heard something like a kiss, in the gloom, and there
+was a most undeniable smell of roses in the air. I held my peace, though I
+was astonished. I could not have believed her capable of it. Lying in wait
+in the dusk of the morning to give her lover a kiss and a rose and a
+parting word. She must have taken me for his servant in the dark.</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," said Isaacs as we parted some six or seven miles farther
+on,&mdash;"an odd thing happened this morning. I have left something more in
+your keeping than money."</p>
+
+<p>"I know. Trust me. Good-bye," and he cantered off.</p>
+
+<p>I confess I was very dejected and low-spirited when I came back into
+camp. My acquaintance with Isaacs, so suddenly grown into intimacy, had
+become a part of my life. I felt a sort of devotion to him that I had never
+felt for any man in my life before. I would rather have gone with him to
+Keitung, for a presentiment told me there was trouble in the wind. He had
+not talked to me about the <a name="Page_250"></a>Baithopoor intrigue, for
+everything was as much settled beforehand as it was possible to settle
+anything. There was nothing to be said, for all that was to come was
+action; but I knew Isaacs distrusted the maharajah, and that without Ram
+Lal's assistance&mdash;of whatever nature that might prove to be&mdash;he would not
+have ventured to go alone to such a tryst.</p>
+
+<p>When I returned the camp was all alive, for it was nearly seven o'clock.
+Kildare and the collector, my servant said, had gone off on <i>tats</i> to
+shoot some small game. Mr. Ghyrkins was occupied with the shikarries in the
+stretching and dressing of the skin he had won the previous day. Neither
+Miss Westonhaugh nor her brother had been seen. So I dressed and rested
+myself and had some tea, and sat wondering what the camp would be like
+without Isaacs, who, to me and to one other person, was emphatically, as
+Ghyrkins had said the night before, the life of the party. The weather was
+not so warm as on the previous day, and I was debating whether I should not
+try and induce the younger men to go and stick a pig&mdash;the shikarry said
+there were plenty in some place he knew of&mdash;or whether I should settle
+myself in the dining-tent for a long day with my books, when the arrival of
+a mounted messenger with some letters from the distant post-office decided
+me in favour of the more peaceful disposition of my time. So I glanced at
+the papers, and assured myself that the English were going deeper and
+deeper into the mire of difficulties and reckless expenditure that <a
+name="Page_251"></a>characterised their campaign in Afghanistan in the
+autumn of 1879; and when I had assured myself, furthermore, by the perusal
+of a request for the remittance of twenty pounds, that my nephew, the only
+relation, male or female, that I have in the world, had not come to the
+untimely death he so richly deserved, I fell to considering what book I
+should read. And from one thing to another, I found myself established
+about ten o'clock at the table in the dining-tent, with Miss Westonhaugh at
+one side, worsted work, writing materials and all, just as she had been at
+the same table a week or so before. At her request I had continued my
+writing when she came in. I was finishing off a column of a bloodthirsty
+article for the <i>Howler</i>; it probably would come near enough to the
+mark, for in India you may print a leader anywhere within a month of its
+being written, and if it was hot enough to begin with, it will still answer
+the purpose. Journalism is not so rapid in its requirements as in New York,
+but, on the other hand, it is more lucrative.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs, are you <i>very</i> busy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, no&mdash;nothing to speak of," I went on writing&mdash;the
+unprecedented&mdash;folly&mdash;the&mdash;blatant&mdash;charlatanism&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs, do you understand these things?"</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&mdash;Lord Beaconsfield's&mdash;"I think so, Miss Westonhaugh"&mdash;Afghan
+policy&mdash;&mdash;There, I thought,</p>
+
+<p>I think that would rouse Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, if he ever saw it, which I
+trust he never will. I had <a name="Page_252"></a>done, and I folded the
+numbered sheets in an oblong bundle.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, Miss Westonhaugh; I was just finishing a sentence. I
+am quite at your service."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no! I see you are too busy."</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least, I assure you. Is it that tangled skein? Let me help
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh thank you. It is so tiresome, and I am not in the least inclined to
+be industrious."</p>
+
+<p>I took the wool and set to work. It was very easy, after all; I pulled
+the loops through, and back again and through from the other side, and I
+found the ends, and began to wind it up on a piece of paper. It is
+singular, though, how the unaided wool can tie itself into every kind of a
+knot&mdash;reef, carrick bend, bowline, bowline in a bight, not to mention a
+variety of hitches and indescribable perversions of entanglement. I was
+getting on very well, though. I looked up at her face, pale and weary with
+a sleepless night, but beautiful&mdash;ah yes&mdash;beautiful beyond compare. She
+smiled faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very clever with your fingers. Where did you learn it? Have you
+a sister who makes you wind her wool for her at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I have no sister. I went to sea once upon a time."</p>
+
+<p>"Were you ever in the navy, Mr. Griggs?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no. I went before the mast."</p>
+
+<p>"But you would not learn to unravel wool before the mast. I suppose your
+mother taught you when you were small&mdash;if you ever were small."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_253"></a>"I never had a mother that I can remember&mdash;I
+learned to do all those things at sea."</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me," she said, guessing she had struck some tender chord in my
+existence. "What an odd life you must have had."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps. I never had any relations that I can remember, except a
+brother, much older than I. He died years ago, and his son is my only
+living relation. I was born in Italy."</p>
+
+<p>"But when did you learn so many things? You seem to know every language
+under the sun."</p>
+
+<p>"I had a good education when I got ashore. Some one was very kind to me,
+and I had learned Latin and Greek in the common school in Rome before I ran
+away to sea."</p>
+
+<p>I answered her questions reluctantly. I did not want to talk about my
+history, especially to a girl like her. I suppose she saw my
+disinclination, for as I handed her the card with the wool neatly wound on
+it, she thanked me and presently changed the subject, or at least shifted
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"There is something so free about the life of an adventurer&mdash;I mean a
+man who wanders about doing brave things. If I were a man I would be an
+adventurer like you."</p>
+
+<p>"Not half so much of an adventurer, as you call it, as our friend who
+went off this morning."</p>
+
+<p>It was the first mention of Isaacs since his departure. I had said the
+thing inadvertently, for I would not have done anything to increase her
+trouble for <a name="Page_254"></a>the world. She leaned back, dropping her
+hands with her work in her lap, and stared straight out through the
+doorway, as pale as death&mdash;pale as only fair-skinned people are when they
+are ill, or hurt. She sat quite still. I wondered if she were ill, or if it
+were only Isaacs' going that had wrought this change in her brilliant
+looks. "Would you like me to read something to you, Miss Westonhaugh? Here
+is a comparatively new book&mdash;<i>The Light of Asia</i>, by Mr. Edwin Arnold.
+It is a poem about India. Would it give you any pleasure?" She guessed the
+kind intention, and a little shadow of a smile passed over her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"You are so kind, Mr. Griggs. Please, you are so very kind."</p>
+
+<p>I began to read, and read on and on through the exquisite rise and fall
+of the stanzas, through the beautiful clear high thoughts which seem to
+come as a breath and a breeze from an unattainable heaven, from the Nirvana
+we all hope for in our inmost hearts, whatever our confession of faith. And
+the poor girl was soothed, and touched and lulled by the music of thought
+and the sigh of verse that is in the poem; and the morning passed. I
+suppose the quiet and the poetry wrought up in her the feeling of
+confidence she felt in me, as being her lover's friend, for after I had
+paused a minute or two, seeing some one coming toward the tent, she said
+quite simply&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is gone to do a very noble deed. He is gone <a
+name="Page_255"></a>to save the life of a man he never saw." A bright light
+came into her face, and all the chilled heart's blood, driven from her
+cheeks by the weariness of her first parting, rushed joyously back, and for
+one moment there dwelt on her features the glory and bloom of the love and
+happiness that had been hers all day yesterday, that would be hers
+again&mdash;when? Poor Miss Westonhaugh, it seemed so long to wait.</p>
+
+<p>The day passed somehow, but the dinner was dismal. Miss Westonhaugh was
+evidently far from well, and I could not conceive that the pain of a
+temporary parting should make so sudden a change in one so perfectly strong
+and healthy&mdash;even were her nature ever so sensitive. Kildare and the
+Pegnugger magistrate tried to keep up the spirits of the party, but John
+Westonhaugh was anxious about his sister, and even old Mr. Currie Ghyrkins
+was beginning to fancy there must be something wrong. We sat smoking
+outside, and the young girl refused to leave us, though John begged her to.
+As we sat, it may have been half an hour after dinner, a messenger came
+galloping up in hot haste, and leaping to the ground asked for "Gurregis
+Sahib," with the usual native pronunciation of my euphonious name. Being
+informed, he salaamed low and handed me a letter, which I took to the
+light. It was in <i>shikast</i> Persian, and signed "Abdul
+Hafiz-ben-Is&acirc;k." "Ram Lal," he said, "has met me unexpectedly, and
+sends you this by his own means, which are swift as the flight of the
+eagle. It is indispensable that you meet <a name="Page_256"></a>us below
+Keitung, towards Sultanpoor, on the afternoon of the day when the moon is
+full. Travel by Julinder and Sultanpoor; you will easily overtake me, since
+I go by Simla. For friendship's sake, for love's sake, come. It is life and
+death. Give the money to the Irishman. Peace be with you."</p>
+
+<p>I sighed a sigh of the most undetermined description. Was I glad to
+rejoin my friend? or was I pained to leave the woman he loved in her
+present condition? I hardly knew.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we had all better go back to Simla," said John, when I
+explained that the most urgent business called me away at dawn.</p>
+
+<p>"There will be none of us left soon," said Ghyrkins quite quietly and
+mournfully.</p>
+
+<p>I found means to let Miss Westonhaugh understand where I was going. I
+gave Kildare the money in charge.</p>
+
+<p>In the dark of the morning, as I cleared the tents, the same shadow I
+had seen before shot out and laid a hand on my rein. I halted on the same
+spot where Isaacs had drawn rein twenty-four hours before.</p>
+
+<p>"Give him this from me. God be with you!" She was gone in a moment,
+leaving a small package in my right hand. I thrust it in my bosom and rode
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"How she loves him," I thought, wondering greatly.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_257"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_XII'></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was not an agreeable journey I had undertaken. In order to reach the
+inaccessible spot, chosen by Isaacs for the scene of Shere Ali's
+liberation, in time to be of any use, it was necessary that I should travel
+by a more direct and arduous route than that taken by my friend. He had
+returned to Simla, and by his carefully made arrangements would be able to
+reach Keitung, or the spot near it, where the transaction was to take
+place, by constant changes of horses where riding was possible, and by a
+strong body of dooly-bearers wherever the path should prove too steep for
+four-footed beasts of burden. I, on the other hand, must leave the road at
+Julinder, a place I had never visited, and must trust to my own unaided
+wits and a plentiful supply of rupees to carry me over at least two hundred
+miles of country I did not know&mdash;difficult certainly, and perhaps
+impracticable for riding. The prospect was not a pleasant one, but I was
+convinced that in a matter of this importance a man of Isaacs' wit and
+wealth would have made at least some preliminary arrangements for me, since
+he probably knew the country well enough <a name="Page_258"></a>himself. I
+had but six days at the outside to reach my destination.</p>
+
+<p>I had resolved to take one servant, Kiramat Ali, with me as far as
+Julinder, whence I would send him back to Simla with what slender luggage
+we carried, for I meant to ride as light as possible, with no encumbrance
+to delay me when once I left the line of the railway. I might have ridden
+five miles with Kiramat Ali behind me on a sturdy <i>tat</i>, when I was
+surprised by the appearance of an unknown saice in plain white clothes,
+holding a pair of strong young ponies by the halter and salaaming low.</p>
+
+<p>"Pundit Ram Lal sends your highness his peace, and bids you ride without
+sparing. The <i>d&acirc;k</i> is laid to the fire-carriages."</p>
+
+<p>The saddles were changed in a moment, Kiramat Ali and I assisting in the
+operation. It was clear that Ram Lal's messengers were swift, for even if
+he had met Isaacs when the latter reached the railroad, no ordinary horse
+could have returned with the message at the time I had received it. Still
+less would any ordinary Hindus be capable of laying a <i>d&acirc;k</i>, or
+post route of relays, over a hundred miles long in twelve hours. Once
+prepared, it was a mere matter of physical endurance in the rider to cover
+the ground, for the relays were stationed every five or six miles. It was
+well known that Lord Steepleton Kildare had lately ridden from Simla to
+Umballa one night and back the next day, ninety-two miles each way, with
+constant change of cattle. What <a name="Page_259"></a>puzzled me was the
+rapidity with which the necessary dispositions had been made. On the whole,
+I was reassured. If Ram Lal had been able to prepare my way at such short
+notice here, with two more days at his disposal he would doubtless succeed
+in laying me a <i>d&acirc;k</i> most of the way from Julinder to Keitung. I
+will not dwell upon the details of the journey. I reached the railroad and
+prepared for forty-eight hours of jolting and jostling and broken sleep. It
+is true that railway travelling is nowhere so luxurious as in India, where
+a carriage has but two compartments, each holding as a rule only two
+persons, though four can be accommodated by means of hanging berths. Each
+compartment has a spacious bathroom attached, where you may bathe as often
+as you please, and there are various contrivances for ventilating and
+cooling the air. Nevertheless the heat is sometimes unbearable, and a
+journey from Bombay to Calcutta direct during the warm months is a severe
+trial to the strongest constitution. On this occasion I had about
+forty-eight hours to travel, and I was resolved to get all the rest in that
+time that the jolting made possible; for I knew that once in the saddle
+again it might be days before I got a night's sleep. And so we rumbled
+along, through the vast fields of sugar-cane, now mostly tied in huge
+sheaves upright, through boundless stretches of richly-cultivated soil,
+intersected with the regularity of a chess-board by the rivulets and
+channels of a laborious irrigation. Here and there stood the high frames
+made by planting <a name="Page_260"></a>four bamboos in a square and
+wickering the top, whereon the ryots sit when the crops are ripening, to
+watch against thieves and cattle, and to drive away the birds of the air.
+On we spun, past Meerut and Mozuffernugger, past Umballa and Loodhiana,
+till we reached our station of Julinder at dawn. Descending from the train,
+I was about to begin making inquiries about my next move, when I was
+accosted by a tall and well-dressed Mussulman, in a plain cloth
+<i>caftán</i> and a white turban, but exquisitely clean and fresh looking,
+as it seemed to me, for my eyes were smarting with dust and wearied with
+the perpetual shaking of the train.</p>
+
+<p>The courteous native soon explained that he was Isaacs' agent in
+Julinder, and that a <i>t&acirc;r ki khaber</i>, a telegram in short, had
+warned him to be on the lookout for me. I was greatly relieved, for it was
+evident that every arrangement had been made for my comfort, so far as
+comfort was possible. Isaacs had asked my assistance, but he had taken
+every precaution against all superfluous bodily inconvenience to me, and I
+felt sure that from this point I should move quickly and easily through
+every difficulty. And so it proved. The Mussulman took me to his house,
+where there was a spacious apartment, occupied by Isaacs when he passed
+that way. Every luxury was prepared for the enjoyment of the bath, and a
+breakfast of no mean taste was served me in my own room. Then my host
+entered and explained that he had been directed to make certain
+arrangements <a name="Page_261"></a>for my journey. He had laid a
+<i>d&acirc;k</i> nearly a hundred miles ahead, and had been ordered to tell
+me that similar steps had been taken beyond that point as far as my
+ultimate destination, of which, however, he was ignorant. My servant, he
+said, must stay with him and return to Simla with my traps.</p>
+
+<p>So an hour later I mounted for my long ride, provided with a revolver
+and some rupees in a bag, in case of need. The country, my entertainer
+informed me, was considered perfectly safe, unless I feared the <i>tap</i>,
+the bad kind of fever which infests all the country at the base of the
+hills. I was not afraid of this. My experience is that some people are
+predisposed to fever, and will generally be attacked by it in their first
+year in India, whether they are much exposed to it or not, while others
+seem naturally proof against any amount of malaria, and though they sleep
+out of doors through the whole rainy season, and tramp about the jungles in
+the autumn, will never catch the least ague, though they may have all other
+kinds of ills to contend with.</p>
+
+<p>On and on, galloping along the heavy roads, sometimes over no road at
+all, only a broad green track, where the fresh grass that had sprung up
+after the rains was not yet killed by the trampling of the bullocks and the
+grinding jolt of the heavy cart. At intervals of seven or eight miles I
+found a saice with a fresh pony picketed and grazing at the end of the long
+rope. The saice was generally squatting near by, with his bag of food and
+his three-sided kitchen <a name="Page_262"></a>of stones, blackened with
+the fire from his last meal, beside him; sometimes in the act of cooking
+his chowpatties, sometimes eating them, according to the time of day.
+Several times I stopped to drink some water where it seemed to be good, and
+I ate a little chocolate from my supply, well knowing the miraculous,
+sustaining powers of the simple little block of "Menier," which, with its
+six small tablets, will not only sustain life, but will supply vigour and
+energy, for as much as two days, with no other food. On and on, through the
+day and the night, past sleeping villages, where the jackals howled around
+the open doors of the huts; and across vast fields of late crops, over
+hills thickly grown with trees, past the broad bend of the Sutlej river,
+and over the plateau toward Sultanpoor, the cultivation growing scantier
+and the villages rarer all the while, as the vast masses of the Himalayas
+defined themselves more and more distinctly in the moonlight. Horses of all
+kinds under me, lean and fat, short and high, roman-nosed and goose-necked,
+broken and unbroken; away and away, shifting saddle and bridle and
+saddle-bag as I left each tired mount behind me. Once I passed a stream,
+and pulling off my boots to cool my feet, the temptation way too strong, so
+I hastily threw off my clothes and plunged in and had a short refreshing
+bath. Then on, with, the galloping even triplet of the house's hoofs
+beneath me, as they came down in quick succession, as if the earth were a
+muffled drum and we were beating an untiring <i>rataplan</i> on her
+breast.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_263"></a>I must have ridden a hundred and thirty miles
+before dawn, and the pace was beginning to tell, even on my strong frame.
+True, to a man used to the saddle, the effort of riding is reduced to a
+minimum when every hour or two gives him a fresh horse. There is then no
+heed for the welfare of the animal necessary; he has but his seven or eight
+miles to gallop, and then his work is done; there are none of those
+thousand little cares and sympathetic shiftings and adjustings of weight
+and seat to be thought of, which must constantly engage the attention of a
+man who means to ride the same horse a hundred miles, or even fifty or
+forty. Conscious that a fresh mount awaits him, he sits back lazily and
+never eases his weight for a moment; before he has gone thirty miles he
+will kick his feet out of the stirrups about once in twenty minutes, and if
+he has for the moment a quiet old stager who does not mind tricks, he will
+probably fetch one leg over and go a few miles sitting sideways. He will go
+to sleep once or twice, and wake up apparently in the very act to
+fall&mdash;though I believe that a man will sleep at a full gallop and never
+loosen his knees until the moment of waking startles him. Nevertheless, and
+notwithstanding Lord Steepleton Kildare and his ride to Umballa and back in
+twenty-four hours, when a man, be he ever so strong, has ridden over a
+hundred miles, he feels inclined for a rest, and a walk, and a little
+sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Once more an emissary of Ram Lal strode to my side as I rolled off the
+saddle into the cool grass at <a name="Page_264"></a>sunrise in a very
+impracticable-looking country. The road had been steeper and less defined
+during the last two hours of the ride, and as I crossed one leg high over
+the other lying on my back in the grass, the morning light caught my spur,
+and there was blood on it, bright and red. I had certainly come as fast as
+I could; if I should be too late, it would not be my fault. The agent,
+whoever he might be, was a striking-looking fellow in a dirty brown cloth
+<i>caftán</i> and an enormous sash wound round his middle. A pointed cap
+with some tawdry gold lace on it covered his head, and greasy black
+love-locks writhed filthily over his high cheek bones and into his scanty
+tangled beard; a suspicious hilt bound with brass wire reared its
+snake-like head from the folds of his belt, and his legs, terminating in
+thick-soled native shoes, reminded one of a tarantula in boots. He salaamed
+awkwardly with a tortuous grin, and addressed me with the northern
+salutation, "May your feet never be weary with the march." Having been
+twenty-four hours in the saddle, my feet were not that portion of my body
+most wearied, but I replied to the effect that I trusted the shadow of the
+greasy gentleman might not diminish a hairsbreadth in the next ten thousand
+years. We then proceeded to business, and I observed that the man spoke a
+very broken and hardly intelligible Hindustani. I tried him in Persian, but
+it was of no avail. He spoke Persian, he said, but it was not of the kind
+that any human being could understand; so we returned to the first
+language, <a name="Page_265"></a>and I concluded that he was a wandering
+kábuli.</p>
+
+<p>As an introduction of himself he mentioned Isaacs, calling him Abdul
+Hafiz Sáhib, and he seemed to know him personally. Abdul, he said, was not
+far off as distances go in the Himalayas. He thought I should find him the
+day after to-morrow, <i>mungkul</i>. He said I should not be able to ride
+much farther, as the pass beyond Sultanpoor was utterly impracticable for
+horses; coolies, however, awaited me with a dooly, one of those low litters
+slung on a bamboo, in which you may travel swiftly and without effort, but
+to the destruction of the digestive organs. He said also that he would
+accompany me the next stage as far as the doolies, and I thought he showed
+some curiosity to know whither I was going; but he was a wise man in his
+generation, and knowing his orders, did not press me overmuch with
+questions. I remarked in a mild way that the saddle was the throne of the
+warrior, and that the air of the black mountains was the breath of freedom;
+but I added that the voice of the empty stomach was as the roar of the king
+of the forest. Whereupon the man replied that the forest was mine and the
+game therein, whereof I was lord, as I probably was of the rest of the
+world, since I was his father and mother and most of his relations; but
+that, perceiving that I was occupied with the cares of a mighty empire, he
+had ventured to slay with his own hand a kid and some birds, which, if I
+would condescend to partake <a name="Page_266"></a>of them, he would
+proceed to cook. I replied that the light of my countenance would shine
+upon my faithful servant to the extent of several coins, both rupees and
+pais, but that the peculiar customs of my caste forbid me to touch food
+cooked by any one but myself. I would, however, in consideration of his
+exertions and his guileless heart, invite the true follower of the prophet,
+whose name is blessed, to partake with me of the food which I should
+presently prepare. Whereat he was greatly delighted, and fetched the meat,
+which he had stowed away in a kind of horse-cloth, for safety against
+ants.</p>
+
+<p>I am not a bad cook at a pinch, and so we sat down and made a
+cooking-place with stones, and built a fire, and let the flame die down
+into coals, and I dressed the meat as best I could, and flavoured it with
+gunpowder and pepper, and we were merry. The man was thenceforth mine, and
+I knew I could trust him; a bivouac in the Himalayas, when one is alone and
+far from any kind of assistance, is not the spot to indulge in any
+prejudice about colour. I did not think much about it as I hungrily gnawed
+the meat and divided the birds with my pocket-knife.</p>
+
+<p>The lower Himalayas are at first extremely disappointing. The scenery is
+enormous but not grand, and at first hardly seems large. The lower parts
+are at first sight a series of gently undulating hills and wooded dells; in
+some places it looks as if one might almost hunt the country. It is long
+before you realise that it is all on a gigantic scale; that the quickset <a
+name="Page_267"></a>hedges are belts of rhododendrons of full growth, the
+water-jumps rivers, and the stone walls mountain-ridges; that to hunt a
+country like that you would have to ride a horse at least two hundred feet
+high. You cannot see at first, or even for some time, that the
+gentle-looking hill is a mountain of five or six thousand feet; in Simla
+you will not believe you are three thousand feet above the level of the
+Rhigi Kulm in Switzerland. Persons who are familiar with the aspect of the
+Rocky Mountains are aware of the singular lack of dignity in those enormous
+elevations. They are merely big, without any superior beauty, until you
+come to the favoured spots of nature's art, where some great contrast
+throws out into appalling relief the gulf between the high and the low. It
+is so in the Himalayas.</p>
+
+<p>You may travel for hours and days amidst vast forests and hills without
+the slightest sensation of pleasure or sense of admiration for the scene,
+till suddenly your path leads you out on to the dizzy brink of an awful
+precipice&mdash;a sheer fall, so exaggerated in horror that your most stirring
+memories of Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, and the hideous <i>ar&ecirc;te</i> of
+the Pitz Bernina, sink into vague insignificance. The gulf that divides you
+from the distant mountain seems like a huge bite taken bodily out of the
+world by some voracious god; far away rise snow peaks such as were not
+dreamt of in your Swiss tour; the bottomless valley at your feet is misty
+and gloomy with blackness, streaked with mist, while the peaks above shoot
+<a name="Page_268"></a>gladly to the sun and catch his broadside rays like
+majestic white standards. Between you, as you stand leaning cautiously
+against the hill behind you, and the wonderful background far away in
+front, floats a strange vision, scarcely moving, but yet not still. A great
+golden shield sails steadily in vast circles, sending back the sunlight in
+every tint of burnished glow. The golden eagle of the Himalayas hangs in
+mid-air, a sheet of polished metal to the eye, pausing sometimes in the
+full blaze of reflection, as ages ago the sun and the moon stood still in
+the valley of Ajalon; too magnificent for description, as he is too
+dazzling to look at. The whole scene, if no greater name can be given to
+it, is on a scale so Titanic in its massive length and breadth and depth,
+that you stand utterly trembling and weak and foolish as you look for the
+first time. You have never seen such masses of the world before.</p>
+
+<p>It was in such a spot as this that, nearly at noon on the appointed day,
+my dooly-bearers set me down and warned me I was at my journey's end. I
+stepped out and stood on the narrow way, pausing to look and to enjoy all
+that I saw. I had been in other parts of the lower Himalayas before, and
+the first sensations I had experienced had given way to those of a
+contemplative admiration. No longer awed or overpowered or oppressed by the
+sense of physical insignificance in my own person, I could endure to look
+on the stupendous panorama before me, and could even analyse what I felt.
+But before long my <a name="Page_269"></a>pardonable reverie was disturbed
+by a well-known voice. The clear tones rang like a trumpet along the
+mountain-side in a glad shout of welcome. I turned and saw Isaacs coming
+quickly towards me, bounding along the edge of the precipice as if his life
+had been passed in tending goats and robbing eagles' nests. I, too, moved
+on to meet him, and in a moment we clasped hands in unfeigned delight at
+being again together. What was Ghyrkins or his party to me? Here was the
+man I sought; the one man on earth who seemed worth having for a friend.
+And yet it was but three weeks since we first met, and I am not
+enthusiastic by temperament.</p>
+
+<p>"What news, friend Griggs?"</p>
+
+<p>"She greets you and sends you this," I said, taking from my bosom the
+parcel she had thrust into my hand as I left in the dark. His face fell
+suddenly. It was the silver box he had given her; was it possible she had
+taken so much trouble to return it? He turned it over mournfully.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better open it. There is probably something in it."</p>
+
+<p>I never saw a more complete change in a man's face during a single
+second than came over Isaacs' in that moment. He had not thought of opening
+it, in his first disappointment at finding it returned. He turned back the
+lid. Bound with a bit of narrow ribbon and pressed down carefully, he found
+a heavy lock of gold-white hair, so fair that it made everything around it
+seem dark&mdash;the grass, our clothes, <a name="Page_270"></a>and even the
+white streamer that hung down from Isaacs' turban. It seemed to shed a
+bright light, even in the broad noon-day, as it lay there in the curiously
+wrought box&mdash;just as the body of some martyred saint found jealously
+concealed in the dark corner of an ancient crypt, and broken in upon by
+unsuspecting masons delving a king's grave, might throw up in their dusky
+faces a dazzling halo of soft radiance&mdash;the glory of the saint hovering
+lovingly by the body wherein the soul's sufferings were perfected.</p>
+
+<p>The moment Isaacs realised what it was, he turned away, his face all
+gladness, and moved on a few steps with bent head, evidently contemplating
+his new treasure. Then he snapped the spring, and putting the casket in his
+vest turned round to me.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Griggs; how are they all?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was worth a two-hundred mile ride to see your face when you opened
+that box. They are pretty well. I left them swearing that the party was
+broken up, and that they would all go back to Simla."</p>
+
+<p>"The sooner the better. We shall be there in three days from here, by
+the help of Ram Lal's wonderful post."</p>
+
+<p>"Between you I managed to get here quite well. How did you do it? I
+never missed a relay all the way from Julinder."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it is very easy," answered Isaacs. "You could have a
+<i>d&acirc;k</i> to the moon from India if you would pay for it; or any
+other thing in heaven or earth or hell that you might fancy. Money, that is
+all. But, <a name="Page_271"></a>my dear fellow, you have lost flesh
+sensibly since we parted. You take your travelling hard."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Ram Lal?" I asked, curious to learn something of our movements
+for the night.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know. He is probably somewhere about the place charming
+cobras or arresting avalanches, or indulging in some of those playful
+freaks he says he learned in Edinburgh. We have had a great good time the
+last two days. He has not disappeared, or swallowed himself even once, or
+delivered himself of any fearful and mysterious prophecies. We have been
+talking transcendentalism. He knows as much about 'functional gamma' and
+'All X is Y' and the rainbow, and so on, as you do yourself. I recommend
+him. I think he would be a charming companion for you. There he is now,
+with his pockets full of snakes and evil beasts. I wanted him to catch a
+golden eagle this morning, and tame it for Miss Westonhaugh, but he said it
+would eat the jackal and probably the servants, so I have given it up for
+the present." Isaacs was evidently in a capital humour. Ram Lal approached
+us.</p>
+
+<p>I saw at a glance that Ram Lal the Buddhist, when on his beats in the
+civilisation of Simla, was one person. Ram Lal, the cultured votary of
+science, among the hills and the beasts and the specimens that he loved,
+was a very different man. He was as gray as ever, it is true, but better
+defined, the outlines sharper, the features more Dantesque and easier to
+discern in the broad light of the sun. He did not <a
+name="Page_272"></a>look now as if he could sit down and cross his legs and
+fade away into thin air, like the Cheshire cat. He looked more solid and
+fleshly, his voice was fuller, and sounded close to me as he spoke, without
+a shadow of the curious distant ring I had noticed before.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" he said in English, "Mr. Griggs, at last! Well, you are in plenty
+of time. The gentleman who is not easily astonished. That is just as well,
+too. I like people with quiet nerves. I see by your appearance that you are
+hungry, Mr. Griggs. Abdul Hafiz, why should we not dine? It is much better
+to get that infliction of the flesh over before this evening."</p>
+
+<p>"By all means. Come along. But first send those dooly-bearers about
+their business. They can wait till to-morrow over there on the other side.
+They always carry food, and there is any amount of fuel."</p>
+
+<p>Just beyond the shoulder of the hill, sheltered from the north by the
+projecting boulders, was a small tent, carefully pitched and adjusted to
+stand the storms if any should come. Thither we all three bent our steps
+and sat down by the fire, for it was chilly, even cold, in the passes in
+September. Food was brought out by Isaacs, and we ate together as if no
+countless ages of different nationalities separated us. Ram Lal was
+perfectly natural and easy in his manners, and affable in what he said.
+Until the meal was finished no reference was made to the strange business
+that brought us from different points of the <a name="Page_273"></a>compass
+to the Himalayan heights. Then, at last, Ram Lal spoke; his meal had been
+the most frugal of the three, and he had soon eaten his fill, but he
+employed himself in rolling cigarettes, which he did with marvellous skill,
+until we two had satisfied our younger and healthier appetites.</p>
+
+<p>"Abdul Hafiz," he said, his gray face bent over his colourless hands as
+he twisted the papers, "shall we not tell Mr. Griggs what is to be done?
+Afterward he can lie in the tent and sleep until evening, for he is weary
+and needs to recruit his strength."</p>
+
+<p>"So be it, Ram Lal," answered Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. The position is this, Mr. Griggs. Neither Mr. Isaacs nor I
+trust those men that we are to meet, and therefore, as we are afraid of
+being killed unawares, we thought we would send for you to protect us." He
+smiled pleasantly as he saw the blank expression in my face.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, and you shall hear how it is to be done. The place is not
+far from here in the valley below. The band are already nearing the spot,
+and at midnight we will go down and meet them. The meeting will be, of
+course, like all formal rendezvous for the delivery of prisoners. The
+captain of the band will come forward accompanied by his charge, and
+perhaps by a sowar. We three will stand together, side by side, and await
+their coming. Now the plot is this. They have determined if possible to
+murder both Shere Ali and Isaacs then and there together. They have not
+counted on us, but they <a name="Page_274"></a>probably expect that our
+friend will arrive guarded by a troop of horse. The maharajah's men will
+try and sneak up close to where we stand, and at a signal, which the
+leader, in conversation with Isaacs, will give by laying his hand on his
+shoulder, the men will rush in and cut Shere Ali to pieces, and Isaacs too
+if the captain cannot do it alone. Now look here, Mr. Griggs. What we want
+you to do is this. Your friend&mdash;my friend&mdash;wants no miracles, so that you
+have got to do by strength what might be done by stratagem, though not so
+quickly. When you see the leader lay his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, seize
+him by the throat and mind his other arm, which will be armed. Prevent him
+from injuring Isaacs, and I will attend to the rest, who will doubtless
+require my whole attention."</p>
+
+<p>"But," I objected, "supposing that this captain turned out to be
+stronger or more active than I. What then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never fear," said Isaacs, smiling. "There aren't any."</p>
+
+<p>"No," continued Ram Lal, "never disturb yourself about that, but just
+knock your man down and be done with it. I will guarantee you can do it
+well enough, and if he gives you trouble I may be able to help you."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; give me some cigarettes;" and before I had smoked one I was
+asleep.</p>
+
+<p>When I awoke the sun was down, but there was a great light over
+everything. The full moon had just <a name="Page_275"></a>risen above the
+hills to eastward and bathed every object in silver sheen. The far peaks,
+covered with snow, caught the reflection and sent the beams floating across
+the deep dark valleys between. The big boulder, against which the tent was
+pitched, caught it too, and seemed changed from rough stone to precious
+metal; it was on the tent-pegs and the ropes, it was upon Isaacs' lithe
+figure, as he tightened his sash round his waist and looked to his
+pocket-book for the agreement. It made Ram Lal, the gray and colourless,
+look like a silver statue, and it made the smouldering flame of the
+watch-fire utterly dim and faint. It was a wonderful moon. I looked at my
+watch; it was eight o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Isaacs, "you were tired and have slept long. It is time to
+be off. There is some whiskey in that flask. I don't take those things, but
+Ram Lal says you had better have some, as you might get fever." So I did.
+Then we started, leaving everything in the tent, of which we pegged down
+the flap. There were no natives about, the dooly-bearers having retired to
+the other side of the valley, and the jackals would find nothing to attract
+them, as we had thrown the remainder of our meal over the edge. As for
+weapons, I had a good revolver and a thick stick; Isaacs had a revolver and
+a vicious-looking Turkish knife; and Ram Lal had nothing at all, as far as
+I could see, except a long light staff.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of the moonlight was wild in the extreme, as we descended the
+side of the mountain <a name="Page_276"></a>by paths which were very far
+from smooth or easy. Every now and then, as we neared the valley, we turned
+the corner of some ridge and got a fair view of the plain. Then a step
+farther, and we were in the dark again, behind boulders and picking our way
+over loose stones, or struggling with the wretched foothold afforded by a
+surface of light gravel, inclined to the horizontal at an angle of
+forty-five degrees. Then, with a scramble, a jump, and a little swearing in
+a great many languages&mdash;I think we counted that we spoke twenty-seven
+between us&mdash;we were on firm soil again, and swinging along over the bit of
+easy level path. It would have been out of the question to go in doolies,
+and no pony could keep a foothold for five minutes on the uncertain
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>At last, as we emerged into the bright moonlight on a little platform of
+rock at an angle of the path, we paused. Ram Lal, who seemed to know the
+way, was in front, and held up his hand to silence us; Isaacs and I kneeled
+down and looked over the brink. Some two hundred feet below, on a broad
+strip of green bordering the steep cliffs, was picketed a small body of
+horse. We could see the men squatting about in their small compact turbans
+and their shining accoutrements; the horses tethered at various distances
+on the sward, cropping so vigorously that even at that height we could hear
+the dull sound as they rhythmically munched the grass. We could see in the
+middle of the little camp a man seated on a <a name="Page_277"></a>rug and
+wrapped in a heavy garment of some kind, quietly smoking a common
+hubble-bubble. Beside him stood another who reflected more moonlight than
+the rest, and who was therefore, by his trappings, the captain of the band.
+The seated smoker could be no other than Shere Ali.</p>
+
+<p>Cautiously we descended the remaining windings of the steep path,
+turning whenever we had a chance, to look down on the horsemen and their
+prisoner below, till at last we emerged in the valley a quarter of a mile
+or so beyond where they were stationed. Here on the level of the plain we
+stopped a moment, and Ram Lal renewed his instructions to me.</p>
+
+<p>"If the captain," he said, "lays his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, seize him
+and throw him. If you cannot get him down kill him&mdash;any way you can&mdash;shoot
+him under the arm with your pistol. It is a matter of life and death."</p>
+
+<p>"All right." And we walked boldly along the broad strip of sward. The
+moon was now almost immediately overhead, for it was midnight, or near it.
+I confess the scene awed me, the giant masses of the mountains above us,
+the vast distances of mysterious blue air, through which the snow-peaks
+shone out with a strange look that was not natural. The swish of the
+quickly flowing stream at the edge of the plot we were walking over sounded
+hollow and unearthly; the velvety whirr of the great mountain bats as they
+circled near us, stirred from the branches as we passed out, was
+disagreeable and heavy to hear. The moon shone brighter and brighter.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_278"></a>We were perhaps thirty yards from the little
+camp, in which there might be fifty men all told. Isaacs stood still and
+sung out a greeting.</p>
+
+<p>"Peace to you, men of Baithopoor!" he shouted. It was the preconcerted
+form of address. Instantly the captain turned and looked toward us. Then he
+gave some orders in a low voice, and taking his prisoner by the hand
+assisted him to rise. There was a scurrying to and fro in the camp. The men
+seemed to be collecting, and moving to the edge of the bivouac. Some began
+to saddle the horses. The moon was so intensely bright that their movements
+were as plain to us as though it had been broad daylight.</p>
+
+<p>Two figures came striding toward us&mdash;the captain and Shere Ali. As I
+looked at them, curiously enough, as may be imagined, I noticed that the
+captain was the taller man by two or three inches, but Shere Ali's broad
+chest and slightly-bowed legs produced an impression of enormous strength.
+He looked the fierce-hearted, hard-handed warrior, from head to heel;
+though in accordance with Isaacs' treaty he had been well taken care of and
+was dressed in the finest stuffs, his beard carefully clipped and his
+Indian turban rolled with great neatness round his dark and prominent
+brows.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing for the captain was to satisfy himself as far as
+possible that we had no troops in ambush up there in the jungle on the base
+of the mountain. He had probably sent scouts out before, and was <a
+name="Page_279"></a>pretty sure there was no one there. To gain time, he
+made a great show of reading the agreement through from beginning to end,
+comparing it all the while with a copy he held. While this was going on,
+and I had put myself as near as possible to the captain, Isaacs and Shere
+Ali were in earnest conversation in the Persian tongue. Shere Ali told
+Abdul that the captain's perusal of the contract must be a mere empty show,
+since the man did not know a word of the language. Isaacs, on hearing that
+the captain could not understand, immediately warned Shere Ali of the
+intended attempt to murder them both, of which Ram Lal, his friend, had
+heard, and I could see the old soldier's eye flash and his hand feel for
+his weapon, where there was none, at the mere mention of a fight. The
+captain began to talk to Isaacs, and I edged as near as I could to be ready
+for my grip. Still it did not come. He talked on, very civilly, in
+intelligible Hindustani. What was the matter with the moon?</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes before it had seemed as if there would be neither cloud
+nor mist in such a sky; and now a light filmy wreath was rising and
+darkening the splendour of the wonderful night. I looked across at Ram Lal.
+He was standing with one hand on his hip, and leaning with the other on his
+staff, and he was gazing up at the moon with as much interest as he ever
+displayed about anything. At that moment the captain handed Isaacs a
+prepared receipt for signature, to the effect that the prisoner had been <a
+name="Page_280"></a>duly delivered to his new owner. The light was growing
+dimmer, and Isaacs could hardly see to read the characters before he
+signed. He raised the scroll to his eyes and turned half round to see it
+better. At that moment the tall captain stretched forth his arm and laid
+his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, raising his other arm at the same time to his
+men, who had crept nearer and nearer to our group while the endless talking
+was going on. I was perfectly prepared, and the instant the soldier's hand
+touched Isaacs I had the man in my grip, catching his upraised arm in one
+hand and his throat with the other. The struggle did not last long, but it
+was furious in its agony. The tough Punjabi writhed and twisted like a cat
+in my grasp, his eyes gleaming like living coals, springing back and
+forward in his vain and furious efforts to reach my feet and trip me. But
+it was no use. I had his throat and one arm well in hand, and could hold
+him so that he could not reach me with the other. My fingers sank deeper
+and deeper in his neck as we swayed backwards and sideways tugging and
+hugging, breast to breast, till at last, with a fearful strain and wrench
+of every muscle in our two bodies, his arm went back with a jerk, broken
+like a pipe-stem, and his frame collapsing and bending backwards, fell
+heavily to the ground beneath me.</p>
+
+<p>The whole strength of me was at work in the struggle, but I could get a
+glimpse of the others as we whirled and swayed about.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_281"></a>Like the heavy pall of virgin white that is laid
+on the body of a pure maiden; of velvet, soft and sweet but heavy and
+impenetrable as death, relentless, awful, appalling the soul, and freezing
+the marrow in the bones, it came near the earth. The figure of the gray old
+man grew mystically to gigantic and unearthly size, his vast old hands
+stretched forth their skinny palms to receive the great curtain as it
+descended between the moonlight and the sleeping earth. His eyes were as
+stars, his hoary head rose majestically to an incalculable height; still
+the thick, all-wrapping mist came down, falling on horse and rider and
+wrestler and robber and Amir; hiding all, covering all, folding all, in its
+soft samite arms, till not a man's own hand was visible to him a span's
+length from his face.</p>
+
+<p>I could feel the heaving chest of the captain beneath my knee; I could
+feel the twitching of the broken arm tortured under the pressure of my left
+hand; but I could see neither face nor arm nor breast, nor even my own
+fingers. Only above me, as I stared up, seemed to tower the supernatural
+proportions of Ram Lal, a white apparition visible through the opaque
+whiteness that hid everything else from view. It was only a moment. A hand
+was on my shoulder, Isaacs' voice was in my ear, speaking to Shere Ali. Ram
+Lal drew me away.</p>
+
+<p>"Be quick," he said; "take my hand, I will lead you to the light." We
+ran along the soft grass, following the sound of each other's feet,
+swiftly. <a name="Page_282"></a>A moment more and we were in the pass; the
+mist was lighter, and we could see our way. We rushed up the stony path
+fast and sure, till we reached the clear bright moonlight, blazing forth in
+silver splendour again. Far down below the velvet pall of mist lay thick
+and heavy, hiding the camp and its horses and men from our sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Friend," said Isaacs, "you are as free as I. Praise Allah, and let us
+depart in peace."</p>
+
+<p>The savage old warrior grasped the outstretched hand of the Persian and
+yelled aloud&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Illallaho-ho-ho-ho!" His throat was as brass.</p>
+
+<p>"La illah ill-allah!" repeated Isaacs in tones as of a hundred clarions,
+echoing by tree and mountain and river, down the valley.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God!" I said to Ram Lal.</p>
+
+<p>"Call Him as you please, friend Griggs," answered the pundit.</p>
+
+<p>It was daylight when we reached the tent at the top of the pass.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_283"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_XIII'></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Abdul Hafiz," said Ram Lal, as we sat round the fire we had made,
+preparing food, "if it is thy pleasure I will conduct thy friend to a place
+of safety and set his feet in the paths that lead to pleasant places. For
+thou art weary and wilt take thy rest until noon, but I am not weary and
+the limbs of the Afghan are as iron." He spoke in Persian, so that Shere
+Ali could understand what he said. The latter looked uneasy at first, but
+soon perceived that his best chance of safety lay in immediately leaving
+the neighbourhood, which was unpleasantly near Simla on the one side and
+the frontiers of Baithopoor on the other.</p>
+
+<p>"I thank thee, Ram Lal," replied Isaacs, "and I gladly accept thy offer.
+Whither wilt thou conduct our friend the Amir?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will lead him by a sure road into Thibet, and my brethren shall take
+care of him, and presently he shall journey safely northwards into the
+Tartar country, and thence to the Russ people, where the followers of your
+prophet are many, and if thou wilt give him the letters thou hast written,
+which he may present to the principal moolahs, he shall prosper. And <a
+name="Page_284"></a>as for money, if thou hast gold, give him of it, and if
+not, give him silver; and if thou hast none, take no thought, for the
+freedom of the spirit is better than the obesity of the body."</p>
+
+<p>"Bishmillah! Thou speakest with the tongue of wisdom, old man," said
+Shere Ali; "nevertheless a few rupees&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Fear nothing," broke in Isaacs. "I have for thee a store of a few
+rupees in silver, and there are two hundred gold mohurs in this bag. They
+are scarce in Hind and pass not as money, but the value of them whither
+thou goest shall buy thee food many days. Take also this diamond, which if
+thou be in want thou shalt sell and be rich."</p>
+
+<p>Shere Ali, who had been suspicious of treachery, or at least was afraid
+to believe himself really free, was convinced by this generosity. The great
+rough warrior, the brave patriot who had shut the gates of Kabul in the
+face of Sir Neville Chamberlain, and who had faced every danger and defeat,
+rather than tamely suffer the advance of the all-devouring English into his
+dominions, was proud and unbending still, through all his captivity and
+poverty and trouble, and weariness of soul and suffering of body; he could
+bear his calamities like a man, the unrelenting chief of an unrelenting
+race. But when Isaacs stretched forth his hand and freed him, and bestowed
+upon him, moreover, a goodly stock of cash, and bid him go in peace, his
+gratitude got the better of him, and he fairly broke down. The big tears
+coursed down over <a name="Page_285"></a>his rough cheeks, and his face
+sank between his hands, which trembled violently for a moment. Then his
+habitual calm of outward manner returned.</p>
+
+<p>"Allah requite thee, my brother," he said, "I can never hope to."</p>
+
+<p>"I have done nothing," said Isaacs. "Shall believers languish and perish
+in the hands of swine without faith? Verily it is Allah's doing, whose name
+is great and powerful. He will not suffer the followers of His prophet to
+be devoured of jackals and unclean beasts. Masallah! There is no God but
+God."</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, when they had eaten some food, Ram Lal and Shere Ali
+departed, journeying north-east towards Thibet, and Isaacs and I remained
+sleeping in the tent until past noon. Then we arose and went our way,
+having packed up the little canvas house and the utensils and the pole into
+a neat bundle which we carried by turns along the steep rough paths, until
+we found the dooly-bearers squatting round the embers after their mid-day
+meal. As we journeyed we talked of the events of the night. It seemed to me
+that the whole thing might have been managed very much more simply. Isaacs
+did things in his own way, however, and, after all, he generally had a good
+reason for his actions.</p>
+
+<p>"I think not," he said in reply to my question. "While you were throwing
+that ruffian, who would have overmatched me in an instant, Shere Ali and I
+disposed of the sowars who ran up at the captain's <a
+name="Page_286"></a>signal. Shere Ali says he killed one of them with his
+hands, and my little knife here seems to have done some damage." He
+produced the vicious-looking dagger, stained above the hilt with dark
+blood, which he began to scrape off with a bit of stick.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," I objected, "I am delighted to have served you, and I
+see that since Shere Ali could not be warned of the signal, I was the only
+person there who could tackle that Punjabi man; yet I am completely at a
+loss to explain why, if Ram Lal can command the forces of nature to the
+extent of calling down a thick mist under the cover of which we might
+escape, he could not have calmly destroyed the whole band by lightning, or
+indigestion, or some simple and efficacious means, so that we need not have
+risked our lives in supplementing what he only half did."</p>
+
+<p>"There are plenty of answers to that question," Isaacs answered. "In the
+first place, how do you know that Ram Lal could do anything more than
+discover the preconcerted signal and bring down that fog? He pretends to no
+supernatural power; he only asserts that he understands the workings of
+nature better than you do. How do you know that the fog was his doing at
+all? Your excited imagination, developed suddenly by the tussle with the
+captain, which undoubtedly sent the blood to your head, made you think you
+saw Ram Lal's figure magnified beyond human proportion. If there had been
+no mist at all, we should most likely have got away unhurt all the same.
+Those fellows would not fight after their <a name="Page_287"></a>leader was
+down. Again, I like to let Ram Lal feel that I am able to do something for
+myself, and that I have other friends as powerful. He aims at obtaining too
+much ascendency over me. I do not like it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh&mdash;if you look at it in that light, I have nothing to say. It has been
+a very pleasant and interesting excursion to me, and I am rather glad I
+only broke that fellow's arm instead of killing him, as you and Shere Ali
+did your sowars."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know whether I killed him. I suppose I did. Poor fellow.
+However, he would certainly have killed me."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. No use crying over spilt milk," I answered.</p>
+
+<p>So we got into the doolies and swung away. As we neared Simla my
+friend's spirits rose, and he chanted wild Persian and Arabic love-songs,
+and kept up a fire of conversation all day and all night, singing and
+talking alternately.</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," he said, as we approached the end of our journey, "did you
+have occasion to tell Miss Westonhaugh where I had gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. She asked me, and I answered that you had gone to save a man's
+life. She looked very much pleased, I thought, but just then somebody came
+up, and we did not talk any more about it. I got your message the evening
+of the day you left."</p>
+
+<p>"She looked pleased?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very much. I remember the colour came into her cheeks."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_288"></a>"Was she so pale, then?" he asked anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes. You remember how she looked the night before you left? She
+was even paler the next day, but when I said you had gone to do a good
+deed, the light came into her face for a moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think she was ill, Griggs?"</p>
+
+<p>"She did not look well, but of course she was anxious about you, and a
+good deal cut up about your going."</p>
+
+<p>"No; but did you really think she was ill?" he insisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, nothing but your going."</p>
+
+<p>His spirits were gone again, and he said very little more that day. As
+we were ascending the last hills, some eight or nine hours from Simla, the
+moon rose majestically behind us. It must have been ten o'clock, for she
+could not have been seen above the notch in the mountains to eastward until
+she had been risen an hour at least.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder where they are now, those two," said Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"Shere Ali and Ram Lal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. They are probably across the borders into Thibet, watching the
+moon rise from the door of some Buddhist monastery. I am glad I am not
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"Isaacs," I said, "I would really like to know why you took so much
+trouble about Shere Ali. It seems to me you might have procured his
+liberation in some simpler way, if it was merely an act of charity that you
+contemplated."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_289"></a>"Call it anything you like. I had read about the
+poor man until my imagination was wrought up, and I could not bear to think
+of a man so brave and patriotic and at the same time a true believer, lying
+in the clutches of that old beast of a maharajah. And as for the method of
+my procedure, do you realise the complete secrecy of the whole affair? Do
+you see that no one but you and I and the Baithopoor people know anything
+of the transaction? Do you suppose that I should be tolerated a day in the
+country if the matter were known? Above all, what do you imagine Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins would think of me if he knew I had been liberating and enriching
+the worst foe of his little god, Lord Beaconsfield?"</p>
+
+<p>There was truth in what he said. By no arrangement could the liberation
+of Shere Ali have been effected with such secrecy and despatch as by the
+simple plan of going ourselves. And now we toiled up the last hills, vainly
+attempting to keep our horses in a canter; long before the relay was
+reached they had relapsed into a dogged jog-trot.</p>
+
+<p>So we reached Simla at sunrise, and crawled wearily up the steps of the
+hotel to our rooms, tired with the cramp of dooly and saddle for so many
+days, and longing for the luxury of the bath, the civilised meal, and the
+arm-chair. Of course I did not suppose Isaacs would go to bed. He expected
+that the Westonhaughs would have returned by this time, and he would
+doubtless go to them as soon as he had breakfasted. So we separated to
+dress and be shaved&mdash;my <a name="Page_290"></a>beard was a week old at
+least&mdash;and to make ourselves as comfortable as we deserved to be after our
+manifold exertions. We had been three days and a half from Keitung to
+Simla.</p>
+
+<p>At my door stood the faithful Kiramat Ali, salaaming and making a
+pretence of putting dust on his head according to his ideas of respectful
+greeting. On the table lay letters; one of these, a note, lay in a
+prominent position. I took it instinctively, though I did not know the
+hand. It was from Mr. Currie Ghyrkins.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<i>Saturday morning</i>.
+
+<p>MY DEAR MR. GRIGGS&mdash;If you have returned to</p>
+Simla, I should be glad to see you for half an hour on
+a matter of urgent importance. I would come to you
+if I could. My niece, Miss Westonhaugh, is, I am
+sorry to say, dangerously ill.&mdash;Sincerely yours,
+
+<p>A. CURRIE GHYRKINS.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>It was dated two days before, for to-day was Monday. I made every
+possible haste in my toilet and ordered a horse. I wondered whether Isaacs
+had received a similar missive. What could be the matter? What might not
+have happened in those two days since the note was written? I felt sure
+that the illness had begun before I left them in the Terai, hastened
+probably by the pain she had felt at Isaacs' departure; there is nothing
+like a little mental worry to hasten an illness, if it is to come at all.
+Poor Miss Westonhaugh! So, after all her gaiety and all <a
+name="Page_291"></a>the enjoyment she had from the tiger-hunt on which she
+had set her heart, she had come back to be ill in Simla. Well, the air was
+fresh enough now&mdash;almost cold, in fact. She would soon be well. Still, it
+was a great pity. We might have had such a gay week before breaking up.</p>
+
+<p>I was dressed, and I went down the steps, passing Isaacs' open door. He
+was calmly reading a newspaper and having a morning smoke, until it should
+be time to go out. Clearly he had not heard anything of Miss Westonhaugh's
+illness. I resolved I would say nothing until I knew the worst, so I merely
+put my head in and said I should be back in an hour to breakfast with him,
+and passed on. Once on horseback, I galloped as hard as I could, scattering
+chuprassies and children and marketers to right and left in the bazaar. It
+was not long before I left my horse at the corner of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins'
+lawn, and walking to the verandah, which looked suspiciously neat and
+unused, inquired for the master of the house. I was shown into his bedroom,
+for it was still very early and he was dressing.</p>
+
+<p>I noticed a considerable change in the old gentleman's manner and
+appearance in the last ten days. His bright red colour was nearly faded,
+his eyes had grown larger and less bright, he had lost flesh, and his tone
+was subdued in the extreme. He came from his dressing-glass to greet me
+with a ghost of the old smile on his face, and his hand stretched eagerly
+out.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Mr. Griggs, I am sincerely glad to see you."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_292"></a>"I have not been in Simla two hours," I answered,
+"and I found your note. How is Miss Westonhaugh? I am so sorry to&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't talk about her, Griggs. I am afraid she's g&mdash;g&mdash;goin' to die." He
+nearly broke down, but he struggled bravely. I was terribly shocked, though
+a moment's reflection told me that so strong and healthy a person would not
+die so easily. I expressed my sympathy as best I could.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it? What is the illness?" I asked when he was quieter.</p>
+
+<p>"Jungle fever, my dear fellow, jungle fever; caught in that beastly
+tiger-hunt. Oh! I wish I had never taken her. I wish we had never gone. Why
+wasn't I firm? Damn it all, sir, why wasn't I firm, eh?" In his anger at
+himself something of the former jerky energy of the man showed itself. Then
+it faded away into the jaded sorrowful look that was on his face when I
+came in. He sat down with his elbows on his knees and his hands in his
+scanty gray hair, his suspenders hanging down at his sides&mdash;the picture of
+misery. I tried to console him, but I confess I felt very much like
+breaking down myself. I did not see what I could do, except break the bad
+news to Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs," he said at last, "she has been asking for you all the
+time, and the doctor thought if you came she had best see you, as it might
+quiet her. Understand?" I understood better than he thought.</p>
+
+<p>People who are dangerously ill have no morning <a
+name="Page_293"></a>and no evening. Their hours are eternally the same,
+save for the alternation of suffering and rest. The nurse and the doctor
+are their sun and moon, relieving each other in the watches of day and
+night. As they are worse&mdash;as they draw nearer to eternity, they are less
+and less governed by ideas of time. A dying person will receive a visit at
+midnight or at mid-day with no thought but to see the face of friend&mdash;or
+foe&mdash;once more. So I was not surprised to find that Miss Westonhaugh would
+see me; in an interval of the fever she had been moved to a chair in her
+room, and her brother was with her. I might go in&mdash;indeed she sent a very
+urgent message imploring that I would go. I went.</p>
+
+<p>The morning sun was beating brightly on the shutters, and the room
+looked cheerful as I entered. John Westonhaugh, paler than death, came
+quickly to the door and grasped my hand.</p>
+
+<p>On a long cane-chair by the window, carefully covered from the possible
+danger of any insidious draught, with a mass of soft white wraps and
+shawls, lay Katharine Westonhaugh&mdash;the transparant phantasm of her
+brilliant self. The rich masses of pale hair were luxuriously nestled
+around her shoulders and the blazing eyes flamed, lambently, under the
+black brows&mdash;but that was all. Colour, beside the gold hair and the black
+eyes, there was hardly any. The strong clean-cut outline of the features
+was there, but absolutely startling in emaciation, so that there seemed to
+be no flesh at all; the pale lips <a name="Page_294"></a>scarcely closed
+over the straight white teeth. A wonderful and a fearful sight to see, that
+stately edifice of queenly strength and beauty thus laid low and pillaged
+and stript of all colour save purple and white&mdash;the hues of mourning&mdash;the
+purple lips and the white cheek. I have seen many people die, and the
+moment I looked at Katharine Westonhaugh I felt that the hand of death was
+already closed over her, gripped round, never to relax. John led me to her
+side, and a faint smile showed she was glad to see me. I knelt reverently
+down, as one would kneel beside one already dead. She spoke first, clearly
+and easily, as it seemed. People who are ill from fever seldom lose the
+faculty of speech.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad you are come. There are many things I want you to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Westonhaugh. I will do everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he come back?" she asked&mdash;then, as I looked at her brother, she
+added, "John knows, he is very glad."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we came back this morning together; I came here at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you&mdash;it was kind. Did you give him the box?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;he does not know you are ill. He means to come at eleven."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him to come now. <i>Now</i>&mdash;do you understand?" Then she added in
+a low tone, for my ear only, "I don't think they know it; I am dying. I
+shall be dead before to-night. Don't tell him that. <a
+name="Page_295"></a>Make him come now. John knows. Now go. I am tired.
+No&mdash;wait! Did he save the man's life?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; the man is safe and free in Thibet."</p>
+
+<p>"That was nobly done. Now go. You have always been kind to me, and you
+love him. When you see me again I shall be gone." Her voice was perceptibly
+weaker, though still clearly audible. "When I am gone, put some flowers on
+me for friendship's sake. You have always been so kind. Good-bye, dear Mr.
+Griggs. Good-bye. God keep you." I moved quickly to the door, fearing lest
+the piteous sight should make a coward of me. It was so ineffably
+pathetic&mdash;this lovely creature, just tasting of the cup of life and love
+and dying so.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring him here at once, Griggs, please. I know all about it. It may
+save her." John Westonhaugh clasped my hand in his again, and pushed me out
+to speed me on my errand. I tore along the crooked paths and the winding
+road, up through the bazaar, past the church and the narrow causeway beyond
+to the hotel. I found him still smoking and reading the paper.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" said he cheerfully, for the morning sun had dispelled the doubts
+of the night.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear friend," I said, "Miss Westonhaugh wants to see you
+immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"How? What? Of course; I will go at once, but how did you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a minute, Isaacs; she is not well at all&mdash;in fact, she is quite
+ill."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_296"></a>"What's the matter&mdash;for God's sake&mdash;Why, Griggs,
+man, how white you are&mdash;O my God, my God&mdash;she is dead!" I seized him
+quickly in my arms or he would have thrown himself on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"No," I said, "she is not dead. But, my dear boy, she is dying. I do not
+believe she will live till this evening. Therefore get to horse and ride
+there quickly, before it is too late."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was a brave man, and of surpassing strength to endure. After the
+first passionate outburst, his manner never changed as he mechanically
+ordered his horse and pulled on his boots. He was pale naturally, and great
+purple rings seemed to come out beneath his eyes&mdash;as if he had received a
+blow&mdash;from the intensity of his suppressed emotion. Once only he spoke
+before he mounted.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Jungle fever," I answered. He groaned. "Shall I go with you?" asked I,
+thinking it might be as well. He shook his head, and was off in a
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>I turned to my rooms and threw myself on my bed. Poor fellow; was there
+ever a more piteous case? Oh the cruel misery of feeling that nothing could
+save her! And he&mdash;he who would give life and wealth and fortune and power
+to give her back a shade of colour&mdash;as much as would tinge a rose-leaf,
+even a very little rose-leaf&mdash;and could not. Poor fellow! What would he do
+to-night&mdash;to-morrow. I could see him kneeling by her side and weeping hot
+tears over the wasted hands. I could almost hear his <a
+name="Page_297"></a>smothered sob&mdash;his last words of speeding to the
+parting soul&mdash;the picture grew intensely in my thoughts. How beautiful she
+would look when she was dead!</p>
+
+<p>I started as the thought came into my mind. How superficial was my
+acquaintance with her, poor girl,&mdash;how little was she a part of my life,
+since I could really so heartlessly think of her beauty when her breath
+should be gone! Of course, though, it was natural enough, why should I feel
+any personal pang for her? It was odd that I should even expect to&mdash;I, who
+never felt a "personal pang" of regret for the death of any human creature,
+excepting poor dear old Lucia, who brought me up, and sent me to school,
+and gave me roast chestnuts when I knew my lessons, in the streets of Rome,
+thirty years ago. When she died, I was there; poor old soul, how fond she
+was of me! And I of her! I remember the tears I shed, though I was a
+bearded man even then. How long is that? Since she died, it must be ten
+years.</p>
+
+<p>My thoughts wandered about among all sorts of <i>bric-&agrave;-brac</i>
+memories. Presently something brought me back to the present. Why must this
+fair girl from the north die miserably here in India? Ah yes! the eternal
+why. Why did we go at such a season into the forests of the Terai? it was
+madness; we knew it was, and Ram Lal knew it too. Hence his warning. O Ram
+Lal, you are a wise old man, with your gray beard and you mists of wet
+white velvet and your dark sayings! Ram Lal, will you riddle me, also, my
+weird that I must dree?</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_298"></a>A cold draught passed over my head, and I turned
+on my couch to see whence it came. I started bolt upright, and my hair
+stood on end with sudden terror. I had uttered the name of Ram Lal aloud in
+my reverie, and there he sat on a chair by the door, as gray as ever, with
+his long staff leaning from his feet across his breast and shoulder. He
+looked at me quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"I come opportunely, Mr. Griggs, it seems. <i>Lupus in fabula.</i> I
+hear my name pronounced as I enter the door. This is flattering to a man of
+my modest pretensions to social popularity. You would like me to tell you
+your fortune? Well, I am not a fortune-teller."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind my fortune. Will Miss Westonhaugh recover?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. She will die at sundown."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know, since you say you are no prophet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I am a doctor of medicine. M.D. of Edinburgh."</p>
+
+<p>"Why can you not save her then? A man who is a Scotch doctor, and who
+possesses the power of performing such practical jokes on nature as you
+exhibited the other night, might do something. However, I suppose I am not
+talking to you at all. You are in Thibet with Shere Ali. This is your
+astral body, and if I were near enough, I could poke my fingers right
+through you, as you sit there, telling me you are an Edinburgh doctor,
+forsooth."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite right, Mr. Griggs. At the present moment <a
+name="Page_299"></a>my body is quietly asleep in a lamastery in Thibet, and
+this is my astral shape, which, from force of habit, I begin to like almost
+as well. But to be serious&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is very serious, your going about in this casual
+manner."</p>
+
+<p>"To be serious. I warned Isaacs that he should not allow the tiger-hunt
+to come off. He would not heed my warning. It is too late now. I am not
+omnipotent."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not. Still, you might be of some use if you went there. While
+there is life there is hope."</p>
+
+<p>"Proverbs," said Earn Lai scornfully, "are the wisdom of wise men
+prepared in portable doses for the foolish; and the saying you quote is one
+of them. There is life yet, but there is no hope."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am afraid you are right. I saw her this morning&mdash;I suppose I
+shall never see her again, not alive, at least. She looked nearly dead
+then. Poor girl; poor Isaacs, left behind!"</p>
+
+<p>"You may well say that, Mr. Griggs," said the adept. "On the whole,
+perhaps he is to be less pitied than she; who knows? Perhaps we should pity
+neither, but rather envy both."</p>
+
+<p>"Why? Either you are talking the tritest of cant, or you are indulging
+in more of your dark sayings, to be interpreted, <i>post facto</i>,
+entirely to your own satisfaction, and to every one else's disgust." I was
+impatient with the man. If he had such extraordinary powers as were
+ascribed to him&mdash;I never <a name="Page_300"></a>heard him assert that he
+possessed any; if he could prophesy, he might as well do so to some
+purpose. Why could he not speak plainly? He could not impose on me, who was
+ready to give him credit for what he really could do, while finding fault
+with the way he did it.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand what passes in your mind, friend Griggs," he said, not in
+the least disconcerted at my attack. "You want me to speak plainly to you,
+because you think you are a plain-spoken, clear-headed man of science
+yourself. Very well, I will. I think you might yourself become a brother
+some day, if you would. But you will not now, neither will in the future.
+Yet you understand some little distant inkling of the science. When you ask
+your scornful questions of me, you know perfectly well that you are putting
+an inquiry which you yourself can answer as well as I. I am not omnipotent.
+I have very little more power than you. Given certain conditions and I can
+produce certain results, palpable, visible, and appreciable to all; but my
+power, as you know, is itself merely the knowledge of the laws of nature,
+which Western scientists, in their wisdom, ignore. I can replenish the oil
+in the lamp, and while there is wick the lamp shall burn&mdash;ay, even for
+hundreds of years. But give me a lamp wherein the wick is consumed, and I
+shall waste my oil; for it will not burn unless there be the fibre to carry
+it. So also is the body of man. While there is the flame of vitality and
+the essence of life in his nerves and <a name="Page_301"></a>finer tissues,
+I will put blood in his veins, and if he meet with no accident he may live
+to see hundreds of generations pass by him. But where there is no vitality
+and no essence of life in a man, he must die; for though I fill his veins
+with blood, and cause his heart to beat for a time, there is no spark in
+him&mdash;no fire, no nervous strength. So is Miss Westonhaugh now&mdash;dead while
+yet breathing, and sighing her sweet farewells to her lover."</p>
+
+<p>"I know. I understand you very well. But do not deny that you might have
+saved her. Why did you not?" Ram Lal smiled a strange smile, which I should
+have described as self-satisfied, had it not been so gentle and kind.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah yes!" he said, with something like a sigh, though there was no
+sorrow or regret in it. "Yes, Griggs, I might have saved her life. I would
+certainly have saved her&mdash;well, if he had not persuaded her to go down into
+that steaming country at this time of year, since it was my advice to
+remain here. But it is no use talking about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you might have conveyed your meaning to him a little more
+clearly. He had no idea that you meant danger to her."</p>
+
+<p>"No, very likely not. It is not my business to mould men's destinies for
+them. If I give them advice that is good, it is quite enough. It is like a
+man playing cards: if he does not seize his chance it does not return.
+Besides, it is much better for him that she should die."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_302"></a>"Your moral reflections are insufferable. Can you
+not find some one else to whom you may confide your secret joy of my
+friend's misfortunes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Calm yourself. I say it is better for her, better for him, better for
+both. Remember what you said to him yourself about the difference between
+pleasure and happiness. They shall be one yet, their happiness shall not be
+less eternal because their pleasure in this life has been brief. Can you
+not conceive of immortal peace and joy without the satisfaction of earthly
+lust?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would not call such a beautiful union as theirs might have been by
+such a name. For myself, I confess to a very real desire for pleasure first
+and happiness afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>"I know you better than you think, Mr. Griggs. You are merely
+argumentative, rarely sceptical. If I had begun by denying what I instead
+asserted, you would by this time have been arguing as strongly on my side
+as you now are on yours. You are often very near degenerating into a common
+sophist."</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely, it was a charming profession. Meanwhile, by going to the
+very opposite extreme from sophistry, I mean by a more than Quixotic
+veneration for an abstract dogma you hold to be true, and by your
+determination to make people die for it, you are causing fearful misery of
+body, untold agony of soul, to a woman and a man whom you should have every
+reason to like. Go to, Ram Lal, adept, magician, enthusiast, and prophet,
+you are mistaken, like all your kind!"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_303"></a>"No, I am not mistaken, time will show. Moreover,
+I would have you remark that the lady in question is not suffering at all,
+and that the 'untold agony of soul' you attribute to Isaacs is a wholesome
+medicine for one with such a soul as his. And now I am going, for you are
+not the sort of person with whom I can enjoy talking very long. You are
+violent and argumentative, though you are sometimes amusing. I am rarely
+violent, and I never argue: life is too short. And yet I have more time for
+it than you, seeing my life will be indefinitely longer than yours.
+Good-bye, for the present; and believe me, those two will be happier far,
+and far more blessed, in a few short years hence, than ever you or I shall
+be in all the unreckonable cycles of this or any future world." Ram Lal
+sighed as he uttered the last words, and he was gone; yet the musical
+cadence of the deep-drawn breath of a profound sorrow, vibrated
+whisperingly through the room where I lay. Poor Ram Lal, he must have had
+some disappointment in his youth, which, with all his wisdom and
+superiority over the common earth, still left a sore place in his
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>I was not inclined to move. I knew where Isaacs was, where he would
+remain to the bitter end, and I would not go out into the world that day,
+while he was kneeling in the chamber of death. He might come back at any
+time. How long would it last? God in his mercy grant it might be soon and
+quickly over, without suffering. Oh! but those strong people <a
+name="Page_304"></a>die so deathly hard. I have seen a man&mdash;No, I was sure
+of that. She would not suffer any more now.</p>
+
+<p>I lay thinking. Would Isaacs send for me when he returned, or would he
+face his grief alone for a night before he spoke? The latter, I thought; I
+hoped so too. How little sympathy there must be for any one, even the
+dearest, in our souls and hearts, when it is so hard to look forward to
+speaking half-a-dozen words of comfort to some poor wretch of a friend who
+has lost everything in the wide world that is dear to him. We would rather
+give him all we possess outright than attempt to console him for the loss.
+And yet&mdash;what is there in life more sweet than to be consoled and
+comforted, and to have the true sympathy of some one, even a little near to
+us, when we ourselves are suffering. The people we do not want shower cards
+of condolence on us, and carriage-loads of flowers on the poor dead thing;
+the ones who could be of some help to the tortured soul are afraid to
+speak; the very delicacy of kind-heartedness in them, which makes us wish
+they would come, makes them stay away.</p>
+
+<p>I hope Isaacs will not send for me, poor fellow.</p>
+
+<p>If he does, what shall I say? God help me.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_305"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_XIV'></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The hours came and went, and though worn out with the exertions of the
+past days, and with the emotions of the morning, I lay in my rooms, unable
+to sleep even for a moment. I went down once or twice to Isaacs' rooms to
+know whether he had returned, but he had not, nor had any one heard from
+him. At last the evening shadows crept stealthily up, darkening first one
+room, then another, until there was not light enough to read by. Then I
+dropped my book and went out to breathe the cold air on the verandah.
+Wearily the hours went by, and still there was no sign of my friend.</p>
+
+<p>Towards eleven o'clock the moon, now waning, once more rose above the
+hills and shed her light across the lawn, splendid still, but with the
+first tinge of melancholy that clouds her departing glory. Exhausted nature
+asserted herself, and chilled to the bone I went to bed, and, at last, to
+sleep.</p>
+
+<p>I slept peacefully at first, but soon the events that had come over my
+life began to weave themselves in wild disharmony through my restful
+visions, and the events that were to come cast their lengthening shadows
+before them. The world of past, present, <a name="Page_306"></a>and future
+thoughts, came into my soul, distorted, without perspective, nothing to
+help me to discern the good from the evil, the suffering gone and
+long-forgotten from the pain in store. The triumph of discrepancy over
+waking reason, the fancied victories of the sleep-dulled intellect over the
+outrageous discord of the wakeful imagination. I passed a most miserable
+night. It seemed rest to wake, until I was awake, and then it seemed rest
+to sleep again, until my eyes were closed. At last it came, no dream this
+time; Isaacs stood by my bed-side in the gray of the morning, himself
+grayer than the soft neutral-tinted dawn. It was a terrible moment to me,
+though I had expected it since yesterday. I felt like the condemned
+criminal in France, who does not know the day or hour of his death. The
+first intimation is when the executioner at daybreak enters his cell and
+bids him come forth to die, sometimes in less than sixty seconds from his
+waking.<sup><a href="#fn2" name="rfn2">[2]</a></sup></p>
+
+<p>How gray he looked, and how infinitely tried. I rose swiftly and took
+his hands, which were deadly cold, and led him to the outer room. I could
+not say anything, for I did not know how such a terribly sudden blow would
+affect him; he was so unlike any one else. Why is it so hard to comfort the
+afflicted? Why should the most charitable duty it is ever given us to
+perform be, without exception, the hardest of tasks?</p>
+
+<p>I am sure most people feel as I do. It is far less painful to suffer
+wounds and sickness in one's own <a name="Page_307"></a>body than to stand
+by and see the cold clean knife go through skin and flesh and cartilage; it
+is surely easier to suffer disease than to smooth daily and hourly the bed
+and pillows of some poor tormented wretch, calling on God and man to end
+his misery. There is a hidden instinct&mdash;of a low and cowardly kind, but
+human nevertheless&mdash;which bids us turn away from spectacles of agony
+whether harrowing or repulsive, until the good angel comes and whispers
+that we must trample on such coarse impulse and do our duty. "Show pity,"
+said the wise old Frenchman, "do anything to alleviate distress, but avoid
+actually feeling either compassion or sympathy. They can lead to no good."
+That was only his way of making to himself an excuse for doing a good
+action, for Larochefoucauld was a man who really possessed every virtue
+that he disclaimed for himself and denied in others.</p>
+
+<p>I felt much of this as I led Isaacs to the outer room, not knowing what
+form his sorrow might take, but feeling in my own person a grief as
+poignant, perhaps, for the moment, as his own. I had known he would come,
+that was all, though I had hoped he would not, and I knew that I must do my
+best to send him away a little less sorrowful than he had come. I was not
+prepared for the extreme calm of voice and manner that marked his first
+words, coming with measured rhythm and even cadence from his pale lips.</p>
+
+<p>"It is all over, my friend," he said.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_308"></a>"It has but begun," said the solemn tones of Ram
+Lal, the Buddhist, from the door. He entered and approached us.</p>
+
+<p>"Friend Isaacs," he continued, "I am not here to mock at your grief or
+to weary your strained heartstrings with such petty condolence as well-nigh
+drove Ayoub of old to impatience. But I love you, my brother, and I have
+somewhat to say to you in your trouble, some advice to give you in your
+distress. You are suffering greatly, past the power of reason to alleviate,
+for you no longer know yourself, nor are aware what you really think. But I
+will show to you three pictures of yourself that shall rouse you to what
+you are, to what you were, and to what you shall be.</p>
+
+<p>"I found you, not many years ago, a very young man, most exceptionally
+placed in regard to the world. You were even then rich, though not so rich
+as you now are. You were beautiful and full of vigour, but you have now
+upon you the glow of a higher beauty, the overflowing promise of a more
+glorious life. You were happy because you thought you were, but such
+happiness as you had proceeded from without rather than from within. You
+were a materially thinking man. Your thoughts were of the flesh, and your
+delights&mdash;harmless it is true&mdash;were in the things that were under your
+eyes&mdash;wealth, power, book knowledge, and perhaps woman, if you can call the
+creatures you believed in women.</p>
+
+<p>"You gathered wealth in great heaps, and your <a
+name="Page_309"></a>precious stones in storehouses. You laid your hand upon
+the diamond of the river and upon the pearl of the sea, and they abode with
+you, as the light of the sun and the moon. And you said, 'Behold it is my
+star, which is the lord of the dog-heat in summer, and it is my kismet.'
+You also took to yourself wives of rare qualities, having both golden and
+raven black hair, whose skin was as fine silk, and their breath as the
+freshness of the dawning, and their eyes as jewels. Then said you,
+rejoicing in your heart, that you were happy; and so you dwelt in peace and
+plenty, and waxed glad.</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore you accomplished your first destiny, and you drank of the cup
+that was filled to overflowing. And if it had been the law of nature that
+from pleasure man should derive permanent lasting peace, you had been happy
+so long as you lived. But, though you have the faultless life of the body
+to enjoy all things of the earth, even as other men, though in another
+degree, you have within you something more. There is in your breast a heart
+beating&mdash;an organ so wonderful in its sensitiveness, so perfect in its
+consciousness of good, that the least throb and thrill of pleasure that it
+feels is worth years and ages of mere sensual life enjoyment. The body
+having tasted of all happiness whereof it is capable, and having found that
+it is good, is saturated with its own ease and enjoys less keenly. But the
+heart is the border-land between body and soul. The heart can love and the
+body can love, but the body can only love itself; the <a
+name="Page_310"></a>heart is the wellspring of the lore that goes beyond
+self. Therefore your heart awoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I tell you of the first early stirrings of your love? Think you,
+because I am gray and loveless, that I have never known youth and gladness
+of heart? Ah, I know, better than you can think. It is not sudden, really,
+the blossoming out of the tree of life. The small leaves grow larger and
+stronger though still closely folded in the bud, until the bright warmth of
+the spring makes them burst into bloom. The little lark in the nest among
+the grass grows beneath the mother's wing and idly moves, now and then,
+unconscious of the cloud-cleaving gift of flight, until all at once, in the
+fair dawning, there wells up in his tiny breast the mighty sense of power
+to rise.</p>
+
+<p>"The human heart is like the budded folded leaves, and like the untaught
+lark. The quiet sleep before the day of blooming is, while it lasts, a
+state of happiness. But it is not comparable with the breathing joy of the
+leaf that feels and sees the wonderful life around it, whispering divine
+answers to the wooing breeze. The humble nest where it has first seen light
+is for many days a happy home to the tender songster, soon left behind,
+when the first wing-strokes waft the small body upwards to the sky, and
+forgotten as the first glad trill and quaver of the new-found voice roll
+out the prelude to the glorious life-long hymn of praise. The heart of
+man&mdash;your heart, my dear friend&mdash;gave a great leap from earth to sky, when
+first it felt the magic of the other life. The <a
+name="Page_311"></a>grosser scales of material vision fell away from your
+inner sight on the day when you met, and knew you had met, the woman you
+were to love.</p>
+
+<p>"I found you again, a different man, a far happier man, though you would
+hardly allow that. A sweet uncertainty of the future half-tinged your joy
+with a shadow of sadness, which you had not known before: but love sadness
+is only the shading and gentle pencilling in love's wondrous picture,
+whereby the whole light of the painting is made clearer and stronger. A new
+world opened out before you in endless vistas of untold and undreamed
+bliss. You looked back at your former self, so careless and sunny, so
+consciously happy in the strong sense of life and power, and you wondered
+how you could have been even contented through so many years. The good and
+evil deeds of your past life lost colour and perspective, and fell back
+into a dull, flat background, against which the ineffable vision of
+beautiful and immortal womanhood stood forth in transcendent glory. The
+eternal womanly element of the great universe beckoned you on, as it did
+Doctor Faustus of old. You had hitherto accepted woman and ignored
+womanhood, as so many of the followers of the prophet have always done.
+Henceforth there was to be a change, entire, complete, and enduring. No
+doubts now, or careless scepticism; no cant about women having no souls and
+no individual being; you had made a great step to a better understanding of
+the world you live in. Filled with a new life, you <a
+name="Page_312"></a>went on your way rejoicing and longing to do great
+deeds for her who had come into your destiny. From dawn to sunset, and from
+evening to dawn, one picture ever was before you leading you on. You were
+ready to run any risk for a smile and a blush of pleasure, you were willing
+to sacrifice anything and everything for her praise. And when, down there
+among the mango-trees in the Terai, your lips first touched hers and your
+arm pressed her to your side, the joy that was yours was as the joy of the
+immortals."</p>
+
+<p>Ram Lal paused, and Isaacs, who had been sitting by the table, stony and
+dry-eyed, hid his face in his hands, clutching with his white fingers among
+his bright black hair&mdash;all that seemed left to him of life, so dead and
+ashy was his face. He remained thus without looking up, as the old man
+continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Think not, dear friend and brother, that I have come here to dwell
+needlessly on your grief, to rouse again the keen agonies that have so
+lately burned through and through you to the quick. I love you well, and
+would but trace the past in order to paint the future. All that you felt
+and knew in those short days of perfect love on earth was good and true and
+noble, and shall not be forgotten hereafter. But last night closed the
+second of your three destinies&mdash;as true love always must close on earth&mdash;in
+bitter grief and sorrow because the one is gone before. Rather should you
+rejoice, Abdul Hafiz, that she is gone in virgin whiteness, whither ere
+long you shall <a name="Page_313"></a>follow and be with her till time
+shall chase the crumbling world out over the broad quicksands of eternity,
+and nought shall survive of all this but the pure and the constant and the
+faithful to death. There is before you a third, destiny, great and awful,
+but grand beyond power of telling. Body and heart have had their full cup
+of happiness, have enjoyed to the full what has been set in their way to
+enjoy. To the full you have enjoyed wealth and success and the sensuality
+of a refined and artistic luxury; to the full, as only a few rarely-gifted
+men can, you have enjoyed the purest and highest love that earth can give.
+Think not that all ends here. The greatest of destinies is but begun, and
+it is the destiny of the soul. Two days ago if I had told you there was
+something higher in you than the loving heart, you would not have believed
+me; now you do. It is the ethereal portion of the heart, that which longs
+to be loosed from the body and floating upwards to rejoin its other
+half.</p>
+
+<p>"Your love has been of the best kind that falls to the lot of man. Not a
+single shadow of doubting fell between you. It has been sweet if it has
+seemed short&mdash;but it has really lasted a long time, as long as some
+people's lives. You are many years older than you were when it began, for a
+month or two ago&mdash;or whenever it was that your heart first awoke&mdash;you were
+entirely immersed in the material view of things that belonged naturally
+enough to your position and mode of life. Now you have passed the critical
+border-land wherein love wanders, himself <a name="Page_314"></a>not
+knowing whither he shall lead his followers, whether back to the thick
+green pasture and heavy-scented groves of sensual existence or forward to
+free wind-swept heights of spiritual blessedness, where those who are true
+until they die walk forth into truth everlasting. Yours is the faith and
+the truth that abide always, yours henceforward shall be the perfect union
+of souls, yours the ethereal range of the outer firmament. Take my hand,
+brother, in yours, and seek with me the path to those heights&mdash;to that
+pinnacle of paradise where you shall meet once more the spirit elected to
+yours."</p>
+
+<p>Ram Lal stood beside Isaacs, whose face was still hidden, and laid his
+hand with tender gentleness on the weary head. The old man looked kindly
+down as he touched the thick black hair, and then raised his eyes and
+looked out through the door at the brightening landscape over which the
+morning sun was shedding warmth and beauty once more.</p>
+
+<p>"Brother," he continued, "come forth with me. You have suffered too much
+to mix again with the world, even if you wished it. Come forth, and your
+soul shall live for ever. Your grief shall be turned to joy, and the
+sinking heart shall be lifted to heights untried. As now the sun steadily
+rises in his unerring course, following the pale footsteps of the fleet
+dawning, and fulfilling her half spoken promises a million-fold in his
+goodness; as now the all-muffling heaviness of the sad dark night is
+forgotten in the gladness of day&mdash;so shall your brief time of darkness <a
+name="Page_315"></a>and dull distress perish and vanish swiftly at the
+first glimpses of the heavenly day on which follows no creeping night nor
+shadow of earthly care. I come not to bid you forget; I come to bid you
+remember. Remember all that is past, treasure it in the secret storehouse
+of the soul where the few flowers culled from life's abundant thorn are
+laid in their fragrance and garnered up. Remember also the future. Think
+that your time is short, and that the labour shall be sweet; so that in a
+few quick years you shall reap a harvest of unearthly blooming. Fear not to
+tread boldly in the tracks of those who have climbed before you, and who
+have attained and have conquered. What can anything earthly ever be to you?
+What can you ever care again for gold, or gem, or horse, or slave? Do with
+those things as it may seem good in your eyes, but leave them behind. The
+weight of the money-bags is a weariness and soreness to the feet that toil
+to overtake eternity. The flesh itself is weariness to the spirit, and soon
+leaves it to wing its flight untrammelled and untiring. Come, I will give
+you of my poor strength what shall carry your uncertain steps over the
+first great difficulties, or at least over so many as you have not yet
+surmounted. Be bold, aspiring, fearless, and firm of purpose. What guerdon
+can man or Heaven offer, higher than eternal communion with the bright
+spirit that waits and watches for your coming? With her&mdash;you said it while
+she lived&mdash;was your life, your light, and your love; it is true tenfold
+now, for <a name="Page_316"></a>with her is life eternal, light ethereal,
+and love spiritual. Come, brother, come with me!"</p>
+
+<p>Slowly Isaacs raised his head from his hands and gazed long on the old
+man. And while he gazed it was as if his pale face were transparent and the
+whiteness of the burning spirit, dazzling to see, came and went quickly and
+came again as flashes in the northern sky. Slowly he rose to his feet, and
+laying his hand in the Buddhist's, spoke at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Brother, I come," he said. "Show me the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Right gladly will I be thy guide, Abdul," Ram Lal gave answer. "Right
+willingly will I go with thee whither thou wouldest. Never was teacher
+sought by more worthy pupil; never did man embrace the pure life of the
+brethren with more single heart or truer purpose. The way shall be short
+that leads thee upward, the stones that are therein shall be as wings to
+lift thy feet instead of stumbling-blocks for thy destruction. The hidden
+forces of nature shall lend thee strength, and her secrets wisdom; the deep
+sweet springs of the eternal water shall refresh thee and the food of the
+angels shall be thine. Thy sorrows shall turn from bitter into sweet, and
+from the stings of thy past agonies shall grow up the golden flowers of thy
+future crown. Thou shalt not tire in the way, nor crave rest by the
+wayside."</p>
+
+<p>"Friend, tell me what I shall do that I may attain all this."</p>
+
+<p>"Be faithful to her who has preceded you, and learn of us, who know it,
+wherein consists true happiness. <a name="Page_317"></a>You need but little
+help, dear friend. Banish only from your thoughts the human suggestion that
+what you love most is lost, gone irrevocably. Rejoice, and mourn not, that
+she has entered in already where all your striving is to follow. Be glad
+because she looks on those sights and hears those sounds which are too
+bright and strong yet for your eyes and ears. Some of these unspeakable
+things you shall perceive with your perishable body; but the more perfect
+and glorious remain hidden to our mortal senses, be they ever so keen and
+exquisite. Believe me, you shall reach that state before I do. My poor soul
+is still bound to earth by some slender bonds of pleasure and contemptible
+pain, fine indeed as threads of gossamer, and soon, I trust, to be shaken
+off for ever. Yet am I bound and not utterly free. You, my brother, have
+been wrenched suddenly from the life of the body to the life of the soul.
+In you the vile desire to live for living's sake will soon be dead, if it
+is not dead already. Your soul, drawn strongly upward to other spheres, is
+well nigh loosed from love of life and fear of death. If at this moment you
+could lie down and die, you would meet your end joyfully. Very subtle are
+the fast-vanishing links between you and the world; very thin and
+impalpable the faint shadows that mar to your vision those transcendent
+hues of heavenly glory you shall so soon behold. Look forward, look upward,
+look onward&mdash;never once look back, and your waiting shall not be long, nor
+her watching many days. She stands <a name="Page_318"></a>before you,
+beckoning and praying that you tarry not. See that you do her bidding
+faithfully, as being near the blessed end, and fearful of losing even one
+moment in the attainment of what you seek."</p>
+
+<p>"Fear not, Ram Lal. My determination shall not fail me, nor my courage
+waver, until all is reached."</p>
+
+<p>The light of another world was on the beautiful brow and features as he
+looked full at his future teacher. What strange powers these adept brethren
+have! What marvellous magnetism over the souls of lesser men&mdash;whereby they
+turn sorrow into gladness, and defeat into triumph by mere words. I myself,
+bound by thought and word and deed to the lesser life, was not unmoved by
+the glorious promises that flowed with glowing eloquence from the lips of
+that gray old man in the early morning. They moved toward the door. Ram Lal
+spoke as he turned away.</p>
+
+<p>"We leave you, friend Griggs, but we will return this evening and bid
+you farewell." So I was left alone. Another comforter had taken my place;
+one knowing human nature better, and well versed in the learning of the
+spirit. One of that small band of high priests who in all ages and nations
+and religions and societies have been the mediators between time and
+eternity, to cheer and comfort the broken-hearted, to rebuke him who would
+lose his own soul, to speed the awakening spirit in its heavenward
+flight.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>As I sat in my room that night the door opened and they were with me,
+standing hand in hand.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_319"></a>"My friend," said Isaacs, "I have come to bid you
+farewell. You will never see me again. I am here once more to thank you,
+from the bottom of my heart, for your friendship and kind offices, for the
+strength of your arm in the hour of need, and for the gold of your words in
+time of uncertainty."</p>
+
+<p>"Isaacs," I said, "I know little of the journey you are undertaking, and
+I cannot go with you. This I know, that you are very near to a life I
+cannot hope for; and I pray God that you may speed quickly to the desired
+end, that you may attain that happiness which your brave soul and honest
+heart so well deserve. Once more, then, I offer you my fullest service, if
+there is anything that I still can do."</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing," he answered, "though if there were I know you would
+do it gladly and entirely. I have bestowed all my worldly possessions on
+the one man besides yourself to whom I owe a debt of gratitude&mdash;John
+Westonhaugh. Had I known you less well, I would have made you a sharer in
+my forsaken wealth. Only this I beg of you. Take this gem and keep it
+always for my sake. No&mdash;do not look at it in that way. Do not consider its
+value. It is to recall one who will often think of you, for you have been a
+great deal to me in this month."</p>
+
+<p>"I would I might have been more," I said, and it was all I could say,
+for my voice failed me.</p>
+
+<p>"Think of me," he continued, and the bright light shone through his face
+in the dusk, "think of me, not as you see me now, or as I was this morning,
+<a name="Page_320"></a>bowed beneath a great sorrow, but as looking forward
+to a happiness that transcends this mortal joy that I have lost, even as
+the glory of things celestial transcends the glory of the terrestrial.
+Think of me, not as mourning the departed day, but as watching longingly
+for the first faint dawn of the day eternal. Above all, think of me not as
+alone but as wedded for all ages to her who has gone before me."</p>
+
+<p>Ram Lal laid his hand on my arm and looked long into my eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell for the present, my chance acquaintance," he said, "and
+remember that in me you have a friend. The day may come when you too will
+be in dire distress, beyond the skill of mere solitude and books to soothe.
+Farewell, and may all good things be with you."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs laid his two hands on my shoulders, and once more I met the
+wondrous lustre of his eyes, now veiled but not darkened with the last look
+of his tender friendship.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, my dear Griggs. You have been the instructor and the genius
+of my love. Learn yourself the lessons you can teach others so well. Be
+yourself what you would have made me."</p>
+
+<p>One last loving look&mdash;one more pressure of the reluctant fingers, and
+those two went out, hand in hand, under the clear stars, and I saw them no
+more.</p>
+
+<p>THE END.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<p><a href="#rfn1" name="fn1">1.</a>   Sir Gore Ousely, <i>Notices of the
+Persian Poets</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#rfn2" name="fn2">2.</a>   A fact, as is well known.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
+
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+</body>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Mr. Isaacs
+
+Author: F. Marion Crawford
+
+Release Date: August 31, 2004 [EBook #13340]
+[Last updated: September 24, 2015]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. ISAACS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+MR. ISAACS
+A TALE OF MODERN INDIA
+
+BY F. MARION CRAWFORD
+
+
+1882
+
+
+
+BY F. MARION CRAWFORD
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+In spite of Jean-Jacques and his school, men are not everywhere born
+free, any more than they are everywhere in chains, unless these be of
+their own individual making. Especially in countries where excessive
+liberty or excessive tyranny favours the growth of that class most
+usually designated as adventurers, it is true that man, by his own
+dominant will, or by a still more potent servility, may rise to any
+grade of elevation; as by the absence of these qualities he may fall to
+any depth in the social scale.
+
+Wherever freedom degenerates into license, the ruthless predatory
+instinct of certain bold and unscrupulous persons may, and almost
+certainly will, place at their disposal the goods, the honours, and the
+preferment justly the due of others; and in those more numerous and
+certainly more unhappy countries, where the rule of the tyrant is
+substituted for the law of God, the unwearying flatterer, patient under
+blows and abstemious under high-feeding, will assuredly make his way to
+power.
+
+Without doubt the Eastern portion of the world, where an hereditary, or
+at least traditional, despotism has never ceased since the earliest
+social records, and where a mode of thought infinitely more degrading
+than any feudalism has become ingrained in the blood and soul of the
+chief races, presents far more favourable conditions to the growth and
+development of the true adventurer than are offered in any free country.
+For in a free country the majority can rise and overthrow the favourite
+of fortune, whereas in a despotic country they cannot. Of Eastern
+countries in this condition, Russia is the nearest to us; though perhaps
+we understand the Chinese character better than the Russian. The Ottoman
+empire and Persia are, and always have been, swayed by a clever band of
+flatterers acting through their nominal master; while India, under the
+kindly British rule, is a perfect instance of a ruthless military
+despotism, where neither blood nor stratagem have been spared in
+exacting the uttermost farthing from the miserable serfs--they are
+nothing else--and in robbing and defrauding the rich of their just and
+lawful possessions. All these countries teem with stories of adventurers
+risen from the ranks to the command of armies, of itinerant merchants
+wedded to princesses, of hardy sailors promoted to admiralties, of
+half-educated younger sons of English peers dying in the undisputed
+possession of ill-gotten millions. With the strong personal despotism of
+the First Napoleon began a new era of adventurers in France; not of
+elegant and accomplished adventurers like M. de St. Germain, Cagliostro,
+or the Comtesse de la Motte, but regular rag-tag-and-bobtail cut-throat
+moss-troopers, who carved and slashed themselves into notice by sheer
+animal strength and brutality.
+
+There is infinitely more grace and romance about the Eastern adventurer.
+There is very little slashing and hewing to be done there, and what
+there is, is managed as quietly as possible. When a Sultan must be rid
+of the last superfluous wife, she is quietly done up in a parcel with a
+few shot, and dropped into the Bosphorus without more ado. The good
+old-fashioned Rajah of Mudpoor did his killing without scandal, and when
+the kindly British wish to keep a secret, the man is hanged in a quiet
+place where there are no reporters. As in the Greek tragedies, the
+butchery is done behind the scenes, and there is no glory connected with
+the business, only gain. The ghosts of the slain sometimes appear in the
+columns of the recalcitrant Indian newspapers and gibber a feeble little
+"Otototoi!" after the manner of the shade of Dareios, but there is very
+little heed paid to such visitations by the kindly British. But though
+the "raw head and bloody bones" type of adventurer is little in demand
+in the East, there is plenty of scope for the intelligent and wary
+flatterer, and some room for the honest man of superior gifts, who is
+sufficiently free from Oriental prejudice to do energetically the thing
+which comes in his way, distancing all competitors for the favours of
+fortune by sheer industry and unerring foresight.
+
+I once knew a man in the East who was neither a flatterer nor
+freebooter, but who by his own masterly perseverance worked his way to
+immense wealth, and to such power as wealth commands, though his high
+view of the social aims of mankind deterred him from mixing in political
+questions. _Bon chien chasse de race_ is a proverb which applies to
+horses, cattle, and men, as well as to dogs; and in this man, who was a
+noble type of the Aryan race, the qualities which have made that race
+dominant were developed in the highest degree. The sequel, indeed, might
+lead the ethnographer into a labyrinth of conjecture, but the story is
+too tempting a one for me to forego telling it, although the said
+ethnographer should lose his wits in striving to solve the puzzle.
+
+In September, 1879, I was at Simla in the lower Himalayas,--at the time
+of the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari at Kabul,--being called there in
+the interests of an Anglo-Indian newspaper, of which I was then editor.
+In other countries, notably in Europe and in America, there are hundreds
+of spots by the sea-shore, or on the mountain-side, where specific ills
+may be cured by their corresponding antidotes of air or water, or both.
+Following the aristocratic and holy example of the Bishops of Salzburg
+for the last eight centuries, the sovereigns of the Continent are told
+that the air and waters of Hofgastein are the only nenuphar for the
+over-taxed brain in labour beneath a crown. The self-indulgent sybarite
+is recommended to Ems, or Wiesbaden, or Aix-la-Chapelle, and the
+quasi-incurable sensualist to Aix in Savoy, or to Karlsbad in Bohemia.
+In our own magnificent land Bethesdas abound, in every state, from the
+attractive waters of lotus-eating Saratoga to the magnetic springs of
+Lansing, Michigan; from Virginia, the carcanet of sources, the heaving,
+the warm, the hot sulphur springs, the white sulphur, the alum, to the
+hot springs of Arkansas, the Ultima Thule of our migratory and
+despairing humanity. But in India, whatever the ailing, low fever, high
+fever, "brandy pawnee" fever, malaria caught in the chase of tigers in
+the Terai, or dysentery imbibed on the banks of the Ganges, there is
+only one cure, the "hills;" and chief of "hill-stations" is Simla.
+
+On the hip rather than on the shoulder of the aspiring Himalayas,
+Simla--or Shumla, as the natives call it--presents during the wet
+monsoon period a concourse of pilgrims more varied even than the
+Bagneres de Bigorre in the south of France, where the gay Frenchman asks
+permission of the lady with whom he is conversing to leave her abruptly,
+in order to part with his remaining lung, the loss of the first having
+brought him there. "Pardon, madame," said he, "je m'en vais cracher mon
+autre poumon."
+
+To Simla the whole supreme Government migrates for the summer--Viceroy,
+council, clerks, printers, and hangers-on. Thither the high official
+from the plains takes his wife, his daughters, and his liver. There the
+journalists congregate to pick up the news that oozes through the
+pent-house of Government secrecy, and failing such scant drops of
+information, to manufacture as much as is necessary to fill the columns
+of their dailies. On the slopes of "Jako"--the wooded eminence that
+rises above the town--the enterprising German establishes his
+concert-hall and his beer-garden; among the rhododendron trees Madame
+Blavatzky, Colonel Olcott and Mr. Sinnett move mysteriously in the
+performance of their wonders; and the wealthy tourist from America, the
+botanist from Berlin, and the casual peer from Great Britain, are not
+wanting to complete the motley crowd. There are no roads in Simla proper
+where it is possible to drive, excepting one narrow way, reserved when I
+was there, and probably still set apart, for the exclusive delectation
+of the Viceroy. Every one rides--man, woman, and child; and every
+variety of horseflesh may be seen in abundance, from Lord Steepleton
+Kildare's thoroughbreds to the broad-sterned equestrian vessel of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, the Revenue Commissioner of Mudnugger in Bengal. But I
+need not now dwell long on the description of this highly-favoured spot,
+where Baron de Zach might have added force to his demonstration of the
+attraction of mountains for the pendulum. Having achieved my orientation
+and established my servants and luggage in one of the reputed hotels, I
+began to look about me, and, like an intelligent American observer, as I
+pride myself that I am, I found considerable pleasure in studying out
+the character of such of the changing crowd on the verandah and on the
+mall as caught my attention.
+
+At last the dinner-hour came. With the rest I filed into the large
+dining-room and took my seat. The place allotted to me was the last at
+one side of the long table, and the chair opposite was vacant, though
+two remarkably well-dressed servants, in turbans of white and gold,
+stood with folded arms behind it, apparently awaiting their master. Nor
+was he long in coming. I never remember to have been so much struck by
+the personal appearance of any man in my life. He sat down opposite me,
+and immediately one of his two servants, or _khitmatgars_, as they are
+called, retired, and came back bearing a priceless goblet and flask of
+the purest old Venetian mould. Filling the former, he ceremoniously
+presented his master with a brimming beaker of cold water. A
+water-drinker in India is always a phenomenon, but a water-drinker who
+did the thing so artistically was such a manifestation as I had never
+seen. I was interested beyond the possibility of holding my peace, and
+as I watched the man's abstemious meal,--for he ate little,--I
+contrasted him with our neighbours at the board, who seemed to be vying,
+like the captives of Circe, to ascertain by trial who could swallow the
+most beef and mountain mutton, and who could absorb the most
+"pegs"--those vile concoctions of spirits, ice, and soda-water, which
+have destroyed so many splendid constitutions under the tropical sun. As
+I watched him an impression came over me that he must be an Italian. I
+scanned his appearance narrowly, and watched for a word that should
+betray his accent. He spoke to his servant in Hindustani, and I noticed
+at once the peculiar sound of the dental consonants, never to be
+acquired by a northern-born person.
+
+Before I go farther, let me try and describe Mr. Isaacs; I certainly
+could not have done so satisfactorily after my first meeting, but
+subsequent acquaintance, and the events I am about to chronicle, threw
+me so often in his society, and gave me such ample opportunities of
+observation, that the minutest details of his form and feature, as well
+as the smallest peculiarities of his character and manner, are indelibly
+graven in my memory.
+
+Isaacs was a man of more than medium stature, though he would never be
+spoken of as tall. An easy grace marked his movements at all times,
+whether deliberate or vehement,--and he often went to each extreme,--a
+grace which no one acquainted with the science of the human frame would
+be at a loss to explain for a moment. The perfect harmony of all the
+parts, the even symmetry of every muscle, the equal distribution of a
+strength, not colossal and overwhelming, but ever ready for action, the
+natural courtesy of gesture--all told of a body in which true proportion
+of every limb and sinew were at once the main feature and the pervading
+characteristic. This infinitely supple and swiftly-moving figure was but
+the pedestal, as it were, for the noble face and nobler brain to which
+it owed its life and majestic bearing. A long oval face of a wondrous
+transparent olive tint, and of a decidedly Oriental type. A prominent
+brow and arched but delicate eyebrows fitly surmounted a nose smoothly
+aquiline, but with the broad well-set nostrils that bespeak active
+courage. His mouth, often smiling, never laughed, and the lips, though
+closely meeting, were not thin and writhing and cunning, as one so often
+sees in eastern faces, but rather inclined to a generous Greek fullness,
+the curling lines ever ready to express a sympathy or a scorn which, the
+commanding features above seemed to control and curb, as the stern,
+square-elbowed Arab checks his rebellious horse, or gives him the rein,
+at will.
+
+But though Mr. Isaacs was endowed with exceptional gifts of beauty by a
+bountiful nature, those I have enumerated were by no means what first
+attracted the attention of the observer. I have spoken of his graceful
+figure and perfect Iranian features, but I hardly noticed either at our
+first meeting. I was enthralled and fascinated by his eyes. I once saw
+in France a jewel composed of six precious stones, each a gem of great
+value, so set that they appeared to form but one solid mass, yielding a
+strange radiance that changed its hue at every movement, and multiplied
+the sunlight a thousand-fold. Were I to seek a comparison for my
+friend's eyes, I might find an imperfect one in this masterpiece of the
+jeweler's art. They were dark and of remarkable size; when half closed
+they were long and almond-shaped; when suddenly opened in anger or
+surprise they had the roundness and bold keenness of the eagle's sight.
+There was a depth of life and vital light in them that told of the
+pent-up force of a hundred generations of Persian magii. They blazed
+with the splendour of a god-like nature, needing neither meat nor strong
+drink to feed its power.
+
+My mind was made up. Between his eyes, his temperance, and his dental
+consonants, he certainly might be an Italian. Being myself a native of
+Italy, though an American by parentage, I addressed him in the language,
+feeling comparatively sure of his answer. To my surprise, and somewhat
+to my confusion, he answered in two words of modern Greek--"[Greek: _den
+enoesa_]"--"I do not understand." He evidently supposed I was speaking a
+Greek dialect, and answered in the one phrase of that tongue which he
+knew, and not a good phrase at that.
+
+"Pardon me," said I in English, "I believed you a countryman, and
+ventured to address you in my native tongue. May I inquire whether you
+speak English?"
+
+I was not a little astonished when he answered me in pure English, and
+with an evident command of the language. We fell into conversation, and
+I found him pungent, ready, impressive, and most entertaining,
+thoroughly acquainted with Anglo-Indian and English topics, and
+apparently well read. An Indian dinner is a long affair, so that we had
+ample time to break the ice, an easy matter always for people who are
+not English, and when, after the fruit, he invited me to come down and
+smoke with him in his rooms, I gladly availed myself of the opportunity.
+We separated for a few moments, and I despatched my servant to the
+manager of the hotel to ascertain the name of the strange gentleman who
+looked like an Italian and spoke like a fellow of Balliol. Having
+discovered that he was a "Mr. Isaacs," I wended my way through verandahs
+and corridors, preceded by a _chuprassie_ and followed by my
+pipe-bearer, till I came to his rooms.
+
+The fashion of the hookah or narghyle in India has long disappeared from
+the English portion of society. Its place has been assumed and usurped
+by the cheroot from Burmah or Trichinopoli, by the cigarette from Egypt,
+or the more expensive Manilla and Havana cigars. I, however, in an early
+burst of Oriental enthusiasm, had ventured upon the obsolete fashion,
+and so charmed was I by the indolent aromatic enjoyment I got from the
+rather cumbrous machine, that I never gave it up while in the East. So
+when Mr. Isaacs invited me to come and smoke in his rooms, or rather
+before his rooms, for the September air was still warm in the hills, I
+ordered my "bearer" to bring down the apparatus and to prepare it for
+use. I myself passed through the glass door in accordance with my new
+acquaintance's invitation, curious to see the kind of abode in which a
+man who struck me as being so unlike his fellows spent his summer
+months. For some minutes after I entered I did not speak, and indeed I
+hardly breathed. It seemed to me that I was suddenly transported into
+the subterranean chambers whither the wicked magician sent Aladdin in
+quest of the lamp. A soft but strong light filled the room, though I did
+not immediately comprehend whence it came, nor did I think to look, so
+amazed was I by the extraordinary splendour of the objects that met my
+eyes. In the first glance it appeared as if the walls and the ceiling
+were lined with gold and precious stones; and in reality it was almost
+literally the truth. The apartment, I soon saw, was small,--for India at
+least,--and every available space, nook and cranny, were filled with
+gold and jeweled ornaments, shining weapons, or uncouth but resplendent
+idols. There were sabres in scabbards set from end to end with diamonds
+and sapphires, with cross hilts of rubies in massive gold mounting, the
+spoil of some worsted rajah or Nawab of the mutiny. There were narghyles
+four feet high, crusted with gems and curiously wrought work from
+Baghdad or Herat; water flasks of gold and drinking cups of jade;
+yataghans from Bourn and idols from the far East. Gorgeous lamps of the
+octagonal Oriental shape hung from the ceiling, and, fed by aromatic
+oils, shed their soothing light on all around. The floor was covered
+with a rich soft pile, and low divans were heaped with cushions of
+deep-tinted silk and gold. On the floor, in a corner which seemed the
+favourite resting-place of my host, lay open two or three superbly
+illuminated Arabic manuscripts, and from a chafing dish of silver near
+by a thin thread of snow-white smoke sent up its faint perfume through
+the still air. To find myself transported from the conventionalities of
+a stiff and starched Anglo-Indian hotel to such a scene was something
+novel and delicious in the extreme. No wonder I stood speechless and
+amazed. Mr. Isaacs remained near the door while I breathed in the
+strange sights to which he had introduced me. At last I turned, and from
+contemplating the magnificence of inanimate wealth I was riveted by the
+majestic face and expression of the beautiful living creature who, by a
+turn of his wand, or, to speak prosaically, by an invitation to smoke,
+had lifted me out of humdrum into a land peopled with all the effulgent
+phantasies and the priceless realities of the magic East. As I gazed, it
+seemed as if the illumination from the lamps above were caught up and
+flung back with the vitality of living fire by his dark eyes, in which
+more than ever I saw and realised the inexplicable blending of the
+precious stones with the burning spark of a divine soul breathing
+within. For some moments we stood thus; he evidently amused at my
+astonishment, and I fascinated and excited by the problem presented me
+for solution in his person and possessions.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, "you are naturally surprised at my little Eldorado,
+so snugly hidden away in the lower story of a commonplace hotel. Perhaps
+you are surprised at finding me here, too. But come out into the air,
+your hookah is blazing, and so are the stars."
+
+I followed him into the verandah, where the long cane chairs of the
+country were placed, and taking the tube of the pipe from the solemn
+Mussulman whose duty it was to prepare it, I stretched myself out in
+that indolent lazy peace which is only to be enjoyed in tropical
+countries. Silent and for the nonce perfectly happy, I slowly inhaled
+the fragrant vapour of tobacco and aromatic herbs and honey with which
+the hookah is filled. No sound save the monotonous bubbling and
+chuckling of the smoke through the water, or the gentle rustle of the
+leaves on the huge rhododendron-tree which reared its dusky branches to
+the night in the middle of the lawn. There was no moon, though the stars
+were bright and clear, the foaming path of the milky way stretching
+overhead like the wake of some great heavenly ship; a soft mellow lustre
+from the lamps in Isaacs' room threw a golden stain half across the
+verandah, and the chafing dish within, as the light breeze fanned the
+coals, sent out a little cloud of perfume which mingled pleasantly with
+the odour of the _chillum_ in the pipe. The turbaned servant squatted on
+the edge of the steps at a little distance, peering into the dusk, as
+Indians will do for hours together. Isaacs lay quite still in his chair,
+his hands above his head, the light through the open door just falling
+on the jeweled mouthpiece of his narghyle. He sighed--a sigh only half
+regretful, half contented, and seemed about to speak, but the spirit did
+not move him, and the profound silence continued. For my part, I was so
+much absorbed in my reflections on the things I had seen that I had
+nothing to say, and the strange personality of the man made me wish to
+let him begin upon his own subject, if perchance I might gain some
+insight into his mind and mode of thought. There are times when silence
+seems to be sacred, even unaccountably so. A feeling is in us that to
+speak would be almost a sacrilege, though we are unable to account in
+any way for the pause. At such moments every one seems instinctively to
+feel the same influence, and the first person who breaks the spell
+either experiences a sensation of awkwardness, and says something very
+foolish, or, conscious of the odds against him, delivers himself of a
+sentiment of ponderous severity and sententiousness. As I smoked,
+watching the great flaming bowl of the water pipe, a little coal, forced
+up by the expansion of the heat, toppled over the edge and fell tinkling
+on the metal foot below. The quick ear of the servant on the steps
+caught the sound, and he rose and came forward to trim the fire. Though
+he did not speak, his act was a diversion. The spell was broken.
+
+"The Germans," said Isaacs, "say that an angel is passing over the
+house. I do not believe it."
+
+I was surprised at the remark. It did not seem quite natural for Mr.
+Isaacs to begin talking about the Germans, and from the tone of his
+voice I could almost have fancied he thought the proverb was held as an
+article of faith by the Teutonic races in general.
+
+"I do not believe it," he repeated reflectively. "There is no such thing
+as an angel 'passing'; it is a misuse of terms. If there are such things
+as angels, their changes of place cannot be described as motion, seeing
+that from the very nature of things such changes must be instantaneous,
+not involving time as a necessary element. Have you ever thought much
+about angels? By-the-bye, pardon my abruptness, but as there is no one
+to introduce us, what is your name?"
+
+"My name is Griggs--Paul Griggs. I am an American, but was born in
+Italy. I know your name is Isaacs; but, frankly, I do not comprehend how
+you came by the appellation, for I do not believe you are either,
+English, American, or Jewish of origin."
+
+"Quite right," he replied, "I am neither Yankee, Jew, nor beef-eater; in
+fact, I am not a European at all. And since you probably would not guess
+my nationality, I will tell you that I am a Persian, a pure Iranian, a
+degenerate descendant of Zoroaster, as you call him, though by religion
+I follow the prophet, whose name be blessed," he added, with an
+expression of face I did not then understand. "I call myself Isaacs for
+convenience in business. There is no concealment about it, as many know
+my story; but it has an attractive Semitic twang that suite my
+occupation, and is simpler and shorter for Englishmen to write than
+Abdul Hafizben-Isak, which is my lawful name."
+
+"Since you lay sufficient store by your business to have been willing to
+change your name, may I inquire what your business is? It seems to be a
+lucrative one, to judge by the accumulations of wealth you have allowed
+me a glimpse of."
+
+"Yes. Wealth is my occupation. I am a dealer in precious stones and
+similar objects of value. Some day I will show you my diamonds; they are
+worth seeing."
+
+It is no uncommon thing to meet in India men of all Asiatic
+nationalities buying and selling stones of worth, and enriching
+themselves in the business. I supposed he had come with a caravan by way
+of Baghdad, and had settled. But again, his perfect command of English,
+as pure as though he had been educated at Eton and Oxford, his extremely
+careful, though quiet, English dress, and especially his polished
+manners, argued a longer residence in the European civilisation of his
+adopted home than agreed with his young looks, supposing him to have
+come to India at sixteen or seventeen. A pardonable curiosity led me to
+remark this.
+
+"You must have come here very young," I said. "A thoroughbred Persian
+does not learn to speak English like a university man, and to quote
+German proverbs, in a residence of a few years; unless, indeed, he
+possess the secret by which the initiated absorb knowledge without
+effort, and assimilate it without the laborious process of intellectual
+digestion."
+
+"I am older than I look--considerably. I have been in India twelve
+years, and with a natural talent for languages, stimulated by constant
+intercourse with Englishmen who know their own speech well, I have
+succeeded, as you say, in acquiring a certain fluency and mastery of
+accent. I have had an adventurous life enough. I see no reason why I
+should not tell you something of it, especially as you are not English,
+and can therefore hear me with an unprejudiced ear. But, really, do you
+care for a yarn?"
+
+I begged him to proceed, and I beckoned the servant to arrange our
+pipes, that we might not be disturbed. When this was done, Isaacs began.
+
+"I am going to try and make a long story short. We Persians like to
+listen to long stories, as we like to sit and look on at a wedding
+nautch. But we are radically averse to dancing or telling long tales
+ourselves, so I shall condense as much as possible. I was born in
+Persia, of Persian parents, as I told you, but I will not burden your
+memory with names you are not familiar with. My father was a merchant in
+prosperous circumstances, and a man of no mean learning in Arabic and
+Persian literature. I soon showed a strong taste for books, and every
+opportunity was given me for pursuing my inclinations in this respect.
+At the early age of twelve I was kidnapped by a party of slave-dealers,
+and carried off into Roum--Turkey you call it. I will not dwell upon my
+tears and indignation. We travelled rapidly, and my captors treated me
+well, as they invariably do their prizes, well knowing how much of the
+value of a slave depends on his plump and sleek condition when brought
+to market. In Istamboul I was soon disposed of, my fair skin and
+accomplishments as a writer and a singer of Persian songs fetching a
+high price.
+
+"It is no uncommon thing for boys to be stolen and sold in this way. A
+rich pacha will pay almost anything. The fate of such slaves is not
+generally a happy one." Isaacs paused a moment, and drew in two or three
+long breaths of smoke. "Do you see that bright star in the south?" he
+said, pointing with his long jewel-set mouthpiece.
+
+"Yes. It must be Sirius."
+
+"That is my star. Do you believe in the agency of the stars in human
+affairs? Of course you do not; you are a European: how should you? But
+to proceed. The stars, or the fates or Kali, or whatever you like to
+term your kismet, your portion of good and evil, allotted me a somewhat
+happier existence than generally falls to the share of young slaves in
+Roum. I was bought by an old man of great wealth and of still greater
+learning, who was so taken with my proficiency in Arabic and in writing
+that he resolved to make of me a pupil instead of a servant to carry his
+coffee and pipe, or a slave to bear the heavier burden of his vices.
+Nothing better could have happened to me. I was installed in his house
+and treated with exemplary kindness, though he kept me rigorously at
+work with my books. I need not tell you that with such a master I made
+fair progress, and that at the age of twenty-one I was, for a Turk, a
+young man of remarkably good education. Then my master died suddenly,
+and I was thrown into great distress. I was of course nothing but a
+slave, and liable to be sold at any time. I escaped. Active and
+enduring, though never possessing any vast muscular strength, I bore
+with ease the hardships of a long journey on foot with little food and
+scant lodging. Falling in with a band of pilgrims, I recognised the
+wisdom of joining them on their march to Mecca. I was, of course, a
+sound Mohammedan, as I am to this day, and my knowledge of the Koran
+soon gained me some reputation in the caravan. I was considered a
+creditable addition, and altogether an eligible pilgrim. My exceptional
+physique protected me from the disease and exhaustion of which not a few
+of our number died by the wayside, and the other pilgrims, in
+consideration of my youth and piety, gave me willingly the few handfuls
+of rice and dates that I needed to support life and strength.
+
+"You have read about Mecca; and your _hadji_ barber, who of course has
+been there, has doubtless related his experiences to you scores of times
+in the plains, as he does everywhere. As you may imagine, I had no
+intention of returning towards Roum with my companions. When I had
+fulfilled all the observances required, I made my way to Yeddah and
+shipped on board an Arabian craft, touching at Mocha, and bearing coffee
+to Bombay. I had to work my passage, and as I had no experience of the
+sea, save in the caiques of the Golden Horn, you will readily conceive
+that the captain of the vessel had plenty of fault to find. But my
+agility and quick comprehension stood me in good stead, and in a few
+days I had learned enough to haul on a rope or to reef the great latteen
+sails as well as any of them. The knowledge that I was just returning
+from a pilgrimage to Mecca obtained for me also a certain respect among
+the crew. It makes very little difference what the trade, business, or
+branch of learning; in mechanical labour, or intellectual effort, the
+educated man is always superior to the common labourer. One who is in
+the habit of applying his powers in the right way will carry his system
+into any occupation, and it will help him as much to handle a rope as to
+write a poem.
+
+"At last we landed in Bombay. I was in a wretched condition. What little
+clothes I had had were in tatters; hard work and little food had made me
+even thinner than my youthful age and slight frame tolerated. I had in
+all about three pence money in small copper coins, carefully hoarded
+against a rainy day. I could not speak a word of the Indian dialects,
+still less of English, and I knew no one save the crew of the vessel I
+had come in, as poor as I, but saved from starvation by the slender
+pittance allowed them on land. I wandered about all day through the
+bazaars, occasionally speaking to some solemn looking old shopkeeper or
+long-bearded Mussulman, who, I hoped, might understand a little Arabic.
+But not one did I find. At evening I bathed in the tank of a temple full
+from the recent rains, and I lay down supperless to sleep on the steps
+of the great mosque. As I lay on the hard stones I looked up to my star,
+and took comfort, and slept. That night a dream came to me. I thought I
+was still awake and lying on the steps, watching the wondrous ruler of
+my fate. And as I looked he glided down from his starry throne with an
+easy swinging motion, like a soap-bubble settling to the earth. And the
+star came and poised among the branches of the palm-tree over the tank,
+opalescent, unearthly, heart shaking. His face was as the face of the
+prophet, whose name be blessed, and his limbs were as the limbs of the
+Hameshaspenthas of old. Garments he had none, being of heavenly birth,
+but he was clothed with light as with a garment, and the crest of his
+silver hair was to him a crown of glory. And he spoke with the tongues
+of a thousand lutes, sweet strong tones, that rose and fell on the night
+air as the song of a lover beneath the lattice of his mistress, the song
+of the mighty star wooing the beautiful sleeping earth. And then he
+looked on me and said: 'Abdul Hafiz, be of good cheer. I am with thee
+and will not forsake thee, even to the day when thou shalt pass over the
+burning bridge of death. Thou shalt touch the diamond of the rivers and
+the pearl of the sea, and they shall abide with thee, and great shall be
+thy wealth. And the sunlight which is in the diamond shall warm thee and
+comfort thy heart; and the moonlight which is in the pearl shall give
+thee peace in the night-time, and thy children shall be to thee a
+garland of roses in the land of the unbeliever.' And the star floated
+down from the palm-branches and touched me with his hand, and breathed
+upon my lips the cool breath of the outer firmament, and departed. Then
+I awoke and saw him again in his place far down the horizon, and he was
+alone, for the dawn was in the sky and the lesser lights were
+extinguished. And I rose from the stony stairway that seemed like a bed
+of flowers for the hopeful dream, and I turned westward, and praised
+Allah, and went my way.
+
+"The sun being up, all was life, and the life in me spoke of a most
+capacious appetite. So I cast about for a shop where I might buy a
+little food with my few coppers, and seeing a confectioner spreading out
+his wares, I went near and took stock of the queer balls of flour and
+sugar, and strange oily-looking sweetmeats. Having selected what I
+thought would be within my modest means, I addressed the shopkeeper to
+call his attention, though I knew he would not understand me, and I
+touched with my hand the article I wanted, showing with the other some
+of the small coins I had. As soon as I touched the sweetmeats the man
+became very angry, and bounding from his seat called his neighbours
+together, and they all shouted and screamed at me, and called a man I
+thought to be a soldier, though he looked more like an ape in his long
+loose trousers of dirty black, and his untidy red turban, under which
+cumbrous garments his thin and stunted frame seemed even blacker and
+more contemptible than nature had made them. I afterwards discovered him
+to be one of the Bombay police. He seized me by the arm, and I, knowing
+I had done no wrong, and curious to discover, if possible, what the
+trouble was, accompanied him whither he led me. After waiting many hours
+in a kind of little shed where there were more policemen, I was brought
+before an Englishman. Of course all attempts at explanation were
+useless. I could speak not a word of anything but Arabic and Persian,
+and no one present understood either. At last, when I was in despair,
+trying to muster a few words of Greek I had learned in Istamboul, and
+failing signally therein, an old man with a long beard looked curiously
+in at the door of the crowded court. Some instinct told me to appeal to
+him, and I addressed him in Arabic. To my infinite relief he replied in
+that tongue, and volunteered to be interpreter. In a few moments I
+learned that my crime was that I had _touched_ the sweetmeats on the
+counter.
+
+"In India, as you who have lived here doubtless know, it is a criminal
+offence, punishable by fine or imprisonment, for a non-Hindu person to
+defile the food of even the lowest caste man. To touch one sweetmeat in
+a trayful defiles the whole baking, rendering it all unfit for the use
+of any Hindu, no matter how mean. Knowing nothing of caste and its
+prejudices, it was with the greatest difficulty that the _moolah_, who
+was trying to help me out of my trouble, could make me comprehend
+wherein my wrong-doing lay, and that the English courts, being obliged
+in their own interest to uphold and protect the caste practices of the
+Hindus, at the risk of another mutiny, could not make any exception in
+favour of a stranger unacquainted with Indian customs. So the Englishman
+who presided said he would have to inflict a fine, but being a very
+young man, not yet hardened to the despotic ways of Eastern life, he
+generously paid the fine himself, and gave me a rupee as a present into
+the bargain. It was only two shillings, but as I had not had so much
+money for months I was as grateful as though it had been a hundred. If I
+ever meet him I will requite him, for I owe him all I now possess.
+
+"My case being dismissed, I left the court with the old _moolah_, who
+took me to his house and inquired of my story, having first given me a
+good meal of rice and sweetmeats, and that greatest of luxuries, a
+little pot of fragrant Mocha coffee; he sat in silence while I ate,
+ministering to my wants, and evidently pleased with the good he was
+doing. Then he brought out a package of _birris_, those little
+cigarettes rolled in leaves that they smoke in Bombay, and I told him
+what had happened to me. I implored him to put me in the way of
+obtaining some work by which I could at least support life, and he
+promised to do so, begging me to stay with him until I should be
+independent. The day following I was engaged to pull a punkah in the
+house of an English lawyer connected with an immense lawsuit involving
+one of the Mohammedan principalities. For this irksome work I was to
+receive six rupees--twelve shillings--monthly, but before the month was
+up I was transferred, by the kindness of the English lawyer and the good
+offices of my co-religionist the _moolah_, to the retinue of the Nizam
+of Haiderabad, then in Bombay. Since that time I have never known want.
+
+"I soon mastered enough of the dialects to suit my needs, and applied
+myself to the study of English, for which opportunities were not
+lacking. At the end of two years I could speak the language enough to be
+understood, and my accent from the first was a matter of surprise to
+all; I had also saved out of my gratuities about one hundred rupees.
+Having been conversant with the qualities of many kinds of precious
+stones from my youth up, I determined to invest my economies in a
+diamond or a pearl. Before long I struck a bargain with an old
+_marwarri_ over a small stone, of which I thought he misjudged the
+value, owing to the rough cutting. The fellow was cunning and hard in
+his dealings, but my superior knowledge of diamonds gave me the
+advantage. I paid him ninety-three rupees for the little gem, and sold
+it again in a month for two hundred to a young English 'collector and
+magistrate,' who wanted to make his wife a present. I bought a larger
+stone, and again made nearly a hundred per cent on the money. Then I
+bought two, and so on, until having accumulated sufficient capital, I
+bade farewell to the Court of the Nizam, where my salary never exceeded
+sixteen rupees a month as scribe and Arabic interpreter, and I went my
+way with about two thousand rupees in cash and precious stones. I came
+northwards, and finally settled in Delhi, where I set up as a dealer in
+gems and objects of intrinsic value. It is now twelve years since I
+landed in Bombay. I have never soiled my hands with usury, though I have
+twice advanced large sums at legal interest for purposes I am not at
+liberty to disclose; I have never cheated a customer or underrated a gem
+I bought of a poor man, and my wealth, as you may judge from what you
+have seen, is considerable. Moreover, though in constant intercourse
+with Hindus and English, I have not forfeited my title to be called a
+true believer and a follower of the prophet, whose name be blessed."
+
+Isaacs ceased speaking, and presently the waning moon rose pathetically
+over the crest of the mountains with that curiously doleful look she
+wears after the full is past, as if weeping over the loss of her better
+half. The wind rose and soughed drearily through the rhododendrons and
+the pines; and Kiramat Ali, the pipe-bearer, shivered audibly as he drew
+his long cloth uniform around him. We rose and entered my friend's
+rooms, where the warmth of the lights, the soft rugs and downy cushions,
+invited us temptingly to sit down and continue our conversation. But it
+was late, for Isaacs, like a true Oriental, had not hurried himself over
+his narrative, and it had been nine o'clock when we sat down to smoke.
+So I bade him good-night, and, musing on all I had heard and seen,
+retired to my own apartments, glancing at Sirius and at the
+unhappy-looking moon before I turned in from the verandah.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+In India--in the plains--people rise before dawn, and it is not till
+after some weeks' residence in the cooler atmosphere of the mountains
+that they return to the pernicious habit of allowing the sun to be
+before them. The hours of early morning, when one either mopes about in
+loose flannel clothes, or goes for a gallop on the green _maidan_, are
+without exception the most delicious of the day. I shall have occasion
+hereafter to describe the morning's proceedings in the plains. On the
+day after the events recorded in the last chapter I awoke as usual at
+five o'clock, and meandered out on to the verandah to have a look at the
+hills, so novel and delicious a sight after the endless flats of the
+northwest provinces. It was still nearly dark, but there was a faint
+light in the east, which rapidly grew as I watched it, till, turning the
+angle of the house, I distinguished a snow-peak over the tops of the
+dark rhododendrons, and, while I gazed, the first tinge of distant
+dawning caught the summit, and the beautiful hill blushed, as a fair
+woman, at the kiss of the awakening sun. The old story, the heaven
+wooing the earth with a wondrous shower of gold.
+
+"Prati 'shya sunari jani"--the exquisite lines of the old Vedic hymn to
+the dawn maiden, rose to my lips. I had never appreciated or felt their
+truth down in the dusty plains, but here, on the free hills, the glad
+welcoming of the morning light seemed to run through every fibre, as
+thousands of years ago the same joyful thrill of returning life inspired
+the pilgrim fathers of the Aryan race. Almost unconsciously, I softly
+intoned the hymn, as I had heard my old Brahmin teacher in Allahabad
+when he came and sat under the porch at daybreak, until I was ready for
+him--
+
+    The lissome heavenly maiden here,
+    Forth flashing from her sister's arms,
+    High heaven's daughter, now is come.
+
+    In rosy garments, shining like
+    A swift bay mare; the twin knights' friend,
+    Mother of all our herds of kine.
+
+    Yea, thou art she, the horseman's friend;
+    Of grazing cattle mother thou,
+    All wealth is thine, thou blushing dawn.
+
+    Thou who hast driven the foeman back,
+    With praise we call on thee to wake
+    In tender reverence, beauteous one.
+
+    The spreading beams of morning light
+    Are countless as our hosts of kine,
+    They fill the atmosphere of space.
+
+    Filling the sky, thou openedst wide
+    The gates of night, thou glorious dawn--
+    Rejoicing-run thy daily race!
+
+    The heaven above thy rays have filled,
+    The broad beloved room of air,
+    O splendid, brightest maid of morn!
+
+I went indoors again to attend to my correspondence, and presently a
+gorgeously liveried white-bearded _chuprassie_ appeared at the door, and
+bending low as he touched his hand to his forehead, intimated that "if
+the great lord of the earth, the protector of the poor, would turn his
+ear to the humblest of his servants, he would hear of something to his
+advantage."
+
+So saying, he presented a letter from the official with whom I had to
+do, an answer to my note of the previous afternoon, requesting an
+interview. In due course, therefore, the day wore on, and I transacted
+my business, returned to "tiffin," and then went up to my rooms for a
+little quiet. I might have been there an hour, smoking and dreaming over
+a book, when the servant announced a sahib who wanted to see me, and
+Isaacs walked in, redolent of the sunshine without, his luminous eyes
+shining brightly in the darkened room. I was delighted, for I felt my
+wits stagnating in the unwonted idleness of the autumn afternoon, and
+the book I had taken up was not conducive to wakefulness or brilliancy.
+It was a pleasant surprise too. It is not often that an hotel
+acquaintance pushes an intimacy much, and besides I had feared my
+silence during the previous evening might have produced the impression
+of indifference, on which reflection I had resolved to make myself
+agreeable at our next meeting.
+
+Truly, had I asked myself the cause of a certain attraction I felt for
+Mr. Isaacs, it would have been hard to find an answer. I am generally
+extremely shy of persons who begin an acquaintance by making
+confidences, and, in spite of Isaacs' charm of manner, I had certainly
+speculated on his reasons for suddenly telling an entire stranger his
+whole story. My southern birth had not modified the northern character
+born in me, though it gave me the more urbane veneer of the Italian; and
+the early study of Larochefoucauld and his school had not predisposed me
+to an unlimited belief in the disinterestedness of mankind. Still there
+was something about the man which seemed to sweep away unbelief and
+cynicism and petty distrust, as the bright mountain freshet sweeps away
+the wretched little mud puddles and the dust and impurities from the bed
+of a half dry stream. It was a new sensation and a novel era in my
+experience of humanity, and the desire to get behind that noble
+forehead, and see its inmost workings, was strong beyond the strength of
+puny doubts and preconceived prejudice. Therefore, when Isaacs appeared,
+looking like the sun-god for all his quiet dress of gray and his
+unobtrusive manner, I felt the "little thrill of pleasure" so aptly
+compared by Swinburne to the soft touch of a hand stroking the outer
+hair.
+
+"What a glorious day after all that detestable rain!" were his first
+words. "Three mortal months of water, mud, and Mackintoshes, not to
+mention the agreeable sensation of being glued to a wet saddle with your
+feet in water-buckets, and mountain torrents running up and down the
+inside of your sleeves, in defiance of the laws of gravitation; such is
+life in the monsoon. Pah!" And he threw himself down on a cane chair and
+stretched out his dainty feet, so that the sunlight through the crack of
+the half-closed door might fall comfortingly on his toes, and remind him
+that it was fine outside.
+
+"What have you been doing all day?" I asked, for lack of a better
+question, not having yet recovered from the mental stagnation induced by
+the last number of the serial story I had been reading.
+
+"Oh--I don't know. Are you married?" he asked irrelevantly.
+
+"God forbid!" I answered reverently, and with some show of feeling.
+
+"Amen," was the answer. "As for me--I am, and my wives have been
+quarreling."
+
+"Your wives! Did I understand you to use the plural number?"
+
+"Why, yes. I have three; that is the worst of it. If there were only
+two, they might get on better. You know 'two are company and three are
+none,' as your proverb has it." He said this reflectively, as if
+meditating a reduction in the number.
+
+The application of the proverb to such a case was quite new in my
+recollection. As for the plurality of my friend's conjugal relations, I
+remembered he was a Mohammedan, and my surprise vanished. Isaacs was
+lost in meditation. Suddenly he rose to his feet, and took a cigarette
+from the table.
+
+"I wonder"--the match would not light, and he struggled a moment with
+another. Then he blew a great cloud of smoke, and sat down in a
+different chair--"I wonder whether a fourth would act as a fly-wheel,"
+and he looked straight at me, as if asking my opinion.
+
+I had never been in direct relations with a Mussulman of education and
+position. To be asked point-blank whether I thought four wives better
+than three on general principles, and quite independently of the
+contemplated spouse, was a little embarrassing. He seemed perfectly
+capable of marrying another before dinner for the sake of peace, and I
+do not believe he would have considered it by any means a bad move.
+
+"Diamond cut diamond," I said. "You too have proverbs, and one of them
+is that a man is better sitting than standing; better lying than
+sitting; better dead than lying down. Now I should apply that same
+proverb to marriage. A man is, by a similar successive reasoning, better
+with no wife at all than with three."
+
+His subtle mind caught the flaw instantly. "To be without a wife at all
+would be about as conducive to happiness as to be dead. Negative
+happiness, very negative."
+
+"Negative happiness is better than positive discomfort."
+
+"Come, come," he answered, "we are bandying terms and words, as if empty
+breath amounted to anything but inanity. Do you really doubt the value
+of the institution of marriage?"
+
+"No. Marriage is a very good thing when two people are so poor that they
+depend on each other, mutually, for daily bread, or if they are rich
+enough to live apart. For a man in my own position marriage would be the
+height of folly; an act of rashness only second to deliberate suicide.
+Now, you are rich, and if you had but one wife, she living in Delhi and
+you in Simla, you would doubtless be very happy."
+
+"There is something in that," said Isaacs. "She might mope and beat the
+servants, but she could not quarrel if she were alone. Besides, it is so
+much easier to look after one camel than three. I think I must try it."
+
+There was a pause, during which he seemed settling the destiny of the
+two who were to be shelved in favour of a monogamic experiment.
+Presently he asked if I had brought any horses, and hearing I had not,
+offered me a mount, and proposed we should ride round Jako, and perhaps,
+if there were time, take a look at Annandale in the valley, where there
+was polo, and a racing-ground. I gladly accepted, and Isaacs despatched
+one of my servants, the faithful Kiramat Ali, to order the horses.
+Meantime the conversation turned on the expedition to Kabul to avenge
+the death of Cavagnari. I found Isaacs held the same view that I did in
+regard to the whole business. He thought the sending of four Englishmen,
+with a handful of native soldiers of the guide regiment to protect them,
+a piece of unparalleled folly, on a par with the whole English policy in
+regard to Afghanistan.
+
+"You English--pardon me, I forgot you did not belong to them--the
+English, then, have performed most of their great acts of valour as a
+direct consequence of having wantonly exposed themselves in situations
+where no sane man would have placed himself. Look at Balaclava; think of
+the things they did in the mutiny, and in the first Afghan war; look at
+the mutiny itself, the result of a hair-brained idea that a country like
+India could be held for ever with no better defences than the
+trustworthiness of native officers, and the gratitude of the people for
+the 'kindly British rule.' Poor Cavagnari! when he was here last summer,
+before leaving on his mission, he said several times he should never
+came back. And yet no better man could have been chosen, whether for
+politics or fighting; if only they had had the sense to protect him."
+
+Having delivered himself of this eulogy, my friend dropped his exhausted
+cigarette, lit another, and appeared again absorbed in the triangulation
+of his matrimonial problem. I imagined him weighing the question whether
+he should part with Zobeida and Zuleika and keep Anima, or send Zuleika
+and Amina about their business, and keep Zobeida to be a light in his
+household. At last Kiramat Ali, on the watch in the verandah, announced
+the saices with the horses, and we descended.
+
+I had expected that a man of Isaacs' tastes and habits would not be
+stingy about his horseflesh, and so was prepared for the character of
+the animals that awaited us. They were two superb Arab stallions, one of
+them being a rare specimen of the weight-carrying kind, occasionally
+seen in the far East. Small head, small feet, and feather-tailed, but
+broad in the quarters and deep in the chest, able to carry a
+twelve-stone man for hours at the stretching, even gallop, that never
+trembles and never tires; surefooted as a mule, and tender-tempered as a
+baby.
+
+So we mounted the gentle creatures and rode away. The mountain on which
+Simla is situated has a double summit, like a Swiss peak, the one higher
+than the other. On the lower height and the neck between the two is
+built the town, and the bungalows used as offices and residences for the
+Government officials cover a very considerable, area. "Jako," the higher
+eminence, is thickly covered with a forest of primeval rhododendrons and
+pines, and though there are outlying bungalows and villas scattered
+about among the trees near the town, they are so far back from the main
+road, reserved as I have said for the use of the Viceroy, as far as
+driving is concerned, that they are not seen in riding along the shady
+way; and on the opposite side, where the trees are thin, the magnificent
+view looks far out over the spurs of the mountains, the only human
+habitation visible being a Catholic convent, which rears its little
+Italian _campanile_ against the blue sky, and rather adds to the beauty
+of the scene than otherwise. As we rode along we continued our talk
+about the new Afghan war, though neither of us was very much in the
+humour for animated conversation. The sweet scent of the pines, the
+matchless motion of the Arab, and the joyous feeling that the worst part
+of the tropical year was passed, were enough for me, and I drank in the
+high, rarefied air, with the intense delight of a man who has been
+smothered with dust and heat, and then steamed to a jelly by a spring
+and summer in the plains of Hindustan.
+
+The road abounds in sharp turns, and I, as the heavier mount, rode on
+the inside as we went round the mountain. On reaching the open part on
+the farther side, we drew rein for a moment to look down at the deep
+valleys, now dark with the early shade, at the higher peaks red with the
+westering sun, and at the black masses of foliage, through which some
+giant trunk here and there caught a lingering ray of the departing
+light. Then, as we felt the cool of the evening coming on, we wheeled
+and scampered along the level stretch, stirrup to stirrup and knee to
+knee. The sharp corner at the end pulled us up, but before we had quite
+reined in our horses, as delighted as we to have a couple of minutes'
+straight run, we swung past the angle and cannoned into a man ambling
+peaceably along with his reins on one finger and his large gray felt hat
+flapping at the back of his neck. There was a moment's confusion,
+profuse apologies on our part, and some ill-concealed annoyance on the
+part of the victim, who was, however, only a little jostled and taken by
+surprise.
+
+"Really, sir," he began. "Oh! Mr. Isaacs. No harm done, I assure you,
+that is, not much. Bad thing riding fast round corners. No harm, no
+harm, not much. How are you?" all in a breath.
+
+"How d'ye do! Mr. Ghyrkins; my friend Mr. Griggs."
+
+"The real offender," I added in a conciliatory tone, for I had kept my
+place on the inside.
+
+"Mr. Griggs?" said Mr. Currie Ghyrkins. "Mr. Griggs of Allahabad? _Daily
+Howler?_ Yes, yes, corresponded; glad to see you in the flesh."
+
+I did not think he looked particularly glad. He was a Revenue
+Commissioner residing in Mudnugger; a rank Conservative; a regular old
+"John Company" man, with whom I had had more than one tiff in the
+columns of the _Howler,_ leading to considerable correspondence.
+
+"I trust that our collision in the flesh has had no worse results than
+our tilts in print, Mr. Ghyrkins?"
+
+"Not at all. Oh don't mention it. Bad enough, though, but no harm done,
+none whatever," pulling up and looking at me as he pronounced the hist
+two words with a peculiarly English slowness after a very quick
+sentence.
+
+While he was speaking, I was aware of a pair of riders walking their
+horses toward us, and apparently struggling to suppress their amusement
+at the mishap to the old gentleman, which they must have witnessed. In
+truth, Mr. Ghyrkins, who was stout and rode a broad-backed obese "tat,"
+can have presented no very dignified appearance, for he was jerked half
+out of the saddle by the concussion, and his near leg, returning to its
+place, had driven his nether garment half way to his knee, while the
+large felt hat was settling back on to his head at a rakish angle, and
+his coat collar had gone well up the back of his neck.
+
+"Dear uncle," said the lady as she rode up, "I hope you are not hurt?"
+She was very handsome as she sat there trying not to laugh. A lithe
+figure in a gray habit and a broad-brimmed hat, fair as a Swede, but
+with dark eyes and heavy lashes. Just then she was showing her brilliant
+teeth, ostensibly in delight at her dear uncle's escape, and her whole
+expression was animated and amused. Her companion was a soldierly
+looking young Englishman, with a heavy moustache and a large nose. A
+certain devil-may-care look about his face was attractive as he sat
+carelessly watching us. I noticed his long stirrups and the curb rein
+hanging loose, while he held the snaffle, and concluded he was a cavalry
+officer. Isaacs bowed low to the lady and wheeled his horse. She replied
+by a nod, indifferent enough; but as he turned, her eyes instantly went
+back to him, and a pleasant thoughtful look passed over her face, which
+betrayed at least a trifling interest in the stranger, if stranger he
+were.
+
+All this time Mr. Ghyrkins was talking and asking questions of me. When
+had I come? what brought me here? how long would I stay? and so on,
+showing that whether friendly or not he had an interest in my movements.
+In answering his questions I found an opportunity of calling the Queen
+the "Empress," of lauding Lord Beaconsfield's policy in India, and of
+congratulating Mr. Ghyrkins upon the state of his district, with which
+he had nothing to do, of course; but he swallowed the bait, all in a
+breath, as he seemed to do everything. Then he introduced us.
+
+"Katharine, you know Mr. Isaacs; Mr. Griggs, Miss Westonhaugh, Lord
+Steepleton Kildare, Mr. Isaacs."
+
+We bowed and rode back together over the straight piece we passed before
+the encounter. Isaacs and the Englishman walked their horses on each
+side of Miss Westonhaugh, and Ghyrkins and I brought up the rear. I
+tried to turn the conversation to Isaacs, but with little result.
+
+"Yes, yes, good fellow Isaacs, for a fire-worshipper, or whatever he is.
+Good judge of a horse. Lots of rupees too. Queer fish. By-the-bye, Mr.
+Griggs, this new expedition is going to cost us something handsome, eh?"
+
+"Why, yes. I doubt whether you will get off under ten millions sterling.
+And where is it to come from? You will have a nice time making your
+assessments in Bengal, Mr. Ghyrkins, and we shall have an income-tax and
+all sorts of agreeable things."
+
+"Income-tax? Well, I think not. You see, Mr. Griggs, it would hit the
+members of the council, so they won't do it, for their own sakes, and
+the Viceroy too. Ha, ha, how do you think Lord Lytton would like an
+income-tax, eh?" And the old fellow chuckled.
+
+We reached the end of the straight, and Isaacs reined in and bid Miss
+Westonhaugh and her companion good evening. I bowed from where I was,
+and took Mr. Ghyrkins' outstretched hand. He was in a good humour again,
+and called out to us to come and see him, as we rode away. I thought to
+myself I certainly would; and we paced back, crossing the open stretch
+for the third time.
+
+It was almost dark under the trees as we re-entered the woods; I pulled
+out a cheroot and lit it. Isaacs did the same, and we walked our horses
+along in silence. I was thinking of the little picture I had just seen.
+The splendid English girl on her thoroughbred beside the beautiful Arab
+steed and his graceful rider. What a couple, I thought: what noble
+specimens of great races. Why did not this fiery young Persian, with his
+wealth, his beauty, and his talents, wed some such wife as that, some
+high-bred Englishwoman, who should love him and give him home and
+children--and, I was forced to add, commonplace happiness? How often
+does it happen that some train of thought, unacknowledged almost to
+ourselves, runs abruptly into a blind alley; especially when we try to
+plan out the future life of some one else, or to sketch for him what we
+should call happiness. The accidental confronting of two individuals
+pleases the eye, we unite them in our imagination, carrying on the
+picture before us, and suddenly we find ourselves in a quagmire of
+absurd incongruities. Now what could be more laughable than to suppose
+the untamed, and probably untameable young man at my side, with his
+three wives, his notions about the stars and his Mussulman faith, bound
+for life to a girl like Miss Westonhaugh? A wise man of the East trying
+to live the life of an English country gentleman, hunting in pink and
+making speeches on the local hustings! I smiled to myself in the dark
+and puffed at my cigar.
+
+Meanwhile Isaacs was palpably uneasy. First he kicked his feet free of
+the stirrups, and put them back again. Then he hummed a few words of a
+Persian song and let his cigar go out, after which he swore loudly in
+Arabic at the eternal matches that never would light. Finally he put his
+horse into a hand gallop, which could not last on such a road in the
+dark, and at last he broke down completely in his efforts to do
+impossible things, and began talking to me.
+
+"You know Mr. Ghyrkins by correspondence, then?"
+
+"Yes, and by controversy. And you, I see, know Miss Westonhaugh?"
+
+"Yes; what do you think of her?"
+
+"A charming creature of her type. Fair and English, she will be fat at
+thirty-five, and will probably paint at forty, but at present she is
+perfection--of her kind of course," I added, not wishing to engage my
+friend in the defence of his three wives on the score of beauty.
+
+"I see very little of Englishwomen," said Isaacs. "My position is
+peculiar, and though the men, many of whom I know quite intimately,
+often ask me to their houses, I fancy when I meet their women I can
+detect a certain scorn of my nationality, a certain undefinable manner
+toward me, by which I suppose they mean to convey to my obtuse
+comprehension that I am but a step better than a 'native'--a 'nigger' in
+fact, to use the term they love so well. So I simply avoid them, as a
+rule, for my temper is hasty. Of course I understand it well enough;
+they are brought up or trained by their fathers and husbands to regard
+the native Indian as an inferior being, an opinion in which, on the
+whole, I heartily concur. But they go a step farther and include all
+Asiatics in the same category. I do not choose to be confounded with a
+race I consider worn out and effete. As for the men, it is different.
+They know I am rich and influential in many ways that are useful to them
+now, and they hope that the fortunes of war or revolution may give them
+a chance of robbing me hereafter, in which they are mistaken. Now there
+is our stout friend, whom we nearly brought to grief a few minutes ago;
+he is always extremely civil, and never meets me that he does not renew
+his invitation to visit him."
+
+"I should like to see something more of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins myself. I do
+not believe he is half as bad as I thought. Do you ever go there?"
+
+"Sometimes. Yes, on second thoughts I believe I call on Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins pretty often." Then after a pause he added, "I like her."
+
+I pointed out the confusion of genders. Isaacs must have smiled to
+himself in the gloom, but he answered quietly--
+
+"I mean Miss Westonhaugh. I like her--yes, I am quite sure I do. She is
+beautiful and sensible, though if she stays here much longer she will be
+like all the rest. We will go and see them to-morrow. Here we are; just
+in time for dinner. Come and smoke afterwards."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+A loose robe of light material from Kashmir thrown around him, Isaacs
+half sat, half lay, on the soft dark cushions in the corner of his outer
+room. His feet were slipperless, Eastern fashion, and his head covered
+with an embroidered cap of curious make. By the yellow light of the
+hanging lamps he was reading an Arabic book, and his face wore a puzzled
+look that sat strangely on the bold features. As I entered the book fell
+back on the cushion, sinking deep into the down by its weight, and one
+of the heavy gold clasps clanged sharply as it turned. He looked up, but
+did not rise, and greeted me, smiling, with the Arabic salutation--
+
+"Peace be with you!"
+
+"And with you, peace," I answered in the same tongue. He smiled again at
+my unfamiliar pronunciation. I established myself on the divan near him,
+and inquired whether he had arrived at any satisfactory solution of his
+domestic difficulties.
+
+"My father," he said, "upon whom be peace, had but one wife, my mother.
+You know Mussulmans are allowed four lawful wives. Here is the passage
+in the beginning of the fourth chapter, 'If ye fear that ye shall not
+act with equity towards orphans of the female sex, take in marriage of
+such other women as please you, two, or three, or four, and not more.
+But, if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably towards so many, marry one
+only, or the slaves which ye shall have acquired.'
+
+"The first part of this passage," continued Isaacs, "is disputed; I mean
+the words referring to orphans. But the latter portion is plain enough.
+When the apostle warns those who fear they 'cannot act equitably towards
+so many,' I am sure that in his wisdom he meant something more by
+'equitable' treatment than the mere supplying of bodily wants. He meant
+us to so order our households that there should be no jealousies, no
+heart-burnings, no unnecessary troubling of the peace. Now woman is a
+thing of the devil, jealous; and to manage a number of such creatures so
+that they shall be even passably harmonious among themselves is a
+fearful task, soul-wearying, heart-hardening, never-ending, leading to
+no result."
+
+"Just what I told you; a man is better with no wife at all than with
+three. But why do you talk about such matters with me, an unbeliever, a
+Christian, who, in the words of your prophet, 'shall swallow down
+nothing but fire into my belly, and shall broil in raging flames' when I
+die? Surely it is contrary to the custom of your co-religionists; and
+how can you expect an infidel Frank to give you advice?"
+
+"I don't," laconically replied my host.
+
+"Besides, with your views of women in general, their vocation, their
+aims, and their future state, is it at all likely that we should ever
+arrive at even a fair discussion of marriage and marriage laws? With us,
+women have souls, and, what is a great deal more, seem likely to have
+votes. They certainly have the respectful and courteous service of a
+large proportion of the male sex. You call a woman a thing of the devil;
+we call her an angel from heaven; and though some eccentric persons like
+myself refuse to ally themselves for life with any woman, I confess, as
+far as I am concerned, that it is because I cannot contemplate the
+constant society of an angel with the degree of appreciation such a
+privilege justly deserves; and I suspect that most confirmed bachelors,
+knowingly or unconsciously, think as I do. The Buddhists are not
+singular in their theory that permanent happiness should be the object."
+
+"They say," said Isaacs, quickly interrupting, "that the aim of the
+ignorant is pleasure; the pursuit of the wise, happiness. Pray, under
+which category would you class marriage? I suppose it comes under one or
+the other."
+
+"I cannot say I see the force of that. Look at your own case, since you
+have introduced it."
+
+"Never mind my own case. I mean with your ideas of one wife, and
+heavenly woman, and voting, and domestic joy, and all the rest of it.
+Take the ideal creature you rave about--"
+
+"I never rave about anything."
+
+"Take the fascinating female you describe, and for the sake of argument
+imagine yourself very poor or very rich, since you would not enter
+wedlock in your present circumstances. Suppose you married your object
+of 'courteous service and respectful adoration;' which should you say
+you would attain thereby, pleasure or happiness?"
+
+"Pleasure is but the refreshment that cheers us in the pursuit of true
+happiness," I answered, hoping to evade the direct question by a
+sententious phrase.
+
+"I will not let you off so easily. You shall answer my question," he
+said. He looked full at me with a deep searching gaze that seemed hardly
+warranted by the lightness of the argument. I hesitated, and he
+impatiently leaned forward, uncrossing his legs and clasping his hands
+over one knee to bring himself nearer to me.
+
+"Pleasure or happiness?" he repeated, "which is it to be?"
+
+A sudden light flashed over my obscured intellect.
+
+"Both," I answered. "Could you see the ideal woman as I would fain paint
+her to you, you would understand me better. The pleasure you enjoy in
+the society of a noble and beautiful woman should be but the refreshment
+by the wayside as you journey through life together. The day will come
+when she will be beautiful no longer, only noble and good, and true to
+you as to herself; and then, if pleasure has been to you what it should
+be, you will find that in the happiness attained it is no longer
+counted, or needed, or thought of. It will have served its end, as the
+crib holds the ship in her place while she is building; and when your
+white-winged vessel has smoothly glided off into the great ocean of
+happiness, the crib and the stocks and the artificial supports will fall
+to pieces and be forgotten for ever. Yet have they had a purpose, and
+have borne a very important part in the life of your ship."
+
+Having heard me attentively till I had finished, Isaacs relaxed his hold
+on his knee and threw himself back on the cushions, as if to entrench
+himself for a better fight. I had made an impression on him, but he was
+not the man to own it easily. Presumably to gain time, he called for
+hookahs and sherbet, and though the servants moved noiselessly in
+preparing them, their presence was an interruption.
+
+When we were settled again he had taken a nearly upright position on the
+couch, and as he pulled at the long tube his face assumed that stolid
+look of Oriental indifference which is the most discouraging shower-bath
+to the persuasive powers. I had really no interest in converting him to
+my own point of view about women. Honestly, was it my own point of view
+at all? Would anything under heaven induce me, Paul Griggs, rich, or
+poor, or comfortably off, to marry any one--Miss Westonhaugh, for
+instance? Probably not. But then my preference for single blessedness
+did not prevent me from believing that women have souls. That morning
+the question of the marriage of the whole universe had been a matter of
+the utmost indifference, and now I, a confirmed and hopelessly contented
+bachelor, was trying to convince a man with three wives that matrimony
+was a most excellent thing in its way, and that the pleasure of the
+honeymoon was but the faint introduction to the bliss of the silver
+wedding. It certainly must be Isaacs' own doing. He had launched on a
+voyage of discovery and had taken me in tow. I had a strong suspicion
+that he wanted to be convinced, and was playing indifference to soothe
+his conscience.
+
+"Well," said I at last, "have you any fault to find with my reasoning or
+my simile?"
+
+"With your simile--none. It is faultlessly perfect. You have not mixed
+up your metaphors in the least. Crib, stocks, ocean, ship--all correct,
+and very nautical. As for your reasoning, I do not believe there is
+anything in it. I do not believe that pleasure leads to happiness; I do
+not believe that a woman has a soul, and I deny the whole argument from
+beginning to end. There," he added with a smile that belied the
+brusqueness of his words, "that is my position. Talk me out of it if you
+can; the night is long, and my patience as that of the ass."
+
+"I do not think this is a case for rigid application of logic. When the
+feelings are concerned--and where can they be more concerned than in our
+intercourse with women?--the only way to arrive at any conclusion is by
+a sort of trying-on process, imagining ourselves in the position
+indicated, and striving to fancy how it would suit us. Let us begin in
+that way. Suppose yourself unmarried, your three wives and their
+children removed--"
+
+"Allah in his mercy grant it!" ejaculated Isaacs with great fervour.
+
+"--removed from the question altogether. Then imagine yourself thrown
+into daily conversation with some beautiful woman who has read what you
+have read, thought what you have thought, and dreamed the dreams of a
+nobler destiny that have visited you in waking and sleeping hours. A
+woman who, as she learned your strange story, should weep for the pains
+you suffered and rejoice for the difficulties overcome, who should
+understand your half spoken thoughts and proudly sympathise in your
+unuttered aspirations; in whom you might see the twin nature to your
+own, and detect the strong spirit and the brave soul, half revealed
+through the feminine gentleness and modesty that clothe her as with a
+garment. Imagine all this, and then suppose it lay in your power, was a
+question of choice, for you to take her hand in yours and go through
+life and death together, till death seem life for the joy of being
+united for ever. Suppose you married her--not to lock her up in an
+indolent atmosphere of rosewater, narghyles, and sweetmeats, to die of
+inanition or to pester you to death with complaints and jealousies and
+inopportune caresses; but to be with you and help your life when you
+most need help, by word and thought and deed, to grow more and more a
+part of you, an essential element of you in action or repose, to part
+from which would be to destroy at a blow the whole fabric of your
+existence. Would you not say that with such a woman the transitory
+pleasure of early conversation and intercourse had been the
+stepping-stone to the lasting happiness of such a friendship as you
+could never hope for in your old age among your sex? Would not her
+faithful love and abounding sympathy be dearer to you every day, though
+the roses in her cheek should fade and the bright hair whiten with the
+dust of life's journey? Would you not feel that when you died your
+dearest wish must be to join her where there should be no parting--her
+from whom there could be no parting here, short of death itself? Would
+you not believe she had a soul?"
+
+"There is no end of your 'supposing,' but it is quite pretty. I am half
+inclined to 'suppose' too." He took a sip of sherbet from the tall
+crystal goblet the servant had placed on a little three-legged stool
+beside him, and as he drank the cool liquid slowly, looked over the
+glass into my eyes, with a curious, half earnest, half smiling glance; I
+could not tell whether my enthusiastic picture of conjugal bliss amused
+him or attracted him, so I waited for him to speak again.
+
+"Now that you have had your cruise in your ship of happiness on the
+waters of your cerulean imagination, permit me, who am land-born and a
+lover of the chase, to put my steed at a few fences in the difficult
+country of unadorned facts over which I propose to hunt the wily fox,
+matrimony. I have never hunted a fox, but I can quite well imagine what
+it is like.
+
+"In the first place, it is all very well to suppose that it had pleased
+Allah in his goodness to relieve me of my three incumbrances--meanwhile,
+there they are, and they are very real difficulties I assure you.
+Nevertheless are there means provided us by the foresight of the
+apostle, by which we may ease ourselves of domestic burdens when they
+are too heavy for us to bear. It would be quite within the bounds of
+possibility for me to divorce them all three, without making any special
+scandal. But if I did this thing, do you not think that my experience of
+married life has given me the most ineradicable prejudices against women
+as daily companions? Am I not persuaded that they all bicker and chatter
+and nibble sweetmeats alike--absolutely alike? Or if I looked abroad--"
+
+"Stop," I said, "I am not reasoner enough to persuade you that all women
+have souls. Very likely in Persia and India they have not. I only want
+you to believe that there may be women so fortunate as to possess a
+modicum of immortality. Well, pardon my interruption, 'if you looked
+abroad,' as you were saying?--"
+
+"If I looked abroad, I should probably discover little petty traits of
+the same class, if not exactly identical. I know little of Englishmen,
+and might be the more readily deceived. Supposing, if you will, that,
+after freeing myself from all my present ties, in order to start afresh,
+I were to find myself attracted by some English girl here"--there must
+have been something wrong with the mouthpiece of his pipe, for he
+examined it very attentively-- "attracted," he continued, "by some one,
+for instance, by Miss Westonhaugh--" he stopped short.
+
+So my inspiration was right. My little picture, framed as we rode
+homeward, and indignantly scoffed at by my calmer reason, had visited
+his brain too. He had looked on the fair northern woman and fancied
+himself at her side, her lover, her husband. All this conversation and
+argument had been only a set plan to give himself the pleasure of
+contemplating and discussing such a union, without exciting surprise or
+comment. I had been suspecting it for some time, and now his sudden
+interest in his mouthpiece, to conceal a very real embarrassment, put
+the matter beyond all doubt.
+
+He was probably in love, my acquaintance of two days. He saw in me a
+plain person, who could not possibly be a rival, having some knowledge
+of the world, and he was in need of a confidant, like a school-girl. I
+reflected that he was probably a victim for the first time. There is
+very little romance in India, and he had, of course, married for
+convenience and respectability rather than for any real affection. His
+first passion! This man who had been tossed about like a bit of
+driftwood, who had by his own determination and intelligence carved his
+way to wealth and power in the teeth of every difficulty. Just now, in
+his embarrassment, he looked very boyish. His troubles had left no
+wrinkles on his smooth forehead, his bright black hair was untinged by a
+single thread of gray, and as he looked up, after the pause that
+followed when he mentioned the name of the woman he loved, there was a
+very really youthful look of mingled passion and distress in his
+beautiful eyes.
+
+"I think, Mr. Isaacs, that you have used a stronger argument against the
+opinions you profess to hold than I could have found in my whole armoury
+of logic."
+
+As he looked at me, the whole field of possibilities seemed opened. I
+must have been mistaken in thinking this marriage impossible and
+incongruous. What incongruity could there be in Isaacs marrying Miss
+Westonhaugh? My conclusions were false. Why must he necessarily return
+with her to England, and wear a red coat, and make himself ridiculous at
+the borough elections? Why should not this ideal couple choose some
+happy spot, as far from the corrosive influence of Anglo-Saxon prejudice
+as from the wretched sensualism of prosperous life east of the
+Mediterranean? I was carried away by the idea, returning with redoubled
+strength as a sequel to what I had argued and to what I had guessed.
+"Why not?" was the question I repeated to myself over and over again in
+the half minute's pause after Isaacs finished speaking.
+
+"You are right," he said slowly, his half-closed eyes fixed on his feet.
+"Yes, you are right. Why not? Indeed, indeed, why not?"
+
+It must have been pure guess-work, this reading of my thoughts. When he
+was last speaking his manner was all indifference, scorn of my ideas,
+and defiance of every western mode of reasoning. And now, apparently by
+pure intuition, he gave a direct answer to the direct question I had
+mentally asked, and, what is more, his answer came with a quiet,
+far-away tone of conviction that had not a shade of unbelief in it. It
+was delivered as monotonously and naturally as a Christian says "Credo
+in unum Deum," as if it were not worth disputing; or as the devout
+Mussulman says "La Illah illallah," not stooping to consider the
+existence of any one bold enough to deny the dogma. No argument, not
+hours of patient reasoning, or weeks of well directed persuasion, could
+have wrought the change in the man's tone that came over it at the mere
+mention of the woman he loved. I had no share in his conversion. My
+arguments had been the excuse by which he had converted himself. Was he
+converted? was it real?
+
+"Yes--I think I am," he replied in the same mechanical monotonous
+accent.
+
+I shook myself, drank some sherbet, and kicked off one shoe impatiently.
+Was I dreaming? or had I been speaking aloud, really putting the
+questions he answered so quickly and appositively? Pshaw! a coincidence.
+I called the servant and ordered my hookah to be refilled. Isaacs sat
+still, immovable, lost in thought, looking at his toes; an expression,
+almost stupid in its vacancy, was on his face, and the smoke curled
+slowly up in lazy wreaths from his neglected narghyle.
+
+"You are converted then at last?" I said aloud. No answer followed my
+question; I watched him attentively.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs!" still silence, was it possible that he had fallen asleep?
+his eyes were open, but I thought he was very pale. His upright
+position, however, belied any symptoms of unconsciousness.
+
+"Isaacs! Abdul Hafiz! what is the matter!" He did not move. I rose to my
+feet and knelt beside him where he sat rigid, immovable, like a statue.
+Kiramat Ali, who had been watching, clapped his hands wildly and cried,
+"Wah! wah! Sahib margya!"--"The lord is dead." I motioned him away with
+a gesture and he held his peace, cowering in the corner, his eyes fixed
+on us. Then I bent low as I knelt and looked under my friend's brows,
+into his eyes. It was clear he did not see me, though he was looking
+straight at his feet. I felt for his pulse. It was very low, almost
+imperceptible, and certainly below forty beats to the minute. I took his
+right arm and tried to put it on my shoulder. It was perfectly rigid.
+There was no doubt about it--the man was in a cataleptic trance. I felt
+for the pulse again; it was lost.
+
+I was no stranger to this curious phenomenon, where the mind is
+perfectly awake, but every bodily faculty is lulled to sleep beyond
+possible excitation, unless the right means be employed. I went out and
+breathed the cool night air, bidding the servants be quiet, as the sahib
+was asleep. When sufficiently refreshed I re-entered the room, cast off
+my slippers, and stood a moment by my friend, who was as rigid as ever.
+
+Nature, in her bountiful wisdom, has compensated me for a singular
+absence of beauty by endowing me with great strength, and with one of
+those exceptional constitutions which seem constantly charged with
+electricity. Without being what is called a mesmerist, I am possessed of
+considerable magnetic power, which I have endeavoured to develop as far
+as possible. In many a long conversation with old Manu Lal, my Brahmin
+instructor in languages and philosophy while in the plains, we had
+discussed the trance state in all its bearings. This old pundit was
+himself a distinguished mesmerist, and though generally unwilling to
+talk about what is termed occultism, on finding in me a man naturally
+endowed with the physical characteristics necessary to those pursuits,
+he had given me several valuable hints as to the application of my
+powers. Here was a worthy opportunity.
+
+I rubbed my feet on the soft carpet, and summoning all my strength,
+began to make the prescribed passes over my friend's head and body. Very
+gradually the look of life returned to his face, the generous blood
+welled up under the clear olive skin, the lips parted, and he sighed
+softly. Animation, as always happens in such cases, began at the precise
+point at which it had been suspended, and his first movement was to
+continue his examination of the mouthpiece in his hand. Then he looked
+up suddenly, and seeing me standing over him, gave a little shake, half
+turning his shoulders forward and back, and speaking once more in his
+natural voice, said--
+
+"I must have been asleep! Have I? What has happened? Why are you
+standing there looking at me in that way?" Then, after a short
+interrogatory silence, his face changed and a look of annoyance shaded
+his features as he added in a low tone, "Oh! I see. It has happened to
+me once before. Sit down. I am all right now." He sipped a little
+sherbet and leaned back in his old position. I begged him to go to bed,
+and prepared to withdraw, but he would not let me, and he seemed so
+anxious that I should stay, that I resumed my place. The whole incident
+had passed in ten minutes.
+
+"Stay with me a little longer," he repeated. "I need your company,
+perhaps your advice. I have had a vision, and you must hear about it."
+
+"I thought as I sat here that my spirit left my body and passed out
+through the night air and hovered over Simla. I could see into every
+bungalow, and was conscious of what passed in each, but there was only
+one where my gaze rested, for I saw upon a couch in a spacious chamber
+the sleeping form of one I knew. The masses of fair hair were heaped as
+they fell upon the pillow, as if she had lain down weary of bearing the
+burden of such wealth of gold. The long dark lashes threw little shadows
+on her cheeks, and the parted lips seemed to smile at the sweetness of
+the gently heaving breath that fanned them as it came and went. And
+while I looked, the breath of her body became condensed, as it were, and
+took shape and form and colour, so that the image of herself floated up
+between her body and my watching spirit. Nearer and nearer to me came
+the exquisite vision of beauty, till we were face to face, my soul and
+hers, high up in the night. And there came from her eyes, as the long
+lids lifted, a look of perfect trust, and of love, and of infinite joy.
+Then she turned her face southward and pointed to my life star burning
+bright among his lesser fellows; and with a long sweet glance that bid
+me follow where she led, her maiden soul floated away, half lingering at
+first, as I watched her; then, with dizzy speed, vanishing in the
+firmament as a falling star, and leaving no trace behind, save an
+infinitely sad regret, and a longing to enter with her into that
+boundless empire of peace. But I could not, for my spirit was called
+back to this body. And I bless Allah that he has given me to see her
+once so, and to know that she has a soul, even as I have, for I have
+looked upon her spirit and I know it."
+
+Isaacs rose slowly to his feet and moved towards the open door. I
+followed him, and for a few moments we stood looking out at the scene
+below us. It was near midnight, and the ever-decreasing moon was
+dragging herself up, as if ashamed of her waning beauty and tearful
+look.
+
+"Griggs," said my friend, dropping the formal prefix for the first time,
+"all this is very strange. I believe I am in love!"
+
+"I have not a doubt of it," I replied. "Peace be with you!"
+
+"And with you peace."
+
+So we parted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+In Simla people make morning calls in the morning instead of after dark,
+as in more civilised countries. Soon after dawn I received a note from
+Isaacs, saying that he had business with the Maharajah of Baithopoor
+about some precious stones, but that he would be ready to go with me to
+call on Mr. Currie Ghyrkins at ten o'clock, or soon after. I had been
+thinking a great deal about the events of the previous evening, and I
+was looking forward to my next meeting with Isaacs with intense
+interest. After what had passed, nothing could be such a test of his
+true feelings as the visit to Miss Westonhaugh, which we proposed to
+make together, and I promised myself to lose no gesture, no word, no
+expression, which might throw light on the question that interested
+me--whether such a union were practical, possible, and wise.
+
+At the appointed time, therefore, I was ready, and we mounted and
+sallied forth into the bright autumn day. All visits are made on
+horseback in Simla, as the distances are often considerable. You ride
+quietly along, and the saice follows you, walking or keeping pace with
+your gentle trot, as the case may be. We rode along the bustling mall,
+crowded with men and women on horseback, with numbers of gorgeously
+arrayed native servants and _chuprassies_ of the Government offices
+hurrying on their respective errands, or dawdling for a chat with some
+shabby-looking acquaintance in private life; we passed by the crowded
+little shops on the hill below the church, and glanced at the
+conglomeration of grain-sellers, jewellers, confectioners, and dealers
+in metal or earthen vessels, every man sitting knee-deep in his wares,
+smoking the eternal "hubble-bubble;" we noted the keen eyes of the
+buyers and the hawk's glance of the sellers, the long snake-like fingers
+eagerly grasping the passing coin, and seemingly convulsed into
+serpentine contortion when they relinquished their clutch on a single
+"pi;" we marked this busy scene, set down, like a Punch and Judy show,
+in the midst of the trackless waste of the Himalayas, as if for the
+delectation and pastime of some merry _genius loci_ weary of the solemn
+silence in his awful mountains, and we chatted carelessly of the sights
+animate and inanimate before us, laughing at the asseverations of the
+salesmen, and at the hardened scepticism of the customer, at the
+portentous dignity of the superb old messenger, white-bearded and clad
+in scarlet and gold, as he bombastically described to the knot of poor
+relations and admirers that elbowed him the splendours of the last
+entertainment at "Peterhof," where Lord Lytton still reigned. I smiled,
+and Isaacs frowned at the ancient and hairy ascetic believer, who
+suddenly rose from his lair in a corner, and bustled through the crowd
+of Hindoos, shouting at the top of his voice the confession of his
+faith--"Beside God there is no God, and Muhammad is his apostle!" The
+universality of the Oriental spirit is something amazing. Customs,
+dress, thought, and language, are wonderfully alike among all Asiatics
+west of Thibet and south of Turkistan. The greatest difference is in
+language, and yet no one unacquainted with the dialects could
+distinguish by the ear between Hindustani, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish.
+
+So we moved along, and presently found ourselves on the road we had
+traversed the previous evening, leading round Jako. On the slope of the
+hill, hidden by a dense growth of rhododendrons, lay the bungalow of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, and a board at the entrance of the ride--drive there
+was none--informed us that the estate bore the high-sounding title of
+"Carisbrooke Castle," in accordance with the Simla custom of calling
+little things by big names.
+
+Having reached the lawn near the house, we left our horses in charge of
+the saice and strolled up the short walk to the verandah. A charming
+picture it was, prepared as if on purpose for our especial delectation.
+The bungalow was a large one for Simla, and the verandah was deep and
+shady; many chairs of all sorts and conditions stood about in natural
+positions, as if they had just been sat in, instead of being ranged in
+stiff rows against the wall, and across one angle hung a capacious
+hammock. Therein, swinging her feet to the ground, and holding on by the
+edge rope, sat the beautiful Miss Westonhaugh, clad in one of those
+close-fitting unadorned costumes of plain dark-blue serge, which only
+suit one woman in ten thousand, though, when they clothe a really
+beautiful young figure, I know of no garment better calculated to
+display grace of form and motion. She was kicking a ball of worsted with
+her dainty toes, for the amusement and instruction of a small tame
+jackal--the only one I ever saw thoroughly domesticated. A charming
+little beast it was, with long gray fur and bright twinkling eyes,
+mischievous and merry as a gnome's. From a broad blue ribbon round its
+neck was suspended a small silver bell that tinkled spasmodically, as
+the lively little thing sprang from side to side in pursuit of the ball,
+alighting with apparent indifference on its head or its heels.
+
+So busy was the girl with her live plaything that she had not seen us
+dismount and approach her, and it was not till our feet sounded on the
+boards of the verandah that she looked up with a little start, and tried
+to rise to her feet. Now any one who has sat sideways in a netted
+hammock, with feet swinging to the ground, and all the weight in the
+middle of the thing, knows how difficult it is to get out with grace, or
+indeed in any way short of rolling out and running for luck. You may
+break all your bones in the feat, and you both look and feel as if you
+were going to. Though we both sprang forward to her assistance, Miss
+Westonhaugh had recognised the inexpediency of moving after the first
+essay, and, with a smile of greeting, and the faintest tinge of
+embarrassment on her fair cheek, abandoned the attempt; the quaint
+little jackal sat up, backing against the side of the house, and, eyeing
+us critically, growled a little.
+
+"I'm so glad to see you, Mr. Isaacs. How do you do, Mr.----"
+
+"Griggs," murmured Isaacs, as he straightened a rope of the hammock by
+her side.
+
+"Mr. Griggs?" she continued. "We met last night, briefly, but to the
+point, or at least you and my uncle did. I am alone; my uncle is gone
+down towards Kalka to meet my brother, who is coming up for a fortnight
+at the end of the season to get rid of the Bombay mould. Bring up some
+of those chairs and sit down. I cannot tell what has become of the
+'bearer' and the 'boy,' and the rest of the servants, and I could not
+make them understand me if they were here. So you must wait on
+yourselves."
+
+I was the first to lay hands on a chair, and as I turned to bring it I
+noticed she was following Isaacs with the same expression I had seen on
+her face the previous evening; but I could see it better now. A pleasant
+friendly look, not tender so much as kind, while the slightest possible
+contraction of the eyes showed a feeling of curiosity. She was evidently
+going to speak to him as soon as he turned his face.
+
+"You see I have been giving him lessons," she said, as he brought back
+the seat he had chosen.
+
+Isaacs looked at the queer small beast sitting up against the boards
+under the window, his brush tail curled round him, and his head turned
+inquiringly on one side.
+
+"He seems to be learning manners, at all events," said my friend.
+
+"Yes; I think I may say now, with safety, that his bark is worse than
+his bite."
+
+"I am sure you could not have said so the last time I came. Do you
+remember what fearful havoc he made among my nether garments? And yet he
+is my god-child, so to speak, for I gave him into your care, and named
+him into the bargain."
+
+"Don't suppose I am ungrateful for the gift," answered Miss Westonhaugh.
+"Snap! Snap! here! come here, darling, to your mistress, and be petted!"
+In spite of this eloquent appeal Snap, the baby jackal, only growled
+pleasantly and whisked his brush right and left. "You see," she went on,
+"your sponsorship has had no very good results. He will not obey any
+more than you yourself." Her glance, turning towards Isaacs, did not
+reach him, and, in fact, she could not have seen anything beyond the
+side of his chair. Isaacs, on the contrary, seemed to be counting her
+eyelashes, and taking a mental photograph of her brows.
+
+"Snap!" said he. The jackal instantly rose and trotted to him, fawning
+on his outstretched hand.
+
+"You malign me, Miss Westonhaugh. Snap is no less obedient than I."
+
+"Then why did you insist on playing tennis left-handed the other day,
+though you know very well how it puzzles me?"
+
+"My dear Miss Westonhaugh," he answered, "I am not a tennis-player at
+all, to begin with, and as I do not understand the _finesse_ of the
+game, to use a word I do not understand either, you must pardon my
+clumsiness in employing the hand most convenient and ready."
+
+"Some people," I began, "are what is called ambidexter, and can use
+either hand with equal ease. Now the ancient Persians, who invented the
+game of polo----"
+
+"I do not quarrel so much with you, Mr. Isaacs--" as she said this, she
+looked at me, though entirely disregarding and interrupting my
+instructive sentence--"I don't quarrel with you so much for using your
+left hand at tennis as for employing left-handed weapons when you speak
+of other things, or beings, for you are never so left-handed and so
+adroit as when you are indulging in some elaborate abuse of our sex."
+
+"How can you say that?" protested Isaacs. "You know with what respectful
+and almost devotional reverence I look upon all women, and," his eyes
+brightening perceptibly, "upon you in particular."
+
+English women, especially in their youth, are not used to pretty
+speeches. They are so much accustomed to the men of their own
+nationality that they regard the least approach to a compliment as the
+inevitable introduction to the worst kind of insult. Miss Westonhaugh
+was no exception to this rule, and she drew herself up proudly.
+
+There was a moment's pause, during which Isaacs seemed penitent, and she
+appeared to be revolving the bearings of the affront conveyed in his
+last words. She looked along the floor, slowly, till she might have seen
+his toes; then her eyes opened a moment and met his, falling again
+instantly with a change of colour.
+
+"And pray, Mr. Isaacs, would you mind giving us a list of the ladies you
+look upon with 'respectful and devotional reverence?'" One of the horses
+held by the saice at the corner of the lawn neighed lowly, and gave
+Isaacs an opportunity of looking away.
+
+"Miss Westonhaugh," he said quietly, "you know I am a Mussulman, and
+that I am married. It may be that I have borrowed a phrase from your
+language which expresses more than I would convey, though it would ill
+become me to withdraw my last words, since they are true."
+
+It was my turn to be curious now. I wondered where his boldness would
+carry him. Among his other accomplishments, this man was capable of
+speaking the truth even to a woman, not as a luxury and a _bonne
+bouche_, but as a matter of habit. As I looked, the hot blood mantled up
+to his brows. She was watching him, and womanlike, seeing he was in
+earnest and embarrassed, she regained her perfect natural composure.
+
+"Oh, I had forgotten!" she said. "I forgot about your wife in Delhi."
+She half turned in the hammock, and after some searching, during which
+we were silent, succeeded in finding a truant piece of worsted work
+behind her. The wool was pulled out of the needle, and she held the
+steel instrument up against the light, as she doubled the worsted round
+the eye and pushed it back through the little slit. I observed that
+Isaacs was apparently in a line with the light, and that the threading
+took some time.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," she said slowly, and by the very slowness of the address I
+knew she was going to talk to me, and at my friend, as women will; "Mr.
+Griggs, do you know anything about Mohammedans?"
+
+"That is a very broad question," I answered; "almost as broad as the
+Mussulman creed." She began making stitches in the work she held, and
+with a little side shake settled herself to listen, anticipating a
+discourse. The little jackal sidled up and fawned on her feet. I had no
+intention, however, of delivering a lecture on the faith of the prophet.
+I saw my friend was embarrassed in the conversation, and I resolved, if
+possible, to interest her.
+
+"Among primitive people and very young persons," I continued, "marriage
+is an article of faith, a moral precept, and a social law."
+
+"I suppose you are married, Mr. Griggs," she said, with an air of
+childlike simplicity.
+
+"Pardon me, Miss Westonhaugh, I neither condescend to call myself
+primitive, nor aspire to call myself young."
+
+She laughed. I had put a wedge into my end of the conversation.
+
+"I thought," said she, "from the way in which you spoke of 'primitive
+and young persons' that you considered their opinion in regard to--to
+this question, as being the natural and proper opinion of the original
+and civilised young man."
+
+"I repeat that I do not claim to be very civilised, or very
+young--certainly not to be very original, and my renunciation of all
+these qualifications is my excuse for the confirmed bachelorhood to
+which I adhere. Many Mohammedans are young and original; some of them
+are civilised, as you see, and all of them are married. 'There is no
+God but God, Muhammad is his prophet, and if you refuse to marry you are
+not respectable,' is their full creed."
+
+Isaacs frowned at my profanity, but I continued--"I do not mean to say
+anything disrespectful to a creed so noble and social. I think you have
+small chance of converting Mr. Isaacs."
+
+"I would not attempt it," she said, laying down her work in her lap, and
+looking at me for a moment. "But since you speak of creeds, to what
+confession do you yourself belong, if I may ask?"
+
+"I am a Roman Catholic," I answered; adding presently--"Really, though,
+I do not see how my belief in the papal infallibility affects my opinion
+of Mohammedan marriages."
+
+"And what _do_ you think of them?" she inquired, resuming her work and
+applying herself thereto with great attention.
+
+"I think that, though justified in principle by the ordinary
+circumstances of Eastern life, there are cases in which the system acts
+very badly. I think that young men are often led by sheer force of
+example into marrying several wives before they have sufficiently
+reflected on the importance of what they are doing. I think that both
+marriage and divorce are too easily managed in consideration of their
+importance to a man's life, and I am convinced that no civilised man of
+Western education, if he were to adopt Islam, would take advantage of
+his change of faith to marry four wives. It is a case of theory _versus_
+practice, which I will not attempt to explain. It may often be good in
+logic, but it seems to me it is very often bad in real life."
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs; "there are cases----" He stopped, and Miss
+Westonhaugh, who had been very busy over her work, looked quietly up,
+only to find that he was profoundly interested in the horses cropping
+the short grass, as far as the saice would let them stretch their necks,
+on the other side of the lawn.
+
+"I confess," said Miss Westonhaugh, "that my ideas about Mohammedans are
+chiefly the result of reading the Arabian Nights, ever so long ago. It
+seems to me that they treat women as if they had no souls and no minds,
+and were incapable of doing anything rational if left to themselves. It
+is a man's religion. My uncle says so too, and he ought to know."
+
+The conversation was meandering in a kind of vicious circle. Both Isaacs
+and I were far too deeply interested in the question to care for such
+idle discussion. How could this beautiful but not very intellectual
+English girl, with her prejudices and her clumsiness at repartee or
+argument, ever comprehend or handle delicately so difficult a subject? I
+was disappointed in her. Perhaps this was natural enough, considering
+that with two such men as we she must be entirely out of her element.
+She was of the type of brilliant, healthy, northern girls, who depend
+more on their animal spirits and enjoyment of living for their happiness
+than upon any natural or acquired mental powers. With a horse, or a
+tennis court, or even a ball to amuse her, she would appear at her very
+best; would be at ease and do the right thing. But when called upon to
+sustain a conversation, such as that into which her curiosity about
+Isaacs had plunged her, she did not know what to do. She was
+constrained, and even some of her native grace of manner forsook her.
+Why did she avoid his eyes and resort to such a petty little trick as
+threading a needle in order to get a look at him? An American girl, or a
+French woman, would have seen that her strength lay in perfect
+frankness; that Isaacs' straightforward nature would make him tell her
+unhesitatingly anything she wanted to know about himself, and that her
+position was strong enough for her to look him in the face and ask him
+what she pleased. But she allowed herself to be embarrassed, and though
+she had been really glad to see him, and liked him and thought him
+handsome, she was beginning to wish he would go, merely because she did
+not know what to talk about, and would not give him a chance to choose
+his own subject. As neither of us were inclined to carry the analysis of
+matrimony any farther, nor to dispute the opinions of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins as quoted by his niece, there was a pause. I struck in and
+boldly changed the subject.
+
+"Are you going to see the polo this afternoon, Miss Westonhaugh? I heard
+at the hotel that there was to be a match to-day of some interest."
+
+"Oh yes, of course. I would not miss it for anything. Lord Steepleton is
+coming to tiffin, and we shall ride down together to Annandale. Of
+course you are going too; it will be a splendid thing. Do you play polo,
+Mr. Griggs? Mr. Isaacs is a great player, when he can be induced to take
+the trouble. He knows more about it than he does about tennis."
+
+"I am very fond of the game," I answered, "but I have no horses here,
+and with my weight it is not easy to get a mount for such rough work."
+
+"Do not disturb yourself on that score," said Isaacs; "you know my
+stable is always at your disposal, and I have a couple of ponies that
+would carry you well enough. Let us have a game one of those days,
+whenever we can get the ground. We will play on opposite sides and match
+the far west against the far east."
+
+"What fun!" cried Miss Westonhaugh, her face brightening at the idea,
+"and I will hold the stakes and bestow the crown on the victor."
+
+"What is to be the prize?" asked Isaacs, with a smile of pleasure. He
+was very literal and boyish sometimes.
+
+"That depends on which is the winner," she answered.
+
+There was a noise among the trees of horses' hoofs on the hard path, and
+presently we heard a voice calling loudly for a saice who seemed to be
+lagging far behind. It was a clear strong voice, and the speaker abused
+the groom's female relations to the fourth and fifth generations with
+considerable command of the Hindustani language. Miss Westonhaugh, who
+had not been in the country long, did not understand a word of the very
+free swearing that was going on in the woods, but Isaacs looked annoyed,
+and I registered a black mark against the name of the new-comer, whoever
+he might be.
+
+"Oh! it is Lord Steepleton," said the young girl. "He seems to be always
+having a row with his servants. Don't go," she went on as I took up my
+hat; "he is such a good fellow, you ought to know him."
+
+Lord Steepleton Kildare now appeared at the corner of the lawn, hotly
+pursued by his breathless groom, who had been loitering on the way, and
+had thus roused his master's indignation. He was, as I have said, a fine
+specimen of a young Englishman, though being Irish by descent he would
+have indignantly denied any such nationality. I saw when he had
+dismounted that he was tall and straight, though not a very heavily
+built man. He carried his head high, and looked every inch a soldier as
+he strode across the grass, carefully avoiding the pegs of the tennis
+net. He wore a large gray felt hat, like every one else, and he shook
+hands all round before he took it off, and settled himself in an easy
+chair as near as he could get to Miss Westonhaugh's hammock.
+
+"How are ye? Ah--yes, Mr. Isaacs, Mr. Griggs of Allahabad. Jolly day,
+isn't it?" and he looked vaguely at the grass. "Really, Miss
+Westonhaugh, I got in such a rage with my rascal of a saice that I did
+not remember I was so near the house. I am really very sorry I talked
+like that. I hope you did not think I was murdering him?"
+
+Isaacs looked annoyed.
+
+"Yes," said he, "we thought Mahmoud was going to have a bad time of it.
+I believe Miss Westonhaugh does not understand Hindustani."
+
+A look of genuine distress came into the Englishman's face.
+
+"Really," said he, very simply. "You don't know how sorry I am that any
+one should have heard me. I am so hasty. But let me apologise to you all
+most sincerely for disturbing you with my brutal temper."
+
+His misdeed had not been a very serious crime after all, and there was
+something so frank and honest about his awkward little apology that I
+was charmed. The man was a gentleman. Isaacs bowed in silence, and Miss
+Westonhaugh had evidently never thought much about it.
+
+"We were talking about polo when you came, Lord Steepleton; Mr. Isaacs
+and Mr. Griggs are going to play a match, and I am to hold the stakes.
+Do you not want to make one in the game?"
+
+"May I?" said the young man, grateful to her for having helped him out.
+"May I? I should like it awfully. I so rarely get a chance of playing
+with any except the regular set here." And he looked inquiringly at us.
+
+"We should be delighted, of course," said Isaacs. "By the way, can you
+help us to make up the number? And when shall it be?" He seemed suddenly
+very much interested in this projected contest.
+
+"Oh yes," said Kildare, "I will manage to fill up the game, and we can
+play next Monday. I know the ground is free then."
+
+"Very good; on Monday. We are at Laurie's on the hill."
+
+"I am staying with Jack Tygerbeigh, near Peterhof. Come and see us. I
+will let you know before Monday. Oh, Mr. Griggs, I saw such a nice thing
+about me in the _Howler_ the other day--so many thanks. No, really,
+greatly obliged, you know; people say horrid things about me sometimes.
+Good-bye, good-bye, delighted to have seen you."
+
+"Good morning, Miss Westonhaugh."
+
+"Good morning; so good of you to take pity on my solitude." She smiled
+kindly at Isaacs and civilly at me. And we went our way. As we looked
+back after mounting to lift our hats once more, I saw that Miss
+Westonhaugh had succeeded in getting out of the hammock and was tying on
+a pith hat, while Lord Steepleton had armed himself with balls and
+rackets from a box on the verandah. As we bowed they came down the
+steps, looking the very incarnation of animal life and spirits in the
+anticipation of the game they loved best. The bright autumn sun threw
+their figures into bold relief against the dark shadow of the verandah,
+and I thought to myself they made a very pretty picture. I seemed to be
+always seeing pictures, and my imagination was roused in a new
+direction.
+
+We rode away under the trees. My impression of the whole visit was
+unsatisfactory. I had thought Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would be there, and
+that I would be able to engage him in a political discussion. We could
+have talked income-tax, and cotton duties, and Kabul by the hour, and
+Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs would have had a pleasant _tete-a-tete._
+Instead of this I had been decidedly the unlucky third who destroys the
+balance of so much pleasure in life, for I felt that Isaacs was not a
+man to be embarrassed if left alone with a woman, or to embarrass her.
+He was too full of tact, and his sensibilities were so fine that, with
+his easy command of language, he must be agreeable _quand meme_; and
+such an opportunity would have given him an easy lead away from the
+athletic Kildare, whom I suspected strongly of being a rival for Miss
+Westonhaugh's favour. There is an easy air of familiar proprietorship
+about an Englishman in love that is not to be mistaken. It is a subtle
+thing, and expresses itself neither in word nor deed in its earlier
+stages of development; but it is there all the same, and the combination
+of this possessive mood, with a certain shyness which often goes with
+it, is amusing.
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs, "have you ever seen the Rajah of Baithopoor?"
+
+"No; you had some business with him this morning, had you not?"
+
+"Yes--some--business--if you call it so. If you would like to see him I
+can take you there, and I think you would be interested in the--the
+business. It is not often such gems are bought and sold in such a way,
+and besides, he is very amusing. He is at least two thousand years old,
+and will go to Saturn when he dies. His fingers are long and crooked,
+and that which he putteth into his pockets, verily he shall not take it
+out."
+
+"A pleasing picture; a good contrast to the one we have left behind us.
+I like contrasts, and I should like to see him."
+
+"You shall." And we lit our cheroots.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+"We will go there at four," said Isaacs, coming into my rooms after
+tiffin, a meal of which I found he rarely partook. "I said three, this
+morning, but it is not a bad plan to keep natives waiting. It makes them
+impatient, and then they commit themselves."
+
+"You are Machiavellian. It is pretty clear which of you is asking the
+favour."
+
+"Yes, it is pretty clear." He sat down and took up the last number of
+the _Howler_ which lay on the table. Presently he looked up. "Griggs,
+why do you not come to Delhi? We might start a newspaper there, you
+know, in the Conservative interest."
+
+"In the interest of Mr. Algernon Currie Ghyrkins?" I inquired.
+
+"Precisely. You anticipate my thoughts with a true sympathy. I suppose
+you have no conscience?"
+
+"Political conscience? No, certainly not, out of my own country, which
+is the only one where that sort of thing commands a high salary. No, I
+have no conscience."
+
+"You would really write as willingly for the Conservatives as you do for
+the Liberals?"
+
+"Oh yes. I could not write so well on the Conservative side just now,
+because they are 'in,' and it is more blessed to abuse than to be
+abused, and ever so much easier. But as far as any prejudice on the
+subject is concerned, I have none. I had as lief defend a party that
+robs India 'for her own good,' as support those who would rob her with a
+more cynical frankness and unblushingly transfer the proceeds to their
+own pockets. I do not care a rush whether they rob Peter to pay Paul, or
+fraudulently deprive Paul of his goods for the benefit of Peter."
+
+"That is the way to look at it. I could tell you some very pretty
+stories about that kind of thing. As for the journalistic enterprise, it
+is only a possible card to be played if the old gentleman is obdurate."
+
+"Isaacs," said I, "I have only known you three days, but you have taken
+me into your confidence to some extent; probably because I am not
+English. I may be of use to you, and I am sure I sincerely hope so.
+Meanwhile I want to ask you a question, if you will allow me to." I
+paused for an answer. We were standing by the open door, and Isaacs
+leaned back against the door-post, his eyes fixed on me, half closed, as
+he threw his head back. He looked at me somewhat curiously, and I
+thought a smile flickered round his mouth, as if he anticipated what the
+question would be.
+
+"Certainly," he said slowly. "Ask me anything you like. I have nothing
+to conceal."
+
+"Do you seriously think of marrying, or proposing to marry, Miss
+Katharine Westonhaugh?"
+
+"I do seriously think of proposing to marry, and of marrying, Miss
+Westonhaugh." He looked very determined as he thus categorically
+affirmed his intention. I knew he meant it, and I knew enough of
+Oriental character to understand that a man like Abdul Hafizben-Isak, of
+strong passions, infinite wit, and immense wealth, was not likely to
+fail in anything he undertook to do. When Asiatic indifference gives way
+under the strong pressure of some master passion, there is no length to
+which the hot and impetuous temper beneath may not carry the man. Isaacs
+had evidently made up his mind. I did not think he could know much about
+the usual methods of wooing English girls, but as I glanced at his
+graceful figure, his matchless eyes, and noted for the hundredth time
+the commanding, high-bred air that was the breath of his character, I
+felt that his rival would have but a poor chance of success. He guessed
+my thoughts.
+
+"What do you think of me?" he asked, smiling. "Will you back me for a
+place? I have advantages, you must allow--and worldly advantages too.
+They are not rich people at all."
+
+"My dear Isaacs, I will back you to win. But as far as 'worldly
+advantages' are concerned, do not trust to wealth for a moment. Do not
+flatter yourself that there will be any kind of a bargain, as if you
+were marrying a Persian girl. There is nothing venal in that young
+lady's veins, I am sure."
+
+"Allah forbid! But there is something very venal in the veins of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins. I propose to carry the outworks one by one. He is her
+uncle, her guardian, her only relation, save her brother. I do not think
+either of those men would be sorry to see her married to a man of
+stainless name and considerable fortune."
+
+"You forget your three incumbrances, as you called them last night."
+
+"No--I do not forget them. It is allowed me by my religion to marry a
+fourth, and I need not tell you that she would be thenceforth my only
+wife."
+
+"But would her guardian and brother ever think of allowing her to take
+such a position?"
+
+"Why not? You know very well that the English in general hardly consider
+our marriages to be marriages at all--knowing the looseness of the bond.
+That is the prevailing impression."
+
+"Yes, I know. But then they would consider your marriage with Miss
+Westonhaugh in the same light, which would not make matters any easier,
+as far as I can see."
+
+"Pardon me. I should marry Miss Westonhaugh by the English marriage
+service and under English law. I should be as much bound to her, and to
+her alone, as if I were an Englishman myself."
+
+"Well, you have evidently thought it out and taken legal advice; and
+really, as far as the technical part of it goes, I suppose you have as
+good a chance as Lord Steepleton Kildare."
+
+Isaacs frowned, and his eyes flashed. I saw at once that he considered
+the Irish officer a rival, and a dangerous one. I did not think that if
+Isaacs had fair play and the same opportunities Kildare had much chance.
+Besides there was a difficulty in the way.
+
+"As far as religion is concerned, Lord Steepleton is not much better off
+than you, if he wants to marry Miss Westonhaugh. The Kildares have been
+Roman Catholics since the memory of man, and they are very proud of it.
+Theoretically, it is as hard for a Roman Catholic man to marry a
+Protestant woman, as for a Mussulman to wed a Christian of any
+denomination. Harder, in fact, for your marriage depends upon the
+consent of the lady, and his upon the consent of the Church. He has all
+sorts of difficulties to surmount, while you have only to get your
+personality accepted--which, when I look at you, I think might be done,"
+I added, laughing.
+
+"_Jo hoga, so hoga_--what will be, will be," he said; "but religion or
+no religion, I mean to do it." Then he lighted a cigarette and said,
+"Come, it is time to go and see his Saturnine majesty, the Maharajah of
+Baithopoor."
+
+I called for my hat and gloves.
+
+"By-the-bye, Griggs, you may as well put on a black coat. You know the
+old fellow is a king, after all, and you had better produce a favourable
+impression." I retired to comply with his request, and as I came back he
+turned quickly and came towards me, holding out both hands, with a very
+earnest look in his face.
+
+"Griggs, I care for that lady more than I can tell you," he said, taking
+my hands in his.
+
+"My dear fellow, I am sure you do. People do not go suddenly into
+trances at a name that is indifferent to them. I am sure you love her
+very honestly and dearly."
+
+"You and she have come into my life almost together, for it was not
+until I talked with you last night that I made up my mind. Will you help
+me? I have not a friend in the world." The simple, boyish look was in
+his eyes, and he stood holding my hands and waiting for my answer. I was
+so fascinated that I would have then and there gone through fire and
+water for him, as I would now.
+
+"Yes. I will help you. I will be a friend to you."
+
+"Thank you. I believe you." He dropped my hands, and we turned and went
+out, silent.
+
+In all my wanderings I had never promised any man my friendship and
+unconditional support before. There was something about Isaacs that
+overcame and utterly swept away preconceived ideas, rules, and
+prejudices. It was but the third day of our acquaintance, and here was I
+swearing eternal friendship like a school-girl; promising to help a man,
+of whose very existence I knew nothing three days ago, to marry a woman
+whom I had seen for the first time yesterday. But I resolved that,
+having pledged myself, I would do my part with my might, whatever that
+part might be. Meanwhile we rode along, and Isaacs began to talk about
+the visit we were going to make.
+
+"I think," he said, "that you had better know something about this
+matter beforehand. The way is long, and we cannot ride fast over the
+steep roads, so there is plenty of time. Do not imagine that I have idly
+asked you to go with me because I supposed it would amuse you. Dismiss
+also from your mind the impression that it is a question of buying and
+selling jewels. It is a very serious matter, and if you would prefer to
+have nothing to do with it, do not hesitate to say so. I promised the
+maharajah this morning that I would bring, this afternoon, a reliable
+person of experience, who could give advice, and who might be induced to
+give his assistance as well as his counsel. I have not known you long,
+but I know you by reputation, and I decided to bring you, if you would
+come. From the very nature of the case I can tell you nothing more,
+unless you consent to go with me."
+
+"I will go," I said.
+
+"In that case I will try and explain the situation in as few words as
+possible. The maharajah is in a tight place. You will readily understand
+that the present difficulties in Kabul cause him endless anxiety,
+considering the position of his dominions. The unexpected turn of
+events, following now so rapidly on each other since the English
+wantonly sacrificed Cavagnari and his friends to a vainglorious love of
+bravado, has shaken the confidence of the native princes in the
+stability of English rule. They are frightened out of their senses,
+having the fear of the tribes before them if the English should be
+worsted; and they dread, on the other hand, lest the English, finding
+themselves in great straits, should levy heavy contributions on
+them--the native princes--for the consolidation of what they term the
+'Empire.' They have not much sense, these poor old kings and boy
+princes, or they would see that the English do not dare to try any of
+those old-fashioned Clive tactics now. But old Baithopoor has heard all
+about the King of Oude, and thinks he may share the same fate."
+
+"I think he may make his mind easy on that score. The kingdom of
+Baithopoor is too inconveniently situated and too full of mosquitoes to
+attract the English. Besides, there are more roses than rubies there
+just now."
+
+"True, and that question interests me closely, for the old man owes me a
+great deal of money. It was I who pulled him through the last famine."
+
+"Not a very profitable investment, I should think. Shall you ever see a
+rupee of that money again?"
+
+"Yes; he will pay me; though I did not think so a week ago, or indeed
+yesterday. I lent him the means of feeding his people and saving many of
+them from actual death by starvation, because there are so many
+Mussulmans among them, though the maharajah is a Hindoo. As for him, he
+might starve to-morrow, the infidel hound; I would not give him a
+_chowpatti_ or a mouthful of _dal_ to keep his wretched old body alive."
+
+"Do I understand that this interview relates to the repayment of the
+moneys you have advanced?"
+
+"Yes; though that is not the most interesting part of it. He wanted to
+pay me in flesh--human flesh, and he offered to make me a king into the
+bargain, if I would forgive him the debt. The latter part of the
+proposal was purely visionary. The promise to pay in so much humanity he
+is able to perform. I have not made up my mind."
+
+I looked at Isaacs in utter astonishment. What in the world could he
+mean? Had the maharajah offered him some more wives--creatures of
+peerless beauty and immense value? No; I knew he would not hesitate now
+to refuse such a proposition.
+
+"Will you please to explain what you mean by his paying you in man?" I
+asked.
+
+"In two words. The Maharajah of Baithopoor has in his possession a man.
+Safely stowed away under a triple watch and carefully tended, this man
+awaits his fate as the maharajah may decide. The English Government
+would pay an enormous sum for this man, but Baithopoor fears that they
+would ask awkward questions, and perhaps not believe the answers he
+would give them. So, as he owes me a good deal, he thinks I might be
+induced to take his prisoner and realise him, so to speak; thus
+cancelling the debt, and saving him from the alternative of putting the
+man to death privately, or of going through dangerous negotiations with
+the Government. Now this thing is perfectly feasible, and it depends
+upon me to say 'yes' or 'no' to the proposition. Do you see now? It is a
+serious matter enough."
+
+"But the man--who is he? Why do the English want him so much?"
+
+Isaacs pressed his horse close to mine, and looking round to see that
+the saice was a long way behind, he put his hand on my shoulder, and,
+leaning out of the saddle till his mouth almost touched my ear, he
+whispered quickly--
+
+"Shere Ali."
+
+"The devil, you say!" I ejaculated, surprised out of grammar and decorum
+by the startling news. Persons who were in India in 1879 will not have
+forgotten the endless speculation caused by the disappearance of the
+Emir of Afghanistan, Shere Ali, in the spring of that year. Defeated by
+the English at Ali Musjid and Peiwar, and believing his cause lost, he
+fled, no one knew whither; though there is reason to think that he might
+have returned to power and popularity among the Afghan tribes if he had
+presented himself after the murder of Cavagnari.
+
+"Yes," continued Isaacs, "he has been a prisoner in the palace of
+Baithopoor for six weeks, and not a soul save the maharajah and you and
+I know it. He came to Baithopoor, humbly disguised as a Yogi from the
+hills, though he is a Mussulman, and having obtained a private hearing,
+disclosed his real name, proposing to the sovereign a joint movement on
+Kabul, then just pacified by the British, and promising all manner of
+things for the assistance. Old Baitho, who is no fool, clapped him into
+prison under a guard of Punjabi soldiers who could not speak a word of
+Afghan, and after due consideration packed up his traps and betook
+himself to Simla by short stages, for the journey is not an easy one for
+a man of his years. He arrived the day before yesterday, and has
+ostensibly come to congratulate the Viceroy on the success of the
+British arms. He has had to modify the enthusiasm of his proposed
+address, in consequence of the bad news from Kabul. Of course, his first
+move was to send for me, and I had a long interview this morning, in
+which he explained everything. I told him that I would not move in the
+matter without a third person--necessary as a witness when dealing with
+such people--and I have brought you."
+
+"But what was his proposal to invest you with a crown? Did he think you
+were a likely person for a new Emir of Kabul?"
+
+"Exactly. My faith, and above all, my wealth, suggested to him that I,
+as a born Persian, might be the very man for the vacant throne. No
+doubt, the English would be delighted to have me there. But the whole
+thing is visionary and ridiculous. I think I shall accept the other
+proposition, and take the prisoner. It is a good bargain."
+
+I was silent. The intimate way in which I had seen Isaacs hitherto had
+made me forget his immense wealth and his power. I had not realised that
+he could be so closely connected with intrigues of such importance as
+this, or that independant native princes were likely to look upon him as
+a possible Emir of Afghanistan. I had nothing to say, and I determined
+to keep to the part I was brought to perform, which was that of a
+witness, and nothing more. If my advice were asked, I would speak boldly
+for Shere Ali's liberation and protest against the poor man being bought
+and sold in this way. This train of thought reminded me of Isaacs' words
+when we left Miss Westonhaugh that morning. "It is not often," he had
+said, "that you see such jewels bought and sold." No, indeed!
+
+"You see," said Isaacs, as we neared our destination, "Baithopoor is in
+my power, body and soul, for a word from me would expose him to the
+British Government as 'harbouring traitors,' as they would express it.
+On the other hand, the fact that you, the third party, are a journalist,
+and could at a moment's notice give publicity to the whole thing, will
+be an additional safeguard. I have him as in a vice. And now put on your
+most formal manners and look as if you were impenetrable as the rock and
+unbending as cast iron, for we have reached his bungalow."
+
+I could not but admire the perfect calm and caution with which he was
+conducting an affair involving millions of money, a possible indictment
+for high treason, and the key-note of the Afghan question, while I knew
+that his whole soul was absorbed in the contemplation of a beautiful
+picture ever before him, sleeping or waking. Whatever I might think of
+his bargaining for the possession of Shere Ali, he had a great, even
+untiring, intellect. He had the elements of a leader of men, and I
+fondly hoped he might be a ruler some day.
+
+The bungalow in which the Maharajah of Baithopoor had taken up his
+residence during his visit was very much like all the rest of the houses
+I saw in Simla. The verandah, however, was crowded with servants and
+sowars in gorgeous but rather tawdry liveries, not all of them as clean
+as they should have been. Horses with elaborate high saddles and
+embroidered trappings rather the worse for wear were being led up and
+down the walk. As we neared the door there was a strong smell of
+rosewater and native perfumes and hookah tobacco--the indescribable
+odour of Eastern high life. There was also a general air of wasteful and
+tawdry dowdiness, if I may coin such a word, which one constantly sees
+in the retinues of native princes and rich native merchants, ill
+contrasting with the great intrinsic value of some of the ornaments worn
+by the chief officers of the train.
+
+Isaacs spoke a few words in a low voice to the jemadar at the door, and
+we were admitted into a small room in the side of the house, opening, as
+all rooms do in India, on to the verandah. There were low wooden
+charpoys around the walls, and we sat down, waiting till the maharajah
+should be advised of our arrival. Very soon a jemadar came in and
+informed us that "if the _sahib log_, who were the protectors of the
+poor, would deign to be led by him," we should be shown into the royal
+presence. So we rose and followed the obsequious official into another
+apartment.
+
+The room where the maharajah awaited us was even smaller than the one
+into which we had been first shown. It was on the back of the house, and
+only half lighted by the few rays of afternoon sun that struggled
+through the dense foliage outside. I suppose this apartment had been
+chosen as the scene of the interview on account of its seclusion.
+Outside the window, which was closed, a sowar paced slowly up and down
+to keep away any curious listeners. A heavy curtain hung before the door
+through which we had entered. I thought that on the whole the place
+seemed pretty safe.
+
+The old maharajah sat cross-legged upon a great pile of dark-red
+cushions, his slippers by his side, and a huge hookah before him. He
+wore a plain white pugree with a large jewel set on one side, and his
+body was swathed and wrapped in dark thick stuffs, as if he felt keenly
+the cold autumn air. His face was long, of an ashy yellowish colour, and
+an immense white moustache hung curling down over his sombre robe. One
+hand protruded from the folds and held the richly-jewelled mouthpiece of
+the pipe to his lips, and I noticed that the fingers were long and
+crooked, winding themselves curiously round the gold stem, as if
+revelling in the touch of the precious metal and the gems. As we came
+within his range of vision, his dark eyes shot a quick glance of
+scrutiny at me and then dropped again. Not a movement of the head or
+body betrayed a consciousness of our presence. Isaacs made a long
+salutation in Hindustani, and I followed his example, but he did not
+take off his shoes or make anything more than an ordinary bow. It was
+quite evident that he was master of the situation. The old man took the
+pipe from his mouth and replied in a deep hollow voice that he was glad
+to see us, and that, in consideration of our wealth, fame, and renowned
+wisdom, he would waive all ceremony and beg us to be seated. We sat down
+cross-legged on cushions before him, and as near as we could get, so
+that it seemed as if we three were performing some sacred rite of which
+the object was the tall hookah that stood in the centre of our triangle.
+
+Being seated, Isaacs addressed the prince, still in Hindustani, and said
+that the splendour of his sublime majesty, which was like the sun
+dispelling the clouds, so overcame him with fear and trembling, that he
+humbly implored permission to make use of the Persian tongue, which, he
+was aware, the lord of boundless wisdom spoke with even greater ease
+than himself.
+
+Without waiting for an answer, and with no perceptible manifestation of
+any such "fear and trembling" as he professed, Isaacs at once began to
+speak in his native tongue, and dropping all forms of ceremony or
+circumlocution plunged boldly into business. He did not hesitate to
+explain to the maharajah the strength of his position, dwelling on the
+fact that, by a word to the English of the whereabouts of Shere Ali, he
+could plunge Baithopoor into hopeless and endless entanglements, to
+which there could be but one issue--absorption into the British Raj. He
+dwelt on the large sums the maharajah owed him for assistance lent
+during the late famine, and he skilfully produced the impression that he
+wanted the money down, then and there.
+
+"If your majesty should refuse to satisfy my just claims, I have ample
+weapons by which to satisfy them for myself, and no considerations of
+mercy or pity for your majesty will tempt me to abate one rupee in the
+account of your indebtedness, which, as you well know, is not swelled by
+any usurious interest. You could not have borrowed the money on such
+easy terms from any bank in India or England, and if I have been
+merciful hitherto, I will be so no longer. What saith the Apostle of
+Allah? 'Verily, life for life, and eye for eye, and nose for nose, and
+ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and for wounding retaliation.' And the
+time of your promise is expired and you shall pay me. And is not the
+wise Frank, who sitteth at my right hand, the ready writer, who giveth
+to the public every day a new book to read, the paper of news,
+_Khabar-i-Khagaz_ wherein are written the misdeeds of the wicked, and
+the dealings of the fraudulent and the unwary receive their just reward?
+And think you he will not make a great writing, several columns in
+length, and deliver it to the devils that perform his bidding, and shall
+they not multiply what he hath written, and sow it broadcast over the
+British Raj for the minor consideration of one anna a copy, that all
+shall see how the Maharajah of Baithopoor doth scandalously repudiate
+his debts, and harbour traitors to the Raj in his palace?"
+
+Isaacs said all this in a solemn and impressive manner, calculated to
+inspire awe and terror in the soul of the unhappy debtor. As for the
+maharajah, the cold sweat stood on his face, and at the last words his
+anxiety was so great that the long fingers uncurled spasmodically and
+the jewelled mouthpiece fell back, as the head of a snake, among the
+silken coils of the tube at his feet. Instantly, on feeling the grasping
+hand empty, his majesty, with more alacrity than I would have expected,
+darted forward with outstretched claws, as a hawk on his prey, and
+seizing the glittering thing returned it to his lips with a look of
+evident relief. It was habit, of course, for we were not exactly the men
+to plunder him of his toy, but there was a fierceness about the whole
+action that spoke of the real miser. Then there was silence for a
+moment. The old man was evidently greatly impressed by the perils of his
+situation. Isaacs continued.
+
+"Your majesty well perceives that you have surrounded yourself with
+dangers on all sides. No danger threatens me. I could buy you and
+Baithopoor to-morrow if I chose. But I am a just man. When the prophet,
+whose name be blessed, saith that we shall have eye for eye, and nose
+for nose, and for wounding retaliation, he saith also that 'he that
+remitteth the same as alms it shall be an atonement unto him.' Now your
+majesty is a hard man, and I well know that if I force you to pay me now
+you will cruelly tax and oppress your subjects to refill your coffers.
+And many of your subjects are true believers, following the prophet,
+upon whom be peace; and it is also written 'Thou shalt rob a stranger,
+but thou shalt not rob a brother,'--and if I cause you to rob my
+brethren is not the sin mine, and the atonement thereof? Now also has
+the lawful interest on your bond mounted up to several lakhs of rupees.
+But for the sake of my brethren who are in bondage to you, who are an
+unbeliever and shall broil everlastingly in raging flames, I will yet
+make a covenant with you, and the agreement thereof shall be this:
+
+"You shall deliver into my hand, before the dark half of the next moon,
+the man"--Isaacs lowered his voice to a whisper, barely audible in the
+still room, where the only sound heard as he paused was the tread of the
+sowar on the verandah outside-- "the man Shere Ali, formerly Emir of
+Afghanistan, now hidden in your palace of Baithopoor. Him you shall give
+to me safe and untouched at the place which I shall choose, northwards
+from here, in the pass towards Keitung. And there shall not be an hair
+of his head touched, and if it is good in my eyes I will give him up to
+the British; and if it is good in my eyes, I will slay him, and you
+shall ask no questions. And if you refuse to do this I will go to the
+great lord sahib and tell him of your doings, and you will be arrested
+before this night and shall not escape. But if you consent and put your
+hand to this agreement, I will speak no word, and you shall depart in
+peace; and moreover, for the sake of the true believers in your kingdom
+I will remit to you the whole of the interest on your debt; and the bond
+you shall pay at your convenience. I have spoken, do you answer me."
+Isaacs calmly took from his pocket two rolls covered with Persian
+writing, and lighting a cigarette, proceeded to peruse them carefully,
+to detect any flaw or error in their composition. The face of the old
+maharajah betrayed great emotion, but he bravely pulled away at his
+hookah and tried to think over the situation. In the hope of delivering
+himself from his whole debt he had rashly given himself into the hands
+of a man who hated him, though he had discovered that hatred too late.
+He had flattered himself that the loan had been made out of friendly
+feeling and a desire for his interest and support; he found that Isaacs
+had lent the money, for real or imaginary religious motives, in the
+interest of his co-religionists. I sat silently watching the varying
+passions as they swept over the repulsive face of the old man. The
+silence must have lasted a quarter of an hour.
+
+"Give me the covenant," he said at last, "for I am in the tiger's
+clutches. I will sign it, since I must. But it shall be requited to you,
+Abdul Hafiz; and when your body has been eaten of jackals and wild pigs
+in the forest, your soul shall enter into the shape of a despised
+sweeper, and you and your off-spring shall scavenge the streets of the
+cities of my kingdom and of the kingdom of my son, and son's son, to ten
+thousand generations." A Hindoo cannot express scorn more deadly or hate
+more lasting than this. Isaacs smiled, but there was a concentrated look
+in his face, relentless and hard, as he answered the insult.
+
+"I am not going to bandy words with you. But if you are not quick about
+signing that paper I may change my mind, and send for the Angrezi sowars
+from Peterhof. So you had better hurry yourself." Isaacs produced a
+small inkhorn and a reed pen from his pocket. "Sign," he said, rising to
+his feet "before that soldier outside passes the window three times, or
+I will deliver you to the British."
+
+Trembling in every joint, and the perspiration standing on his face like
+beads, the old man seized the pen and traced his name and titles at the
+foot, first of one copy, and then of the other. Isaacs followed, writing
+his full name in the Persian character, and I signed my name last, "Paul
+Griggs," in large letters at the bottom of each roll, adding the word
+"witness," in case of the transaction becoming known.
+
+"And now," said Isaacs to the maharajah, "despatch at once a messenger,
+and let the man here mentioned be brought under a strong guard and by
+circuitous roads to the pass of Keitung, and let them there encamp
+before the third week from to-day, when the moon is at the full. And I
+will be there and will receive the man. And woe to you if he come not;
+and woe to you if you oppress the true believers in your realm." He
+turned on his heel, and I followed him out of the room after making a
+brief salutation to the old man, cowering among his cushions, a ceremony
+which Isaacs omitted, whether intentionally or from forgetfulness, I
+could not say. We passed through the house out into the air, and
+mounting our horses rode away, leaving the double row of servants
+salaaming to the ground. The duration of our private interview with the
+maharajah had given them an immense idea of our importance. We had come
+at four and it was now nearly five. The long pauses and the Persian
+circumlocutions had occupied a good deal of time.
+
+"You do not seem to have needed my counsel or assistance much," I said.
+"With such an armoury of weapons you could manage half-a-dozen
+maharajahs."
+
+"Yes--perhaps so. But I have strong reasons for wishing this affair
+quickly over, and the editor of a daily paper is a thing of terror to a
+native prince; you must have seen that."
+
+"What do you mean to do with your man when he is safely in your hands,
+if it is not an indiscreet question?"
+
+"Do with him?" asked Isaacs with some astonishment. "Is it possible you
+have not guessed? He is a brave man, and a true believer. I will give
+him money and letters, that he may make his way to Baghdad, or wherever
+he will be safe. He shall depart in peace, and be as free as air."
+
+I had half suspected my friend of some such generous intention, but he
+had played his part of unrelenting hardness so well in our late
+interview with the Hindoo prince that it seemed incomprehensible that a
+man should be so pitiless and so kind on the same day. There was not a
+trace of hardness on his beautiful features now, and as we rounded the
+hill and caught the last beams of the sun, now sinking behind the
+mountains, his face seemed transfigured as with a glory, and I could
+hardly bear to look at him. He held his hat in his hand and faced the
+west for an instant, as though thanking the declining day for its
+freshness and beauty; and I thought to myself that the sun was lucky to
+see such an exquisite picture before he bid Simla good-night, and that
+he should shine the brighter for it the next day, since he would look on
+nothing fairer in his twelve hours' wandering over the other half of
+creation.
+
+"And now," said he, "it is late, but if we ride towards Annandale we may
+meet them coming back from the polo match we have missed." His eyes
+glowed at the thought. Shere Ali, the maharajah, bonds, principal, and
+interest, were all forgotten in the anticipation of a brief meeting with
+the woman he loved.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+"Why did you not come and see the game? After all your enthusiasm about
+polo this morning, I did not think you would miss anything so good,"
+were the first words of Miss Westonhaugh as we met her and Kildare in
+the narrow path that leads down to Annandale. Two men were riding behind
+them, who proved to be Mr. Currie Ghyrkins and Mr. John Westonhaugh. The
+latter was duly introduced to us; a quiet, spare man, with his sister's
+features, but without a trace of her superb colour and animal spirits.
+He had the real Bombay paleness, and had been steamed to the bone
+through the rains. As we were introduced, Isaacs started and said
+quickly that he believed he had met Mr. Westonhaugh before.
+
+"It is possible, quite possible," said that gentleman affably,
+"especially if you ever go to Bombay."
+
+"Yes--it was in Bombay--some twelve years ago. You have probably
+forgotten me."
+
+"Ah, yes. I was young and green then. I wonder you remember me." He did
+not show any very lively interest in the matter, though he smiled
+pleasantly.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh must have been teasing Lord Steepleton, for he looked
+flushed and annoyed, and she was in capital spirits. We turned to go
+back with the party, and by a turn of the wrist Isaacs wheeled his horse
+to the side of Miss Westonhaugh's, a position he did not again abandon.
+They were leading, and I resolved they should have a chance, as the path
+was not broad enough for more than two to ride abreast. So I furtively
+excited my horse by a touch of the heel and a quick strain on the curb,
+throwing him across the road, and thus producing a momentary delay, of
+which the two riders in front took advantage to increase their distance.
+Then we fell in, Mr. Ghyrkins and I in front, while the dejected Kildare
+rode behind with Mr. John Westonhaugh. Ghyrkins and I, being heavy men,
+heavily mounted, controlled the situation, and before long Isaacs and
+Miss Westonhaugh were a couple of hundred yards ahead, and we only
+caught occasional glimpses of them through the trees as they wound in
+and out along the path.
+
+"What are those youngsters talking about, back there? Tigers, I'll be
+bound," said Mr. Ghyrkins to me. Sure enough, they were.
+
+"What do you suppose I found when we got back this afternoon, Mr.
+Griggs? Why, this hair-brained young Kildare has been proposing to my
+niece----" his horse stumbled, but recovered himself in a moment.
+
+"You don't mean it," said I, rather startled.
+
+"Oh no, no, no. I don't mean that at all. Ha! ha! ha! very good, very
+good. No, no. Lord Steepleton wants us all to go on a tiger-hunt to
+amuse John, and he proposes--ha! ha!--really too funny of me--that Miss
+Westonhaugh should go with us."
+
+"I suppose you have no objection, Mr. Ghyrkins? Ladies constantly go on
+such expeditions, and they do not appear to be the least in the way."
+
+"Objections? Of course I have objections. Do you suppose I want to drag
+my niece to a premature grave? Think of the fever and the rough living
+and all, and she only just out from England."
+
+"She looks as if she could stand anything," I said, as just then an open
+space in the trees gave us a glimpse of Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs
+ambling along and apparently in earnest conversation. She certainly
+looked strong enough to go tiger-hunting that minute, as she sat erect
+but half turned to the off side, listening to what Isaacs seemed to be
+saying.
+
+"I hope you will not go and tell her so," said Ghyrkins. "If she gets an
+idea that the thing is possible, there will be no holding her. You don't
+know her. I hardly know her myself. Never saw her since she was a baby
+till the other day. Now you are the sort of person to go after tigers.
+Why do you not go off with my nephew and Mr. Isaacs and Kildare, and
+kill as many of them as you like?"
+
+"I have no objection, I am sure. I suppose the _Howler_ could spare me
+for a fortnight, now that I have converted the Press Commissioner, your
+new _deus ex machina_ for the obstruction of news. What a motley party
+we should be. Let me see.--a Bombay Civil Servant, an Irish nobleman, a
+Persian millionaire, and a Yankee newspaper man. By Jove! add to that a
+famous Revenue Commissioner and a reigning beauty, and the sextett is
+complete." Mr. Ghyrkins looked pleased at the gross flattery of himself.
+I recollected suddenly that, though he was far from famous as a revenue
+commissioner, I had read of some good shooting he had done in his
+younger days. Here was a chance.
+
+"Besides, Mr. Ghyrkins, a tiger-hunting party would not be the thing
+without some seasoned Nimrod to advise and direct us. Who so fitted for
+the post as the man of many a chase, the companion of Maori, the slayer
+of the twelve foot tiger in the Nepaul hills in 1861?"
+
+"You have a good memory, Mr. Griggs," said the old fellow, perfectly
+delighted, and now fairly launched on his favourite topic. "By Gad, sir,
+if I thought I should get such another chance I would go with you
+to-morrow!"
+
+"Why not? there are lots of big man-eaters about," and I incontinently
+reeled off half a page of statistics, more or less accurate, about the
+number of persons destroyed by snakes and wild beasts in the last year.
+"Of course most of those deaths were from tigers, and it is a really
+good action to kill a few. Many people can see tigers but cannot shoot
+them, whereas your deeds of death amongst them ate a matter of history.
+You really ought to be philanthropic, Mr. Ghyrkins, and go with us. We
+might stand a chance of seeing some real sport then."
+
+"Why, really, now that you make me think of it, I believe I should like
+it amazingly, and I could leave my niece with
+Lady--Lady--Stick-in-the-mud; what the deuce is her name? The wife of
+the Chief Justice, you know. You ought to know, really--I never remember
+names much;" he jerked out his sentences irately.
+
+"Certainly, Lady Smith-Tompkins, you mean. Yes, you might do that--that
+is, if Miss Westonhaugh has had the measles, and is not afraid of them.
+I heard this morning that three of the little Smith-Tompkinses had them
+quite badly."
+
+"You don't say so! Well, well, we shall find some one else, no doubt."
+
+I was certain that at that very moment Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were
+planning the whole expedition, and so I returned to the question of
+sport and inquired where we should go. This led to considerable
+discussion, and before we arrived at Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow--still in
+the same order--it was very clear that the old sportsman had made up his
+mind to kill one more tiger at all events; and that, rather than forego
+the enjoyment of the chase, he would be willing to take his niece with
+him. As for the direction of the expedition, that could be decided in a
+day or two. It was not the best season for tigers--the early spring is
+better--but they are always to be found in the forests of the Terai, the
+country along the base of the hills, north of Oude.
+
+When we reached the house it was quite dark, for we had ridden slowly.
+The light from the open door, falling across the verandah, showed us
+Miss Westonhaugh seated in a huge chair, and Isaacs standing by her side
+slightly bending, and holding his hat in his hand. They were still
+talking, but as we rode up to the lawn and shouted for the saices,
+Isaacs stood up and looked across towards us, and their voices ceased.
+It was evident that he had succeeded in thoroughly interesting her, for
+I thought--though it was some distance, and the light on them was not
+strong--that as he straightened himself and stopped speaking, she looked
+up to his face as if regretting that he did not go on. I dismounted with
+the rest and walked up to bid Miss Westonhaugh good-night.
+
+"You must come and dine to-morrow night," said Mr. Ghyrkins, "and we
+will arrange all about it. Sharp seven. To-morrow is Sunday, you know.
+Kildare, you must come too, if you mean business. Seven. We must look
+sharp and start, if we mean to come back here before the Viceroy goes."
+
+"Oh in that case," said Kildare, turning to me, "we can settle all about
+the polo match for Monday, can't we?"
+
+"Of course, very good of you to take the trouble."
+
+"Not a bit of it. Good-night." We bowed and went back to find our horses
+in the gloom. After some fumbling, for it was intensely dark after
+facing the light in the doorway of the bungalow, we got into the saddle
+and turned homeward through the trees.
+
+"Thank you, Griggs," said Isaacs. "May your feet never weary, and your
+shadow never be less."
+
+"Don't mention it, and thanks about the shadow. Only it is never likely
+to be less than at the present moment. How dark it is, to be sure!" I
+knew well enough what he was thanking me for. I lit a cheroot.
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "you are a pretty cool hand, upon my word."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why, indeed! Here you and Miss Westonhaugh have been calmly planning an
+extensive tiger-hunt, when you have promised to be in the neighbourhood
+of Keitung in three weeks, wherever that may be. I suppose it is in the
+opposite direction from here, for you will not find any tigers nearer
+than the Terai at this time of year."
+
+"I do not see the difficulty," he answered. "We can be in Oude in two
+days from here; shoot tigers for ten days, and be here again in two days
+more. That is just a fortnight. It will not take me a week to reach
+Keitung. I am much mistaken if I do not get there in three days. I shall
+lay a _dak_ by messengers before I go to Oude, and between a double set
+of coolies and lots of ponies wherever the roads are good enough, I
+shall be at the place of meeting soon enough, never fear."
+
+"Oh, very well; but I hardly think Ghyrkins will want to return under
+three weeks; and--I did not think you would want to leave the party." He
+had evidently planned the whole three weeks' business carefully. I did
+not continue the conversation. He was naturally absorbed in the
+arrangement of his numerous schemes--no easy matter, when affairs of
+magnitude have to be ordered to suit the exigencies of a _grande
+passion_. I shrank from intruding on his reflections, and I had quite
+enough to do in keeping my horse on his feet in the thick darkness.
+Suddenly he reared violently, and then stood still, quivering in every
+limb. Isaacs' horse plunged and snorted by my side, and cannoned heavily
+against me. Then all was quiet. I could see nothing. Presently a voice,
+low and musical, broke on the darkness, and I thought I could
+distinguish a tall figure on foot at Isaacs' knee. Whoever the man was
+he must be on the other side of my companion, but I made out a head from
+which the voice proceeded.
+
+"Peace, Abdul Hafiz!" it said.
+
+"Aleikum Salaam, Ram Lal!" answered Isaacs. He must have recognised the
+man by his voice.
+
+"Abdul," continued the stranger, speaking Persian. "I have business with
+thee this night; thou art going home. If it is thy pleasure I will be
+with thee in two hours in thy dwelling."
+
+"Thy pleasure is my pleasure. Be it so." I thought the head disappeared.
+
+"Be it so," the voice echoed, growing faint, as if moving rapidly away
+from us. The horses, momentarily startled by the unexpected pedestrian,
+regained their equanimity. I confess the incident gave me a curiously
+unpleasant sensation. It was so very odd that a man on foot--a Persian,
+I judged, by his accent--should know of my companion's whereabouts, and
+that they should recognise each other by their voices. I recollected
+that our coming to Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow was wholly unpremeditated, and
+I was sure Isaacs had spoken to none but our party--not even to his
+saice--since our meeting with the Westonhaughs on the Annandale road an
+hour and a half before.
+
+"I wonder what he wants," said my friend, apparently soliloquising.
+
+"He seems to know where to find you, at all events," I answered. "He
+must have second sight to know you had been to Carisbrooke."
+
+"He has. He is a very singular personage altogether. However, he has
+done me more than one service before now, and though I do not comprehend
+his method of arriving at conclusions, still less his mode of
+locomotion, I am always glad of his advice."
+
+"But what is he? Is he a Persian?--you called him by an Indian name, but
+that may be a disguise--is he a wise man from Iran?"
+
+"He is a very wise man, but not from Iran. No. He is a Brahmin by birth,
+a Buddhist by adopted religion, and he calls himself an 'adept' by
+profession, I suppose, if he can be said to have any. He comes and goes
+unexpectedly, with amazing rapidity. His visits are brief, but he always
+seems to be perfectly conversant with the matter in hand, whatever it
+be. He will come to-night and give me about twenty words of advice,
+which I may follow or may not, as my judgment dictates; and before I
+have answered or recovered from my surprise, he will have vanished,
+apparently into space; for if I ask my servants where he is gone they
+will stare at me as if I were crazy, until I show them that the room is
+empty, and accuse them of going to sleep instead of seeing who goes in
+and out of my apartment. He speaks more languages than I do, and better.
+He once told me he was educated in Edinburgh, and his perfect knowledge
+of European affairs and of European topics leads me to think he must
+have been there a long time. Have you ever looked into the higher phases
+of Buddhism? It is a very interesting study."
+
+"Yes, I have read something about it. Indeed I have read a good deal,
+and have thought more. The subject is full of interest, as you say. If I
+had been an Asiatic by birth, I am sure I should have sought to attain
+_moksha_, even if it required a lifetime to pass through all the degrees
+of initiation. There is something so rational about their theories,
+disclaiming, as they do, all supernatural power; and, at the same time,
+there is something so pure and high in their conception of life, in
+their ideas about the ideal, if you will allow me the expression, that I
+do not wonder Edwin Arnold has set our American transcendentalists and
+Unitarians and freethinkers speculating about it all, and wondering
+whether the East may not have had men as great as Emerson and Channing
+among its teachers." I paused. My greatest fault is that if any one
+starts me upon a subject I know anything about, I immediately become
+didactic. So I paused and reflected that Isaacs, being, as he himself
+declared, frequently in the society of an "adept" of a high class, was
+sure to know a great deal more than I.
+
+"I too," he said, "have been greatly struck, and sometimes almost
+converted, by the beauty of the higher Buddhist thoughts. As for their
+apparently supernatural powers and what they do with them, I care
+nothing about phenomena of that description. We live in a land where
+marvels are common enough. Who has ever explained the mango trick, or
+the basket trick, or the man who throws a rope up into the air and then
+climbs up it and takes the rope after him, disappearing into blue space?
+And yet you have seen those things--I have seen them, every one has seen
+them,--and the performers claim no supernatural agency or assistance. It
+is merely a difference of degree, whether you make a mango grow from the
+seed to the tree in half an hour, or whether you transport yourself ten
+thousand miles in as many seconds, passing through walls of brick and
+stone on your way, and astonishing some ordinary mortal by showing that
+you know all about his affairs. I see no essential difference between
+the two 'phenomena,' as the newspapers call them, since Madame Blavatsky
+has set them all by the ears in this country. It is just the difference
+in the amount of power brought to bear on the action. That is all. I
+have seen, in a workshop in Calcutta, a hammer that would crack an
+eggshell without crushing it, or bruise a lump of iron as big as your
+head into a flat cake. 'Phenomena' may amuse women and children, but the
+real beauty of the system lies in the promised attainment of happiness.
+Whether that state of supreme freedom from earthly care gives the
+fortunate initiate the power of projecting himself to the antipodes by a
+mere act of volition, or of condensing the astral fluid into articles of
+daily use, or of stimulating the vital forces of nature to an abnormal
+activity, is to me a matter of supreme indifference. I am tolerably
+happy in my own way as things are. I should not be a whit happier if I
+were able to go off after dinner and take a part in American politics
+for a few hours, returning to business here to-morrow morning."
+
+"That is an extreme case," I said. "No man in his senses ever connects
+the idea of happiness with American politics."
+
+"Of one thing I am sure, though." He paused as if choosing his words. "I
+am sure of this. If any unforeseen event, whether an act of folly of my
+own, or the hand of Allah, who is wise, should destroy the peace of mind
+I have enjoyed for ten years, with very trifling interruption,--if
+anything should occur to make me permanently unhappy, beyond the
+possibility of ordinary consolation,--I should seek comfort in the study
+of the pure doctrines of the higher Buddhists. The pursuit of a
+happiness, so immeasurably beyond all earthly considerations of bodily
+comfort or of physical enjoyment, can surely not be inconsistent with my
+religion--or with yours."
+
+"No indeed," said I. "But, considering that you are the strictest of
+Mohammedans, it seems to me you are wonderfully liberal. So you have
+seriously contemplated the possibility of your becoming one of the
+'brethren'--as they style themselves?"
+
+"It never struck me until to-day that anything might occur by which my
+life could be permanently disturbed. Something to-day has whispered to
+me that such an existence could not be permanent. I am sure that it
+cannot be. The issue must be either to an infinite happiness or to a
+still more infinite misery. I cannot tell which." His clear, evenly
+modulated voice trembled a little. We were in sight of the lights from
+the hotel.
+
+"I shall not dine with you to-night, Griggs. I will have something in my
+own rooms. Come in as soon as you have done--that is if you are free.
+There is no reason why you should not see Ram Lal the adept, since we
+think alike about his religion, or school, or philosophy--find a name
+for it while you are dining." And we separated for a time.
+
+It had been a long and exciting day to me. I felt no more inclined than
+he did for the din and racket and lights of the public dining-room. So I
+followed his example and had something in my own apartment. Then I
+settled myself to a hookah, resolved not to take advantage of Isaacs'
+invitation until near the time when he expected Ram Lal. I felt the need
+of an hour's solitude to collect my thoughts and to think over the
+events of the last twenty-four hours. I recognised that I was fast
+becoming very intimate with Isaacs, and I wanted to think about him and
+excogitate the problem of his life; but when I tried to revolve the
+situation logically, and deliver to myself a verdict, I found myself
+carried off at a tangent by the wonderful pictures that passed before my
+eyes. I could not detach the events from the individual. His face was
+ever before me, whether I thought of Miss Westonhaugh, or of the
+wretched old maharajah, or of Ram Lal the Buddhist. Isaacs was the
+central figure in every picture, always in the front, always calm and
+beautiful, always controlling the events around him. Then I entered on a
+series of trite reflections to soothe my baffled reason, as a man will
+who is used to understanding what goes on before him and suddenly finds
+himself at a loss. Of course, I said to myself, it is no wonder he
+controls things, or appears to. The circumstances in which I find this
+three days' acquaintance are emphatically those of his own making. He
+has always been a successful man, and he would not raise spirits that he
+could not keep well in hand. He knows perfectly well what he is about in
+making love to that beautiful creature, and is no doubt at this moment
+laughing in his sleeve at my simplicity in believing that he was really
+asking my advice. Pshaw! as if any advice could influence a man like
+that! Absurd.
+
+I sipped my coffee in disgust with myself. All the time, while trying to
+persuade myself that Isaacs was only a very successful schemer, neither
+better nor worse than other men, I was conscious of the face that would
+not be banished from my sight. I saw the beautiful boyish look in his
+deep dark eyes, the gentle curve of the mouth, the grand smooth
+architrave of the brows. No--I was a fool! I had never met a man like
+him, nor should again. How could Miss Westonhaugh save herself from
+loving such a perfect creature? I thought, too, of his generosity. He
+would surely keep his promise and deliver poor Shere Ali, hunted to
+death by English and Afghan foes, from all his troubles. Had he not the
+Maharajah of Baithopoor in his power? He might have exacted the full
+payment of the debt, principal and interest, and saved the Afghan chief
+into the bargain. But he feared lest the poor Mohammedans should suffer
+from the prince's extortion, and he forgave freely the interest,
+amounting now to a huge sum, and put off the payment of the bond itself
+to the maharajah's convenience. Did ever an Oriental forgive a debt
+before even to his own brother? Not in my experience.
+
+I rose and went down to Isaacs. I found him as on the previous evening,
+among his cushions with a manuscript book. He looked up smiling and
+motioned me to be seated, keeping his place on the page with one finger.
+He finished the verse before he spoke, and then laid the book down and
+leaned back.
+
+"So you have made up your mind that you would like to see Ram Lal. He
+will be here in a minute, unless he changes his mind and does not come
+after all."
+
+There was a sound of voices outside. Some one asked if Isaacs were in,
+and the servant answered. A tall figure in a gray _caftan_ and a plain
+white turban stood in the door.
+
+"I never change my mind," said the stranger, in excellent English,
+though with an accent peculiar to the Hindoo tongue when struggling with
+European languages. His voice was musical and high in pitch, though soft
+and sweet in tone. The quality of voice that can be heard at a great
+distance, with no apparent effort to the speaker. "I never change my
+mind. I am here. Is it well with you?"
+
+"It is well, Ram Lal. I thank you. Be seated, if you will stay with us a
+while. This is my friend Mr. Griggs, of whom you probably know. He
+thinks as I do on many points, and I was anxious that you should meet."
+
+While Isaacs was speaking, Ram Lal advanced into the room and stood a
+moment under the soft light, a gray figure, very tall, but not otherwise
+remarkable. He was all gray. The long _caftan_ wrapped round him, the
+turban which I had first thought white, the skin of his face, the
+pointed beard and long moustache, the heavy eyebrows--a study of grays
+against the barbaric splendour of the richly hung wall--a soft outline
+on which the yellow light dwelt lovingly, as if weary of being cast back
+and reflected from the glory of gold and the thousand facets of the
+priceless gems. Ram Lal looked toward me, and as I gazed into his eyes I
+saw that they too were gray--a very singular thing in the East--and that
+they were very far apart, giving his face a look of great dignity and
+fearless frankness. To judge by his features he seemed to be very thin,
+and his high shoulders were angular, though the long loose garment
+concealed the rest of his frame from view. I had plenty of time to note
+these details, for he stood a full minute in the middle of the room, as
+if deciding whether to remain or to go. Then he moved quietly to a divan
+and sat down cross-legged.
+
+"Abdul, you have done a good deed to-day, and I trust you will not
+change your mind before you have carried out your present intentions."
+
+"I never change my mind, Bam Lai," said Isaacs, smiling as he quoted his
+visitor's own words. I was startled at first. What good deed was the
+Buddhist referring to if not to the intended liberation of Shere Ali?
+How could he know of it? Then I reflected that this man was, according
+to Isaacs' declaration, an adept of the higher grades, a seer and a
+knower of men's hearts. I resolved not to be astonished at anything that
+occurred, only marvelling that it should have pleased this extraordinary
+man to make his entrance like an ordinary mortal, instead of through the
+floor or the ceiling.
+
+"Pardon me," answered Ram Lal, "if I venture to contradict you. You do
+change your mind sometimes. Who was it who lately scoffed at women,
+their immortality, their virtue, and their intellect? Will you tell me
+now, friend Abdul, that you have not changed your mind? Do you think of
+anything, sleeping or waking, but the one woman for whom you _have_
+changed your mind? Is not her picture ever before you, and the breath of
+her beauty upon your soul? Have you not met her in the spirit as well as
+in the flesh? Surely we shall hear no more of your doubts about women
+for some time to come. I congratulate you, as far as that goes, on your
+conversion. You have made a step towards a higher understanding of the
+world you live in."
+
+Isaacs did not seem in the least surprised at his visitor's intimate
+acquaintance with his affairs. He bowed his head in silence, acquiescing
+to what Bam Lai had said, and waited for him to proceed.
+
+"I have come," continued the Buddhist, "to give you some good
+advice--the best I have for you. You will probably not take it, for you
+are the most self-reliant man I know, though you have changed a little
+since you have been in love, witness your sudden intimacy with Mr.
+Griggs." He looked at me, and there was a faint approach to a smile in
+his gray eyes. "My advice to you is, do not let this projected
+tiger-hunt take place if you can prevent it. No good can come of it, and
+harm may. Now I have spoken because my mind would not be at rest if I
+did not warn you. Of course you will do as you please, only never forget
+that I pointed out to you the right course in time."
+
+"Thank you, Ram Lal, for your friendly concern in my behalf. I do not
+think I shall act as you suggest, but I am nevertheless grateful to you.
+There is one thing I want to ask you, and consult you about, however."
+
+"My friend, what is the use of my giving you advice that you will not
+follow? If I lived with you, and were your constant companion, you would
+ask me to advise you twenty times a day, and then you would go and do
+the diametric opposite of what I suggested. If I did not see in you
+something that I see in few other men, I would not be here. There are
+plenty of fools who have wit enough to take counsel of a wise man. There
+are few men of wit wise enough to be guided by their betters, as if they
+were only fools for the time. Yet because you are so wayward I will help
+you once or twice more, and then I will leave you to your own
+course--which you, in your blindness, will call your kismet, not seeing
+that your fate is continually in your own hands--more so at this moment
+than ever before. Ask, and I will answer."
+
+"Thanks, Ram Lal. It is this I would know. You are aware that I have
+undertaken a novel kind of bargain. The man you wot of is to be
+delivered to me near Keitung. I am anxious for the man's safety
+afterwards, and I would be glad of some hint about disposing of him. I
+must go alone, for I do not want any witness of what I am going to do,
+and as a mere matter of personal safety for myself and the man I am
+going to set free, I must decide on some plan of action when I meet the
+band of sowars who will escort him. They are capable of murdering us
+both if the maharajah instructs them to. As long as I am alive to bring
+the old man into disgrace with the British, the captive is safe; but it
+would be an easy matter for those fellows to dispose of us together, and
+there would be an end of the business."
+
+"Of course they could," replied Ram Lal, adding in an ironical tone "and
+if you insist upon putting your head down the tiger's throat, how do you
+expect me to prevent the brute from snapping it off? That would be a
+'phenomenon,' would it not? And only this evening you were saying that
+you despised 'phenomena.'"
+
+"I said that such things were indifferent to me. I did not say I
+despised them. But I think that this thing may be done without
+performing any miracles."
+
+"If it were not such a good action on your part I would have nothing to
+do with it. But since you mean to risk your neck for your own peculiar
+views of what is right, I will endeavour that you shall not break it. I
+will meet you a day's journey before you reach Keitung, somewhere on the
+road, and we will go together and do the business. But if I am to help
+you I will not promise not to perform some miracles, as you call them,
+though you know very well they are no such thing. Meanwhile, do as you
+please about the tiger-hunt; I shall say no more about it." He paused,
+and then, withdrawing one delicate hand from the folds of his _caftan_,
+he pointed to the wall behind Isaacs and me, and said, "What a very
+singular piece of workmanship is that yataghan!"
+
+We both naturally turned half round to look at the weapon he spoke of,
+which was the central piece in a trophy of jewelled sabres and Afghan
+knives.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, turning back to answer his guest, "it is a ----" He
+stopped, and I, who had not seen the weapon before, lost among so many,
+and was admiring its singular beauty, turned too; to my astonishment I
+saw that Isaacs was gazing into empty space. The divan where Ram Lal had
+been sitting an instant before, was vacant. He was gone.
+
+"That is rather sudden," I said.
+
+"More so than usual," was the reply. "Did you see him go? Did he go out
+by the door?"
+
+"Not I," I answered, "when I looked round at the wall he was placidly
+sitting on that divan pointing with one hand at the yataghan. Does he
+generally go so quickly?"
+
+"Yes, more or less. Now I will show you some pretty sport." He rose to
+his feet and went to the door. "Narain!" he cried. Narain, the bearer,
+who was squatting against the door-post outside, sprang up and stood
+before his master. "Narain, why did you not show that pundit the way
+downstairs? What do you mean? have you no manners?"
+
+Narain stood open mouthed. "What pundit, sahib?" he asked.
+
+"Why, the pundit who came a quarter of an hour ago, you donkey! He has
+just gone out, and you did not even get up and make a salaam, you
+impertinent vagabond!" Narain protested that no pundit, or sahib, or any
+one else, had passed the threshold since Ram Lal had entered. "Ha! you
+_budmash_. You lazy dog of a Hindoo! you have been asleep again, you
+swine, you son of a pig, you father of piglings! Is that the way you do
+your work in my service?" Isaacs was enjoying the joke in a quiet way
+immensely.
+
+"Sahib," said the trembling Narain, apparently forgetting the genealogy
+his master had thrust upon him, "Sahib, you are protector of the poor,
+you are my father and my mother, and my brother, and all my relations,"
+the common form of Hindoo supplication, "but, Sri Krishnaji! by the
+blessed Krishna, I have not slept a wink."
+
+"Then I suppose you mean me to believe that the pundit went through the
+ceiling, or is hidden under the cushions. Swear not by your false idols,
+slave; I shall not believe you for that, you dog of an unbeliever, you
+soor-be-iman, you swine without faith!"
+
+"Han, sahib, han!" cried Narain, seizing at the idea that the pundit had
+disappeared mysteriously through the walls. "Yes, sahib, the pundit is a
+great yogi, and has made the winds carry him off." The fellow thought
+this was a bright idea, not by any means beneath consideration. Isaacs
+appeared somewhat pacified.
+
+"What makes you think he is a yogi, dog?" he inquired in a milder tone.
+Narain had no answer ready, but stood looking rather stupidly through
+the door at the room whence the unearthly visitor had so suddenly
+disappeared. "Well," continued Isaacs, "you are more nearly right than
+you imagine. The pundit is a bigger yogi than any your idiotic religion
+can produce. Never mind, there is an eight anna bit for you, because I
+said you were asleep when you were not." Narain bent to the ground in
+thanks, as his master turned on his heel. "Not that he minds being told
+that he is a pig, in the least," said Isaacs. "I would not call a
+Mussulman so, but you can insult these Hindoos so much worse in other
+ways that I think the porcine simile is quite merciful by comparison."
+He sat down again among the cushions, and putting off his slippers,
+curled himself comfortably together for a chat.
+
+"What do you think of Ram Lal?" he asked, when Narain had brought
+hookahs and sherbet.
+
+"My dear fellow, I have hardly made up my mind what to think. I have not
+altogether recovered from my astonishment. I confess that there was
+nothing startling about his manner or his person. He behaved and talked
+like a well educated native, in utter contrast to the amazing things he
+said, and to his unprecedented mode of leave-taking. It would have
+seemed more natural--I would say, more fitting--if he had appeared in
+the classic dress of an astrologer, surrounded with zodiacs, and blue
+lights, and black cats. Why do you suppose he wants you to abandon the
+tiger-hunt?"
+
+"I cannot tell. Perhaps he thinks something may happen to me to prevent
+my keeping the other engagement. Perhaps he does not approve----" he
+stopped, as if not wanting to approach the subject of Ram Lal's
+disapprobation. "I intend, nevertheless, that the expedition come off,
+and I mean, moreover, to have a very good time, and to kill a tiger if I
+see one."
+
+"I thought he seemed immensely pleased at your conversion, as he calls
+it. He said that your newly acquired belief in woman was a step towards
+a better understanding of life."
+
+"Of the world, he said," answered-Isaacs, correcting me. "There is a
+great difference between the 'world' and 'life.' The one is a finite,
+the other an infinite expression. I believe, from what I have learned of
+Ram Lal, that the ultimate object of the adepts is happiness, only to be
+attained by wisdom, and I apprehend that by wisdom they mean a knowledge
+of the world in the broadest sense of the word. The world to them is a
+great repository of facts, physical and social, of which they propose to
+acquire a specific knowledge by transcendental methods. If that seems to
+you a contradiction of terms, I will try and express myself better. If
+you understand me, I am satisfied. Of course I use transcendental in the
+sense in which it is applied by Western mathematicians to a mode of
+reasoning which I very imperfectly comprehend, save that it consists in
+reaching finite results by an adroit use of the infinite."
+
+"Not a bad definition of transcendental analysis for a man who professes
+to know nothing about it," said I. "I would not accuse you of a
+contradiction of terms, either. I have often thought that what some
+people call the 'philosophy of the nineteenth century,' is nothing after
+all but the unconscious application of transcendental analysis to the
+everyday affairs of life. Consider the theories of Darwin, for instance.
+What are they but an elaborate application of the higher calculus? He
+differentiates men into protoplasms, and integrates protoplasms into
+monkeys, and shows the caudal appendage to be the independent variable,
+a small factor in man, a large factor in monkey. And has not the idea of
+successive development supplanted the early conception of spontaneous
+perfection? Take an illustration from India--the new system of
+competition, which the natives can never understand. Formerly the
+members of the Civil Service received their warrants by divine
+authority, so to speak. They were born perfect, as Aphrodite from the
+foam of the sea; they sprang armed and ready from the head of old John
+Company as Pallas Athene from the head of Zeus. Now all that is changed;
+they are selected from a great herd of candidates by methods of extreme
+exactness, and when they are chosen they represent the final result of
+infinite probabilities for and against their election. They are all
+exactly alike; they are a formula for taxation and the administration of
+justice, and so long as you do not attempt to use the formula for any
+other purpose, such, for instance, as political negotiation or the
+censorship of the public press, the equation will probably be amenable
+to solution."
+
+"As I told you," said Isaacs, "I know nothing, or next to nothing, of
+Western mathematics, but I have a general idea of the comparison you
+make. In Asia and in Asiatic minds, there prevails an idea that
+knowledge can be assimilated once and for all. That if you can obtain
+it, you immediately possess the knowledge of everything--the pass-key
+that shall unlock every door. That is the reason of the prolonged
+fasting and solitary meditation of the ascetics. They believe that by
+attenuating the bond between soul and body, the soul can be liberated
+and can temporarily identify itself with other objects, animate and
+inanimate, besides the especial body to which it belongs, acquiring thus
+a direct knowledge of those objects, and they believe that this direct
+knowledge remains. Western philosophers argue that the only acquaintance
+a man can have with bodies external to his mind is that which he
+acquires by the medium of his bodily senses--though these, are
+themselves external to his mind, in the truest sanse. The senses not
+being absolutely reliable, knowledge acquired by means of them is not
+absolutely reliable either. So the ultimate difference between the
+Asiatic saint and the European man of science is, that while the former
+believes all knowledge to be directly within the grasp of the soul,
+under certain conditions, the latter, on the other hand, denies that any
+knowledge can be absolute, being all obtained indirectly through a
+medium not absolutely reliable. The reasoning, by which the Western mind
+allows itself to act fearlessly on information which is not (according
+to its own verdict) necessarily accurate, depends on a clever use of the
+infinite in unconsciously calculating the probabilities of that
+accuracy--and this entirely falls in with what you said about the
+application of transcendental analysis to the affairs of everyday life."
+
+"I see you have entirely comprehended me," I said. "But as for the
+Asiatic mind--you seem to deny to it the use of the calculus of thought,
+and yet you denned adepts as attempting to acquire specific knowledge by
+general and transcendental methods. Here is a real contradiction."
+
+"No; I see no confusion, for I do not include the higher adepts in
+either class, since they have the wisdom to make use of the learning and
+of the methods of both. They seem to me to be endeavouring, roughly
+speaking, to combine the two. They believe absolute knowledge
+attainable, and they devote much time to the study of nature, in which
+pursuit they make use of highly analytical methods. They subdivide
+phenomena to an extent that would surprise and probably amuse a Western
+thinker. They count fourteen distinct colours in the rainbow, and
+invariably connect sound, even to the finest degrees, with shades of
+colour. I could name many other peculiarities of their mode of studying
+natural phenomena, which displays a much more minute subdivision and
+classification of results than you are accustomed to. But beside all
+this they consider that the senses of the normal man are susceptible of
+infinite refinement, and that upon a greater or less degree of acquired
+acuteness of perception the value of his results must depend. To attain
+this high degree of sensitiveness, necessary to the perception of very
+subtle phenomena, the adepts find it necessary to train their faculties,
+bodily and mental, by a life of rigid abstention from all pleasures or
+indulgences not indispensable in maintaining the relation between the
+physical and intellectual powers."
+
+"The common _fakir_ aims at the same thing," I remarked.
+
+"But he does not attain it. The common _fakir_ is an idiot. He may, by
+fasting and self-torture, of a kind no adept would approve, sharpen his
+senses till he can hear and see some sounds and sights inaudible and
+invisible to you and me. But his whole system lacks any intellectual
+basis: he regards knowledge as something instantaneously attainable when
+it comes at last; he believes he will have a vision, and that everything
+will be revealed to him. His devotion to his object is admirable, when
+he is a genuine ascetic and not, as is generally the case, a
+good-for-nothing who makes his piety pay for his subsistence; but it is
+devotion of a very low intellectual order. The true adept thinks the
+training of the mind in intellectual pursuits no less necessary than the
+moderate and reasonable mortification of the flesh, and higher Buddhism
+pays as much attention to the one as to the other."
+
+"Excuse me," said I, "if I make a digression. I think there are two
+classes of minds commonly to be found among thinkers all over the world.
+The one seek to attain to knowledge, the others strive to acquire it.
+There is a class of commonplace intellects who regard knowledge of all
+kinds in the light of a ladder; one ladder for each science, and the
+rungs of the ladders are the successive facts mastered by an effort and
+remembered in the order they have been passed. These persons think it is
+possible to attain to high eminence on one particular ladder, that is,
+in one particular science, without having been up any of the other
+ladders, that is, without a knowledge of other branches of seience. This
+is the mind of the plodder, the patient man who climbs, step by step, in
+his own unvarying round of thought; not seeing that it is but the wheel
+of a treadmill over which he is labouring, and that though every step
+may pass, and repass, beneath his toiling feet, he can never obtain a
+birdseye view of what he is doing, because his eyes are continually
+fixed on the step in front."
+
+"But," I continued, as Isaacs assented to my simile by a nod, "there is
+another class of minds also. There are persons who regard the whole
+imaginable and unimaginable knowledge of mankind, past, present, and
+future, as a boundless plain over which they hang suspended and can look
+down. Immediately beneath them there is a map spread out which
+represents, in the midst of the immense desert, the things they
+themselves know. It is a puzzle map, like those they make for children,
+where each piece fits into its appointed place, and will fit nowhere
+else; every piece of knowledge acquired fits into the space allotted to
+it, and when there is a piece, that is, a fact, wanting, it is still
+possible to define its extent and shape by the surrounding portions,
+though all the details of colour and design are lacking. These are the
+people who regard knowledge as a whole, harmonious, when every science
+and fragment of a science has its appointed station and is necessary to
+completeness of perfect knowledge. I hope I have made clear to you what
+I mean, though I am conscious of only sketching the outlines of a
+distinction which I believe to be fundamental."
+
+"Of course it is fundamental. Broadly, it is the difference between
+analytic and synthetic thought; between the subjective and the objective
+views; between the finite conception of a limited world and the infinite
+ideal of perfect wisdom. I understand you perfectly."
+
+"You puzzle me continually, Isaacs. Where did you learn to talk about
+'analytic' and 'synthetic,' and 'subjective' and 'objective,' and
+transcendental analysis, and so forth?" It seemed so consistent with his
+mind that he should understand the use of philosophical terms, that I
+had not realised how odd it was that a man of his purely Oriental
+education should know anything about the subject. His very broad
+application of the words 'analytic' and 'synthetic' to my pair of
+illustrations attracted my attention and prompted the question I had
+asked.
+
+"I read a good deal," he said simply. Then he added in a reflective
+tone, "I rather think I have a philosophical mind. The old man who
+taught me theology in Istamboul when I was a boy used to talk philosophy
+to me by the hour, though I do not believe he knew much about it. He was
+a plodder, and went up ladders in search of information, like the man
+you describe. But he was very patient and good to me; the peace of Allah
+be with him."
+
+It was late, and soon afterwards we parted for the night. The next day
+was Sunday, and I had a heap of unanswered letters to attend to, so we
+agreed to meet after tiffin and ride together before dining with Mr.
+Ghyrkins and the Westonhaughs.
+
+I went to my room and sat a while over a volume of Kant, which I always
+travel with--a sort of philosopher's stone on which to whet the mind's
+tools when they are dulled with boring into the geological strata of
+other people's ideas. I was too much occupied with the personality of
+the man I had been talking with to read long, and so I abandoned myself
+to a reverie, passing in review the events of the long day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+The Sabbatarian tendency of the English mind at home and abroad is
+proverbial, and if they are well-behaved on Sunday in London they are
+models of virtue in Simla on the same day. Whether they labour and are
+well-fed and gouty in their island home, or suffer themselves to be
+boiled for gain in the tropical kettles of Ceylon and Singapore; whether
+they risk their lives in hunting for the north pole or the northwest
+passage, or endanger their safety in the pursuit of tigers in the Terai,
+they will have their Sunday, come rain, come shine. On the deck of the
+steamer in the Red Sea, in the cabin of the inbound Arctic explorer, in
+the crowded Swiss hotel, or the straggling Indian hill station, there is
+always a parson of some description, in a surplice of no description at
+all, who produces a Bible and a couple of well-thumbed sermons from the
+recesses of his trunk or his lunch basket, or his gun-case, and goes at
+the work of weekly redemption with a will. And, what is more, he is
+listened to, and for the time being--though on week days he is styled a
+bore by the old and a prig by the young--he becomes temporarily invested
+with a dignity not his own, with an authority he could not claim on any
+other day. It is the dignity of a people who with all their faults have
+the courage of their opinions, and it is the authority that they have
+been taught from their childhood to reverence, whenever their traditions
+give it the right to assert itself. Not otherwise. It is a fine trait of
+national character, though it is one which has brought upon the English
+much unmerited ridicule. One may differ from them in faith and in one's
+estimate of the real value of these services, which are often only saved
+from being irreverent in their performance by the perfect sincerity of
+parson and congregation. But no one who dispassionately judges them can
+deny that the custom inspires respect for English consistency and
+admiration for their supreme contempt of surroundings.
+
+I presume that the periodical manifestations of religious belief to
+which I refer are intimately and indissolubly connected with the staid
+and funereal solemnity which marks an Englishman's dress, conversation,
+and conduct on Sunday. He is a different being for the nonce, and must
+sustain the entire character of his dual existence, or it will fall to
+the ground and forsake him altogether. He cannot take his religion in
+the morning and enjoy himself the rest of the day. He must abstain from
+everything that could remind him that he has a mind at all, besides a
+soul. No amusement will he tolerate, no reading of even the most
+harmless fiction can he suffer, while he is in the weekly devotional
+trance.
+
+I cannot explain these things; they are race questions, problems for the
+ethnologist. Certain it is, however, that the partial decay of strict
+Sabbatarianism which seems to have set in during the last quarter of a
+century has not been attended by any notable development of power in
+English thought of that class. The first Republic tried the experiment
+of the decimal week, and it was a failure. The English who attempt to
+put off even a little of the quaint armour of righteousness, which they
+have been accustomed to buckle on every seventh day for so many
+generations, are not so successful in the attempt as to attract many to
+follow them. They are not graceful in their holiday gambols.
+
+Meditating somewhat on this wise I lay in my long chair by the open door
+that Sunday morning in September. It was a little warmer again and the
+sun shone pleasantly across the lawn on the great branches and bright
+leaves of the rhododendron. The house was very quiet. All the inmates
+were gone to the church on the mall, and the servants were basking in
+the last few days of warmth they would enjoy before their masters
+returned to the plains. The Hindoo servant hates the cold. He fears it
+as he fears cobras, fever, and freemasons. His ideal life is nothing to
+do, nothing to wear, and plenty to eat, with the thermometer at 135
+degrees in the verandah and 110 inside. Then he is happy. His body
+swells with much good rice and _dal_, and his heart with pride; he will
+wear as little as you will let him, and whether you will let him or not,
+he will do less work in a given time than any living description of
+servant. So they basked in rows in the sunshine, and did not even
+quarrel or tell yarns among themselves; it was quiet and warm and
+sleepy. I dozed lazily, dropped my book in my lap, struggled once, and
+then fairly fell asleep.
+
+I was roused by Kiramat Ali pulling at my foot, as natives will when
+they are afraid of the consequences of waking their master. When I
+opened my eyes he presented a card on a salver, and explained that the
+gentleman wanted to see me. I looked, and was rather surprised to see it
+was Kildare's card. "Lord Steepleton Kildare, 33d Lancers "--there was
+no word in pencil, or any message. I told Kiramat to show the sahib in,
+wondering why he should call on me. By Indian etiquette, if there was to
+be any calling, it was my duty to make the first visit. Before I had
+time to think more I heard the clanking of spurs and sabre on the
+verandah, and the young man walked in, clad in the full uniform of his
+regiment. I rose to greet him, and was struck by his soldierly bearing
+and straight figure, as I had been at our first meeting. He took off his
+bearskin --for he was in the fullest of full dress--and sat down.
+
+"I am so glad to find you at home," he said: "I feared you might have
+gone to church, like everybody else in this place."
+
+"No. I went early this morning. I belong to a different persuasion. I
+suppose you are on your way to Peterhof?"
+
+"Yes. There is some sort of official reception to somebody,--I forget
+who,--and we had notice to turn out. It is a detestable nuisance."
+
+"I should think so."
+
+"Mr. Griggs, I came to ask you about something. You heard of my proposal
+to get up a tiger-hunt? Mr. Ghyrkins was speaking of it."
+
+"Yes. He wanted us to go,--Mr. Isaacs and me,--and suggested leaving his
+niece, Miss Westonhaugh, with Lady Smith-Tompkins."
+
+"It would be so dull without a lady in the party. Nothing but tigers and
+shikarries and other native abominations to talk to. Do you not think
+so?"
+
+"Why, yes. I told Mr. Ghyrkins that all the little Smith-Tompkins
+children had the measles, and the house was not safe. If they have not
+had them, they will, I have no doubt. Heaven is just, and will not leave
+you to the conversational mercies of the entertaining tiger and the
+engaging shikarry."
+
+"By Jove, Mr. Griggs, that was a brilliant idea: and, as you say, they
+may all get the measles yet. The fact is, I have set my heart on this
+thing. Miss Westonhaugh said she had never seen a tiger, except in cages
+and that kind of thing, and so I made up my mind she should. Besides, it
+will be no end of a lark; just when nobody is thinking about tigers, you
+go off and kill a tremendous fellow, fifteen or sixteen feet long, and
+come back covered with glory and mosquito bites, and tell everybody that
+Miss Westonhaugh shot him herself with a pocket pistol. That will be
+glorious!"
+
+"I should like it very much too; and I really see no reason why it
+should not be done. Mr. Ghyrkins seemed in a very cheerful humour about
+tigers last night, and I have no doubt a little persuasion from you will
+bring him to a proper view of his obligations to Miss Westonhaugh." He
+looked pleased and bright and hopeful, thoroughly enthusiastic, as
+became his Irish blood. He evidently intended to have quite as "good" a
+"time" as Isaacs proposed to enjoy. I thought the spectacle of those
+rivals for the beautiful girl's favour would be extremely interesting.
+Lord Steepleton was doubtless a good shot and a brave man, and would
+risk anything to secure Miss Westonhaugh's approval; Isaacs, on the
+other hand, was the sort of man who is very much the same in danger as
+anywhere else.
+
+"That is what I came to ask you about. We shall all meet there at dinner
+this evening, and I wanted to secure as many allies as possible."
+
+"You may count on me, Lord Steepleton, at all events. There is nothing I
+should enjoy better than such a fortnight's holiday, in such good
+company."
+
+"All right," said Lord Steepleton, rising, "I must be off now to
+Peterhof. It is an organised movement on Mr. Ghyrkins this evening,
+then. Is it understood?" He took his bearskin from the table, and
+prepared to go, pulling his straps and belts into place, and dusting a
+particle of ash from his sleeve.
+
+"Perfectly," I answered. "We will drag him forth into the arena before
+three days are past." We shook hands, and he went out.
+
+I was glad he had come, though I had been waked from a pleasant nap to
+receive him. He was so perfectly gay, and natural, and healthy, that one
+could not help liking him. You felt at once that he was honest and would
+do the right thing in spite of any one, according to his light; that he
+would stand by a friend in danger, and face any odds in fight, with as
+much honest determination to play fair and win, as he would bring to a
+cricket match or a steeple-chase. His Irish blood gave him a somewhat
+less formal manner than belongs to the Englishman; more enthusiasm and
+less regard for "form," while his good heart and natural courtesy would
+lead him right in the long-run. He seemed all sunshine, with his bright
+blue eyes and great fair moustache and brown face; the closely fitting
+uniform showed off his erect figure and elastic gait, and the whole
+impression was fresh and exhilarating in the extreme. I was sorry he had
+gone. I would have liked to talk with him about boating and fishing and
+shooting; about athletics and horses and tandem-driving, and many things
+I used, to like years ago at college, before I began my wandering life.
+I watched him as he swung himself into the military saddle, and he
+threw up his hand in a parting salute as he rode away. Poor fellow! was
+he, too, going to be food for powder and Afghan knives in the avenging
+army on its way to Kabul? I went back to my books and remained reading
+until the afternoon sun slanted in through the open door, and falling
+across my book warned me it was time to keep my appointment with Isaacs.
+
+As we passed the church the people were coming out from the evening
+service, and I saw Kildare, once more in the garb of a civilian,
+standing near the door, apparently watching for some one to appear. I
+knew that, with his strict observance of Catholic rules--often depending
+more on pride of family than on religious conviction, in the house of
+Kildare--he would not have entered the English Church at such a time,
+and I was sure he was lying in wait for Miss Westonhaugh, probably
+intending to surprise her and join her on her homeward ride. The road
+winds down below the Church, so that for some minutes after passing the
+building you may get a glimpse of the mall above and of the people upon
+it--or at least of their heads--if they are moving near the edge of the
+path. I was unaccountably curious this evening, and I dropped a little
+behind Isaacs, craning my neck and turning back in the saddle as I
+watched the stream of heads and shoulders, strongly foreshortened
+against the blue sky above, moving ceaselessly along the parapet over my
+head. Before long I was rewarded; Miss Westonhaugh's fair hair and broad
+hat entered the field of my vision, and a moment later Lord Steepleton,
+who must have pushed through the crowd from the other side, appeared
+struggling after her. She turned quickly, and I saw no more, but I did
+not think she had changed colour.
+
+I began to be deeply interested in ascertaining whether she had any
+preference for one or the other of the two young men. Kildare's visit in
+the morning--though he had said very little--had given me a new
+impression of the man, and I felt that he was no contemptible rival. I
+saw from the little incident I had just witnessed that he neglected no
+opportunity of being with Miss Westonhaugh, and that he had the patience
+to wait and the boldness to find her in a crowd. I had seen very little
+of her myself; but I had been amply satisfied that Isaacs was capable of
+interesting her in a _tete-a-tete_ conversation. "The talker has the
+best chance, if he is bold enough," I said to myself; but I was not
+satisfied, and I resolved that if I could manage it Isaacs should have
+another chance that very evening after the dinner. Meanwhile I would
+involve Isaacs in a conversation on some one of those subjects that
+seemed to interest him most. He had not seen the couple on the mall, and
+was carelessly ambling along with his head in the air and one hand in
+the pocket of his short coat, the picture of unconcern.
+
+I was trying to make up my mind whether I would open fire upon the
+immortality of the soul, matrimony, or the differential calculus, when,
+as we passed from the narrow street into the road leading sound Jako,
+Isaacs spoke.
+
+"Look here, Griggs," said he, "there is something I want to impress upon
+your mind."
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"It is all very well for Ram Lal to give advice about things he
+understands. I have a very sincere regard for him, but I do not believe
+he was ever in my position. I have set my heart on this tiger-hunt. Miss
+Westonhaugh said the other day that she had never seen a tiger, and I
+then and there made up my mind that she should."
+
+I laughed. There seemed to be no essential difference of opinion between
+the Irishman and the Persian in regard to the pleasures of the chase.
+Miss Westonhaugh was evidently anxious to see tigers, and meant to do
+it, since she had expressed her wish to the two men most likely to
+procure her that innocent recreation. Lord Steepleton Kildare by his
+position, and Isaacs by his wealth, could, if they chose, get up such a
+tiger-hunt for her benefit as had never been seen. I thought she might
+have waited till the spring--but I had learned that she intended to
+return to England in April, and was to spend the early months of the
+year with her brother in Bombay.
+
+"You want to see Miss Westonhaugh, and Miss Westonhaugh wants to see
+tigers! My dear fellow, go in and win; I will back you."
+
+"Why do you laugh, Griggs?" asked Isaacs, who saw nothing particularly
+amusing in what he had said.
+
+"Oh, I laughed because another young gentleman expressed the same
+opinions to me, in identically the same words, this morning."
+
+"Mr. Westonhaugh?"
+
+"No. You know very well that Mr. Westonhaugh cares nothing about it, one
+way or the other. The little plan for 'amusing brother John' is a hoax.
+The thing cannot be done. You might as well try to amuse an undertaker
+as to make a man from Bombay laugh. The hollowness of life is ever upon
+them. No. It was Kildare; he called and said that Miss Westonhaugh had
+never seen a tiger, and he seemed anxious to impress upon me his
+determination that she should. Pshaw! what does Kildare care about
+brother John?"
+
+"Brother John, as you call him, is a better fellow than he looks. I owe
+a great deal to brother John." Isaacs' olive skin flushed a little, and
+he emphasised the epithet by which I had designated Mr. John Westonhaugh
+as if he were offended by it.
+
+"I mean nothing against Mr. Westonhaugh," said I half apologetically. "I
+remember when you met yesterday afternoon you said you had seen him in
+Bombay a long time ago."
+
+"Do you remember the story I told you of myself the other night?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"Westonhaugh was the young civil servant who paid my fine and gave me a
+rupee, when I was a ragged sailor from a Mocha craft, and could not
+speak a word of English. To that rupee I ultimately owe my entire
+fortune. I never forget a face, and I am sure it is he--do you
+understand me now? I owe to his kindness everything I possess in the
+world."
+
+"The unpardonable sin is ingratitude," I answered, "of which you will
+certainly not be accused. That is a very curious coincidence."
+
+"I think it is something more. A man has always at least one opportunity
+of repaying a debt, and, besm Illah! I will repay what I can of it. By
+the beard of the apostle, whose name is blessed, I am not ungrateful!"
+Isaacs was excited as he said this. He was no longer the calm Mr.
+Isaacs, he was Abdul Hafiz the Persian, fiery and enthusiastic.
+
+"You say well, my friend," he continued earnestly, "that the
+unpardonable sin is ingratitude. Doubtless, had the blessed prophet of
+Allah lived in our day, he would have spoken of the doom that hangs over
+the ungrateful. It is the curse of this age; for he who forgets or
+refuses to remember the kindness done to him by others sets himself
+apart, and worships his miserable self, and he makes an idol of himself,
+saying, 'I am of more importance than my fellows in the world, and it is
+meet and right that they should give and that I should receive.'
+Ingratitude is selfishness, and selfishness is the worship of oneself,
+the setting of oneself higher than man and goodness and God. And when
+man perishes and the angel Al Sijil, the recorder, rolls up his scroll,
+what is written therein is written; and Israfil shall call men to
+judgment, and the scrolls shall be unfolded, and he that has taken of
+others and not given in return, but has ungratefully forgotten and put
+away the remembrance of the kindness received, shall be counted among
+the unbelievers and the extortioners and the unjust, and shall broil in
+raging flames. By the hairs of the prophet's beard, whose name is
+blessed."
+
+I had not seen Isaacs so thoroughly roused before upon any subject. The
+flush had left his face and given place to a perfect paleness, and his
+eyes shone like coals of fire as he looked upward in pronouncing the
+last words. I said to myself that there was a strong element of
+religious exaltation in all Asiatics, and put his excitement down to
+this cause. His religion was a very beautiful and real thing to him,
+ever present in his life, and I mused on the future of the man, with his
+great endowments, his exquisite sensitiveness, and his high view of his
+obligations to his fellows. I am not a worshipper of heroes, but I felt
+that, for the first time in my life, I was intimate with a man who was
+ready to stand in the breach and to die for what he thought and believed
+to be right. After a pause of some minutes, during which we had ridden
+beyond the last straggling bungalows of the town, he spoke again,
+quietly, his temporary excitement having subsided.
+
+"I feel very strongly about these things," he said, and then stopped
+short.
+
+"I can see you do, and I honour you for it. I think you are the first
+grateful person I have ever met; a rare and unique bird in the earth."
+
+"Do not say that."
+
+"I do say it. There is very little of the philosophy of the nineteenth
+century about you, Isaacs. Your belief in the obligations of gratitude
+and in the general capacity of the human race for redemption, savours
+little of 'transcendental analysis.'"
+
+"You have too much of it," he answered seriously. "I do not think you
+see how much your cynicism involves. You would very likely, if you are
+the man I take you for, be very much offended if I accused you of not
+believing any particular dogma of your religion. And yet, with all your
+faith, you do not believe in God."
+
+"I cannot see how you get at that conclusion," I replied. "I must deny
+your hypothesis, at the risk of engaging you in an argument." I could
+not see what he was driving at.
+
+"How can you believe in God, and yet condemn the noblest of His works as
+altogether bad? You are not consistent."
+
+"What makes you think I am so cynical?" I inquired, harking back to gain
+time.
+
+"A little cloud, a little sultriness in the air, is all that betrays the
+coming _khemsin_, that by and by shall overwhelm and destroy man and
+beast in its sandy darkness. You have made one or two remarks lately
+that show little faith in human nature, and if you do not believe in
+human nature what is there left for you to believe in? You said a moment
+ago that I was the first grateful person you had ever met. Then the rest
+of humanity are all selfish, and worshippers of themselves, and
+altogether vile, since you yourself say, as I do, that ingratitude is
+the unpardonable sin; and God has made a world full of unpardonable
+sinners, and unless you include yourself in the exception you graciously
+make in my favour, no one but I shall be saved. And yet you say also
+with me that God is good. Do you deny that you are utterly
+inconsistent?"
+
+"I may make you some concession in a few minutes, but I am not going to
+yield to such logic. You have committed the fallacy of the undistributed
+middle term, if you care to know the proper name for it. I did not say
+that all men, saving you, were ungrateful. I said that, saving you, the
+persons I have met in my life have been ungrateful. You ought to
+distinguish."
+
+"All I can say is, then, that you have had a very unfortunate experience
+of life," retorted Isaacs warmly.
+
+"I have," said I, "but since you yield the technical point of logic, I
+will confess that I made the assertion hastily and overshot the mark. I
+do not remember, however, to have met any one who felt so strongly on
+the point as you do."
+
+"Now you speak like a rational being," said Isaacs, quite pacified.
+"Extraordinary feelings are the result of unusual circumstances. I was
+in such distress as rarely falls to the lot of an innocent man of fine
+temperament and good abilities. I am now in a position of such wealth
+and prosperity as still more seldom are given to a man of my age and
+antecedents. I remember that I obtained the first step on my road to
+fortune through the kindness of John Westonhaugh, though I could never
+learn his name, and I met him at last, as you saw, by an accident. I
+call that accident a favour, and an opportunity bestowed on me by Allah,
+and the meeting has roused in me those feelings of thankfulness which,
+for want of an object upon which to show them, have been put away out of
+sight as a thing sacred for many years. I am willing you should say
+that, were my present fortune less, my gratitude would be
+proportionately less felt--it is very likely--though the original gift
+remain the same, one rupee and no more. You are entitled to think of any
+man as grateful in proportion to the gift, so long as you allow the
+gratitude at all." He made this speech in a perfectly natural and
+unconcerned way, as if he were contemplating the case of another person.
+
+"Seriously, Isaacs, I would not do so for the world. I believe you were
+as grateful twelve years ago, when you were poor, as you are now that
+you are rich." Isaacs was silent, but a look of great gentleness crossed
+his face. There was at times something almost angelic in the perfect
+kindness of his eyes.
+
+"To return," I said at last, "to the subject from which we started, the
+tigers. If we are really going, we must leave here the day after
+to-morrow morning--indeed, why not to-morrow?"
+
+"No; to-morrow we are to play that game of polo, which I am looking
+forward to with pleasure. Besides, it will take the men three days to
+get the elephants together, and I only telegraphed this morning to the
+collector of the district to make the arrangements."
+
+"So you have already taken steps? Does Kildare know you have sent
+orders?"
+
+"Certainly. He came to me this morning at daybreak, and we determined to
+arrange everything and take uncle Ghyrkins for granted. You need not
+look astonished; Kildare and I are allies, and very good friends." What
+a true Oriental! How wise and far-sighted was the Persian, how bold and
+reckless the Irishman! It was odd, I thought, that Kildare had not
+mentioned the interview with Isaacs. Yet there was a certain rough
+delicacy--contradictory and impulsive--in his silence about this
+coalition with his rival. We rode along and discussed the plans for the
+expedition. All the men in the party, except Lord Steepleton, who had
+not been long in India, had killed tigers before. There would be enough
+of us, without asking any one else to join. The collector to whom Isaacs
+had telegraphed was an old acquaintance of his, and would probably go
+out for a few days with us. It all seemed easy enough and plain sailing.
+In the course of time we returned to our hotel, dressed, and made our
+way through the winding roads to Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' bungalow.
+
+We were met on the verandah by the old commissioner, who welcomed us
+warmly and praised our punctuality, for the clock was striking seven in
+the drawing-room, as we divested ourselves of our light top-coats. In
+the vestibule, Miss Westonhaugh and her brother came forward to greet
+us.
+
+"John," said the young lady, "you know I told you there was some one
+here whom you got out of trouble ever so many years ago in Bombay. Here
+he is. This is a new introduction. Mr. John Westonhaugh, Mr. Abdul
+Hafiz-ben-Isak, commonly known to his friends as Mr. Isaacs." Her face
+beamed with pleasure, and I thought with pride, as she led her brother
+to Isaacs, and her eyes rested long on the Persian with a look that, to
+me, argued something more than a mere interest. The two men clasped
+hands and stood for some seconds looking at each other in silence, but
+with very different expressions. Westonhaugh wore a look of utter
+amazement, though he certainly seemed pleased. The good heart that had
+prompted the good action twelve years before was still in the right
+place, above any petty considerations about nationality. His
+astonishment gradually changed to a smile of real greeting and pleasure,
+as he began to shake the hand he still held. I thought that even the
+faintest tinge of blood coloured his pale cheek.
+
+"God bless my soul," said he, "I remember you perfectly well now. But it
+is so unexpected; my sister reminded me of the story, which I had not
+forgotten, and now I look at you I remember you perfectly. I am so
+glad."
+
+As Isaacs answered, his voice trembled, and his face was very pale.
+There was a moisture in the brilliant eyes that told of genuine emotion.
+
+"Mr. Westonhaugh, I consider that I owe to you everything I have in the
+world. This is a greater pleasure than I thought was in store for me.
+Indeed I thank you again."
+
+His voice would not serve him. He stopped short and turned away to look
+for something in his coat.
+
+"Indeed," said Westonhaugh, "it was a very little thing I did for you."
+And presently the two men went together into the drawing-room,
+Westonhaugh asking all manner of questions, which Isaacs, who was
+himself again, began to answer. The rest of us remained in the vestibule
+to meet Lord Steepleton, who at that moment came up the steps. There
+were more greetings, and then the head _khitmatgar_ appeared and
+informed the "_Sahib log_, protectors of the poor, that their meat was
+ready." So we filed into the dining-room.
+
+Isaacs was placed at Miss Westonhaugh's right, and her brother sat on
+his other side. Ghyrkins was opposite his niece at the other end, and
+Kildare and I were together, facing Westonhaugh and Isaacs, a party of
+six. Of course Kildare sat beside the lady.
+
+The dinner opened very pleasantly. _I_ could see that Isaacs'
+undisguised gratitude and delight in having at last met the man who had
+helped him had strongly predisposed John Westonhaugh in his favour. Who
+is it that is not pleased at finding that some deed of kindness, done
+long ago with hardly a thought, has borne fruit and been remembered and
+treasured up by the receiver as the turning-point in his life? Is there
+any pleasure greater than that we enjoy through the happiness of
+others--in those rare cases where kindness is not misplaced? I had had
+time to reflect that Isaacs had most likely told a part of his story to
+Miss Westonhaugh on the previous afternoon as soon as he had recognised
+her brother. He might have told her before; I did not know how long he
+had known her, but it must have been some time. Presently she turned to
+him.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "some of us know something of your history. Why
+will you not tell us the rest now? My uncle has heard nothing of it, and
+I know Lord Steepleton is fond of novels."
+
+Isaacs hesitated long, but as every one pressed him in turn, he yielded
+at last. And he told it well. It was exactly the narrative he had given
+me, in every detail of fact, but the whole effect was different. I saw
+how true a mastery he had of the English language, for he knew his
+audience thoroughly, and by a little colour here and an altered
+expression there he made it graphic and striking, not without humour,
+and altogether free of a certain mystical tinge he had imparted to it
+when we were alone. He talked easily, with no more constraint than on
+other occasions, and his narrative was a small social success. I had not
+seen him in evening dress before, and I could not help thinking how much
+more thoroughly he looked the polished man of the world than the other
+men. Kildare never appeared to greater advantage than in the uniform and
+trappings of his profession. In a black coat and a white tie he looked
+like any other handsome young Englishman, utterly without individuality.
+But Isaacs, with his pale complexion and delicate high-bred features,
+bore himself like a noble of the old school. Westonhaugh beside him
+looked washed-out and deathly, Kildare was too coarsely healthy, and
+Ghyrkins and I, representing different types of extreme plainness,
+served as foils to all three.
+
+I watched Miss Westonhaugh while Isaacs was speaking. She had evidently
+heard the whole story, for her expression showed beforehand the emotion
+she expected to feel at each point. Her colour came and went softly, and
+her eyes brightened with a warm light beneath the dark brows that
+contrasted so strangely yet delightfully with the mass of flaxen-white
+hair. She wore something dark and soft, cut square at the neck, and a
+plain circlet of gold was her only ornament. She was a beautiful
+creature, certainly; one of those striking-looking women of whom
+something is always expected, until they drop quietly out of youth into
+middle age, and the world finds out that they are, after all, not
+heroines of romance, but merely plain, honest, good women; good wives
+and good mothers who love their homes and husbands well, though it has
+pleased nature in some strange freak to give them the form and feature
+of a Semiramis, a Cleopatra, or a Jeanne d'Arc.
+
+"Dear me, how very interesting!" exclaimed Mr. Ghyrkins, looking up from
+his hill mutton as Isaacs finished, and a little murmur of sympathetic
+applause went round the table.
+
+"I would give a great deal to have been through all that," said Lord
+Steepleton, slowly proceeding to sip a glass of claret.
+
+"Just think!" ejaculated John Westonhaugh. "And I was entertaining such
+a Sinbad unawares!" and he took another green pepper from the dish his
+servant handed him.
+
+"Upon my word, Isaacs," I said, "some one ought to make a novel of that
+story; it would sell like wildfire."
+
+"Why don't you do it yourself, Griggs?" he asked. "You are a pressman,
+and I am sure you are welcome to the whole thing."
+
+"I will," I answered.
+
+"Oh do, Mr. Griggs," said the young lady, "and make it wind up with a
+tiger-hunt. You could lay the scene in Australia or the Barbadoes, or
+some of those places, and put us all in--and kill us all off, if you
+like, you know. It would be such fun." Poor Miss Westonhaugh!
+
+"It is easy to see what you are thinking about most, Miss Westonhaugh,"
+said Lord Steepleton: "the tigers are uppermost in your mind; and
+therefore in mine also," he added gallantly.
+
+"Indeed, no--I was thinking about Mr. Isaacs." She blushed scarlet--the
+first time I had ever seen her really embarrassed. It was very natural
+that she should be thinking of Isaacs and the strange adventures he had
+just recounted; and if she had not cared about him she would not have
+changed colour. So I thought, at all events.
+
+"My dear, drink some water immediately, this curry is very hot--deuced
+hot, in fact," said Mr. Ghyrkins, in perfectly good faith.
+
+John Westonhaugh, who was busy breaking up biscuits and green peppers
+and "Bombay ducks" into his curry, looked up slowly at his sister and
+smiled.
+
+"Why, you are quite a griffin, Katharine," said he, "how they will laugh
+at you in Bombay!" I was amused; of course the remarks of her uncle and
+brother did not make the blush subside--on the contrary. Kildare was
+drinking more claret, to conceal his annoyance. Isaacs had a curious
+expression. There was a short silence, and for one instant he turned his
+eyes to Miss Westonhaugh. It was only a look, but it betrayed to me--who
+knew what he felt--infinite surprise, joy, and sympathy. His quick
+understanding had comprehended that he had scored his first victory over
+his rival.
+
+As her eyes met those of Isaacs, the colour left her cheeks as suddenly
+as it had come, leaving her face dead white. She drank a little water,
+and presently seemed at ease again. I was beginning to think she cared
+for him seriously.
+
+"And pray, John," she asked, "what may a griffin be? It is not a very
+pretty name to call a young lady, is it?"
+
+"Why, a griffin," put in Mr. Ghyrkins, "is the 'Mr. Verdant Green' of
+the Civil Service. A young civilian--or anybody else--who is just out
+from home is called a griffin. John calls you a griffin because you
+don't understand eating pepper. You don't find it as _chilly_ as he
+does! Ha! ha! ha!" and the old fellow laughed heartily, till he was red
+in the face, at his bleared old pun. Of course every one was amused or
+professed to be, for it was a diversion welcomed by the three men of us
+who had seen the young girl's embarrassment.
+
+"A griffin," said I, "is a thing of joy. Mr. Westonhaugh was a griffin
+when he gave Mr. Isaacs that historical rupee." I cast my little
+bombshell into the conversation, and placidly went on manipulating my
+rice.
+
+Isaacs was in too gay a humour to be offended, and he only said, turning
+to Miss Westonhaugh--
+
+"Mr. Griggs is a cynyic, you know. You must not believe anything he
+says."
+
+"If doing kind things makes one a griffin, I hope I may be one always,"
+said Miss Westonhaugh quickly, "and I trust my brother is as much a
+griffin as ever."
+
+"I am, I assure you," said he. "But Mr. Griggs is quite right, and shows
+a profound knowledge of Indian life. No one but a griffin of the
+greenest ever gave anybody a rupee in Bombay--or ever will now, I should
+think."
+
+"Oh, John, are you going to be cynical too?"
+
+"No, Katharine, I am not cynical at all. I do not think you are quite
+sure what a 'cynic' is."
+
+"Oh yes, I know quite well. Diogenes was a cynic, and Saint Jerome, and
+other people of that class."
+
+"A man who lives in a tub, and abuses Alexander the Great, and that sort
+of thing," remarked Kildare, who had not spoken for some time.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," said John Westonhaugh, "since you are the accused, pray
+define what you mean by a cynic, and then Mr. Isaacs, as the accuser,
+can have a chance too."
+
+"Very well, I will. A man is a cynic if he will do no good to any one
+because he believes every one past improvement. Most men who do good
+actions are also cynics, because they well know that they are doing more
+harm than good by their charity. Mr. Westonhaugh has the discrimination
+to appreciate this, and therefore he is not a cynic."
+
+"It is well you introduced the saving clause, Griggs," said Isaacs to me
+from across the table. "I am going to define you now; for I strongly
+suspect that you are the very ideal of a philosopher of that class. You
+are a man who believes in all that is good and beautiful in theory, but
+by too much indifference to good in small measures--for you want a thing
+perfect, or you want it not at all--you have abstracted yourself from
+perceiving it anywhere, except in the most brilliant examples of heroism
+that history affords. You set up in your imagination an ideal which you
+call the good man, and you are utterly dissatisfied with anything less
+perfect than perfection. The result is that, though you might do a good
+action from your philosophical longing to approach the ideal in your own
+person, you will not suffer yourself to believe that others are
+consciously or unconsciously striving to make themselves better also.
+And you do not believe that any one can be made a better man by any one
+else, by any exterior agency, by any good that you or others may do to
+him. What makes you what you are is the fact that you really cherish
+this beautiful ideal image of your worship and reverence, and love it;
+but for this, you would be the most insufferable man of my acquaintance,
+instead of being the most agreeable."
+
+Isaacs was gifted with a marvellous frankness of speech. He always said
+what he meant, with a supreme indifference to consequences; but he said
+it with such perfect honesty and evident appreciation of what was good,
+even when he most vehemently condemned what he did not like, that it was
+impossible to be annoyed. Every one laughed at his attack on me, and
+having satisfied my desire to observe Miss Westonhaugh, which had
+prompted my first remark about griffins, I thought it was time to turn
+the conversation to the projected hunt.
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, "I think that in spite of your Parthian shaft,
+your definition of a cynic is as complimentary to the school at large as
+to me in particular. Meanwhile, however," I added, turning to Mr.
+Ghyrkins, "I am inclined to believe with Lord Steepleton that the
+subject uppermost in the thoughts of most of us is the crusade against
+the tigers. What do you say? Shall we not all go as we are, a neat party
+of six?"
+
+"Well, well, Mr. Griggs, we shall see, you know. Now, if we are going at
+all, when do you mean to start?"
+
+"The sooner the better of course," broke in Kildare, and he launched
+into a host of reasons for going immediately, including the wildest
+statistics about the habits of tigers in winter. This was quite natural,
+however, as he was a thorough Irishman and had never seen a tiger in his
+life. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins vainly attempted to stem the torrent of his
+eloquence, but at last pinned him on some erratic statement about tigers
+moulting later in the year and their skins not being worth taking.
+Kildare would have asserted with equal equanimity that all tigers shed
+their teeth and their tails in December; he was evidently trying to
+rouse Mr. Ghyrkins into a discussion on the subject of tiger shooting in
+general, a purpose very easily accomplished. The old gentleman was soon
+goaded to madness by Kildare's wonderful opinions, and before long he
+vowed that the youngster had never seen a tiger,--not one in his whole
+life, sir,--and that it was high time he did, high time indeed, and he
+swore he should see one before he was a week older. Yes, sir, before he
+was a week older, "if I have to carry you among 'em like a baby in arms,
+sir, by gad, sir--I should think so!"
+
+This was all we wanted, and in another ten minutes we were drinking a
+bumper to the health of the whole tiger-hunt and of Miss Westonhaugh in
+particular. Isaacs joined with the rest, and though he only drank some
+sherbet, as I watched his bright eyes and pale cheek, I thought that
+never knight drank truer toast to his lady. Miss Westonhaugh rose and
+went out, leaving us to smoke for a while. The conversation was general,
+and turned on the chase, of course. In a few minutes Isaacs dropped his
+cigarette and went quietly out. I determined to detain the rest as long
+as possible, and I seconded Mr. Ghyrkins in passing the claret briskly
+round, telling all manner of stories of all nations and peoples--ancient
+tales that would not amuse a schoolboy in America, but which were a
+revelation of profound wit and brilliant humour to the unsophisticated
+British mind. By immense efforts--and I hate to exert myself in
+conversation--I succeeded in prolonging the session through a cigar and
+a half, but at last I was forced to submit to a move; and with a
+somewhat ancient remark from Mr. Ghyrkins, to the effect that all good
+things must come to an end, we returned to the drawing-room.
+
+Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were looking over some English photographs,
+and she was enthusiastically praising the beauties of Gothic
+architecture, while Isaacs was making the most of his opportunity, and
+taking a good look at her as she bent over the album. After we came in,
+she made a little music at the tuneless piano--there never was a piano
+in India yet that had any tune in it--playing and singing a little, very
+prettily. She sang something about a body in the rye, and then something
+else about drinking only with the eyes, to which her brother sang a sort
+of second very nicely. I do not understand much about music, but I
+thought the allusion to Isaacs' temperance in only drinking with his
+eyes was rather pointed. He said, however, that he liked it even better
+with a second than when she sang it alone, so I argued that it was not
+the first time he had heard it.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "you have often promised to sing something
+Persian for us. Will you not keep your word now?"
+
+"When we are among the tigers, Miss Westonhaugh, next week. Then I will
+try and borrow a lute and sing you something."
+
+It was late for an Indian dinner-party, so we took our departure soon
+afterwards, having agreed to meet the following afternoon at Annandale
+for the game of polo, in which Westonhaugh said he would also play. He
+and Isaacs made some appointment for the morning; they seemed to be very
+sympathetic to each other. Kildare mounted and rode homeward with us,
+though he had much farther to go than we. If he felt any annoyance at
+the small successes Isaacs had achieved during the evening, he was far
+too courteous a gentleman to show it; and so, as we groped our way
+through the trees by the starlight, chiefly occupied in keeping our
+horses on their legs, the snatches of conversation that were possible
+were pleasant, if not animated, and there was a cordial "Good-night" on
+both sides, as we left Kildare to pursue his way alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon when Isaacs and I emerged
+from the narrow road upon the polo ground. We were clad in the
+tight-fitting garments which are necessary for the game, and wrapped in
+light top-coats; as we came out on the green we saw a number of other
+men in similar costume standing about, and a great many native grooms
+leading ponies up and down. Miss Westonhaugh was there in her gray habit
+and broad hat, and by her side, on foot, Lord Steepleton Kildare was
+making the most of his time, as he waited for the rest of the players.
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was ambling about on his broad little horse, and
+John Westonhaugh stood with his hands in his pockets and a large
+Trichinopoli cheroot between his lips, apparently gazing into space.
+Several other men, more or less known to us and to each other, moved
+about or chatted disconnectedly, and one or two arrived after us. Some
+of them wore coloured jerseys that showed brightly over the open collars
+of their coats, others were in ordinary dress and had come to see the
+game. Farther off, at one side of the ground, one or two groups of
+ladies and their escorting cavaliers haunted at a short distance by
+their saices in many-coloured turbans and belts, or _cummer-bunds,_ as
+the sash is called in India, moved slowly about, glancing from time to
+time towards the place where the players and their ponies were preparing
+for the contest.
+
+Few games require so little preparation and so few preliminaries as
+polo, descended as it is from an age when more was thought of good
+horsemanship and quick eye than of any little refinements depending on
+an accurate knowledge of fixed rules. Any one who is a firstrate rider
+and is quick with his hands can learn to play polo. The stiffest of arms
+can be limbered and the most recalcitrant wrist taught to turn nimbly in
+its socket; but the essential condition is, that the player should know
+how to ride. This being established, there is no reason why anybody who
+likes should not play the game, if he will only use a certain amount of
+caution, and avoid braining the other players and injuring the ponies by
+too wild a use of his mallet. Presently it was found that all who were
+to play had arrived--eight of us all told. Kildare had arranged the
+sides and had brought the other men necessary to make the number
+complete, so we mounted and took up our positions on the ground. Kildare
+and Isaacs were together, and Westonhaugh and I on the other side, with
+two men I knew slightly. We won the charge, and Westonhaugh, who was a
+celebrated player, struck the ball off cleverly, and I followed him up
+with a rush as he raced after it. Isaacs, on the other side, swept along
+easily, and as the ball swerved on striking the ground bent far over
+till he looked as though he were out of the saddle and stopped it
+cleverly, while Kildare, who was close behind, got a good stroke in just
+in time, as Westonhaugh and I galloped down on him, and landed the ball
+far to the rear near our goal. As we wheeled quickly, I saw that one of
+the other two men on our side had stopped it and was beginning to
+"dribble" it along. This was very bad play, both Westonhaugh and I being
+so far forward, and it met its reward. Isaacs and Kildare raced down on
+him, but the latter soon pulled up on finding himself passed, and
+waited. Isaacs rushed upon the temporising player and got the ball away
+from him in no time; eluded the other man, and with a neat stroke sent
+the ball right between the poles. The game had hardly lasted three
+minutes, and a little sound of clapping was heard from where the
+spectators were standing, far off on one side. I could see Miss
+Westonhaugh plainly, as she cantered with her uncle to where the victors
+were standing together on the other side, patting their ponies and
+adjusting stirrup and saddle. Isaacs had his back turned, but wheeled
+round as he heard the sound of hoofs behind him and bowed low in his
+saddle to the fair girl, whose face, I could see even at that distance,
+was flushed with pleasure. They remained a few minutes in conversation,
+and then the two spectators rode away, and we took up our positions once
+more.
+
+The next game was a much longer one. It was the turn of the other party
+to hit off, for Kildare won the charge. There were encounters of all
+kinds; twice the ball was sent over the line, but outside the goal, by
+long sweeping blows from Isaacs, who ever hovered on the edge of the
+scrimmage, and, by his good riding, and the help of a splendid pony,
+often had a chance where another would have had none. At last it
+happened that I was chasing the ball back towards our goal, from one of
+his hits, and he was pursuing me. I had the advantage of a long start,
+and before he could reach me I got in a heavy "backhander" that sent the
+ball far away to one side, where, as good luck would have it,
+Westonhaugh was waiting. Quick as thought he carried it along, and in
+another minute we had scored a goal, amidst enthusiastic shouts from the
+spectators, who had been kept long in suspense by the protracted game.
+This time it was to our side that the young girl came, riding up to her
+brother to congratulate him on his success. I thought she had less
+colour as she came nearer, and though she smiled sweetly as she said,
+"It was splendidly played, John," there was not so much enthusiasm in
+her voice as the said John, who had really won the game with masterly
+neatness, might have expected. Then she sat quietly looking over the
+ground, while we dismounted from our ponies, breathless, and foaming,
+and lathery, from the hard-fought battle. The grooms ran up with
+blankets and handfuls of grass to give the poor beasts a rub, and
+covering them carefully after removing the saddles, led them away.
+
+The sun leaves Annandale early, and I put on a coat and lit a cigarette,
+while the saice saddled our second mounts. There are few prettier sights
+than an English game, of any kind, on a beautiful stretch of turf. The
+English live, and move and have their being out of doors. A
+cricket-match, tennis, a racecourse, or a game of polo, show them at
+their greatest advantage, whether as players or spectators. Their fresh
+complexions suit the green of the grass and of the trees as naturally as
+a bed of roses, or cyclamens, or any fresh and healthy flower will
+combine with the grass and the ferns in garden or glen. The glorious
+vitality that belongs to their race seems to blossom freshly in the
+contact with their mother earth, and the physical capacity for motion
+with which nature endows them makes them graceful and fascinating to
+watch, when in some free and untrammelled dress of white they are at
+their games, batting and bowling and galloping and running; they have
+the same natural grace then as a herd of deer or antelopes; they are
+beautiful animals in the full enjoyment of life and vigour, of health
+and strength; they are intensely alive. Something of this kind passed
+through my mind, in all probability, and, combined with the delightful
+sensation any strong man feels in the pause after great exertion,
+disposed me well towards my fellows and towards mankind at large.
+Besides we had won the last game.
+
+"You look pleased, Mr. Griggs," said Miss Westonhaugh, who had probably
+been watching me for a moment or two. "I did not know cynics were ever
+pleased."
+
+"I remember who it was that promised to crown the victors of this match,
+Miss Westonhaugh, and I cherish some hopes of being one of them. Would
+you mind very much?"
+
+"Mind? Oh dear no; you had better try. But if you stand there with your
+coat on, you will not have much chance. They are all mounted, and
+waiting for you."
+
+"Well, here goes," I said to myself, as I got into the saddle again. "I
+hope he may win, but he would find me out in a minute if I tried to play
+into his hands." We were only to play the best out of three goals, and
+the score was "one all." All eight of us had fresh mounts, and the
+experience of each other's play we had got in the preceding games made
+it likely that the game would be a long one. And so it turned out.
+
+From the first things went badly. John Westonhaugh's fresh pony was very
+wild, and he had to take him a breather half over the ground before he
+could take his place for the charge. When at last the first stroke was
+made, the ball went low along the ground, spinning and twisting to right
+and left. Both Kildare and Isaacs missed it and wheeled across to
+return, when a prolonged scrimmage ensued less than thirty yards from
+their goal. Every one played his best, and we wheeled and spun round in
+a way that reminded one of a cavalry skirmish. Strokes and back-strokes
+followed quickly, till at last I got the ball as it came rolling out
+between my horse's legs, and, hotly pursued, beyond the possibility of
+making a fair stroke, I moved away with it in front of me.
+
+Then began one of those interminable circular games that all polo
+players know so well, round and round the battlefield, riding close
+together, sometimes one succeeding in driving the ball a little, only to
+be foiled by the next man's ill-delivered back-stroke; racing, and
+pulling up short, and racing again, till horses and riders were in a
+perspiration and a state of madness not to be attained by any peaceful
+means. At last, as we were riding near our own goal, some one, I could
+not see who, struck the ball out into the open. Isaacs, who had just
+missed, and was ahead, rode for it like a madman, his club raised high
+for a back-stroke. He was hotly pressed by the man who had roused my
+wrath in the first game by his "dribbling" policy. He was a light weight
+and had kept his best horse for the last game, so that as Isaacs spun
+along at lightning speed the little man was very close to him, his club
+well back for a sweeping hit. He rode well, but was evidently not so old
+a hand in the game as the rest of us. They neared the ball rapidly and
+Isaacs swerved a little to the left in order to get it well under his
+right hand, thus throwing himself somewhat across the track of his
+pursuer. As the Persian struck with all his force downwards and
+backwards, his adversary, excited by the chase, beyond all judgment or
+reckoning of his chances, hit out wildly, as beginners will. The long
+elastic handle of his weapon struck Isaacs' horse on the flank and
+glanced upward, the head of the club striking Isaacs just above the back
+of the neck. We saw him throw up his arms, the club in his right hand
+hanging to his wrist by the strap. The infuriated little arab pony tore
+on, and in a moment more the iron grip of the rider's knees relaxed,
+Isaacs swayed heavily in the saddle and fell over on the near side, his
+left foot hanging in the stirrup and dragging him along some paces
+before the horse finally shook himself clear and scampered away across
+the turf. The whole catastrophe occurred in a moment; the man who had
+done the mischief threw away his club to reach the injured player the
+sooner, and as we thundered after him, my pony stumbled over the long
+handle, and falling, threw me heavily over his head. I escaped with a
+very slight kick from one of the other horses, and leaving my beast to
+take care of himself, ran as fast as I could to where Isaacs lay, now
+surrounded by the six players as they dismounted to help him. But there
+was some one there before them.
+
+The accident had occurred near the middle of the ground, and opposite
+the place where Miss Westonhaugh and her uncle had taken up their stand
+to watch the contest. With a shake of the reins and a blow of the hand
+that made the thoroughbred bound his length as he plunged into a gallop,
+the girl rode wildly to where Isaacs lay, and reining the animal back on
+his haunches, sprang to the ground and knelt quickly down, so that
+before the others had reached them she had propped up his head and was
+rubbing his hands in hers. There was no mistaking the impulse that
+prompted her. She had seen many an accident in the hunting-field, and
+knew well that when a man fell like that it was ten to one he was badly
+hurt.
+
+Isaacs was ghastly pale, and there was a little blood on Miss
+Westonhaugh's white gauntlet. Her face was whiter even than his, though
+not a quiver of mouth or eyelash betrayed emotion. The man who had done
+it knelt on the other side, rubbing one of the hands. Kildare and
+Westonhaugh galloped off at full speed, and presently returned bearing a
+brandy-flask and a smelling-bottle, and followed by a groom with some
+water in a native _lota_. I wanted to make him swallow some of the
+liquor, but Miss Westonhaugh took the flask from my hands.
+
+"He would not like it. He never drinks it, you know," she said in a
+quiet low voice, and pouring some of the contents on her handkerchief,
+moistened all his brows and face and hair with the powerful alcohol.
+
+"Loosen his belt! pull off his boots, some of you!" cried Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins, as he came up breathless. "Take off his belt--damn it, you
+know! Dear, dear!" and he got off his _tat_ with all the alacrity he
+could muster.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh never took her eyes from the face of the prostrate
+man--pressing the wet handkerchief to his brow, and moistening the palm
+of the hand she held with brandy. In a few minutes Isaacs breathed a
+long heavy breath, and opened his eyes.
+
+"What is the matter?" he said; then, recollecting himself and trying to
+move his head--"Oh! I have had a tumble. Give me some water to drink."
+There was a sigh of relief from every one present as he spoke, quite
+naturally, and I held the _lota_ to his lips. "What became of the ball?"
+he asked quickly, as he sat up. Then turning round, he saw the beautiful
+girl kneeling at his side. The blood rushed violently to his face, and
+his eyes, a moment ago dim with unconsciousness, flashed brightly.
+"What! Miss Westonhaugh--you?" he bounded to his feet, but would have
+fallen back if I had not caught him in my arms, for he was still dizzy
+from the heavy blow that had stunned him. The blood came and went in his
+cheeks, and he hung on my arm confused and embarrassed, looking on the
+ground.
+
+"I really owe you all manner of apologies--" he began.
+
+"Not a bit of it, my dear boy," broke in Ghyrkins, "my niece was nearest
+to you when you fell, and so she came up and did the right thing, like
+the brave girl she is." The old fellow helped her to rise as he said
+this, and he looked so pleased and proud of her that I was delighted
+with him. "And now," he went on, "we must see how much you are hurt--the
+deuce of a knock, you know, enough to kill you--and if you are not able
+to ride, why, we will carry you home, you know; the devil of a way off
+it is, too, confound it all." As he jerked out his sentences he was
+feeling the back of Isaacs' head, to ascertain, if he could, how much
+harm had been done. All this time the man who had done the mischief was
+standing by, looking very penitent, and muttering sentences of apology
+as he tried to perform any little office for his victim that came in his
+way. Isaacs stretched out his arm, while Ghyrkins was feeling and
+twisting his head, and taking the man's hand, held it a moment.
+
+"My dear sir," he said, "I am not in the least hurt, I assure you, and
+it was my fault for crossing you at such a moment. Please do not think
+anything more about it." He smiled kindly at the young fellow, who
+seemed very grateful, and who from that day on would have risked
+everything in the world for him. I heard behind me the voice of Kildare,
+soliloquising softly.
+
+"Faith," said he, "that fellow is a gentleman if I ever saw one. I am
+afraid I should not have let that infernal duffer off so easily.
+By-the-bye, Isaacs," he said aloud, coming up to us, "you know you won
+the game. Nobody stopped the ball after you hit it, and the saices say
+it ran right through the goal. So cheer up; you have got something for
+your pains and your tumble." It was quite true; the phlegmatic saices
+had watched the ball instead of the falling man. Miss Westonhaugh, who
+was really a sensible and self-possessed young woman, and had begun to
+be sure that the accident would have no serious results, expressed the
+most unbounded delight.
+
+"Thank you, Miss Westonhaugh," said Isaacs; "you have kept your promise;
+you have crowned the victor."
+
+"With brandy," I remarked, folding up a scarf which somebody had given
+me wherewith to tie a wet compress to the back of his head.
+
+"There is nothing the matter," said Ghyrkins; "no end of a bad bruise,
+that's all. He will be all right in the morning, and the skin is only a
+little broken."
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs, who could now stand quite firm again, "hold the
+wet handkerchief in place, and give me that scarf." I did as he
+directed, and he took the white woollen shawl, and in half a dozen turns
+wound it round his head in a turban, deftly and gracefully. It was
+wonderfully becoming to his Oriental features and dark eyes, and I could
+see that Miss Westonhaugh thought so. There was a murmur of approbation
+from the native grooms who were looking on, and who understood the
+thing.
+
+"You see I have done it before," he said, smiling. "And now give me my
+coat, and we will be getting home. Oh yes! I can ride quite well."
+
+"That man has no end of pluck in him," said John Westonhaugh to Kildare.
+
+"By Jove! yes," was the answer. "I have seen men at home make twice the
+fuss over a tumble in a ploughed field, when they were not even stunned.
+I would not have thought it."
+
+"He is not the man to make much fuss about anything of that kind."
+
+Isaacs stoutly refused any further assistance, and after walking up and
+down a few minutes, he said he had got his legs back, and demanded a
+cigarette. He lit it carefully, and mounted as if nothing had happened,
+and we moved homeward, followed by the spectators, many of whom, of
+course, were acquaintances, and who had ridden up more or less quickly
+to make polite inquiries about the accident. No one disputed with Isaacs
+the right to ride beside Miss Westonhaugh on the homeward road. He was
+the victor of the day, and of course was entitled to the best place. We
+were all straggling along, but without any great intervals between us,
+so that the two were not able to get away as they had done on Saturday
+evening, but they talked, and I heard Miss Westonhaugh laugh. Isaacs was
+determined to show that he appreciated his advantage, and though, for
+all I know, he might be suffering a good deal of pain, he talked gaily
+and sat his horse easily, rather a strange figure in his light-coloured
+English overcoat, surmounted by the large white turban he had made out
+of the shawl. As we came out on the mall at the top of the hill, Mr.
+Ghyrkins called a council of war.
+
+"Of course we shall have to put off the tiger-hunt."
+
+"I suppose so," muttered Kildare, disconsolately.
+
+"Why?" said Isaacs. "Not a bit of it. Head or no head, we will start
+to-morrow morning. I am well enough, never fear."
+
+"Nonsense, you know it's nonsense," said Ghyrkins, "you will be in bed
+all day with a raging headache. Horrid things, knocks on the back of the
+head."
+
+"Not I. My traps are all packed, and my servants have gone down to
+Kalka, and I am going to-morrow morning."
+
+"Well, of course, if you really think you can," etc. etc. So he was
+prevailed upon to promise that if he should be suffering in the morning
+he would send word in time to put off the party. "Besides," he added,
+"even if I could not go, that is no reason why you should not."
+
+"Stuff," said Ghyrkins.
+
+"Oh!" said Miss Westonhaugh, looking rather blank.
+
+"That would never do," said John.
+
+"Preposterous! we could not think of going without you," said Lord
+Steepleton Kildare loudly; he was beginning to like Isaacs in spite of
+himself. And so we parted.
+
+"I shall not dine to-night, Griggs," said Isaacs, as we paused before
+his door. "Come in for a moment: you can help me." We entered the richly
+carpeted room, and he went to a curious old Japanese cabinet, and after
+opening various doors and divisions, showed a small iron safe. This he
+opened by some means known to himself, for he used no key, and he took
+out a small vessel of jade and brought it to the light. "Now," he said,
+"be good enough to warm this little jar in your hands while I go into
+the next room and get my boots and spurs and things off. But do not open
+it on any account--not on any account, until I come back," he added very
+emphatically.
+
+"All right, go ahead," said I, and began to warm the cold thing that
+felt like a piece of ice between my hands. He returned in a few minutes
+robed in loose garments from Kashmir, with the low Eastern slippers he
+generally wore indoors. He sat down among his cushions and leaned back,
+looking pale and tired; after ordering the lamps to be lit and the doors
+closed, he motioned me to sit down beside him.
+
+"I have had a bad shaking," he said, "and my head is a good deal
+bruised. But I mean to go to-morrow in spite of everything. In that
+little vial there is a powerful remedy unknown in your Western medicine.
+Now I want you to apply it, and to follow with the utmost exactness my
+instructions. If you fear you should forget what I tell you, write it
+down, for a mistake might be fatal to you, and would certainly be fatal
+to me."
+
+I took out an old letter and a pencil, not daring to trust my memory.
+
+"Put the vial in your bosom while you write: it must be near the
+temperature of the body. Now listen to me. In that silver box is wax.
+Tie first this piece of silk over your mouth, and then stop your
+nostrils carefully with the wax. Then open the vial quickly and pour a
+little of the contents into your hand. You must be quick, for it is very
+volatile. Rub that on the back of my head, keeping the vial closed. When
+your hand is dry, hold the vial open to my nostrils for two minutes by
+your watch. By that time, I shall be asleep. Put the vial in this pocket
+of my _caftan_; open all the doors and windows, and tell my servant to
+leave them so, but not to admit any one. Then you can leave me; I shall
+sleep very comfortably. Come back and wake me a little before midnight.
+You will wake me easily by lifting my head and pressing one of my hands.
+Remember, if you should forget to wake me, and I should still be asleep
+at one o'clock, I should never open my eyes again, and should be dead
+before morning. Do as I tell you, for friendship's sake, and when I wake
+I shall bathe and sleep naturally the rest of the night."
+
+I carefully fulfilled his instructions. Before I had finished rubbing
+his head he was drowsy, and when I took the vial from his nostrils he
+was sound asleep. I placed the precious thing where he had told me, and
+arranged his limbs on the cushions. Then I opened everything, and
+leaving the servant in charge went my way to my rooms. On removing the
+silk and the wax which had protected me from the powerful drug, an
+indescribable odour which permeated my clothes ascended to my nostrils;
+aromatic, yet pungent and penetrating; I never smelt anything that it
+reminded me of, but I presume the compound contained something of the
+nature of an opiate. I took some books down to Isaacs' rooms and passed
+the evening there, unwilling to leave him to the care of an inquisitive
+servant, and five minutes before midnight I awoke him in the manner he
+had directed. He seemed to be sleeping lightly, for he was awake in a
+moment, and his first action was to replace the vial in the curious
+safe. He professed himself perfectly restored; and, indeed, on examining
+his bruise I found there was no swelling or inflammation. The odour of
+the medicament, which, as he had said, seemed to be very volatile, had
+almost entirely disappeared. He begged me to go to bed, saying that he
+would bathe and then do likewise, and I left him for the night;
+speculating on the nature of this secret and precious remedy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+The Himalayan _tonga_ is a thing of delight. It is easily described, for
+in principle it is the ancient Persian war-chariot, though the
+accommodation is so modified as to allow four persons to sit in it back
+to back; that is, three besides the driver. It is built for great
+strength, the wheels being enormously heavy, and the pole of the size of
+a mast. Harness the horses have none, save a single belt with a sort of
+lock at the top, which fits into the iron yoke through the pole, and can
+slide from it to the extremity; there is neither breeching nor trace nor
+collar, and the reins run from the heavy curb bit directly through loops
+on the yoke to the driver's hands. The latter, a wiry, long-bearded
+Mohammedan, is armed with a long whip attached to a short thick stock,
+and though he sits low, on the same level as the passenger beside him on
+the front seat, he guides his half broken horses with amazing dexterity
+round sharp curves and by giddy precipices, where neither parapet nor
+fencing give the startled mind even a momentary impression of security.
+The road from Simla to Kalka at the foot of the hills is so narrow that
+if two vehicles meet, the one has to draw up to the edge of the road,
+while the other passes on its way. In view of the frequent encounters,
+every tonga-driver is provided with a post horn of tremendous power and
+most discordant harmony; for the road is covered with bullock carts
+bearing provisions and stores to the hill station. Smaller loads, such
+as trunks and other luggage, are generally carried by coolies, who
+follow a shorter path, the carriage road being ninety-two miles from
+Umballa, the railroad station, to Simla, but a certain amount may be
+stowed away in the tonga, of which the capacity is considerable.
+
+In three of these vehicles our party of six began the descent on Tuesday
+morning, wrapped in linen "dusters" of various shades and shapes, and
+armed with countless varieties of smoking gear. The roughness of the
+road precludes all possibility of reading, and, after all, the rapid
+motion and the constant appearance of danger--which in reality does not
+exist--prevent any overpowering _ennui_ from assailing the dusty
+traveller. So we spun along all day, stopping once or twice for a little
+refreshment, and changing horses every five or six miles. Everybody was
+in capital spirits, and we changed seats often, thus obtaining some
+little variety. Isaacs, who to every one's astonishment, seemed not to
+feel any inconvenience from his accident, clung to his seat in Miss
+Westonhaugh's tonga, sitting in front with the driver, while she and her
+uncle or brother occupied the seat behind, which is far more
+comfortable. At last, however, he was obliged to give his place to
+Kildare, who had been very patient, but at last said it "really wasn't
+fair, you know," and so Isaacs courteously yielded. At last we reached
+Kalka, where the tongas are exchanged for _dak gharry_ or mail carriage,
+a thing in which you can sit up in the daytime and lie down at night,
+there being an extension under the driver's box calculated for the
+accommodation of the longest legs. When lying down in one of these
+vehicles the sensation is that of being in a hearse and playing a game
+of funeral. On this occasion, however, it was still early when we made
+the change, and we paired off, two and two, for the last part of the
+drive. By the well planned arrangements of Isaacs and Kildare, two
+carriages were in readiness for us on the express train, and though the
+difference in temperature was enormous between Simla and the plains,
+still steaming from the late rainy season, the travelling was made easy
+for us, and we settled ourselves for the journey, after dining at the
+little hotel; Miss Westonhaugh bidding us all a cheery "good-night" as
+she retired with her _ayah_ into the carriage prepared for her. I will
+not go into tedious details of the journey--we slept and woke and slept
+again, and smoked, and occasionally concocted iced drinks from our
+supplies, for in India the carriages are so large that the traveller
+generally provides himself with a generous basket of provisions and a
+travelling ice-chest full of bottles, and takes a trunk or two with him
+in his compartment. Suffice it to say that we arrived on the following
+day at Fyzabad in Oude, and that we were there met by guides and
+shikarries--the native huntsmen--who assured us that there were tigers
+about near the outlying station of Pegnugger, where the elephants,
+previously ordered, would all be in readiness for us on the following
+day. The journey from Fyzabad to Pegnugger was not a long one, and we
+set out in the cool of the evening, sending our servants along in that
+"happy-go-lucky" fashion which characterises Indian life. It has always
+been a mystery to me how native servants manage always to turn up at the
+right moment. You say to your man, "Go there and wait for me," and you
+arrive and find him waiting; though how he transferred himself thither,
+with his queer-looking bundle, and his lota, and cooking utensils, and
+your best teapot wrapped up in a newspaper and ready for use, and with
+all the other hundred and one things that a native servant contrives to
+carry about without breaking or losing one of them, is an unsolved
+puzzle. Yet there he is, clean and grinning as ever, and if he were not
+clean and grinning and provided with tea and cheroots, you would not
+keep him in your service a day, though you would be incapable of looking
+half so spotless and pleased under the same circumstances yourself.
+
+On the following day, therefore, we found ourselves at Pegnugger,
+surrounded by shikarries and provided with every instrument of the chase
+that the ingenuity of man and the foresight of Isaacs and Ghyrkins could
+provide. There were numbers of tents, sleeping tents, cooking tents, and
+servants' tents; guns and ammunition of every calibre likely to be
+useful; _kookries_, broad strong weapons not unlike the famous American
+bowie knives (which are all made in Sheffield, to the honour, glory, and
+gain, of British trade); there were huge packs of provisions edible and
+potable; baskets of utensils for the kitchen and the table, and piles of
+blankets and tenting gear for the camp. There was also the little
+collector of Pegnugger, whose small body housed a stout heart, for he
+had shot tigers on foot before now in company with a certain German
+doctor of undying sporting fame, whose big round spectacles seemed to
+direct his bullets with unerring precision. But the doctor was not here
+now, and so the sturdy Englishman condescended to accept a seat in the
+howdah, and to kill his game with somewhat less risk than usual.
+
+This first day was occupied in transferring our party, now swelled by
+countless beaters and numerous huntsmen, not to mention all the retinue
+of servants necessary for an Indian camp, to the neighbourhood of the
+battlefield. There is not much conversation on these occasions, for the
+party is apt to become scattered, and there is a general tone of
+expectancy in the air, the old hands conversing more with the natives
+who know the district than with each other, and the young ones either
+wondering how many tigers they will kill, or listening open mouthed to
+the tales of adventure reeled off by the yard by the old bearded
+shikarry, who has slain the king of the jungle with a _kookrie_ in hand
+to hand struggle when he was young, and bears the scars of the deadly
+encounter on his brown chest to this day. Old Ghyrkins, who was
+evidently in his element, rode about on a little _tat_, questioning
+beaters and shikarries, and coming back every now and then to bawl up
+some piece of information to the little collector, who had established
+himself on one of the elephants and looked down over the edge of the
+howdah, the great pith hat on his head making him look like an immense
+mushroom with a very thin stem sprouting suddenly from the back of the
+huge beast. He smiled pleasantly at the old sportsman from his
+elevation, and seemed to know all about it. It so chanced that when he
+received Isaacs' telegrams he had been planning a little excursion on
+his own account, and had been sending out scouts and beaters for some
+days to ascertain where the game lay. This, of course, was so much clear
+gain to us, and the little man was delighted at the opportune
+coincidence which enabled him, by the unlimited money supplied, to join
+in such a hunt as he had not seen since the time when the Prince of
+Wales disported himself among the royal game, three years before. As for
+Miss Westonhaugh, she was in the gayest of spirits, as she sat with her
+brother on an elephant's back, while Isaacs, who loved the saddle,
+circled round her and kept up a fire of little compliments and pretty
+speeches, to which she was fast becoming inured. Kildare and I followed
+them closely on another elephant, discoursing seriously about the hunt,
+and occasionally shouting some question to John Westonhaugh, ahead,
+about sport in the south.
+
+Before evening we had arrived at our first camping ground, near a small
+village on the outskirts of the jungle, and the tents were pitched on a
+little elevation covered with grass, now green and waving. The men had
+mowed a patch clear, and were busy with the pegs and all the
+paraphernalia of a canvas house, and we strolled about, some of us
+directing the operations, others offering a sacrifice of cooling liquids
+and tobacco to the setting sun. Miss Westonhaugh had heard about living
+in tents ever since she came to India, and had often longed to sleep in
+one of those temporary chambers that are set up anywhere in the
+"compound" of an English bungalow for the accommodation of the bachelor
+guests whom the house itself is too small to hold; now she was enchanted
+at the prospect of a whole fortnight under canvas, and watched with rapt
+interest the driving of the pegs, the raising of the poles, and the
+careful furnishing of her dwelling. There was a carpet, and armchairs,
+and tables, and even a small bookcase with a few favourite volumes. To
+us in civilised life it seems a great deal of trouble to transport a
+lunch basket and a novel to some shady glen to enjoy a day's rest in the
+open air, and we would almost rather starve than take the trouble to
+carry provisions. In India you speak the word, and as by magic there
+arises in the wilderness a little village of tents, furnished with every
+necessary luxury--and the luxuries necessary to our degenerate age are
+many--a kitchen tent is raised, and a skilled dark-skinned artist
+provides you in an hour with a dinner such as you could eat in no hotel.
+The treasures of the huge portable ice-chest reveal cooling wines and
+soda water to the thirsty soul, and if you are going very far beyond the
+reach of the large towns, a small ice-machine is kept at work day and
+night to increase the supply while you sleep, and to maintain it while
+you wake. In the _connat_ or verandah of the tent, long chairs await you
+after your meal, and as you smoke the fragrant cigarette and watch the
+stars coming out, you feel as comfortable as though you had been dining
+in your own spacious bungalow in Mudnugger.
+
+It was not long before all was ready, and having made many ablutions and
+a little toilet, we assembled round the dinner table in the eating tent,
+the same party that had dined at Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' house on Sunday
+night, with the addition of the little collector of Pegnugger, whose
+stories of his outlying district were full of humour and anecdote. The
+talk bending in the direction of adventure, Kildare, who had been lately
+in South Africa with his regiment, told some tales of Zulus and assegais
+and Boers in the Hibernian style of hyperbole. The Irish blood never
+comes out so strongly as when a story is to be told, and no amount of
+English education and Oxford accent will suppress the tendency. The
+brogue is gone, but the love of the marvellous is there still. Isaacs
+related the experience of "a man he knew," who had been pulled off his
+elephant, howdah and all, and had killed the tiger with a revolver at
+half arm's length.
+
+"Ah yes," said the little collector, who had not caught the names of all
+the party when introduced, "I read about it at the time; I remember it
+very well. It happened in Purneah two years ago. The gentleman was a Mr.
+Isaacs of Delhi. Queer name too--remember perfectly." There was a roar
+of laughter at this, in which the collector joined vociferously on being
+informed that the man with the "queer name" was his neighbour at table.
+
+"You see what you get for your modesty," cried old Ghyrkins, laughing to
+convulsions.
+
+"And is it really true, Mr. Isaacs?" asked Miss Westonhaugh, looking
+admiringly across at the young man, who seemed rather annoyed.
+
+And so the conversation went round and all were merry, and some were
+sleepy after dinner, and we sat in long chairs under the awning or
+_connat_. There was no moon yet, but the stars shone out as they shine
+nowhere save in India, and the evening breeze played pleasantly through
+the ropes after the long hot day. Miss Westonhaugh assured everybody for
+the hundredth time that day that she rather liked the smell of cigars,
+and so we smoked and chatted a little, and presently there was a jerk
+and a sputtering sneeze from Mr. Ghyrkins, who, being weary with the
+march and the heat and the good dinner, and on the borders of sleep, had
+put the wrong end of his cigar in his mouth with destructive results.
+Then he threw it away with a small volley of harmless expletives, and
+swore he would go to bed, as he could not stand our dulness any longer;
+but he merely shifted his position a little, and was soon snoring
+merrily.
+
+"What a pity it is we have no piano, Katharine," said John Westonhaugh,
+who was fond of music. "Could you not sing something without any
+accompaniment?"
+
+"Oh no. Mr. Isaacs," she said, turning her voice to where she could see
+the light of his cigarette and the faint outline of his chair in the
+starlight, "here we are in the camp. Now where is the 'lute' you
+promised to produce for us? I think the time has come at last for you to
+keep your promise."
+
+"Well," said he, "I believe there really is an old guitar or something
+of the kind among my traps somewhere. But it might wake Mr. Ghyrkins,
+who, I understand from his tones, is asleep."
+
+Various opinions were expressed to the effect that Mr. Ghyrkins was not
+so easily disturbed, and a voice like Kildare's was heard to mumble that
+"it would not hurt him if he was," a sentence no one attempted to
+construe. So the faithful Narain was summoned, and instructed to bring
+the instrument if he could find it. I was rather surprised at Isaacs'
+readiness to sing; but in the first place I had never heard him, and
+besides I did not make allowance for the Oriental courtesy of his
+character, which would not refuse anything, or make any show of refusal
+in order to be pressed. Narain returned with a very modern-looking
+guitar-case, and, opening the box, presented his master with the
+instrument, which, as Isaacs took it to the light in the door of the
+tent to see if it had travelled safely, appeared to be a perfectly new
+German guitar. I suspected him of having purchased it at the little
+music shop at Simla, for the especial amusement of our party.
+
+"I thought it was a lute you played on," said Miss Westonhaugh, "a real,
+lovely, ancient Assyrian lute, or something of that kind."
+
+"Oh, a plain guitar is infinitely better and less troublesome," said
+Isaacs as he returned to his seat in the dark and began to tune the
+strings softly. "It takes so long to tune one of those old things, and
+then nothing will make them stand. Now this one, you see,--or rather you
+cannot see,--has an ingenious contrivance of screws by which you may
+tune it in a moment." While he was speaking he was altering the pitch of
+the strings, and presently he added, "There, it is done now," and two or
+three sounding chords fell on the still air. "Now what shall I sing? I
+await your commands."
+
+"Something soft, and sweet, and gentle."
+
+"A love-song?" asked he quietly.
+
+"Well yes--a love-song if you like. Why not?" said she.
+
+"No reason in the world that I can think of," I remarked. Whereat Lord
+Steepleton Kildare threw his cigar away, and began lighting another a
+moment after, as if he had discarded his weed by mistake.
+
+Isaacs struck a few chords softly, and then began a sort of running
+accompaniment. His voice, which seemed to me to be very high, was
+wonderfully smooth and round, and produced the impression of being much
+more powerful than he cared to show. He sang without the least effort,
+and yet there was none of that effeminate character that I have noticed
+in European male singers when producing high notes very softly. I do not
+understand music, but I am sure I never heard an opera tenor with a
+voice of such quality. The words of his song were Persian, and the pure
+accents of his native tongue seemed well suited to the half passionate,
+half plaintive air he had chosen. I afterwards found a translation of
+the sonnet by an English officer, which I here give, though it conveys
+little idea of the music of the original verse.
+
+    Last night, my eyes being closed in sleep, but my good fortune awake,
+    The whole night, the livelong night, the image of my beloved one was the
+    companion of my soul.
+    The sweetness of her melodious voice still remains vibrating on my soul;
+    Heavens! how did the sugared words fall from her sweeter lips;
+    Alas! all that she said to me in that dream has escaped from my memory,
+    Although it was my care till break of day to repeat over and over her
+    sweet words.
+    The day, unless illuminated by her beauty, is, to my eyes, of nocturnal
+    darkness.
+    Happy day that first I gazed upon that lovely face!
+    May the eyes of Jami long be blessed with pleasing visions, since they
+    presented to his view last night
+    The object, on whose account he passed his waking life in
+    expectation.[1]
+
+His beautiful voice ceased, and with infinite skill he wove a few
+strains of the melody into the final chords he played when he had
+finished singing. It was all so entirely novel, so unlike any music most
+of us had ever heard, and it was so undeniably good, that every one
+applauded and said something to the singer in turn, expressing the
+greatest admiration and appreciation. Miss Westonhaugh was the last to
+speak.
+
+"It is perfectly lovely," she said. "I wish I could understand the
+words--are they as sweet as the music?"
+
+"Sweeter," he answered, and he gave an offhand translation of two or
+three verses.
+
+"Beautiful indeed," she said; "and now sing me another, please." There
+was no resisting such an appeal, with the personal pronoun in the
+singular number. He moved a little nearer, and emphatically sang to her,
+and to no one else. A song of the same character as the first, but, I
+thought, more passionate and less dreamy, as his great sweet voice
+swelled and softened and rose again in burning vibrations and waves of
+sound. She did not ask a translation this time, but some one else did,
+after the applause had subsided.
+
+"I cannot translate these things," said Isaacs, "so as to do them
+justice, or give you any idea of the strength and vitality of the
+Persian verses. Perhaps Griggs, who understands Persian very well and is
+a literary man, may do it for you. I would rather not try." I professed
+my entire inability to comply with the request, and to turn the
+conversation asked him where he had learned to play the guitar so well.
+
+"Oh," he answered, "in Istamboul, years ago. Everybody plays in
+Istamboul--and most people sing love-songs. Besides it is so easy," and
+he ran scales up and down the strings with marvellous rapidity to
+illustrate what he said.
+
+"And do you never sing English songs, Mr. Isaacs?" asked the collector
+of Pegnugger, who was enchanted, not having heard a note of music for
+months.
+
+"Oh, sometimes," he answered. "I think I could sing 'Drink to me only
+with thine eyes'--do you know it?" He began to play the melody on the
+guitar while he spoke.
+
+"Rather--I should think so!" Kildare was heard to say. He was beginning
+to think the concert had lasted long enough.
+
+"Oh, do sing it, Mr. Isaacs," said the young girl, "and my brother and I
+will join in. It will be so pretty!"
+
+It certainly sounded very sweetly as he gave the melody in his clear,
+high tones, and Miss Westonhaugh and John sang with him. Having heard it
+several thousand times myself, I was beginning to recognise the tune
+well enough to enjoy it a good deal.
+
+"That is very nice," said Kildare, who was sorry he had made an
+impatient remark before, and wanted to atone.
+
+"Eh? what? how's that?" said Mr. Ghyrkins just waking up. "Oh! of
+course. My niece sings charmingly. Quite an artist, you know." And he
+struggled out of his chair and said it was high time we all went to bed
+if we meant to shoot straight in the morning. The magistrate of
+Pegnugger concurred in the opinion, and we reluctantly separated for the
+night to our respective quarters, Isaacs and I occupying a tent
+together, which he had caused to be sent on from Delhi, as being
+especially adapted to his comfort.
+
+On the following day at dawn we were roused by the sound of
+preparations, and before we were dressed the voices of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins and the collector were heard in the camp, stirring up the
+sleepy servants and ordering us to be waked. The two old sportsmen felt
+it their duty to be first on such an occasion as this, and in the calm
+security that they would do everything that was right, Isaacs and I
+discussed our tea and fruit--the _chota haziri_ or "little breakfast"
+usually taken in India on waking--sitting in the door of our tent, while
+Kiramat Ali and Narain and Mahmoud and the rest of the servants were
+giving a final rub to the weapons of the chase, and making all the
+little preparations for a long day. And we sat looking out and sipping
+our tea.
+
+In the cool of the dawn Miss Westonhaugh came tripping across the wet
+grass to where her uncle was giving his final directions about the
+furnishing of his howdah for the day; a lovely apparition of freshness
+in the gray morning, all dressed in dark blue, a light pith
+helmet-shaped hat pressing the rebellious white-gold hair almost out of
+sight. She walked so easily it seemed as if her dainty little feet had
+wings, as Hermes' of old, to ease the ground of their feather weight. A
+broad belt hung across her shoulder with little rows of cartridges set
+all along, and at the end hung a very business-like revolver case of
+brown leather and of goodly length. No toy miniature pistol would she
+carry, but a full-sized, heavy "six-shooter," that might really be of
+use at close quarters. She stood some minutes talking with Mr. Ghyrkins,
+not noticing us in the shadow of the tent some thirty yards away; Isaacs
+and I watched her intently--with very different feelings, possibly, but
+yet intensely admiring the fair creature, so strong and pliant, and yet
+so erect and straight. She turned half round towards us, and I saw there
+were flowers in the front of her dress. I wondered where they had come
+from; they were roses--of all flowers in the world to be blooming in the
+desert. Perhaps she had brought them carefully from Fyzabad, but that
+was improbable; or from Pegnugger--yes, there would be roses in the
+collector's garden there. Isaacs rose to his feet.
+
+"Oh, come along, Griggs. You have had quite enough tea!"
+
+"Go ahead; I will be with you in a moment." But a sudden thought struck
+me, and I went with him, bareheaded, to greet Miss Westonhaugh. She
+smiled brightly as she held out her hand.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Isaacs. Thank you so much for the roses. How _did_
+you do it? They are _too_ lovely!" So it was just as I thought. Isaacs
+had probably despatched a man back to Pegnugger in the night.
+
+"Very easy I assure you. I am so glad you like them. They are not very
+fresh after all though, I see," he added depreciatingly, as men do when
+they give flowers to people they care about. I never heard a man find
+fault with flowers he gave out of a sense of duty. It is perhaps that
+the woman best loved of all things in the world has for him a sweetness
+and a beauty that kills the coarser hues of the rose, and outvies the
+fragrance of the double violets.
+
+"Oh no!" she said, emphasising the negative vigorously. "I think they
+are perfectly beautiful, but I want you to tell me where you got them."
+I began talking to Ghyrkins, who was intent on the arrangement of his
+guns which was going on under his eyes, but I heard the answer, though
+Isaacs spoke in a low voice.
+
+"You must not say that, Miss Westonhaugh. You yourself are the most
+perfect and beautiful thing God ever made." By a superhuman effort I
+succeeded in keeping my eyes fixed on Ghyrkins, probably with a stony,
+unconscious stare, for he presently asked what I was looking at. I do
+not think Isaacs cared whether I heard him or not, knowing that I
+sympathised, but Mr. Ghyrkins was another matter. The Persian had made
+progress, for there was no trace of annoyance in Miss Westonhaugh's
+answer, though she entirely overlooked her companion's pretty speech.
+
+"Seriously, Mr. Isaacs, if you mean to have one of them for your badge
+to-day, you must tell me how you got them." I turned slowly round. She
+was holding a single rose in her fingers, and looking from it to him, as
+if to see if it would match his olive skin and his Karkee shooting-coat.
+He could not resist the bribe.
+
+"If you really want to know I will tell you, but it is a profound
+secret," he said, smiling. "Griggs, swear!"
+
+I raised my hand and murmured something about the graves of my
+ancestors.
+
+"Well," he continued, "yesterday morning at the collector's house I saw
+a garden; in the garden there were roses, carefully tended, for it is
+late. I took the gardener apart and said, 'My friend, behold, here is
+silver for thee, both rupees and pais. And if thou wilt pick the best of
+thy roses and deliver them to the swift runner whom I will send to thee
+at supper time when the stars are coming out, I will give thee as much
+as thou shalt earn in a month with thy English master. But if thou wilt
+not do it, or if thou failest to do it, having promised, I will cause
+the grave of thy father to be defiled with the slaughter of swine, and,
+moreover, I will return and beat thee with a thick stick!' The fellow
+was a Mussulman, and there was a merry twinkle in his eye as he took the
+money and swore a great oath. I left a running man at Pegnugger with a
+basket, and that is how you got the roses. Don't tell the collector,
+that is all."
+
+We all laughed, and Miss Westonhaugh gave the rose to Isaacs, who
+touched it to his lips, under pretence of smelling it, and put it in his
+buttonhole. Kildare came up at this moment and created a diversion; then
+the collector joined us and scattered us right and left, saying it was
+high time we were in the howdahs and on the way. So we buckled on our
+belts, and those who wore hats put them on, and those who preferred
+turbans bent while their bearers wound them on, and then we moved off to
+where the elephants were waiting and got into our places, and the
+_mahouts_ urged the huge beasts from their knees to their feet, and we
+went swinging off to the forest. The pad elephants, who serve as beaters
+and move between the howdah animals, joined us, and presently we went
+splashing through the reedy patches of fern, and crashing through the
+branches, towards the heart of the jungle.
+
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, whose long experience had made him as cool when
+after tigers as when reading the _Pioneer_ in his shady bungalow at
+Simla, had taken Miss Westonhaugh with him in his howdah, and as an
+additional precaution for her safety, the little collector of Pegnugger,
+who was a dead shot, only allowed two pad elephants to move between
+himself and Ghyrkins. As there were thirty-seven animals in all, the
+rest of the party were much scattered. I thought there were too many
+elephants for our six howdahs, but it turned out that I was mistaken,
+for we had capital sport. The magistrate of Pegnugger, who knew the
+country thoroughly, was made the despot of the day. His orders were
+obeyed unquestioningly and unconditionally, and we halted in long line
+or marched onwards, forcing a passage through every obstacle, at his
+word. We might have been out a couple of hours, watching every patch of
+jungle and blade of long rank grass for a sight of the striped skin,
+writhing through the reeds, that we so longed to see, when the quick,
+short crack of a rifle away to the right brought us to a halt, and every
+one drew a long breath and turned, gun in hand, in the direction whence
+the sound had come. It was Kildare; he had met his first tiger, and the
+first also of the hunt. He had put up the animal not five paces in front
+of him, stealing along in the cool grass and hoping to escape between
+the elephants, in the cunning way they often do. He had fired a snap
+shot too quickly, inflicting a wound in the flank which only served to
+rouse the tiger to madness. With a leap that seemed to raise its body
+perpendicularly from the ground, the gorgeous creature flew into the air
+and settled right on the head of Kildare's elephant, while the terrified
+_mahout_ wound himself round the howdah. It would have been a trying
+position for the oldest sportsman, but to be brought into such terrific
+encounter at arm's length, almost, at one's very first experience of the
+chase, was a terrible test of nerve. Those who were near said that in
+that awful moment Kildare never changed colour. The elephant plunged
+wildly in his efforts to shake off the beast from his head, but Kildare
+had seized his second gun the moment he had discharged the first, and
+aiming for one second only, as the tossing head and neck of the tusker
+brought the gigantic cat opposite him, fired again. The fearful claws,
+driven deep and sure into the thick hide of the poor elephant, relaxed
+their hold, the beautiful lithe limbs straightened by their own
+perpendicular weight, and the first prize of the day dropped to the
+ground like lead, dead, shot through the head.
+
+A great yell of triumph arose all along the line, and the little
+_mahout_ crept cautiously back from his lurking-place behind the howdah
+to see if the coast were clear. Kildare had behaved splendidly, and
+shouts of congratulation reached his ears from all sides. Miss
+Westonhaugh waved her handkerchief in token of approbation, every one
+applauded, and far away to the left Isaacs, who was in the last howdah,
+clapped his hands vigorously, and sent his high clear voice ringing like
+a trumpet down the line.
+
+"Well done, Kildare! well done, indeed!" and his rival's praise was not
+the least grateful to Lord Steepleton on that day. Meanwhile the
+shikarries gathered around the fallen beast. It proved to be a young
+tigress some eight feet long, and the clean bright coat showed that she
+was no man-eater. So the pad elephant came alongside, to use a nautical
+phrase not inappropriate, and kneeling down received its burden
+willingly, well knowing that the slain beauty was one of his deadly
+foes. The _mahout_ pronounced the elephant on which Kildare was mounted
+able to proceed, and only a few huge drops of blood marked where the
+tigress had kept her hold. We moved on again, beating the jungle,
+wheeling and doubling the long line, wherever it seemed likely that some
+striped monster might have eluded us. Marching and counter-marching
+through the heat of the day, we picked up another-prize in the
+afternoon. It was a large old tiger, nine feet six as he lay; he fell an
+easy prey to the gun of the little collector of Pegnugger, who sent a
+bullet through his heart at the first shot, and smiled rather
+contemptuously as he removed the empty shell of the cartridge from his
+gun. He would rather have had Kildare's chance in the morning.
+
+After all, two tigers in a day was not bad sport for the time of year. I
+knew Isaacs would be disappointed at not having had a shot, where his
+rival in a certain quarter had had so good an opportunity for displaying
+skill and courage; and I confessed to myself that I preferred a small
+party, say, a dozen elephants and three howdahs, to this tremendous and
+expensive _battue_. I had a shot-gun with me, and consoled myself by
+shooting a peacock or two as we rolled and swayed homewards. We had
+determined to keep to the same camp for a day or two, as we could enter
+the forest from another point on the morrow, and might even beat some of
+the same ground again with success.
+
+It was past five when we got down to the tents and descended from our
+howdahs, glad to stretch our stiffened limbs in a brisk walk. The dead
+tigers were hauled into the middle of the camp, and the servants ran
+together to see the result of the _sahib log's_ day out. We retired to
+dress and refresh ourselves for dinner.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+In Isaacs' tent I was pulling off my turban, all shapeless and crumpled
+by the long day, while Isaacs stood disconsolately looking at the clean
+guns and unbroken rows of cartridges which Narain deposited on the
+table. The sun was very low, and shone horizontally through the raised
+door of the tent on my friend's rather gloomy face. At that moment
+something intercepted the sunshine, and a dark shadow fell across the
+floor. I looked, and saw a native standing on the threshold, salaaming
+and waiting to be spoken to. He was not one of our men, but a common
+ryot, clad simply in a _dhoti_ or waist-cloth, and a rather dirty
+turban.
+
+"Kya chahte ho?"--"What do you want?" asked Isaacs impatiently. He was
+not in a good humour by any means. "Wilt thou deprive thy betters of the
+sunlight thou enjoyest thyself?"
+
+"The sahib's face is like the sun and the moon," replied the man
+deprecatingly. "But if the great lord will listen I will tell him what
+shall rejoice his heart."
+
+"Speak, unbeliever," said Isaacs.
+
+"Protector of the poor! you are my father and my mother! but I know
+where there lieth a great tiger, an eater of men, hard-hearted, that
+delighteth in blood."
+
+"Dog," answered Isaacs, calmly removing his coat, "the tiger you speak
+of was seen by you many moons since; what do you come to me with idle
+tales for?" Isaacs was familiar with the native trick of palming off old
+tigers on the unwary stranger, in the hope of a reward.
+
+"Sahib, I am no liar. I saw the tiger, who is the king of the forest,
+this morning." Isaacs' manner relaxed a little, and he sat down and
+lighted the eternal cigarette. "Slave," he said meditatively, "if it is
+as you say, I will kill the tiger, but if it is not as you say, I will
+kill you, and cause your body to be buried with the carcass of an ox,
+and your soul shall not live." The man did not seem much moved by the
+threat. He moved nearer, and salaamed again.
+
+"It is near to the dwelling of the sahib, who is my father," said the
+man, speaking low. "The day before yesterday he destroyed a man from the
+village. He has eaten five men in the last moon. I have seen him enter
+his lair, and he will surely return before the dawn; and the sahib shall
+strike him by his lightning; and the sahib will not refuse me the ears
+of the man-eater, that I may make a _jaedu_, a charm against sudden
+death?"
+
+"Hound! if thou speakest the truth, and I kill the tiger, the monarch of
+game, I will make thee a rich man; but thou shalt not have his ears. I
+desire the _jaedu_ for myself. I have spoken; wait thou here my
+pleasure." The ryot bent low to the earth, and then squatted by the
+tent-door to wait, in the patient way that a Hindoo can, for Isaacs to
+go and eat his dinner. As the latter came out ten minutes later, he
+paused and addressed the man once more. "Speak not to any man of thy
+tiger while I am gone, or I will cut off thine ears with a pork knife."
+And we passed on.
+
+The sun was now set and hovering in the afterglow, the new moon was
+following lazily down. I stopped a moment to look at her, and was
+surprised by Miss Westonhaugh's voice close behind me.
+
+"Are you wishing by the new moon, Mr. Griggs?" she asked.
+
+"Yes," said I, "I was. And what were you wishing, Miss Westonhaugh, if I
+may ask?" Isaacs came up, and paused beside us. The beautiful girl stood
+quite still, looking to westward, a red glow on the white-gold masses of
+her hair.
+
+"Did you say you were wishing for something, Miss Westonhaugh?" he
+asked. "Perhaps I can get it for you. More flowers, perhaps? They are
+very easily got."
+
+"No--that is, not especially. I was wishing--well, that a tiger-hunt
+might last for ever; and I want a pair of tiger's ears. My old _ayah_
+says they keep off evil spirits and sickness; and all sorts of things."
+
+"I know; it is a curious idea. I suppose both those beasts there have
+lost theirs already. These fellows cut them off in no time."
+
+"Yes. I have looked. So I suppose I must wait till to-morrow. But
+promise me, Mr. Isaacs, if you shoot one to-morrow, let me have the
+ears!"
+
+"I will promise that readily enough. I would promise anything you--" The
+last part of the sentence was lost to me, as I moved away and left them.
+
+At dinner, of course, every one talked of the day's sport, and
+compliments of all kinds were showered on Lord Steepleton, who looked
+very much pleased, and drank a good deal of wine. Ghyrkins and the
+little magistrate expressed their opinion that he would make a famous
+tiger-killer one of these days, when he had learned to wait. Every one
+was hungry and rather tired, and after a somewhat silent cigar, we
+parted for the night, Miss Westonhaugh rising first. Isaacs went to his
+quarters, and I remained alone in a long chair, by the deserted
+dining-tent. Kiramat Ali brought me a fresh hookah, and I lay quietly
+smoking and thinking of all kinds of things--things of all kinds,
+tigers, golden hair, more tigers, Isaacs, Shere Ali, Baithop--, what was
+his name--Baithop--p--. I fell asleep.
+
+Some one touched my hand, waking me suddenly. I sprang to my feet and
+seized the man by the throat, before I recognised in the starlight that
+it was Isaacs.
+
+"You are not a nice person to rouse," remarked he in a low voice, as I
+relaxed my grasp. "You will have fever if you sleep out-of-doors at this
+time of year. Now look here; it is past midnight, and I am going out a
+little way." I noticed that he had a _kookrie_ knife at his waist, and
+that his cartridge-belt was on his chest.
+
+"I will go with you," said I, guessing his intention. "I will be ready
+in a moment," and I began to move towards the tent.
+
+"No. I must go alone, and do this thing single-handed. I have a
+particular reason. I only wanted to warn you I was gone, in case you
+missed me. I shall take that ryot fellow with me to show me the way."
+
+"Give him a gun," I suggested.
+
+"He could not use one if I did. He has your _kookrie_ in case of
+accidents."
+
+"Oh, very well! do not let me interfere with any innocent and childlike
+pastime you may propose for your evening hours. I will attend to your
+funeral in the morning. Good-night."
+
+"Good-night; I shall be back before you are up." And he walked quickly
+off to where the ryot was waiting and holding his guns. He had the sense
+to take two. I was angry at the perverse temerity of the man. Why could
+he not have an elephant out and go like a sensible thinking being,
+instead of sneaking out with one miserable peasant to lie all night
+among the reeds, in as great danger from cobras as from the beast he
+meant to kill? And all for a girl --an English girl--a creature all fair
+hair and eyes, with no more intelligence than a sheep! Was it not she
+who sent him out to his death in the jungle, that her miserable caprice
+for a pair of tiger's ears might be immediately satisfied? If a woman
+ever loved me, Paul Griggs,--thank heaven no woman ever did,--would I go
+out into bogs and desert places and risk my precious skin to find her a
+pair of cat's ears? Not I;--wait a moment, though. If I were in his
+place, if Miss Westonhaugh loved _me_--I laughed at the conceit. But
+supposing she did. Just for the sake of argument, I would allow it. I
+think that I would risk something after all. What a glorious thing it
+would be to be loved by a woman, once, wholly and for ever. To meet the
+creature I described to him the other night, waiting for me to come into
+her life, and to be to her all I could be to the woman I should love.
+But she has never come; never will, now; still, there is a sort of rest
+to me in thinking of rest. Hearth, home, wife, children; the worn old
+staff resting in the corner, never to wander again. What a strange thing
+it is that men should have all these, and more, and yet never see that
+they have the simple elements of earthly happiness, if they would but
+use them. And we, outcasts and wanderers, children of sin and darkness,
+in whose hands one commandment seems hardly less fragile than another,
+would give anything--had we anything to give--for the happiness of a
+home, to call our own. How strange it is that what I said to Isaacs
+should be true. "Do not marry unless you must depend on each other for
+daily bread, or unless you are rich enough to live apart." Yes, it is
+true, in ninetynine cases out of a hundred. But then, I should add a
+saving clause, "and unless you are quite sure that you love each other."
+Ay, there is the _pons asinorum,_ the bridge whereon young asses and old
+fools come to such terrible grief. They are perfectly sure they love
+eternally; they will indignantly scorn the suggestions of prudence; love
+any other woman? never, while I live, answers the happy and
+unsophisticated youth. Be sorry I did it? Do you think I am a schoolboy
+in my first passion? demands the aged bridegroom. And so they marry, and
+in a year or two the enthusiastic young man runs away with some other
+enthusiastic man's wife, and the octogenarian spouse finds himself
+constituted into a pot of honey for his wife's swarming relations to
+settle on, like flies. But a man in strong middle prime of age, like me,
+knows his own mind; and--yes, on the whole I was unjust to Isaacs and to
+Miss Westonhaugh. If a woman loved me, she should have all the tiger's
+ears she wanted. "Still, I hope he will get back safely," I added, in
+afterthought to my reverie, as I turned into bed and ordered Kiramat Ali
+to wake me half an hour before dawn.
+
+I was restless, sleeping a little and dreaming much. At last I struck a
+light and looked at my watch. Four o'clock. It would not be dawn for
+more than an hour; I knew Isaacs had made for the place where the tiger
+passed his days, certain that he would return near daybreak, according
+to all common probability. He need not have gone so early, I thought.
+However, it might be a long way off. I lay still for a while, but it
+seemed very hot and close under the canvas. I got up and threw a
+_caftan_ round me, drew a chair into the _connat_ and sat, or rather
+lay, down in the cool morning breeze. Then I dozed again until Kiramat
+Ali woke me by pulling at my foot. He said it would be dawn in half an
+hour. I had passed a bad night, and went out, as I was, to walk on the
+grass. There was Miss Westonhaugh's tent away off at the other end. She
+was sleeping calmly enough, never doubting that at that very moment the
+man who loved her was risking his life for her pleasure--her slightest
+whim. She would be wide awake if she knew it, staring out into the
+darkness and listening for the crack of his rifle. A faint light
+appeared behind the dining-tent, over the distant trees, like the light
+of London seen from twenty or thirty miles' distance in the country, a
+faint, suggestive, murky grayness in the sky, making the stars look
+dimmer.
+
+The sound of a shot rang true and clear through the chill air; not far
+off I thought. I held my breath, listening for a second report, but none
+came. So it was over. Either he had killed the tiger with his first
+bullet, or the tiger had killed him before he could fire a second. I was
+intensely excited. If he were safe I wished him to have the glory of
+coming home quite alone. There was nothing for it but to wait, so I went
+into my tent and took a bath--a very simple operation where the bathing
+consists in pouring a huge jar of water over one's head. Tents in India
+have always a small side tent with a ditch dug to drain off the water
+from the copious ablutions of the inmate. I emerged into the room
+feeling better. It was now quite light, and I proceeded to dress
+leisurely to spin out the time. As I was drawing on my boots, Isaacs
+sauntered in quietly and laid his gun on the table. He was pale, and his
+Karkee clothes were covered with mud and leaves and bits of creeper, but
+his movements showed he was not hurt in any way; he hardly seemed tired.
+
+"Well?" I said anxiously.
+
+"Very well, thank you. Here they are," and he produced from the pocket
+of his coat the _spolia opima_ in the shape of a pair of ears, that
+looked very large to me. There was a little blood on them and on his
+hands as he handed the precious trophies to me for inspection. We stood
+by the open door, and while I was turning over the ears curiously in my
+hands, he looked down at his clothes.
+
+"I think I will take a bath," he said; "I must have been in a dirty
+place."
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, taking his hand, "this is absurd. I mean all
+this affected calmness. I was angry at your going in that way, to risk
+your head in a tiger's mouth; but I am sincerely glad to see you back
+alive. I congratulate you most heartily."
+
+"Thank you, old man," he said, his pale face brightening a little. "I am
+very glad myself. Do you know I have a superstition that I must fulfil
+every wish of--like that--even half expressed, to the very letter?"
+
+"The 'superstition,' as you call it, is worthy of the bravest knight
+that ever laid lance in rest. Don't part with superstitions like that.
+They are noble and generous things."
+
+"Perhaps," he answered, "but I really am very superstitious," he added,
+as he turned into the bathing _connat_. Soon I heard him splashing among
+the water jars.
+
+"By-the-bye, Griggs," he called out through the canvas, "I forgot to
+tell you. They are bringing that beast home on an elephant. It was much
+nearer than we supposed. They will be here in twenty minutes." A
+tremendous splashing interrupted him. "You can go and attend to that
+funeral you were talking about last night," he added, and his voice was
+again drowned in the swish and souse of the water. "He was rather
+large--over ten feet--I should say. Measure him as soon as he--" another
+cascade completed the sentence. I went out, taking the measuring tape
+from the table.
+
+In a few minutes the procession appeared. Two or three matutinal
+shikarries had gone out and come back, followed by the elephant, for
+which Isaacs had sent the ryot at full speed the moment he was sure the
+beast was dead. And so they came up the little hill behind the
+dining-tent. The great tusker moved evenly along, bearing on the pad an
+enormous yellow carcass, at which the little _mahout_ glanced
+occasionally over his shoulder. Astride of the dead king sat the ryot,
+who had directed Isaacs, crooning a strange psalm of victory in his
+outlandish northern dialect, and occasionally clapping his hands over
+his head with an expression of the most intense satisfaction I have ever
+seen on a human face. The little band came to the middle of the camp
+where the other tigers, now cut up and skinned elsewhere, had been
+deposited the night before, and as the elephant knelt down, the
+shikarries pulled the whole load over, pad, tiger, ryot and all, the
+latter skipping nimbly aside. There he lay, the great beast that had
+taken so many lives. We stretched him out and measured him--eleven feet
+from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, all but an inch--as a
+little more straightening fills the measure, eleven feet exactly.
+
+Meanwhile, the servant and shikarries collected, and the noise of the
+exploit went abroad. The sun was just rising when Mr. Ghyrkins put his
+head out of his tent and wanted to know "what the deuce all this
+_tamaesha_ was about."
+
+"Oh, nothing especial," I called out. "Isaacs has killed an eleven foot
+man-eater in the night. That is all."
+
+"Well I'm damned," said Mr. Ghyrkins briefly, and to the point, as he
+stared from his tent at the great carcass, which lay stretched out for
+all to see, the elephant having departed.
+
+"Clear off those fellows and let me have a look at him, can't you?" he
+called out, gathering the tent curtains round his neck; and there he
+stood, his jolly red face and dishevelled gray hair looking as if they
+had no body attached at all.
+
+I went back to our quarters. Isaacs was putting the ears, which he had
+carefully cleansed from blood, into a silver box of beautiful
+workmanship, which Narain had extracted from his master's numerous
+traps.
+
+"Take that box to Miss Westonhaugh's tent," he said, giving it to the
+servant, "with a greeting from me--with 'much peace.'" The man went out.
+
+"She will send the box back," said I. "Such is the Englishwoman. She
+will take a pair of tiger's ears that nearly cost you your life, and she
+would rather die than accept the bit of silver in which you enclose
+them, without the 'permission of her uncle.'"
+
+"I do not care," he said, "so long as she keeps the ears. But unless I
+am much mistaken, she will keep the box too. She is not like other
+Englishwomen in the least."
+
+I was not sure of that. We had some tea in the door of our tent, and
+Isaacs seemed hungry and thirsty, as well he might be. Now that he was
+refreshed by bathing and the offices of the camp barber, he looked much
+as usual, save that the extreme paleness I had noticed when he came in
+had given place to a faint flush beneath the olive, probably due to his
+excitement, the danger being past. As we sat there, the rest of the
+party, who had slept rather later than usual after their fatigues of the
+previous day, came out one by one and stood around the dead tiger,
+wondering at the tale told by the delighted ryot, who squatted at the
+beast's head to relate the adventure to all comers. We could see the
+group from where we sat, in the shadow of the _connat_, and the
+different expressions of the men as they came out. The little collector
+of Pegnugger measured and measured again; Mr. Ghyrkins stood with his
+hands in his coat pockets and his legs apart, then going to the other
+side he took up the same position again. Lord Steepleton Kildare
+sauntered round and twirled his big moustache, saying nothing the while,
+but looking rather serious. John Westonhaugh, who seemed to be the
+artistic genius of the party, sent for a chair and made his servant hold
+an umbrella over him while he sketched the animal in his notebook, and
+presently his sister came out, a big bunch of roses in her belt, and a
+broad hat half hiding her face, and looked at the tiger and then round
+the party quickly, searching for Isaacs. In her hand she held a little
+package wrapped in white tissue paper. I strolled up to the group,
+leaving Isaacs in his tent. I thought I might as well play innocence.
+
+"Of course," I remarked, "those fellows have bagged his ears as usual."
+
+"They never omit that," said Ghyrkins.
+
+"Oh no, uncle," broke in Miss Westonhaugh, "he gave them to me!"
+
+"Who?" asked Ghyrkins, opening his little eyes wide.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs. Did not he kill the tiger? He sent me the ears in a little
+silver box. Here it is--the box, I mean. I am going to give it back to
+him, of course."
+
+"How did Mr. Isaacs know you wanted them?" asked her uncle, getting red
+in the face.
+
+"Why, we were talking about them last night before dinner, and he
+promised that if he shot a tiger to-day he would give me the ears." Mr.
+Ghyrkins was redder and redder in the morning sun. There was a storm of
+some kind brewing. We were collected together on the other side of the
+dead tiger and exchanged all kinds of spontaneous civilities and
+remarks, not wishing to witness Mr. Ghyrkins' wrath, nor to go away too
+suddenly. I heard the conversation, however, for the old gentleman made
+no pretence of lowering his voice.
+
+"And do you mean to say you let him go off like that? He must have been
+out all night. That beast of a nigger says so. On foot, too. I say on
+foot! Do you know what you are talking about? Eh? Shooting tigers on
+foot? What? Eh? Might have been killed as easily as not! And then what
+would you have said? Eh? What? Upon my soul! You girls from home have no
+more hearts than a parcel of old Juggernauts!" Ghyrkins was now furious.
+We edged away towards the dining-tent, making a great talk about the
+terrible heat of the sun in the morning. I caught the beginning of Miss
+Westonhaugh's answer. She had hardly appreciated the situation yet, and
+probably thought her uncle was joking, but she spoke very coldly, being
+properly annoyed at his talking in such a way.
+
+"You cannot suppose for a moment that I meant him to go," I heard her
+say, and something else followed in a lower tone. We then went into the
+dining-tent.
+
+"Now look here, Katharine," Mr. Ghyrkins' irate voice rang across the
+open space, "if any young woman asked me----" John Westonhaugh had risen
+from his chair and apparently interrupted his uncle. Miss Westonhaugh
+walked slowly to her tent, while her male relations remained talking. I
+thought Isaacs had shown some foresight in not taking part in the
+morning discussion. The two men went into their tents together and the
+dead tiger lay alone in the grass, the sun rising higher and higher,
+pouring down his burning rays on man and beast and green thing. And soon
+the shikarries came with a small elephant and dragged the carcass away
+to be skinned and cut up. Kildare and the collector said they would go
+and shoot some small game for dinner. Isaacs, I supposed, was sleeping,
+and I was alone in the dining-tent. I shouted for Kiramat Ali and sent
+for books, paper, and pens, and a hookah, resolved to have a quiet
+morning to myself, since it was clear we were not going out to-day. I
+saw Ghyrkins' servant enter his tent with bottles and ice, and I
+suspected the old fellow was going to cool his wrath with a "peg," and
+would be asleep most of the morning. John would take a peg too, but he
+would not sleep in consequence, being of Bombay, iron-headed and
+spirit-proof. So I read on and wrote, and was happy, for I like the heat
+of the noon-day and the buzzing of the flies, and the smell of the
+parched grass, being southern born.
+
+About twelve o'clock, when I was beginning to think I had done enough
+work for one day, I saw Miss Westonhaugh's native maid come out of her
+mistress's tent and survey the landscape, shading her eyes with her
+hand. She was dressed, of course, in spotless white drapery, and there
+were heavy anklets on her feet and bangles of silver on her wrist. She
+seemed satisfied by her inspection and went in again, returning
+presently with Miss Westonhaugh and a large package of work and novels
+and letter-writing materials. They came straight to where I was sitting
+under the airy tent where we dined, and Miss Westonhaugh established
+herself at one side of the table at the end of which I was writing.
+
+"It is so hot in my tent," she said almost apologetically, and began to
+unroll some worsted work.
+
+"Yes, it is quite unbearable," I answered politely, though I had not
+thought much about the temperature. There was a long silence, and I
+collected my papers in a bundle and leaned back in my chair. I did not
+know what to say, nor was anything expected of me. I looked occasionally
+at the young girl, who had laid her hat on the table, allowing the rich
+coils of dazzling hair to assert their independence. Her dark eyes were
+bent over her work as her fingers deftly pushed the needle in and out of
+the brown linen she worked on.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," she began at last without looking up, "did you know Mr.
+Isaacs was going out last night to kill that horrid thing?" I had
+expected the question for some time.
+
+"Yes; he told me about midnight, when he started."
+
+"Then why did you let him go?" she asked, looking suddenly at me, and
+knitting her dark eyebrows rather fiercely.
+
+"I do not think I could have prevented him. I do not think anybody could
+prevent him from doing anything he had made up his mind to. I nearly
+quarrelled with him, as it was."
+
+"I am sure I could have stopped him, if I had been you," she said
+innocently.
+
+"I have not the least doubt that you could. Unfortunately, however, you
+were not available at the time, or I would have suggested it to you."
+
+"I wish I had known," she went on, plunging deeper and deeper. "I would
+not have had him go for--for anything."
+
+"Oh! Well, I suppose not. But, seriously, Miss Westonhaugh, are you not
+flattered that a man should be willing and ready to risk life and limb
+in satisfying your lightest fancy?"
+
+"Flattered?" she looked at me with much astonishment and some anger. I
+was sure the look was genuine and not assumed.
+
+"At all events the tiger's ears will always be a charming reminiscence,
+a token of esteem that any one might be proud of."
+
+"I am not proud of them in the least, though I shall always keep them as
+a warning not to wish for such things. I hope that the next time Mr.
+Isaacs is going to do a foolish thing you will have the common sense to
+prevent him." She returned to her starting-point; but I saw no use in
+prolonging the skirmish, and turned the talk upon other things. And soon
+John Westonhaugh joined us, and found in me a sympathetic talker and
+listener, as we both cared a great deal more for books than for tigers,
+though not averse to a stray shot now and then.
+
+In this kind of life the week passed, shooting to-day and staying in
+camp to-morrow. We shifted our ground several times, working along the
+borders of the forest and crashing through the jungle after tiger with
+varying success. In the evenings, when not tired with the day's work, we
+sat together, and Isaacs sang, and at last even prevailed upon Miss
+Westonhaugh to let him accompany her with his guitar, in which he proved
+very successful. They were constantly together, and Ghyrkins was heard
+to say that Isaacs was "a very fine fellow, and it was a pity he wasn't
+English," to which Kildare assented somewhat mournfully, allowing that
+it was quite true. His chance was gone, and he knew it, and bore it like
+a gentleman, though he still made use of every opportunity he had to
+make himself acceptable to Miss Westonhaugh. The girl liked his manly
+ways, and was always grateful for any little attention from him that
+attracted her notice, but it was evident that all her interest ceased
+there. She liked him in the same way she liked her brother, but rather
+less, if anything. She hardly knew, for she had seen so little of John
+since she was a small child. I suppose Isaacs must have talked to her
+about me, for she treated me with a certain consideration, and often
+referred questions to me, on which I thought she might as well have
+consulted some one else. For my part, I served the lovers in every way I
+could think of. I would have done anything for Isaacs then as now, and I
+liked her for the honest good feeling she had shown about him,
+especially in the matter of the tiger's ears, for which she could not
+forgive herself--though in truth she had been innocent enough. And they
+were really lovers, those two. Any one might have seen it, and but for
+the wondrous fascination Isaacs exercised over every one who came near
+him, and the circumstances of his spotless name and reputation for
+integrity in the large transactions in which he was frequently known to
+be engaged, it is certain that Mr. Ghyrkins would have looked askance at
+the whole affair, and very likely would have broken up the party.
+
+In the course of time we became a little _blase_ about tigers, till on
+the eighth day from the beginning of the hunt, which was a Thursday, I
+remember, an incident occurred which left a lasting impression on the
+mind of every one who witnessed it. It was a very hot morning, the
+hottest day we had had, and we had just crossed a _nullah_ in the
+forest, full from the recent rains, wherein the elephants lingered
+lovingly to splash the water over their heated sides, drowning the
+swarms of mosquitoes from which they suffer such torments, in spite of
+their thick skins. The collector called a halt on the opposite side; our
+line of march had become somewhat disordered by the passage, and
+numerous tracks in the pasty black mud showed that the _nullah_ was a
+favourite resort of tigers--though at this time of day they might be a
+long distance off. I had come next to the collector after we emerged
+from the stream, the pad elephants having lingered longer in the water,
+and Mr. Ghyrkins with Miss Westonhaugh was three or four places beyond
+me. It was shady and cool under the thick trees, and the light was not
+good. The collector bent over his howdah, looking at some tracks.
+
+"Those tracks look suspiciously fresh, Mr. Griggs," said the collector,
+scrutinising the holes, not yet filled by the oozing back water of the
+_nullah_. "Don't you think so?"
+
+"Indeed, yes. I do not understand it at all," I replied. At the
+collector's call a couple of beaters came forward and stooped down to
+examine the trail. One of them, a good-looking young _gowala_, or
+cowherd, followed along the footprints, examining each to be sure he was
+not going on a false spoor; he moved slowly, scrutinising each hole, as
+the traces grew shallower on the rising ground, approaching a bit of
+small jungle. My sight followed the probable course of the track ahead
+of him and something caught my eyes, which are remarkably good, even at
+a great distance. The object was brown and hairy; a dark brown, not the
+kind of colour one expects to see in the jungle in September. I looked
+closely, and was satisfied that it must be part of an animal; still more
+clearly I saw it, and no doubt remained in my mind; it was the head of a
+bullock or a heifer. I shouted to the man to be careful, to stop and let
+the elephants plough through the undergrowth, as only elephants can. But
+he did not understand my Hindustani, which was of the civilised _Urdu_
+kind learnt in the North-West Provinces. The man went quickly along, and
+I tried to make the collector comprehend what I saw. But the pad
+elephants were coming out of the water and forcing themselves between
+our beasts, and he hardly caught what I said in the confusion. The track
+led away to my left, nearly opposite to the elephant bearing Mr.
+Ghyrkins and his niece. The little Pegnugger man was on my right. The
+native held on, moving more and more rapidly as he found himself
+following a single track. I shouted to him--to Ghyrkins--to everybody,
+but they could not make the doomed man understand what I saw--the
+freshly slain head of the tiger's last victim. There was little doubt
+that the king himself was near by--probably in that suspicious-looking
+bit of green jungle, slimy green too, as green is, that grows in sticky
+chocolate-coloured mud. The young fellow was courageous, and ignorant of
+the immediate danger, and, above all, he was on the look out for
+bucksheesh. He reached the reeds and unclean vegetables that grew thick
+and foul together in the little patch. He put one foot into the bush.
+
+A great fiery yellow and black head rose cautiously above the level of
+the green and paused a moment, glaring. The wretched man, transfixed
+with terror, stood stock still, expecting death. Then he moved, as if to
+throw himself on one side, and at the same instant the tiger made a dash
+at his naked body, such a dash as a great relentless cat makes at a
+gold-fish trying to slide away from its grip. The tiger struck the man a
+heavy blow on the right shoulder, felling him like a log, and coming
+down to a standing position over his prey, with one paw on the native's
+right arm. Probably the parade of elephants and bright coloured howdahs,
+and the shouts of the beaters and shikarries, distracted his attention
+for a moment. He stood whirling his tail to right and left, with half
+dropped jaw and flaming eyes, half pressing, half grabbing the fleshy
+arm of the senseless man beneath him--impatient, alarmed, and horrible.
+
+"Pack!!! Pi-i-i-i-ing ..." went the crack and the sing of the merry
+rifle, and the scene changed.
+
+With a yell like a soul in everlasting torment the great beast whirled
+himself into the air ten feet at least, and fell dead beside his victim,
+shot through breast and breastbone and heart. A dead silence fell on the
+spectators. Then I looked, and saw Miss Westonhaugh holding out a second
+gun to Mr. Ghyrkins, while he, seeing that the first had done its work,
+leaned forward, his broad face pale with the extremity of his horror for
+the man's danger, and his hands gripping at the empty rifle.
+
+"You've done it this time," cried the collector from the right. "Take
+six to four the man's dead!"
+
+"Done," called Kildare from the other end. I was the nearest to the
+scene, after Ghyrkins. I dropped over the edge of the howdah and made
+for the spot, running. I think I reflected as I ran that it was rather
+low for men to bet on the poor fellow's life in that way. Tigers are
+often very deceptive and always die hard, and I am a cautious person, so
+when I was near I pulled out my long army six-shooter, and, going
+within arm's length, quietly put a bullet through the beast's eye as a
+matter of safety. When he was cut up, however, the ball from the rifle
+of Mr. Ghyrkins was found in his heart; the old fellow was a dead shot
+still. I went up and examined the prostrate man. He was lying on his
+face, and so I picked him up and propped his head against the dead
+tiger. He was still breathing, but a very little examination proved that
+his right collar-bone and the bone of his upper arm were broken. A
+little brandy revived him, and he immediately began to scream with pain.
+I was soon joined by the collector, who with characteristic promptitude
+had torn and hewed some broad slats of bamboo from his howdah, and with
+a little pulling and wrenching, and the help of my long, tough
+turban-cloth, a real native pugree, we set and bound the arm as best we
+could, giving the poor fellow brandy all the while. The collar-bone we
+left to its own devices; an injury there takes care of itself.
+
+An elephant came up and received the dead tiger, and the man was carried
+off and placed in my howdah. The other animals with their riders had
+gathered near the scene, and every one had something to say to Ghyrkins,
+who by his brilliant shot and the life he had saved, had maintained his
+reputation, and come off the hero of the whole campaign. Miss
+Westonhaugh was speechless with horror at the whole thing, and seemed to
+cling to her uncle, as if fearing something of the same kind might
+happen to her at any moment. Isaacs, as usual the last on the line of
+beating, came up and called out his congratulations.
+
+"After saving a life so well, Mr. Ghyrkins, you will not grudge me the
+poor honour of risking one, will you?"
+
+"Not I, my boy!" answered the delighted old sportsman, "only if that
+mangy old man-eater had got you down the other day, I should not have
+been there to pot him!"
+
+"Great shot, sir! I envy you," said Kildare.
+
+"Splendid shot. A hundred yards at least," said John Westonhaugh
+meditatively, but in a loud voice.
+
+So we swung away toward the camp, though it was early. Ghyrkins
+chuckled, and the man with the broken bones groaned. But between the
+different members of the party he would be a rich man before he was
+well. I amused myself with my favourite sport of potting peacocks with
+bullets; it is very good practice. Isaacs had told me that morning when
+we started that he would leave us the next day to meet Shere Ali near
+Keitung. We reached camp about three o'clock, in the heat of the
+afternoon. The injured beater was put in a servant's tent to be sent off
+to Pegnugger in a litter in the cool of the night. There was a doctor
+there who would take care of him under the collector's written orders.
+
+The camp was in a shady place, quite unlike the spot where we had first
+pitched our tents. There was a little grove of mango-trees, rather
+stunted, as they are in the north, and away at one corner of the
+plantation was a well with a small temple where a Brahmin, related to
+all the best families in the neighbouring village, dwelt and collected
+the gifts bestowed on him and his simple shrine by the superstitious,
+devout, or worldly pilgrims who yearly and monthly visited him in search
+of counsel, spiritual or social. The men had mowed the grass smooth
+under the trees, and the shade was not so close as to make it damp. Some
+ryots had been called in to dig a ditch and raised a rough _chapudra_ or
+terrace, some fifteen feet in diameter, opposite the dining-tent, on
+which elevation we could sit, even late at night, in reasonable security
+from cobras and other evil beasts. It was a pleasant place in the
+afternoon, and pleasanter still at night. As I turned into our tent
+after we got back, I thought I would go and sit there when I had bathed,
+and send for a hookah and a novel, and go to sleep.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+I observed that Isaacs was very quick about his toilet, and when I came
+out and ascended the terrace, followed by Kiramat Ali with books and
+tobacco, I glanced lazily over the quiet scene, settling myself in my
+chair, and fully expecting to see my friend somewhere among the trees,
+not unaccompanied by some one else. I was not mistaken. Turning my eyes
+towards the corner of the grove where the old Brahmin had his shrine, I
+saw the two well-known figures of Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh sauntering
+towards the well. Having satisfied the expectations of my curiosity, I
+turned over the volume of philosophy, well thumbed and hard used as a
+priest's breviary, and I inhaled long draughts of tobacco, debating
+whether I should read, or meditate, or dream. Deciding in favour of the
+more mechanical form of intellectuality, I fixed on a page that looked
+inviting, and followed the lines, from left to right, lazily at first,
+then with increased interest, and finally in that absorbed effort of
+continued comprehension which constitutes real study. Page after page,
+syllogism after syllogism, conclusion after conclusion, I followed for
+the hundredth time in the book I love well--the book of him that would
+destroy the religion I believe, but whose brilliant failure is one of
+the grandest efforts of the purely human mind. I finished a chapter and,
+in thought still, but conscious again of life, I looked up. They were
+still down there by the well, those two, but while I looked the old
+priest, bent and white, came out of the little temple where he had been
+sprinkling his image of Vishnu, and dropped his aged limbs from one step
+to the other painfully, steadying his uncertain descent with a stick. He
+went to the beautiful couple seated on the edge of the well, built of
+mud and sun-dried bricks, and he seemed to speak to Isaacs, I watched,
+and became interested in the question whether Isaacs would give him a
+two-anna bit or a copper, and whether I could distinguish with the naked
+eye at that distance between the silver and the baser metal. Curious,
+thought I, how odd little trifles will absorb the attention. The
+interview which was to lead to the expected act of charity seemed to be
+lasting a long time.
+
+Suddenly Isaacs turned and called to me; his high, distinct tones
+seeming to gather volume from the hollow of the well. He was calling me
+to join them. I rose, rather reluctantly, from my books and moved
+through the trees to where they were.
+
+"Griggs," Isaacs called out before I had reached him, "here is an old
+fellow who knows something. I really believe he is something of a yogi."
+
+"What ridiculous nonsense," I said impatiently, "who ever heard of a
+yogi living in a temple and feeding on the fat of the land in the way
+all these men do? Is that all you wanted?" Miss Westonhaugh, peering
+down into the depths of the well, laughed gaily.
+
+"I told you so! Never try to make Mr. Griggs swallow that kind of thing.
+Besides, he is a 'cynic' you know."
+
+"As far as personal appearance goes, Miss Westonhaugh, I think your
+friend the Brahmin there stands more chance of being taken for a
+philosopher of that school. He really does not look particularly well
+fed, in spite of the riches I thought he possessed." He was a
+strange-looking old man, with a white beard and a small badly-rolled
+pugree. His black eyes were filmy and disagreeable to look at. I
+addressed him in Hindustani, and told him what Isaacs said, that he
+thought he was a yogi. The old fellow did not look at me, nor did the
+bleared eyes give any sign of intelligence. Nevertheless he answered my
+question.
+
+"Of what avail that I do wonders for you who believe not?" he asked, and
+his voice sounded cracked and far off.
+
+"It will avail thee several coins, friend," I answered, "both rupees and
+pais. Reflect that there may be bucksheesh in store for thee, and do a
+miracle."
+
+"I will not do wonders for bucksheesh," said the priest, and began to
+hobble away. Isaacs stepped lightly to his side and whispered something
+in his ear. The ancient Brahmin turned.
+
+"Then I will do a wonder for you, but I want no bucksheesh. I will do it
+for the lady with white hair, whose face resembles Chunder." He looked
+long and fixedly at Miss Westonhaugh. "Let the _sahib log_ come with me
+a stone's throw from the well, and let one sahib call his servant and
+bid him draw water that he may wash his hands. And I will do this
+wonder; the man shall not draw any water, though he had the strength of
+Siva, until I say the word." So we moved away under the trees, and I
+shouted for Kiramat Ali, who came running down, and I told him to send a
+_bhisti_, a water-carrier, with his leathern bucket. Then we waited.
+Presently the man came, with bucket and rope.
+
+"Draw water, that I may wash my hands," said I.
+
+"Achha, sahib," and he strode to the well and lowered his pail by the
+rope. The priest looked intently at him as he shook the rope to turn the
+bucket over and let it fill; then he began to pull. The bucket seemed to
+be caught. He jerked, and then bent his whole weight back, drawing the
+rope across the edge of the brickwork. The thing was immovable. He
+seemed astonished and looked down into the well, thinking the pail was
+caught in a stone. I could not resist the temptation to go down and
+inspect the thing. No. The bucket was full and lying in the middle of
+the round sheet of water at the bottom of the well. The man tugged,
+while the Brahmin never took his eyes, now bright and fiery, off him. I
+went back to where they all stood. The thing had lasted five minutes.
+Then the priest's lips moved silently.
+
+Instantly the strain was released and the stout water-carrier fell
+headlong backwards on the grass, his heels in the air, jerking the
+bucket right over the edge of the well. He bounded to his feet and ran
+up the grove, shouting "Bhut, Bhut," "devils, devils," at the top of his
+voice. His obstinacy had lasted so long as the bucket would not move,
+but then his terror got the better of him and he fled.
+
+"Did you ever see anything of that kind before, Miss Westonhaugh?" I
+inquired.
+
+"No indeed; have you? How is it done?"
+
+"I have seen similar things done, but not often. There are not many of
+them that know how. But I cannot tell you the process any more than I
+can explain the mango trick, which belongs, distantly, to the same class
+of phenomena."
+
+The Brahmin, whose eyes were again dim and filmy, turned to Isaacs.
+
+"I have done a wonder for you. I will also tell you a saying. You have
+done wrong in not taking the advice of your friend. You should not have
+come forth to kill the king of game, nor have brought the white-haired
+lady into the tiger's jaws. I have spoken. Peace be with you." And he
+moved away.
+
+"And with you peace, friend," answered Isaacs mechanically, but as I
+looked at him he turned white to the very lips.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh did not understand the language, and Isaacs would have
+been the last person to translate such a speech as the Brahmin had made.
+We turned and strolled up the hill, and presently I bethought me of some
+errand, and left them together under the trees. They were so happy and
+so beautiful together, the fair lily from the English dale and the deep
+red rose of Persian Gulistan. The sun slanted low through the trees and
+sank in rose-coloured haze, and the moon, now just at the half, began to
+shine out softly through the mangoes, and still the lovers walked,
+pacing slowly to and fro near the well. No wonder they dallied long; it
+was their last evening together, and I doubted not that Isaacs was
+telling her of his sudden departure, necessary for reasons which I knew
+he would not explain to her or to any one else.
+
+At last we all assembled in the dining-tent. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was
+among the first, and his niece was the last to enter the room. He was
+glorious that evening, his kindly red face beamed on every one, and he
+carried himself like a victorious general at a ladies' tea-party. He had
+reason to be happy, and his jerky good spirits were needed to
+counterbalance the deep melancholy that seemed to have settled upon his
+niece. The colour was gone from her cheeks, and her dark eyes, heavily
+fringed by the black brows and lashes, shone out strangely; the contrast
+between the white flaxen hair, drawn back in simple massive waves like a
+Greek statue, and the broad level eyes as dark as night, was almost
+startling this evening in the singularity of its beauty. She sat like a
+queenly marble at the end of the table, not silent, by any means, but so
+evidently out of spirits that John Westonhaugh, who did not know that
+Isaacs was going in the morning, and would not have supposed that his
+sister could care so much, if he had known, remarked upon her
+depression.
+
+"What is the matter, Katharine?" he asked kindly. "Have you a headache
+this evening?" She was just then staring rather blankly into space.
+
+"Oh no," she said, trying to smile. "I was thinking."
+
+"Ah," said Mr. Ghyrkins merrily, "that is why you look so unlike
+yourself, my dear!" And he laughed at his rough little joke.
+
+"Do I?" asked the girl absently.
+
+But Ghyrkins was not to be repressed, and as Kildare and the Pegnugger
+man were gay and wide awake, the dinner was not as dull as might have
+been expected. When it was over, Isaacs announced his intention of
+leaving early the next morning. Very urgent business recalled him
+suddenly, he explained. A messenger had arrived just before dinner. He
+must leave without fail in the morning. Miss Westonbaugh of course was
+forewarned; but the others were not. Lord Steepleton Kildare, in the act
+of lighting a cheroot, dropped the vesuvian incontinently, and stood
+staring at Isaacs with an indescribable expression of empty wonder in
+his face, while the match sputtered and smouldered and died away in the
+grass by the door. John Westonhaugh, who liked Isaacs sincerely, and had
+probably contemplated the possibility of the latter marrying Katharine,
+looked sorry at first, and then a half angry expression crossed his
+face, which softened instantly again. Currie Ghyrkins swore loudly that
+it was out of the question--that it would break up the party--that he
+would not hear of it, and so on.
+
+"I must go," said Isaacs quietly. "It is a very serious matter. I am
+sorry--more sorry than I can tell you; but I must."
+
+"But you cannot, you know. Damn it, sir, you are the life of the party,
+you know! Come, come, this will never do!"
+
+"My dear sir," said Isaacs, addressing Ghyrkins, "if, when you were
+about to fire this morning to save that poor devil's life, I had begged
+you not to shoot, would you have complied?"
+
+"Why, of course not," ejaculated Ghyrkins angrily.
+
+"Well, neither can I comply, though I would give anything to stay with
+you all."
+
+"But nobody's life depends on your going away to-morrow morning. What do
+you mean? The deuce and all, you know, I don't understand you a bit."
+
+"I cannot tell you, Mr. Ghyrkins; but something depends on my going,
+which is of as great importance to the person concerned as life itself.
+Believe me," he said, going near to the old gentleman and laying a hand
+on his arm, "I do not go willingly."
+
+"Well, I hope not, I am sure," said Ghyrkins gruffly, though yielding.
+"If you will, you will, and there's no holding you; but we are all very
+sorry. That's all. Mahmoud! bring fire, you lazy pigling, that I may
+smoke." And he threw himself into a chair, the very creaking of the cane
+wicker expressing annoyance and dissatisfaction.
+
+So there was an end of it, and Isaacs strode off through the moonlight
+to his quarters, to make some arrangement, I supposed. But he did not
+come back. Miss Westonhaugh retired also to her tent, and no one was
+surprised to see her go. Kildare rose presently and asked if I would not
+stroll to the well, or anywhere, it was such a jolly night. I went with
+him, and arm in arm we walked slowly down. The young moon was bright
+among the mango-trees, striking the shining leaves, that reflected a
+strange greenish light. We moved leisurely, and spoke little. I
+understood Kildare's silence well enough, and I had nothing to say. The
+ground was smooth and even, for the men had cut the grass close, and the
+little humped cow that belonged to the old Brahmin cropped all she could
+get at.
+
+We skirted round the edge of the grove, intending to go back to the
+tents another way. Suddenly I saw something in front that arrested my
+attention. Two figures, some thirty yards away. They stood quite still,
+turned from us. A man and a woman between the trees, an opening in the
+leaves just letting a ray of moonlight slip through on them. His arm
+around her, the tall lissome figure of her bent, and her head resting on
+his shoulder. I have good eyes and was not mistaken, but I trusted
+Kildare had not seen. A quick twitch of his arm, hanging carelessly
+through mine, told me the mischief was done before I could turn his
+attention. By a common instinct we wheeled to the left, and passing into
+the open strolled back in the direction whence we had come. I did not
+look at Kildare, but after a minute he began to talk about the moonlight
+and tigers, and whether tigers were ever shot by moonlight, and
+altogether was rather incoherent; but I took up the question, and we
+talked bravely till we got back to the dining-tent, where we sat down
+again, secretly wishing we had not gone for a stroll after all. In a few
+minutes Isaacs came from his tent, which he must have entered from the
+other side. He was perfectly at his ease, and at once began talking
+about the disagreeable journey he had before him. Then, after a time, we
+broke up, and he said good-bye to every one in turn, and Ghyrkins told
+John to call his sister, if she were still visible, for "Mr. Isaacs
+wanted to say good-bye." So she came and took his hand, and made a
+simple speech about "meeting again before long," as she stood with her
+uncle; and my friend and I went away to our tent.
+
+We sat long in the _connat_. Isaacs did not seem to want rest, and I
+certainly did not. For the first half hour he was engaged in giving
+directions to the faithful Narain, who moved about noiselessly among the
+portmanteaus and gun-cases and boots which strewed the floor. At last
+all was settled for the start before dawn, and he turned to me.
+
+"We shall meet again in Simla, Griggs, of course?"
+
+"I hope so. Of course we shall, unless you are killed by those fellows
+at Keitung. I would not trust them."
+
+"I do not trust them in the least, but I have an all-powerful ally in
+Ram Lal. Did you not think it very singular that the Brahmin should know
+all about Ram Lal's warning? and that he should have the same opinion?"
+
+"We live in a country where nothing should astonish us, as I remember
+saying to you a fortnight ago, when we first met," I answered. "That the
+Brahmin possesses some knowledge of _yog-vidya_ is more clearly shown by
+his speech about Ram Lal than by that ridiculous trick with my
+water-carrier."
+
+"You are not easily astonished, Griggs. But I agree with you as to that.
+I am still at a loss to understand why I should not have come or let the
+others come. I was startled at the Brahmin."
+
+"I saw you were; you were as white as a sheet, and yet you turned up
+your nose at Ram Lal when he told you not to come."
+
+"The Brahmin said something more than Ram Lal. He said I should not have
+brought the white-haired lady into the tiger's jaws. I saw that the
+first warning had been on her account, and I suppose the impression of
+possible danger for her frightened me."
+
+"It would not have frightened you three weeks ago about any woman," I
+said. "It appears to me that your ideas in certain quarters have
+undergone some little change. You are as different from the Isaacs I
+knew at first as Philip drunk was different from Philip sober. Such is
+human nature--scoffing at women the one day, and risking life and soul
+for their whims the next."
+
+"I hate your reflections about the human kind, Griggs, and I do not like
+your way of looking at women. You hate women so!"
+
+"No. You like my descriptions of the 'ideal creatures I rave about' much
+better, it seems. Upon my soul, friend, if you want a criterion of
+yourself, take this conversation. A fortnight ago to-day--or to-morrow,
+will it be?--I was lecturing you about the way to regard women; begging
+you to consider that they had souls and were capable of loving, as well
+as of being loved. And here you are accusing me of hating the whole sex,
+and without the slightest provocation on my part, either. Here is Birnam
+wood coming to Dunsinane with a vengeance!"
+
+"Oh, I don't deny it. I don't pretend to argue about it. I have changed
+a good deal in the last month." He pensively crossed one leg over the
+other as he lay back on the long chair and pulled at his slipper. "I
+suppose I have--changed a good deal."
+
+"No wonder. I presume your views of immortality, the future state of the
+fair sex, and the application of transcendental analysis to matrimony,
+all changed about the same time?"
+
+"Don't be unreasonable," he answered. "It all dates from that evening
+when I had that singular fit and the vision I related to you. I have
+never been the same man since; and I am glad of it. I now believe women
+to be much more adorable than you painted them, and not half enough
+adored." Suddenly he dropped the extremely English manner which he
+generally affected in the idiom and construction of his speech, and
+dropped back into something more like his own language. "The star that
+was over my life is over it no longer. I have no life-star any longer.
+The jewel of the southern sky withdraws his light, paling before the
+white gold from the northern land. The gold that shall be mine through
+all the cycles of the sun, the gold that neither man nor monarch shall
+take from me. What have I to do with stars in heaven? Is not my star
+come down to earth to abide with me through life? And when life is over
+and the scroll is full, shall not my star bear me hence, beyond the
+fiery foot-bridge, beyond the paradise of my people and its senseless
+sensuality of houris and strong wine? Beyond the very memory of limited
+and bounded life, to that life eternal where there is neither limit, nor
+bound, nor sorrow? Shall our two souls not unite and be one soul to roam
+through the countless circles of revolving outer space? Not through
+years, or for times, or for ages--but for ever? The light of life is
+woman, the love of life is the love of woman; the light that pales not,
+the life that cannot die, the love that can know not any ending; _my_
+light, _my_ life, and _my_ love!" His whole soul was in his voice, and
+his whole heart; the twining white fingers, the half-closed eyes, and
+the passionate quivering tone, told all he had left unsaid. It was
+surely a high and a noble thing that he felt, worthy of the man in his
+beauty of mind and body. He loved an ideal, revealed to him, as he
+thought, in the shape of the fair English girl; he worshipped his ideal
+through her, without a thought that he could be mistaken. Happy man!
+Perhaps he had a better chance of going through life without any cruel
+revelation of his mistake than falls to the lot of most lovers, for she
+was surpassingly beautiful, and most good and true hearted. But are not
+people always mistaken who think to find the perfect comprehended in the
+imperfect, the infinite enchained and made tangible in the finite? Bah!
+The same old story, the same old vicious circle, the everlastingly
+recurring mathematical view of things that cannot be treated
+mathematically; the fruitless attempt to measure the harmonious circle
+of the soul by the angular square of the book. What poor things our
+minds are, after all. We have but one way of thinking derived from what
+we know, and we incontinently apply it to things of which we can know
+nothing, and then we quarrel with the result, which is a mere _reductio
+ad absurdum_, showing how utterly false and meagre are our hypotheses,
+premisses, and so-called axioms. Confucius, who began his system with
+the startling axiom that "man is good," arrived at much more really
+serviceable conclusions than Schopenhauer and all the pessimists put
+together. Meanwhile, Isaacs was in love, and, I supposed, expected me to
+say something appreciative.
+
+"My dear friend," I began, "it is a rare pleasure to hear any one talk
+like that; it refreshes a man's belief in human nature, and enthusiasm,
+and all kinds of things. I talked like that some time ago because you
+would not. I think you are a most satisfactory convert."
+
+"I am indeed a convert. I would not have believed it possible, and now I
+cannot believe that I ever thought differently. I suppose it is the way
+with all converts--in religion as well--and with all people who are
+taken up by a fair-winged genius from an arid desert and set down in a
+garden of roses." He could not long confine himself to ordinary
+language. "And yet the hot sand of the desert, and the cool of the
+night, and the occasional patch of miserable, languishing green, with
+the little kindly spring in the camel-trodden oasis, seemed all so
+delightful in the past life that one was quite content, never suspecting
+the existence of better things. But now--I could almost laugh to think
+of it. I stand in the midst of the garden that is filled with all things
+fair, and the tree of life is beside me, blossoming straight and broad
+with the flowers that wither not, and the fruit that is good to the
+parched lips and the thirsty spirit. And the garden is for us to dwell
+in now, and the eternity of the heavenly spheres is ours hereafter." He
+was all on fire again. I kept silence for some time; and his hands
+unfolded, and he raised them and clasped them under his head, and drew a
+deep long breath, as if to taste the new life that was in him.
+
+"Forgive my bringing you down to earth again," I said after a while,
+"but have you made all necessary arrangements? Is there anything I can
+do, after you are gone? Anything to be said to these good people, if
+they question me about your sudden departure?"
+
+"Yes. I was forgetting. If you will be so kind, I wish you would see the
+expedition out, and take charge of the expenses. There are some bags of
+rupees somewhere among my traps. Narain knows. I shall not take him with
+me--or, no; on second thoughts I will hand you over the money, and take
+him to Simla. Then, about the other thing. Do not tell any one where I
+have gone, unless it be Miss Westonhaugh, and use your own discretion
+about her. We shall all be in Simla in ten days, and I do not want this
+thing known, as you may imagine. I do not think there is anything else,
+thanks." He paused, as if thinking. "Yes, there is one more
+consideration. If anything out of the way should occur in this
+transaction with Baithopoor, I should want your assistance, if you will
+give it. Would you mind?"
+
+"Of course not. Anything----"
+
+"In that case, if Ram Lal thinks you are wanted, he will send a swift
+messenger to you with a letter signed by me, in the Persian
+_shikast_--which you read.--Will you come by the way he will direct you,
+if I send? He will answer for your safety."
+
+"I will come," I said, though I thought it was rather rash of me, who am
+a cautious man, to trust my life in the hands of a shadowy person like
+Ram Lal, who seemed to come and go in strange ways, and was in
+communication with suspicious old Brahmin jugglers. But I trusted Isaacs
+better than his adept friend.
+
+"I suppose," I said, vaguely hoping there might yet be a possibility of
+detaining him, "that there is no way of doing this business so that you
+could remain here."
+
+"No, friend Griggs. If there were any other way, I would not go now. I
+would not go to-day, of all days in the year--of all days in my life.
+There is no other way, by the grave of my father, on whom be the peace
+of Allah." So we went to bed.
+
+At four o'clock Narain waked us, and in twenty minutes Isaacs was on
+horseback. I had ordered a _tat_ to be in readiness for me, thinking I
+would ride with him an hour or two in the cool of the morning. So we
+passed along by the quiet tents, Narain disappearing in the manner
+peculiar to Hindoo servants, to be found at the end of the day's march,
+smiling as ever. The young moon had set some time before, but the stars
+were bright, though it was dark under the trees.
+
+Twenty yards beyond the last tent, a dark figure swept suddenly out from
+the blackness and laid a hand on Isaacs' rein. He halted and bent over,
+and I heard some whispering. It only lasted a moment, and the figure
+shot away again. I was sure I heard something like a kiss, in the gloom,
+and there was a most undeniable smell of roses in the air. I held my
+peace, though I was astonished. I could not have believed her capable of
+it. Lying in wait in the dusk of the morning to give her lover a kiss
+and a rose and a parting word. She must have taken me for his servant in
+the dark.
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs as we parted some six or seven miles farther
+on,--"an odd thing happened this morning. I have left something more in
+your keeping than money."
+
+"I know. Trust me. Good-bye," and he cantered off.
+
+I confess I was very dejected and low-spirited when I came back into
+camp. My acquaintance with Isaacs, so suddenly grown into intimacy, had
+become a part of my life. I felt a sort of devotion to him that I had
+never felt for any man in my life before. I would rather have gone with
+him to Keitung, for a presentiment told me there was trouble in the
+wind. He had not talked to me about the Baithopoor intrigue, for
+everything was as much settled beforehand as it was possible to settle
+anything. There was nothing to be said, for all that was to come was
+action; but I knew Isaacs distrusted the maharajah, and that without Ram
+Lal's assistance--of whatever nature that might prove to be--he would
+not have ventured to go alone to such a tryst.
+
+When I returned the camp was all alive, for it was nearly seven o'clock.
+Kildare and the collector, my servant said, had gone off on _tats_ to
+shoot some small game. Mr. Ghyrkins was occupied with the shikarries in
+the stretching and dressing of the skin he had won the previous day.
+Neither Miss Westonhaugh nor her brother had been seen. So I dressed and
+rested myself and had some tea, and sat wondering what the camp would be
+like without Isaacs, who, to me and to one other person, was
+emphatically, as Ghyrkins had said the night before, the life of the
+party. The weather was not so warm as on the previous day, and I was
+debating whether I should not try and induce the younger men to go and
+stick a pig--the shikarry said there were plenty in some place he knew
+of--or whether I should settle myself in the dining-tent for a long day
+with my books, when the arrival of a mounted messenger with some letters
+from the distant post-office decided me in favour of the more peaceful
+disposition of my time. So I glanced at the papers, and assured myself
+that the English were going deeper and deeper into the mire of
+difficulties and reckless expenditure that characterised their campaign
+in Afghanistan in the autumn of 1879; and when I had assured myself,
+furthermore, by the perusal of a request for the remittance of twenty
+pounds, that my nephew, the only relation, male or female, that I have
+in the world, had not come to the untimely death he so richly deserved,
+I fell to considering what book I should read. And from one thing to
+another, I found myself established about ten o'clock at the table in
+the dining-tent, with Miss Westonhaugh at one side, worsted work,
+writing materials and all, just as she had been at the same table a week
+or so before. At her request I had continued my writing when she came
+in. I was finishing off a column of a bloodthirsty article for the
+_Howler_; it probably would come near enough to the mark, for in India
+you may print a leader anywhere within a month of its being written, and
+if it was hot enough to begin with, it will still answer the purpose.
+Journalism is not so rapid in its requirements as in New York, but, on
+the other hand, it is more lucrative.
+
+"Mr. Griggs, are you _very_ busy?"
+
+"Oh dear, no--nothing to speak of," I went on writing--the
+unprecedented--folly--the--blatant--charlatanism----
+
+"Mr. Griggs, do you understand these things?"
+
+----Lord Beaconsfield's--"I think so, Miss Westonhaugh"--Afghan
+policy----There, I thought,
+
+I think that would rouse Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, if he ever saw it, which I
+trust he never will. I had done, and I folded the numbered sheets in an
+oblong bundle.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Miss Westonhaugh; I was just finishing a sentence. I
+am quite at your service."
+
+"Oh no! I see you are too busy."
+
+"Not in the least, I assure you. Is it that tangled skein? Let me help
+you."
+
+"Oh thank you. It is so tiresome, and I am not in the least inclined to
+be industrious."
+
+I took the wool and set to work. It was very easy, after all; I pulled
+the loops through, and back again and through from the other side, and I
+found the ends, and began to wind it up on a piece of paper. It is
+singular, though, how the unaided wool can tie itself into every kind of
+a knot--reef, carrick bend, bowline, bowline in a bight, not to mention
+a variety of hitches and indescribable perversions of entanglement. I
+was getting on very well, though. I looked up at her face, pale and
+weary with a sleepless night, but beautiful--ah yes--beautiful beyond
+compare. She smiled faintly.
+
+"You are very clever with your fingers. Where did you learn it? Have you
+a sister who makes you wind her wool for her at home?"
+
+"No. I have no sister. I went to sea once upon a time."
+
+"Were you ever in the navy, Mr. Griggs?"
+
+"Oh no. I went before the mast."
+
+"But you would not learn to unravel wool before the mast. I suppose your
+mother taught you when you were small--if you ever were small."
+
+"I never had a mother that I can remember--I learned to do all those
+things at sea."
+
+"Forgive me," she said, guessing she had struck some tender chord in my
+existence. "What an odd life you must have had."
+
+"Perhaps. I never had any relations that I can remember, except a
+brother, much older than I. He died years ago, and his son is my only
+living relation. I was born in Italy."
+
+"But when did you learn so many things? You seem to know every language
+under the sun."
+
+"I had a good education when I got ashore. Some one was very kind to me,
+and I had learned Latin and Greek in the common school in Rome before I
+ran away to sea."
+
+I answered her questions reluctantly. I did not want to talk about my
+history, especially to a girl like her. I suppose she saw my
+disinclination, for as I handed her the card with the wool neatly wound
+on it, she thanked me and presently changed the subject, or at least
+shifted the ground.
+
+"There is something so free about the life of an adventurer--I mean a
+man who wanders about doing brave things. If I were a man I would be an
+adventurer like you."
+
+"Not half so much of an adventurer, as you call it, as our friend who
+went off this morning."
+
+It was the first mention of Isaacs since his departure. I had said the
+thing inadvertently, for I would not have done anything to increase her
+trouble for the world. She leaned back, dropping her hands with her work
+in her lap, and stared straight out through the doorway, as pale as
+death--pale as only fair-skinned people are when they are ill, or hurt.
+She sat quite still. I wondered if she were ill, or if it were only
+Isaacs' going that had wrought this change in her brilliant looks.
+"Would you like me to read something to you, Miss Westonhaugh? Here is a
+comparatively new book--_The Light of Asia_, by Mr. Edwin Arnold. It is
+a poem about India. Would it give you any pleasure?" She guessed the
+kind intention, and a little shadow of a smile passed over her lips.
+
+"You are so kind, Mr. Griggs. Please, you are so very kind."
+
+I began to read, and read on and on through the exquisite rise and fall
+of the stanzas, through the beautiful clear high thoughts which seem to
+come as a breath and a breeze from an unattainable heaven, from the
+Nirvana we all hope for in our inmost hearts, whatever our confession of
+faith. And the poor girl was soothed, and touched and lulled by the
+music of thought and the sigh of verse that is in the poem; and the
+morning passed. I suppose the quiet and the poetry wrought up in her the
+feeling of confidence she felt in me, as being her lover's friend, for
+after I had paused a minute or two, seeing some one coming toward the
+tent, she said quite simply--
+
+"Where is he gone?"
+
+"He is gone to do a very noble deed. He is gone to save the life of a
+man he never saw." A bright light came into her face, and all the
+chilled heart's blood, driven from her cheeks by the weariness of her
+first parting, rushed joyously back, and for one moment there dwelt on
+her features the glory and bloom of the love and happiness that had been
+hers all day yesterday, that would be hers again--when? Poor Miss
+Westonhaugh, it seemed so long to wait.
+
+The day passed somehow, but the dinner was dismal. Miss Westonhaugh was
+evidently far from well, and I could not conceive that the pain of a
+temporary parting should make so sudden a change in one so perfectly
+strong and healthy--even were her nature ever so sensitive. Kildare and
+the Pegnugger magistrate tried to keep up the spirits of the party, but
+John Westonhaugh was anxious about his sister, and even old Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins was beginning to fancy there must be something wrong. We sat
+smoking outside, and the young girl refused to leave us, though John
+begged her to. As we sat, it may have been half an hour after dinner, a
+messenger came galloping up in hot haste, and leaping to the ground
+asked for "Gurregis Sahib," with the usual native pronunciation of my
+euphonious name. Being informed, he salaamed low and handed me a letter,
+which I took to the light. It was in _shikast_ Persian, and signed
+"Abdul Hafiz-ben-Isak." "Ram Lal," he said, "has met me unexpectedly,
+and sends you this by his own means, which are swift as the flight of
+the eagle. It is indispensable that you meet us below Keitung, towards
+Sultanpoor, on the afternoon of the day when the moon is full. Travel by
+Julinder and Sultanpoor; you will easily overtake me, since I go by
+Simla. For friendship's sake, for love's sake, come. It is life and
+death. Give the money to the Irishman. Peace be with you."
+
+I sighed a sigh of the most undetermined description. Was I glad to
+rejoin my friend? or was I pained to leave the woman he loved in her
+present condition? I hardly knew.
+
+"I think we had all better go back to Simla," said John, when I
+explained that the most urgent business called me away at dawn.
+
+"There will be none of us left soon," said Ghyrkins quite quietly and
+mournfully.
+
+I found means to let Miss Westonhaugh understand where I was going. I
+gave Kildare the money in charge.
+
+In the dark of the morning, as I cleared the tents, the same shadow I
+had seen before shot out and laid a hand on my rein. I halted on the
+same spot where Isaacs had drawn rein twenty-four hours before.
+
+"Give him this from me. God be with you!" She was gone in a moment,
+leaving a small package in my right hand. I thrust it in my bosom and
+rode away.
+
+"How she loves him," I thought, wondering greatly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+It was not an agreeable journey I had undertaken. In order to reach the
+inaccessible spot, chosen by Isaacs for the scene of Shere Ali's
+liberation, in time to be of any use, it was necessary that I should
+travel by a more direct and arduous route than that taken by my friend.
+He had returned to Simla, and by his carefully made arrangements would
+be able to reach Keitung, or the spot near it, where the transaction was
+to take place, by constant changes of horses where riding was possible,
+and by a strong body of dooly-bearers wherever the path should prove too
+steep for four-footed beasts of burden. I, on the other hand, must leave
+the road at Julinder, a place I had never visited, and must trust to my
+own unaided wits and a plentiful supply of rupees to carry me over at
+least two hundred miles of country I did not know--difficult certainly,
+and perhaps impracticable for riding. The prospect was not a pleasant
+one, but I was convinced that in a matter of this importance a man of
+Isaacs' wit and wealth would have made at least some preliminary
+arrangements for me, since he probably knew the country well enough
+himself. I had but six days at the outside to reach my destination.
+
+I had resolved to take one servant, Kiramat Ali, with me as far as
+Julinder, whence I would send him back to Simla with what slender
+luggage we carried, for I meant to ride as light as possible, with no
+encumbrance to delay me when once I left the line of the railway. I
+might have ridden five miles with Kiramat Ali behind me on a sturdy
+_tat_, when I was surprised by the appearance of an unknown saice in
+plain white clothes, holding a pair of strong young ponies by the halter
+and salaaming low.
+
+"Pundit Ram Lal sends your highness his peace, and bids you ride without
+sparing. The _dak_ is laid to the fire-carriages."
+
+The saddles were changed in a moment, Kiramat Ali and I assisting in the
+operation. It was clear that Ram Lal's messengers were swift, for even
+if he had met Isaacs when the latter reached the railroad, no ordinary
+horse could have returned with the message at the time I had received
+it. Still less would any ordinary Hindus be capable of laying a _dak_,
+or post route of relays, over a hundred miles long in twelve hours. Once
+prepared, it was a mere matter of physical endurance in the rider to
+cover the ground, for the relays were stationed every five or six miles.
+It was well known that Lord Steepleton Kildare had lately ridden from
+Simla to Umballa one night and back the next day, ninety-two miles each
+way, with constant change of cattle. What puzzled me was the rapidity
+with which the necessary dispositions had been made. On the whole, I was
+reassured. If Ram Lal had been able to prepare my way at such short
+notice here, with two more days at his disposal he would doubtless
+succeed in laying me a _dak_ most of the way from Julinder to Keitung. I
+will not dwell upon the details of the journey. I reached the railroad
+and prepared for forty-eight hours of jolting and jostling and broken
+sleep. It is true that railway travelling is nowhere so luxurious as in
+India, where a carriage has but two compartments, each holding as a rule
+only two persons, though four can be accommodated by means of hanging
+berths. Each compartment has a spacious bathroom attached, where you may
+bathe as often as you please, and there are various contrivances for
+ventilating and cooling the air. Nevertheless the heat is sometimes
+unbearable, and a journey from Bombay to Calcutta direct during the warm
+months is a severe trial to the strongest constitution. On this occasion
+I had about forty-eight hours to travel, and I was resolved to get all
+the rest in that time that the jolting made possible; for I knew that
+once in the saddle again it might be days before I got a night's sleep.
+And so we rumbled along, through the vast fields of sugar-cane, now
+mostly tied in huge sheaves upright, through boundless stretches of
+richly-cultivated soil, intersected with the regularity of a chess-board
+by the rivulets and channels of a laborious irrigation. Here and there
+stood the high frames made by planting four bamboos in a square and
+wickering the top, whereon the ryots sit when the crops are ripening, to
+watch against thieves and cattle, and to drive away the birds of the
+air. On we spun, past Meerut and Mozuffernugger, past Umballa and
+Loodhiana, till we reached our station of Julinder at dawn. Descending
+from the train, I was about to begin making inquiries about my next
+move, when I was accosted by a tall and well-dressed Mussulman, in a
+plain cloth _caftan_ and a white turban, but exquisitely clean and fresh
+looking, as it seemed to me, for my eyes were smarting with dust and
+wearied with the perpetual shaking of the train.
+
+The courteous native soon explained that he was Isaacs' agent in
+Julinder, and that a _tar ki khaber_, a telegram in short, had warned
+him to be on the lookout for me. I was greatly relieved, for it was
+evident that every arrangement had been made for my comfort, so far as
+comfort was possible. Isaacs had asked my assistance, but he had taken
+every precaution against all superfluous bodily inconvenience to me, and
+I felt sure that from this point I should move quickly and easily
+through every difficulty. And so it proved. The Mussulman took me to his
+house, where there was a spacious apartment, occupied by Isaacs when he
+passed that way. Every luxury was prepared for the enjoyment of the
+bath, and a breakfast of no mean taste was served me in my own room.
+Then my host entered and explained that he had been directed to make
+certain arrangements for my journey. He had laid a _dak_ nearly a
+hundred miles ahead, and had been ordered to tell me that similar steps
+had been taken beyond that point as far as my ultimate destination, of
+which, however, he was ignorant. My servant, he said, must stay with him
+and return to Simla with my traps.
+
+So an hour later I mounted for my long ride, provided with a revolver
+and some rupees in a bag, in case of need. The country, my entertainer
+informed me, was considered perfectly safe, unless I feared the _tap_,
+the bad kind of fever which infests all the country at the base of the
+hills. I was not afraid of this. My experience is that some people are
+predisposed to fever, and will generally be attacked by it in their
+first year in India, whether they are much exposed to it or not, while
+others seem naturally proof against any amount of malaria, and though
+they sleep out of doors through the whole rainy season, and tramp about
+the jungles in the autumn, will never catch the least ague, though they
+may have all other kinds of ills to contend with.
+
+On and on, galloping along the heavy roads, sometimes over no road at
+all, only a broad green track, where the fresh grass that had sprung up
+after the rains was not yet killed by the trampling of the bullocks and
+the grinding jolt of the heavy cart. At intervals of seven or eight
+miles I found a saice with a fresh pony picketed and grazing at the end
+of the long rope. The saice was generally squatting near by, with his
+bag of food and his three-sided kitchen of stones, blackened with the
+fire from his last meal, beside him; sometimes in the act of cooking his
+chowpatties, sometimes eating them, according to the time of day.
+Several times I stopped to drink some water where it seemed to be good,
+and I ate a little chocolate from my supply, well knowing the
+miraculous, sustaining powers of the simple little block of "Menier,"
+which, with its six small tablets, will not only sustain life, but will
+supply vigour and energy, for as much as two days, with no other food.
+On and on, through the day and the night, past sleeping villages, where
+the jackals howled around the open doors of the huts; and across vast
+fields of late crops, over hills thickly grown with trees, past the
+broad bend of the Sutlej river, and over the plateau toward Sultanpoor,
+the cultivation growing scantier and the villages rarer all the while,
+as the vast masses of the Himalayas defined themselves more and more
+distinctly in the moonlight. Horses of all kinds under me, lean and fat,
+short and high, roman-nosed and goose-necked, broken and unbroken; away
+and away, shifting saddle and bridle and saddle-bag as I left each tired
+mount behind me. Once I passed a stream, and pulling off my boots to
+cool my feet, the temptation way too strong, so I hastily threw off my
+clothes and plunged in and had a short refreshing bath. Then on, with,
+the galloping even triplet of the house's hoofs beneath me, as they came
+down in quick succession, as if the earth were a muffled drum and we
+were beating an untiring _rataplan_ on her breast.
+
+I must have ridden a hundred and thirty miles before dawn, and the pace
+was beginning to tell, even on my strong frame. True, to a man used to
+the saddle, the effort of riding is reduced to a minimum when every hour
+or two gives him a fresh horse. There is then no heed for the welfare of
+the animal necessary; he has but his seven or eight miles to gallop, and
+then his work is done; there are none of those thousand little cares and
+sympathetic shiftings and adjustings of weight and seat to be thought
+of, which must constantly engage the attention of a man who means to
+ride the same horse a hundred miles, or even fifty or forty. Conscious
+that a fresh mount awaits him, he sits back lazily and never eases his
+weight for a moment; before he has gone thirty miles he will kick his
+feet out of the stirrups about once in twenty minutes, and if he has for
+the moment a quiet old stager who does not mind tricks, he will probably
+fetch one leg over and go a few miles sitting sideways. He will go to
+sleep once or twice, and wake up apparently in the very act to
+fall--though I believe that a man will sleep at a full gallop and never
+loosen his knees until the moment of waking startles him. Nevertheless,
+and notwithstanding Lord Steepleton Kildare and his ride to Umballa and
+back in twenty-four hours, when a man, be he ever so strong, has ridden
+over a hundred miles, he feels inclined for a rest, and a walk, and a
+little sleep.
+
+Once more an emissary of Ram Lal strode to my side as I rolled off the
+saddle into the cool grass at sunrise in a very impracticable-looking
+country. The road had been steeper and less defined during the last two
+hours of the ride, and as I crossed one leg high over the other lying on
+my back in the grass, the morning light caught my spur, and there was
+blood on it, bright and red. I had certainly come as fast as I could; if
+I should be too late, it would not be my fault. The agent, whoever he
+might be, was a striking-looking fellow in a dirty brown cloth _caftan_
+and an enormous sash wound round his middle. A pointed cap with some
+tawdry gold lace on it covered his head, and greasy black love-locks
+writhed filthily over his high cheek bones and into his scanty tangled
+beard; a suspicious hilt bound with brass wire reared its snake-like
+head from the folds of his belt, and his legs, terminating in
+thick-soled native shoes, reminded one of a tarantula in boots. He
+salaamed awkwardly with a tortuous grin, and addressed me with the
+northern salutation, "May your feet never be weary with the march."
+Having been twenty-four hours in the saddle, my feet were not that
+portion of my body most wearied, but I replied to the effect that I
+trusted the shadow of the greasy gentleman might not diminish a
+hairsbreadth in the next ten thousand years. We then proceeded to
+business, and I observed that the man spoke a very broken and hardly
+intelligible Hindustani. I tried him in Persian, but it was of no avail.
+He spoke Persian, he said, but it was not of the kind that any human
+being could understand; so we returned to the first language, and I
+concluded that he was a wandering kabuli.
+
+As an introduction of himself he mentioned Isaacs, calling him Abdul
+Hafiz Sahib, and he seemed to know him personally. Abdul, he said, was
+not far off as distances go in the Himalayas. He thought I should find
+him the day after to-morrow, _mungkul_. He said I should not be able to
+ride much farther, as the pass beyond Sultanpoor was utterly
+impracticable for horses; coolies, however, awaited me with a dooly, one
+of those low litters slung on a bamboo, in which you may travel swiftly
+and without effort, but to the destruction of the digestive organs. He
+said also that he would accompany me the next stage as far as the
+doolies, and I thought he showed some curiosity to know whither I was
+going; but he was a wise man in his generation, and knowing his orders,
+did not press me overmuch with questions. I remarked in a mild way that
+the saddle was the throne of the warrior, and that the air of the black
+mountains was the breath of freedom; but I added that the voice of the
+empty stomach was as the roar of the king of the forest. Whereupon the
+man replied that the forest was mine and the game therein, whereof I was
+lord, as I probably was of the rest of the world, since I was his father
+and mother and most of his relations; but that, perceiving that I was
+occupied with the cares of a mighty empire, he had ventured to slay with
+his own hand a kid and some birds, which, if I would condescend to
+partake of them, he would proceed to cook. I replied that the light of
+my countenance would shine upon my faithful servant to the extent of
+several coins, both rupees and pais, but that the peculiar customs of my
+caste forbid me to touch food cooked by any one but myself. I would,
+however, in consideration of his exertions and his guileless heart,
+invite the true follower of the prophet, whose name is blessed, to
+partake with me of the food which I should presently prepare. Whereat he
+was greatly delighted, and fetched the meat, which he had stowed away in
+a kind of horse-cloth, for safety against ants.
+
+I am not a bad cook at a pinch, and so we sat down and made a
+cooking-place with stones, and built a fire, and let the flame die down
+into coals, and I dressed the meat as best I could, and flavoured it
+with gunpowder and pepper, and we were merry. The man was thenceforth
+mine, and I knew I could trust him; a bivouac in the Himalayas, when one
+is alone and far from any kind of assistance, is not the spot to indulge
+in any prejudice about colour. I did not think much about it as I
+hungrily gnawed the meat and divided the birds with my pocket-knife.
+
+The lower Himalayas are at first extremely disappointing. The scenery is
+enormous but not grand, and at first hardly seems large. The lower parts
+are at first sight a series of gently undulating hills and wooded dells;
+in some places it looks as if one might almost hunt the country. It is
+long before you realise that it is all on a gigantic scale; that the
+quickset hedges are belts of rhododendrons of full growth, the
+water-jumps rivers, and the stone walls mountain-ridges; that to hunt a
+country like that you would have to ride a horse at least two hundred
+feet high. You cannot see at first, or even for some time, that the
+gentle-looking hill is a mountain of five or six thousand feet; in Simla
+you will not believe you are three thousand feet above the level of the
+Rhigi Kulm in Switzerland. Persons who are familiar with the aspect of
+the Rocky Mountains are aware of the singular lack of dignity in those
+enormous elevations. They are merely big, without any superior beauty,
+until you come to the favoured spots of nature's art, where some great
+contrast throws out into appalling relief the gulf between the high and
+the low. It is so in the Himalayas.
+
+You may travel for hours and days amidst vast forests and hills without
+the slightest sensation of pleasure or sense of admiration for the
+scene, till suddenly your path leads you out on to the dizzy brink of an
+awful precipice--a sheer fall, so exaggerated in horror that your most
+stirring memories of Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, and the hideous _arete_
+of the Pitz Bernina, sink into vague insignificance. The gulf that
+divides you from the distant mountain seems like a huge bite taken
+bodily out of the world by some voracious god; far away rise snow peaks
+such as were not dreamt of in your Swiss tour; the bottomless valley at
+your feet is misty and gloomy with blackness, streaked with mist, while
+the peaks above shoot gladly to the sun and catch his broadside rays
+like majestic white standards. Between you, as you stand leaning
+cautiously against the hill behind you, and the wonderful background far
+away in front, floats a strange vision, scarcely moving, but yet not
+still. A great golden shield sails steadily in vast circles, sending
+back the sunlight in every tint of burnished glow. The golden eagle of
+the Himalayas hangs in mid-air, a sheet of polished metal to the eye,
+pausing sometimes in the full blaze of reflection, as ages ago the sun
+and the moon stood still in the valley of Ajalon; too magnificent for
+description, as he is too dazzling to look at. The whole scene, if no
+greater name can be given to it, is on a scale so Titanic in its massive
+length and breadth and depth, that you stand utterly trembling and weak
+and foolish as you look for the first time. You have never seen such
+masses of the world before.
+
+It was in such a spot as this that, nearly at noon on the appointed day,
+my dooly-bearers set me down and warned me I was at my journey's end. I
+stepped out and stood on the narrow way, pausing to look and to enjoy
+all that I saw. I had been in other parts of the lower Himalayas before,
+and the first sensations I had experienced had given way to those of a
+contemplative admiration. No longer awed or overpowered or oppressed by
+the sense of physical insignificance in my own person, I could endure to
+look on the stupendous panorama before me, and could even analyse what I
+felt. But before long my pardonable reverie was disturbed by a
+well-known voice. The clear tones rang like a trumpet along the
+mountain-side in a glad shout of welcome. I turned and saw Isaacs coming
+quickly towards me, bounding along the edge of the precipice as if his
+life had been passed in tending goats and robbing eagles' nests. I, too,
+moved on to meet him, and in a moment we clasped hands in unfeigned
+delight at being again together. What was Ghyrkins or his party to me?
+Here was the man I sought; the one man on earth who seemed worth having
+for a friend. And yet it was but three weeks since we first met, and I
+am not enthusiastic by temperament.
+
+"What news, friend Griggs?"
+
+"She greets you and sends you this," I said, taking from my bosom the
+parcel she had thrust into my hand as I left in the dark. His face fell
+suddenly. It was the silver box he had given her; was it possible she
+had taken so much trouble to return it? He turned it over mournfully.
+
+"You had better open it. There is probably something in it."
+
+I never saw a more complete change in a man's face during a single
+second than came over Isaacs' in that moment. He had not thought of
+opening it, in his first disappointment at finding it returned. He
+turned back the lid. Bound with a bit of narrow ribbon and pressed down
+carefully, he found a heavy lock of gold-white hair, so fair that it
+made everything around it seem dark--the grass, our clothes, and even
+the white streamer that hung down from Isaacs' turban. It seemed to shed
+a bright light, even in the broad noon-day, as it lay there in the
+curiously wrought box--just as the body of some martyred saint found
+jealously concealed in the dark corner of an ancient crypt, and broken
+in upon by unsuspecting masons delving a king's grave, might throw up in
+their dusky faces a dazzling halo of soft radiance--the glory of the
+saint hovering lovingly by the body wherein the soul's sufferings were
+perfected.
+
+The moment Isaacs realised what it was, he turned away, his face all
+gladness, and moved on a few steps with bent head, evidently
+contemplating his new treasure. Then he snapped the spring, and putting
+the casket in his vest turned round to me.
+
+"Thank you, Griggs; how are they all?"
+
+"It was worth a two-hundred mile ride to see your face when you opened
+that box. They are pretty well. I left them swearing that the party was
+broken up, and that they would all go back to Simla."
+
+"The sooner the better. We shall be there in three days from here, by
+the help of Ram Lal's wonderful post."
+
+"Between you I managed to get here quite well. How did you do it? I
+never missed a relay all the way from Julinder."
+
+"Oh, it is very easy," answered Isaacs. "You could have a _dak_ to the
+moon from India if you would pay for it; or any other thing in heaven or
+earth or hell that you might fancy. Money, that is all. But, my dear
+fellow, you have lost flesh sensibly since we parted. You take your
+travelling hard."
+
+"Where is Ram Lal?" I asked, curious to learn something of our movements
+for the night.
+
+"Oh, I don't know. He is probably somewhere about the place charming
+cobras or arresting avalanches, or indulging in some of those playful
+freaks he says he learned in Edinburgh. We have had a great good time
+the last two days. He has not disappeared, or swallowed himself even
+once, or delivered himself of any fearful and mysterious prophecies. We
+have been talking transcendentalism. He knows as much about 'functional
+gamma' and 'All X is Y' and the rainbow, and so on, as you do yourself.
+I recommend him. I think he would be a charming companion for you. There
+he is now, with his pockets full of snakes and evil beasts. I wanted him
+to catch a golden eagle this morning, and tame it for Miss Westonhaugh,
+but he said it would eat the jackal and probably the servants, so I have
+given it up for the present." Isaacs was evidently in a capital humour.
+Ram Lal approached us.
+
+I saw at a glance that Ram Lal the Buddhist, when on his beats in the
+civilisation of Simla, was one person. Ram Lal, the cultured votary of
+science, among the hills and the beasts and the specimens that he loved,
+was a very different man. He was as gray as ever, it is true, but better
+defined, the outlines sharper, the features more Dantesque and easier to
+discern in the broad light of the sun. He did not look now as if he
+could sit down and cross his legs and fade away into thin air, like the
+Cheshire cat. He looked more solid and fleshly, his voice was fuller,
+and sounded close to me as he spoke, without a shadow of the curious
+distant ring I had noticed before.
+
+"Ah!" he said in English, "Mr. Griggs, at last! Well, you are in plenty
+of time. The gentleman who is not easily astonished. That is just as
+well, too. I like people with quiet nerves. I see by your appearance
+that you are hungry, Mr. Griggs. Abdul Hafiz, why should we not dine? It
+is much better to get that infliction of the flesh over before this
+evening."
+
+"By all means. Come along. But first send those dooly-bearers about
+their business. They can wait till to-morrow over there on the other
+side. They always carry food, and there is any amount of fuel."
+
+Just beyond the shoulder of the hill, sheltered from the north by the
+projecting boulders, was a small tent, carefully pitched and adjusted to
+stand the storms if any should come. Thither we all three bent our steps
+and sat down by the fire, for it was chilly, even cold, in the passes in
+September. Food was brought out by Isaacs, and we ate together as if no
+countless ages of different nationalities separated us. Ram Lal was
+perfectly natural and easy in his manners, and affable in what he said.
+Until the meal was finished no reference was made to the strange
+business that brought us from different points of the compass to the
+Himalayan heights. Then, at last, Ram Lal spoke; his meal had been the
+most frugal of the three, and he had soon eaten his fill, but he
+employed himself in rolling cigarettes, which he did with marvellous
+skill, until we two had satisfied our younger and healthier appetites.
+
+"Abdul Hafiz," he said, his gray face bent over his colourless hands as
+he twisted the papers, "shall we not tell Mr. Griggs what is to be done?
+Afterward he can lie in the tent and sleep until evening, for he is
+weary and needs to recruit his strength."
+
+"So be it, Ram Lal," answered Isaacs.
+
+"Very well. The position is this, Mr. Griggs. Neither Mr. Isaacs nor I
+trust those men that we are to meet, and therefore, as we are afraid of
+being killed unawares, we thought we would send for you to protect us."
+He smiled pleasantly as he saw the blank expression in my face.
+
+"Certainly, and you shall hear how it is to be done. The place is not
+far from here in the valley below. The band are already nearing the
+spot, and at midnight we will go down and meet them. The meeting will
+be, of course, like all formal rendezvous for the delivery of prisoners.
+The captain of the band will come forward accompanied by his charge, and
+perhaps by a sowar. We three will stand together, side by side, and
+await their coming. Now the plot is this. They have determined if
+possible to murder both Shere Ali and Isaacs then and there together.
+They have not counted on us, but they probably expect that our friend
+will arrive guarded by a troop of horse. The maharajah's men will try
+and sneak up close to where we stand, and at a signal, which the leader,
+in conversation with Isaacs, will give by laying his hand on his
+shoulder, the men will rush in and cut Shere Ali to pieces, and Isaacs
+too if the captain cannot do it alone. Now look here, Mr. Griggs. What
+we want you to do is this. Your friend--my friend--wants no miracles, so
+that you have got to do by strength what might be done by stratagem,
+though not so quickly. When you see the leader lay his hand on Isaacs'
+shoulder, seize him by the throat and mind his other arm, which will be
+armed. Prevent him from injuring Isaacs, and I will attend to the rest,
+who will doubtless require my whole attention."
+
+"But," I objected, "supposing that this captain turned out to be
+stronger or more active than I. What then?"
+
+"Never fear," said Isaacs, smiling. "There aren't any."
+
+"No," continued Ram Lal, "never disturb yourself about that, but just
+knock your man down and be done with it. I will guarantee you can do it
+well enough, and if he gives you trouble I may be able to help you."
+
+"All right; give me some cigarettes;" and before I had smoked one I was
+asleep.
+
+When I awoke the sun was down, but there was a great light over
+everything. The full moon had just risen above the hills to eastward and
+bathed every object in silver sheen. The far peaks, covered with snow,
+caught the reflection and sent the beams floating across the deep dark
+valleys between. The big boulder, against which the tent was pitched,
+caught it too, and seemed changed from rough stone to precious metal; it
+was on the tent-pegs and the ropes, it was upon Isaacs' lithe figure, as
+he tightened his sash round his waist and looked to his pocket-book for
+the agreement. It made Ram Lal, the gray and colourless, look like a
+silver statue, and it made the smouldering flame of the watch-fire
+utterly dim and faint. It was a wonderful moon. I looked at my watch; it
+was eight o'clock.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, "you were tired and have slept long. It is time to
+be off. There is some whiskey in that flask. I don't take those things,
+but Ram Lal says you had better have some, as you might get fever." So I
+did. Then we started, leaving everything in the tent, of which we pegged
+down the flap. There were no natives about, the dooly-bearers having
+retired to the other side of the valley, and the jackals would find
+nothing to attract them, as we had thrown the remainder of our meal over
+the edge. As for weapons, I had a good revolver and a thick stick;
+Isaacs had a revolver and a vicious-looking Turkish knife; and Ram Lal
+had nothing at all, as far as I could see, except a long light staff.
+
+The effect of the moonlight was wild in the extreme, as we descended the
+side of the mountain by paths which were very far from smooth or easy.
+Every now and then, as we neared the valley, we turned the corner of
+some ridge and got a fair view of the plain. Then a step farther, and we
+were in the dark again, behind boulders and picking our way over loose
+stones, or struggling with the wretched foothold afforded by a surface
+of light gravel, inclined to the horizontal at an angle of forty-five
+degrees. Then, with a scramble, a jump, and a little swearing in a great
+many languages--I think we counted that we spoke twenty-seven between
+us--we were on firm soil again, and swinging along over the bit of easy
+level path. It would have been out of the question to go in doolies, and
+no pony could keep a foothold for five minutes on the uncertain ground.
+
+At last, as we emerged into the bright moonlight on a little platform of
+rock at an angle of the path, we paused. Ram Lal, who seemed to know the
+way, was in front, and held up his hand to silence us; Isaacs and I
+kneeled down and looked over the brink. Some two hundred feet below, on
+a broad strip of green bordering the steep cliffs, was picketed a small
+body of horse. We could see the men squatting about in their small
+compact turbans and their shining accoutrements; the horses tethered at
+various distances on the sward, cropping so vigorously that even at that
+height we could hear the dull sound as they rhythmically munched the
+grass. We could see in the middle of the little camp a man seated on a
+rug and wrapped in a heavy garment of some kind, quietly smoking a
+common hubble-bubble. Beside him stood another who reflected more
+moonlight than the rest, and who was therefore, by his trappings, the
+captain of the band. The seated smoker could be no other than Shere Ali.
+
+Cautiously we descended the remaining windings of the steep path,
+turning whenever we had a chance, to look down on the horsemen and their
+prisoner below, till at last we emerged in the valley a quarter of a
+mile or so beyond where they were stationed. Here on the level of the
+plain we stopped a moment, and Ram Lal renewed his instructions to me.
+
+"If the captain," he said, "lays his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, seize him
+and throw him. If you cannot get him down kill him--any way you
+can--shoot him under the arm with your pistol. It is a matter of life
+and death."
+
+"All right." And we walked boldly along the broad strip of sward. The
+moon was now almost immediately overhead, for it was midnight, or near
+it. I confess the scene awed me, the giant masses of the mountains above
+us, the vast distances of mysterious blue air, through which the
+snow-peaks shone out with a strange look that was not natural. The swish
+of the quickly flowing stream at the edge of the plot we were walking
+over sounded hollow and unearthly; the velvety whirr of the great
+mountain bats as they circled near us, stirred from the branches as we
+passed out, was disagreeable and heavy to hear. The moon shone brighter
+and brighter.
+
+We were perhaps thirty yards from the little camp, in which there might
+be fifty men all told. Isaacs stood still and sung out a greeting.
+
+"Peace to you, men of Baithopoor!" he shouted. It was the preconcerted
+form of address. Instantly the captain turned and looked toward us. Then
+he gave some orders in a low voice, and taking his prisoner by the hand
+assisted him to rise. There was a scurrying to and fro in the camp. The
+men seemed to be collecting, and moving to the edge of the bivouac. Some
+began to saddle the horses. The moon was so intensely bright that their
+movements were as plain to us as though it had been broad daylight.
+
+Two figures came striding toward us--the captain and Shere Ali. As I
+looked at them, curiously enough, as may be imagined, I noticed that the
+captain was the taller man by two or three inches, but Shere Ali's broad
+chest and slightly-bowed legs produced an impression of enormous
+strength. He looked the fierce-hearted, hard-handed warrior, from head
+to heel; though in accordance with Isaacs' treaty he had been well taken
+care of and was dressed in the finest stuffs, his beard carefully
+clipped and his Indian turban rolled with great neatness round his dark
+and prominent brows.
+
+The first thing for the captain was to satisfy himself as far as
+possible that we had no troops in ambush up there in the jungle on the
+base of the mountain. He had probably sent scouts out before, and was
+pretty sure there was no one there. To gain time, he made a great show
+of reading the agreement through from beginning to end, comparing it all
+the while with a copy he held. While this was going on, and I had put
+myself as near as possible to the captain, Isaacs and Shere Ali were in
+earnest conversation in the Persian tongue. Shere Ali told Abdul that
+the captain's perusal of the contract must be a mere empty show, since
+the man did not know a word of the language. Isaacs, on hearing that the
+captain could not understand, immediately warned Shere Ali of the
+intended attempt to murder them both, of which Ram Lal, his friend, had
+heard, and I could see the old soldier's eye flash and his hand feel for
+his weapon, where there was none, at the mere mention of a fight. The
+captain began to talk to Isaacs, and I edged as near as I could to be
+ready for my grip. Still it did not come. He talked on, very civilly, in
+intelligible Hindustani. What was the matter with the moon?
+
+A few minutes before it had seemed as if there would be neither cloud
+nor mist in such a sky; and now a light filmy wreath was rising and
+darkening the splendour of the wonderful night. I looked across at Ram
+Lal. He was standing with one hand on his hip, and leaning with the
+other on his staff, and he was gazing up at the moon with as much
+interest as he ever displayed about anything. At that moment the captain
+handed Isaacs a prepared receipt for signature, to the effect that the
+prisoner had been duly delivered to his new owner. The light was growing
+dimmer, and Isaacs could hardly see to read the characters before he
+signed. He raised the scroll to his eyes and turned half round to see it
+better. At that moment the tall captain stretched forth his arm and laid
+his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, raising his other arm at the same time to
+his men, who had crept nearer and nearer to our group while the endless
+talking was going on. I was perfectly prepared, and the instant the
+soldier's hand touched Isaacs I had the man in my grip, catching his
+upraised arm in one hand and his throat with the other. The struggle did
+not last long, but it was furious in its agony. The tough Punjabi
+writhed and twisted like a cat in my grasp, his eyes gleaming like
+living coals, springing back and forward in his vain and furious efforts
+to reach my feet and trip me. But it was no use. I had his throat and
+one arm well in hand, and could hold him so that he could not reach me
+with the other. My fingers sank deeper and deeper in his neck as we
+swayed backwards and sideways tugging and hugging, breast to breast,
+till at last, with a fearful strain and wrench of every muscle in our
+two bodies, his arm went back with a jerk, broken like a pipe-stem, and
+his frame collapsing and bending backwards, fell heavily to the ground
+beneath me.
+
+The whole strength of me was at work in the struggle, but I could get a
+glimpse of the others as we whirled and swayed about.
+
+Like the heavy pall of virgin white that is laid on the body of a pure
+maiden; of velvet, soft and sweet but heavy and impenetrable as death,
+relentless, awful, appalling the soul, and freezing the marrow in the
+bones, it came near the earth. The figure of the gray old man grew
+mystically to gigantic and unearthly size, his vast old hands stretched
+forth their skinny palms to receive the great curtain as it descended
+between the moonlight and the sleeping earth. His eyes were as stars,
+his hoary head rose majestically to an incalculable height; still the
+thick, all-wrapping mist came down, falling on horse and rider and
+wrestler and robber and Amir; hiding all, covering all, folding all, in
+its soft samite arms, till not a man's own hand was visible to him a
+span's length from his face.
+
+I could feel the heaving chest of the captain beneath my knee; I could
+feel the twitching of the broken arm tortured under the pressure of my
+left hand; but I could see neither face nor arm nor breast, nor even my
+own fingers. Only above me, as I stared up, seemed to tower the
+supernatural proportions of Ram Lal, a white apparition visible through
+the opaque whiteness that hid everything else from view. It was only a
+moment. A hand was on my shoulder, Isaacs' voice was in my ear, speaking
+to Shere Ali. Ram Lal drew me away.
+
+"Be quick," he said; "take my hand, I will lead you to the light." We
+ran along the soft grass, following the sound of each other's feet,
+swiftly. A moment more and we were in the pass; the mist was lighter,
+and we could see our way. We rushed up the stony path fast and sure,
+till we reached the clear bright moonlight, blazing forth in silver
+splendour again. Far down below the velvet pall of mist lay thick and
+heavy, hiding the camp and its horses and men from our sight.
+
+"Friend," said Isaacs, "you are as free as I. Praise Allah, and let us
+depart in peace."
+
+The savage old warrior grasped the outstretched hand of the Persian and
+yelled aloud--
+
+"Illallaho-ho-ho-ho!" His throat was as brass.
+
+"La illah ill-allah!" repeated Isaacs in tones as of a hundred clarions,
+echoing by tree and mountain and river, down the valley.
+
+"Thank God!" I said to Ram Lal.
+
+"Call Him as you please, friend Griggs," answered the pundit.
+
+It was daylight when we reached the tent at the top of the pass.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+"Abdul Hafiz," said Ram Lal, as we sat round the fire we had made,
+preparing food, "if it is thy pleasure I will conduct thy friend to a
+place of safety and set his feet in the paths that lead to pleasant
+places. For thou art weary and wilt take thy rest until noon, but I am
+not weary and the limbs of the Afghan are as iron." He spoke in Persian,
+so that Shere Ali could understand what he said. The latter looked
+uneasy at first, but soon perceived that his best chance of safety lay
+in immediately leaving the neighbourhood, which was unpleasantly near
+Simla on the one side and the frontiers of Baithopoor on the other.
+
+"I thank thee, Ram Lal," replied Isaacs, "and I gladly accept thy offer.
+Whither wilt thou conduct our friend the Amir?"
+
+"I will lead him by a sure road into Thibet, and my brethren shall take
+care of him, and presently he shall journey safely northwards into the
+Tartar country, and thence to the Russ people, where the followers of
+your prophet are many, and if thou wilt give him the letters thou hast
+written, which he may present to the principal moolahs, he shall
+prosper. And as for money, if thou hast gold, give him of it, and if
+not, give him silver; and if thou hast none, take no thought, for the
+freedom of the spirit is better than the obesity of the body."
+
+"Bishmillah! Thou speakest with the tongue of wisdom, old man," said
+Shere Ali; "nevertheless a few rupees--"
+
+"Fear nothing," broke in Isaacs. "I have for thee a store of a few
+rupees in silver, and there are two hundred gold mohurs in this bag.
+They are scarce in Hind and pass not as money, but the value of them
+whither thou goest shall buy thee food many days. Take also this
+diamond, which if thou be in want thou shalt sell and be rich."
+
+Shere Ali, who had been suspicious of treachery, or at least was afraid
+to believe himself really free, was convinced by this generosity. The
+great rough warrior, the brave patriot who had shut the gates of Kabul
+in the face of Sir Neville Chamberlain, and who had faced every danger
+and defeat, rather than tamely suffer the advance of the all-devouring
+English into his dominions, was proud and unbending still, through all
+his captivity and poverty and trouble, and weariness of soul and
+suffering of body; he could bear his calamities like a man, the
+unrelenting chief of an unrelenting race. But when Isaacs stretched
+forth his hand and freed him, and bestowed upon him, moreover, a goodly
+stock of cash, and bid him go in peace, his gratitude got the better of
+him, and he fairly broke down. The big tears coursed down over his rough
+cheeks, and his face sank between his hands, which trembled violently
+for a moment. Then his habitual calm of outward manner returned.
+
+"Allah requite thee, my brother," he said, "I can never hope to."
+
+"I have done nothing," said Isaacs. "Shall believers languish and perish
+in the hands of swine without faith? Verily it is Allah's doing, whose
+name is great and powerful. He will not suffer the followers of His
+prophet to be devoured of jackals and unclean beasts. Masallah! There is
+no God but God."
+
+Therefore, when they had eaten some food, Ram Lal and Shere Ali
+departed, journeying north-east towards Thibet, and Isaacs and I
+remained sleeping in the tent until past noon. Then we arose and went
+our way, having packed up the little canvas house and the utensils and
+the pole into a neat bundle which we carried by turns along the steep
+rough paths, until we found the dooly-bearers squatting round the embers
+after their mid-day meal. As we journeyed we talked of the events of the
+night. It seemed to me that the whole thing might have been managed very
+much more simply. Isaacs did things in his own way, however, and, after
+all, he generally had a good reason for his actions.
+
+"I think not," he said in reply to my question. "While you were throwing
+that ruffian, who would have overmatched me in an instant, Shere Ali and
+I disposed of the sowars who ran up at the captain's signal. Shere Ali
+says he killed one of them with his hands, and my little knife here
+seems to have done some damage." He produced the vicious-looking dagger,
+stained above the hilt with dark blood, which he began to scrape off
+with a bit of stick.
+
+"My dear fellow," I objected, "I am delighted to have served you, and I
+see that since Shere Ali could not be warned of the signal, I was the
+only person there who could tackle that Punjabi man; yet I am completely
+at a loss to explain why, if Ram Lal can command the forces of nature to
+the extent of calling down a thick mist under the cover of which we
+might escape, he could not have calmly destroyed the whole band by
+lightning, or indigestion, or some simple and efficacious means, so that
+we need not have risked our lives in supplementing what he only half
+did."
+
+"There are plenty of answers to that question," Isaacs answered. "In the
+first place, how do you know that Ram Lal could do anything more than
+discover the preconcerted signal and bring down that fog? He pretends to
+no supernatural power; he only asserts that he understands the workings
+of nature better than you do. How do you know that the fog was his doing
+at all? Your excited imagination, developed suddenly by the tussle with
+the captain, which undoubtedly sent the blood to your head, made you
+think you saw Ram Lal's figure magnified beyond human proportion. If
+there had been no mist at all, we should most likely have got away
+unhurt all the same. Those fellows would not fight after their leader
+was down. Again, I like to let Ram Lal feel that I am able to do
+something for myself, and that I have other friends as powerful. He aims
+at obtaining too much ascendency over me. I do not like it."
+
+"Oh--if you look at it in that light, I have nothing to say. It has been
+a very pleasant and interesting excursion to me, and I am rather glad I
+only broke that fellow's arm instead of killing him, as you and Shere
+Ali did your sowars."
+
+"I don't know whether I killed him. I suppose I did. Poor fellow.
+However, he would certainly have killed me."
+
+"Of course. No use crying over spilt milk," I answered.
+
+So we got into the doolies and swung away. As we neared Simla my
+friend's spirits rose, and he chanted wild Persian and Arabic
+love-songs, and kept up a fire of conversation all day and all night,
+singing and talking alternately.
+
+"Griggs," he said, as we approached the end of our journey, "did you
+have occasion to tell Miss Westonhaugh where I had gone?"
+
+"Yes. She asked me, and I answered that you had gone to save a man's
+life. She looked very much pleased, I thought, but just then somebody
+came up, and we did not talk any more about it. I got your message the
+evening of the day you left."
+
+"She looked pleased?"
+
+"Very much. I remember the colour came into her cheeks."
+
+"Was she so pale, then?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Why, yes. You remember how she looked the night before you left? She
+was even paler the next day, but when I said you had gone to do a good
+deed, the light came into her face for a moment."
+
+"Do you think she was ill, Griggs?"
+
+"She did not look well, but of course she was anxious about you, and a
+good deal cut up about your going."
+
+"No; but did you really think she was ill?" he insisted.
+
+"Oh no, nothing but your going."
+
+His spirits were gone again, and he said very little more that day. As
+we were ascending the last hills, some eight or nine hours from Simla,
+the moon rose majestically behind us. It must have been ten o'clock, for
+she could not have been seen above the notch in the mountains to
+eastward until she had been risen an hour at least.
+
+"I wonder where they are now, those two," said Isaacs.
+
+"Shere Ali and Ram Lal?"
+
+"Yes. They are probably across the borders into Thibet, watching the
+moon rise from the door of some Buddhist monastery. I am glad I am not
+there."
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "I would really like to know why you took so much
+trouble about Shere Ali. It seems to me you might have procured his
+liberation in some simpler way, if it was merely an act of charity that
+you contemplated."
+
+"Call it anything you like. I had read about the poor man until my
+imagination was wrought up, and I could not bear to think of a man so
+brave and patriotic and at the same time a true believer, lying in the
+clutches of that old beast of a maharajah. And as for the method of my
+procedure, do you realise the complete secrecy of the whole affair? Do
+you see that no one but you and I and the Baithopoor people know
+anything of the transaction? Do you suppose that I should be tolerated a
+day in the country if the matter were known? Above all, what do you
+imagine Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would think of me if he knew I had been
+liberating and enriching the worst foe of his little god, Lord
+Beaconsfield?"
+
+There was truth in what he said. By no arrangement could the liberation
+of Shere Ali have been effected with such secrecy and despatch as by the
+simple plan of going ourselves. And now we toiled up the last hills,
+vainly attempting to keep our horses in a canter; long before the relay
+was reached they had relapsed into a dogged jog-trot.
+
+So we reached Simla at sunrise, and crawled wearily up the steps of the
+hotel to our rooms, tired with the cramp of dooly and saddle for so many
+days, and longing for the luxury of the bath, the civilised meal, and
+the arm-chair. Of course I did not suppose Isaacs would go to bed. He
+expected that the Westonhaughs would have returned by this time, and he
+would doubtless go to them as soon as he had breakfasted. So we
+separated to dress and be shaved--my beard was a week old at least--and
+to make ourselves as comfortable as we deserved to be after our manifold
+exertions. We had been three days and a half from Keitung to Simla.
+
+At my door stood the faithful Kiramat Ali, salaaming and making a
+pretence of putting dust on his head according to his ideas of
+respectful greeting. On the table lay letters; one of these, a note, lay
+in a prominent position. I took it instinctively, though I did not know
+the hand. It was from Mr. Currie Ghyrkins.
+
+
+     _Saturday morning_.
+
+     MY DEAR MR. GRIGGS--If you have returned to
+     Simla, I should be glad to see you for half an hour on
+     a matter of urgent importance. I would come to you
+     if I could. My niece, Miss Westonhaugh, is, I am
+     sorry to say, dangerously ill.--Sincerely yours,
+
+     A. CURRIE GHYRKINS.
+
+
+It was dated two days before, for to-day was Monday. I made every
+possible haste in my toilet and ordered a horse. I wondered whether
+Isaacs had received a similar missive. What could be the matter? What
+might not have happened in those two days since the note was written? I
+felt sure that the illness had begun before I left them in the Terai,
+hastened probably by the pain she had felt at Isaacs' departure; there
+is nothing like a little mental worry to hasten an illness, if it is to
+come at all. Poor Miss Westonhaugh! So, after all her gaiety and all the
+enjoyment she had from the tiger-hunt on which she had set her heart,
+she had come back to be ill in Simla. Well, the air was fresh enough
+now--almost cold, in fact. She would soon be well. Still, it was a great
+pity. We might have had such a gay week before breaking up.
+
+I was dressed, and I went down the steps, passing Isaacs' open door. He
+was calmly reading a newspaper and having a morning smoke, until it
+should be time to go out. Clearly he had not heard anything of Miss
+Westonhaugh's illness. I resolved I would say nothing until I knew the
+worst, so I merely put my head in and said I should be back in an hour
+to breakfast with him, and passed on. Once on horseback, I galloped as
+hard as I could, scattering chuprassies and children and marketers to
+right and left in the bazaar. It was not long before I left my horse at
+the corner of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' lawn, and walking to the verandah,
+which looked suspiciously neat and unused, inquired for the master of
+the house. I was shown into his bedroom, for it was still very early and
+he was dressing.
+
+I noticed a considerable change in the old gentleman's manner and
+appearance in the last ten days. His bright red colour was nearly faded,
+his eyes had grown larger and less bright, he had lost flesh, and his
+tone was subdued in the extreme. He came from his dressing-glass to
+greet me with a ghost of the old smile on his face, and his hand
+stretched eagerly out.
+
+"My dear Mr. Griggs, I am sincerely glad to see you."
+
+"I have not been in Simla two hours," I answered, "and I found your
+note. How is Miss Westonhaugh? I am so sorry to----"
+
+"Don't talk about her, Griggs. I am afraid she's g--g--goin' to die." He
+nearly broke down, but he struggled bravely. I was terribly shocked,
+though a moment's reflection told me that so strong and healthy a person
+would not die so easily. I expressed my sympathy as best I could.
+
+"What is it? What is the illness?" I asked when he was quieter.
+
+"Jungle fever, my dear fellow, jungle fever; caught in that beastly
+tiger-hunt. Oh! I wish I had never taken her. I wish we had never gone.
+Why wasn't I firm? Damn it all, sir, why wasn't I firm, eh?" In his
+anger at himself something of the former jerky energy of the man showed
+itself. Then it faded away into the jaded sorrowful look that was on his
+face when I came in. He sat down with his elbows on his knees and his
+hands in his scanty gray hair, his suspenders hanging down at his
+sides--the picture of misery. I tried to console him, but I confess I
+felt very much like breaking down myself. I did not see what I could do,
+except break the bad news to Isaacs.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," he said at last, "she has been asking for you all the
+time, and the doctor thought if you came she had best see you, as it
+might quiet her. Understand?" I understood better than he thought.
+
+People who are dangerously ill have no morning and no evening. Their
+hours are eternally the same, save for the alternation of suffering and
+rest. The nurse and the doctor are their sun and moon, relieving each
+other in the watches of day and night. As they are worse--as they draw
+nearer to eternity, they are less and less governed by ideas of time. A
+dying person will receive a visit at midnight or at mid-day with no
+thought but to see the face of friend--or foe--once more. So I was not
+surprised to find that Miss Westonhaugh would see me; in an interval of
+the fever she had been moved to a chair in her room, and her brother was
+with her. I might go in--indeed she sent a very urgent message imploring
+that I would go. I went.
+
+The morning sun was beating brightly on the shutters, and the room
+looked cheerful as I entered. John Westonhaugh, paler than death, came
+quickly to the door and grasped my hand.
+
+On a long cane-chair by the window, carefully covered from the possible
+danger of any insidious draught, with a mass of soft white wraps and
+shawls, lay Katharine Westonhaugh--the transparant phantasm of her
+brilliant self. The rich masses of pale hair were luxuriously nestled
+around her shoulders and the blazing eyes flamed, lambently, under the
+black brows--but that was all. Colour, beside the gold hair and the
+black eyes, there was hardly any. The strong clean-cut outline of the
+features was there, but absolutely startling in emaciation, so that
+there seemed to be no flesh at all; the pale lips scarcely closed over
+the straight white teeth. A wonderful and a fearful sight to see, that
+stately edifice of queenly strength and beauty thus laid low and
+pillaged and stript of all colour save purple and white--the hues of
+mourning--the purple lips and the white cheek. I have seen many people
+die, and the moment I looked at Katharine Westonhaugh I felt that the
+hand of death was already closed over her, gripped round, never to
+relax. John led me to her side, and a faint smile showed she was glad to
+see me. I knelt reverently down, as one would kneel beside one already
+dead. She spoke first, clearly and easily, as it seemed. People who are
+ill from fever seldom lose the faculty of speech.
+
+"I am so glad you are come. There are many things I want you to do."
+
+"Yes, Miss Westonhaugh. I will do everything."
+
+"Is he come back?" she asked--then, as I looked at her brother, she
+added, "John knows, he is very glad."
+
+"Yes, we came back this morning together; I came here at once."
+
+"Thank you--it was kind. Did you give him the box?"
+
+"Yes--he does not know you are ill. He means to come at eleven."
+
+"Tell him to come now. _Now_--do you understand?" Then she added in a
+low tone, for my ear only, "I don't think they know it; I am dying. I
+shall be dead before to-night. Don't tell him that. Make him come now.
+John knows. Now go. I am tired. No--wait! Did he save the man's life?"
+
+"Yes; the man is safe and free in Thibet."
+
+"That was nobly done. Now go. You have always been kind to me, and you
+love him. When you see me again I shall be gone." Her voice was
+perceptibly weaker, though still clearly audible. "When I am gone, put
+some flowers on me for friendship's sake. You have always been so kind.
+Good-bye, dear Mr. Griggs. Good-bye. God keep you." I moved quickly to
+the door, fearing lest the piteous sight should make a coward of me. It
+was so ineffably pathetic--this lovely creature, just tasting of the cup
+of life and love and dying so.
+
+"Bring him here at once, Griggs, please. I know all about it. It may
+save her." John Westonhaugh clasped my hand in his again, and pushed me
+out to speed me on my errand. I tore along the crooked paths and the
+winding road, up through the bazaar, past the church and the narrow
+causeway beyond to the hotel. I found him still smoking and reading the
+paper.
+
+"Well?" said he cheerfully, for the morning sun had dispelled the doubts
+of the night.
+
+"My dear friend," I said, "Miss Westonhaugh wants to see you
+immediately."
+
+"How? What? Of course; I will go at once, but how did you know?"
+
+"Wait a minute, Isaacs; she is not well at all--in fact, she is quite
+ill."
+
+"What's the matter--for God's sake--Why, Griggs, man, how white you
+are--O my God, my God--she is dead!" I seized him quickly in my arms or
+he would have thrown himself on the ground.
+
+"No," I said, "she is not dead. But, my dear boy, she is dying. I do not
+believe she will live till this evening. Therefore get to horse and ride
+there quickly, before it is too late."
+
+Isaacs was a brave man, and of surpassing strength to endure. After the
+first passionate outburst, his manner never changed as he mechanically
+ordered his horse and pulled on his boots. He was pale naturally, and
+great purple rings seemed to come out beneath his eyes--as if he had
+received a blow--from the intensity of his suppressed emotion. Once only
+he spoke before he mounted.
+
+"What is it?" he asked.
+
+"Jungle fever," I answered. He groaned. "Shall I go with you?" asked I,
+thinking it might be as well. He shook his head, and was off in a
+moment.
+
+I turned to my rooms and threw myself on my bed. Poor fellow; was there
+ever a more piteous case? Oh the cruel misery of feeling that nothing
+could save her! And he--he who would give life and wealth and fortune
+and power to give her back a shade of colour--as much as would tinge a
+rose-leaf, even a very little rose-leaf--and could not. Poor fellow!
+What would he do to-night--to-morrow. I could see him kneeling by her
+side and weeping hot tears over the wasted hands. I could almost hear
+his smothered sob--his last words of speeding to the parting soul--the
+picture grew intensely in my thoughts. How beautiful she would look when
+she was dead!
+
+I started as the thought came into my mind. How superficial was my
+acquaintance with her, poor girl,--how little was she a part of my life,
+since I could really so heartlessly think of her beauty when her breath
+should be gone! Of course, though, it was natural enough, why should I
+feel any personal pang for her? It was odd that I should even expect
+to--I, who never felt a "personal pang" of regret for the death of any
+human creature, excepting poor dear old Lucia, who brought me up, and
+sent me to school, and gave me roast chestnuts when I knew my lessons,
+in the streets of Rome, thirty years ago. When she died, I was there;
+poor old soul, how fond she was of me! And I of her! I remember the
+tears I shed, though I was a bearded man even then. How long is that?
+Since she died, it must be ten years.
+
+My thoughts wandered about among all sorts of _bric-a-brac_ memories.
+Presently something brought me back to the present. Why must this fair
+girl from the north die miserably here in India? Ah yes! the eternal
+why. Why did we go at such a season into the forests of the Terai? it
+was madness; we knew it was, and Ram Lal knew it too. Hence his warning.
+O Ram Lal, you are a wise old man, with your gray beard and you mists of
+wet white velvet and your dark sayings! Ram Lal, will you riddle me,
+also, my weird that I must dree?
+
+A cold draught passed over my head, and I turned on my couch to see
+whence it came. I started bolt upright, and my hair stood on end with
+sudden terror. I had uttered the name of Ram Lal aloud in my reverie,
+and there he sat on a chair by the door, as gray as ever, with his long
+staff leaning from his feet across his breast and shoulder. He looked at
+me quietly.
+
+"I come opportunely, Mr. Griggs, it seems. _Lupus in fabula._ I hear my
+name pronounced as I enter the door. This is flattering to a man of my
+modest pretensions to social popularity. You would like me to tell you
+your fortune? Well, I am not a fortune-teller."
+
+"Never mind my fortune. Will Miss Westonhaugh recover?"
+
+"No. She will die at sundown."
+
+"How do you know, since you say you are no prophet?"
+
+"Because I am a doctor of medicine. M.D. of Edinburgh."
+
+"Why can you not save her then? A man who is a Scotch doctor, and who
+possesses the power of performing such practical jokes on nature as you
+exhibited the other night, might do something. However, I suppose I am
+not talking to you at all. You are in Thibet with Shere Ali. This is
+your astral body, and if I were near enough, I could poke my fingers
+right through you, as you sit there, telling me you are an Edinburgh
+doctor, forsooth."
+
+"Quite right, Mr. Griggs. At the present moment my body is quietly
+asleep in a lamastery in Thibet, and this is my astral shape, which,
+from force of habit, I begin to like almost as well. But to be
+serious----"
+
+"I think it is very serious, your going about in this casual manner."
+
+"To be serious. I warned Isaacs that he should not allow the tiger-hunt
+to come off. He would not heed my warning. It is too late now. I am not
+omnipotent."
+
+"Of course not. Still, you might be of some use if you went there. While
+there is life there is hope."
+
+"Proverbs," said Earn Lai scornfully, "are the wisdom of wise men
+prepared in portable doses for the foolish; and the saying you quote is
+one of them. There is life yet, but there is no hope."
+
+"Well, I am afraid you are right. I saw her this morning--I suppose I
+shall never see her again, not alive, at least. She looked nearly dead
+then. Poor girl; poor Isaacs, left behind!"
+
+"You may well say that, Mr. Griggs," said the adept. "On the whole,
+perhaps he is to be less pitied than she; who knows? Perhaps we should
+pity neither, but rather envy both."
+
+"Why? Either you are talking the tritest of cant, or you are indulging
+in more of your dark sayings, to be interpreted, _post facto_, entirely
+to your own satisfaction, and to every one else's disgust." I was
+impatient with the man. If he had such extraordinary powers as were
+ascribed to him--I never heard him assert that he possessed any; if he
+could prophesy, he might as well do so to some purpose. Why could he not
+speak plainly? He could not impose on me, who was ready to give him
+credit for what he really could do, while finding fault with the way he
+did it.
+
+"I understand what passes in your mind, friend Griggs," he said, not in
+the least disconcerted at my attack. "You want me to speak plainly to
+you, because you think you are a plain-spoken, clear-headed man of
+science yourself. Very well, I will. I think you might yourself become a
+brother some day, if you would. But you will not now, neither will in
+the future. Yet you understand some little distant inkling of the
+science. When you ask your scornful questions of me, you know perfectly
+well that you are putting an inquiry which you yourself can answer as
+well as I. I am not omnipotent. I have very little more power than you.
+Given certain conditions and I can produce certain results, palpable,
+visible, and appreciable to all; but my power, as you know, is itself
+merely the knowledge of the laws of nature, which Western scientists, in
+their wisdom, ignore. I can replenish the oil in the lamp, and while
+there is wick the lamp shall burn--ay, even for hundreds of years. But
+give me a lamp wherein the wick is consumed, and I shall waste my oil;
+for it will not burn unless there be the fibre to carry it. So also is
+the body of man. While there is the flame of vitality and the essence of
+life in his nerves and finer tissues, I will put blood in his veins, and
+if he meet with no accident he may live to see hundreds of generations
+pass by him. But where there is no vitality and no essence of life in a
+man, he must die; for though I fill his veins with blood, and cause his
+heart to beat for a time, there is no spark in him--no fire, no nervous
+strength. So is Miss Westonhaugh now--dead while yet breathing, and
+sighing her sweet farewells to her lover."
+
+"I know. I understand you very well. But do not deny that you might have
+saved her. Why did you not?" Ram Lal smiled a strange smile, which I
+should have described as self-satisfied, had it not been so gentle and
+kind.
+
+"Ah yes!" he said, with something like a sigh, though there was no
+sorrow or regret in it. "Yes, Griggs, I might have saved her life. I
+would certainly have saved her--well, if he had not persuaded her to go
+down into that steaming country at this time of year, since it was my
+advice to remain here. But it is no use talking about it."
+
+"I think you might have conveyed your meaning to him a little more
+clearly. He had no idea that you meant danger to her."
+
+"No, very likely not. It is not my business to mould men's destinies for
+them. If I give them advice that is good, it is quite enough. It is like
+a man playing cards: if he does not seize his chance it does not return.
+Besides, it is much better for him that she should die."
+
+"Your moral reflections are insufferable. Can you not find some one else
+to whom you may confide your secret joy of my friend's misfortunes?"
+
+"Calm yourself. I say it is better for her, better for him, better for
+both. Remember what you said to him yourself about the difference
+between pleasure and happiness. They shall be one yet, their happiness
+shall not be less eternal because their pleasure in this life has been
+brief. Can you not conceive of immortal peace and joy without the
+satisfaction of earthly lust?"
+
+"I would not call such a beautiful union as theirs might have been by
+such a name. For myself, I confess to a very real desire for pleasure
+first and happiness afterwards."
+
+"I know you better than you think, Mr. Griggs. You are merely
+argumentative, rarely sceptical. If I had begun by denying what I
+instead asserted, you would by this time have been arguing as strongly
+on my side as you now are on yours. You are often very near degenerating
+into a common sophist."
+
+"Very likely, it was a charming profession. Meanwhile, by going to the
+very opposite extreme from sophistry, I mean by a more than Quixotic
+veneration for an abstract dogma you hold to be true, and by your
+determination to make people die for it, you are causing fearful misery
+of body, untold agony of soul, to a woman and a man whom you should have
+every reason to like. Go to, Ram Lal, adept, magician, enthusiast, and
+prophet, you are mistaken, like all your kind!"
+
+"No, I am not mistaken, time will show. Moreover, I would have you
+remark that the lady in question is not suffering at all, and that the
+'untold agony of soul' you attribute to Isaacs is a wholesome medicine
+for one with such a soul as his. And now I am going, for you are not the
+sort of person with whom I can enjoy talking very long. You are violent
+and argumentative, though you are sometimes amusing. I am rarely
+violent, and I never argue: life is too short. And yet I have more time
+for it than you, seeing my life will be indefinitely longer than yours.
+Good-bye, for the present; and believe me, those two will be happier
+far, and far more blessed, in a few short years hence, than ever you or
+I shall be in all the unreckonable cycles of this or any future world."
+Ram Lal sighed as he uttered the last words, and he was gone; yet the
+musical cadence of the deep-drawn breath of a profound sorrow, vibrated
+whisperingly through the room where I lay. Poor Ram Lal, he must have
+had some disappointment in his youth, which, with all his wisdom and
+superiority over the common earth, still left a sore place in his heart.
+
+I was not inclined to move. I knew where Isaacs was, where he would
+remain to the bitter end, and I would not go out into the world that
+day, while he was kneeling in the chamber of death. He might come back
+at any time. How long would it last? God in his mercy grant it might be
+soon and quickly over, without suffering. Oh! but those strong people
+die so deathly hard. I have seen a man--No, I was sure of that. She
+would not suffer any more now.
+
+I lay thinking. Would Isaacs send for me when he returned, or would he
+face his grief alone for a night before he spoke? The latter, I thought;
+I hoped so too. How little sympathy there must be for any one, even the
+dearest, in our souls and hearts, when it is so hard to look forward to
+speaking half-a-dozen words of comfort to some poor wretch of a friend
+who has lost everything in the wide world that is dear to him. We would
+rather give him all we possess outright than attempt to console him for
+the loss. And yet--what is there in life more sweet than to be consoled
+and comforted, and to have the true sympathy of some one, even a little
+near to us, when we ourselves are suffering. The people we do not want
+shower cards of condolence on us, and carriage-loads of flowers on the
+poor dead thing; the ones who could be of some help to the tortured soul
+are afraid to speak; the very delicacy of kind-heartedness in them,
+which makes us wish they would come, makes them stay away.
+
+I hope Isaacs will not send for me, poor fellow.
+
+If he does, what shall I say? God help me.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+The hours came and went, and though worn out with the exertions of the
+past days, and with the emotions of the morning, I lay in my rooms,
+unable to sleep even for a moment. I went down once or twice to Isaacs'
+rooms to know whether he had returned, but he had not, nor had any one
+heard from him. At last the evening shadows crept stealthily up,
+darkening first one room, then another, until there was not light enough
+to read by. Then I dropped my book and went out to breathe the cold air
+on the verandah. Wearily the hours went by, and still there was no sign
+of my friend.
+
+Towards eleven o'clock the moon, now waning, once more rose above the
+hills and shed her light across the lawn, splendid still, but with the
+first tinge of melancholy that clouds her departing glory. Exhausted
+nature asserted herself, and chilled to the bone I went to bed, and, at
+last, to sleep.
+
+I slept peacefully at first, but soon the events that had come over my
+life began to weave themselves in wild disharmony through my restful
+visions, and the events that were to come cast their lengthening shadows
+before them. The world of past, present, and future thoughts, came into
+my soul, distorted, without perspective, nothing to help me to discern
+the good from the evil, the suffering gone and long-forgotten from the
+pain in store. The triumph of discrepancy over waking reason, the
+fancied victories of the sleep-dulled intellect over the outrageous
+discord of the wakeful imagination. I passed a most miserable night. It
+seemed rest to wake, until I was awake, and then it seemed rest to sleep
+again, until my eyes were closed. At last it came, no dream this time;
+Isaacs stood by my bed-side in the gray of the morning, himself grayer
+than the soft neutral-tinted dawn. It was a terrible moment to me,
+though I had expected it since yesterday. I felt like the condemned
+criminal in France, who does not know the day or hour of his death. The
+first intimation is when the executioner at daybreak enters his cell and
+bids him come forth to die, sometimes in less than sixty seconds from
+his waking.[2]
+
+How gray he looked, and how infinitely tried. I rose swiftly and took
+his hands, which were deadly cold, and led him to the outer room. I
+could not say anything, for I did not know how such a terribly sudden
+blow would affect him; he was so unlike any one else. Why is it so hard
+to comfort the afflicted? Why should the most charitable duty it is ever
+given us to perform be, without exception, the hardest of tasks?
+
+I am sure most people feel as I do. It is far less painful to suffer
+wounds and sickness in one's own body than to stand by and see the cold
+clean knife go through skin and flesh and cartilage; it is surely easier
+to suffer disease than to smooth daily and hourly the bed and pillows of
+some poor tormented wretch, calling on God and man to end his misery.
+There is a hidden instinct--of a low and cowardly kind, but human
+nevertheless--which bids us turn away from spectacles of agony whether
+harrowing or repulsive, until the good angel comes and whispers that we
+must trample on such coarse impulse and do our duty. "Show pity," said
+the wise old Frenchman, "do anything to alleviate distress, but avoid
+actually feeling either compassion or sympathy. They can lead to no
+good." That was only his way of making to himself an excuse for doing a
+good action, for Larochefoucauld was a man who really possessed every
+virtue that he disclaimed for himself and denied in others.
+
+I felt much of this as I led Isaacs to the outer room, not knowing what
+form his sorrow might take, but feeling in my own person a grief as
+poignant, perhaps, for the moment, as his own. I had known he would
+come, that was all, though I had hoped he would not, and I knew that I
+must do my best to send him away a little less sorrowful than he had
+come. I was not prepared for the extreme calm of voice and manner that
+marked his first words, coming with measured rhythm and even cadence
+from his pale lips.
+
+"It is all over, my friend," he said.
+
+"It has but begun," said the solemn tones of Ram Lal, the Buddhist, from
+the door. He entered and approached us.
+
+"Friend Isaacs," he continued, "I am not here to mock at your grief or
+to weary your strained heartstrings with such petty condolence as
+well-nigh drove Ayoub of old to impatience. But I love you, my brother,
+and I have somewhat to say to you in your trouble, some advice to give
+you in your distress. You are suffering greatly, past the power of
+reason to alleviate, for you no longer know yourself, nor are aware what
+you really think. But I will show to you three pictures of yourself that
+shall rouse you to what you are, to what you were, and to what you shall
+be.
+
+"I found you, not many years ago, a very young man, most exceptionally
+placed in regard to the world. You were even then rich, though not so
+rich as you now are. You were beautiful and full of vigour, but you have
+now upon you the glow of a higher beauty, the overflowing promise of a
+more glorious life. You were happy because you thought you were, but
+such happiness as you had proceeded from without rather than from
+within. You were a materially thinking man. Your thoughts were of the
+flesh, and your delights--harmless it is true--were in the things that
+were under your eyes--wealth, power, book knowledge, and perhaps woman,
+if you can call the creatures you believed in women.
+
+"You gathered wealth in great heaps, and your precious stones in
+storehouses. You laid your hand upon the diamond of the river and upon
+the pearl of the sea, and they abode with you, as the light of the sun
+and the moon. And you said, 'Behold it is my star, which is the lord of
+the dog-heat in summer, and it is my kismet.' You also took to yourself
+wives of rare qualities, having both golden and raven black hair, whose
+skin was as fine silk, and their breath as the freshness of the dawning,
+and their eyes as jewels. Then said you, rejoicing in your heart, that
+you were happy; and so you dwelt in peace and plenty, and waxed glad.
+
+"Therefore you accomplished your first destiny, and you drank of the cup
+that was filled to overflowing. And if it had been the law of nature
+that from pleasure man should derive permanent lasting peace, you had
+been happy so long as you lived. But, though you have the faultless life
+of the body to enjoy all things of the earth, even as other men, though
+in another degree, you have within you something more. There is in your
+breast a heart beating--an organ so wonderful in its sensitiveness, so
+perfect in its consciousness of good, that the least throb and thrill of
+pleasure that it feels is worth years and ages of mere sensual life
+enjoyment. The body having tasted of all happiness whereof it is
+capable, and having found that it is good, is saturated with its own
+ease and enjoys less keenly. But the heart is the border-land between
+body and soul. The heart can love and the body can love, but the body
+can only love itself; the heart is the wellspring of the lore that goes
+beyond self. Therefore your heart awoke.
+
+"Shall I tell you of the first early stirrings of your love? Think you,
+because I am gray and loveless, that I have never known youth and
+gladness of heart? Ah, I know, better than you can think. It is not
+sudden, really, the blossoming out of the tree of life. The small leaves
+grow larger and stronger though still closely folded in the bud, until
+the bright warmth of the spring makes them burst into bloom. The little
+lark in the nest among the grass grows beneath the mother's wing and
+idly moves, now and then, unconscious of the cloud-cleaving gift of
+flight, until all at once, in the fair dawning, there wells up in his
+tiny breast the mighty sense of power to rise.
+
+"The human heart is like the budded folded leaves, and like the untaught
+lark. The quiet sleep before the day of blooming is, while it lasts, a
+state of happiness. But it is not comparable with the breathing joy of
+the leaf that feels and sees the wonderful life around it, whispering
+divine answers to the wooing breeze. The humble nest where it has first
+seen light is for many days a happy home to the tender songster, soon
+left behind, when the first wing-strokes waft the small body upwards to
+the sky, and forgotten as the first glad trill and quaver of the
+new-found voice roll out the prelude to the glorious life-long hymn of
+praise. The heart of man--your heart, my dear friend--gave a great leap
+from earth to sky, when first it felt the magic of the other life. The
+grosser scales of material vision fell away from your inner sight on the
+day when you met, and knew you had met, the woman you were to love.
+
+"I found you again, a different man, a far happier man, though you would
+hardly allow that. A sweet uncertainty of the future half-tinged your
+joy with a shadow of sadness, which you had not known before: but love
+sadness is only the shading and gentle pencilling in love's wondrous
+picture, whereby the whole light of the painting is made clearer and
+stronger. A new world opened out before you in endless vistas of untold
+and undreamed bliss. You looked back at your former self, so careless
+and sunny, so consciously happy in the strong sense of life and power,
+and you wondered how you could have been even contented through so many
+years. The good and evil deeds of your past life lost colour and
+perspective, and fell back into a dull, flat background, against which
+the ineffable vision of beautiful and immortal womanhood stood forth in
+transcendent glory. The eternal womanly element of the great universe
+beckoned you on, as it did Doctor Faustus of old. You had hitherto
+accepted woman and ignored womanhood, as so many of the followers of the
+prophet have always done. Henceforth there was to be a change, entire,
+complete, and enduring. No doubts now, or careless scepticism; no cant
+about women having no souls and no individual being; you had made a
+great step to a better understanding of the world you live in. Filled
+with a new life, you went on your way rejoicing and longing to do great
+deeds for her who had come into your destiny. From dawn to sunset, and
+from evening to dawn, one picture ever was before you leading you on.
+You were ready to run any risk for a smile and a blush of pleasure, you
+were willing to sacrifice anything and everything for her praise. And
+when, down there among the mango-trees in the Terai, your lips first
+touched hers and your arm pressed her to your side, the joy that was
+yours was as the joy of the immortals."
+
+Ram Lal paused, and Isaacs, who had been sitting by the table, stony and
+dry-eyed, hid his face in his hands, clutching with his white fingers
+among his bright black hair--all that seemed left to him of life, so
+dead and ashy was his face. He remained thus without looking up, as the
+old man continued.
+
+"Think not, dear friend and brother, that I have come here to dwell
+needlessly on your grief, to rouse again the keen agonies that have so
+lately burned through and through you to the quick. I love you well, and
+would but trace the past in order to paint the future. All that you felt
+and knew in those short days of perfect love on earth was good and true
+and noble, and shall not be forgotten hereafter. But last night closed
+the second of your three destinies--as true love always must close on
+earth--in bitter grief and sorrow because the one is gone before. Rather
+should you rejoice, Abdul Hafiz, that she is gone in virgin whiteness,
+whither ere long you shall follow and be with her till time shall chase
+the crumbling world out over the broad quicksands of eternity, and
+nought shall survive of all this but the pure and the constant and the
+faithful to death. There is before you a third, destiny, great and
+awful, but grand beyond power of telling. Body and heart have had their
+full cup of happiness, have enjoyed to the full what has been set in
+their way to enjoy. To the full you have enjoyed wealth and success and
+the sensuality of a refined and artistic luxury; to the full, as only a
+few rarely-gifted men can, you have enjoyed the purest and highest love
+that earth can give. Think not that all ends here. The greatest of
+destinies is but begun, and it is the destiny of the soul. Two days ago
+if I had told you there was something higher in you than the loving
+heart, you would not have believed me; now you do. It is the ethereal
+portion of the heart, that which longs to be loosed from the body and
+floating upwards to rejoin its other half.
+
+"Your love has been of the best kind that falls to the lot of man. Not a
+single shadow of doubting fell between you. It has been sweet if it has
+seemed short--but it has really lasted a long time, as long as some
+people's lives. You are many years older than you were when it began,
+for a month or two ago--or whenever it was that your heart first
+awoke--you were entirely immersed in the material view of things that
+belonged naturally enough to your position and mode of life. Now you
+have passed the critical border-land wherein love wanders, himself not
+knowing whither he shall lead his followers, whether back to the thick
+green pasture and heavy-scented groves of sensual existence or forward
+to free wind-swept heights of spiritual blessedness, where those who are
+true until they die walk forth into truth everlasting. Yours is the
+faith and the truth that abide always, yours henceforward shall be the
+perfect union of souls, yours the ethereal range of the outer firmament.
+Take my hand, brother, in yours, and seek with me the path to those
+heights--to that pinnacle of paradise where you shall meet once more the
+spirit elected to yours."
+
+Ram Lal stood beside Isaacs, whose face was still hidden, and laid his
+hand with tender gentleness on the weary head. The old man looked kindly
+down as he touched the thick black hair, and then raised his eyes and
+looked out through the door at the brightening landscape over which the
+morning sun was shedding warmth and beauty once more.
+
+"Brother," he continued, "come forth with me. You have suffered too much
+to mix again with the world, even if you wished it. Come forth, and your
+soul shall live for ever. Your grief shall be turned to joy, and the
+sinking heart shall be lifted to heights untried. As now the sun
+steadily rises in his unerring course, following the pale footsteps of
+the fleet dawning, and fulfilling her half spoken promises a
+million-fold in his goodness; as now the all-muffling heaviness of the
+sad dark night is forgotten in the gladness of day--so shall your brief
+time of darkness and dull distress perish and vanish swiftly at the
+first glimpses of the heavenly day on which follows no creeping night
+nor shadow of earthly care. I come not to bid you forget; I come to bid
+you remember. Remember all that is past, treasure it in the secret
+storehouse of the soul where the few flowers culled from life's abundant
+thorn are laid in their fragrance and garnered up. Remember also the
+future. Think that your time is short, and that the labour shall be
+sweet; so that in a few quick years you shall reap a harvest of
+unearthly blooming. Fear not to tread boldly in the tracks of those who
+have climbed before you, and who have attained and have conquered. What
+can anything earthly ever be to you? What can you ever care again for
+gold, or gem, or horse, or slave? Do with those things as it may seem
+good in your eyes, but leave them behind. The weight of the money-bags
+is a weariness and soreness to the feet that toil to overtake eternity.
+The flesh itself is weariness to the spirit, and soon leaves it to wing
+its flight untrammelled and untiring. Come, I will give you of my poor
+strength what shall carry your uncertain steps over the first great
+difficulties, or at least over so many as you have not yet surmounted.
+Be bold, aspiring, fearless, and firm of purpose. What guerdon can man
+or Heaven offer, higher than eternal communion with the bright spirit
+that waits and watches for your coming? With her--you said it while she
+lived--was your life, your light, and your love; it is true tenfold now,
+for with her is life eternal, light ethereal, and love spiritual. Come,
+brother, come with me!"
+
+Slowly Isaacs raised his head from his hands and gazed long on the old
+man. And while he gazed it was as if his pale face were transparent and
+the whiteness of the burning spirit, dazzling to see, came and went
+quickly and came again as flashes in the northern sky. Slowly he rose to
+his feet, and laying his hand in the Buddhist's, spoke at last.
+
+"Brother, I come," he said. "Show me the way."
+
+"Right gladly will I be thy guide, Abdul," Ram Lal gave answer. "Right
+willingly will I go with thee whither thou wouldest. Never was teacher
+sought by more worthy pupil; never did man embrace the pure life of the
+brethren with more single heart or truer purpose. The way shall be short
+that leads thee upward, the stones that are therein shall be as wings to
+lift thy feet instead of stumbling-blocks for thy destruction. The
+hidden forces of nature shall lend thee strength, and her secrets
+wisdom; the deep sweet springs of the eternal water shall refresh thee
+and the food of the angels shall be thine. Thy sorrows shall turn from
+bitter into sweet, and from the stings of thy past agonies shall grow up
+the golden flowers of thy future crown. Thou shalt not tire in the way,
+nor crave rest by the wayside."
+
+"Friend, tell me what I shall do that I may attain all this."
+
+"Be faithful to her who has preceded you, and learn of us, who know it,
+wherein consists true happiness. You need but little help, dear friend.
+Banish only from your thoughts the human suggestion that what you love
+most is lost, gone irrevocably. Rejoice, and mourn not, that she has
+entered in already where all your striving is to follow. Be glad because
+she looks on those sights and hears those sounds which are too bright
+and strong yet for your eyes and ears. Some of these unspeakable things
+you shall perceive with your perishable body; but the more perfect and
+glorious remain hidden to our mortal senses, be they ever so keen and
+exquisite. Believe me, you shall reach that state before I do. My poor
+soul is still bound to earth by some slender bonds of pleasure and
+contemptible pain, fine indeed as threads of gossamer, and soon, I
+trust, to be shaken off for ever. Yet am I bound and not utterly free.
+You, my brother, have been wrenched suddenly from the life of the body
+to the life of the soul. In you the vile desire to live for living's
+sake will soon be dead, if it is not dead already. Your soul, drawn
+strongly upward to other spheres, is well nigh loosed from love of life
+and fear of death. If at this moment you could lie down and die, you
+would meet your end joyfully. Very subtle are the fast-vanishing links
+between you and the world; very thin and impalpable the faint shadows
+that mar to your vision those transcendent hues of heavenly glory you
+shall so soon behold. Look forward, look upward, look onward--never once
+look back, and your waiting shall not be long, nor her watching many
+days. She stands before you, beckoning and praying that you tarry not.
+See that you do her bidding faithfully, as being near the blessed end,
+and fearful of losing even one moment in the attainment of what you
+seek."
+
+"Fear not, Ram Lal. My determination shall not fail me, nor my courage
+waver, until all is reached."
+
+The light of another world was on the beautiful brow and features as he
+looked full at his future teacher. What strange powers these adept
+brethren have! What marvellous magnetism over the souls of lesser
+men--whereby they turn sorrow into gladness, and defeat into triumph by
+mere words. I myself, bound by thought and word and deed to the lesser
+life, was not unmoved by the glorious promises that flowed with glowing
+eloquence from the lips of that gray old man in the early morning. They
+moved toward the door. Ram Lal spoke as he turned away.
+
+"We leave you, friend Griggs, but we will return this evening and bid
+you farewell." So I was left alone. Another comforter had taken my
+place; one knowing human nature better, and well versed in the learning
+of the spirit. One of that small band of high priests who in all ages
+and nations and religions and societies have been the mediators between
+time and eternity, to cheer and comfort the broken-hearted, to rebuke
+him who would lose his own soul, to speed the awakening spirit in its
+heavenward flight.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As I sat in my room that night the door opened and they were with me,
+standing hand in hand.
+
+"My friend," said Isaacs, "I have come to bid you farewell. You will
+never see me again. I am here once more to thank you, from the bottom of
+my heart, for your friendship and kind offices, for the strength of your
+arm in the hour of need, and for the gold of your words in time of
+uncertainty."
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "I know little of the journey you are undertaking, and
+I cannot go with you. This I know, that you are very near to a life I
+cannot hope for; and I pray God that you may speed quickly to the
+desired end, that you may attain that happiness which your brave soul
+and honest heart so well deserve. Once more, then, I offer you my
+fullest service, if there is anything that I still can do."
+
+"There is nothing," he answered, "though if there were I know you would
+do it gladly and entirely. I have bestowed all my worldly possessions on
+the one man besides yourself to whom I owe a debt of gratitude--John
+Westonhaugh. Had I known you less well, I would have made you a sharer
+in my forsaken wealth. Only this I beg of you. Take this gem and keep it
+always for my sake. No--do not look at it in that way. Do not consider
+its value. It is to recall one who will often think of you, for you have
+been a great deal to me in this month."
+
+"I would I might have been more," I said, and it was all I could say,
+for my voice failed me.
+
+"Think of me," he continued, and the bright light shone through his face
+in the dusk, "think of me, not as you see me now, or as I was this
+morning, bowed beneath a great sorrow, but as looking forward to a
+happiness that transcends this mortal joy that I have lost, even as the
+glory of things celestial transcends the glory of the terrestrial. Think
+of me, not as mourning the departed day, but as watching longingly for
+the first faint dawn of the day eternal. Above all, think of me not as
+alone but as wedded for all ages to her who has gone before me."
+
+Ram Lal laid his hand on my arm and looked long into my eyes.
+
+"Farewell for the present, my chance acquaintance," he said, "and
+remember that in me you have a friend. The day may come when you too
+will be in dire distress, beyond the skill of mere solitude and books to
+soothe. Farewell, and may all good things be with you."
+
+Isaacs laid his two hands on my shoulders, and once more I met the
+wondrous lustre of his eyes, now veiled but not darkened with the last
+look of his tender friendship.
+
+"Good-bye, my dear Griggs. You have been the instructor and the genius
+of my love. Learn yourself the lessons you can teach others so well. Be
+yourself what you would have made me."
+
+One last loving look--one more pressure of the reluctant fingers, and
+those two went out, hand in hand, under the clear stars, and I saw them
+no more.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+Footnote 1: Sir Gore Ousely, _Notices of the Persian Poets_.
+
+Footnote 2: A fact, as is well known.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Mr. Isaacs
+
+Author: F. Marion Crawford
+
+Release Date: August 31, 2004 [EBook #13340]
+[Last updated: September 24, 2015]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. ISAACS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+MR. ISAACS
+A TALE OF MODERN INDIA
+
+BY F. MARION CRAWFORD
+
+
+1882
+
+
+
+BY F. MARION CRAWFORD
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+In spite of Jean-Jacques and his school, men are not everywhere born
+free, any more than they are everywhere in chains, unless these be of
+their own individual making. Especially in countries where excessive
+liberty or excessive tyranny favours the growth of that class most
+usually designated as adventurers, it is true that man, by his own
+dominant will, or by a still more potent servility, may rise to any
+grade of elevation; as by the absence of these qualities he may fall to
+any depth in the social scale.
+
+Wherever freedom degenerates into license, the ruthless predatory
+instinct of certain bold and unscrupulous persons may, and almost
+certainly will, place at their disposal the goods, the honours, and the
+preferment justly the due of others; and in those more numerous and
+certainly more unhappy countries, where the rule of the tyrant is
+substituted for the law of God, the unwearying flatterer, patient under
+blows and abstemious under high-feeding, will assuredly make his way to
+power.
+
+Without doubt the Eastern portion of the world, where an hereditary, or
+at least traditional, despotism has never ceased since the earliest
+social records, and where a mode of thought infinitely more degrading
+than any feudalism has become ingrained in the blood and soul of the
+chief races, presents far more favourable conditions to the growth and
+development of the true adventurer than are offered in any free country.
+For in a free country the majority can rise and overthrow the favourite
+of fortune, whereas in a despotic country they cannot. Of Eastern
+countries in this condition, Russia is the nearest to us; though perhaps
+we understand the Chinese character better than the Russian. The Ottoman
+empire and Persia are, and always have been, swayed by a clever band of
+flatterers acting through their nominal master; while India, under the
+kindly British rule, is a perfect instance of a ruthless military
+despotism, where neither blood nor stratagem have been spared in
+exacting the uttermost farthing from the miserable serfs--they are
+nothing else--and in robbing and defrauding the rich of their just and
+lawful possessions. All these countries teem with stories of adventurers
+risen from the ranks to the command of armies, of itinerant merchants
+wedded to princesses, of hardy sailors promoted to admiralties, of
+half-educated younger sons of English peers dying in the undisputed
+possession of ill-gotten millions. With the strong personal despotism of
+the First Napoleon began a new era of adventurers in France; not of
+elegant and accomplished adventurers like M. de St. Germain, Cagliostro,
+or the Comtesse de la Motte, but regular rag-tag-and-bobtail cut-throat
+moss-troopers, who carved and slashed themselves into notice by sheer
+animal strength and brutality.
+
+There is infinitely more grace and romance about the Eastern adventurer.
+There is very little slashing and hewing to be done there, and what
+there is, is managed as quietly as possible. When a Sultan must be rid
+of the last superfluous wife, she is quietly done up in a parcel with a
+few shot, and dropped into the Bosphorus without more ado. The good
+old-fashioned Rajah of Mudpoor did his killing without scandal, and when
+the kindly British wish to keep a secret, the man is hanged in a quiet
+place where there are no reporters. As in the Greek tragedies, the
+butchery is done behind the scenes, and there is no glory connected with
+the business, only gain. The ghosts of the slain sometimes appear in the
+columns of the recalcitrant Indian newspapers and gibber a feeble little
+"Otototoi!" after the manner of the shade of Dareios, but there is very
+little heed paid to such visitations by the kindly British. But though
+the "raw head and bloody bones" type of adventurer is little in demand
+in the East, there is plenty of scope for the intelligent and wary
+flatterer, and some room for the honest man of superior gifts, who is
+sufficiently free from Oriental prejudice to do energetically the thing
+which comes in his way, distancing all competitors for the favours of
+fortune by sheer industry and unerring foresight.
+
+I once knew a man in the East who was neither a flatterer nor
+freebooter, but who by his own masterly perseverance worked his way to
+immense wealth, and to such power as wealth commands, though his high
+view of the social aims of mankind deterred him from mixing in political
+questions. _Bon chien chasse de race_ is a proverb which applies to
+horses, cattle, and men, as well as to dogs; and in this man, who was a
+noble type of the Aryan race, the qualities which have made that race
+dominant were developed in the highest degree. The sequel, indeed, might
+lead the ethnographer into a labyrinth of conjecture, but the story is
+too tempting a one for me to forego telling it, although the said
+ethnographer should lose his wits in striving to solve the puzzle.
+
+In September, 1879, I was at Simla in the lower Himalayas,--at the time
+of the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari at Kabul,--being called there in
+the interests of an Anglo-Indian newspaper, of which I was then editor.
+In other countries, notably in Europe and in America, there are hundreds
+of spots by the sea-shore, or on the mountain-side, where specific ills
+may be cured by their corresponding antidotes of air or water, or both.
+Following the aristocratic and holy example of the Bishops of Salzburg
+for the last eight centuries, the sovereigns of the Continent are told
+that the air and waters of Hofgastein are the only nenuphar for the
+over-taxed brain in labour beneath a crown. The self-indulgent sybarite
+is recommended to Ems, or Wiesbaden, or Aix-la-Chapelle, and the
+quasi-incurable sensualist to Aix in Savoy, or to Karlsbad in Bohemia.
+In our own magnificent land Bethesdas abound, in every state, from the
+attractive waters of lotus-eating Saratoga to the magnetic springs of
+Lansing, Michigan; from Virginia, the carcanet of sources, the heaving,
+the warm, the hot sulphur springs, the white sulphur, the alum, to the
+hot springs of Arkansas, the Ultima Thule of our migratory and
+despairing humanity. But in India, whatever the ailing, low fever, high
+fever, "brandy pawnee" fever, malaria caught in the chase of tigers in
+the Terai, or dysentery imbibed on the banks of the Ganges, there is
+only one cure, the "hills;" and chief of "hill-stations" is Simla.
+
+On the hip rather than on the shoulder of the aspiring Himalayas,
+Simla--or Shumla, as the natives call it--presents during the wet
+monsoon period a concourse of pilgrims more varied even than the
+Bagnères de Bigorre in the south of France, where the gay Frenchman asks
+permission of the lady with whom he is conversing to leave her abruptly,
+in order to part with his remaining lung, the loss of the first having
+brought him there. "Pardon, madame," said he, "je m'en vais cracher mon
+autre poumon."
+
+To Simla the whole supreme Government migrates for the summer--Viceroy,
+council, clerks, printers, and hangers-on. Thither the high official
+from the plains takes his wife, his daughters, and his liver. There the
+journalists congregate to pick up the news that oozes through the
+pent-house of Government secrecy, and failing such scant drops of
+information, to manufacture as much as is necessary to fill the columns
+of their dailies. On the slopes of "Jako"--the wooded eminence that
+rises above the town--the enterprising German establishes his
+concert-hall and his beer-garden; among the rhododendron trees Madame
+Blavatzky, Colonel Olcott and Mr. Sinnett move mysteriously in the
+performance of their wonders; and the wealthy tourist from America, the
+botanist from Berlin, and the casual peer from Great Britain, are not
+wanting to complete the motley crowd. There are no roads in Simla proper
+where it is possible to drive, excepting one narrow way, reserved when I
+was there, and probably still set apart, for the exclusive delectation
+of the Viceroy. Every one rides--man, woman, and child; and every
+variety of horseflesh may be seen in abundance, from Lord Steepleton
+Kildare's thoroughbreds to the broad-sterned equestrian vessel of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, the Revenue Commissioner of Mudnugger in Bengal. But I
+need not now dwell long on the description of this highly-favoured spot,
+where Baron de Zach might have added force to his demonstration of the
+attraction of mountains for the pendulum. Having achieved my orientation
+and established my servants and luggage in one of the reputed hotels, I
+began to look about me, and, like an intelligent American observer, as I
+pride myself that I am, I found considerable pleasure in studying out
+the character of such of the changing crowd on the verandah and on the
+mall as caught my attention.
+
+At last the dinner-hour came. With the rest I filed into the large
+dining-room and took my seat. The place allotted to me was the last at
+one side of the long table, and the chair opposite was vacant, though
+two remarkably well-dressed servants, in turbans of white and gold,
+stood with folded arms behind it, apparently awaiting their master. Nor
+was he long in coming. I never remember to have been so much struck by
+the personal appearance of any man in my life. He sat down opposite me,
+and immediately one of his two servants, or _khitmatgars_, as they are
+called, retired, and came back bearing a priceless goblet and flask of
+the purest old Venetian mould. Filling the former, he ceremoniously
+presented his master with a brimming beaker of cold water. A
+water-drinker in India is always a phenomenon, but a water-drinker who
+did the thing so artistically was such a manifestation as I had never
+seen. I was interested beyond the possibility of holding my peace, and
+as I watched the man's abstemious meal,--for he ate little,--I
+contrasted him with our neighbours at the board, who seemed to be vying,
+like the captives of Circe, to ascertain by trial who could swallow the
+most beef and mountain mutton, and who could absorb the most
+"pegs"--those vile concoctions of spirits, ice, and soda-water, which
+have destroyed so many splendid constitutions under the tropical sun. As
+I watched him an impression came over me that he must be an Italian. I
+scanned his appearance narrowly, and watched for a word that should
+betray his accent. He spoke to his servant in Hindustani, and I noticed
+at once the peculiar sound of the dental consonants, never to be
+acquired by a northern-born person.
+
+Before I go farther, let me try and describe Mr. Isaacs; I certainly
+could not have done so satisfactorily after my first meeting, but
+subsequent acquaintance, and the events I am about to chronicle, threw
+me so often in his society, and gave me such ample opportunities of
+observation, that the minutest details of his form and feature, as well
+as the smallest peculiarities of his character and manner, are indelibly
+graven in my memory.
+
+Isaacs was a man of more than medium stature, though he would never be
+spoken of as tall. An easy grace marked his movements at all times,
+whether deliberate or vehement,--and he often went to each extreme,--a
+grace which no one acquainted with the science of the human frame would
+be at a loss to explain for a moment. The perfect harmony of all the
+parts, the even symmetry of every muscle, the equal distribution of a
+strength, not colossal and overwhelming, but ever ready for action, the
+natural courtesy of gesture--all told of a body in which true proportion
+of every limb and sinew were at once the main feature and the pervading
+characteristic. This infinitely supple and swiftly-moving figure was but
+the pedestal, as it were, for the noble face and nobler brain to which
+it owed its life and majestic bearing. A long oval face of a wondrous
+transparent olive tint, and of a decidedly Oriental type. A prominent
+brow and arched but delicate eyebrows fitly surmounted a nose smoothly
+aquiline, but with the broad well-set nostrils that bespeak active
+courage. His mouth, often smiling, never laughed, and the lips, though
+closely meeting, were not thin and writhing and cunning, as one so often
+sees in eastern faces, but rather inclined to a generous Greek fullness,
+the curling lines ever ready to express a sympathy or a scorn which, the
+commanding features above seemed to control and curb, as the stern,
+square-elbowed Arab checks his rebellious horse, or gives him the rein,
+at will.
+
+But though Mr. Isaacs was endowed with exceptional gifts of beauty by a
+bountiful nature, those I have enumerated were by no means what first
+attracted the attention of the observer. I have spoken of his graceful
+figure and perfect Iranian features, but I hardly noticed either at our
+first meeting. I was enthralled and fascinated by his eyes. I once saw
+in France a jewel composed of six precious stones, each a gem of great
+value, so set that they appeared to form but one solid mass, yielding a
+strange radiance that changed its hue at every movement, and multiplied
+the sunlight a thousand-fold. Were I to seek a comparison for my
+friend's eyes, I might find an imperfect one in this masterpiece of the
+jeweler's art. They were dark and of remarkable size; when half closed
+they were long and almond-shaped; when suddenly opened in anger or
+surprise they had the roundness and bold keenness of the eagle's sight.
+There was a depth of life and vital light in them that told of the
+pent-up force of a hundred generations of Persian magii. They blazed
+with the splendour of a god-like nature, needing neither meat nor strong
+drink to feed its power.
+
+My mind was made up. Between his eyes, his temperance, and his dental
+consonants, he certainly might be an Italian. Being myself a native of
+Italy, though an American by parentage, I addressed him in the language,
+feeling comparatively sure of his answer. To my surprise, and somewhat
+to my confusion, he answered in two words of modern Greek--"[Greek: _den
+enoêsa_]"--"I do not understand." He evidently supposed I was speaking a
+Greek dialect, and answered in the one phrase of that tongue which he
+knew, and not a good phrase at that.
+
+"Pardon me," said I in English, "I believed you a countryman, and
+ventured to address you in my native tongue. May I inquire whether you
+speak English?"
+
+I was not a little astonished when he answered me in pure English, and
+with an evident command of the language. We fell into conversation, and
+I found him pungent, ready, impressive, and most entertaining,
+thoroughly acquainted with Anglo-Indian and English topics, and
+apparently well read. An Indian dinner is a long affair, so that we had
+ample time to break the ice, an easy matter always for people who are
+not English, and when, after the fruit, he invited me to come down and
+smoke with him in his rooms, I gladly availed myself of the opportunity.
+We separated for a few moments, and I despatched my servant to the
+manager of the hotel to ascertain the name of the strange gentleman who
+looked like an Italian and spoke like a fellow of Balliol. Having
+discovered that he was a "Mr. Isaacs," I wended my way through verandahs
+and corridors, preceded by a _chuprassie_ and followed by my
+pipe-bearer, till I came to his rooms.
+
+The fashion of the hookah or narghyle in India has long disappeared from
+the English portion of society. Its place has been assumed and usurped
+by the cheroot from Burmah or Trichinopoli, by the cigarette from Egypt,
+or the more expensive Manilla and Havana cigars. I, however, in an early
+burst of Oriental enthusiasm, had ventured upon the obsolete fashion,
+and so charmed was I by the indolent aromatic enjoyment I got from the
+rather cumbrous machine, that I never gave it up while in the East. So
+when Mr. Isaacs invited me to come and smoke in his rooms, or rather
+before his rooms, for the September air was still warm in the hills, I
+ordered my "bearer" to bring down the apparatus and to prepare it for
+use. I myself passed through the glass door in accordance with my new
+acquaintance's invitation, curious to see the kind of abode in which a
+man who struck me as being so unlike his fellows spent his summer
+months. For some minutes after I entered I did not speak, and indeed I
+hardly breathed. It seemed to me that I was suddenly transported into
+the subterranean chambers whither the wicked magician sent Aladdin in
+quest of the lamp. A soft but strong light filled the room, though I did
+not immediately comprehend whence it came, nor did I think to look, so
+amazed was I by the extraordinary splendour of the objects that met my
+eyes. In the first glance it appeared as if the walls and the ceiling
+were lined with gold and precious stones; and in reality it was almost
+literally the truth. The apartment, I soon saw, was small,--for India at
+least,--and every available space, nook and cranny, were filled with
+gold and jeweled ornaments, shining weapons, or uncouth but resplendent
+idols. There were sabres in scabbards set from end to end with diamonds
+and sapphires, with cross hilts of rubies in massive gold mounting, the
+spoil of some worsted rajah or Nawab of the mutiny. There were narghyles
+four feet high, crusted with gems and curiously wrought work from
+Baghdad or Herat; water flasks of gold and drinking cups of jade;
+yataghans from Bourn and idols from the far East. Gorgeous lamps of the
+octagonal Oriental shape hung from the ceiling, and, fed by aromatic
+oils, shed their soothing light on all around. The floor was covered
+with a rich soft pile, and low divans were heaped with cushions of
+deep-tinted silk and gold. On the floor, in a corner which seemed the
+favourite resting-place of my host, lay open two or three superbly
+illuminated Arabic manuscripts, and from a chafing dish of silver near
+by a thin thread of snow-white smoke sent up its faint perfume through
+the still air. To find myself transported from the conventionalities of
+a stiff and starched Anglo-Indian hotel to such a scene was something
+novel and delicious in the extreme. No wonder I stood speechless and
+amazed. Mr. Isaacs remained near the door while I breathed in the
+strange sights to which he had introduced me. At last I turned, and from
+contemplating the magnificence of inanimate wealth I was riveted by the
+majestic face and expression of the beautiful living creature who, by a
+turn of his wand, or, to speak prosaically, by an invitation to smoke,
+had lifted me out of humdrum into a land peopled with all the effulgent
+phantasies and the priceless realities of the magic East. As I gazed, it
+seemed as if the illumination from the lamps above were caught up and
+flung back with the vitality of living fire by his dark eyes, in which
+more than ever I saw and realised the inexplicable blending of the
+precious stones with the burning spark of a divine soul breathing
+within. For some moments we stood thus; he evidently amused at my
+astonishment, and I fascinated and excited by the problem presented me
+for solution in his person and possessions.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, "you are naturally surprised at my little Eldorado,
+so snugly hidden away in the lower story of a commonplace hotel. Perhaps
+you are surprised at finding me here, too. But come out into the air,
+your hookah is blazing, and so are the stars."
+
+I followed him into the verandah, where the long cane chairs of the
+country were placed, and taking the tube of the pipe from the solemn
+Mussulman whose duty it was to prepare it, I stretched myself out in
+that indolent lazy peace which is only to be enjoyed in tropical
+countries. Silent and for the nonce perfectly happy, I slowly inhaled
+the fragrant vapour of tobacco and aromatic herbs and honey with which
+the hookah is filled. No sound save the monotonous bubbling and
+chuckling of the smoke through the water, or the gentle rustle of the
+leaves on the huge rhododendron-tree which reared its dusky branches to
+the night in the middle of the lawn. There was no moon, though the stars
+were bright and clear, the foaming path of the milky way stretching
+overhead like the wake of some great heavenly ship; a soft mellow lustre
+from the lamps in Isaacs' room threw a golden stain half across the
+verandah, and the chafing dish within, as the light breeze fanned the
+coals, sent out a little cloud of perfume which mingled pleasantly with
+the odour of the _chillum_ in the pipe. The turbaned servant squatted on
+the edge of the steps at a little distance, peering into the dusk, as
+Indians will do for hours together. Isaacs lay quite still in his chair,
+his hands above his head, the light through the open door just falling
+on the jeweled mouthpiece of his narghyle. He sighed--a sigh only half
+regretful, half contented, and seemed about to speak, but the spirit did
+not move him, and the profound silence continued. For my part, I was so
+much absorbed in my reflections on the things I had seen that I had
+nothing to say, and the strange personality of the man made me wish to
+let him begin upon his own subject, if perchance I might gain some
+insight into his mind and mode of thought. There are times when silence
+seems to be sacred, even unaccountably so. A feeling is in us that to
+speak would be almost a sacrilege, though we are unable to account in
+any way for the pause. At such moments every one seems instinctively to
+feel the same influence, and the first person who breaks the spell
+either experiences a sensation of awkwardness, and says something very
+foolish, or, conscious of the odds against him, delivers himself of a
+sentiment of ponderous severity and sententiousness. As I smoked,
+watching the great flaming bowl of the water pipe, a little coal, forced
+up by the expansion of the heat, toppled over the edge and fell tinkling
+on the metal foot below. The quick ear of the servant on the steps
+caught the sound, and he rose and came forward to trim the fire. Though
+he did not speak, his act was a diversion. The spell was broken.
+
+"The Germans," said Isaacs, "say that an angel is passing over the
+house. I do not believe it."
+
+I was surprised at the remark. It did not seem quite natural for Mr.
+Isaacs to begin talking about the Germans, and from the tone of his
+voice I could almost have fancied he thought the proverb was held as an
+article of faith by the Teutonic races in general.
+
+"I do not believe it," he repeated reflectively. "There is no such thing
+as an angel 'passing'; it is a misuse of terms. If there are such things
+as angels, their changes of place cannot be described as motion, seeing
+that from the very nature of things such changes must be instantaneous,
+not involving time as a necessary element. Have you ever thought much
+about angels? By-the-bye, pardon my abruptness, but as there is no one
+to introduce us, what is your name?"
+
+"My name is Griggs--Paul Griggs. I am an American, but was born in
+Italy. I know your name is Isaacs; but, frankly, I do not comprehend how
+you came by the appellation, for I do not believe you are either,
+English, American, or Jewish of origin."
+
+"Quite right," he replied, "I am neither Yankee, Jew, nor beef-eater; in
+fact, I am not a European at all. And since you probably would not guess
+my nationality, I will tell you that I am a Persian, a pure Iranian, a
+degenerate descendant of Zoroaster, as you call him, though by religion
+I follow the prophet, whose name be blessed," he added, with an
+expression of face I did not then understand. "I call myself Isaacs for
+convenience in business. There is no concealment about it, as many know
+my story; but it has an attractive Semitic twang that suite my
+occupation, and is simpler and shorter for Englishmen to write than
+Abdul Hafizben-Isâk, which is my lawful name."
+
+"Since you lay sufficient store by your business to have been willing to
+change your name, may I inquire what your business is? It seems to be a
+lucrative one, to judge by the accumulations of wealth you have allowed
+me a glimpse of."
+
+"Yes. Wealth is my occupation. I am a dealer in precious stones and
+similar objects of value. Some day I will show you my diamonds; they are
+worth seeing."
+
+It is no uncommon thing to meet in India men of all Asiatic
+nationalities buying and selling stones of worth, and enriching
+themselves in the business. I supposed he had come with a caravan by way
+of Baghdad, and had settled. But again, his perfect command of English,
+as pure as though he had been educated at Eton and Oxford, his extremely
+careful, though quiet, English dress, and especially his polished
+manners, argued a longer residence in the European civilisation of his
+adopted home than agreed with his young looks, supposing him to have
+come to India at sixteen or seventeen. A pardonable curiosity led me to
+remark this.
+
+"You must have come here very young," I said. "A thoroughbred Persian
+does not learn to speak English like a university man, and to quote
+German proverbs, in a residence of a few years; unless, indeed, he
+possess the secret by which the initiated absorb knowledge without
+effort, and assimilate it without the laborious process of intellectual
+digestion."
+
+"I am older than I look--considerably. I have been in India twelve
+years, and with a natural talent for languages, stimulated by constant
+intercourse with Englishmen who know their own speech well, I have
+succeeded, as you say, in acquiring a certain fluency and mastery of
+accent. I have had an adventurous life enough. I see no reason why I
+should not tell you something of it, especially as you are not English,
+and can therefore hear me with an unprejudiced ear. But, really, do you
+care for a yarn?"
+
+I begged him to proceed, and I beckoned the servant to arrange our
+pipes, that we might not be disturbed. When this was done, Isaacs began.
+
+"I am going to try and make a long story short. We Persians like to
+listen to long stories, as we like to sit and look on at a wedding
+nautch. But we are radically averse to dancing or telling long tales
+ourselves, so I shall condense as much as possible. I was born in
+Persia, of Persian parents, as I told you, but I will not burden your
+memory with names you are not familiar with. My father was a merchant in
+prosperous circumstances, and a man of no mean learning in Arabic and
+Persian literature. I soon showed a strong taste for books, and every
+opportunity was given me for pursuing my inclinations in this respect.
+At the early age of twelve I was kidnapped by a party of slave-dealers,
+and carried off into Roum--Turkey you call it. I will not dwell upon my
+tears and indignation. We travelled rapidly, and my captors treated me
+well, as they invariably do their prizes, well knowing how much of the
+value of a slave depends on his plump and sleek condition when brought
+to market. In Istamboul I was soon disposed of, my fair skin and
+accomplishments as a writer and a singer of Persian songs fetching a
+high price.
+
+"It is no uncommon thing for boys to be stolen and sold in this way. A
+rich pacha will pay almost anything. The fate of such slaves is not
+generally a happy one." Isaacs paused a moment, and drew in two or three
+long breaths of smoke. "Do you see that bright star in the south?" he
+said, pointing with his long jewel-set mouthpiece.
+
+"Yes. It must be Sirius."
+
+"That is my star. Do you believe in the agency of the stars in human
+affairs? Of course you do not; you are a European: how should you? But
+to proceed. The stars, or the fates or Kâli, or whatever you like to
+term your kismet, your portion of good and evil, allotted me a somewhat
+happier existence than generally falls to the share of young slaves in
+Roum. I was bought by an old man of great wealth and of still greater
+learning, who was so taken with my proficiency in Arabic and in writing
+that he resolved to make of me a pupil instead of a servant to carry his
+coffee and pipe, or a slave to bear the heavier burden of his vices.
+Nothing better could have happened to me. I was installed in his house
+and treated with exemplary kindness, though he kept me rigorously at
+work with my books. I need not tell you that with such a master I made
+fair progress, and that at the age of twenty-one I was, for a Turk, a
+young man of remarkably good education. Then my master died suddenly,
+and I was thrown into great distress. I was of course nothing but a
+slave, and liable to be sold at any time. I escaped. Active and
+enduring, though never possessing any vast muscular strength, I bore
+with ease the hardships of a long journey on foot with little food and
+scant lodging. Falling in with a band of pilgrims, I recognised the
+wisdom of joining them on their march to Mecca. I was, of course, a
+sound Mohammedan, as I am to this day, and my knowledge of the Koran
+soon gained me some reputation in the caravan. I was considered a
+creditable addition, and altogether an eligible pilgrim. My exceptional
+physique protected me from the disease and exhaustion of which not a few
+of our number died by the wayside, and the other pilgrims, in
+consideration of my youth and piety, gave me willingly the few handfuls
+of rice and dates that I needed to support life and strength.
+
+"You have read about Mecca; and your _hadji_ barber, who of course has
+been there, has doubtless related his experiences to you scores of times
+in the plains, as he does everywhere. As you may imagine, I had no
+intention of returning towards Roum with my companions. When I had
+fulfilled all the observances required, I made my way to Yeddah and
+shipped on board an Arabian craft, touching at Mocha, and bearing coffee
+to Bombay. I had to work my passage, and as I had no experience of the
+sea, save in the caïques of the Golden Horn, you will readily conceive
+that the captain of the vessel had plenty of fault to find. But my
+agility and quick comprehension stood me in good stead, and in a few
+days I had learned enough to haul on a rope or to reef the great latteen
+sails as well as any of them. The knowledge that I was just returning
+from a pilgrimage to Mecca obtained for me also a certain respect among
+the crew. It makes very little difference what the trade, business, or
+branch of learning; in mechanical labour, or intellectual effort, the
+educated man is always superior to the common labourer. One who is in
+the habit of applying his powers in the right way will carry his system
+into any occupation, and it will help him as much to handle a rope as to
+write a poem.
+
+"At last we landed in Bombay. I was in a wretched condition. What little
+clothes I had had were in tatters; hard work and little food had made me
+even thinner than my youthful age and slight frame tolerated. I had in
+all about three pence money in small copper coins, carefully hoarded
+against a rainy day. I could not speak a word of the Indian dialects,
+still less of English, and I knew no one save the crew of the vessel I
+had come in, as poor as I, but saved from starvation by the slender
+pittance allowed them on land. I wandered about all day through the
+bazaars, occasionally speaking to some solemn looking old shopkeeper or
+long-bearded Mussulman, who, I hoped, might understand a little Arabic.
+But not one did I find. At evening I bathed in the tank of a temple full
+from the recent rains, and I lay down supperless to sleep on the steps
+of the great mosque. As I lay on the hard stones I looked up to my star,
+and took comfort, and slept. That night a dream came to me. I thought I
+was still awake and lying on the steps, watching the wondrous ruler of
+my fate. And as I looked he glided down from his starry throne with an
+easy swinging motion, like a soap-bubble settling to the earth. And the
+star came and poised among the branches of the palm-tree over the tank,
+opalescent, unearthly, heart shaking. His face was as the face of the
+prophet, whose name be blessed, and his limbs were as the limbs of the
+Hameshaspenthas of old. Garments he had none, being of heavenly birth,
+but he was clothed with light as with a garment, and the crest of his
+silver hair was to him a crown of glory. And he spoke with the tongues
+of a thousand lutes, sweet strong tones, that rose and fell on the night
+air as the song of a lover beneath the lattice of his mistress, the song
+of the mighty star wooing the beautiful sleeping earth. And then he
+looked on me and said: 'Abdul Hafiz, be of good cheer. I am with thee
+and will not forsake thee, even to the day when thou shalt pass over the
+burning bridge of death. Thou shalt touch the diamond of the rivers and
+the pearl of the sea, and they shall abide with thee, and great shall be
+thy wealth. And the sunlight which is in the diamond shall warm thee and
+comfort thy heart; and the moonlight which is in the pearl shall give
+thee peace in the night-time, and thy children shall be to thee a
+garland of roses in the land of the unbeliever.' And the star floated
+down from the palm-branches and touched me with his hand, and breathed
+upon my lips the cool breath of the outer firmament, and departed. Then
+I awoke and saw him again in his place far down the horizon, and he was
+alone, for the dawn was in the sky and the lesser lights were
+extinguished. And I rose from the stony stairway that seemed like a bed
+of flowers for the hopeful dream, and I turned westward, and praised
+Allah, and went my way.
+
+"The sun being up, all was life, and the life in me spoke of a most
+capacious appetite. So I cast about for a shop where I might buy a
+little food with my few coppers, and seeing a confectioner spreading out
+his wares, I went near and took stock of the queer balls of flour and
+sugar, and strange oily-looking sweetmeats. Having selected what I
+thought would be within my modest means, I addressed the shopkeeper to
+call his attention, though I knew he would not understand me, and I
+touched with my hand the article I wanted, showing with the other some
+of the small coins I had. As soon as I touched the sweetmeats the man
+became very angry, and bounding from his seat called his neighbours
+together, and they all shouted and screamed at me, and called a man I
+thought to be a soldier, though he looked more like an ape in his long
+loose trousers of dirty black, and his untidy red turban, under which
+cumbrous garments his thin and stunted frame seemed even blacker and
+more contemptible than nature had made them. I afterwards discovered him
+to be one of the Bombay police. He seized me by the arm, and I, knowing
+I had done no wrong, and curious to discover, if possible, what the
+trouble was, accompanied him whither he led me. After waiting many hours
+in a kind of little shed where there were more policemen, I was brought
+before an Englishman. Of course all attempts at explanation were
+useless. I could speak not a word of anything but Arabic and Persian,
+and no one present understood either. At last, when I was in despair,
+trying to muster a few words of Greek I had learned in Istamboul, and
+failing signally therein, an old man with a long beard looked curiously
+in at the door of the crowded court. Some instinct told me to appeal to
+him, and I addressed him in Arabic. To my infinite relief he replied in
+that tongue, and volunteered to be interpreter. In a few moments I
+learned that my crime was that I had _touched_ the sweetmeats on the
+counter.
+
+"In India, as you who have lived here doubtless know, it is a criminal
+offence, punishable by fine or imprisonment, for a non-Hindu person to
+defile the food of even the lowest caste man. To touch one sweetmeat in
+a trayful defiles the whole baking, rendering it all unfit for the use
+of any Hindu, no matter how mean. Knowing nothing of caste and its
+prejudices, it was with the greatest difficulty that the _moolah_, who
+was trying to help me out of my trouble, could make me comprehend
+wherein my wrong-doing lay, and that the English courts, being obliged
+in their own interest to uphold and protect the caste practices of the
+Hindus, at the risk of another mutiny, could not make any exception in
+favour of a stranger unacquainted with Indian customs. So the Englishman
+who presided said he would have to inflict a fine, but being a very
+young man, not yet hardened to the despotic ways of Eastern life, he
+generously paid the fine himself, and gave me a rupee as a present into
+the bargain. It was only two shillings, but as I had not had so much
+money for months I was as grateful as though it had been a hundred. If I
+ever meet him I will requite him, for I owe him all I now possess.
+
+"My case being dismissed, I left the court with the old _moolah_, who
+took me to his house and inquired of my story, having first given me a
+good meal of rice and sweetmeats, and that greatest of luxuries, a
+little pot of fragrant Mocha coffee; he sat in silence while I ate,
+ministering to my wants, and evidently pleased with the good he was
+doing. Then he brought out a package of _birris_, those little
+cigarettes rolled in leaves that they smoke in Bombay, and I told him
+what had happened to me. I implored him to put me in the way of
+obtaining some work by which I could at least support life, and he
+promised to do so, begging me to stay with him until I should be
+independent. The day following I was engaged to pull a punkah in the
+house of an English lawyer connected with an immense lawsuit involving
+one of the Mohammedan principalities. For this irksome work I was to
+receive six rupees--twelve shillings--monthly, but before the month was
+up I was transferred, by the kindness of the English lawyer and the good
+offices of my co-religionist the _moolah_, to the retinue of the Nizam
+of Haiderabad, then in Bombay. Since that time I have never known want.
+
+"I soon mastered enough of the dialects to suit my needs, and applied
+myself to the study of English, for which opportunities were not
+lacking. At the end of two years I could speak the language enough to be
+understood, and my accent from the first was a matter of surprise to
+all; I had also saved out of my gratuities about one hundred rupees.
+Having been conversant with the qualities of many kinds of precious
+stones from my youth up, I determined to invest my economies in a
+diamond or a pearl. Before long I struck a bargain with an old
+_marwarri_ over a small stone, of which I thought he misjudged the
+value, owing to the rough cutting. The fellow was cunning and hard in
+his dealings, but my superior knowledge of diamonds gave me the
+advantage. I paid him ninety-three rupees for the little gem, and sold
+it again in a month for two hundred to a young English 'collector and
+magistrate,' who wanted to make his wife a present. I bought a larger
+stone, and again made nearly a hundred per cent on the money. Then I
+bought two, and so on, until having accumulated sufficient capital, I
+bade farewell to the Court of the Nizam, where my salary never exceeded
+sixteen rupees a month as scribe and Arabic interpreter, and I went my
+way with about two thousand rupees in cash and precious stones. I came
+northwards, and finally settled in Delhi, where I set up as a dealer in
+gems and objects of intrinsic value. It is now twelve years since I
+landed in Bombay. I have never soiled my hands with usury, though I have
+twice advanced large sums at legal interest for purposes I am not at
+liberty to disclose; I have never cheated a customer or underrated a gem
+I bought of a poor man, and my wealth, as you may judge from what you
+have seen, is considerable. Moreover, though in constant intercourse
+with Hindus and English, I have not forfeited my title to be called a
+true believer and a follower of the prophet, whose name be blessed."
+
+Isaacs ceased speaking, and presently the waning moon rose pathetically
+over the crest of the mountains with that curiously doleful look she
+wears after the full is past, as if weeping over the loss of her better
+half. The wind rose and soughed drearily through the rhododendrons and
+the pines; and Kiramat Ali, the pipe-bearer, shivered audibly as he drew
+his long cloth uniform around him. We rose and entered my friend's
+rooms, where the warmth of the lights, the soft rugs and downy cushions,
+invited us temptingly to sit down and continue our conversation. But it
+was late, for Isaacs, like a true Oriental, had not hurried himself over
+his narrative, and it had been nine o'clock when we sat down to smoke.
+So I bade him good-night, and, musing on all I had heard and seen,
+retired to my own apartments, glancing at Sirius and at the
+unhappy-looking moon before I turned in from the verandah.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+In India--in the plains--people rise before dawn, and it is not till
+after some weeks' residence in the cooler atmosphere of the mountains
+that they return to the pernicious habit of allowing the sun to be
+before them. The hours of early morning, when one either mopes about in
+loose flannel clothes, or goes for a gallop on the green _maidán_, are
+without exception the most delicious of the day. I shall have occasion
+hereafter to describe the morning's proceedings in the plains. On the
+day after the events recorded in the last chapter I awoke as usual at
+five o'clock, and meandered out on to the verandah to have a look at the
+hills, so novel and delicious a sight after the endless flats of the
+northwest provinces. It was still nearly dark, but there was a faint
+light in the east, which rapidly grew as I watched it, till, turning the
+angle of the house, I distinguished a snow-peak over the tops of the
+dark rhododendrons, and, while I gazed, the first tinge of distant
+dawning caught the summit, and the beautiful hill blushed, as a fair
+woman, at the kiss of the awakening sun. The old story, the heaven
+wooing the earth with a wondrous shower of gold.
+
+"Prati 'shya sunarî janî"--the exquisite lines of the old Vedic hymn to
+the dawn maiden, rose to my lips. I had never appreciated or felt their
+truth down in the dusty plains, but here, on the free hills, the glad
+welcoming of the morning light seemed to run through every fibre, as
+thousands of years ago the same joyful thrill of returning life inspired
+the pilgrim fathers of the Aryan race. Almost unconsciously, I softly
+intoned the hymn, as I had heard my old Brahmin teacher in Allahabad
+when he came and sat under the porch at daybreak, until I was ready for
+him--
+
+    The lissome heavenly maiden here,
+    Forth flashing from her sister's arms,
+    High heaven's daughter, now is come.
+
+    In rosy garments, shining like
+    A swift bay mare; the twin knights' friend,
+    Mother of all our herds of kine.
+
+    Yea, thou art she, the horseman's friend;
+    Of grazing cattle mother thou,
+    All wealth is thine, thou blushing dawn.
+
+    Thou who hast driven the foeman back,
+    With praise we call on thee to wake
+    In tender reverence, beauteous one.
+
+    The spreading beams of morning light
+    Are countless as our hosts of kine,
+    They fill the atmosphere of space.
+
+    Filling the sky, thou openedst wide
+    The gates of night, thou glorious dawn--
+    Rejoicing-run thy daily race!
+
+    The heaven above thy rays have filled,
+    The broad belovèd room of air,
+    O splendid, brightest maid of morn!
+
+I went indoors again to attend to my correspondence, and presently a
+gorgeously liveried white-bearded _chuprassie_ appeared at the door, and
+bending low as he touched his hand to his forehead, intimated that "if
+the great lord of the earth, the protector of the poor, would turn his
+ear to the humblest of his servants, he would hear of something to his
+advantage."
+
+So saying, he presented a letter from the official with whom I had to
+do, an answer to my note of the previous afternoon, requesting an
+interview. In due course, therefore, the day wore on, and I transacted
+my business, returned to "tiffin," and then went up to my rooms for a
+little quiet. I might have been there an hour, smoking and dreaming over
+a book, when the servant announced a sahib who wanted to see me, and
+Isaacs walked in, redolent of the sunshine without, his luminous eyes
+shining brightly in the darkened room. I was delighted, for I felt my
+wits stagnating in the unwonted idleness of the autumn afternoon, and
+the book I had taken up was not conducive to wakefulness or brilliancy.
+It was a pleasant surprise too. It is not often that an hotel
+acquaintance pushes an intimacy much, and besides I had feared my
+silence during the previous evening might have produced the impression
+of indifference, on which reflection I had resolved to make myself
+agreeable at our next meeting.
+
+Truly, had I asked myself the cause of a certain attraction I felt for
+Mr. Isaacs, it would have been hard to find an answer. I am generally
+extremely shy of persons who begin an acquaintance by making
+confidences, and, in spite of Isaacs' charm of manner, I had certainly
+speculated on his reasons for suddenly telling an entire stranger his
+whole story. My southern birth had not modified the northern character
+born in me, though it gave me the more urbane veneer of the Italian; and
+the early study of Larochefoucauld and his school had not predisposed me
+to an unlimited belief in the disinterestedness of mankind. Still there
+was something about the man which seemed to sweep away unbelief and
+cynicism and petty distrust, as the bright mountain freshet sweeps away
+the wretched little mud puddles and the dust and impurities from the bed
+of a half dry stream. It was a new sensation and a novel era in my
+experience of humanity, and the desire to get behind that noble
+forehead, and see its inmost workings, was strong beyond the strength of
+puny doubts and preconceived prejudice. Therefore, when Isaacs appeared,
+looking like the sun-god for all his quiet dress of gray and his
+unobtrusive manner, I felt the "little thrill of pleasure" so aptly
+compared by Swinburne to the soft touch of a hand stroking the outer
+hair.
+
+"What a glorious day after all that detestable rain!" were his first
+words. "Three mortal months of water, mud, and Mackintoshes, not to
+mention the agreeable sensation of being glued to a wet saddle with your
+feet in water-buckets, and mountain torrents running up and down the
+inside of your sleeves, in defiance of the laws of gravitation; such is
+life in the monsoon. Pah!" And he threw himself down on a cane chair and
+stretched out his dainty feet, so that the sunlight through the crack of
+the half-closed door might fall comfortingly on his toes, and remind him
+that it was fine outside.
+
+"What have you been doing all day?" I asked, for lack of a better
+question, not having yet recovered from the mental stagnation induced by
+the last number of the serial story I had been reading.
+
+"Oh--I don't know. Are you married?" he asked irrelevantly.
+
+"God forbid!" I answered reverently, and with some show of feeling.
+
+"Amen," was the answer. "As for me--I am, and my wives have been
+quarreling."
+
+"Your wives! Did I understand you to use the plural number?"
+
+"Why, yes. I have three; that is the worst of it. If there were only
+two, they might get on better. You know 'two are company and three are
+none,' as your proverb has it." He said this reflectively, as if
+meditating a reduction in the number.
+
+The application of the proverb to such a case was quite new in my
+recollection. As for the plurality of my friend's conjugal relations, I
+remembered he was a Mohammedan, and my surprise vanished. Isaacs was
+lost in meditation. Suddenly he rose to his feet, and took a cigarette
+from the table.
+
+"I wonder"--the match would not light, and he struggled a moment with
+another. Then he blew a great cloud of smoke, and sat down in a
+different chair--"I wonder whether a fourth would act as a fly-wheel,"
+and he looked straight at me, as if asking my opinion.
+
+I had never been in direct relations with a Mussulman of education and
+position. To be asked point-blank whether I thought four wives better
+than three on general principles, and quite independently of the
+contemplated spouse, was a little embarrassing. He seemed perfectly
+capable of marrying another before dinner for the sake of peace, and I
+do not believe he would have considered it by any means a bad move.
+
+"Diamond cut diamond," I said. "You too have proverbs, and one of them
+is that a man is better sitting than standing; better lying than
+sitting; better dead than lying down. Now I should apply that same
+proverb to marriage. A man is, by a similar successive reasoning, better
+with no wife at all than with three."
+
+His subtle mind caught the flaw instantly. "To be without a wife at all
+would be about as conducive to happiness as to be dead. Negative
+happiness, very negative."
+
+"Negative happiness is better than positive discomfort."
+
+"Come, come," he answered, "we are bandying terms and words, as if empty
+breath amounted to anything but inanity. Do you really doubt the value
+of the institution of marriage?"
+
+"No. Marriage is a very good thing when two people are so poor that they
+depend on each other, mutually, for daily bread, or if they are rich
+enough to live apart. For a man in my own position marriage would be the
+height of folly; an act of rashness only second to deliberate suicide.
+Now, you are rich, and if you had but one wife, she living in Delhi and
+you in Simla, you would doubtless be very happy."
+
+"There is something in that," said Isaacs. "She might mope and beat the
+servants, but she could not quarrel if she were alone. Besides, it is so
+much easier to look after one camel than three. I think I must try it."
+
+There was a pause, during which he seemed settling the destiny of the
+two who were to be shelved in favour of a monogamic experiment.
+Presently he asked if I had brought any horses, and hearing I had not,
+offered me a mount, and proposed we should ride round Jako, and perhaps,
+if there were time, take a look at Annandale in the valley, where there
+was polo, and a racing-ground. I gladly accepted, and Isaacs despatched
+one of my servants, the faithful Kiramat Ali, to order the horses.
+Meantime the conversation turned on the expedition to Kabul to avenge
+the death of Cavagnari. I found Isaacs held the same view that I did in
+regard to the whole business. He thought the sending of four Englishmen,
+with a handful of native soldiers of the guide regiment to protect them,
+a piece of unparalleled folly, on a par with the whole English policy in
+regard to Afghanistan.
+
+"You English--pardon me, I forgot you did not belong to them--the
+English, then, have performed most of their great acts of valour as a
+direct consequence of having wantonly exposed themselves in situations
+where no sane man would have placed himself. Look at Balaclava; think of
+the things they did in the mutiny, and in the first Afghan war; look at
+the mutiny itself, the result of a hair-brained idea that a country like
+India could be held for ever with no better defences than the
+trustworthiness of native officers, and the gratitude of the people for
+the 'kindly British rule.' Poor Cavagnari! when he was here last summer,
+before leaving on his mission, he said several times he should never
+came back. And yet no better man could have been chosen, whether for
+politics or fighting; if only they had had the sense to protect him."
+
+Having delivered himself of this eulogy, my friend dropped his exhausted
+cigarette, lit another, and appeared again absorbed in the triangulation
+of his matrimonial problem. I imagined him weighing the question whether
+he should part with Zobeida and Zuleika and keep Anima, or send Zuleika
+and Amina about their business, and keep Zobeida to be a light in his
+household. At last Kiramat Ali, on the watch in the verandah, announced
+the saices with the horses, and we descended.
+
+I had expected that a man of Isaacs' tastes and habits would not be
+stingy about his horseflesh, and so was prepared for the character of
+the animals that awaited us. They were two superb Arab stallions, one of
+them being a rare specimen of the weight-carrying kind, occasionally
+seen in the far East. Small head, small feet, and feather-tailed, but
+broad in the quarters and deep in the chest, able to carry a
+twelve-stone man for hours at the stretching, even gallop, that never
+trembles and never tires; surefooted as a mule, and tender-tempered as a
+baby.
+
+So we mounted the gentle creatures and rode away. The mountain on which
+Simla is situated has a double summit, like a Swiss peak, the one higher
+than the other. On the lower height and the neck between the two is
+built the town, and the bungalows used as offices and residences for the
+Government officials cover a very considerable, area. "Jako," the higher
+eminence, is thickly covered with a forest of primeval rhododendrons and
+pines, and though there are outlying bungalows and villas scattered
+about among the trees near the town, they are so far back from the main
+road, reserved as I have said for the use of the Viceroy, as far as
+driving is concerned, that they are not seen in riding along the shady
+way; and on the opposite side, where the trees are thin, the magnificent
+view looks far out over the spurs of the mountains, the only human
+habitation visible being a Catholic convent, which rears its little
+Italian _campanile_ against the blue sky, and rather adds to the beauty
+of the scene than otherwise. As we rode along we continued our talk
+about the new Afghan war, though neither of us was very much in the
+humour for animated conversation. The sweet scent of the pines, the
+matchless motion of the Arab, and the joyous feeling that the worst part
+of the tropical year was passed, were enough for me, and I drank in the
+high, rarefied air, with the intense delight of a man who has been
+smothered with dust and heat, and then steamed to a jelly by a spring
+and summer in the plains of Hindustan.
+
+The road abounds in sharp turns, and I, as the heavier mount, rode on
+the inside as we went round the mountain. On reaching the open part on
+the farther side, we drew rein for a moment to look down at the deep
+valleys, now dark with the early shade, at the higher peaks red with the
+westering sun, and at the black masses of foliage, through which some
+giant trunk here and there caught a lingering ray of the departing
+light. Then, as we felt the cool of the evening coming on, we wheeled
+and scampered along the level stretch, stirrup to stirrup and knee to
+knee. The sharp corner at the end pulled us up, but before we had quite
+reined in our horses, as delighted as we to have a couple of minutes'
+straight run, we swung past the angle and cannoned into a man ambling
+peaceably along with his reins on one finger and his large gray felt hat
+flapping at the back of his neck. There was a moment's confusion,
+profuse apologies on our part, and some ill-concealed annoyance on the
+part of the victim, who was, however, only a little jostled and taken by
+surprise.
+
+"Really, sir," he began. "Oh! Mr. Isaacs. No harm done, I assure you,
+that is, not much. Bad thing riding fast round corners. No harm, no
+harm, not much. How are you?" all in a breath.
+
+"How d'ye do! Mr. Ghyrkins; my friend Mr. Griggs."
+
+"The real offender," I added in a conciliatory tone, for I had kept my
+place on the inside.
+
+"Mr. Griggs?" said Mr. Currie Ghyrkins. "Mr. Griggs of Allahabad? _Daily
+Howler?_ Yes, yes, corresponded; glad to see you in the flesh."
+
+I did not think he looked particularly glad. He was a Revenue
+Commissioner residing in Mudnugger; a rank Conservative; a regular old
+"John Company" man, with whom I had had more than one tiff in the
+columns of the _Howler,_ leading to considerable correspondence.
+
+"I trust that our collision in the flesh has had no worse results than
+our tilts in print, Mr. Ghyrkins?"
+
+"Not at all. Oh don't mention it. Bad enough, though, but no harm done,
+none whatever," pulling up and looking at me as he pronounced the hist
+two words with a peculiarly English slowness after a very quick
+sentence.
+
+While he was speaking, I was aware of a pair of riders walking their
+horses toward us, and apparently struggling to suppress their amusement
+at the mishap to the old gentleman, which they must have witnessed. In
+truth, Mr. Ghyrkins, who was stout and rode a broad-backed obese "tat,"
+can have presented no very dignified appearance, for he was jerked half
+out of the saddle by the concussion, and his near leg, returning to its
+place, had driven his nether garment half way to his knee, while the
+large felt hat was settling back on to his head at a rakish angle, and
+his coat collar had gone well up the back of his neck.
+
+"Dear uncle," said the lady as she rode up, "I hope you are not hurt?"
+She was very handsome as she sat there trying not to laugh. A lithe
+figure in a gray habit and a broad-brimmed hat, fair as a Swede, but
+with dark eyes and heavy lashes. Just then she was showing her brilliant
+teeth, ostensibly in delight at her dear uncle's escape, and her whole
+expression was animated and amused. Her companion was a soldierly
+looking young Englishman, with a heavy moustache and a large nose. A
+certain devil-may-care look about his face was attractive as he sat
+carelessly watching us. I noticed his long stirrups and the curb rein
+hanging loose, while he held the snaffle, and concluded he was a cavalry
+officer. Isaacs bowed low to the lady and wheeled his horse. She replied
+by a nod, indifferent enough; but as he turned, her eyes instantly went
+back to him, and a pleasant thoughtful look passed over her face, which
+betrayed at least a trifling interest in the stranger, if stranger he
+were.
+
+All this time Mr. Ghyrkins was talking and asking questions of me. When
+had I come? what brought me here? how long would I stay? and so on,
+showing that whether friendly or not he had an interest in my movements.
+In answering his questions I found an opportunity of calling the Queen
+the "Empress," of lauding Lord Beaconsfield's policy in India, and of
+congratulating Mr. Ghyrkins upon the state of his district, with which
+he had nothing to do, of course; but he swallowed the bait, all in a
+breath, as he seemed to do everything. Then he introduced us.
+
+"Katharine, you know Mr. Isaacs; Mr. Griggs, Miss Westonhaugh, Lord
+Steepleton Kildare, Mr. Isaacs."
+
+We bowed and rode back together over the straight piece we passed before
+the encounter. Isaacs and the Englishman walked their horses on each
+side of Miss Westonhaugh, and Ghyrkins and I brought up the rear. I
+tried to turn the conversation to Isaacs, but with little result.
+
+"Yes, yes, good fellow Isaacs, for a fire-worshipper, or whatever he is.
+Good judge of a horse. Lots of rupees too. Queer fish. By-the-bye, Mr.
+Griggs, this new expedition is going to cost us something handsome, eh?"
+
+"Why, yes. I doubt whether you will get off under ten millions sterling.
+And where is it to come from? You will have a nice time making your
+assessments in Bengal, Mr. Ghyrkins, and we shall have an income-tax and
+all sorts of agreeable things."
+
+"Income-tax? Well, I think not. You see, Mr. Griggs, it would hit the
+members of the council, so they won't do it, for their own sakes, and
+the Viceroy too. Ha, ha, how do you think Lord Lytton would like an
+income-tax, eh?" And the old fellow chuckled.
+
+We reached the end of the straight, and Isaacs reined in and bid Miss
+Westonhaugh and her companion good evening. I bowed from where I was,
+and took Mr. Ghyrkins' outstretched hand. He was in a good humour again,
+and called out to us to come and see him, as we rode away. I thought to
+myself I certainly would; and we paced back, crossing the open stretch
+for the third time.
+
+It was almost dark under the trees as we re-entered the woods; I pulled
+out a cheroot and lit it. Isaacs did the same, and we walked our horses
+along in silence. I was thinking of the little picture I had just seen.
+The splendid English girl on her thoroughbred beside the beautiful Arab
+steed and his graceful rider. What a couple, I thought: what noble
+specimens of great races. Why did not this fiery young Persian, with his
+wealth, his beauty, and his talents, wed some such wife as that, some
+high-bred Englishwoman, who should love him and give him home and
+children--and, I was forced to add, commonplace happiness? How often
+does it happen that some train of thought, unacknowledged almost to
+ourselves, runs abruptly into a blind alley; especially when we try to
+plan out the future life of some one else, or to sketch for him what we
+should call happiness. The accidental confronting of two individuals
+pleases the eye, we unite them in our imagination, carrying on the
+picture before us, and suddenly we find ourselves in a quagmire of
+absurd incongruities. Now what could be more laughable than to suppose
+the untamed, and probably untameable young man at my side, with his
+three wives, his notions about the stars and his Mussulman faith, bound
+for life to a girl like Miss Westonhaugh? A wise man of the East trying
+to live the life of an English country gentleman, hunting in pink and
+making speeches on the local hustings! I smiled to myself in the dark
+and puffed at my cigar.
+
+Meanwhile Isaacs was palpably uneasy. First he kicked his feet free of
+the stirrups, and put them back again. Then he hummed a few words of a
+Persian song and let his cigar go out, after which he swore loudly in
+Arabic at the eternal matches that never would light. Finally he put his
+horse into a hand gallop, which could not last on such a road in the
+dark, and at last he broke down completely in his efforts to do
+impossible things, and began talking to me.
+
+"You know Mr. Ghyrkins by correspondence, then?"
+
+"Yes, and by controversy. And you, I see, know Miss Westonhaugh?"
+
+"Yes; what do you think of her?"
+
+"A charming creature of her type. Fair and English, she will be fat at
+thirty-five, and will probably paint at forty, but at present she is
+perfection--of her kind of course," I added, not wishing to engage my
+friend in the defence of his three wives on the score of beauty.
+
+"I see very little of Englishwomen," said Isaacs. "My position is
+peculiar, and though the men, many of whom I know quite intimately,
+often ask me to their houses, I fancy when I meet their women I can
+detect a certain scorn of my nationality, a certain undefinable manner
+toward me, by which I suppose they mean to convey to my obtuse
+comprehension that I am but a step better than a 'native'--a 'nigger' in
+fact, to use the term they love so well. So I simply avoid them, as a
+rule, for my temper is hasty. Of course I understand it well enough;
+they are brought up or trained by their fathers and husbands to regard
+the native Indian as an inferior being, an opinion in which, on the
+whole, I heartily concur. But they go a step farther and include all
+Asiatics in the same category. I do not choose to be confounded with a
+race I consider worn out and effete. As for the men, it is different.
+They know I am rich and influential in many ways that are useful to them
+now, and they hope that the fortunes of war or revolution may give them
+a chance of robbing me hereafter, in which they are mistaken. Now there
+is our stout friend, whom we nearly brought to grief a few minutes ago;
+he is always extremely civil, and never meets me that he does not renew
+his invitation to visit him."
+
+"I should like to see something more of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins myself. I do
+not believe he is half as bad as I thought. Do you ever go there?"
+
+"Sometimes. Yes, on second thoughts I believe I call on Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins pretty often." Then after a pause he added, "I like her."
+
+I pointed out the confusion of genders. Isaacs must have smiled to
+himself in the gloom, but he answered quietly--
+
+"I mean Miss Westonhaugh. I like her--yes, I am quite sure I do. She is
+beautiful and sensible, though if she stays here much longer she will be
+like all the rest. We will go and see them to-morrow. Here we are; just
+in time for dinner. Come and smoke afterwards."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+A loose robe of light material from Kashmir thrown around him, Isaacs
+half sat, half lay, on the soft dark cushions in the corner of his outer
+room. His feet were slipperless, Eastern fashion, and his head covered
+with an embroidered cap of curious make. By the yellow light of the
+hanging lamps he was reading an Arabic book, and his face wore a puzzled
+look that sat strangely on the bold features. As I entered the book fell
+back on the cushion, sinking deep into the down by its weight, and one
+of the heavy gold clasps clanged sharply as it turned. He looked up, but
+did not rise, and greeted me, smiling, with the Arabic salutation--
+
+"Peace be with you!"
+
+"And with you, peace," I answered in the same tongue. He smiled again at
+my unfamiliar pronunciation. I established myself on the divan near him,
+and inquired whether he had arrived at any satisfactory solution of his
+domestic difficulties.
+
+"My father," he said, "upon whom be peace, had but one wife, my mother.
+You know Mussulmans are allowed four lawful wives. Here is the passage
+in the beginning of the fourth chapter, 'If ye fear that ye shall not
+act with equity towards orphans of the female sex, take in marriage of
+such other women as please you, two, or three, or four, and not more.
+But, if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably towards so many, marry one
+only, or the slaves which ye shall have acquired.'
+
+"The first part of this passage," continued Isaacs, "is disputed; I mean
+the words referring to orphans. But the latter portion is plain enough.
+When the apostle warns those who fear they 'cannot act equitably towards
+so many,' I am sure that in his wisdom he meant something more by
+'equitable' treatment than the mere supplying of bodily wants. He meant
+us to so order our households that there should be no jealousies, no
+heart-burnings, no unnecessary troubling of the peace. Now woman is a
+thing of the devil, jealous; and to manage a number of such creatures so
+that they shall be even passably harmonious among themselves is a
+fearful task, soul-wearying, heart-hardening, never-ending, leading to
+no result."
+
+"Just what I told you; a man is better with no wife at all than with
+three. But why do you talk about such matters with me, an unbeliever, a
+Christian, who, in the words of your prophet, 'shall swallow down
+nothing but fire into my belly, and shall broil in raging flames' when I
+die? Surely it is contrary to the custom of your co-religionists; and
+how can you expect an infidel Frank to give you advice?"
+
+"I don't," laconically replied my host.
+
+"Besides, with your views of women in general, their vocation, their
+aims, and their future state, is it at all likely that we should ever
+arrive at even a fair discussion of marriage and marriage laws? With us,
+women have souls, and, what is a great deal more, seem likely to have
+votes. They certainly have the respectful and courteous service of a
+large proportion of the male sex. You call a woman a thing of the devil;
+we call her an angel from heaven; and though some eccentric persons like
+myself refuse to ally themselves for life with any woman, I confess, as
+far as I am concerned, that it is because I cannot contemplate the
+constant society of an angel with the degree of appreciation such a
+privilege justly deserves; and I suspect that most confirmed bachelors,
+knowingly or unconsciously, think as I do. The Buddhists are not
+singular in their theory that permanent happiness should be the object."
+
+"They say," said Isaacs, quickly interrupting, "that the aim of the
+ignorant is pleasure; the pursuit of the wise, happiness. Pray, under
+which category would you class marriage? I suppose it comes under one or
+the other."
+
+"I cannot say I see the force of that. Look at your own case, since you
+have introduced it."
+
+"Never mind my own case. I mean with your ideas of one wife, and
+heavenly woman, and voting, and domestic joy, and all the rest of it.
+Take the ideal creature you rave about--"
+
+"I never rave about anything."
+
+"Take the fascinating female you describe, and for the sake of argument
+imagine yourself very poor or very rich, since you would not enter
+wedlock in your present circumstances. Suppose you married your object
+of 'courteous service and respectful adoration;' which should you say
+you would attain thereby, pleasure or happiness?"
+
+"Pleasure is but the refreshment that cheers us in the pursuit of true
+happiness," I answered, hoping to evade the direct question by a
+sententious phrase.
+
+"I will not let you off so easily. You shall answer my question," he
+said. He looked full at me with a deep searching gaze that seemed hardly
+warranted by the lightness of the argument. I hesitated, and he
+impatiently leaned forward, uncrossing his legs and clasping his hands
+over one knee to bring himself nearer to me.
+
+"Pleasure or happiness?" he repeated, "which is it to be?"
+
+A sudden light flashed over my obscured intellect.
+
+"Both," I answered. "Could you see the ideal woman as I would fain paint
+her to you, you would understand me better. The pleasure you enjoy in
+the society of a noble and beautiful woman should be but the refreshment
+by the wayside as you journey through life together. The day will come
+when she will be beautiful no longer, only noble and good, and true to
+you as to herself; and then, if pleasure has been to you what it should
+be, you will find that in the happiness attained it is no longer
+counted, or needed, or thought of. It will have served its end, as the
+crib holds the ship in her place while she is building; and when your
+white-winged vessel has smoothly glided off into the great ocean of
+happiness, the crib and the stocks and the artificial supports will fall
+to pieces and be forgotten for ever. Yet have they had a purpose, and
+have borne a very important part in the life of your ship."
+
+Having heard me attentively till I had finished, Isaacs relaxed his hold
+on his knee and threw himself back on the cushions, as if to entrench
+himself for a better fight. I had made an impression on him, but he was
+not the man to own it easily. Presumably to gain time, he called for
+hookahs and sherbet, and though the servants moved noiselessly in
+preparing them, their presence was an interruption.
+
+When we were settled again he had taken a nearly upright position on the
+couch, and as he pulled at the long tube his face assumed that stolid
+look of Oriental indifference which is the most discouraging shower-bath
+to the persuasive powers. I had really no interest in converting him to
+my own point of view about women. Honestly, was it my own point of view
+at all? Would anything under heaven induce me, Paul Griggs, rich, or
+poor, or comfortably off, to marry any one--Miss Westonhaugh, for
+instance? Probably not. But then my preference for single blessedness
+did not prevent me from believing that women have souls. That morning
+the question of the marriage of the whole universe had been a matter of
+the utmost indifference, and now I, a confirmed and hopelessly contented
+bachelor, was trying to convince a man with three wives that matrimony
+was a most excellent thing in its way, and that the pleasure of the
+honeymoon was but the faint introduction to the bliss of the silver
+wedding. It certainly must be Isaacs' own doing. He had launched on a
+voyage of discovery and had taken me in tow. I had a strong suspicion
+that he wanted to be convinced, and was playing indifference to soothe
+his conscience.
+
+"Well," said I at last, "have you any fault to find with my reasoning or
+my simile?"
+
+"With your simile--none. It is faultlessly perfect. You have not mixed
+up your metaphors in the least. Crib, stocks, ocean, ship--all correct,
+and very nautical. As for your reasoning, I do not believe there is
+anything in it. I do not believe that pleasure leads to happiness; I do
+not believe that a woman has a soul, and I deny the whole argument from
+beginning to end. There," he added with a smile that belied the
+brusqueness of his words, "that is my position. Talk me out of it if you
+can; the night is long, and my patience as that of the ass."
+
+"I do not think this is a case for rigid application of logic. When the
+feelings are concerned--and where can they be more concerned than in our
+intercourse with women?--the only way to arrive at any conclusion is by
+a sort of trying-on process, imagining ourselves in the position
+indicated, and striving to fancy how it would suit us. Let us begin in
+that way. Suppose yourself unmarried, your three wives and their
+children removed--"
+
+"Allah in his mercy grant it!" ejaculated Isaacs with great fervour.
+
+"--removed from the question altogether. Then imagine yourself thrown
+into daily conversation with some beautiful woman who has read what you
+have read, thought what you have thought, and dreamed the dreams of a
+nobler destiny that have visited you in waking and sleeping hours. A
+woman who, as she learned your strange story, should weep for the pains
+you suffered and rejoice for the difficulties overcome, who should
+understand your half spoken thoughts and proudly sympathise in your
+unuttered aspirations; in whom you might see the twin nature to your
+own, and detect the strong spirit and the brave soul, half revealed
+through the feminine gentleness and modesty that clothe her as with a
+garment. Imagine all this, and then suppose it lay in your power, was a
+question of choice, for you to take her hand in yours and go through
+life and death together, till death seem life for the joy of being
+united for ever. Suppose you married her--not to lock her up in an
+indolent atmosphere of rosewater, narghyles, and sweetmeats, to die of
+inanition or to pester you to death with complaints and jealousies and
+inopportune caresses; but to be with you and help your life when you
+most need help, by word and thought and deed, to grow more and more a
+part of you, an essential element of you in action or repose, to part
+from which would be to destroy at a blow the whole fabric of your
+existence. Would you not say that with such a woman the transitory
+pleasure of early conversation and intercourse had been the
+stepping-stone to the lasting happiness of such a friendship as you
+could never hope for in your old age among your sex? Would not her
+faithful love and abounding sympathy be dearer to you every day, though
+the roses in her cheek should fade and the bright hair whiten with the
+dust of life's journey? Would you not feel that when you died your
+dearest wish must be to join her where there should be no parting--her
+from whom there could be no parting here, short of death itself? Would
+you not believe she had a soul?"
+
+"There is no end of your 'supposing,' but it is quite pretty. I am half
+inclined to 'suppose' too." He took a sip of sherbet from the tall
+crystal goblet the servant had placed on a little three-legged stool
+beside him, and as he drank the cool liquid slowly, looked over the
+glass into my eyes, with a curious, half earnest, half smiling glance; I
+could not tell whether my enthusiastic picture of conjugal bliss amused
+him or attracted him, so I waited for him to speak again.
+
+"Now that you have had your cruise in your ship of happiness on the
+waters of your cerulean imagination, permit me, who am land-born and a
+lover of the chase, to put my steed at a few fences in the difficult
+country of unadorned facts over which I propose to hunt the wily fox,
+matrimony. I have never hunted a fox, but I can quite well imagine what
+it is like.
+
+"In the first place, it is all very well to suppose that it had pleased
+Allah in his goodness to relieve me of my three incumbrances--meanwhile,
+there they are, and they are very real difficulties I assure you.
+Nevertheless are there means provided us by the foresight of the
+apostle, by which we may ease ourselves of domestic burdens when they
+are too heavy for us to bear. It would be quite within the bounds of
+possibility for me to divorce them all three, without making any special
+scandal. But if I did this thing, do you not think that my experience of
+married life has given me the most ineradicable prejudices against women
+as daily companions? Am I not persuaded that they all bicker and chatter
+and nibble sweetmeats alike--absolutely alike? Or if I looked abroad--"
+
+"Stop," I said, "I am not reasoner enough to persuade you that all women
+have souls. Very likely in Persia and India they have not. I only want
+you to believe that there may be women so fortunate as to possess a
+modicum of immortality. Well, pardon my interruption, 'if you looked
+abroad,' as you were saying?--"
+
+"If I looked abroad, I should probably discover little petty traits of
+the same class, if not exactly identical. I know little of Englishmen,
+and might be the more readily deceived. Supposing, if you will, that,
+after freeing myself from all my present ties, in order to start afresh,
+I were to find myself attracted by some English girl here"--there must
+have been something wrong with the mouthpiece of his pipe, for he
+examined it very attentively-- "attracted," he continued, "by some one,
+for instance, by Miss Westonhaugh--" he stopped short.
+
+So my inspiration was right. My little picture, framed as we rode
+homeward, and indignantly scoffed at by my calmer reason, had visited
+his brain too. He had looked on the fair northern woman and fancied
+himself at her side, her lover, her husband. All this conversation and
+argument had been only a set plan to give himself the pleasure of
+contemplating and discussing such a union, without exciting surprise or
+comment. I had been suspecting it for some time, and now his sudden
+interest in his mouthpiece, to conceal a very real embarrassment, put
+the matter beyond all doubt.
+
+He was probably in love, my acquaintance of two days. He saw in me a
+plain person, who could not possibly be a rival, having some knowledge
+of the world, and he was in need of a confidant, like a school-girl. I
+reflected that he was probably a victim for the first time. There is
+very little romance in India, and he had, of course, married for
+convenience and respectability rather than for any real affection. His
+first passion! This man who had been tossed about like a bit of
+driftwood, who had by his own determination and intelligence carved his
+way to wealth and power in the teeth of every difficulty. Just now, in
+his embarrassment, he looked very boyish. His troubles had left no
+wrinkles on his smooth forehead, his bright black hair was untinged by a
+single thread of gray, and as he looked up, after the pause that
+followed when he mentioned the name of the woman he loved, there was a
+very really youthful look of mingled passion and distress in his
+beautiful eyes.
+
+"I think, Mr. Isaacs, that you have used a stronger argument against the
+opinions you profess to hold than I could have found in my whole armoury
+of logic."
+
+As he looked at me, the whole field of possibilities seemed opened. I
+must have been mistaken in thinking this marriage impossible and
+incongruous. What incongruity could there be in Isaacs marrying Miss
+Westonhaugh? My conclusions were false. Why must he necessarily return
+with her to England, and wear a red coat, and make himself ridiculous at
+the borough elections? Why should not this ideal couple choose some
+happy spot, as far from the corrosive influence of Anglo-Saxon prejudice
+as from the wretched sensualism of prosperous life east of the
+Mediterranean? I was carried away by the idea, returning with redoubled
+strength as a sequel to what I had argued and to what I had guessed.
+"Why not?" was the question I repeated to myself over and over again in
+the half minute's pause after Isaacs finished speaking.
+
+"You are right," he said slowly, his half-closed eyes fixed on his feet.
+"Yes, you are right. Why not? Indeed, indeed, why not?"
+
+It must have been pure guess-work, this reading of my thoughts. When he
+was last speaking his manner was all indifference, scorn of my ideas,
+and defiance of every western mode of reasoning. And now, apparently by
+pure intuition, he gave a direct answer to the direct question I had
+mentally asked, and, what is more, his answer came with a quiet,
+far-away tone of conviction that had not a shade of unbelief in it. It
+was delivered as monotonously and naturally as a Christian says "Credo
+in unum Deum," as if it were not worth disputing; or as the devout
+Mussulman says "La Illah illallah," not stooping to consider the
+existence of any one bold enough to deny the dogma. No argument, not
+hours of patient reasoning, or weeks of well directed persuasion, could
+have wrought the change in the man's tone that came over it at the mere
+mention of the woman he loved. I had no share in his conversion. My
+arguments had been the excuse by which he had converted himself. Was he
+converted? was it real?
+
+"Yes--I think I am," he replied in the same mechanical monotonous
+accent.
+
+I shook myself, drank some sherbet, and kicked off one shoe impatiently.
+Was I dreaming? or had I been speaking aloud, really putting the
+questions he answered so quickly and appositively? Pshaw! a coincidence.
+I called the servant and ordered my hookah to be refilled. Isaacs sat
+still, immovable, lost in thought, looking at his toes; an expression,
+almost stupid in its vacancy, was on his face, and the smoke curled
+slowly up in lazy wreaths from his neglected narghyle.
+
+"You are converted then at last?" I said aloud. No answer followed my
+question; I watched him attentively.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs!" still silence, was it possible that he had fallen asleep?
+his eyes were open, but I thought he was very pale. His upright
+position, however, belied any symptoms of unconsciousness.
+
+"Isaacs! Abdul Hafiz! what is the matter!" He did not move. I rose to my
+feet and knelt beside him where he sat rigid, immovable, like a statue.
+Kiramat Ali, who had been watching, clapped his hands wildly and cried,
+"Wah! wah! Sahib margyâ!"--"The lord is dead." I motioned him away with
+a gesture and he held his peace, cowering in the corner, his eyes fixed
+on us. Then I bent low as I knelt and looked under my friend's brows,
+into his eyes. It was clear he did not see me, though he was looking
+straight at his feet. I felt for his pulse. It was very low, almost
+imperceptible, and certainly below forty beats to the minute. I took his
+right arm and tried to put it on my shoulder. It was perfectly rigid.
+There was no doubt about it--the man was in a cataleptic trance. I felt
+for the pulse again; it was lost.
+
+I was no stranger to this curious phenomenon, where the mind is
+perfectly awake, but every bodily faculty is lulled to sleep beyond
+possible excitation, unless the right means be employed. I went out and
+breathed the cool night air, bidding the servants be quiet, as the sahib
+was asleep. When sufficiently refreshed I re-entered the room, cast off
+my slippers, and stood a moment by my friend, who was as rigid as ever.
+
+Nature, in her bountiful wisdom, has compensated me for a singular
+absence of beauty by endowing me with great strength, and with one of
+those exceptional constitutions which seem constantly charged with
+electricity. Without being what is called a mesmerist, I am possessed of
+considerable magnetic power, which I have endeavoured to develop as far
+as possible. In many a long conversation with old Manu Lal, my Brahmin
+instructor in languages and philosophy while in the plains, we had
+discussed the trance state in all its bearings. This old pundit was
+himself a distinguished mesmerist, and though generally unwilling to
+talk about what is termed occultism, on finding in me a man naturally
+endowed with the physical characteristics necessary to those pursuits,
+he had given me several valuable hints as to the application of my
+powers. Here was a worthy opportunity.
+
+I rubbed my feet on the soft carpet, and summoning all my strength,
+began to make the prescribed passes over my friend's head and body. Very
+gradually the look of life returned to his face, the generous blood
+welled up under the clear olive skin, the lips parted, and he sighed
+softly. Animation, as always happens in such cases, began at the precise
+point at which it had been suspended, and his first movement was to
+continue his examination of the mouthpiece in his hand. Then he looked
+up suddenly, and seeing me standing over him, gave a little shake, half
+turning his shoulders forward and back, and speaking once more in his
+natural voice, said--
+
+"I must have been asleep! Have I? What has happened? Why are you
+standing there looking at me in that way?" Then, after a short
+interrogatory silence, his face changed and a look of annoyance shaded
+his features as he added in a low tone, "Oh! I see. It has happened to
+me once before. Sit down. I am all right now." He sipped a little
+sherbet and leaned back in his old position. I begged him to go to bed,
+and prepared to withdraw, but he would not let me, and he seemed so
+anxious that I should stay, that I resumed my place. The whole incident
+had passed in ten minutes.
+
+"Stay with me a little longer," he repeated. "I need your company,
+perhaps your advice. I have had a vision, and you must hear about it."
+
+"I thought as I sat here that my spirit left my body and passed out
+through the night air and hovered over Simla. I could see into every
+bungalow, and was conscious of what passed in each, but there was only
+one where my gaze rested, for I saw upon a couch in a spacious chamber
+the sleeping form of one I knew. The masses of fair hair were heaped as
+they fell upon the pillow, as if she had lain down weary of bearing the
+burden of such wealth of gold. The long dark lashes threw little shadows
+on her cheeks, and the parted lips seemed to smile at the sweetness of
+the gently heaving breath that fanned them as it came and went. And
+while I looked, the breath of her body became condensed, as it were, and
+took shape and form and colour, so that the image of herself floated up
+between her body and my watching spirit. Nearer and nearer to me came
+the exquisite vision of beauty, till we were face to face, my soul and
+hers, high up in the night. And there came from her eyes, as the long
+lids lifted, a look of perfect trust, and of love, and of infinite joy.
+Then she turned her face southward and pointed to my life star burning
+bright among his lesser fellows; and with a long sweet glance that bid
+me follow where she led, her maiden soul floated away, half lingering at
+first, as I watched her; then, with dizzy speed, vanishing in the
+firmament as a falling star, and leaving no trace behind, save an
+infinitely sad regret, and a longing to enter with her into that
+boundless empire of peace. But I could not, for my spirit was called
+back to this body. And I bless Allah that he has given me to see her
+once so, and to know that she has a soul, even as I have, for I have
+looked upon her spirit and I know it."
+
+Isaacs rose slowly to his feet and moved towards the open door. I
+followed him, and for a few moments we stood looking out at the scene
+below us. It was near midnight, and the ever-decreasing moon was
+dragging herself up, as if ashamed of her waning beauty and tearful
+look.
+
+"Griggs," said my friend, dropping the formal prefix for the first time,
+"all this is very strange. I believe I am in love!"
+
+"I have not a doubt of it," I replied. "Peace be with you!"
+
+"And with you peace."
+
+So we parted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+In Simla people make morning calls in the morning instead of after dark,
+as in more civilised countries. Soon after dawn I received a note from
+Isaacs, saying that he had business with the Maharajah of Baithopoor
+about some precious stones, but that he would be ready to go with me to
+call on Mr. Currie Ghyrkins at ten o'clock, or soon after. I had been
+thinking a great deal about the events of the previous evening, and I
+was looking forward to my next meeting with Isaacs with intense
+interest. After what had passed, nothing could be such a test of his
+true feelings as the visit to Miss Westonhaugh, which we proposed to
+make together, and I promised myself to lose no gesture, no word, no
+expression, which might throw light on the question that interested
+me--whether such a union were practical, possible, and wise.
+
+At the appointed time, therefore, I was ready, and we mounted and
+sallied forth into the bright autumn day. All visits are made on
+horseback in Simla, as the distances are often considerable. You ride
+quietly along, and the saice follows you, walking or keeping pace with
+your gentle trot, as the case may be. We rode along the bustling mall,
+crowded with men and women on horseback, with numbers of gorgeously
+arrayed native servants and _chuprassies_ of the Government offices
+hurrying on their respective errands, or dawdling for a chat with some
+shabby-looking acquaintance in private life; we passed by the crowded
+little shops on the hill below the church, and glanced at the
+conglomeration of grain-sellers, jewellers, confectioners, and dealers
+in metal or earthen vessels, every man sitting knee-deep in his wares,
+smoking the eternal "hubble-bubble;" we noted the keen eyes of the
+buyers and the hawk's glance of the sellers, the long snake-like fingers
+eagerly grasping the passing coin, and seemingly convulsed into
+serpentine contortion when they relinquished their clutch on a single
+"pi;" we marked this busy scene, set down, like a Punch and Judy show,
+in the midst of the trackless waste of the Himalayas, as if for the
+delectation and pastime of some merry _genius loci_ weary of the solemn
+silence in his awful mountains, and we chatted carelessly of the sights
+animate and inanimate before us, laughing at the asseverations of the
+salesmen, and at the hardened scepticism of the customer, at the
+portentous dignity of the superb old messenger, white-bearded and clad
+in scarlet and gold, as he bombastically described to the knot of poor
+relations and admirers that elbowed him the splendours of the last
+entertainment at "Peterhof," where Lord Lytton still reigned. I smiled,
+and Isaacs frowned at the ancient and hairy ascetic believer, who
+suddenly rose from his lair in a corner, and bustled through the crowd
+of Hindoos, shouting at the top of his voice the confession of his
+faith--"Beside God there is no God, and Muhammad is his apostle!" The
+universality of the Oriental spirit is something amazing. Customs,
+dress, thought, and language, are wonderfully alike among all Asiatics
+west of Thibet and south of Turkistan. The greatest difference is in
+language, and yet no one unacquainted with the dialects could
+distinguish by the ear between Hindustani, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish.
+
+So we moved along, and presently found ourselves on the road we had
+traversed the previous evening, leading round Jako. On the slope of the
+hill, hidden by a dense growth of rhododendrons, lay the bungalow of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, and a board at the entrance of the ride--drive there
+was none--informed us that the estate bore the high-sounding title of
+"Carisbrooke Castle," in accordance with the Simla custom of calling
+little things by big names.
+
+Having reached the lawn near the house, we left our horses in charge of
+the saice and strolled up the short walk to the verandah. A charming
+picture it was, prepared as if on purpose for our especial delectation.
+The bungalow was a large one for Simla, and the verandah was deep and
+shady; many chairs of all sorts and conditions stood about in natural
+positions, as if they had just been sat in, instead of being ranged in
+stiff rows against the wall, and across one angle hung a capacious
+hammock. Therein, swinging her feet to the ground, and holding on by the
+edge rope, sat the beautiful Miss Westonhaugh, clad in one of those
+close-fitting unadorned costumes of plain dark-blue serge, which only
+suit one woman in ten thousand, though, when they clothe a really
+beautiful young figure, I know of no garment better calculated to
+display grace of form and motion. She was kicking a ball of worsted with
+her dainty toes, for the amusement and instruction of a small tame
+jackal--the only one I ever saw thoroughly domesticated. A charming
+little beast it was, with long gray fur and bright twinkling eyes,
+mischievous and merry as a gnome's. From a broad blue ribbon round its
+neck was suspended a small silver bell that tinkled spasmodically, as
+the lively little thing sprang from side to side in pursuit of the ball,
+alighting with apparent indifference on its head or its heels.
+
+So busy was the girl with her live plaything that she had not seen us
+dismount and approach her, and it was not till our feet sounded on the
+boards of the verandah that she looked up with a little start, and tried
+to rise to her feet. Now any one who has sat sideways in a netted
+hammock, with feet swinging to the ground, and all the weight in the
+middle of the thing, knows how difficult it is to get out with grace, or
+indeed in any way short of rolling out and running for luck. You may
+break all your bones in the feat, and you both look and feel as if you
+were going to. Though we both sprang forward to her assistance, Miss
+Westonhaugh had recognised the inexpediency of moving after the first
+essay, and, with a smile of greeting, and the faintest tinge of
+embarrassment on her fair cheek, abandoned the attempt; the quaint
+little jackal sat up, backing against the side of the house, and, eyeing
+us critically, growled a little.
+
+"I'm so glad to see you, Mr. Isaacs. How do you do, Mr.----"
+
+"Griggs," murmured Isaacs, as he straightened a rope of the hammock by
+her side.
+
+"Mr. Griggs?" she continued. "We met last night, briefly, but to the
+point, or at least you and my uncle did. I am alone; my uncle is gone
+down towards Kalka to meet my brother, who is coming up for a fortnight
+at the end of the season to get rid of the Bombay mould. Bring up some
+of those chairs and sit down. I cannot tell what has become of the
+'bearer' and the 'boy,' and the rest of the servants, and I could not
+make them understand me if they were here. So you must wait on
+yourselves."
+
+I was the first to lay hands on a chair, and as I turned to bring it I
+noticed she was following Isaacs with the same expression I had seen on
+her face the previous evening; but I could see it better now. A pleasant
+friendly look, not tender so much as kind, while the slightest possible
+contraction of the eyes showed a feeling of curiosity. She was evidently
+going to speak to him as soon as he turned his face.
+
+"You see I have been giving him lessons," she said, as he brought back
+the seat he had chosen.
+
+Isaacs looked at the queer small beast sitting up against the boards
+under the window, his brush tail curled round him, and his head turned
+inquiringly on one side.
+
+"He seems to be learning manners, at all events," said my friend.
+
+"Yes; I think I may say now, with safety, that his bark is worse than
+his bite."
+
+"I am sure you could not have said so the last time I came. Do you
+remember what fearful havoc he made among my nether garments? And yet he
+is my god-child, so to speak, for I gave him into your care, and named
+him into the bargain."
+
+"Don't suppose I am ungrateful for the gift," answered Miss Westonhaugh.
+"Snap! Snap! here! come here, darling, to your mistress, and be petted!"
+In spite of this eloquent appeal Snap, the baby jackal, only growled
+pleasantly and whisked his brush right and left. "You see," she went on,
+"your sponsorship has had no very good results. He will not obey any
+more than you yourself." Her glance, turning towards Isaacs, did not
+reach him, and, in fact, she could not have seen anything beyond the
+side of his chair. Isaacs, on the contrary, seemed to be counting her
+eyelashes, and taking a mental photograph of her brows.
+
+"Snap!" said he. The jackal instantly rose and trotted to him, fawning
+on his outstretched hand.
+
+"You malign me, Miss Westonhaugh. Snap is no less obedient than I."
+
+"Then why did you insist on playing tennis left-handed the other day,
+though you know very well how it puzzles me?"
+
+"My dear Miss Westonhaugh," he answered, "I am not a tennis-player at
+all, to begin with, and as I do not understand the _finesse_ of the
+game, to use a word I do not understand either, you must pardon my
+clumsiness in employing the hand most convenient and ready."
+
+"Some people," I began, "are what is called ambidexter, and can use
+either hand with equal ease. Now the ancient Persians, who invented the
+game of polo----"
+
+"I do not quarrel so much with you, Mr. Isaacs--" as she said this, she
+looked at me, though entirely disregarding and interrupting my
+instructive sentence--"I don't quarrel with you so much for using your
+left hand at tennis as for employing left-handed weapons when you speak
+of other things, or beings, for you are never so left-handed and so
+adroit as when you are indulging in some elaborate abuse of our sex."
+
+"How can you say that?" protested Isaacs. "You know with what respectful
+and almost devotional reverence I look upon all women, and," his eyes
+brightening perceptibly, "upon you in particular."
+
+English women, especially in their youth, are not used to pretty
+speeches. They are so much accustomed to the men of their own
+nationality that they regard the least approach to a compliment as the
+inevitable introduction to the worst kind of insult. Miss Westonhaugh
+was no exception to this rule, and she drew herself up proudly.
+
+There was a moment's pause, during which Isaacs seemed penitent, and she
+appeared to be revolving the bearings of the affront conveyed in his
+last words. She looked along the floor, slowly, till she might have seen
+his toes; then her eyes opened a moment and met his, falling again
+instantly with a change of colour.
+
+"And pray, Mr. Isaacs, would you mind giving us a list of the ladies you
+look upon with 'respectful and devotional reverence?'" One of the horses
+held by the saice at the corner of the lawn neighed lowly, and gave
+Isaacs an opportunity of looking away.
+
+"Miss Westonhaugh," he said quietly, "you know I am a Mussulman, and
+that I am married. It may be that I have borrowed a phrase from your
+language which expresses more than I would convey, though it would ill
+become me to withdraw my last words, since they are true."
+
+It was my turn to be curious now. I wondered where his boldness would
+carry him. Among his other accomplishments, this man was capable of
+speaking the truth even to a woman, not as a luxury and a _bonne
+bouche_, but as a matter of habit. As I looked, the hot blood mantled up
+to his brows. She was watching him, and womanlike, seeing he was in
+earnest and embarrassed, she regained her perfect natural composure.
+
+"Oh, I had forgotten!" she said. "I forgot about your wife in Delhi."
+She half turned in the hammock, and after some searching, during which
+we were silent, succeeded in finding a truant piece of worsted work
+behind her. The wool was pulled out of the needle, and she held the
+steel instrument up against the light, as she doubled the worsted round
+the eye and pushed it back through the little slit. I observed that
+Isaacs was apparently in a line with the light, and that the threading
+took some time.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," she said slowly, and by the very slowness of the address I
+knew she was going to talk to me, and at my friend, as women will; "Mr.
+Griggs, do you know anything about Mohammedans?"
+
+"That is a very broad question," I answered; "almost as broad as the
+Mussulman creed." She began making stitches in the work she held, and
+with a little side shake settled herself to listen, anticipating a
+discourse. The little jackal sidled up and fawned on her feet. I had no
+intention, however, of delivering a lecture on the faith of the prophet.
+I saw my friend was embarrassed in the conversation, and I resolved, if
+possible, to interest her.
+
+"Among primitive people and very young persons," I continued, "marriage
+is an article of faith, a moral precept, and a social law."
+
+"I suppose you are married, Mr. Griggs," she said, with an air of
+childlike simplicity.
+
+"Pardon me, Miss Westonhaugh, I neither condescend to call myself
+primitive, nor aspire to call myself young."
+
+She laughed. I had put a wedge into my end of the conversation.
+
+"I thought," said she, "from the way in which you spoke of 'primitive
+and young persons' that you considered their opinion in regard to--to
+this question, as being the natural and proper opinion of the original
+and civilised young man."
+
+"I repeat that I do not claim to be very civilised, or very
+young--certainly not to be very original, and my renunciation of all
+these qualifications is my excuse for the confirmed bachelorhood to
+which I adhere. Many Mohammedans are young and original; some of them
+are civilised, as you see, and all of them are married. 'There is no
+God but God, Muhammad is his prophet, and if you refuse to marry you are
+not respectable,' is their full creed."
+
+Isaacs frowned at my profanity, but I continued--"I do not mean to say
+anything disrespectful to a creed so noble and social. I think you have
+small chance of converting Mr. Isaacs."
+
+"I would not attempt it," she said, laying down her work in her lap, and
+looking at me for a moment. "But since you speak of creeds, to what
+confession do you yourself belong, if I may ask?"
+
+"I am a Roman Catholic," I answered; adding presently--"Really, though,
+I do not see how my belief in the papal infallibility affects my opinion
+of Mohammedan marriages."
+
+"And what _do_ you think of them?" she inquired, resuming her work and
+applying herself thereto with great attention.
+
+"I think that, though justified in principle by the ordinary
+circumstances of Eastern life, there are cases in which the system acts
+very badly. I think that young men are often led by sheer force of
+example into marrying several wives before they have sufficiently
+reflected on the importance of what they are doing. I think that both
+marriage and divorce are too easily managed in consideration of their
+importance to a man's life, and I am convinced that no civilised man of
+Western education, if he were to adopt Islam, would take advantage of
+his change of faith to marry four wives. It is a case of theory _versus_
+practice, which I will not attempt to explain. It may often be good in
+logic, but it seems to me it is very often bad in real life."
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs; "there are cases----" He stopped, and Miss
+Westonhaugh, who had been very busy over her work, looked quietly up,
+only to find that he was profoundly interested in the horses cropping
+the short grass, as far as the saice would let them stretch their necks,
+on the other side of the lawn.
+
+"I confess," said Miss Westonhaugh, "that my ideas about Mohammedans are
+chiefly the result of reading the Arabian Nights, ever so long ago. It
+seems to me that they treat women as if they had no souls and no minds,
+and were incapable of doing anything rational if left to themselves. It
+is a man's religion. My uncle says so too, and he ought to know."
+
+The conversation was meandering in a kind of vicious circle. Both Isaacs
+and I were far too deeply interested in the question to care for such
+idle discussion. How could this beautiful but not very intellectual
+English girl, with her prejudices and her clumsiness at repartee or
+argument, ever comprehend or handle delicately so difficult a subject? I
+was disappointed in her. Perhaps this was natural enough, considering
+that with two such men as we she must be entirely out of her element.
+She was of the type of brilliant, healthy, northern girls, who depend
+more on their animal spirits and enjoyment of living for their happiness
+than upon any natural or acquired mental powers. With a horse, or a
+tennis court, or even a ball to amuse her, she would appear at her very
+best; would be at ease and do the right thing. But when called upon to
+sustain a conversation, such as that into which her curiosity about
+Isaacs had plunged her, she did not know what to do. She was
+constrained, and even some of her native grace of manner forsook her.
+Why did she avoid his eyes and resort to such a petty little trick as
+threading a needle in order to get a look at him? An American girl, or a
+French woman, would have seen that her strength lay in perfect
+frankness; that Isaacs' straightforward nature would make him tell her
+unhesitatingly anything she wanted to know about himself, and that her
+position was strong enough for her to look him in the face and ask him
+what she pleased. But she allowed herself to be embarrassed, and though
+she had been really glad to see him, and liked him and thought him
+handsome, she was beginning to wish he would go, merely because she did
+not know what to talk about, and would not give him a chance to choose
+his own subject. As neither of us were inclined to carry the analysis of
+matrimony any farther, nor to dispute the opinions of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins as quoted by his niece, there was a pause. I struck in and
+boldly changed the subject.
+
+"Are you going to see the polo this afternoon, Miss Westonhaugh? I heard
+at the hotel that there was to be a match to-day of some interest."
+
+"Oh yes, of course. I would not miss it for anything. Lord Steepleton is
+coming to tiffin, and we shall ride down together to Annandale. Of
+course you are going too; it will be a splendid thing. Do you play polo,
+Mr. Griggs? Mr. Isaacs is a great player, when he can be induced to take
+the trouble. He knows more about it than he does about tennis."
+
+"I am very fond of the game," I answered, "but I have no horses here,
+and with my weight it is not easy to get a mount for such rough work."
+
+"Do not disturb yourself on that score," said Isaacs; "you know my
+stable is always at your disposal, and I have a couple of ponies that
+would carry you well enough. Let us have a game one of those days,
+whenever we can get the ground. We will play on opposite sides and match
+the far west against the far east."
+
+"What fun!" cried Miss Westonhaugh, her face brightening at the idea,
+"and I will hold the stakes and bestow the crown on the victor."
+
+"What is to be the prize?" asked Isaacs, with a smile of pleasure. He
+was very literal and boyish sometimes.
+
+"That depends on which is the winner," she answered.
+
+There was a noise among the trees of horses' hoofs on the hard path, and
+presently we heard a voice calling loudly for a saice who seemed to be
+lagging far behind. It was a clear strong voice, and the speaker abused
+the groom's female relations to the fourth and fifth generations with
+considerable command of the Hindustani language. Miss Westonhaugh, who
+had not been in the country long, did not understand a word of the very
+free swearing that was going on in the woods, but Isaacs looked annoyed,
+and I registered a black mark against the name of the new-comer, whoever
+he might be.
+
+"Oh! it is Lord Steepleton," said the young girl. "He seems to be always
+having a row with his servants. Don't go," she went on as I took up my
+hat; "he is such a good fellow, you ought to know him."
+
+Lord Steepleton Kildare now appeared at the corner of the lawn, hotly
+pursued by his breathless groom, who had been loitering on the way, and
+had thus roused his master's indignation. He was, as I have said, a fine
+specimen of a young Englishman, though being Irish by descent he would
+have indignantly denied any such nationality. I saw when he had
+dismounted that he was tall and straight, though not a very heavily
+built man. He carried his head high, and looked every inch a soldier as
+he strode across the grass, carefully avoiding the pegs of the tennis
+net. He wore a large gray felt hat, like every one else, and he shook
+hands all round before he took it off, and settled himself in an easy
+chair as near as he could get to Miss Westonhaugh's hammock.
+
+"How are ye? Ah--yes, Mr. Isaacs, Mr. Griggs of Allahabad. Jolly day,
+isn't it?" and he looked vaguely at the grass. "Really, Miss
+Westonhaugh, I got in such a rage with my rascal of a saice that I did
+not remember I was so near the house. I am really very sorry I talked
+like that. I hope you did not think I was murdering him?"
+
+Isaacs looked annoyed.
+
+"Yes," said he, "we thought Mahmoud was going to have a bad time of it.
+I believe Miss Westonhaugh does not understand Hindustani."
+
+A look of genuine distress came into the Englishman's face.
+
+"Really," said he, very simply. "You don't know how sorry I am that any
+one should have heard me. I am so hasty. But let me apologise to you all
+most sincerely for disturbing you with my brutal temper."
+
+His misdeed had not been a very serious crime after all, and there was
+something so frank and honest about his awkward little apology that I
+was charmed. The man was a gentleman. Isaacs bowed in silence, and Miss
+Westonhaugh had evidently never thought much about it.
+
+"We were talking about polo when you came, Lord Steepleton; Mr. Isaacs
+and Mr. Griggs are going to play a match, and I am to hold the stakes.
+Do you not want to make one in the game?"
+
+"May I?" said the young man, grateful to her for having helped him out.
+"May I? I should like it awfully. I so rarely get a chance of playing
+with any except the regular set here." And he looked inquiringly at us.
+
+"We should be delighted, of course," said Isaacs. "By the way, can you
+help us to make up the number? And when shall it be?" He seemed suddenly
+very much interested in this projected contest.
+
+"Oh yes," said Kildare, "I will manage to fill up the game, and we can
+play next Monday. I know the ground is free then."
+
+"Very good; on Monday. We are at Laurie's on the hill."
+
+"I am staying with Jack Tygerbeigh, near Peterhof. Come and see us. I
+will let you know before Monday. Oh, Mr. Griggs, I saw such a nice thing
+about me in the _Howler_ the other day--so many thanks. No, really,
+greatly obliged, you know; people say horrid things about me sometimes.
+Good-bye, good-bye, delighted to have seen you."
+
+"Good morning, Miss Westonhaugh."
+
+"Good morning; so good of you to take pity on my solitude." She smiled
+kindly at Isaacs and civilly at me. And we went our way. As we looked
+back after mounting to lift our hats once more, I saw that Miss
+Westonhaugh had succeeded in getting out of the hammock and was tying on
+a pith hat, while Lord Steepleton had armed himself with balls and
+rackets from a box on the verandah. As we bowed they came down the
+steps, looking the very incarnation of animal life and spirits in the
+anticipation of the game they loved best. The bright autumn sun threw
+their figures into bold relief against the dark shadow of the verandah,
+and I thought to myself they made a very pretty picture. I seemed to be
+always seeing pictures, and my imagination was roused in a new
+direction.
+
+We rode away under the trees. My impression of the whole visit was
+unsatisfactory. I had thought Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would be there, and
+that I would be able to engage him in a political discussion. We could
+have talked income-tax, and cotton duties, and Kabul by the hour, and
+Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs would have had a pleasant _tête-à-tête._
+Instead of this I had been decidedly the unlucky third who destroys the
+balance of so much pleasure in life, for I felt that Isaacs was not a
+man to be embarrassed if left alone with a woman, or to embarrass her.
+He was too full of tact, and his sensibilities were so fine that, with
+his easy command of language, he must be agreeable _quand même_; and
+such an opportunity would have given him an easy lead away from the
+athletic Kildare, whom I suspected strongly of being a rival for Miss
+Westonhaugh's favour. There is an easy air of familiar proprietorship
+about an Englishman in love that is not to be mistaken. It is a subtle
+thing, and expresses itself neither in word nor deed in its earlier
+stages of development; but it is there all the same, and the combination
+of this possessive mood, with a certain shyness which often goes with
+it, is amusing.
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs, "have you ever seen the Rajah of Baithopoor?"
+
+"No; you had some business with him this morning, had you not?"
+
+"Yes--some--business--if you call it so. If you would like to see him I
+can take you there, and I think you would be interested in the--the
+business. It is not often such gems are bought and sold in such a way,
+and besides, he is very amusing. He is at least two thousand years old,
+and will go to Saturn when he dies. His fingers are long and crooked,
+and that which he putteth into his pockets, verily he shall not take it
+out."
+
+"A pleasing picture; a good contrast to the one we have left behind us.
+I like contrasts, and I should like to see him."
+
+"You shall." And we lit our cheroots.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+"We will go there at four," said Isaacs, coming into my rooms after
+tiffin, a meal of which I found he rarely partook. "I said three, this
+morning, but it is not a bad plan to keep natives waiting. It makes them
+impatient, and then they commit themselves."
+
+"You are Machiavellian. It is pretty clear which of you is asking the
+favour."
+
+"Yes, it is pretty clear." He sat down and took up the last number of
+the _Howler_ which lay on the table. Presently he looked up. "Griggs,
+why do you not come to Delhi? We might start a newspaper there, you
+know, in the Conservative interest."
+
+"In the interest of Mr. Algernon Currie Ghyrkins?" I inquired.
+
+"Precisely. You anticipate my thoughts with a true sympathy. I suppose
+you have no conscience?"
+
+"Political conscience? No, certainly not, out of my own country, which
+is the only one where that sort of thing commands a high salary. No, I
+have no conscience."
+
+"You would really write as willingly for the Conservatives as you do for
+the Liberals?"
+
+"Oh yes. I could not write so well on the Conservative side just now,
+because they are 'in,' and it is more blessed to abuse than to be
+abused, and ever so much easier. But as far as any prejudice on the
+subject is concerned, I have none. I had as lief defend a party that
+robs India 'for her own good,' as support those who would rob her with a
+more cynical frankness and unblushingly transfer the proceeds to their
+own pockets. I do not care a rush whether they rob Peter to pay Paul, or
+fraudulently deprive Paul of his goods for the benefit of Peter."
+
+"That is the way to look at it. I could tell you some very pretty
+stories about that kind of thing. As for the journalistic enterprise, it
+is only a possible card to be played if the old gentleman is obdurate."
+
+"Isaacs," said I, "I have only known you three days, but you have taken
+me into your confidence to some extent; probably because I am not
+English. I may be of use to you, and I am sure I sincerely hope so.
+Meanwhile I want to ask you a question, if you will allow me to." I
+paused for an answer. We were standing by the open door, and Isaacs
+leaned back against the door-post, his eyes fixed on me, half closed, as
+he threw his head back. He looked at me somewhat curiously, and I
+thought a smile flickered round his mouth, as if he anticipated what the
+question would be.
+
+"Certainly," he said slowly. "Ask me anything you like. I have nothing
+to conceal."
+
+"Do you seriously think of marrying, or proposing to marry, Miss
+Katharine Westonhaugh?"
+
+"I do seriously think of proposing to marry, and of marrying, Miss
+Westonhaugh." He looked very determined as he thus categorically
+affirmed his intention. I knew he meant it, and I knew enough of
+Oriental character to understand that a man like Abdul Hafizben-Isâk, of
+strong passions, infinite wit, and immense wealth, was not likely to
+fail in anything he undertook to do. When Asiatic indifference gives way
+under the strong pressure of some master passion, there is no length to
+which the hot and impetuous temper beneath may not carry the man. Isaacs
+had evidently made up his mind. I did not think he could know much about
+the usual methods of wooing English girls, but as I glanced at his
+graceful figure, his matchless eyes, and noted for the hundredth time
+the commanding, high-bred air that was the breath of his character, I
+felt that his rival would have but a poor chance of success. He guessed
+my thoughts.
+
+"What do you think of me?" he asked, smiling. "Will you back me for a
+place? I have advantages, you must allow--and worldly advantages too.
+They are not rich people at all."
+
+"My dear Isaacs, I will back you to win. But as far as 'worldly
+advantages' are concerned, do not trust to wealth for a moment. Do not
+flatter yourself that there will be any kind of a bargain, as if you
+were marrying a Persian girl. There is nothing venal in that young
+lady's veins, I am sure."
+
+"Allah forbid! But there is something very venal in the veins of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins. I propose to carry the outworks one by one. He is her
+uncle, her guardian, her only relation, save her brother. I do not think
+either of those men would be sorry to see her married to a man of
+stainless name and considerable fortune."
+
+"You forget your three incumbrances, as you called them last night."
+
+"No--I do not forget them. It is allowed me by my religion to marry a
+fourth, and I need not tell you that she would be thenceforth my only
+wife."
+
+"But would her guardian and brother ever think of allowing her to take
+such a position?"
+
+"Why not? You know very well that the English in general hardly consider
+our marriages to be marriages at all--knowing the looseness of the bond.
+That is the prevailing impression."
+
+"Yes, I know. But then they would consider your marriage with Miss
+Westonhaugh in the same light, which would not make matters any easier,
+as far as I can see."
+
+"Pardon me. I should marry Miss Westonhaugh by the English marriage
+service and under English law. I should be as much bound to her, and to
+her alone, as if I were an Englishman myself."
+
+"Well, you have evidently thought it out and taken legal advice; and
+really, as far as the technical part of it goes, I suppose you have as
+good a chance as Lord Steepleton Kildare."
+
+Isaacs frowned, and his eyes flashed. I saw at once that he considered
+the Irish officer a rival, and a dangerous one. I did not think that if
+Isaacs had fair play and the same opportunities Kildare had much chance.
+Besides there was a difficulty in the way.
+
+"As far as religion is concerned, Lord Steepleton is not much better off
+than you, if he wants to marry Miss Westonhaugh. The Kildares have been
+Roman Catholics since the memory of man, and they are very proud of it.
+Theoretically, it is as hard for a Roman Catholic man to marry a
+Protestant woman, as for a Mussulman to wed a Christian of any
+denomination. Harder, in fact, for your marriage depends upon the
+consent of the lady, and his upon the consent of the Church. He has all
+sorts of difficulties to surmount, while you have only to get your
+personality accepted--which, when I look at you, I think might be done,"
+I added, laughing.
+
+"_Jo hoga, so hoga_--what will be, will be," he said; "but religion or
+no religion, I mean to do it." Then he lighted a cigarette and said,
+"Come, it is time to go and see his Saturnine majesty, the Maharajah of
+Baithopoor."
+
+I called for my hat and gloves.
+
+"By-the-bye, Griggs, you may as well put on a black coat. You know the
+old fellow is a king, after all, and you had better produce a favourable
+impression." I retired to comply with his request, and as I came back he
+turned quickly and came towards me, holding out both hands, with a very
+earnest look in his face.
+
+"Griggs, I care for that lady more than I can tell you," he said, taking
+my hands in his.
+
+"My dear fellow, I am sure you do. People do not go suddenly into
+trances at a name that is indifferent to them. I am sure you love her
+very honestly and dearly."
+
+"You and she have come into my life almost together, for it was not
+until I talked with you last night that I made up my mind. Will you help
+me? I have not a friend in the world." The simple, boyish look was in
+his eyes, and he stood holding my hands and waiting for my answer. I was
+so fascinated that I would have then and there gone through fire and
+water for him, as I would now.
+
+"Yes. I will help you. I will be a friend to you."
+
+"Thank you. I believe you." He dropped my hands, and we turned and went
+out, silent.
+
+In all my wanderings I had never promised any man my friendship and
+unconditional support before. There was something about Isaacs that
+overcame and utterly swept away preconceived ideas, rules, and
+prejudices. It was but the third day of our acquaintance, and here was I
+swearing eternal friendship like a school-girl; promising to help a man,
+of whose very existence I knew nothing three days ago, to marry a woman
+whom I had seen for the first time yesterday. But I resolved that,
+having pledged myself, I would do my part with my might, whatever that
+part might be. Meanwhile we rode along, and Isaacs began to talk about
+the visit we were going to make.
+
+"I think," he said, "that you had better know something about this
+matter beforehand. The way is long, and we cannot ride fast over the
+steep roads, so there is plenty of time. Do not imagine that I have idly
+asked you to go with me because I supposed it would amuse you. Dismiss
+also from your mind the impression that it is a question of buying and
+selling jewels. It is a very serious matter, and if you would prefer to
+have nothing to do with it, do not hesitate to say so. I promised the
+maharajah this morning that I would bring, this afternoon, a reliable
+person of experience, who could give advice, and who might be induced to
+give his assistance as well as his counsel. I have not known you long,
+but I know you by reputation, and I decided to bring you, if you would
+come. From the very nature of the case I can tell you nothing more,
+unless you consent to go with me."
+
+"I will go," I said.
+
+"In that case I will try and explain the situation in as few words as
+possible. The maharajah is in a tight place. You will readily understand
+that the present difficulties in Kabul cause him endless anxiety,
+considering the position of his dominions. The unexpected turn of
+events, following now so rapidly on each other since the English
+wantonly sacrificed Cavagnari and his friends to a vainglorious love of
+bravado, has shaken the confidence of the native princes in the
+stability of English rule. They are frightened out of their senses,
+having the fear of the tribes before them if the English should be
+worsted; and they dread, on the other hand, lest the English, finding
+themselves in great straits, should levy heavy contributions on
+them--the native princes--for the consolidation of what they term the
+'Empire.' They have not much sense, these poor old kings and boy
+princes, or they would see that the English do not dare to try any of
+those old-fashioned Clive tactics now. But old Baithopoor has heard all
+about the King of Oude, and thinks he may share the same fate."
+
+"I think he may make his mind easy on that score. The kingdom of
+Baithopoor is too inconveniently situated and too full of mosquitoes to
+attract the English. Besides, there are more roses than rubies there
+just now."
+
+"True, and that question interests me closely, for the old man owes me a
+great deal of money. It was I who pulled him through the last famine."
+
+"Not a very profitable investment, I should think. Shall you ever see a
+rupee of that money again?"
+
+"Yes; he will pay me; though I did not think so a week ago, or indeed
+yesterday. I lent him the means of feeding his people and saving many of
+them from actual death by starvation, because there are so many
+Mussulmans among them, though the maharajah is a Hindoo. As for him, he
+might starve to-morrow, the infidel hound; I would not give him a
+_chowpatti_ or a mouthful of _dal_ to keep his wretched old body alive."
+
+"Do I understand that this interview relates to the repayment of the
+moneys you have advanced?"
+
+"Yes; though that is not the most interesting part of it. He wanted to
+pay me in flesh--human flesh, and he offered to make me a king into the
+bargain, if I would forgive him the debt. The latter part of the
+proposal was purely visionary. The promise to pay in so much humanity he
+is able to perform. I have not made up my mind."
+
+I looked at Isaacs in utter astonishment. What in the world could he
+mean? Had the maharajah offered him some more wives--creatures of
+peerless beauty and immense value? No; I knew he would not hesitate now
+to refuse such a proposition.
+
+"Will you please to explain what you mean by his paying you in man?" I
+asked.
+
+"In two words. The Maharajah of Baithopoor has in his possession a man.
+Safely stowed away under a triple watch and carefully tended, this man
+awaits his fate as the maharajah may decide. The English Government
+would pay an enormous sum for this man, but Baithopoor fears that they
+would ask awkward questions, and perhaps not believe the answers he
+would give them. So, as he owes me a good deal, he thinks I might be
+induced to take his prisoner and realise him, so to speak; thus
+cancelling the debt, and saving him from the alternative of putting the
+man to death privately, or of going through dangerous negotiations with
+the Government. Now this thing is perfectly feasible, and it depends
+upon me to say 'yes' or 'no' to the proposition. Do you see now? It is a
+serious matter enough."
+
+"But the man--who is he? Why do the English want him so much?"
+
+Isaacs pressed his horse close to mine, and looking round to see that
+the saice was a long way behind, he put his hand on my shoulder, and,
+leaning out of the saddle till his mouth almost touched my ear, he
+whispered quickly--
+
+"Shere Ali."
+
+"The devil, you say!" I ejaculated, surprised out of grammar and decorum
+by the startling news. Persons who were in India in 1879 will not have
+forgotten the endless speculation caused by the disappearance of the
+Emir of Afghanistan, Shere Ali, in the spring of that year. Defeated by
+the English at Ali Musjid and Peiwar, and believing his cause lost, he
+fled, no one knew whither; though there is reason to think that he might
+have returned to power and popularity among the Afghan tribes if he had
+presented himself after the murder of Cavagnari.
+
+"Yes," continued Isaacs, "he has been a prisoner in the palace of
+Baithopoor for six weeks, and not a soul save the maharajah and you and
+I know it. He came to Baithopoor, humbly disguised as a Yogi from the
+hills, though he is a Mussulman, and having obtained a private hearing,
+disclosed his real name, proposing to the sovereign a joint movement on
+Kabul, then just pacified by the British, and promising all manner of
+things for the assistance. Old Baitho, who is no fool, clapped him into
+prison under a guard of Punjabi soldiers who could not speak a word of
+Afghan, and after due consideration packed up his traps and betook
+himself to Simla by short stages, for the journey is not an easy one for
+a man of his years. He arrived the day before yesterday, and has
+ostensibly come to congratulate the Viceroy on the success of the
+British arms. He has had to modify the enthusiasm of his proposed
+address, in consequence of the bad news from Kabul. Of course, his first
+move was to send for me, and I had a long interview this morning, in
+which he explained everything. I told him that I would not move in the
+matter without a third person--necessary as a witness when dealing with
+such people--and I have brought you."
+
+"But what was his proposal to invest you with a crown? Did he think you
+were a likely person for a new Emir of Kabul?"
+
+"Exactly. My faith, and above all, my wealth, suggested to him that I,
+as a born Persian, might be the very man for the vacant throne. No
+doubt, the English would be delighted to have me there. But the whole
+thing is visionary and ridiculous. I think I shall accept the other
+proposition, and take the prisoner. It is a good bargain."
+
+I was silent. The intimate way in which I had seen Isaacs hitherto had
+made me forget his immense wealth and his power. I had not realised that
+he could be so closely connected with intrigues of such importance as
+this, or that independant native princes were likely to look upon him as
+a possible Emir of Afghanistan. I had nothing to say, and I determined
+to keep to the part I was brought to perform, which was that of a
+witness, and nothing more. If my advice were asked, I would speak boldly
+for Shere Ali's liberation and protest against the poor man being bought
+and sold in this way. This train of thought reminded me of Isaacs' words
+when we left Miss Westonhaugh that morning. "It is not often," he had
+said, "that you see such jewels bought and sold." No, indeed!
+
+"You see," said Isaacs, as we neared our destination, "Baithopoor is in
+my power, body and soul, for a word from me would expose him to the
+British Government as 'harbouring traitors,' as they would express it.
+On the other hand, the fact that you, the third party, are a journalist,
+and could at a moment's notice give publicity to the whole thing, will
+be an additional safeguard. I have him as in a vice. And now put on your
+most formal manners and look as if you were impenetrable as the rock and
+unbending as cast iron, for we have reached his bungalow."
+
+I could not but admire the perfect calm and caution with which he was
+conducting an affair involving millions of money, a possible indictment
+for high treason, and the key-note of the Afghan question, while I knew
+that his whole soul was absorbed in the contemplation of a beautiful
+picture ever before him, sleeping or waking. Whatever I might think of
+his bargaining for the possession of Shere Ali, he had a great, even
+untiring, intellect. He had the elements of a leader of men, and I
+fondly hoped he might be a ruler some day.
+
+The bungalow in which the Maharajah of Baithopoor had taken up his
+residence during his visit was very much like all the rest of the houses
+I saw in Simla. The verandah, however, was crowded with servants and
+sowars in gorgeous but rather tawdry liveries, not all of them as clean
+as they should have been. Horses with elaborate high saddles and
+embroidered trappings rather the worse for wear were being led up and
+down the walk. As we neared the door there was a strong smell of
+rosewater and native perfumes and hookah tobacco--the indescribable
+odour of Eastern high life. There was also a general air of wasteful and
+tawdry dowdiness, if I may coin such a word, which one constantly sees
+in the retinues of native princes and rich native merchants, ill
+contrasting with the great intrinsic value of some of the ornaments worn
+by the chief officers of the train.
+
+Isaacs spoke a few words in a low voice to the jemadar at the door, and
+we were admitted into a small room in the side of the house, opening, as
+all rooms do in India, on to the verandah. There were low wooden
+charpoys around the walls, and we sat down, waiting till the maharajah
+should be advised of our arrival. Very soon a jemadar came in and
+informed us that "if the _sahib log_, who were the protectors of the
+poor, would deign to be led by him," we should be shown into the royal
+presence. So we rose and followed the obsequious official into another
+apartment.
+
+The room where the maharajah awaited us was even smaller than the one
+into which we had been first shown. It was on the back of the house, and
+only half lighted by the few rays of afternoon sun that struggled
+through the dense foliage outside. I suppose this apartment had been
+chosen as the scene of the interview on account of its seclusion.
+Outside the window, which was closed, a sowar paced slowly up and down
+to keep away any curious listeners. A heavy curtain hung before the door
+through which we had entered. I thought that on the whole the place
+seemed pretty safe.
+
+The old maharajah sat cross-legged upon a great pile of dark-red
+cushions, his slippers by his side, and a huge hookah before him. He
+wore a plain white pugree with a large jewel set on one side, and his
+body was swathed and wrapped in dark thick stuffs, as if he felt keenly
+the cold autumn air. His face was long, of an ashy yellowish colour, and
+an immense white moustache hung curling down over his sombre robe. One
+hand protruded from the folds and held the richly-jewelled mouthpiece of
+the pipe to his lips, and I noticed that the fingers were long and
+crooked, winding themselves curiously round the gold stem, as if
+revelling in the touch of the precious metal and the gems. As we came
+within his range of vision, his dark eyes shot a quick glance of
+scrutiny at me and then dropped again. Not a movement of the head or
+body betrayed a consciousness of our presence. Isaacs made a long
+salutation in Hindustani, and I followed his example, but he did not
+take off his shoes or make anything more than an ordinary bow. It was
+quite evident that he was master of the situation. The old man took the
+pipe from his mouth and replied in a deep hollow voice that he was glad
+to see us, and that, in consideration of our wealth, fame, and renowned
+wisdom, he would waive all ceremony and beg us to be seated. We sat down
+cross-legged on cushions before him, and as near as we could get, so
+that it seemed as if we three were performing some sacred rite of which
+the object was the tall hookah that stood in the centre of our triangle.
+
+Being seated, Isaacs addressed the prince, still in Hindustani, and said
+that the splendour of his sublime majesty, which was like the sun
+dispelling the clouds, so overcame him with fear and trembling, that he
+humbly implored permission to make use of the Persian tongue, which, he
+was aware, the lord of boundless wisdom spoke with even greater ease
+than himself.
+
+Without waiting for an answer, and with no perceptible manifestation of
+any such "fear and trembling" as he professed, Isaacs at once began to
+speak in his native tongue, and dropping all forms of ceremony or
+circumlocution plunged boldly into business. He did not hesitate to
+explain to the maharajah the strength of his position, dwelling on the
+fact that, by a word to the English of the whereabouts of Shere Ali, he
+could plunge Baithopoor into hopeless and endless entanglements, to
+which there could be but one issue--absorption into the British Râj. He
+dwelt on the large sums the maharajah owed him for assistance lent
+during the late famine, and he skilfully produced the impression that he
+wanted the money down, then and there.
+
+"If your majesty should refuse to satisfy my just claims, I have ample
+weapons by which to satisfy them for myself, and no considerations of
+mercy or pity for your majesty will tempt me to abate one rupee in the
+account of your indebtedness, which, as you well know, is not swelled by
+any usurious interest. You could not have borrowed the money on such
+easy terms from any bank in India or England, and if I have been
+merciful hitherto, I will be so no longer. What saith the Apostle of
+Allah? 'Verily, life for life, and eye for eye, and nose for nose, and
+ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and for wounding retaliation.' And the
+time of your promise is expired and you shall pay me. And is not the
+wise Frank, who sitteth at my right hand, the ready writer, who giveth
+to the public every day a new book to read, the paper of news,
+_Khabar-i-Khagaz_ wherein are written the misdeeds of the wicked, and
+the dealings of the fraudulent and the unwary receive their just reward?
+And think you he will not make a great writing, several columns in
+length, and deliver it to the devils that perform his bidding, and shall
+they not multiply what he hath written, and sow it broadcast over the
+British Râj for the minor consideration of one anna a copy, that all
+shall see how the Maharajah of Baithopoor doth scandalously repudiate
+his debts, and harbour traitors to the Râj in his palace?"
+
+Isaacs said all this in a solemn and impressive manner, calculated to
+inspire awe and terror in the soul of the unhappy debtor. As for the
+maharajah, the cold sweat stood on his face, and at the last words his
+anxiety was so great that the long fingers uncurled spasmodically and
+the jewelled mouthpiece fell back, as the head of a snake, among the
+silken coils of the tube at his feet. Instantly, on feeling the grasping
+hand empty, his majesty, with more alacrity than I would have expected,
+darted forward with outstretched claws, as a hawk on his prey, and
+seizing the glittering thing returned it to his lips with a look of
+evident relief. It was habit, of course, for we were not exactly the men
+to plunder him of his toy, but there was a fierceness about the whole
+action that spoke of the real miser. Then there was silence for a
+moment. The old man was evidently greatly impressed by the perils of his
+situation. Isaacs continued.
+
+"Your majesty well perceives that you have surrounded yourself with
+dangers on all sides. No danger threatens me. I could buy you and
+Baithopoor to-morrow if I chose. But I am a just man. When the prophet,
+whose name be blessed, saith that we shall have eye for eye, and nose
+for nose, and for wounding retaliation, he saith also that 'he that
+remitteth the same as alms it shall be an atonement unto him.' Now your
+majesty is a hard man, and I well know that if I force you to pay me now
+you will cruelly tax and oppress your subjects to refill your coffers.
+And many of your subjects are true believers, following the prophet,
+upon whom be peace; and it is also written 'Thou shalt rob a stranger,
+but thou shalt not rob a brother,'--and if I cause you to rob my
+brethren is not the sin mine, and the atonement thereof? Now also has
+the lawful interest on your bond mounted up to several lakhs of rupees.
+But for the sake of my brethren who are in bondage to you, who are an
+unbeliever and shall broil everlastingly in raging flames, I will yet
+make a covenant with you, and the agreement thereof shall be this:
+
+"You shall deliver into my hand, before the dark half of the next moon,
+the man"--Isaacs lowered his voice to a whisper, barely audible in the
+still room, where the only sound heard as he paused was the tread of the
+sowar on the verandah outside-- "the man Shere Ali, formerly Emir of
+Afghanistan, now hidden in your palace of Baithopoor. Him you shall give
+to me safe and untouched at the place which I shall choose, northwards
+from here, in the pass towards Keitung. And there shall not be an hair
+of his head touched, and if it is good in my eyes I will give him up to
+the British; and if it is good in my eyes, I will slay him, and you
+shall ask no questions. And if you refuse to do this I will go to the
+great lord sahib and tell him of your doings, and you will be arrested
+before this night and shall not escape. But if you consent and put your
+hand to this agreement, I will speak no word, and you shall depart in
+peace; and moreover, for the sake of the true believers in your kingdom
+I will remit to you the whole of the interest on your debt; and the bond
+you shall pay at your convenience. I have spoken, do you answer me."
+Isaacs calmly took from his pocket two rolls covered with Persian
+writing, and lighting a cigarette, proceeded to peruse them carefully,
+to detect any flaw or error in their composition. The face of the old
+maharajah betrayed great emotion, but he bravely pulled away at his
+hookah and tried to think over the situation. In the hope of delivering
+himself from his whole debt he had rashly given himself into the hands
+of a man who hated him, though he had discovered that hatred too late.
+He had flattered himself that the loan had been made out of friendly
+feeling and a desire for his interest and support; he found that Isaacs
+had lent the money, for real or imaginary religious motives, in the
+interest of his co-religionists. I sat silently watching the varying
+passions as they swept over the repulsive face of the old man. The
+silence must have lasted a quarter of an hour.
+
+"Give me the covenant," he said at last, "for I am in the tiger's
+clutches. I will sign it, since I must. But it shall be requited to you,
+Abdul Hafiz; and when your body has been eaten of jackals and wild pigs
+in the forest, your soul shall enter into the shape of a despised
+sweeper, and you and your off-spring shall scavenge the streets of the
+cities of my kingdom and of the kingdom of my son, and son's son, to ten
+thousand generations." A Hindoo cannot express scorn more deadly or hate
+more lasting than this. Isaacs smiled, but there was a concentrated look
+in his face, relentless and hard, as he answered the insult.
+
+"I am not going to bandy words with you. But if you are not quick about
+signing that paper I may change my mind, and send for the Angrezi sowars
+from Peterhof. So you had better hurry yourself." Isaacs produced a
+small inkhorn and a reed pen from his pocket. "Sign," he said, rising to
+his feet "before that soldier outside passes the window three times, or
+I will deliver you to the British."
+
+Trembling in every joint, and the perspiration standing on his face like
+beads, the old man seized the pen and traced his name and titles at the
+foot, first of one copy, and then of the other. Isaacs followed, writing
+his full name in the Persian character, and I signed my name last, "Paul
+Griggs," in large letters at the bottom of each roll, adding the word
+"witness," in case of the transaction becoming known.
+
+"And now," said Isaacs to the maharajah, "despatch at once a messenger,
+and let the man here mentioned be brought under a strong guard and by
+circuitous roads to the pass of Keitung, and let them there encamp
+before the third week from to-day, when the moon is at the full. And I
+will be there and will receive the man. And woe to you if he come not;
+and woe to you if you oppress the true believers in your realm." He
+turned on his heel, and I followed him out of the room after making a
+brief salutation to the old man, cowering among his cushions, a ceremony
+which Isaacs omitted, whether intentionally or from forgetfulness, I
+could not say. We passed through the house out into the air, and
+mounting our horses rode away, leaving the double row of servants
+salaaming to the ground. The duration of our private interview with the
+maharajah had given them an immense idea of our importance. We had come
+at four and it was now nearly five. The long pauses and the Persian
+circumlocutions had occupied a good deal of time.
+
+"You do not seem to have needed my counsel or assistance much," I said.
+"With such an armoury of weapons you could manage half-a-dozen
+maharajahs."
+
+"Yes--perhaps so. But I have strong reasons for wishing this affair
+quickly over, and the editor of a daily paper is a thing of terror to a
+native prince; you must have seen that."
+
+"What do you mean to do with your man when he is safely in your hands,
+if it is not an indiscreet question?"
+
+"Do with him?" asked Isaacs with some astonishment. "Is it possible you
+have not guessed? He is a brave man, and a true believer. I will give
+him money and letters, that he may make his way to Baghdad, or wherever
+he will be safe. He shall depart in peace, and be as free as air."
+
+I had half suspected my friend of some such generous intention, but he
+had played his part of unrelenting hardness so well in our late
+interview with the Hindoo prince that it seemed incomprehensible that a
+man should be so pitiless and so kind on the same day. There was not a
+trace of hardness on his beautiful features now, and as we rounded the
+hill and caught the last beams of the sun, now sinking behind the
+mountains, his face seemed transfigured as with a glory, and I could
+hardly bear to look at him. He held his hat in his hand and faced the
+west for an instant, as though thanking the declining day for its
+freshness and beauty; and I thought to myself that the sun was lucky to
+see such an exquisite picture before he bid Simla good-night, and that
+he should shine the brighter for it the next day, since he would look on
+nothing fairer in his twelve hours' wandering over the other half of
+creation.
+
+"And now," said he, "it is late, but if we ride towards Annandale we may
+meet them coming back from the polo match we have missed." His eyes
+glowed at the thought. Shere Ali, the maharajah, bonds, principal, and
+interest, were all forgotten in the anticipation of a brief meeting with
+the woman he loved.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+"Why did you not come and see the game? After all your enthusiasm about
+polo this morning, I did not think you would miss anything so good,"
+were the first words of Miss Westonhaugh as we met her and Kildare in
+the narrow path that leads down to Annandale. Two men were riding behind
+them, who proved to be Mr. Currie Ghyrkins and Mr. John Westonhaugh. The
+latter was duly introduced to us; a quiet, spare man, with his sister's
+features, but without a trace of her superb colour and animal spirits.
+He had the real Bombay paleness, and had been steamed to the bone
+through the rains. As we were introduced, Isaacs started and said
+quickly that he believed he had met Mr. Westonhaugh before.
+
+"It is possible, quite possible," said that gentleman affably,
+"especially if you ever go to Bombay."
+
+"Yes--it was in Bombay--some twelve years ago. You have probably
+forgotten me."
+
+"Ah, yes. I was young and green then. I wonder you remember me." He did
+not show any very lively interest in the matter, though he smiled
+pleasantly.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh must have been teasing Lord Steepleton, for he looked
+flushed and annoyed, and she was in capital spirits. We turned to go
+back with the party, and by a turn of the wrist Isaacs wheeled his horse
+to the side of Miss Westonhaugh's, a position he did not again abandon.
+They were leading, and I resolved they should have a chance, as the path
+was not broad enough for more than two to ride abreast. So I furtively
+excited my horse by a touch of the heel and a quick strain on the curb,
+throwing him across the road, and thus producing a momentary delay, of
+which the two riders in front took advantage to increase their distance.
+Then we fell in, Mr. Ghyrkins and I in front, while the dejected Kildare
+rode behind with Mr. John Westonhaugh. Ghyrkins and I, being heavy men,
+heavily mounted, controlled the situation, and before long Isaacs and
+Miss Westonhaugh were a couple of hundred yards ahead, and we only
+caught occasional glimpses of them through the trees as they wound in
+and out along the path.
+
+"What are those youngsters talking about, back there? Tigers, I'll be
+bound," said Mr. Ghyrkins to me. Sure enough, they were.
+
+"What do you suppose I found when we got back this afternoon, Mr.
+Griggs? Why, this hair-brained young Kildare has been proposing to my
+niece----" his horse stumbled, but recovered himself in a moment.
+
+"You don't mean it," said I, rather startled.
+
+"Oh no, no, no. I don't mean that at all. Ha! ha! ha! very good, very
+good. No, no. Lord Steepleton wants us all to go on a tiger-hunt to
+amuse John, and he proposes--ha! ha!--really too funny of me--that Miss
+Westonhaugh should go with us."
+
+"I suppose you have no objection, Mr. Ghyrkins? Ladies constantly go on
+such expeditions, and they do not appear to be the least in the way."
+
+"Objections? Of course I have objections. Do you suppose I want to drag
+my niece to a premature grave? Think of the fever and the rough living
+and all, and she only just out from England."
+
+"She looks as if she could stand anything," I said, as just then an open
+space in the trees gave us a glimpse of Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs
+ambling along and apparently in earnest conversation. She certainly
+looked strong enough to go tiger-hunting that minute, as she sat erect
+but half turned to the off side, listening to what Isaacs seemed to be
+saying.
+
+"I hope you will not go and tell her so," said Ghyrkins. "If she gets an
+idea that the thing is possible, there will be no holding her. You don't
+know her. I hardly know her myself. Never saw her since she was a baby
+till the other day. Now you are the sort of person to go after tigers.
+Why do you not go off with my nephew and Mr. Isaacs and Kildare, and
+kill as many of them as you like?"
+
+"I have no objection, I am sure. I suppose the _Howler_ could spare me
+for a fortnight, now that I have converted the Press Commissioner, your
+new _deus ex machina_ for the obstruction of news. What a motley party
+we should be. Let me see.--a Bombay Civil Servant, an Irish nobleman, a
+Persian millionaire, and a Yankee newspaper man. By Jove! add to that a
+famous Revenue Commissioner and a reigning beauty, and the sextett is
+complete." Mr. Ghyrkins looked pleased at the gross flattery of himself.
+I recollected suddenly that, though he was far from famous as a revenue
+commissioner, I had read of some good shooting he had done in his
+younger days. Here was a chance.
+
+"Besides, Mr. Ghyrkins, a tiger-hunting party would not be the thing
+without some seasoned Nimrod to advise and direct us. Who so fitted for
+the post as the man of many a chase, the companion of Maori, the slayer
+of the twelve foot tiger in the Nepaul hills in 1861?"
+
+"You have a good memory, Mr. Griggs," said the old fellow, perfectly
+delighted, and now fairly launched on his favourite topic. "By Gad, sir,
+if I thought I should get such another chance I would go with you
+to-morrow!"
+
+"Why not? there are lots of big man-eaters about," and I incontinently
+reeled off half a page of statistics, more or less accurate, about the
+number of persons destroyed by snakes and wild beasts in the last year.
+"Of course most of those deaths were from tigers, and it is a really
+good action to kill a few. Many people can see tigers but cannot shoot
+them, whereas your deeds of death amongst them ate a matter of history.
+You really ought to be philanthropic, Mr. Ghyrkins, and go with us. We
+might stand a chance of seeing some real sport then."
+
+"Why, really, now that you make me think of it, I believe I should like
+it amazingly, and I could leave my niece with
+Lady--Lady--Stick-in-the-mud; what the deuce is her name? The wife of
+the Chief Justice, you know. You ought to know, really--I never remember
+names much;" he jerked out his sentences irately.
+
+"Certainly, Lady Smith-Tompkins, you mean. Yes, you might do that--that
+is, if Miss Westonhaugh has had the measles, and is not afraid of them.
+I heard this morning that three of the little Smith-Tompkinses had them
+quite badly."
+
+"You don't say so! Well, well, we shall find some one else, no doubt."
+
+I was certain that at that very moment Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were
+planning the whole expedition, and so I returned to the question of
+sport and inquired where we should go. This led to considerable
+discussion, and before we arrived at Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow--still in
+the same order--it was very clear that the old sportsman had made up his
+mind to kill one more tiger at all events; and that, rather than forego
+the enjoyment of the chase, he would be willing to take his niece with
+him. As for the direction of the expedition, that could be decided in a
+day or two. It was not the best season for tigers--the early spring is
+better--but they are always to be found in the forests of the Terai, the
+country along the base of the hills, north of Oude.
+
+When we reached the house it was quite dark, for we had ridden slowly.
+The light from the open door, falling across the verandah, showed us
+Miss Westonhaugh seated in a huge chair, and Isaacs standing by her side
+slightly bending, and holding his hat in his hand. They were still
+talking, but as we rode up to the lawn and shouted for the saices,
+Isaacs stood up and looked across towards us, and their voices ceased.
+It was evident that he had succeeded in thoroughly interesting her, for
+I thought--though it was some distance, and the light on them was not
+strong--that as he straightened himself and stopped speaking, she looked
+up to his face as if regretting that he did not go on. I dismounted with
+the rest and walked up to bid Miss Westonhaugh good-night.
+
+"You must come and dine to-morrow night," said Mr. Ghyrkins, "and we
+will arrange all about it. Sharp seven. To-morrow is Sunday, you know.
+Kildare, you must come too, if you mean business. Seven. We must look
+sharp and start, if we mean to come back here before the Viceroy goes."
+
+"Oh in that case," said Kildare, turning to me, "we can settle all about
+the polo match for Monday, can't we?"
+
+"Of course, very good of you to take the trouble."
+
+"Not a bit of it. Good-night." We bowed and went back to find our horses
+in the gloom. After some fumbling, for it was intensely dark after
+facing the light in the doorway of the bungalow, we got into the saddle
+and turned homeward through the trees.
+
+"Thank you, Griggs," said Isaacs. "May your feet never weary, and your
+shadow never be less."
+
+"Don't mention it, and thanks about the shadow. Only it is never likely
+to be less than at the present moment. How dark it is, to be sure!" I
+knew well enough what he was thanking me for. I lit a cheroot.
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "you are a pretty cool hand, upon my word."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why, indeed! Here you and Miss Westonhaugh have been calmly planning an
+extensive tiger-hunt, when you have promised to be in the neighbourhood
+of Keitung in three weeks, wherever that may be. I suppose it is in the
+opposite direction from here, for you will not find any tigers nearer
+than the Terai at this time of year."
+
+"I do not see the difficulty," he answered. "We can be in Oude in two
+days from here; shoot tigers for ten days, and be here again in two days
+more. That is just a fortnight. It will not take me a week to reach
+Keitung. I am much mistaken if I do not get there in three days. I shall
+lay a _dâk_ by messengers before I go to Oude, and between a double set
+of coolies and lots of ponies wherever the roads are good enough, I
+shall be at the place of meeting soon enough, never fear."
+
+"Oh, very well; but I hardly think Ghyrkins will want to return under
+three weeks; and--I did not think you would want to leave the party." He
+had evidently planned the whole three weeks' business carefully. I did
+not continue the conversation. He was naturally absorbed in the
+arrangement of his numerous schemes--no easy matter, when affairs of
+magnitude have to be ordered to suit the exigencies of a _grande
+passion_. I shrank from intruding on his reflections, and I had quite
+enough to do in keeping my horse on his feet in the thick darkness.
+Suddenly he reared violently, and then stood still, quivering in every
+limb. Isaacs' horse plunged and snorted by my side, and cannoned heavily
+against me. Then all was quiet. I could see nothing. Presently a voice,
+low and musical, broke on the darkness, and I thought I could
+distinguish a tall figure on foot at Isaacs' knee. Whoever the man was
+he must be on the other side of my companion, but I made out a head from
+which the voice proceeded.
+
+"Peace, Abdul Hafiz!" it said.
+
+"Aleikum Salaam, Ram Lal!" answered Isaacs. He must have recognised the
+man by his voice.
+
+"Abdul," continued the stranger, speaking Persian. "I have business with
+thee this night; thou art going home. If it is thy pleasure I will be
+with thee in two hours in thy dwelling."
+
+"Thy pleasure is my pleasure. Be it so." I thought the head disappeared.
+
+"Be it so," the voice echoed, growing faint, as if moving rapidly away
+from us. The horses, momentarily startled by the unexpected pedestrian,
+regained their equanimity. I confess the incident gave me a curiously
+unpleasant sensation. It was so very odd that a man on foot--a Persian,
+I judged, by his accent--should know of my companion's whereabouts, and
+that they should recognise each other by their voices. I recollected
+that our coming to Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow was wholly unpremeditated, and
+I was sure Isaacs had spoken to none but our party--not even to his
+saice--since our meeting with the Westonhaughs on the Annandale road an
+hour and a half before.
+
+"I wonder what he wants," said my friend, apparently soliloquising.
+
+"He seems to know where to find you, at all events," I answered. "He
+must have second sight to know you had been to Carisbrooke."
+
+"He has. He is a very singular personage altogether. However, he has
+done me more than one service before now, and though I do not comprehend
+his method of arriving at conclusions, still less his mode of
+locomotion, I am always glad of his advice."
+
+"But what is he? Is he a Persian?--you called him by an Indian name, but
+that may be a disguise--is he a wise man from Iran?"
+
+"He is a very wise man, but not from Iran. No. He is a Brahmin by birth,
+a Buddhist by adopted religion, and he calls himself an 'adept' by
+profession, I suppose, if he can be said to have any. He comes and goes
+unexpectedly, with amazing rapidity. His visits are brief, but he always
+seems to be perfectly conversant with the matter in hand, whatever it
+be. He will come to-night and give me about twenty words of advice,
+which I may follow or may not, as my judgment dictates; and before I
+have answered or recovered from my surprise, he will have vanished,
+apparently into space; for if I ask my servants where he is gone they
+will stare at me as if I were crazy, until I show them that the room is
+empty, and accuse them of going to sleep instead of seeing who goes in
+and out of my apartment. He speaks more languages than I do, and better.
+He once told me he was educated in Edinburgh, and his perfect knowledge
+of European affairs and of European topics leads me to think he must
+have been there a long time. Have you ever looked into the higher phases
+of Buddhism? It is a very interesting study."
+
+"Yes, I have read something about it. Indeed I have read a good deal,
+and have thought more. The subject is full of interest, as you say. If I
+had been an Asiatic by birth, I am sure I should have sought to attain
+_moksha_, even if it required a lifetime to pass through all the degrees
+of initiation. There is something so rational about their theories,
+disclaiming, as they do, all supernatural power; and, at the same time,
+there is something so pure and high in their conception of life, in
+their ideas about the ideal, if you will allow me the expression, that I
+do not wonder Edwin Arnold has set our American transcendentalists and
+Unitarians and freethinkers speculating about it all, and wondering
+whether the East may not have had men as great as Emerson and Channing
+among its teachers." I paused. My greatest fault is that if any one
+starts me upon a subject I know anything about, I immediately become
+didactic. So I paused and reflected that Isaacs, being, as he himself
+declared, frequently in the society of an "adept" of a high class, was
+sure to know a great deal more than I.
+
+"I too," he said, "have been greatly struck, and sometimes almost
+converted, by the beauty of the higher Buddhist thoughts. As for their
+apparently supernatural powers and what they do with them, I care
+nothing about phenomena of that description. We live in a land where
+marvels are common enough. Who has ever explained the mango trick, or
+the basket trick, or the man who throws a rope up into the air and then
+climbs up it and takes the rope after him, disappearing into blue space?
+And yet you have seen those things--I have seen them, every one has seen
+them,--and the performers claim no supernatural agency or assistance. It
+is merely a difference of degree, whether you make a mango grow from the
+seed to the tree in half an hour, or whether you transport yourself ten
+thousand miles in as many seconds, passing through walls of brick and
+stone on your way, and astonishing some ordinary mortal by showing that
+you know all about his affairs. I see no essential difference between
+the two 'phenomena,' as the newspapers call them, since Madame Blavatsky
+has set them all by the ears in this country. It is just the difference
+in the amount of power brought to bear on the action. That is all. I
+have seen, in a workshop in Calcutta, a hammer that would crack an
+eggshell without crushing it, or bruise a lump of iron as big as your
+head into a flat cake. 'Phenomena' may amuse women and children, but the
+real beauty of the system lies in the promised attainment of happiness.
+Whether that state of supreme freedom from earthly care gives the
+fortunate initiate the power of projecting himself to the antipodes by a
+mere act of volition, or of condensing the astral fluid into articles of
+daily use, or of stimulating the vital forces of nature to an abnormal
+activity, is to me a matter of supreme indifference. I am tolerably
+happy in my own way as things are. I should not be a whit happier if I
+were able to go off after dinner and take a part in American politics
+for a few hours, returning to business here to-morrow morning."
+
+"That is an extreme case," I said. "No man in his senses ever connects
+the idea of happiness with American politics."
+
+"Of one thing I am sure, though." He paused as if choosing his words. "I
+am sure of this. If any unforeseen event, whether an act of folly of my
+own, or the hand of Allah, who is wise, should destroy the peace of mind
+I have enjoyed for ten years, with very trifling interruption,--if
+anything should occur to make me permanently unhappy, beyond the
+possibility of ordinary consolation,--I should seek comfort in the study
+of the pure doctrines of the higher Buddhists. The pursuit of a
+happiness, so immeasurably beyond all earthly considerations of bodily
+comfort or of physical enjoyment, can surely not be inconsistent with my
+religion--or with yours."
+
+"No indeed," said I. "But, considering that you are the strictest of
+Mohammedans, it seems to me you are wonderfully liberal. So you have
+seriously contemplated the possibility of your becoming one of the
+'brethren'--as they style themselves?"
+
+"It never struck me until to-day that anything might occur by which my
+life could be permanently disturbed. Something to-day has whispered to
+me that such an existence could not be permanent. I am sure that it
+cannot be. The issue must be either to an infinite happiness or to a
+still more infinite misery. I cannot tell which." His clear, evenly
+modulated voice trembled a little. We were in sight of the lights from
+the hotel.
+
+"I shall not dine with you to-night, Griggs. I will have something in my
+own rooms. Come in as soon as you have done--that is if you are free.
+There is no reason why you should not see Ram Lal the adept, since we
+think alike about his religion, or school, or philosophy--find a name
+for it while you are dining." And we separated for a time.
+
+It had been a long and exciting day to me. I felt no more inclined than
+he did for the din and racket and lights of the public dining-room. So I
+followed his example and had something in my own apartment. Then I
+settled myself to a hookah, resolved not to take advantage of Isaacs'
+invitation until near the time when he expected Ram Lal. I felt the need
+of an hour's solitude to collect my thoughts and to think over the
+events of the last twenty-four hours. I recognised that I was fast
+becoming very intimate with Isaacs, and I wanted to think about him and
+excogitate the problem of his life; but when I tried to revolve the
+situation logically, and deliver to myself a verdict, I found myself
+carried off at a tangent by the wonderful pictures that passed before my
+eyes. I could not detach the events from the individual. His face was
+ever before me, whether I thought of Miss Westonhaugh, or of the
+wretched old maharajah, or of Ram Lal the Buddhist. Isaacs was the
+central figure in every picture, always in the front, always calm and
+beautiful, always controlling the events around him. Then I entered on a
+series of trite reflections to soothe my baffled reason, as a man will
+who is used to understanding what goes on before him and suddenly finds
+himself at a loss. Of course, I said to myself, it is no wonder he
+controls things, or appears to. The circumstances in which I find this
+three days' acquaintance are emphatically those of his own making. He
+has always been a successful man, and he would not raise spirits that he
+could not keep well in hand. He knows perfectly well what he is about in
+making love to that beautiful creature, and is no doubt at this moment
+laughing in his sleeve at my simplicity in believing that he was really
+asking my advice. Pshaw! as if any advice could influence a man like
+that! Absurd.
+
+I sipped my coffee in disgust with myself. All the time, while trying to
+persuade myself that Isaacs was only a very successful schemer, neither
+better nor worse than other men, I was conscious of the face that would
+not be banished from my sight. I saw the beautiful boyish look in his
+deep dark eyes, the gentle curve of the mouth, the grand smooth
+architrave of the brows. No--I was a fool! I had never met a man like
+him, nor should again. How could Miss Westonhaugh save herself from
+loving such a perfect creature? I thought, too, of his generosity. He
+would surely keep his promise and deliver poor Shere Ali, hunted to
+death by English and Afghan foes, from all his troubles. Had he not the
+Maharajah of Baithopoor in his power? He might have exacted the full
+payment of the debt, principal and interest, and saved the Afghan chief
+into the bargain. But he feared lest the poor Mohammedans should suffer
+from the prince's extortion, and he forgave freely the interest,
+amounting now to a huge sum, and put off the payment of the bond itself
+to the maharajah's convenience. Did ever an Oriental forgive a debt
+before even to his own brother? Not in my experience.
+
+I rose and went down to Isaacs. I found him as on the previous evening,
+among his cushions with a manuscript book. He looked up smiling and
+motioned me to be seated, keeping his place on the page with one finger.
+He finished the verse before he spoke, and then laid the book down and
+leaned back.
+
+"So you have made up your mind that you would like to see Ram Lal. He
+will be here in a minute, unless he changes his mind and does not come
+after all."
+
+There was a sound of voices outside. Some one asked if Isaacs were in,
+and the servant answered. A tall figure in a gray _caftán_ and a plain
+white turban stood in the door.
+
+"I never change my mind," said the stranger, in excellent English,
+though with an accent peculiar to the Hindoo tongue when struggling with
+European languages. His voice was musical and high in pitch, though soft
+and sweet in tone. The quality of voice that can be heard at a great
+distance, with no apparent effort to the speaker. "I never change my
+mind. I am here. Is it well with you?"
+
+"It is well, Ram Lal. I thank you. Be seated, if you will stay with us a
+while. This is my friend Mr. Griggs, of whom you probably know. He
+thinks as I do on many points, and I was anxious that you should meet."
+
+While Isaacs was speaking, Ram Lal advanced into the room and stood a
+moment under the soft light, a gray figure, very tall, but not otherwise
+remarkable. He was all gray. The long _caftán_ wrapped round him, the
+turban which I had first thought white, the skin of his face, the
+pointed beard and long moustache, the heavy eyebrows--a study of grays
+against the barbaric splendour of the richly hung wall--a soft outline
+on which the yellow light dwelt lovingly, as if weary of being cast back
+and reflected from the glory of gold and the thousand facets of the
+priceless gems. Ram Lal looked toward me, and as I gazed into his eyes I
+saw that they too were gray--a very singular thing in the East--and that
+they were very far apart, giving his face a look of great dignity and
+fearless frankness. To judge by his features he seemed to be very thin,
+and his high shoulders were angular, though the long loose garment
+concealed the rest of his frame from view. I had plenty of time to note
+these details, for he stood a full minute in the middle of the room, as
+if deciding whether to remain or to go. Then he moved quietly to a divan
+and sat down cross-legged.
+
+"Abdul, you have done a good deed to-day, and I trust you will not
+change your mind before you have carried out your present intentions."
+
+"I never change my mind, Bam Lai," said Isaacs, smiling as he quoted his
+visitor's own words. I was startled at first. What good deed was the
+Buddhist referring to if not to the intended liberation of Shere Ali?
+How could he know of it? Then I reflected that this man was, according
+to Isaacs' declaration, an adept of the higher grades, a seer and a
+knower of men's hearts. I resolved not to be astonished at anything that
+occurred, only marvelling that it should have pleased this extraordinary
+man to make his entrance like an ordinary mortal, instead of through the
+floor or the ceiling.
+
+"Pardon me," answered Ram Lal, "if I venture to contradict you. You do
+change your mind sometimes. Who was it who lately scoffed at women,
+their immortality, their virtue, and their intellect? Will you tell me
+now, friend Abdul, that you have not changed your mind? Do you think of
+anything, sleeping or waking, but the one woman for whom you _have_
+changed your mind? Is not her picture ever before you, and the breath of
+her beauty upon your soul? Have you not met her in the spirit as well as
+in the flesh? Surely we shall hear no more of your doubts about women
+for some time to come. I congratulate you, as far as that goes, on your
+conversion. You have made a step towards a higher understanding of the
+world you live in."
+
+Isaacs did not seem in the least surprised at his visitor's intimate
+acquaintance with his affairs. He bowed his head in silence, acquiescing
+to what Bam Lai had said, and waited for him to proceed.
+
+"I have come," continued the Buddhist, "to give you some good
+advice--the best I have for you. You will probably not take it, for you
+are the most self-reliant man I know, though you have changed a little
+since you have been in love, witness your sudden intimacy with Mr.
+Griggs." He looked at me, and there was a faint approach to a smile in
+his gray eyes. "My advice to you is, do not let this projected
+tiger-hunt take place if you can prevent it. No good can come of it, and
+harm may. Now I have spoken because my mind would not be at rest if I
+did not warn you. Of course you will do as you please, only never forget
+that I pointed out to you the right course in time."
+
+"Thank you, Ram Lal, for your friendly concern in my behalf. I do not
+think I shall act as you suggest, but I am nevertheless grateful to you.
+There is one thing I want to ask you, and consult you about, however."
+
+"My friend, what is the use of my giving you advice that you will not
+follow? If I lived with you, and were your constant companion, you would
+ask me to advise you twenty times a day, and then you would go and do
+the diametric opposite of what I suggested. If I did not see in you
+something that I see in few other men, I would not be here. There are
+plenty of fools who have wit enough to take counsel of a wise man. There
+are few men of wit wise enough to be guided by their betters, as if they
+were only fools for the time. Yet because you are so wayward I will help
+you once or twice more, and then I will leave you to your own
+course--which you, in your blindness, will call your kismet, not seeing
+that your fate is continually in your own hands--more so at this moment
+than ever before. Ask, and I will answer."
+
+"Thanks, Ram Lal. It is this I would know. You are aware that I have
+undertaken a novel kind of bargain. The man you wot of is to be
+delivered to me near Keitung. I am anxious for the man's safety
+afterwards, and I would be glad of some hint about disposing of him. I
+must go alone, for I do not want any witness of what I am going to do,
+and as a mere matter of personal safety for myself and the man I am
+going to set free, I must decide on some plan of action when I meet the
+band of sowars who will escort him. They are capable of murdering us
+both if the maharajah instructs them to. As long as I am alive to bring
+the old man into disgrace with the British, the captive is safe; but it
+would be an easy matter for those fellows to dispose of us together, and
+there would be an end of the business."
+
+"Of course they could," replied Ram Lal, adding in an ironical tone "and
+if you insist upon putting your head down the tiger's throat, how do you
+expect me to prevent the brute from snapping it off? That would be a
+'phenomenon,' would it not? And only this evening you were saying that
+you despised 'phenomena.'"
+
+"I said that such things were indifferent to me. I did not say I
+despised them. But I think that this thing may be done without
+performing any miracles."
+
+"If it were not such a good action on your part I would have nothing to
+do with it. But since you mean to risk your neck for your own peculiar
+views of what is right, I will endeavour that you shall not break it. I
+will meet you a day's journey before you reach Keitung, somewhere on the
+road, and we will go together and do the business. But if I am to help
+you I will not promise not to perform some miracles, as you call them,
+though you know very well they are no such thing. Meanwhile, do as you
+please about the tiger-hunt; I shall say no more about it." He paused,
+and then, withdrawing one delicate hand from the folds of his _caftán_,
+he pointed to the wall behind Isaacs and me, and said, "What a very
+singular piece of workmanship is that yataghan!"
+
+We both naturally turned half round to look at the weapon he spoke of,
+which was the central piece in a trophy of jewelled sabres and Afghan
+knives.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, turning back to answer his guest, "it is a ----" He
+stopped, and I, who had not seen the weapon before, lost among so many,
+and was admiring its singular beauty, turned too; to my astonishment I
+saw that Isaacs was gazing into empty space. The divan where Ram Lal had
+been sitting an instant before, was vacant. He was gone.
+
+"That is rather sudden," I said.
+
+"More so than usual," was the reply. "Did you see him go? Did he go out
+by the door?"
+
+"Not I," I answered, "when I looked round at the wall he was placidly
+sitting on that divan pointing with one hand at the yataghan. Does he
+generally go so quickly?"
+
+"Yes, more or less. Now I will show you some pretty sport." He rose to
+his feet and went to the door. "Narain!" he cried. Narain, the bearer,
+who was squatting against the door-post outside, sprang up and stood
+before his master. "Narain, why did you not show that pundit the way
+downstairs? What do you mean? have you no manners?"
+
+Narain stood open mouthed. "What pundit, sahib?" he asked.
+
+"Why, the pundit who came a quarter of an hour ago, you donkey! He has
+just gone out, and you did not even get up and make a salaam, you
+impertinent vagabond!" Narain protested that no pundit, or sahib, or any
+one else, had passed the threshold since Ram Lal had entered. "Ha! you
+_budmash_. You lazy dog of a Hindoo! you have been asleep again, you
+swine, you son of a pig, you father of piglings! Is that the way you do
+your work in my service?" Isaacs was enjoying the joke in a quiet way
+immensely.
+
+"Sahib," said the trembling Narain, apparently forgetting the genealogy
+his master had thrust upon him, "Sahib, you are protector of the poor,
+you are my father and my mother, and my brother, and all my relations,"
+the common form of Hindoo supplication, "but, Sri Krishnaji! by the
+blessed Krishna, I have not slept a wink."
+
+"Then I suppose you mean me to believe that the pundit went through the
+ceiling, or is hidden under the cushions. Swear not by your false idols,
+slave; I shall not believe you for that, you dog of an unbeliever, you
+soor-be-iman, you swine without faith!"
+
+"Han, sahib, han!" cried Narain, seizing at the idea that the pundit had
+disappeared mysteriously through the walls. "Yes, sahib, the pundit is a
+great yogi, and has made the winds carry him off." The fellow thought
+this was a bright idea, not by any means beneath consideration. Isaacs
+appeared somewhat pacified.
+
+"What makes you think he is a yogi, dog?" he inquired in a milder tone.
+Narain had no answer ready, but stood looking rather stupidly through
+the door at the room whence the unearthly visitor had so suddenly
+disappeared. "Well," continued Isaacs, "you are more nearly right than
+you imagine. The pundit is a bigger yogi than any your idiotic religion
+can produce. Never mind, there is an eight anna bit for you, because I
+said you were asleep when you were not." Narain bent to the ground in
+thanks, as his master turned on his heel. "Not that he minds being told
+that he is a pig, in the least," said Isaacs. "I would not call a
+Mussulman so, but you can insult these Hindoos so much worse in other
+ways that I think the porcine simile is quite merciful by comparison."
+He sat down again among the cushions, and putting off his slippers,
+curled himself comfortably together for a chat.
+
+"What do you think of Ram Lal?" he asked, when Narain had brought
+hookahs and sherbet.
+
+"My dear fellow, I have hardly made up my mind what to think. I have not
+altogether recovered from my astonishment. I confess that there was
+nothing startling about his manner or his person. He behaved and talked
+like a well educated native, in utter contrast to the amazing things he
+said, and to his unprecedented mode of leave-taking. It would have
+seemed more natural--I would say, more fitting--if he had appeared in
+the classic dress of an astrologer, surrounded with zodiacs, and blue
+lights, and black cats. Why do you suppose he wants you to abandon the
+tiger-hunt?"
+
+"I cannot tell. Perhaps he thinks something may happen to me to prevent
+my keeping the other engagement. Perhaps he does not approve----" he
+stopped, as if not wanting to approach the subject of Ram Lal's
+disapprobation. "I intend, nevertheless, that the expedition come off,
+and I mean, moreover, to have a very good time, and to kill a tiger if I
+see one."
+
+"I thought he seemed immensely pleased at your conversion, as he calls
+it. He said that your newly acquired belief in woman was a step towards
+a better understanding of life."
+
+"Of the world, he said," answered-Isaacs, correcting me. "There is a
+great difference between the 'world' and 'life.' The one is a finite,
+the other an infinite expression. I believe, from what I have learned of
+Ram Lal, that the ultimate object of the adepts is happiness, only to be
+attained by wisdom, and I apprehend that by wisdom they mean a knowledge
+of the world in the broadest sense of the word. The world to them is a
+great repository of facts, physical and social, of which they propose to
+acquire a specific knowledge by transcendental methods. If that seems to
+you a contradiction of terms, I will try and express myself better. If
+you understand me, I am satisfied. Of course I use transcendental in the
+sense in which it is applied by Western mathematicians to a mode of
+reasoning which I very imperfectly comprehend, save that it consists in
+reaching finite results by an adroit use of the infinite."
+
+"Not a bad definition of transcendental analysis for a man who professes
+to know nothing about it," said I. "I would not accuse you of a
+contradiction of terms, either. I have often thought that what some
+people call the 'philosophy of the nineteenth century,' is nothing after
+all but the unconscious application of transcendental analysis to the
+everyday affairs of life. Consider the theories of Darwin, for instance.
+What are they but an elaborate application of the higher calculus? He
+differentiates men into protoplasms, and integrates protoplasms into
+monkeys, and shows the caudal appendage to be the independent variable,
+a small factor in man, a large factor in monkey. And has not the idea of
+successive development supplanted the early conception of spontaneous
+perfection? Take an illustration from India--the new system of
+competition, which the natives can never understand. Formerly the
+members of the Civil Service received their warrants by divine
+authority, so to speak. They were born perfect, as Aphrodite from the
+foam of the sea; they sprang armed and ready from the head of old John
+Company as Pallas Athene from the head of Zeus. Now all that is changed;
+they are selected from a great herd of candidates by methods of extreme
+exactness, and when they are chosen they represent the final result of
+infinite probabilities for and against their election. They are all
+exactly alike; they are a formula for taxation and the administration of
+justice, and so long as you do not attempt to use the formula for any
+other purpose, such, for instance, as political negotiation or the
+censorship of the public press, the equation will probably be amenable
+to solution."
+
+"As I told you," said Isaacs, "I know nothing, or next to nothing, of
+Western mathematics, but I have a general idea of the comparison you
+make. In Asia and in Asiatic minds, there prevails an idea that
+knowledge can be assimilated once and for all. That if you can obtain
+it, you immediately possess the knowledge of everything--the pass-key
+that shall unlock every door. That is the reason of the prolonged
+fasting and solitary meditation of the ascetics. They believe that by
+attenuating the bond between soul and body, the soul can be liberated
+and can temporarily identify itself with other objects, animate and
+inanimate, besides the especial body to which it belongs, acquiring thus
+a direct knowledge of those objects, and they believe that this direct
+knowledge remains. Western philosophers argue that the only acquaintance
+a man can have with bodies external to his mind is that which he
+acquires by the medium of his bodily senses--though these, are
+themselves external to his mind, in the truest sanse. The senses not
+being absolutely reliable, knowledge acquired by means of them is not
+absolutely reliable either. So the ultimate difference between the
+Asiatic saint and the European man of science is, that while the former
+believes all knowledge to be directly within the grasp of the soul,
+under certain conditions, the latter, on the other hand, denies that any
+knowledge can be absolute, being all obtained indirectly through a
+medium not absolutely reliable. The reasoning, by which the Western mind
+allows itself to act fearlessly on information which is not (according
+to its own verdict) necessarily accurate, depends on a clever use of the
+infinite in unconsciously calculating the probabilities of that
+accuracy--and this entirely falls in with what you said about the
+application of transcendental analysis to the affairs of everyday life."
+
+"I see you have entirely comprehended me," I said. "But as for the
+Asiatic mind--you seem to deny to it the use of the calculus of thought,
+and yet you denned adepts as attempting to acquire specific knowledge by
+general and transcendental methods. Here is a real contradiction."
+
+"No; I see no confusion, for I do not include the higher adepts in
+either class, since they have the wisdom to make use of the learning and
+of the methods of both. They seem to me to be endeavouring, roughly
+speaking, to combine the two. They believe absolute knowledge
+attainable, and they devote much time to the study of nature, in which
+pursuit they make use of highly analytical methods. They subdivide
+phenomena to an extent that would surprise and probably amuse a Western
+thinker. They count fourteen distinct colours in the rainbow, and
+invariably connect sound, even to the finest degrees, with shades of
+colour. I could name many other peculiarities of their mode of studying
+natural phenomena, which displays a much more minute subdivision and
+classification of results than you are accustomed to. But beside all
+this they consider that the senses of the normal man are susceptible of
+infinite refinement, and that upon a greater or less degree of acquired
+acuteness of perception the value of his results must depend. To attain
+this high degree of sensitiveness, necessary to the perception of very
+subtle phenomena, the adepts find it necessary to train their faculties,
+bodily and mental, by a life of rigid abstention from all pleasures or
+indulgences not indispensable in maintaining the relation between the
+physical and intellectual powers."
+
+"The common _fakir_ aims at the same thing," I remarked.
+
+"But he does not attain it. The common _fakir_ is an idiot. He may, by
+fasting and self-torture, of a kind no adept would approve, sharpen his
+senses till he can hear and see some sounds and sights inaudible and
+invisible to you and me. But his whole system lacks any intellectual
+basis: he regards knowledge as something instantaneously attainable when
+it comes at last; he believes he will have a vision, and that everything
+will be revealed to him. His devotion to his object is admirable, when
+he is a genuine ascetic and not, as is generally the case, a
+good-for-nothing who makes his piety pay for his subsistence; but it is
+devotion of a very low intellectual order. The true adept thinks the
+training of the mind in intellectual pursuits no less necessary than the
+moderate and reasonable mortification of the flesh, and higher Buddhism
+pays as much attention to the one as to the other."
+
+"Excuse me," said I, "if I make a digression. I think there are two
+classes of minds commonly to be found among thinkers all over the world.
+The one seek to attain to knowledge, the others strive to acquire it.
+There is a class of commonplace intellects who regard knowledge of all
+kinds in the light of a ladder; one ladder for each science, and the
+rungs of the ladders are the successive facts mastered by an effort and
+remembered in the order they have been passed. These persons think it is
+possible to attain to high eminence on one particular ladder, that is,
+in one particular science, without having been up any of the other
+ladders, that is, without a knowledge of other branches of seience. This
+is the mind of the plodder, the patient man who climbs, step by step, in
+his own unvarying round of thought; not seeing that it is but the wheel
+of a treadmill over which he is labouring, and that though every step
+may pass, and repass, beneath his toiling feet, he can never obtain a
+birdseye view of what he is doing, because his eyes are continually
+fixed on the step in front."
+
+"But," I continued, as Isaacs assented to my simile by a nod, "there is
+another class of minds also. There are persons who regard the whole
+imaginable and unimaginable knowledge of mankind, past, present, and
+future, as a boundless plain over which they hang suspended and can look
+down. Immediately beneath them there is a map spread out which
+represents, in the midst of the immense desert, the things they
+themselves know. It is a puzzle map, like those they make for children,
+where each piece fits into its appointed place, and will fit nowhere
+else; every piece of knowledge acquired fits into the space allotted to
+it, and when there is a piece, that is, a fact, wanting, it is still
+possible to define its extent and shape by the surrounding portions,
+though all the details of colour and design are lacking. These are the
+people who regard knowledge as a whole, harmonious, when every science
+and fragment of a science has its appointed station and is necessary to
+completeness of perfect knowledge. I hope I have made clear to you what
+I mean, though I am conscious of only sketching the outlines of a
+distinction which I believe to be fundamental."
+
+"Of course it is fundamental. Broadly, it is the difference between
+analytic and synthetic thought; between the subjective and the objective
+views; between the finite conception of a limited world and the infinite
+ideal of perfect wisdom. I understand you perfectly."
+
+"You puzzle me continually, Isaacs. Where did you learn to talk about
+'analytic' and 'synthetic,' and 'subjective' and 'objective,' and
+transcendental analysis, and so forth?" It seemed so consistent with his
+mind that he should understand the use of philosophical terms, that I
+had not realised how odd it was that a man of his purely Oriental
+education should know anything about the subject. His very broad
+application of the words 'analytic' and 'synthetic' to my pair of
+illustrations attracted my attention and prompted the question I had
+asked.
+
+"I read a good deal," he said simply. Then he added in a reflective
+tone, "I rather think I have a philosophical mind. The old man who
+taught me theology in Istamboul when I was a boy used to talk philosophy
+to me by the hour, though I do not believe he knew much about it. He was
+a plodder, and went up ladders in search of information, like the man
+you describe. But he was very patient and good to me; the peace of Allah
+be with him."
+
+It was late, and soon afterwards we parted for the night. The next day
+was Sunday, and I had a heap of unanswered letters to attend to, so we
+agreed to meet after tiffin and ride together before dining with Mr.
+Ghyrkins and the Westonhaughs.
+
+I went to my room and sat a while over a volume of Kant, which I always
+travel with--a sort of philosopher's stone on which to whet the mind's
+tools when they are dulled with boring into the geological strata of
+other people's ideas. I was too much occupied with the personality of
+the man I had been talking with to read long, and so I abandoned myself
+to a reverie, passing in review the events of the long day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+The Sabbatarian tendency of the English mind at home and abroad is
+proverbial, and if they are well-behaved on Sunday in London they are
+models of virtue in Simla on the same day. Whether they labour and are
+well-fed and gouty in their island home, or suffer themselves to be
+boiled for gain in the tropical kettles of Ceylon and Singapore; whether
+they risk their lives in hunting for the north pole or the northwest
+passage, or endanger their safety in the pursuit of tigers in the Terai,
+they will have their Sunday, come rain, come shine. On the deck of the
+steamer in the Red Sea, in the cabin of the inbound Arctic explorer, in
+the crowded Swiss hotel, or the straggling Indian hill station, there is
+always a parson of some description, in a surplice of no description at
+all, who produces a Bible and a couple of well-thumbed sermons from the
+recesses of his trunk or his lunch basket, or his gun-case, and goes at
+the work of weekly redemption with a will. And, what is more, he is
+listened to, and for the time being--though on week days he is styled a
+bore by the old and a prig by the young--he becomes temporarily invested
+with a dignity not his own, with an authority he could not claim on any
+other day. It is the dignity of a people who with all their faults have
+the courage of their opinions, and it is the authority that they have
+been taught from their childhood to reverence, whenever their traditions
+give it the right to assert itself. Not otherwise. It is a fine trait of
+national character, though it is one which has brought upon the English
+much unmerited ridicule. One may differ from them in faith and in one's
+estimate of the real value of these services, which are often only saved
+from being irreverent in their performance by the perfect sincerity of
+parson and congregation. But no one who dispassionately judges them can
+deny that the custom inspires respect for English consistency and
+admiration for their supreme contempt of surroundings.
+
+I presume that the periodical manifestations of religious belief to
+which I refer are intimately and indissolubly connected with the staid
+and funereal solemnity which marks an Englishman's dress, conversation,
+and conduct on Sunday. He is a different being for the nonce, and must
+sustain the entire character of his dual existence, or it will fall to
+the ground and forsake him altogether. He cannot take his religion in
+the morning and enjoy himself the rest of the day. He must abstain from
+everything that could remind him that he has a mind at all, besides a
+soul. No amusement will he tolerate, no reading of even the most
+harmless fiction can he suffer, while he is in the weekly devotional
+trance.
+
+I cannot explain these things; they are race questions, problems for the
+ethnologist. Certain it is, however, that the partial decay of strict
+Sabbatarianism which seems to have set in during the last quarter of a
+century has not been attended by any notable development of power in
+English thought of that class. The first Republic tried the experiment
+of the decimal week, and it was a failure. The English who attempt to
+put off even a little of the quaint armour of righteousness, which they
+have been accustomed to buckle on every seventh day for so many
+generations, are not so successful in the attempt as to attract many to
+follow them. They are not graceful in their holiday gambols.
+
+Meditating somewhat on this wise I lay in my long chair by the open door
+that Sunday morning in September. It was a little warmer again and the
+sun shone pleasantly across the lawn on the great branches and bright
+leaves of the rhododendron. The house was very quiet. All the inmates
+were gone to the church on the mall, and the servants were basking in
+the last few days of warmth they would enjoy before their masters
+returned to the plains. The Hindoo servant hates the cold. He fears it
+as he fears cobras, fever, and freemasons. His ideal life is nothing to
+do, nothing to wear, and plenty to eat, with the thermometer at 135
+degrees in the verandah and 110 inside. Then he is happy. His body
+swells with much good rice and _dal_, and his heart with pride; he will
+wear as little as you will let him, and whether you will let him or not,
+he will do less work in a given time than any living description of
+servant. So they basked in rows in the sunshine, and did not even
+quarrel or tell yarns among themselves; it was quiet and warm and
+sleepy. I dozed lazily, dropped my book in my lap, struggled once, and
+then fairly fell asleep.
+
+I was roused by Kiramat Ali pulling at my foot, as natives will when
+they are afraid of the consequences of waking their master. When I
+opened my eyes he presented a card on a salver, and explained that the
+gentleman wanted to see me. I looked, and was rather surprised to see it
+was Kildare's card. "Lord Steepleton Kildare, 33d Lancers "--there was
+no word in pencil, or any message. I told Kiramat to show the sahib in,
+wondering why he should call on me. By Indian etiquette, if there was to
+be any calling, it was my duty to make the first visit. Before I had
+time to think more I heard the clanking of spurs and sabre on the
+verandah, and the young man walked in, clad in the full uniform of his
+regiment. I rose to greet him, and was struck by his soldierly bearing
+and straight figure, as I had been at our first meeting. He took off his
+bearskin --for he was in the fullest of full dress--and sat down.
+
+"I am so glad to find you at home," he said: "I feared you might have
+gone to church, like everybody else in this place."
+
+"No. I went early this morning. I belong to a different persuasion. I
+suppose you are on your way to Peterhof?"
+
+"Yes. There is some sort of official reception to somebody,--I forget
+who,--and we had notice to turn out. It is a detestable nuisance."
+
+"I should think so."
+
+"Mr. Griggs, I came to ask you about something. You heard of my proposal
+to get up a tiger-hunt? Mr. Ghyrkins was speaking of it."
+
+"Yes. He wanted us to go,--Mr. Isaacs and me,--and suggested leaving his
+niece, Miss Westonhaugh, with Lady Smith-Tompkins."
+
+"It would be so dull without a lady in the party. Nothing but tigers and
+shikarries and other native abominations to talk to. Do you not think
+so?"
+
+"Why, yes. I told Mr. Ghyrkins that all the little Smith-Tompkins
+children had the measles, and the house was not safe. If they have not
+had them, they will, I have no doubt. Heaven is just, and will not leave
+you to the conversational mercies of the entertaining tiger and the
+engaging shikarry."
+
+"By Jove, Mr. Griggs, that was a brilliant idea: and, as you say, they
+may all get the measles yet. The fact is, I have set my heart on this
+thing. Miss Westonhaugh said she had never seen a tiger, except in cages
+and that kind of thing, and so I made up my mind she should. Besides, it
+will be no end of a lark; just when nobody is thinking about tigers, you
+go off and kill a tremendous fellow, fifteen or sixteen feet long, and
+come back covered with glory and mosquito bites, and tell everybody that
+Miss Westonhaugh shot him herself with a pocket pistol. That will be
+glorious!"
+
+"I should like it very much too; and I really see no reason why it
+should not be done. Mr. Ghyrkins seemed in a very cheerful humour about
+tigers last night, and I have no doubt a little persuasion from you will
+bring him to a proper view of his obligations to Miss Westonhaugh." He
+looked pleased and bright and hopeful, thoroughly enthusiastic, as
+became his Irish blood. He evidently intended to have quite as "good" a
+"time" as Isaacs proposed to enjoy. I thought the spectacle of those
+rivals for the beautiful girl's favour would be extremely interesting.
+Lord Steepleton was doubtless a good shot and a brave man, and would
+risk anything to secure Miss Westonhaugh's approval; Isaacs, on the
+other hand, was the sort of man who is very much the same in danger as
+anywhere else.
+
+"That is what I came to ask you about. We shall all meet there at dinner
+this evening, and I wanted to secure as many allies as possible."
+
+"You may count on me, Lord Steepleton, at all events. There is nothing I
+should enjoy better than such a fortnight's holiday, in such good
+company."
+
+"All right," said Lord Steepleton, rising, "I must be off now to
+Peterhof. It is an organised movement on Mr. Ghyrkins this evening,
+then. Is it understood?" He took his bearskin from the table, and
+prepared to go, pulling his straps and belts into place, and dusting a
+particle of ash from his sleeve.
+
+"Perfectly," I answered. "We will drag him forth into the arena before
+three days are past." We shook hands, and he went out.
+
+I was glad he had come, though I had been waked from a pleasant nap to
+receive him. He was so perfectly gay, and natural, and healthy, that one
+could not help liking him. You felt at once that he was honest and would
+do the right thing in spite of any one, according to his light; that he
+would stand by a friend in danger, and face any odds in fight, with as
+much honest determination to play fair and win, as he would bring to a
+cricket match or a steeple-chase. His Irish blood gave him a somewhat
+less formal manner than belongs to the Englishman; more enthusiasm and
+less regard for "form," while his good heart and natural courtesy would
+lead him right in the long-run. He seemed all sunshine, with his bright
+blue eyes and great fair moustache and brown face; the closely fitting
+uniform showed off his erect figure and elastic gait, and the whole
+impression was fresh and exhilarating in the extreme. I was sorry he had
+gone. I would have liked to talk with him about boating and fishing and
+shooting; about athletics and horses and tandem-driving, and many things
+I used, to like years ago at college, before I began my wandering life.
+I watched him as he swung himself into the military saddle, and he
+threw up his hand in a parting salute as he rode away. Poor fellow! was
+he, too, going to be food for powder and Afghan knives in the avenging
+army on its way to Kabul? I went back to my books and remained reading
+until the afternoon sun slanted in through the open door, and falling
+across my book warned me it was time to keep my appointment with Isaacs.
+
+As we passed the church the people were coming out from the evening
+service, and I saw Kildare, once more in the garb of a civilian,
+standing near the door, apparently watching for some one to appear. I
+knew that, with his strict observance of Catholic rules--often depending
+more on pride of family than on religious conviction, in the house of
+Kildare--he would not have entered the English Church at such a time,
+and I was sure he was lying in wait for Miss Westonhaugh, probably
+intending to surprise her and join her on her homeward ride. The road
+winds down below the Church, so that for some minutes after passing the
+building you may get a glimpse of the mall above and of the people upon
+it--or at least of their heads--if they are moving near the edge of the
+path. I was unaccountably curious this evening, and I dropped a little
+behind Isaacs, craning my neck and turning back in the saddle as I
+watched the stream of heads and shoulders, strongly foreshortened
+against the blue sky above, moving ceaselessly along the parapet over my
+head. Before long I was rewarded; Miss Westonhaugh's fair hair and broad
+hat entered the field of my vision, and a moment later Lord Steepleton,
+who must have pushed through the crowd from the other side, appeared
+struggling after her. She turned quickly, and I saw no more, but I did
+not think she had changed colour.
+
+I began to be deeply interested in ascertaining whether she had any
+preference for one or the other of the two young men. Kildare's visit in
+the morning--though he had said very little--had given me a new
+impression of the man, and I felt that he was no contemptible rival. I
+saw from the little incident I had just witnessed that he neglected no
+opportunity of being with Miss Westonhaugh, and that he had the patience
+to wait and the boldness to find her in a crowd. I had seen very little
+of her myself; but I had been amply satisfied that Isaacs was capable of
+interesting her in a _tête-à-tête_ conversation. "The talker has the
+best chance, if he is bold enough," I said to myself; but I was not
+satisfied, and I resolved that if I could manage it Isaacs should have
+another chance that very evening after the dinner. Meanwhile I would
+involve Isaacs in a conversation on some one of those subjects that
+seemed to interest him most. He had not seen the couple on the mall, and
+was carelessly ambling along with his head in the air and one hand in
+the pocket of his short coat, the picture of unconcern.
+
+I was trying to make up my mind whether I would open fire upon the
+immortality of the soul, matrimony, or the differential calculus, when,
+as we passed from the narrow street into the road leading sound Jako,
+Isaacs spoke.
+
+"Look here, Griggs," said he, "there is something I want to impress upon
+your mind."
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"It is all very well for Ram Lal to give advice about things he
+understands. I have a very sincere regard for him, but I do not believe
+he was ever in my position. I have set my heart on this tiger-hunt. Miss
+Westonhaugh said the other day that she had never seen a tiger, and I
+then and there made up my mind that she should."
+
+I laughed. There seemed to be no essential difference of opinion between
+the Irishman and the Persian in regard to the pleasures of the chase.
+Miss Westonhaugh was evidently anxious to see tigers, and meant to do
+it, since she had expressed her wish to the two men most likely to
+procure her that innocent recreation. Lord Steepleton Kildare by his
+position, and Isaacs by his wealth, could, if they chose, get up such a
+tiger-hunt for her benefit as had never been seen. I thought she might
+have waited till the spring--but I had learned that she intended to
+return to England in April, and was to spend the early months of the
+year with her brother in Bombay.
+
+"You want to see Miss Westonhaugh, and Miss Westonhaugh wants to see
+tigers! My dear fellow, go in and win; I will back you."
+
+"Why do you laugh, Griggs?" asked Isaacs, who saw nothing particularly
+amusing in what he had said.
+
+"Oh, I laughed because another young gentleman expressed the same
+opinions to me, in identically the same words, this morning."
+
+"Mr. Westonhaugh?"
+
+"No. You know very well that Mr. Westonhaugh cares nothing about it, one
+way or the other. The little plan for 'amusing brother John' is a hoax.
+The thing cannot be done. You might as well try to amuse an undertaker
+as to make a man from Bombay laugh. The hollowness of life is ever upon
+them. No. It was Kildare; he called and said that Miss Westonhaugh had
+never seen a tiger, and he seemed anxious to impress upon me his
+determination that she should. Pshaw! what does Kildare care about
+brother John?"
+
+"Brother John, as you call him, is a better fellow than he looks. I owe
+a great deal to brother John." Isaacs' olive skin flushed a little, and
+he emphasised the epithet by which I had designated Mr. John Westonhaugh
+as if he were offended by it.
+
+"I mean nothing against Mr. Westonhaugh," said I half apologetically. "I
+remember when you met yesterday afternoon you said you had seen him in
+Bombay a long time ago."
+
+"Do you remember the story I told you of myself the other night?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"Westonhaugh was the young civil servant who paid my fine and gave me a
+rupee, when I was a ragged sailor from a Mocha craft, and could not
+speak a word of English. To that rupee I ultimately owe my entire
+fortune. I never forget a face, and I am sure it is he--do you
+understand me now? I owe to his kindness everything I possess in the
+world."
+
+"The unpardonable sin is ingratitude," I answered, "of which you will
+certainly not be accused. That is a very curious coincidence."
+
+"I think it is something more. A man has always at least one opportunity
+of repaying a debt, and, besm Illah! I will repay what I can of it. By
+the beard of the apostle, whose name is blessed, I am not ungrateful!"
+Isaacs was excited as he said this. He was no longer the calm Mr.
+Isaacs, he was Abdul Hafiz the Persian, fiery and enthusiastic.
+
+"You say well, my friend," he continued earnestly, "that the
+unpardonable sin is ingratitude. Doubtless, had the blessed prophet of
+Allah lived in our day, he would have spoken of the doom that hangs over
+the ungrateful. It is the curse of this age; for he who forgets or
+refuses to remember the kindness done to him by others sets himself
+apart, and worships his miserable self, and he makes an idol of himself,
+saying, 'I am of more importance than my fellows in the world, and it is
+meet and right that they should give and that I should receive.'
+Ingratitude is selfishness, and selfishness is the worship of oneself,
+the setting of oneself higher than man and goodness and God. And when
+man perishes and the angel Al Sijil, the recorder, rolls up his scroll,
+what is written therein is written; and Israfil shall call men to
+judgment, and the scrolls shall be unfolded, and he that has taken of
+others and not given in return, but has ungratefully forgotten and put
+away the remembrance of the kindness received, shall be counted among
+the unbelievers and the extortioners and the unjust, and shall broil in
+raging flames. By the hairs of the prophet's beard, whose name is
+blessed."
+
+I had not seen Isaacs so thoroughly roused before upon any subject. The
+flush had left his face and given place to a perfect paleness, and his
+eyes shone like coals of fire as he looked upward in pronouncing the
+last words. I said to myself that there was a strong element of
+religious exaltation in all Asiatics, and put his excitement down to
+this cause. His religion was a very beautiful and real thing to him,
+ever present in his life, and I mused on the future of the man, with his
+great endowments, his exquisite sensitiveness, and his high view of his
+obligations to his fellows. I am not a worshipper of heroes, but I felt
+that, for the first time in my life, I was intimate with a man who was
+ready to stand in the breach and to die for what he thought and believed
+to be right. After a pause of some minutes, during which we had ridden
+beyond the last straggling bungalows of the town, he spoke again,
+quietly, his temporary excitement having subsided.
+
+"I feel very strongly about these things," he said, and then stopped
+short.
+
+"I can see you do, and I honour you for it. I think you are the first
+grateful person I have ever met; a rare and unique bird in the earth."
+
+"Do not say that."
+
+"I do say it. There is very little of the philosophy of the nineteenth
+century about you, Isaacs. Your belief in the obligations of gratitude
+and in the general capacity of the human race for redemption, savours
+little of 'transcendental analysis.'"
+
+"You have too much of it," he answered seriously. "I do not think you
+see how much your cynicism involves. You would very likely, if you are
+the man I take you for, be very much offended if I accused you of not
+believing any particular dogma of your religion. And yet, with all your
+faith, you do not believe in God."
+
+"I cannot see how you get at that conclusion," I replied. "I must deny
+your hypothesis, at the risk of engaging you in an argument." I could
+not see what he was driving at.
+
+"How can you believe in God, and yet condemn the noblest of His works as
+altogether bad? You are not consistent."
+
+"What makes you think I am so cynical?" I inquired, harking back to gain
+time.
+
+"A little cloud, a little sultriness in the air, is all that betrays the
+coming _khemsin_, that by and by shall overwhelm and destroy man and
+beast in its sandy darkness. You have made one or two remarks lately
+that show little faith in human nature, and if you do not believe in
+human nature what is there left for you to believe in? You said a moment
+ago that I was the first grateful person you had ever met. Then the rest
+of humanity are all selfish, and worshippers of themselves, and
+altogether vile, since you yourself say, as I do, that ingratitude is
+the unpardonable sin; and God has made a world full of unpardonable
+sinners, and unless you include yourself in the exception you graciously
+make in my favour, no one but I shall be saved. And yet you say also
+with me that God is good. Do you deny that you are utterly
+inconsistent?"
+
+"I may make you some concession in a few minutes, but I am not going to
+yield to such logic. You have committed the fallacy of the undistributed
+middle term, if you care to know the proper name for it. I did not say
+that all men, saving you, were ungrateful. I said that, saving you, the
+persons I have met in my life have been ungrateful. You ought to
+distinguish."
+
+"All I can say is, then, that you have had a very unfortunate experience
+of life," retorted Isaacs warmly.
+
+"I have," said I, "but since you yield the technical point of logic, I
+will confess that I made the assertion hastily and overshot the mark. I
+do not remember, however, to have met any one who felt so strongly on
+the point as you do."
+
+"Now you speak like a rational being," said Isaacs, quite pacified.
+"Extraordinary feelings are the result of unusual circumstances. I was
+in such distress as rarely falls to the lot of an innocent man of fine
+temperament and good abilities. I am now in a position of such wealth
+and prosperity as still more seldom are given to a man of my age and
+antecedents. I remember that I obtained the first step on my road to
+fortune through the kindness of John Westonhaugh, though I could never
+learn his name, and I met him at last, as you saw, by an accident. I
+call that accident a favour, and an opportunity bestowed on me by Allah,
+and the meeting has roused in me those feelings of thankfulness which,
+for want of an object upon which to show them, have been put away out of
+sight as a thing sacred for many years. I am willing you should say
+that, were my present fortune less, my gratitude would be
+proportionately less felt--it is very likely--though the original gift
+remain the same, one rupee and no more. You are entitled to think of any
+man as grateful in proportion to the gift, so long as you allow the
+gratitude at all." He made this speech in a perfectly natural and
+unconcerned way, as if he were contemplating the case of another person.
+
+"Seriously, Isaacs, I would not do so for the world. I believe you were
+as grateful twelve years ago, when you were poor, as you are now that
+you are rich." Isaacs was silent, but a look of great gentleness crossed
+his face. There was at times something almost angelic in the perfect
+kindness of his eyes.
+
+"To return," I said at last, "to the subject from which we started, the
+tigers. If we are really going, we must leave here the day after
+to-morrow morning--indeed, why not to-morrow?"
+
+"No; to-morrow we are to play that game of polo, which I am looking
+forward to with pleasure. Besides, it will take the men three days to
+get the elephants together, and I only telegraphed this morning to the
+collector of the district to make the arrangements."
+
+"So you have already taken steps? Does Kildare know you have sent
+orders?"
+
+"Certainly. He came to me this morning at daybreak, and we determined to
+arrange everything and take uncle Ghyrkins for granted. You need not
+look astonished; Kildare and I are allies, and very good friends." What
+a true Oriental! How wise and far-sighted was the Persian, how bold and
+reckless the Irishman! It was odd, I thought, that Kildare had not
+mentioned the interview with Isaacs. Yet there was a certain rough
+delicacy--contradictory and impulsive--in his silence about this
+coalition with his rival. We rode along and discussed the plans for the
+expedition. All the men in the party, except Lord Steepleton, who had
+not been long in India, had killed tigers before. There would be enough
+of us, without asking any one else to join. The collector to whom Isaacs
+had telegraphed was an old acquaintance of his, and would probably go
+out for a few days with us. It all seemed easy enough and plain sailing.
+In the course of time we returned to our hotel, dressed, and made our
+way through the winding roads to Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' bungalow.
+
+We were met on the verandah by the old commissioner, who welcomed us
+warmly and praised our punctuality, for the clock was striking seven in
+the drawing-room, as we divested ourselves of our light top-coats. In
+the vestibule, Miss Westonhaugh and her brother came forward to greet
+us.
+
+"John," said the young lady, "you know I told you there was some one
+here whom you got out of trouble ever so many years ago in Bombay. Here
+he is. This is a new introduction. Mr. John Westonhaugh, Mr. Abdul
+Hafiz-ben-Isâk, commonly known to his friends as Mr. Isaacs." Her face
+beamed with pleasure, and I thought with pride, as she led her brother
+to Isaacs, and her eyes rested long on the Persian with a look that, to
+me, argued something more than a mere interest. The two men clasped
+hands and stood for some seconds looking at each other in silence, but
+with very different expressions. Westonhaugh wore a look of utter
+amazement, though he certainly seemed pleased. The good heart that had
+prompted the good action twelve years before was still in the right
+place, above any petty considerations about nationality. His
+astonishment gradually changed to a smile of real greeting and pleasure,
+as he began to shake the hand he still held. I thought that even the
+faintest tinge of blood coloured his pale cheek.
+
+"God bless my soul," said he, "I remember you perfectly well now. But it
+is so unexpected; my sister reminded me of the story, which I had not
+forgotten, and now I look at you I remember you perfectly. I am so
+glad."
+
+As Isaacs answered, his voice trembled, and his face was very pale.
+There was a moisture in the brilliant eyes that told of genuine emotion.
+
+"Mr. Westonhaugh, I consider that I owe to you everything I have in the
+world. This is a greater pleasure than I thought was in store for me.
+Indeed I thank you again."
+
+His voice would not serve him. He stopped short and turned away to look
+for something in his coat.
+
+"Indeed," said Westonhaugh, "it was a very little thing I did for you."
+And presently the two men went together into the drawing-room,
+Westonhaugh asking all manner of questions, which Isaacs, who was
+himself again, began to answer. The rest of us remained in the vestibule
+to meet Lord Steepleton, who at that moment came up the steps. There
+were more greetings, and then the head _khitmatgar_ appeared and
+informed the "_Sahib log_, protectors of the poor, that their meat was
+ready." So we filed into the dining-room.
+
+Isaacs was placed at Miss Westonhaugh's right, and her brother sat on
+his other side. Ghyrkins was opposite his niece at the other end, and
+Kildare and I were together, facing Westonhaugh and Isaacs, a party of
+six. Of course Kildare sat beside the lady.
+
+The dinner opened very pleasantly. _I_ could see that Isaacs'
+undisguised gratitude and delight in having at last met the man who had
+helped him had strongly predisposed John Westonhaugh in his favour. Who
+is it that is not pleased at finding that some deed of kindness, done
+long ago with hardly a thought, has borne fruit and been remembered and
+treasured up by the receiver as the turning-point in his life? Is there
+any pleasure greater than that we enjoy through the happiness of
+others--in those rare cases where kindness is not misplaced? I had had
+time to reflect that Isaacs had most likely told a part of his story to
+Miss Westonhaugh on the previous afternoon as soon as he had recognised
+her brother. He might have told her before; I did not know how long he
+had known her, but it must have been some time. Presently she turned to
+him.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "some of us know something of your history. Why
+will you not tell us the rest now? My uncle has heard nothing of it, and
+I know Lord Steepleton is fond of novels."
+
+Isaacs hesitated long, but as every one pressed him in turn, he yielded
+at last. And he told it well. It was exactly the narrative he had given
+me, in every detail of fact, but the whole effect was different. I saw
+how true a mastery he had of the English language, for he knew his
+audience thoroughly, and by a little colour here and an altered
+expression there he made it graphic and striking, not without humour,
+and altogether free of a certain mystical tinge he had imparted to it
+when we were alone. He talked easily, with no more constraint than on
+other occasions, and his narrative was a small social success. I had not
+seen him in evening dress before, and I could not help thinking how much
+more thoroughly he looked the polished man of the world than the other
+men. Kildare never appeared to greater advantage than in the uniform and
+trappings of his profession. In a black coat and a white tie he looked
+like any other handsome young Englishman, utterly without individuality.
+But Isaacs, with his pale complexion and delicate high-bred features,
+bore himself like a noble of the old school. Westonhaugh beside him
+looked washed-out and deathly, Kildare was too coarsely healthy, and
+Ghyrkins and I, representing different types of extreme plainness,
+served as foils to all three.
+
+I watched Miss Westonhaugh while Isaacs was speaking. She had evidently
+heard the whole story, for her expression showed beforehand the emotion
+she expected to feel at each point. Her colour came and went softly, and
+her eyes brightened with a warm light beneath the dark brows that
+contrasted so strangely yet delightfully with the mass of flaxen-white
+hair. She wore something dark and soft, cut square at the neck, and a
+plain circlet of gold was her only ornament. She was a beautiful
+creature, certainly; one of those striking-looking women of whom
+something is always expected, until they drop quietly out of youth into
+middle age, and the world finds out that they are, after all, not
+heroines of romance, but merely plain, honest, good women; good wives
+and good mothers who love their homes and husbands well, though it has
+pleased nature in some strange freak to give them the form and feature
+of a Semiramis, a Cleopatra, or a Jeanne d'Arc.
+
+"Dear me, how very interesting!" exclaimed Mr. Ghyrkins, looking up from
+his hill mutton as Isaacs finished, and a little murmur of sympathetic
+applause went round the table.
+
+"I would give a great deal to have been through all that," said Lord
+Steepleton, slowly proceeding to sip a glass of claret.
+
+"Just think!" ejaculated John Westonhaugh. "And I was entertaining such
+a Sinbad unawares!" and he took another green pepper from the dish his
+servant handed him.
+
+"Upon my word, Isaacs," I said, "some one ought to make a novel of that
+story; it would sell like wildfire."
+
+"Why don't you do it yourself, Griggs?" he asked. "You are a pressman,
+and I am sure you are welcome to the whole thing."
+
+"I will," I answered.
+
+"Oh do, Mr. Griggs," said the young lady, "and make it wind up with a
+tiger-hunt. You could lay the scene in Australia or the Barbadoes, or
+some of those places, and put us all in--and kill us all off, if you
+like, you know. It would be such fun." Poor Miss Westonhaugh!
+
+"It is easy to see what you are thinking about most, Miss Westonhaugh,"
+said Lord Steepleton: "the tigers are uppermost in your mind; and
+therefore in mine also," he added gallantly.
+
+"Indeed, no--I was thinking about Mr. Isaacs." She blushed scarlet--the
+first time I had ever seen her really embarrassed. It was very natural
+that she should be thinking of Isaacs and the strange adventures he had
+just recounted; and if she had not cared about him she would not have
+changed colour. So I thought, at all events.
+
+"My dear, drink some water immediately, this curry is very hot--deuced
+hot, in fact," said Mr. Ghyrkins, in perfectly good faith.
+
+John Westonhaugh, who was busy breaking up biscuits and green peppers
+and "Bombay ducks" into his curry, looked up slowly at his sister and
+smiled.
+
+"Why, you are quite a griffin, Katharine," said he, "how they will laugh
+at you in Bombay!" I was amused; of course the remarks of her uncle and
+brother did not make the blush subside--on the contrary. Kildare was
+drinking more claret, to conceal his annoyance. Isaacs had a curious
+expression. There was a short silence, and for one instant he turned his
+eyes to Miss Westonhaugh. It was only a look, but it betrayed to me--who
+knew what he felt--infinite surprise, joy, and sympathy. His quick
+understanding had comprehended that he had scored his first victory over
+his rival.
+
+As her eyes met those of Isaacs, the colour left her cheeks as suddenly
+as it had come, leaving her face dead white. She drank a little water,
+and presently seemed at ease again. I was beginning to think she cared
+for him seriously.
+
+"And pray, John," she asked, "what may a griffin be? It is not a very
+pretty name to call a young lady, is it?"
+
+"Why, a griffin," put in Mr. Ghyrkins, "is the 'Mr. Verdant Green' of
+the Civil Service. A young civilian--or anybody else--who is just out
+from home is called a griffin. John calls you a griffin because you
+don't understand eating pepper. You don't find it as _chilly_ as he
+does! Ha! ha! ha!" and the old fellow laughed heartily, till he was red
+in the face, at his bleared old pun. Of course every one was amused or
+professed to be, for it was a diversion welcomed by the three men of us
+who had seen the young girl's embarrassment.
+
+"A griffin," said I, "is a thing of joy. Mr. Westonhaugh was a griffin
+when he gave Mr. Isaacs that historical rupee." I cast my little
+bombshell into the conversation, and placidly went on manipulating my
+rice.
+
+Isaacs was in too gay a humour to be offended, and he only said, turning
+to Miss Westonhaugh--
+
+"Mr. Griggs is a cynyic, you know. You must not believe anything he
+says."
+
+"If doing kind things makes one a griffin, I hope I may be one always,"
+said Miss Westonhaugh quickly, "and I trust my brother is as much a
+griffin as ever."
+
+"I am, I assure you," said he. "But Mr. Griggs is quite right, and shows
+a profound knowledge of Indian life. No one but a griffin of the
+greenest ever gave anybody a rupee in Bombay--or ever will now, I should
+think."
+
+"Oh, John, are you going to be cynical too?"
+
+"No, Katharine, I am not cynical at all. I do not think you are quite
+sure what a 'cynic' is."
+
+"Oh yes, I know quite well. Diogenes was a cynic, and Saint Jerome, and
+other people of that class."
+
+"A man who lives in a tub, and abuses Alexander the Great, and that sort
+of thing," remarked Kildare, who had not spoken for some time.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," said John Westonhaugh, "since you are the accused, pray
+define what you mean by a cynic, and then Mr. Isaacs, as the accuser,
+can have a chance too."
+
+"Very well, I will. A man is a cynic if he will do no good to any one
+because he believes every one past improvement. Most men who do good
+actions are also cynics, because they well know that they are doing more
+harm than good by their charity. Mr. Westonhaugh has the discrimination
+to appreciate this, and therefore he is not a cynic."
+
+"It is well you introduced the saving clause, Griggs," said Isaacs to me
+from across the table. "I am going to define you now; for I strongly
+suspect that you are the very ideal of a philosopher of that class. You
+are a man who believes in all that is good and beautiful in theory, but
+by too much indifference to good in small measures--for you want a thing
+perfect, or you want it not at all--you have abstracted yourself from
+perceiving it anywhere, except in the most brilliant examples of heroism
+that history affords. You set up in your imagination an ideal which you
+call the good man, and you are utterly dissatisfied with anything less
+perfect than perfection. The result is that, though you might do a good
+action from your philosophical longing to approach the ideal in your own
+person, you will not suffer yourself to believe that others are
+consciously or unconsciously striving to make themselves better also.
+And you do not believe that any one can be made a better man by any one
+else, by any exterior agency, by any good that you or others may do to
+him. What makes you what you are is the fact that you really cherish
+this beautiful ideal image of your worship and reverence, and love it;
+but for this, you would be the most insufferable man of my acquaintance,
+instead of being the most agreeable."
+
+Isaacs was gifted with a marvellous frankness of speech. He always said
+what he meant, with a supreme indifference to consequences; but he said
+it with such perfect honesty and evident appreciation of what was good,
+even when he most vehemently condemned what he did not like, that it was
+impossible to be annoyed. Every one laughed at his attack on me, and
+having satisfied my desire to observe Miss Westonhaugh, which had
+prompted my first remark about griffins, I thought it was time to turn
+the conversation to the projected hunt.
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, "I think that in spite of your Parthian shaft,
+your definition of a cynic is as complimentary to the school at large as
+to me in particular. Meanwhile, however," I added, turning to Mr.
+Ghyrkins, "I am inclined to believe with Lord Steepleton that the
+subject uppermost in the thoughts of most of us is the crusade against
+the tigers. What do you say? Shall we not all go as we are, a neat party
+of six?"
+
+"Well, well, Mr. Griggs, we shall see, you know. Now, if we are going at
+all, when do you mean to start?"
+
+"The sooner the better of course," broke in Kildare, and he launched
+into a host of reasons for going immediately, including the wildest
+statistics about the habits of tigers in winter. This was quite natural,
+however, as he was a thorough Irishman and had never seen a tiger in his
+life. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins vainly attempted to stem the torrent of his
+eloquence, but at last pinned him on some erratic statement about tigers
+moulting later in the year and their skins not being worth taking.
+Kildare would have asserted with equal equanimity that all tigers shed
+their teeth and their tails in December; he was evidently trying to
+rouse Mr. Ghyrkins into a discussion on the subject of tiger shooting in
+general, a purpose very easily accomplished. The old gentleman was soon
+goaded to madness by Kildare's wonderful opinions, and before long he
+vowed that the youngster had never seen a tiger,--not one in his whole
+life, sir,--and that it was high time he did, high time indeed, and he
+swore he should see one before he was a week older. Yes, sir, before he
+was a week older, "if I have to carry you among 'em like a baby in arms,
+sir, by gad, sir--I should think so!"
+
+This was all we wanted, and in another ten minutes we were drinking a
+bumper to the health of the whole tiger-hunt and of Miss Westonhaugh in
+particular. Isaacs joined with the rest, and though he only drank some
+sherbet, as I watched his bright eyes and pale cheek, I thought that
+never knight drank truer toast to his lady. Miss Westonhaugh rose and
+went out, leaving us to smoke for a while. The conversation was general,
+and turned on the chase, of course. In a few minutes Isaacs dropped his
+cigarette and went quietly out. I determined to detain the rest as long
+as possible, and I seconded Mr. Ghyrkins in passing the claret briskly
+round, telling all manner of stories of all nations and peoples--ancient
+tales that would not amuse a schoolboy in America, but which were a
+revelation of profound wit and brilliant humour to the unsophisticated
+British mind. By immense efforts--and I hate to exert myself in
+conversation--I succeeded in prolonging the session through a cigar and
+a half, but at last I was forced to submit to a move; and with a
+somewhat ancient remark from Mr. Ghyrkins, to the effect that all good
+things must come to an end, we returned to the drawing-room.
+
+Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were looking over some English photographs,
+and she was enthusiastically praising the beauties of Gothic
+architecture, while Isaacs was making the most of his opportunity, and
+taking a good look at her as she bent over the album. After we came in,
+she made a little music at the tuneless piano--there never was a piano
+in India yet that had any tune in it--playing and singing a little, very
+prettily. She sang something about a body in the rye, and then something
+else about drinking only with the eyes, to which her brother sang a sort
+of second very nicely. I do not understand much about music, but I
+thought the allusion to Isaacs' temperance in only drinking with his
+eyes was rather pointed. He said, however, that he liked it even better
+with a second than when she sang it alone, so I argued that it was not
+the first time he had heard it.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "you have often promised to sing something
+Persian for us. Will you not keep your word now?"
+
+"When we are among the tigers, Miss Westonhaugh, next week. Then I will
+try and borrow a lute and sing you something."
+
+It was late for an Indian dinner-party, so we took our departure soon
+afterwards, having agreed to meet the following afternoon at Annandale
+for the game of polo, in which Westonhaugh said he would also play. He
+and Isaacs made some appointment for the morning; they seemed to be very
+sympathetic to each other. Kildare mounted and rode homeward with us,
+though he had much farther to go than we. If he felt any annoyance at
+the small successes Isaacs had achieved during the evening, he was far
+too courteous a gentleman to show it; and so, as we groped our way
+through the trees by the starlight, chiefly occupied in keeping our
+horses on their legs, the snatches of conversation that were possible
+were pleasant, if not animated, and there was a cordial "Good-night" on
+both sides, as we left Kildare to pursue his way alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon when Isaacs and I emerged
+from the narrow road upon the polo ground. We were clad in the
+tight-fitting garments which are necessary for the game, and wrapped in
+light top-coats; as we came out on the green we saw a number of other
+men in similar costume standing about, and a great many native grooms
+leading ponies up and down. Miss Westonhaugh was there in her gray habit
+and broad hat, and by her side, on foot, Lord Steepleton Kildare was
+making the most of his time, as he waited for the rest of the players.
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was ambling about on his broad little horse, and
+John Westonhaugh stood with his hands in his pockets and a large
+Trichinopoli cheroot between his lips, apparently gazing into space.
+Several other men, more or less known to us and to each other, moved
+about or chatted disconnectedly, and one or two arrived after us. Some
+of them wore coloured jerseys that showed brightly over the open collars
+of their coats, others were in ordinary dress and had come to see the
+game. Farther off, at one side of the ground, one or two groups of
+ladies and their escorting cavaliers haunted at a short distance by
+their saices in many-coloured turbans and belts, or _cummer-bunds,_ as
+the sash is called in India, moved slowly about, glancing from time to
+time towards the place where the players and their ponies were preparing
+for the contest.
+
+Few games require so little preparation and so few preliminaries as
+polo, descended as it is from an age when more was thought of good
+horsemanship and quick eye than of any little refinements depending on
+an accurate knowledge of fixed rules. Any one who is a firstrate rider
+and is quick with his hands can learn to play polo. The stiffest of arms
+can be limbered and the most recalcitrant wrist taught to turn nimbly in
+its socket; but the essential condition is, that the player should know
+how to ride. This being established, there is no reason why anybody who
+likes should not play the game, if he will only use a certain amount of
+caution, and avoid braining the other players and injuring the ponies by
+too wild a use of his mallet. Presently it was found that all who were
+to play had arrived--eight of us all told. Kildare had arranged the
+sides and had brought the other men necessary to make the number
+complete, so we mounted and took up our positions on the ground. Kildare
+and Isaacs were together, and Westonhaugh and I on the other side, with
+two men I knew slightly. We won the charge, and Westonhaugh, who was a
+celebrated player, struck the ball off cleverly, and I followed him up
+with a rush as he raced after it. Isaacs, on the other side, swept along
+easily, and as the ball swerved on striking the ground bent far over
+till he looked as though he were out of the saddle and stopped it
+cleverly, while Kildare, who was close behind, got a good stroke in just
+in time, as Westonhaugh and I galloped down on him, and landed the ball
+far to the rear near our goal. As we wheeled quickly, I saw that one of
+the other two men on our side had stopped it and was beginning to
+"dribble" it along. This was very bad play, both Westonhaugh and I being
+so far forward, and it met its reward. Isaacs and Kildare raced down on
+him, but the latter soon pulled up on finding himself passed, and
+waited. Isaacs rushed upon the temporising player and got the ball away
+from him in no time; eluded the other man, and with a neat stroke sent
+the ball right between the poles. The game had hardly lasted three
+minutes, and a little sound of clapping was heard from where the
+spectators were standing, far off on one side. I could see Miss
+Westonhaugh plainly, as she cantered with her uncle to where the victors
+were standing together on the other side, patting their ponies and
+adjusting stirrup and saddle. Isaacs had his back turned, but wheeled
+round as he heard the sound of hoofs behind him and bowed low in his
+saddle to the fair girl, whose face, I could see even at that distance,
+was flushed with pleasure. They remained a few minutes in conversation,
+and then the two spectators rode away, and we took up our positions once
+more.
+
+The next game was a much longer one. It was the turn of the other party
+to hit off, for Kildare won the charge. There were encounters of all
+kinds; twice the ball was sent over the line, but outside the goal, by
+long sweeping blows from Isaacs, who ever hovered on the edge of the
+scrimmage, and, by his good riding, and the help of a splendid pony,
+often had a chance where another would have had none. At last it
+happened that I was chasing the ball back towards our goal, from one of
+his hits, and he was pursuing me. I had the advantage of a long start,
+and before he could reach me I got in a heavy "backhander" that sent the
+ball far away to one side, where, as good luck would have it,
+Westonhaugh was waiting. Quick as thought he carried it along, and in
+another minute we had scored a goal, amidst enthusiastic shouts from the
+spectators, who had been kept long in suspense by the protracted game.
+This time it was to our side that the young girl came, riding up to her
+brother to congratulate him on his success. I thought she had less
+colour as she came nearer, and though she smiled sweetly as she said,
+"It was splendidly played, John," there was not so much enthusiasm in
+her voice as the said John, who had really won the game with masterly
+neatness, might have expected. Then she sat quietly looking over the
+ground, while we dismounted from our ponies, breathless, and foaming,
+and lathery, from the hard-fought battle. The grooms ran up with
+blankets and handfuls of grass to give the poor beasts a rub, and
+covering them carefully after removing the saddles, led them away.
+
+The sun leaves Annandale early, and I put on a coat and lit a cigarette,
+while the saice saddled our second mounts. There are few prettier sights
+than an English game, of any kind, on a beautiful stretch of turf. The
+English live, and move and have their being out of doors. A
+cricket-match, tennis, a racecourse, or a game of polo, show them at
+their greatest advantage, whether as players or spectators. Their fresh
+complexions suit the green of the grass and of the trees as naturally as
+a bed of roses, or cyclamens, or any fresh and healthy flower will
+combine with the grass and the ferns in garden or glen. The glorious
+vitality that belongs to their race seems to blossom freshly in the
+contact with their mother earth, and the physical capacity for motion
+with which nature endows them makes them graceful and fascinating to
+watch, when in some free and untrammelled dress of white they are at
+their games, batting and bowling and galloping and running; they have
+the same natural grace then as a herd of deer or antelopes; they are
+beautiful animals in the full enjoyment of life and vigour, of health
+and strength; they are intensely alive. Something of this kind passed
+through my mind, in all probability, and, combined with the delightful
+sensation any strong man feels in the pause after great exertion,
+disposed me well towards my fellows and towards mankind at large.
+Besides we had won the last game.
+
+"You look pleased, Mr. Griggs," said Miss Westonhaugh, who had probably
+been watching me for a moment or two. "I did not know cynics were ever
+pleased."
+
+"I remember who it was that promised to crown the victors of this match,
+Miss Westonhaugh, and I cherish some hopes of being one of them. Would
+you mind very much?"
+
+"Mind? Oh dear no; you had better try. But if you stand there with your
+coat on, you will not have much chance. They are all mounted, and
+waiting for you."
+
+"Well, here goes," I said to myself, as I got into the saddle again. "I
+hope he may win, but he would find me out in a minute if I tried to play
+into his hands." We were only to play the best out of three goals, and
+the score was "one all." All eight of us had fresh mounts, and the
+experience of each other's play we had got in the preceding games made
+it likely that the game would be a long one. And so it turned out.
+
+From the first things went badly. John Westonhaugh's fresh pony was very
+wild, and he had to take him a breather half over the ground before he
+could take his place for the charge. When at last the first stroke was
+made, the ball went low along the ground, spinning and twisting to right
+and left. Both Kildare and Isaacs missed it and wheeled across to
+return, when a prolonged scrimmage ensued less than thirty yards from
+their goal. Every one played his best, and we wheeled and spun round in
+a way that reminded one of a cavalry skirmish. Strokes and back-strokes
+followed quickly, till at last I got the ball as it came rolling out
+between my horse's legs, and, hotly pursued, beyond the possibility of
+making a fair stroke, I moved away with it in front of me.
+
+Then began one of those interminable circular games that all polo
+players know so well, round and round the battlefield, riding close
+together, sometimes one succeeding in driving the ball a little, only to
+be foiled by the next man's ill-delivered back-stroke; racing, and
+pulling up short, and racing again, till horses and riders were in a
+perspiration and a state of madness not to be attained by any peaceful
+means. At last, as we were riding near our own goal, some one, I could
+not see who, struck the ball out into the open. Isaacs, who had just
+missed, and was ahead, rode for it like a madman, his club raised high
+for a back-stroke. He was hotly pressed by the man who had roused my
+wrath in the first game by his "dribbling" policy. He was a light weight
+and had kept his best horse for the last game, so that as Isaacs spun
+along at lightning speed the little man was very close to him, his club
+well back for a sweeping hit. He rode well, but was evidently not so old
+a hand in the game as the rest of us. They neared the ball rapidly and
+Isaacs swerved a little to the left in order to get it well under his
+right hand, thus throwing himself somewhat across the track of his
+pursuer. As the Persian struck with all his force downwards and
+backwards, his adversary, excited by the chase, beyond all judgment or
+reckoning of his chances, hit out wildly, as beginners will. The long
+elastic handle of his weapon struck Isaacs' horse on the flank and
+glanced upward, the head of the club striking Isaacs just above the back
+of the neck. We saw him throw up his arms, the club in his right hand
+hanging to his wrist by the strap. The infuriated little arab pony tore
+on, and in a moment more the iron grip of the rider's knees relaxed,
+Isaacs swayed heavily in the saddle and fell over on the near side, his
+left foot hanging in the stirrup and dragging him along some paces
+before the horse finally shook himself clear and scampered away across
+the turf. The whole catastrophe occurred in a moment; the man who had
+done the mischief threw away his club to reach the injured player the
+sooner, and as we thundered after him, my pony stumbled over the long
+handle, and falling, threw me heavily over his head. I escaped with a
+very slight kick from one of the other horses, and leaving my beast to
+take care of himself, ran as fast as I could to where Isaacs lay, now
+surrounded by the six players as they dismounted to help him. But there
+was some one there before them.
+
+The accident had occurred near the middle of the ground, and opposite
+the place where Miss Westonhaugh and her uncle had taken up their stand
+to watch the contest. With a shake of the reins and a blow of the hand
+that made the thoroughbred bound his length as he plunged into a gallop,
+the girl rode wildly to where Isaacs lay, and reining the animal back on
+his haunches, sprang to the ground and knelt quickly down, so that
+before the others had reached them she had propped up his head and was
+rubbing his hands in hers. There was no mistaking the impulse that
+prompted her. She had seen many an accident in the hunting-field, and
+knew well that when a man fell like that it was ten to one he was badly
+hurt.
+
+Isaacs was ghastly pale, and there was a little blood on Miss
+Westonhaugh's white gauntlet. Her face was whiter even than his, though
+not a quiver of mouth or eyelash betrayed emotion. The man who had done
+it knelt on the other side, rubbing one of the hands. Kildare and
+Westonhaugh galloped off at full speed, and presently returned bearing a
+brandy-flask and a smelling-bottle, and followed by a groom with some
+water in a native _lota_. I wanted to make him swallow some of the
+liquor, but Miss Westonhaugh took the flask from my hands.
+
+"He would not like it. He never drinks it, you know," she said in a
+quiet low voice, and pouring some of the contents on her handkerchief,
+moistened all his brows and face and hair with the powerful alcohol.
+
+"Loosen his belt! pull off his boots, some of you!" cried Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins, as he came up breathless. "Take off his belt--damn it, you
+know! Dear, dear!" and he got off his _tat_ with all the alacrity he
+could muster.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh never took her eyes from the face of the prostrate
+man--pressing the wet handkerchief to his brow, and moistening the palm
+of the hand she held with brandy. In a few minutes Isaacs breathed a
+long heavy breath, and opened his eyes.
+
+"What is the matter?" he said; then, recollecting himself and trying to
+move his head--"Oh! I have had a tumble. Give me some water to drink."
+There was a sigh of relief from every one present as he spoke, quite
+naturally, and I held the _lota_ to his lips. "What became of the ball?"
+he asked quickly, as he sat up. Then turning round, he saw the beautiful
+girl kneeling at his side. The blood rushed violently to his face, and
+his eyes, a moment ago dim with unconsciousness, flashed brightly.
+"What! Miss Westonhaugh--you?" he bounded to his feet, but would have
+fallen back if I had not caught him in my arms, for he was still dizzy
+from the heavy blow that had stunned him. The blood came and went in his
+cheeks, and he hung on my arm confused and embarrassed, looking on the
+ground.
+
+"I really owe you all manner of apologies--" he began.
+
+"Not a bit of it, my dear boy," broke in Ghyrkins, "my niece was nearest
+to you when you fell, and so she came up and did the right thing, like
+the brave girl she is." The old fellow helped her to rise as he said
+this, and he looked so pleased and proud of her that I was delighted
+with him. "And now," he went on, "we must see how much you are hurt--the
+deuce of a knock, you know, enough to kill you--and if you are not able
+to ride, why, we will carry you home, you know; the devil of a way off
+it is, too, confound it all." As he jerked out his sentences he was
+feeling the back of Isaacs' head, to ascertain, if he could, how much
+harm had been done. All this time the man who had done the mischief was
+standing by, looking very penitent, and muttering sentences of apology
+as he tried to perform any little office for his victim that came in his
+way. Isaacs stretched out his arm, while Ghyrkins was feeling and
+twisting his head, and taking the man's hand, held it a moment.
+
+"My dear sir," he said, "I am not in the least hurt, I assure you, and
+it was my fault for crossing you at such a moment. Please do not think
+anything more about it." He smiled kindly at the young fellow, who
+seemed very grateful, and who from that day on would have risked
+everything in the world for him. I heard behind me the voice of Kildare,
+soliloquising softly.
+
+"Faith," said he, "that fellow is a gentleman if I ever saw one. I am
+afraid I should not have let that infernal duffer off so easily.
+By-the-bye, Isaacs," he said aloud, coming up to us, "you know you won
+the game. Nobody stopped the ball after you hit it, and the saices say
+it ran right through the goal. So cheer up; you have got something for
+your pains and your tumble." It was quite true; the phlegmatic saices
+had watched the ball instead of the falling man. Miss Westonhaugh, who
+was really a sensible and self-possessed young woman, and had begun to
+be sure that the accident would have no serious results, expressed the
+most unbounded delight.
+
+"Thank you, Miss Westonhaugh," said Isaacs; "you have kept your promise;
+you have crowned the victor."
+
+"With brandy," I remarked, folding up a scarf which somebody had given
+me wherewith to tie a wet compress to the back of his head.
+
+"There is nothing the matter," said Ghyrkins; "no end of a bad bruise,
+that's all. He will be all right in the morning, and the skin is only a
+little broken."
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs, who could now stand quite firm again, "hold the
+wet handkerchief in place, and give me that scarf." I did as he
+directed, and he took the white woollen shawl, and in half a dozen turns
+wound it round his head in a turban, deftly and gracefully. It was
+wonderfully becoming to his Oriental features and dark eyes, and I could
+see that Miss Westonhaugh thought so. There was a murmur of approbation
+from the native grooms who were looking on, and who understood the
+thing.
+
+"You see I have done it before," he said, smiling. "And now give me my
+coat, and we will be getting home. Oh yes! I can ride quite well."
+
+"That man has no end of pluck in him," said John Westonhaugh to Kildare.
+
+"By Jove! yes," was the answer. "I have seen men at home make twice the
+fuss over a tumble in a ploughed field, when they were not even stunned.
+I would not have thought it."
+
+"He is not the man to make much fuss about anything of that kind."
+
+Isaacs stoutly refused any further assistance, and after walking up and
+down a few minutes, he said he had got his legs back, and demanded a
+cigarette. He lit it carefully, and mounted as if nothing had happened,
+and we moved homeward, followed by the spectators, many of whom, of
+course, were acquaintances, and who had ridden up more or less quickly
+to make polite inquiries about the accident. No one disputed with Isaacs
+the right to ride beside Miss Westonhaugh on the homeward road. He was
+the victor of the day, and of course was entitled to the best place. We
+were all straggling along, but without any great intervals between us,
+so that the two were not able to get away as they had done on Saturday
+evening, but they talked, and I heard Miss Westonhaugh laugh. Isaacs was
+determined to show that he appreciated his advantage, and though, for
+all I know, he might be suffering a good deal of pain, he talked gaily
+and sat his horse easily, rather a strange figure in his light-coloured
+English overcoat, surmounted by the large white turban he had made out
+of the shawl. As we came out on the mall at the top of the hill, Mr.
+Ghyrkins called a council of war.
+
+"Of course we shall have to put off the tiger-hunt."
+
+"I suppose so," muttered Kildare, disconsolately.
+
+"Why?" said Isaacs. "Not a bit of it. Head or no head, we will start
+to-morrow morning. I am well enough, never fear."
+
+"Nonsense, you know it's nonsense," said Ghyrkins, "you will be in bed
+all day with a raging headache. Horrid things, knocks on the back of the
+head."
+
+"Not I. My traps are all packed, and my servants have gone down to
+Kalka, and I am going to-morrow morning."
+
+"Well, of course, if you really think you can," etc. etc. So he was
+prevailed upon to promise that if he should be suffering in the morning
+he would send word in time to put off the party. "Besides," he added,
+"even if I could not go, that is no reason why you should not."
+
+"Stuff," said Ghyrkins.
+
+"Oh!" said Miss Westonhaugh, looking rather blank.
+
+"That would never do," said John.
+
+"Preposterous! we could not think of going without you," said Lord
+Steepleton Kildare loudly; he was beginning to like Isaacs in spite of
+himself. And so we parted.
+
+"I shall not dine to-night, Griggs," said Isaacs, as we paused before
+his door. "Come in for a moment: you can help me." We entered the richly
+carpeted room, and he went to a curious old Japanese cabinet, and after
+opening various doors and divisions, showed a small iron safe. This he
+opened by some means known to himself, for he used no key, and he took
+out a small vessel of jade and brought it to the light. "Now," he said,
+"be good enough to warm this little jar in your hands while I go into
+the next room and get my boots and spurs and things off. But do not open
+it on any account--not on any account, until I come back," he added very
+emphatically.
+
+"All right, go ahead," said I, and began to warm the cold thing that
+felt like a piece of ice between my hands. He returned in a few minutes
+robed in loose garments from Kashmir, with the low Eastern slippers he
+generally wore indoors. He sat down among his cushions and leaned back,
+looking pale and tired; after ordering the lamps to be lit and the doors
+closed, he motioned me to sit down beside him.
+
+"I have had a bad shaking," he said, "and my head is a good deal
+bruised. But I mean to go to-morrow in spite of everything. In that
+little vial there is a powerful remedy unknown in your Western medicine.
+Now I want you to apply it, and to follow with the utmost exactness my
+instructions. If you fear you should forget what I tell you, write it
+down, for a mistake might be fatal to you, and would certainly be fatal
+to me."
+
+I took out an old letter and a pencil, not daring to trust my memory.
+
+"Put the vial in your bosom while you write: it must be near the
+temperature of the body. Now listen to me. In that silver box is wax.
+Tie first this piece of silk over your mouth, and then stop your
+nostrils carefully with the wax. Then open the vial quickly and pour a
+little of the contents into your hand. You must be quick, for it is very
+volatile. Rub that on the back of my head, keeping the vial closed. When
+your hand is dry, hold the vial open to my nostrils for two minutes by
+your watch. By that time, I shall be asleep. Put the vial in this pocket
+of my _caftán_; open all the doors and windows, and tell my servant to
+leave them so, but not to admit any one. Then you can leave me; I shall
+sleep very comfortably. Come back and wake me a little before midnight.
+You will wake me easily by lifting my head and pressing one of my hands.
+Remember, if you should forget to wake me, and I should still be asleep
+at one o'clock, I should never open my eyes again, and should be dead
+before morning. Do as I tell you, for friendship's sake, and when I wake
+I shall bathe and sleep naturally the rest of the night."
+
+I carefully fulfilled his instructions. Before I had finished rubbing
+his head he was drowsy, and when I took the vial from his nostrils he
+was sound asleep. I placed the precious thing where he had told me, and
+arranged his limbs on the cushions. Then I opened everything, and
+leaving the servant in charge went my way to my rooms. On removing the
+silk and the wax which had protected me from the powerful drug, an
+indescribable odour which permeated my clothes ascended to my nostrils;
+aromatic, yet pungent and penetrating; I never smelt anything that it
+reminded me of, but I presume the compound contained something of the
+nature of an opiate. I took some books down to Isaacs' rooms and passed
+the evening there, unwilling to leave him to the care of an inquisitive
+servant, and five minutes before midnight I awoke him in the manner he
+had directed. He seemed to be sleeping lightly, for he was awake in a
+moment, and his first action was to replace the vial in the curious
+safe. He professed himself perfectly restored; and, indeed, on examining
+his bruise I found there was no swelling or inflammation. The odour of
+the medicament, which, as he had said, seemed to be very volatile, had
+almost entirely disappeared. He begged me to go to bed, saying that he
+would bathe and then do likewise, and I left him for the night;
+speculating on the nature of this secret and precious remedy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+The Himalayan _tonga_ is a thing of delight. It is easily described, for
+in principle it is the ancient Persian war-chariot, though the
+accommodation is so modified as to allow four persons to sit in it back
+to back; that is, three besides the driver. It is built for great
+strength, the wheels being enormously heavy, and the pole of the size of
+a mast. Harness the horses have none, save a single belt with a sort of
+lock at the top, which fits into the iron yoke through the pole, and can
+slide from it to the extremity; there is neither breeching nor trace nor
+collar, and the reins run from the heavy curb bit directly through loops
+on the yoke to the driver's hands. The latter, a wiry, long-bearded
+Mohammedan, is armed with a long whip attached to a short thick stock,
+and though he sits low, on the same level as the passenger beside him on
+the front seat, he guides his half broken horses with amazing dexterity
+round sharp curves and by giddy precipices, where neither parapet nor
+fencing give the startled mind even a momentary impression of security.
+The road from Simla to Kalka at the foot of the hills is so narrow that
+if two vehicles meet, the one has to draw up to the edge of the road,
+while the other passes on its way. In view of the frequent encounters,
+every tonga-driver is provided with a post horn of tremendous power and
+most discordant harmony; for the road is covered with bullock carts
+bearing provisions and stores to the hill station. Smaller loads, such
+as trunks and other luggage, are generally carried by coolies, who
+follow a shorter path, the carriage road being ninety-two miles from
+Umballa, the railroad station, to Simla, but a certain amount may be
+stowed away in the tonga, of which the capacity is considerable.
+
+In three of these vehicles our party of six began the descent on Tuesday
+morning, wrapped in linen "dusters" of various shades and shapes, and
+armed with countless varieties of smoking gear. The roughness of the
+road precludes all possibility of reading, and, after all, the rapid
+motion and the constant appearance of danger--which in reality does not
+exist--prevent any overpowering _ennui_ from assailing the dusty
+traveller. So we spun along all day, stopping once or twice for a little
+refreshment, and changing horses every five or six miles. Everybody was
+in capital spirits, and we changed seats often, thus obtaining some
+little variety. Isaacs, who to every one's astonishment, seemed not to
+feel any inconvenience from his accident, clung to his seat in Miss
+Westonhaugh's tonga, sitting in front with the driver, while she and her
+uncle or brother occupied the seat behind, which is far more
+comfortable. At last, however, he was obliged to give his place to
+Kildare, who had been very patient, but at last said it "really wasn't
+fair, you know," and so Isaacs courteously yielded. At last we reached
+Kalka, where the tongas are exchanged for _dâk gharry_ or mail carriage,
+a thing in which you can sit up in the daytime and lie down at night,
+there being an extension under the driver's box calculated for the
+accommodation of the longest legs. When lying down in one of these
+vehicles the sensation is that of being in a hearse and playing a game
+of funeral. On this occasion, however, it was still early when we made
+the change, and we paired off, two and two, for the last part of the
+drive. By the well planned arrangements of Isaacs and Kildare, two
+carriages were in readiness for us on the express train, and though the
+difference in temperature was enormous between Simla and the plains,
+still steaming from the late rainy season, the travelling was made easy
+for us, and we settled ourselves for the journey, after dining at the
+little hotel; Miss Westonhaugh bidding us all a cheery "good-night" as
+she retired with her _ayah_ into the carriage prepared for her. I will
+not go into tedious details of the journey--we slept and woke and slept
+again, and smoked, and occasionally concocted iced drinks from our
+supplies, for in India the carriages are so large that the traveller
+generally provides himself with a generous basket of provisions and a
+travelling ice-chest full of bottles, and takes a trunk or two with him
+in his compartment. Suffice it to say that we arrived on the following
+day at Fyzabad in Oude, and that we were there met by guides and
+shikarries--the native huntsmen--who assured us that there were tigers
+about near the outlying station of Pegnugger, where the elephants,
+previously ordered, would all be in readiness for us on the following
+day. The journey from Fyzabad to Pegnugger was not a long one, and we
+set out in the cool of the evening, sending our servants along in that
+"happy-go-lucky" fashion which characterises Indian life. It has always
+been a mystery to me how native servants manage always to turn up at the
+right moment. You say to your man, "Go there and wait for me," and you
+arrive and find him waiting; though how he transferred himself thither,
+with his queer-looking bundle, and his lota, and cooking utensils, and
+your best teapot wrapped up in a newspaper and ready for use, and with
+all the other hundred and one things that a native servant contrives to
+carry about without breaking or losing one of them, is an unsolved
+puzzle. Yet there he is, clean and grinning as ever, and if he were not
+clean and grinning and provided with tea and cheroots, you would not
+keep him in your service a day, though you would be incapable of looking
+half so spotless and pleased under the same circumstances yourself.
+
+On the following day, therefore, we found ourselves at Pegnugger,
+surrounded by shikarries and provided with every instrument of the chase
+that the ingenuity of man and the foresight of Isaacs and Ghyrkins could
+provide. There were numbers of tents, sleeping tents, cooking tents, and
+servants' tents; guns and ammunition of every calibre likely to be
+useful; _kookries_, broad strong weapons not unlike the famous American
+bowie knives (which are all made in Sheffield, to the honour, glory, and
+gain, of British trade); there were huge packs of provisions edible and
+potable; baskets of utensils for the kitchen and the table, and piles of
+blankets and tenting gear for the camp. There was also the little
+collector of Pegnugger, whose small body housed a stout heart, for he
+had shot tigers on foot before now in company with a certain German
+doctor of undying sporting fame, whose big round spectacles seemed to
+direct his bullets with unerring precision. But the doctor was not here
+now, and so the sturdy Englishman condescended to accept a seat in the
+howdah, and to kill his game with somewhat less risk than usual.
+
+This first day was occupied in transferring our party, now swelled by
+countless beaters and numerous huntsmen, not to mention all the retinue
+of servants necessary for an Indian camp, to the neighbourhood of the
+battlefield. There is not much conversation on these occasions, for the
+party is apt to become scattered, and there is a general tone of
+expectancy in the air, the old hands conversing more with the natives
+who know the district than with each other, and the young ones either
+wondering how many tigers they will kill, or listening open mouthed to
+the tales of adventure reeled off by the yard by the old bearded
+shikarry, who has slain the king of the jungle with a _kookrie_ in hand
+to hand struggle when he was young, and bears the scars of the deadly
+encounter on his brown chest to this day. Old Ghyrkins, who was
+evidently in his element, rode about on a little _tat_, questioning
+beaters and shikarries, and coming back every now and then to bawl up
+some piece of information to the little collector, who had established
+himself on one of the elephants and looked down over the edge of the
+howdah, the great pith hat on his head making him look like an immense
+mushroom with a very thin stem sprouting suddenly from the back of the
+huge beast. He smiled pleasantly at the old sportsman from his
+elevation, and seemed to know all about it. It so chanced that when he
+received Isaacs' telegrams he had been planning a little excursion on
+his own account, and had been sending out scouts and beaters for some
+days to ascertain where the game lay. This, of course, was so much clear
+gain to us, and the little man was delighted at the opportune
+coincidence which enabled him, by the unlimited money supplied, to join
+in such a hunt as he had not seen since the time when the Prince of
+Wales disported himself among the royal game, three years before. As for
+Miss Westonhaugh, she was in the gayest of spirits, as she sat with her
+brother on an elephant's back, while Isaacs, who loved the saddle,
+circled round her and kept up a fire of little compliments and pretty
+speeches, to which she was fast becoming inured. Kildare and I followed
+them closely on another elephant, discoursing seriously about the hunt,
+and occasionally shouting some question to John Westonhaugh, ahead,
+about sport in the south.
+
+Before evening we had arrived at our first camping ground, near a small
+village on the outskirts of the jungle, and the tents were pitched on a
+little elevation covered with grass, now green and waving. The men had
+mowed a patch clear, and were busy with the pegs and all the
+paraphernalia of a canvas house, and we strolled about, some of us
+directing the operations, others offering a sacrifice of cooling liquids
+and tobacco to the setting sun. Miss Westonhaugh had heard about living
+in tents ever since she came to India, and had often longed to sleep in
+one of those temporary chambers that are set up anywhere in the
+"compound" of an English bungalow for the accommodation of the bachelor
+guests whom the house itself is too small to hold; now she was enchanted
+at the prospect of a whole fortnight under canvas, and watched with rapt
+interest the driving of the pegs, the raising of the poles, and the
+careful furnishing of her dwelling. There was a carpet, and armchairs,
+and tables, and even a small bookcase with a few favourite volumes. To
+us in civilised life it seems a great deal of trouble to transport a
+lunch basket and a novel to some shady glen to enjoy a day's rest in the
+open air, and we would almost rather starve than take the trouble to
+carry provisions. In India you speak the word, and as by magic there
+arises in the wilderness a little village of tents, furnished with every
+necessary luxury--and the luxuries necessary to our degenerate age are
+many--a kitchen tent is raised, and a skilled dark-skinned artist
+provides you in an hour with a dinner such as you could eat in no hotel.
+The treasures of the huge portable ice-chest reveal cooling wines and
+soda water to the thirsty soul, and if you are going very far beyond the
+reach of the large towns, a small ice-machine is kept at work day and
+night to increase the supply while you sleep, and to maintain it while
+you wake. In the _connât_ or verandah of the tent, long chairs await you
+after your meal, and as you smoke the fragrant cigarette and watch the
+stars coming out, you feel as comfortable as though you had been dining
+in your own spacious bungalow in Mudnugger.
+
+It was not long before all was ready, and having made many ablutions and
+a little toilet, we assembled round the dinner table in the eating tent,
+the same party that had dined at Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' house on Sunday
+night, with the addition of the little collector of Pegnugger, whose
+stories of his outlying district were full of humour and anecdote. The
+talk bending in the direction of adventure, Kildare, who had been lately
+in South Africa with his regiment, told some tales of Zulus and assegais
+and Boers in the Hibernian style of hyperbole. The Irish blood never
+comes out so strongly as when a story is to be told, and no amount of
+English education and Oxford accent will suppress the tendency. The
+brogue is gone, but the love of the marvellous is there still. Isaacs
+related the experience of "a man he knew," who had been pulled off his
+elephant, howdah and all, and had killed the tiger with a revolver at
+half arm's length.
+
+"Ah yes," said the little collector, who had not caught the names of all
+the party when introduced, "I read about it at the time; I remember it
+very well. It happened in Purneah two years ago. The gentleman was a Mr.
+Isaacs of Delhi. Queer name too--remember perfectly." There was a roar
+of laughter at this, in which the collector joined vociferously on being
+informed that the man with the "queer name" was his neighbour at table.
+
+"You see what you get for your modesty," cried old Ghyrkins, laughing to
+convulsions.
+
+"And is it really true, Mr. Isaacs?" asked Miss Westonhaugh, looking
+admiringly across at the young man, who seemed rather annoyed.
+
+And so the conversation went round and all were merry, and some were
+sleepy after dinner, and we sat in long chairs under the awning or
+_connât_. There was no moon yet, but the stars shone out as they shine
+nowhere save in India, and the evening breeze played pleasantly through
+the ropes after the long hot day. Miss Westonhaugh assured everybody for
+the hundredth time that day that she rather liked the smell of cigars,
+and so we smoked and chatted a little, and presently there was a jerk
+and a sputtering sneeze from Mr. Ghyrkins, who, being weary with the
+march and the heat and the good dinner, and on the borders of sleep, had
+put the wrong end of his cigar in his mouth with destructive results.
+Then he threw it away with a small volley of harmless expletives, and
+swore he would go to bed, as he could not stand our dulness any longer;
+but he merely shifted his position a little, and was soon snoring
+merrily.
+
+"What a pity it is we have no piano, Katharine," said John Westonhaugh,
+who was fond of music. "Could you not sing something without any
+accompaniment?"
+
+"Oh no. Mr. Isaacs," she said, turning her voice to where she could see
+the light of his cigarette and the faint outline of his chair in the
+starlight, "here we are in the camp. Now where is the 'lute' you
+promised to produce for us? I think the time has come at last for you to
+keep your promise."
+
+"Well," said he, "I believe there really is an old guitar or something
+of the kind among my traps somewhere. But it might wake Mr. Ghyrkins,
+who, I understand from his tones, is asleep."
+
+Various opinions were expressed to the effect that Mr. Ghyrkins was not
+so easily disturbed, and a voice like Kildare's was heard to mumble that
+"it would not hurt him if he was," a sentence no one attempted to
+construe. So the faithful Narain was summoned, and instructed to bring
+the instrument if he could find it. I was rather surprised at Isaacs'
+readiness to sing; but in the first place I had never heard him, and
+besides I did not make allowance for the Oriental courtesy of his
+character, which would not refuse anything, or make any show of refusal
+in order to be pressed. Narain returned with a very modern-looking
+guitar-case, and, opening the box, presented his master with the
+instrument, which, as Isaacs took it to the light in the door of the
+tent to see if it had travelled safely, appeared to be a perfectly new
+German guitar. I suspected him of having purchased it at the little
+music shop at Simla, for the especial amusement of our party.
+
+"I thought it was a lute you played on," said Miss Westonhaugh, "a real,
+lovely, ancient Assyrian lute, or something of that kind."
+
+"Oh, a plain guitar is infinitely better and less troublesome," said
+Isaacs as he returned to his seat in the dark and began to tune the
+strings softly. "It takes so long to tune one of those old things, and
+then nothing will make them stand. Now this one, you see,--or rather you
+cannot see,--has an ingenious contrivance of screws by which you may
+tune it in a moment." While he was speaking he was altering the pitch of
+the strings, and presently he added, "There, it is done now," and two or
+three sounding chords fell on the still air. "Now what shall I sing? I
+await your commands."
+
+"Something soft, and sweet, and gentle."
+
+"A love-song?" asked he quietly.
+
+"Well yes--a love-song if you like. Why not?" said she.
+
+"No reason in the world that I can think of," I remarked. Whereat Lord
+Steepleton Kildare threw his cigar away, and began lighting another a
+moment after, as if he had discarded his weed by mistake.
+
+Isaacs struck a few chords softly, and then began a sort of running
+accompaniment. His voice, which seemed to me to be very high, was
+wonderfully smooth and round, and produced the impression of being much
+more powerful than he cared to show. He sang without the least effort,
+and yet there was none of that effeminate character that I have noticed
+in European male singers when producing high notes very softly. I do not
+understand music, but I am sure I never heard an opera tenor with a
+voice of such quality. The words of his song were Persian, and the pure
+accents of his native tongue seemed well suited to the half passionate,
+half plaintive air he had chosen. I afterwards found a translation of
+the sonnet by an English officer, which I here give, though it conveys
+little idea of the music of the original verse.
+
+    Last night, my eyes being closed in sleep, but my good fortune awake,
+    The whole night, the livelong night, the image of my beloved one was the
+    companion of my soul.
+    The sweetness of her melodious voice still remains vibrating on my soul;
+    Heavens! how did the sugared words fall from her sweeter lips;
+    Alas! all that she said to me in that dream has escaped from my memory,
+    Although it was my care till break of day to repeat over and over her
+    sweet words.
+    The day, unless illuminated by her beauty, is, to my eyes, of nocturnal
+    darkness.
+    Happy day that first I gazed upon that lovely face!
+    May the eyes of Jami long be blessed with pleasing visions, since they
+    presented to his view last night
+    The object, on whose account he passed his waking life in
+    expectation.[1]
+
+His beautiful voice ceased, and with infinite skill he wove a few
+strains of the melody into the final chords he played when he had
+finished singing. It was all so entirely novel, so unlike any music most
+of us had ever heard, and it was so undeniably good, that every one
+applauded and said something to the singer in turn, expressing the
+greatest admiration and appreciation. Miss Westonhaugh was the last to
+speak.
+
+"It is perfectly lovely," she said. "I wish I could understand the
+words--are they as sweet as the music?"
+
+"Sweeter," he answered, and he gave an offhand translation of two or
+three verses.
+
+"Beautiful indeed," she said; "and now sing me another, please." There
+was no resisting such an appeal, with the personal pronoun in the
+singular number. He moved a little nearer, and emphatically sang to her,
+and to no one else. A song of the same character as the first, but, I
+thought, more passionate and less dreamy, as his great sweet voice
+swelled and softened and rose again in burning vibrations and waves of
+sound. She did not ask a translation this time, but some one else did,
+after the applause had subsided.
+
+"I cannot translate these things," said Isaacs, "so as to do them
+justice, or give you any idea of the strength and vitality of the
+Persian verses. Perhaps Griggs, who understands Persian very well and is
+a literary man, may do it for you. I would rather not try." I professed
+my entire inability to comply with the request, and to turn the
+conversation asked him where he had learned to play the guitar so well.
+
+"Oh," he answered, "in Istamboul, years ago. Everybody plays in
+Istamboul--and most people sing love-songs. Besides it is so easy," and
+he ran scales up and down the strings with marvellous rapidity to
+illustrate what he said.
+
+"And do you never sing English songs, Mr. Isaacs?" asked the collector
+of Pegnugger, who was enchanted, not having heard a note of music for
+months.
+
+"Oh, sometimes," he answered. "I think I could sing 'Drink to me only
+with thine eyes'--do you know it?" He began to play the melody on the
+guitar while he spoke.
+
+"Rather--I should think so!" Kildare was heard to say. He was beginning
+to think the concert had lasted long enough.
+
+"Oh, do sing it, Mr. Isaacs," said the young girl, "and my brother and I
+will join in. It will be so pretty!"
+
+It certainly sounded very sweetly as he gave the melody in his clear,
+high tones, and Miss Westonhaugh and John sang with him. Having heard it
+several thousand times myself, I was beginning to recognise the tune
+well enough to enjoy it a good deal.
+
+"That is very nice," said Kildare, who was sorry he had made an
+impatient remark before, and wanted to atone.
+
+"Eh? what? how's that?" said Mr. Ghyrkins just waking up. "Oh! of
+course. My niece sings charmingly. Quite an artist, you know." And he
+struggled out of his chair and said it was high time we all went to bed
+if we meant to shoot straight in the morning. The magistrate of
+Pegnugger concurred in the opinion, and we reluctantly separated for the
+night to our respective quarters, Isaacs and I occupying a tent
+together, which he had caused to be sent on from Delhi, as being
+especially adapted to his comfort.
+
+On the following day at dawn we were roused by the sound of
+preparations, and before we were dressed the voices of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins and the collector were heard in the camp, stirring up the
+sleepy servants and ordering us to be waked. The two old sportsmen felt
+it their duty to be first on such an occasion as this, and in the calm
+security that they would do everything that was right, Isaacs and I
+discussed our tea and fruit--the _chota haziri_ or "little breakfast"
+usually taken in India on waking--sitting in the door of our tent, while
+Kiramat Ali and Narain and Mahmoud and the rest of the servants were
+giving a final rub to the weapons of the chase, and making all the
+little preparations for a long day. And we sat looking out and sipping
+our tea.
+
+In the cool of the dawn Miss Westonhaugh came tripping across the wet
+grass to where her uncle was giving his final directions about the
+furnishing of his howdah for the day; a lovely apparition of freshness
+in the gray morning, all dressed in dark blue, a light pith
+helmet-shaped hat pressing the rebellious white-gold hair almost out of
+sight. She walked so easily it seemed as if her dainty little feet had
+wings, as Hermes' of old, to ease the ground of their feather weight. A
+broad belt hung across her shoulder with little rows of cartridges set
+all along, and at the end hung a very business-like revolver case of
+brown leather and of goodly length. No toy miniature pistol would she
+carry, but a full-sized, heavy "six-shooter," that might really be of
+use at close quarters. She stood some minutes talking with Mr. Ghyrkins,
+not noticing us in the shadow of the tent some thirty yards away; Isaacs
+and I watched her intently--with very different feelings, possibly, but
+yet intensely admiring the fair creature, so strong and pliant, and yet
+so erect and straight. She turned half round towards us, and I saw there
+were flowers in the front of her dress. I wondered where they had come
+from; they were roses--of all flowers in the world to be blooming in the
+desert. Perhaps she had brought them carefully from Fyzabad, but that
+was improbable; or from Pegnugger--yes, there would be roses in the
+collector's garden there. Isaacs rose to his feet.
+
+"Oh, come along, Griggs. You have had quite enough tea!"
+
+"Go ahead; I will be with you in a moment." But a sudden thought struck
+me, and I went with him, bareheaded, to greet Miss Westonhaugh. She
+smiled brightly as she held out her hand.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Isaacs. Thank you so much for the roses. How _did_
+you do it? They are _too_ lovely!" So it was just as I thought. Isaacs
+had probably despatched a man back to Pegnugger in the night.
+
+"Very easy I assure you. I am so glad you like them. They are not very
+fresh after all though, I see," he added depreciatingly, as men do when
+they give flowers to people they care about. I never heard a man find
+fault with flowers he gave out of a sense of duty. It is perhaps that
+the woman best loved of all things in the world has for him a sweetness
+and a beauty that kills the coarser hues of the rose, and outvies the
+fragrance of the double violets.
+
+"Oh no!" she said, emphasising the negative vigorously. "I think they
+are perfectly beautiful, but I want you to tell me where you got them."
+I began talking to Ghyrkins, who was intent on the arrangement of his
+guns which was going on under his eyes, but I heard the answer, though
+Isaacs spoke in a low voice.
+
+"You must not say that, Miss Westonhaugh. You yourself are the most
+perfect and beautiful thing God ever made." By a superhuman effort I
+succeeded in keeping my eyes fixed on Ghyrkins, probably with a stony,
+unconscious stare, for he presently asked what I was looking at. I do
+not think Isaacs cared whether I heard him or not, knowing that I
+sympathised, but Mr. Ghyrkins was another matter. The Persian had made
+progress, for there was no trace of annoyance in Miss Westonhaugh's
+answer, though she entirely overlooked her companion's pretty speech.
+
+"Seriously, Mr. Isaacs, if you mean to have one of them for your badge
+to-day, you must tell me how you got them." I turned slowly round. She
+was holding a single rose in her fingers, and looking from it to him, as
+if to see if it would match his olive skin and his Karkee shooting-coat.
+He could not resist the bribe.
+
+"If you really want to know I will tell you, but it is a profound
+secret," he said, smiling. "Griggs, swear!"
+
+I raised my hand and murmured something about the graves of my
+ancestors.
+
+"Well," he continued, "yesterday morning at the collector's house I saw
+a garden; in the garden there were roses, carefully tended, for it is
+late. I took the gardener apart and said, 'My friend, behold, here is
+silver for thee, both rupees and pais. And if thou wilt pick the best of
+thy roses and deliver them to the swift runner whom I will send to thee
+at supper time when the stars are coming out, I will give thee as much
+as thou shalt earn in a month with thy English master. But if thou wilt
+not do it, or if thou failest to do it, having promised, I will cause
+the grave of thy father to be defiled with the slaughter of swine, and,
+moreover, I will return and beat thee with a thick stick!' The fellow
+was a Mussulman, and there was a merry twinkle in his eye as he took the
+money and swore a great oath. I left a running man at Pegnugger with a
+basket, and that is how you got the roses. Don't tell the collector,
+that is all."
+
+We all laughed, and Miss Westonhaugh gave the rose to Isaacs, who
+touched it to his lips, under pretence of smelling it, and put it in his
+buttonhole. Kildare came up at this moment and created a diversion; then
+the collector joined us and scattered us right and left, saying it was
+high time we were in the howdahs and on the way. So we buckled on our
+belts, and those who wore hats put them on, and those who preferred
+turbans bent while their bearers wound them on, and then we moved off to
+where the elephants were waiting and got into our places, and the
+_mahouts_ urged the huge beasts from their knees to their feet, and we
+went swinging off to the forest. The pad elephants, who serve as beaters
+and move between the howdah animals, joined us, and presently we went
+splashing through the reedy patches of fern, and crashing through the
+branches, towards the heart of the jungle.
+
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, whose long experience had made him as cool when
+after tigers as when reading the _Pioneer_ in his shady bungalow at
+Simla, had taken Miss Westonhaugh with him in his howdah, and as an
+additional precaution for her safety, the little collector of Pegnugger,
+who was a dead shot, only allowed two pad elephants to move between
+himself and Ghyrkins. As there were thirty-seven animals in all, the
+rest of the party were much scattered. I thought there were too many
+elephants for our six howdahs, but it turned out that I was mistaken,
+for we had capital sport. The magistrate of Pegnugger, who knew the
+country thoroughly, was made the despot of the day. His orders were
+obeyed unquestioningly and unconditionally, and we halted in long line
+or marched onwards, forcing a passage through every obstacle, at his
+word. We might have been out a couple of hours, watching every patch of
+jungle and blade of long rank grass for a sight of the striped skin,
+writhing through the reeds, that we so longed to see, when the quick,
+short crack of a rifle away to the right brought us to a halt, and every
+one drew a long breath and turned, gun in hand, in the direction whence
+the sound had come. It was Kildare; he had met his first tiger, and the
+first also of the hunt. He had put up the animal not five paces in front
+of him, stealing along in the cool grass and hoping to escape between
+the elephants, in the cunning way they often do. He had fired a snap
+shot too quickly, inflicting a wound in the flank which only served to
+rouse the tiger to madness. With a leap that seemed to raise its body
+perpendicularly from the ground, the gorgeous creature flew into the air
+and settled right on the head of Kildare's elephant, while the terrified
+_mahout_ wound himself round the howdah. It would have been a trying
+position for the oldest sportsman, but to be brought into such terrific
+encounter at arm's length, almost, at one's very first experience of the
+chase, was a terrible test of nerve. Those who were near said that in
+that awful moment Kildare never changed colour. The elephant plunged
+wildly in his efforts to shake off the beast from his head, but Kildare
+had seized his second gun the moment he had discharged the first, and
+aiming for one second only, as the tossing head and neck of the tusker
+brought the gigantic cat opposite him, fired again. The fearful claws,
+driven deep and sure into the thick hide of the poor elephant, relaxed
+their hold, the beautiful lithe limbs straightened by their own
+perpendicular weight, and the first prize of the day dropped to the
+ground like lead, dead, shot through the head.
+
+A great yell of triumph arose all along the line, and the little
+_mahout_ crept cautiously back from his lurking-place behind the howdah
+to see if the coast were clear. Kildare had behaved splendidly, and
+shouts of congratulation reached his ears from all sides. Miss
+Westonhaugh waved her handkerchief in token of approbation, every one
+applauded, and far away to the left Isaacs, who was in the last howdah,
+clapped his hands vigorously, and sent his high clear voice ringing like
+a trumpet down the line.
+
+"Well done, Kildare! well done, indeed!" and his rival's praise was not
+the least grateful to Lord Steepleton on that day. Meanwhile the
+shikarries gathered around the fallen beast. It proved to be a young
+tigress some eight feet long, and the clean bright coat showed that she
+was no man-eater. So the pad elephant came alongside, to use a nautical
+phrase not inappropriate, and kneeling down received its burden
+willingly, well knowing that the slain beauty was one of his deadly
+foes. The _mahout_ pronounced the elephant on which Kildare was mounted
+able to proceed, and only a few huge drops of blood marked where the
+tigress had kept her hold. We moved on again, beating the jungle,
+wheeling and doubling the long line, wherever it seemed likely that some
+striped monster might have eluded us. Marching and counter-marching
+through the heat of the day, we picked up another-prize in the
+afternoon. It was a large old tiger, nine feet six as he lay; he fell an
+easy prey to the gun of the little collector of Pegnugger, who sent a
+bullet through his heart at the first shot, and smiled rather
+contemptuously as he removed the empty shell of the cartridge from his
+gun. He would rather have had Kildare's chance in the morning.
+
+After all, two tigers in a day was not bad sport for the time of year. I
+knew Isaacs would be disappointed at not having had a shot, where his
+rival in a certain quarter had had so good an opportunity for displaying
+skill and courage; and I confessed to myself that I preferred a small
+party, say, a dozen elephants and three howdahs, to this tremendous and
+expensive _battue_. I had a shot-gun with me, and consoled myself by
+shooting a peacock or two as we rolled and swayed homewards. We had
+determined to keep to the same camp for a day or two, as we could enter
+the forest from another point on the morrow, and might even beat some of
+the same ground again with success.
+
+It was past five when we got down to the tents and descended from our
+howdahs, glad to stretch our stiffened limbs in a brisk walk. The dead
+tigers were hauled into the middle of the camp, and the servants ran
+together to see the result of the _sahib log's_ day out. We retired to
+dress and refresh ourselves for dinner.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+In Isaacs' tent I was pulling off my turban, all shapeless and crumpled
+by the long day, while Isaacs stood disconsolately looking at the clean
+guns and unbroken rows of cartridges which Narain deposited on the
+table. The sun was very low, and shone horizontally through the raised
+door of the tent on my friend's rather gloomy face. At that moment
+something intercepted the sunshine, and a dark shadow fell across the
+floor. I looked, and saw a native standing on the threshold, salaaming
+and waiting to be spoken to. He was not one of our men, but a common
+ryot, clad simply in a _dhoti_ or waist-cloth, and a rather dirty
+turban.
+
+"Kya chahte ho?"--"What do you want?" asked Isaacs impatiently. He was
+not in a good humour by any means. "Wilt thou deprive thy betters of the
+sunlight thou enjoyest thyself?"
+
+"The sahib's face is like the sun and the moon," replied the man
+deprecatingly. "But if the great lord will listen I will tell him what
+shall rejoice his heart."
+
+"Speak, unbeliever," said Isaacs.
+
+"Protector of the poor! you are my father and my mother! but I know
+where there lieth a great tiger, an eater of men, hard-hearted, that
+delighteth in blood."
+
+"Dog," answered Isaacs, calmly removing his coat, "the tiger you speak
+of was seen by you many moons since; what do you come to me with idle
+tales for?" Isaacs was familiar with the native trick of palming off old
+tigers on the unwary stranger, in the hope of a reward.
+
+"Sahib, I am no liar. I saw the tiger, who is the king of the forest,
+this morning." Isaacs' manner relaxed a little, and he sat down and
+lighted the eternal cigarette. "Slave," he said meditatively, "if it is
+as you say, I will kill the tiger, but if it is not as you say, I will
+kill you, and cause your body to be buried with the carcass of an ox,
+and your soul shall not live." The man did not seem much moved by the
+threat. He moved nearer, and salaamed again.
+
+"It is near to the dwelling of the sahib, who is my father," said the
+man, speaking low. "The day before yesterday he destroyed a man from the
+village. He has eaten five men in the last moon. I have seen him enter
+his lair, and he will surely return before the dawn; and the sahib shall
+strike him by his lightning; and the sahib will not refuse me the ears
+of the man-eater, that I may make a _jädu_, a charm against sudden
+death?"
+
+"Hound! if thou speakest the truth, and I kill the tiger, the monarch of
+game, I will make thee a rich man; but thou shalt not have his ears. I
+desire the _jädu_ for myself. I have spoken; wait thou here my
+pleasure." The ryot bent low to the earth, and then squatted by the
+tent-door to wait, in the patient way that a Hindoo can, for Isaacs to
+go and eat his dinner. As the latter came out ten minutes later, he
+paused and addressed the man once more. "Speak not to any man of thy
+tiger while I am gone, or I will cut off thine ears with a pork knife."
+And we passed on.
+
+The sun was now set and hovering in the afterglow, the new moon was
+following lazily down. I stopped a moment to look at her, and was
+surprised by Miss Westonhaugh's voice close behind me.
+
+"Are you wishing by the new moon, Mr. Griggs?" she asked.
+
+"Yes," said I, "I was. And what were you wishing, Miss Westonhaugh, if I
+may ask?" Isaacs came up, and paused beside us. The beautiful girl stood
+quite still, looking to westward, a red glow on the white-gold masses of
+her hair.
+
+"Did you say you were wishing for something, Miss Westonhaugh?" he
+asked. "Perhaps I can get it for you. More flowers, perhaps? They are
+very easily got."
+
+"No--that is, not especially. I was wishing--well, that a tiger-hunt
+might last for ever; and I want a pair of tiger's ears. My old _ayah_
+says they keep off evil spirits and sickness; and all sorts of things."
+
+"I know; it is a curious idea. I suppose both those beasts there have
+lost theirs already. These fellows cut them off in no time."
+
+"Yes. I have looked. So I suppose I must wait till to-morrow. But
+promise me, Mr. Isaacs, if you shoot one to-morrow, let me have the
+ears!"
+
+"I will promise that readily enough. I would promise anything you--" The
+last part of the sentence was lost to me, as I moved away and left them.
+
+At dinner, of course, every one talked of the day's sport, and
+compliments of all kinds were showered on Lord Steepleton, who looked
+very much pleased, and drank a good deal of wine. Ghyrkins and the
+little magistrate expressed their opinion that he would make a famous
+tiger-killer one of these days, when he had learned to wait. Every one
+was hungry and rather tired, and after a somewhat silent cigar, we
+parted for the night, Miss Westonhaugh rising first. Isaacs went to his
+quarters, and I remained alone in a long chair, by the deserted
+dining-tent. Kiramat Ali brought me a fresh hookah, and I lay quietly
+smoking and thinking of all kinds of things--things of all kinds,
+tigers, golden hair, more tigers, Isaacs, Shere Ali, Baithop--, what was
+his name--Baithop--p--. I fell asleep.
+
+Some one touched my hand, waking me suddenly. I sprang to my feet and
+seized the man by the throat, before I recognised in the starlight that
+it was Isaacs.
+
+"You are not a nice person to rouse," remarked he in a low voice, as I
+relaxed my grasp. "You will have fever if you sleep out-of-doors at this
+time of year. Now look here; it is past midnight, and I am going out a
+little way." I noticed that he had a _kookrie_ knife at his waist, and
+that his cartridge-belt was on his chest.
+
+"I will go with you," said I, guessing his intention. "I will be ready
+in a moment," and I began to move towards the tent.
+
+"No. I must go alone, and do this thing single-handed. I have a
+particular reason. I only wanted to warn you I was gone, in case you
+missed me. I shall take that ryot fellow with me to show me the way."
+
+"Give him a gun," I suggested.
+
+"He could not use one if I did. He has your _kookrie_ in case of
+accidents."
+
+"Oh, very well! do not let me interfere with any innocent and childlike
+pastime you may propose for your evening hours. I will attend to your
+funeral in the morning. Good-night."
+
+"Good-night; I shall be back before you are up." And he walked quickly
+off to where the ryot was waiting and holding his guns. He had the sense
+to take two. I was angry at the perverse temerity of the man. Why could
+he not have an elephant out and go like a sensible thinking being,
+instead of sneaking out with one miserable peasant to lie all night
+among the reeds, in as great danger from cobras as from the beast he
+meant to kill? And all for a girl --an English girl--a creature all fair
+hair and eyes, with no more intelligence than a sheep! Was it not she
+who sent him out to his death in the jungle, that her miserable caprice
+for a pair of tiger's ears might be immediately satisfied? If a woman
+ever loved me, Paul Griggs,--thank heaven no woman ever did,--would I go
+out into bogs and desert places and risk my precious skin to find her a
+pair of cat's ears? Not I;--wait a moment, though. If I were in his
+place, if Miss Westonhaugh loved _me_--I laughed at the conceit. But
+supposing she did. Just for the sake of argument, I would allow it. I
+think that I would risk something after all. What a glorious thing it
+would be to be loved by a woman, once, wholly and for ever. To meet the
+creature I described to him the other night, waiting for me to come into
+her life, and to be to her all I could be to the woman I should love.
+But she has never come; never will, now; still, there is a sort of rest
+to me in thinking of rest. Hearth, home, wife, children; the worn old
+staff resting in the corner, never to wander again. What a strange thing
+it is that men should have all these, and more, and yet never see that
+they have the simple elements of earthly happiness, if they would but
+use them. And we, outcasts and wanderers, children of sin and darkness,
+in whose hands one commandment seems hardly less fragile than another,
+would give anything--had we anything to give--for the happiness of a
+home, to call our own. How strange it is that what I said to Isaacs
+should be true. "Do not marry unless you must depend on each other for
+daily bread, or unless you are rich enough to live apart." Yes, it is
+true, in ninetynine cases out of a hundred. But then, I should add a
+saving clause, "and unless you are quite sure that you love each other."
+Ay, there is the _pons asinorum,_ the bridge whereon young asses and old
+fools come to such terrible grief. They are perfectly sure they love
+eternally; they will indignantly scorn the suggestions of prudence; love
+any other woman? never, while I live, answers the happy and
+unsophisticated youth. Be sorry I did it? Do you think I am a schoolboy
+in my first passion? demands the aged bridegroom. And so they marry, and
+in a year or two the enthusiastic young man runs away with some other
+enthusiastic man's wife, and the octogenarian spouse finds himself
+constituted into a pot of honey for his wife's swarming relations to
+settle on, like flies. But a man in strong middle prime of age, like me,
+knows his own mind; and--yes, on the whole I was unjust to Isaacs and to
+Miss Westonhaugh. If a woman loved me, she should have all the tiger's
+ears she wanted. "Still, I hope he will get back safely," I added, in
+afterthought to my reverie, as I turned into bed and ordered Kiramat Ali
+to wake me half an hour before dawn.
+
+I was restless, sleeping a little and dreaming much. At last I struck a
+light and looked at my watch. Four o'clock. It would not be dawn for
+more than an hour; I knew Isaacs had made for the place where the tiger
+passed his days, certain that he would return near daybreak, according
+to all common probability. He need not have gone so early, I thought.
+However, it might be a long way off. I lay still for a while, but it
+seemed very hot and close under the canvas. I got up and threw a
+_caftán_ round me, drew a chair into the _connât_ and sat, or rather
+lay, down in the cool morning breeze. Then I dozed again until Kiramat
+Ali woke me by pulling at my foot. He said it would be dawn in half an
+hour. I had passed a bad night, and went out, as I was, to walk on the
+grass. There was Miss Westonhaugh's tent away off at the other end. She
+was sleeping calmly enough, never doubting that at that very moment the
+man who loved her was risking his life for her pleasure--her slightest
+whim. She would be wide awake if she knew it, staring out into the
+darkness and listening for the crack of his rifle. A faint light
+appeared behind the dining-tent, over the distant trees, like the light
+of London seen from twenty or thirty miles' distance in the country, a
+faint, suggestive, murky grayness in the sky, making the stars look
+dimmer.
+
+The sound of a shot rang true and clear through the chill air; not far
+off I thought. I held my breath, listening for a second report, but none
+came. So it was over. Either he had killed the tiger with his first
+bullet, or the tiger had killed him before he could fire a second. I was
+intensely excited. If he were safe I wished him to have the glory of
+coming home quite alone. There was nothing for it but to wait, so I went
+into my tent and took a bath--a very simple operation where the bathing
+consists in pouring a huge jar of water over one's head. Tents in India
+have always a small side tent with a ditch dug to drain off the water
+from the copious ablutions of the inmate. I emerged into the room
+feeling better. It was now quite light, and I proceeded to dress
+leisurely to spin out the time. As I was drawing on my boots, Isaacs
+sauntered in quietly and laid his gun on the table. He was pale, and his
+Karkee clothes were covered with mud and leaves and bits of creeper, but
+his movements showed he was not hurt in any way; he hardly seemed tired.
+
+"Well?" I said anxiously.
+
+"Very well, thank you. Here they are," and he produced from the pocket
+of his coat the _spolia opima_ in the shape of a pair of ears, that
+looked very large to me. There was a little blood on them and on his
+hands as he handed the precious trophies to me for inspection. We stood
+by the open door, and while I was turning over the ears curiously in my
+hands, he looked down at his clothes.
+
+"I think I will take a bath," he said; "I must have been in a dirty
+place."
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, taking his hand, "this is absurd. I mean all
+this affected calmness. I was angry at your going in that way, to risk
+your head in a tiger's mouth; but I am sincerely glad to see you back
+alive. I congratulate you most heartily."
+
+"Thank you, old man," he said, his pale face brightening a little. "I am
+very glad myself. Do you know I have a superstition that I must fulfil
+every wish of--like that--even half expressed, to the very letter?"
+
+"The 'superstition,' as you call it, is worthy of the bravest knight
+that ever laid lance in rest. Don't part with superstitions like that.
+They are noble and generous things."
+
+"Perhaps," he answered, "but I really am very superstitious," he added,
+as he turned into the bathing _connât_. Soon I heard him splashing among
+the water jars.
+
+"By-the-bye, Griggs," he called out through the canvas, "I forgot to
+tell you. They are bringing that beast home on an elephant. It was much
+nearer than we supposed. They will be here in twenty minutes." A
+tremendous splashing interrupted him. "You can go and attend to that
+funeral you were talking about last night," he added, and his voice was
+again drowned in the swish and souse of the water. "He was rather
+large--over ten feet--I should say. Measure him as soon as he--" another
+cascade completed the sentence. I went out, taking the measuring tape
+from the table.
+
+In a few minutes the procession appeared. Two or three matutinal
+shikarries had gone out and come back, followed by the elephant, for
+which Isaacs had sent the ryot at full speed the moment he was sure the
+beast was dead. And so they came up the little hill behind the
+dining-tent. The great tusker moved evenly along, bearing on the pad an
+enormous yellow carcass, at which the little _mahout_ glanced
+occasionally over his shoulder. Astride of the dead king sat the ryot,
+who had directed Isaacs, crooning a strange psalm of victory in his
+outlandish northern dialect, and occasionally clapping his hands over
+his head with an expression of the most intense satisfaction I have ever
+seen on a human face. The little band came to the middle of the camp
+where the other tigers, now cut up and skinned elsewhere, had been
+deposited the night before, and as the elephant knelt down, the
+shikarries pulled the whole load over, pad, tiger, ryot and all, the
+latter skipping nimbly aside. There he lay, the great beast that had
+taken so many lives. We stretched him out and measured him--eleven feet
+from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, all but an inch--as a
+little more straightening fills the measure, eleven feet exactly.
+
+Meanwhile, the servant and shikarries collected, and the noise of the
+exploit went abroad. The sun was just rising when Mr. Ghyrkins put his
+head out of his tent and wanted to know "what the deuce all this
+_tamäsha_ was about."
+
+"Oh, nothing especial," I called out. "Isaacs has killed an eleven foot
+man-eater in the night. That is all."
+
+"Well I'm damned," said Mr. Ghyrkins briefly, and to the point, as he
+stared from his tent at the great carcass, which lay stretched out for
+all to see, the elephant having departed.
+
+"Clear off those fellows and let me have a look at him, can't you?" he
+called out, gathering the tent curtains round his neck; and there he
+stood, his jolly red face and dishevelled gray hair looking as if they
+had no body attached at all.
+
+I went back to our quarters. Isaacs was putting the ears, which he had
+carefully cleansed from blood, into a silver box of beautiful
+workmanship, which Narain had extracted from his master's numerous
+traps.
+
+"Take that box to Miss Westonhaugh's tent," he said, giving it to the
+servant, "with a greeting from me--with 'much peace.'" The man went out.
+
+"She will send the box back," said I. "Such is the Englishwoman. She
+will take a pair of tiger's ears that nearly cost you your life, and she
+would rather die than accept the bit of silver in which you enclose
+them, without the 'permission of her uncle.'"
+
+"I do not care," he said, "so long as she keeps the ears. But unless I
+am much mistaken, she will keep the box too. She is not like other
+Englishwomen in the least."
+
+I was not sure of that. We had some tea in the door of our tent, and
+Isaacs seemed hungry and thirsty, as well he might be. Now that he was
+refreshed by bathing and the offices of the camp barber, he looked much
+as usual, save that the extreme paleness I had noticed when he came in
+had given place to a faint flush beneath the olive, probably due to his
+excitement, the danger being past. As we sat there, the rest of the
+party, who had slept rather later than usual after their fatigues of the
+previous day, came out one by one and stood around the dead tiger,
+wondering at the tale told by the delighted ryot, who squatted at the
+beast's head to relate the adventure to all comers. We could see the
+group from where we sat, in the shadow of the _connât_, and the
+different expressions of the men as they came out. The little collector
+of Pegnugger measured and measured again; Mr. Ghyrkins stood with his
+hands in his coat pockets and his legs apart, then going to the other
+side he took up the same position again. Lord Steepleton Kildare
+sauntered round and twirled his big moustache, saying nothing the while,
+but looking rather serious. John Westonhaugh, who seemed to be the
+artistic genius of the party, sent for a chair and made his servant hold
+an umbrella over him while he sketched the animal in his notebook, and
+presently his sister came out, a big bunch of roses in her belt, and a
+broad hat half hiding her face, and looked at the tiger and then round
+the party quickly, searching for Isaacs. In her hand she held a little
+package wrapped in white tissue paper. I strolled up to the group,
+leaving Isaacs in his tent. I thought I might as well play innocence.
+
+"Of course," I remarked, "those fellows have bagged his ears as usual."
+
+"They never omit that," said Ghyrkins.
+
+"Oh no, uncle," broke in Miss Westonhaugh, "he gave them to me!"
+
+"Who?" asked Ghyrkins, opening his little eyes wide.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs. Did not he kill the tiger? He sent me the ears in a little
+silver box. Here it is--the box, I mean. I am going to give it back to
+him, of course."
+
+"How did Mr. Isaacs know you wanted them?" asked her uncle, getting red
+in the face.
+
+"Why, we were talking about them last night before dinner, and he
+promised that if he shot a tiger to-day he would give me the ears." Mr.
+Ghyrkins was redder and redder in the morning sun. There was a storm of
+some kind brewing. We were collected together on the other side of the
+dead tiger and exchanged all kinds of spontaneous civilities and
+remarks, not wishing to witness Mr. Ghyrkins' wrath, nor to go away too
+suddenly. I heard the conversation, however, for the old gentleman made
+no pretence of lowering his voice.
+
+"And do you mean to say you let him go off like that? He must have been
+out all night. That beast of a nigger says so. On foot, too. I say on
+foot! Do you know what you are talking about? Eh? Shooting tigers on
+foot? What? Eh? Might have been killed as easily as not! And then what
+would you have said? Eh? What? Upon my soul! You girls from home have no
+more hearts than a parcel of old Juggernauts!" Ghyrkins was now furious.
+We edged away towards the dining-tent, making a great talk about the
+terrible heat of the sun in the morning. I caught the beginning of Miss
+Westonhaugh's answer. She had hardly appreciated the situation yet, and
+probably thought her uncle was joking, but she spoke very coldly, being
+properly annoyed at his talking in such a way.
+
+"You cannot suppose for a moment that I meant him to go," I heard her
+say, and something else followed in a lower tone. We then went into the
+dining-tent.
+
+"Now look here, Katharine," Mr. Ghyrkins' irate voice rang across the
+open space, "if any young woman asked me----" John Westonhaugh had risen
+from his chair and apparently interrupted his uncle. Miss Westonhaugh
+walked slowly to her tent, while her male relations remained talking. I
+thought Isaacs had shown some foresight in not taking part in the
+morning discussion. The two men went into their tents together and the
+dead tiger lay alone in the grass, the sun rising higher and higher,
+pouring down his burning rays on man and beast and green thing. And soon
+the shikarries came with a small elephant and dragged the carcass away
+to be skinned and cut up. Kildare and the collector said they would go
+and shoot some small game for dinner. Isaacs, I supposed, was sleeping,
+and I was alone in the dining-tent. I shouted for Kiramat Ali and sent
+for books, paper, and pens, and a hookah, resolved to have a quiet
+morning to myself, since it was clear we were not going out to-day. I
+saw Ghyrkins' servant enter his tent with bottles and ice, and I
+suspected the old fellow was going to cool his wrath with a "peg," and
+would be asleep most of the morning. John would take a peg too, but he
+would not sleep in consequence, being of Bombay, iron-headed and
+spirit-proof. So I read on and wrote, and was happy, for I like the heat
+of the noon-day and the buzzing of the flies, and the smell of the
+parched grass, being southern born.
+
+About twelve o'clock, when I was beginning to think I had done enough
+work for one day, I saw Miss Westonhaugh's native maid come out of her
+mistress's tent and survey the landscape, shading her eyes with her
+hand. She was dressed, of course, in spotless white drapery, and there
+were heavy anklets on her feet and bangles of silver on her wrist. She
+seemed satisfied by her inspection and went in again, returning
+presently with Miss Westonhaugh and a large package of work and novels
+and letter-writing materials. They came straight to where I was sitting
+under the airy tent where we dined, and Miss Westonhaugh established
+herself at one side of the table at the end of which I was writing.
+
+"It is so hot in my tent," she said almost apologetically, and began to
+unroll some worsted work.
+
+"Yes, it is quite unbearable," I answered politely, though I had not
+thought much about the temperature. There was a long silence, and I
+collected my papers in a bundle and leaned back in my chair. I did not
+know what to say, nor was anything expected of me. I looked occasionally
+at the young girl, who had laid her hat on the table, allowing the rich
+coils of dazzling hair to assert their independence. Her dark eyes were
+bent over her work as her fingers deftly pushed the needle in and out of
+the brown linen she worked on.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," she began at last without looking up, "did you know Mr.
+Isaacs was going out last night to kill that horrid thing?" I had
+expected the question for some time.
+
+"Yes; he told me about midnight, when he started."
+
+"Then why did you let him go?" she asked, looking suddenly at me, and
+knitting her dark eyebrows rather fiercely.
+
+"I do not think I could have prevented him. I do not think anybody could
+prevent him from doing anything he had made up his mind to. I nearly
+quarrelled with him, as it was."
+
+"I am sure I could have stopped him, if I had been you," she said
+innocently.
+
+"I have not the least doubt that you could. Unfortunately, however, you
+were not available at the time, or I would have suggested it to you."
+
+"I wish I had known," she went on, plunging deeper and deeper. "I would
+not have had him go for--for anything."
+
+"Oh! Well, I suppose not. But, seriously, Miss Westonhaugh, are you not
+flattered that a man should be willing and ready to risk life and limb
+in satisfying your lightest fancy?"
+
+"Flattered?" she looked at me with much astonishment and some anger. I
+was sure the look was genuine and not assumed.
+
+"At all events the tiger's ears will always be a charming reminiscence,
+a token of esteem that any one might be proud of."
+
+"I am not proud of them in the least, though I shall always keep them as
+a warning not to wish for such things. I hope that the next time Mr.
+Isaacs is going to do a foolish thing you will have the common sense to
+prevent him." She returned to her starting-point; but I saw no use in
+prolonging the skirmish, and turned the talk upon other things. And soon
+John Westonhaugh joined us, and found in me a sympathetic talker and
+listener, as we both cared a great deal more for books than for tigers,
+though not averse to a stray shot now and then.
+
+In this kind of life the week passed, shooting to-day and staying in
+camp to-morrow. We shifted our ground several times, working along the
+borders of the forest and crashing through the jungle after tiger with
+varying success. In the evenings, when not tired with the day's work, we
+sat together, and Isaacs sang, and at last even prevailed upon Miss
+Westonhaugh to let him accompany her with his guitar, in which he proved
+very successful. They were constantly together, and Ghyrkins was heard
+to say that Isaacs was "a very fine fellow, and it was a pity he wasn't
+English," to which Kildare assented somewhat mournfully, allowing that
+it was quite true. His chance was gone, and he knew it, and bore it like
+a gentleman, though he still made use of every opportunity he had to
+make himself acceptable to Miss Westonhaugh. The girl liked his manly
+ways, and was always grateful for any little attention from him that
+attracted her notice, but it was evident that all her interest ceased
+there. She liked him in the same way she liked her brother, but rather
+less, if anything. She hardly knew, for she had seen so little of John
+since she was a small child. I suppose Isaacs must have talked to her
+about me, for she treated me with a certain consideration, and often
+referred questions to me, on which I thought she might as well have
+consulted some one else. For my part, I served the lovers in every way I
+could think of. I would have done anything for Isaacs then as now, and I
+liked her for the honest good feeling she had shown about him,
+especially in the matter of the tiger's ears, for which she could not
+forgive herself--though in truth she had been innocent enough. And they
+were really lovers, those two. Any one might have seen it, and but for
+the wondrous fascination Isaacs exercised over every one who came near
+him, and the circumstances of his spotless name and reputation for
+integrity in the large transactions in which he was frequently known to
+be engaged, it is certain that Mr. Ghyrkins would have looked askance at
+the whole affair, and very likely would have broken up the party.
+
+In the course of time we became a little _blasé_ about tigers, till on
+the eighth day from the beginning of the hunt, which was a Thursday, I
+remember, an incident occurred which left a lasting impression on the
+mind of every one who witnessed it. It was a very hot morning, the
+hottest day we had had, and we had just crossed a _nullah_ in the
+forest, full from the recent rains, wherein the elephants lingered
+lovingly to splash the water over their heated sides, drowning the
+swarms of mosquitoes from which they suffer such torments, in spite of
+their thick skins. The collector called a halt on the opposite side; our
+line of march had become somewhat disordered by the passage, and
+numerous tracks in the pasty black mud showed that the _nullah_ was a
+favourite resort of tigers--though at this time of day they might be a
+long distance off. I had come next to the collector after we emerged
+from the stream, the pad elephants having lingered longer in the water,
+and Mr. Ghyrkins with Miss Westonhaugh was three or four places beyond
+me. It was shady and cool under the thick trees, and the light was not
+good. The collector bent over his howdah, looking at some tracks.
+
+"Those tracks look suspiciously fresh, Mr. Griggs," said the collector,
+scrutinising the holes, not yet filled by the oozing back water of the
+_nullah_. "Don't you think so?"
+
+"Indeed, yes. I do not understand it at all," I replied. At the
+collector's call a couple of beaters came forward and stooped down to
+examine the trail. One of them, a good-looking young _gowala_, or
+cowherd, followed along the footprints, examining each to be sure he was
+not going on a false spoor; he moved slowly, scrutinising each hole, as
+the traces grew shallower on the rising ground, approaching a bit of
+small jungle. My sight followed the probable course of the track ahead
+of him and something caught my eyes, which are remarkably good, even at
+a great distance. The object was brown and hairy; a dark brown, not the
+kind of colour one expects to see in the jungle in September. I looked
+closely, and was satisfied that it must be part of an animal; still more
+clearly I saw it, and no doubt remained in my mind; it was the head of a
+bullock or a heifer. I shouted to the man to be careful, to stop and let
+the elephants plough through the undergrowth, as only elephants can. But
+he did not understand my Hindustani, which was of the civilised _Urdu_
+kind learnt in the North-West Provinces. The man went quickly along, and
+I tried to make the collector comprehend what I saw. But the pad
+elephants were coming out of the water and forcing themselves between
+our beasts, and he hardly caught what I said in the confusion. The track
+led away to my left, nearly opposite to the elephant bearing Mr.
+Ghyrkins and his niece. The little Pegnugger man was on my right. The
+native held on, moving more and more rapidly as he found himself
+following a single track. I shouted to him--to Ghyrkins--to everybody,
+but they could not make the doomed man understand what I saw--the
+freshly slain head of the tiger's last victim. There was little doubt
+that the king himself was near by--probably in that suspicious-looking
+bit of green jungle, slimy green too, as green is, that grows in sticky
+chocolate-coloured mud. The young fellow was courageous, and ignorant of
+the immediate danger, and, above all, he was on the look out for
+bucksheesh. He reached the reeds and unclean vegetables that grew thick
+and foul together in the little patch. He put one foot into the bush.
+
+A great fiery yellow and black head rose cautiously above the level of
+the green and paused a moment, glaring. The wretched man, transfixed
+with terror, stood stock still, expecting death. Then he moved, as if to
+throw himself on one side, and at the same instant the tiger made a dash
+at his naked body, such a dash as a great relentless cat makes at a
+gold-fish trying to slide away from its grip. The tiger struck the man a
+heavy blow on the right shoulder, felling him like a log, and coming
+down to a standing position over his prey, with one paw on the native's
+right arm. Probably the parade of elephants and bright coloured howdahs,
+and the shouts of the beaters and shikarries, distracted his attention
+for a moment. He stood whirling his tail to right and left, with half
+dropped jaw and flaming eyes, half pressing, half grabbing the fleshy
+arm of the senseless man beneath him--impatient, alarmed, and horrible.
+
+"Pack!!! Pi-i-i-i-ing ..." went the crack and the sing of the merry
+rifle, and the scene changed.
+
+With a yell like a soul in everlasting torment the great beast whirled
+himself into the air ten feet at least, and fell dead beside his victim,
+shot through breast and breastbone and heart. A dead silence fell on the
+spectators. Then I looked, and saw Miss Westonhaugh holding out a second
+gun to Mr. Ghyrkins, while he, seeing that the first had done its work,
+leaned forward, his broad face pale with the extremity of his horror for
+the man's danger, and his hands gripping at the empty rifle.
+
+"You've done it this time," cried the collector from the right. "Take
+six to four the man's dead!"
+
+"Done," called Kildare from the other end. I was the nearest to the
+scene, after Ghyrkins. I dropped over the edge of the howdah and made
+for the spot, running. I think I reflected as I ran that it was rather
+low for men to bet on the poor fellow's life in that way. Tigers are
+often very deceptive and always die hard, and I am a cautious person, so
+when I was near I pulled out my long army six-shooter, and, going
+within arm's length, quietly put a bullet through the beast's eye as a
+matter of safety. When he was cut up, however, the ball from the rifle
+of Mr. Ghyrkins was found in his heart; the old fellow was a dead shot
+still. I went up and examined the prostrate man. He was lying on his
+face, and so I picked him up and propped his head against the dead
+tiger. He was still breathing, but a very little examination proved that
+his right collar-bone and the bone of his upper arm were broken. A
+little brandy revived him, and he immediately began to scream with pain.
+I was soon joined by the collector, who with characteristic promptitude
+had torn and hewed some broad slats of bamboo from his howdah, and with
+a little pulling and wrenching, and the help of my long, tough
+turban-cloth, a real native pugree, we set and bound the arm as best we
+could, giving the poor fellow brandy all the while. The collar-bone we
+left to its own devices; an injury there takes care of itself.
+
+An elephant came up and received the dead tiger, and the man was carried
+off and placed in my howdah. The other animals with their riders had
+gathered near the scene, and every one had something to say to Ghyrkins,
+who by his brilliant shot and the life he had saved, had maintained his
+reputation, and come off the hero of the whole campaign. Miss
+Westonhaugh was speechless with horror at the whole thing, and seemed to
+cling to her uncle, as if fearing something of the same kind might
+happen to her at any moment. Isaacs, as usual the last on the line of
+beating, came up and called out his congratulations.
+
+"After saving a life so well, Mr. Ghyrkins, you will not grudge me the
+poor honour of risking one, will you?"
+
+"Not I, my boy!" answered the delighted old sportsman, "only if that
+mangy old man-eater had got you down the other day, I should not have
+been there to pot him!"
+
+"Great shot, sir! I envy you," said Kildare.
+
+"Splendid shot. A hundred yards at least," said John Westonhaugh
+meditatively, but in a loud voice.
+
+So we swung away toward the camp, though it was early. Ghyrkins
+chuckled, and the man with the broken bones groaned. But between the
+different members of the party he would be a rich man before he was
+well. I amused myself with my favourite sport of potting peacocks with
+bullets; it is very good practice. Isaacs had told me that morning when
+we started that he would leave us the next day to meet Shere Ali near
+Keitung. We reached camp about three o'clock, in the heat of the
+afternoon. The injured beater was put in a servant's tent to be sent off
+to Pegnugger in a litter in the cool of the night. There was a doctor
+there who would take care of him under the collector's written orders.
+
+The camp was in a shady place, quite unlike the spot where we had first
+pitched our tents. There was a little grove of mango-trees, rather
+stunted, as they are in the north, and away at one corner of the
+plantation was a well with a small temple where a Brahmin, related to
+all the best families in the neighbouring village, dwelt and collected
+the gifts bestowed on him and his simple shrine by the superstitious,
+devout, or worldly pilgrims who yearly and monthly visited him in search
+of counsel, spiritual or social. The men had mowed the grass smooth
+under the trees, and the shade was not so close as to make it damp. Some
+ryots had been called in to dig a ditch and raised a rough _chapudra_ or
+terrace, some fifteen feet in diameter, opposite the dining-tent, on
+which elevation we could sit, even late at night, in reasonable security
+from cobras and other evil beasts. It was a pleasant place in the
+afternoon, and pleasanter still at night. As I turned into our tent
+after we got back, I thought I would go and sit there when I had bathed,
+and send for a hookah and a novel, and go to sleep.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+I observed that Isaacs was very quick about his toilet, and when I came
+out and ascended the terrace, followed by Kiramat Ali with books and
+tobacco, I glanced lazily over the quiet scene, settling myself in my
+chair, and fully expecting to see my friend somewhere among the trees,
+not unaccompanied by some one else. I was not mistaken. Turning my eyes
+towards the corner of the grove where the old Brahmin had his shrine, I
+saw the two well-known figures of Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh sauntering
+towards the well. Having satisfied the expectations of my curiosity, I
+turned over the volume of philosophy, well thumbed and hard used as a
+priest's breviary, and I inhaled long draughts of tobacco, debating
+whether I should read, or meditate, or dream. Deciding in favour of the
+more mechanical form of intellectuality, I fixed on a page that looked
+inviting, and followed the lines, from left to right, lazily at first,
+then with increased interest, and finally in that absorbed effort of
+continued comprehension which constitutes real study. Page after page,
+syllogism after syllogism, conclusion after conclusion, I followed for
+the hundredth time in the book I love well--the book of him that would
+destroy the religion I believe, but whose brilliant failure is one of
+the grandest efforts of the purely human mind. I finished a chapter and,
+in thought still, but conscious again of life, I looked up. They were
+still down there by the well, those two, but while I looked the old
+priest, bent and white, came out of the little temple where he had been
+sprinkling his image of Vishnu, and dropped his aged limbs from one step
+to the other painfully, steadying his uncertain descent with a stick. He
+went to the beautiful couple seated on the edge of the well, built of
+mud and sun-dried bricks, and he seemed to speak to Isaacs, I watched,
+and became interested in the question whether Isaacs would give him a
+two-anna bit or a copper, and whether I could distinguish with the naked
+eye at that distance between the silver and the baser metal. Curious,
+thought I, how odd little trifles will absorb the attention. The
+interview which was to lead to the expected act of charity seemed to be
+lasting a long time.
+
+Suddenly Isaacs turned and called to me; his high, distinct tones
+seeming to gather volume from the hollow of the well. He was calling me
+to join them. I rose, rather reluctantly, from my books and moved
+through the trees to where they were.
+
+"Griggs," Isaacs called out before I had reached him, "here is an old
+fellow who knows something. I really believe he is something of a yogi."
+
+"What ridiculous nonsense," I said impatiently, "who ever heard of a
+yogi living in a temple and feeding on the fat of the land in the way
+all these men do? Is that all you wanted?" Miss Westonhaugh, peering
+down into the depths of the well, laughed gaily.
+
+"I told you so! Never try to make Mr. Griggs swallow that kind of thing.
+Besides, he is a 'cynic' you know."
+
+"As far as personal appearance goes, Miss Westonhaugh, I think your
+friend the Brahmin there stands more chance of being taken for a
+philosopher of that school. He really does not look particularly well
+fed, in spite of the riches I thought he possessed." He was a
+strange-looking old man, with a white beard and a small badly-rolled
+pugree. His black eyes were filmy and disagreeable to look at. I
+addressed him in Hindustani, and told him what Isaacs said, that he
+thought he was a yogi. The old fellow did not look at me, nor did the
+bleared eyes give any sign of intelligence. Nevertheless he answered my
+question.
+
+"Of what avail that I do wonders for you who believe not?" he asked, and
+his voice sounded cracked and far off.
+
+"It will avail thee several coins, friend," I answered, "both rupees and
+pais. Reflect that there may be bucksheesh in store for thee, and do a
+miracle."
+
+"I will not do wonders for bucksheesh," said the priest, and began to
+hobble away. Isaacs stepped lightly to his side and whispered something
+in his ear. The ancient Brahmin turned.
+
+"Then I will do a wonder for you, but I want no bucksheesh. I will do it
+for the lady with white hair, whose face resembles Chunder." He looked
+long and fixedly at Miss Westonhaugh. "Let the _sáhib log_ come with me
+a stone's throw from the well, and let one sáhib call his servant and
+bid him draw water that he may wash his hands. And I will do this
+wonder; the man shall not draw any water, though he had the strength of
+Siva, until I say the word." So we moved away under the trees, and I
+shouted for Kiramat Ali, who came running down, and I told him to send a
+_bhisti_, a water-carrier, with his leathern bucket. Then we waited.
+Presently the man came, with bucket and rope.
+
+"Draw water, that I may wash my hands," said I.
+
+"Achhá, sáhib," and he strode to the well and lowered his pail by the
+rope. The priest looked intently at him as he shook the rope to turn the
+bucket over and let it fill; then he began to pull. The bucket seemed to
+be caught. He jerked, and then bent his whole weight back, drawing the
+rope across the edge of the brickwork. The thing was immovable. He
+seemed astonished and looked down into the well, thinking the pail was
+caught in a stone. I could not resist the temptation to go down and
+inspect the thing. No. The bucket was full and lying in the middle of
+the round sheet of water at the bottom of the well. The man tugged,
+while the Brahmin never took his eyes, now bright and fiery, off him. I
+went back to where they all stood. The thing had lasted five minutes.
+Then the priest's lips moved silently.
+
+Instantly the strain was released and the stout water-carrier fell
+headlong backwards on the grass, his heels in the air, jerking the
+bucket right over the edge of the well. He bounded to his feet and ran
+up the grove, shouting "Bhût, Bhût," "devils, devils," at the top of his
+voice. His obstinacy had lasted so long as the bucket would not move,
+but then his terror got the better of him and he fled.
+
+"Did you ever see anything of that kind before, Miss Westonhaugh?" I
+inquired.
+
+"No indeed; have you? How is it done?"
+
+"I have seen similar things done, but not often. There are not many of
+them that know how. But I cannot tell you the process any more than I
+can explain the mango trick, which belongs, distantly, to the same class
+of phenomena."
+
+The Brahmin, whose eyes were again dim and filmy, turned to Isaacs.
+
+"I have done a wonder for you. I will also tell you a saying. You have
+done wrong in not taking the advice of your friend. You should not have
+come forth to kill the king of game, nor have brought the white-haired
+lady into the tiger's jaws. I have spoken. Peace be with you." And he
+moved away.
+
+"And with you peace, friend," answered Isaacs mechanically, but as I
+looked at him he turned white to the very lips.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh did not understand the language, and Isaacs would have
+been the last person to translate such a speech as the Brahmin had made.
+We turned and strolled up the hill, and presently I bethought me of some
+errand, and left them together under the trees. They were so happy and
+so beautiful together, the fair lily from the English dale and the deep
+red rose of Persian Gulistán. The sun slanted low through the trees and
+sank in rose-coloured haze, and the moon, now just at the half, began to
+shine out softly through the mangoes, and still the lovers walked,
+pacing slowly to and fro near the well. No wonder they dallied long; it
+was their last evening together, and I doubted not that Isaacs was
+telling her of his sudden departure, necessary for reasons which I knew
+he would not explain to her or to any one else.
+
+At last we all assembled in the dining-tent. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was
+among the first, and his niece was the last to enter the room. He was
+glorious that evening, his kindly red face beamed on every one, and he
+carried himself like a victorious general at a ladies' tea-party. He had
+reason to be happy, and his jerky good spirits were needed to
+counterbalance the deep melancholy that seemed to have settled upon his
+niece. The colour was gone from her cheeks, and her dark eyes, heavily
+fringed by the black brows and lashes, shone out strangely; the contrast
+between the white flaxen hair, drawn back in simple massive waves like a
+Greek statue, and the broad level eyes as dark as night, was almost
+startling this evening in the singularity of its beauty. She sat like a
+queenly marble at the end of the table, not silent, by any means, but so
+evidently out of spirits that John Westonhaugh, who did not know that
+Isaacs was going in the morning, and would not have supposed that his
+sister could care so much, if he had known, remarked upon her
+depression.
+
+"What is the matter, Katharine?" he asked kindly. "Have you a headache
+this evening?" She was just then staring rather blankly into space.
+
+"Oh no," she said, trying to smile. "I was thinking."
+
+"Ah," said Mr. Ghyrkins merrily, "that is why you look so unlike
+yourself, my dear!" And he laughed at his rough little joke.
+
+"Do I?" asked the girl absently.
+
+But Ghyrkins was not to be repressed, and as Kildare and the Pegnugger
+man were gay and wide awake, the dinner was not as dull as might have
+been expected. When it was over, Isaacs announced his intention of
+leaving early the next morning. Very urgent business recalled him
+suddenly, he explained. A messenger had arrived just before dinner. He
+must leave without fail in the morning. Miss Westonbaugh of course was
+forewarned; but the others were not. Lord Steepleton Kildare, in the act
+of lighting a cheroot, dropped the vesuvian incontinently, and stood
+staring at Isaacs with an indescribable expression of empty wonder in
+his face, while the match sputtered and smouldered and died away in the
+grass by the door. John Westonhaugh, who liked Isaacs sincerely, and had
+probably contemplated the possibility of the latter marrying Katharine,
+looked sorry at first, and then a half angry expression crossed his
+face, which softened instantly again. Currie Ghyrkins swore loudly that
+it was out of the question--that it would break up the party--that he
+would not hear of it, and so on.
+
+"I must go," said Isaacs quietly. "It is a very serious matter. I am
+sorry--more sorry than I can tell you; but I must."
+
+"But you cannot, you know. Damn it, sir, you are the life of the party,
+you know! Come, come, this will never do!"
+
+"My dear sir," said Isaacs, addressing Ghyrkins, "if, when you were
+about to fire this morning to save that poor devil's life, I had begged
+you not to shoot, would you have complied?"
+
+"Why, of course not," ejaculated Ghyrkins angrily.
+
+"Well, neither can I comply, though I would give anything to stay with
+you all."
+
+"But nobody's life depends on your going away to-morrow morning. What do
+you mean? The deuce and all, you know, I don't understand you a bit."
+
+"I cannot tell you, Mr. Ghyrkins; but something depends on my going,
+which is of as great importance to the person concerned as life itself.
+Believe me," he said, going near to the old gentleman and laying a hand
+on his arm, "I do not go willingly."
+
+"Well, I hope not, I am sure," said Ghyrkins gruffly, though yielding.
+"If you will, you will, and there's no holding you; but we are all very
+sorry. That's all. Mahmoud! bring fire, you lazy pigling, that I may
+smoke." And he threw himself into a chair, the very creaking of the cane
+wicker expressing annoyance and dissatisfaction.
+
+So there was an end of it, and Isaacs strode off through the moonlight
+to his quarters, to make some arrangement, I supposed. But he did not
+come back. Miss Westonhaugh retired also to her tent, and no one was
+surprised to see her go. Kildare rose presently and asked if I would not
+stroll to the well, or anywhere, it was such a jolly night. I went with
+him, and arm in arm we walked slowly down. The young moon was bright
+among the mango-trees, striking the shining leaves, that reflected a
+strange greenish light. We moved leisurely, and spoke little. I
+understood Kildare's silence well enough, and I had nothing to say. The
+ground was smooth and even, for the men had cut the grass close, and the
+little humped cow that belonged to the old Brahmin cropped all she could
+get at.
+
+We skirted round the edge of the grove, intending to go back to the
+tents another way. Suddenly I saw something in front that arrested my
+attention. Two figures, some thirty yards away. They stood quite still,
+turned from us. A man and a woman between the trees, an opening in the
+leaves just letting a ray of moonlight slip through on them. His arm
+around her, the tall lissome figure of her bent, and her head resting on
+his shoulder. I have good eyes and was not mistaken, but I trusted
+Kildare had not seen. A quick twitch of his arm, hanging carelessly
+through mine, told me the mischief was done before I could turn his
+attention. By a common instinct we wheeled to the left, and passing into
+the open strolled back in the direction whence we had come. I did not
+look at Kildare, but after a minute he began to talk about the moonlight
+and tigers, and whether tigers were ever shot by moonlight, and
+altogether was rather incoherent; but I took up the question, and we
+talked bravely till we got back to the dining-tent, where we sat down
+again, secretly wishing we had not gone for a stroll after all. In a few
+minutes Isaacs came from his tent, which he must have entered from the
+other side. He was perfectly at his ease, and at once began talking
+about the disagreeable journey he had before him. Then, after a time, we
+broke up, and he said good-bye to every one in turn, and Ghyrkins told
+John to call his sister, if she were still visible, for "Mr. Isaacs
+wanted to say good-bye." So she came and took his hand, and made a
+simple speech about "meeting again before long," as she stood with her
+uncle; and my friend and I went away to our tent.
+
+We sat long in the _connât_. Isaacs did not seem to want rest, and I
+certainly did not. For the first half hour he was engaged in giving
+directions to the faithful Narain, who moved about noiselessly among the
+portmanteaus and gun-cases and boots which strewed the floor. At last
+all was settled for the start before dawn, and he turned to me.
+
+"We shall meet again in Simla, Griggs, of course?"
+
+"I hope so. Of course we shall, unless you are killed by those fellows
+at Keitung. I would not trust them."
+
+"I do not trust them in the least, but I have an all-powerful ally in
+Ram Lal. Did you not think it very singular that the Brahmin should know
+all about Ram Lal's warning? and that he should have the same opinion?"
+
+"We live in a country where nothing should astonish us, as I remember
+saying to you a fortnight ago, when we first met," I answered. "That the
+Brahmin possesses some knowledge of _yog-vidya_ is more clearly shown by
+his speech about Ram Lal than by that ridiculous trick with my
+water-carrier."
+
+"You are not easily astonished, Griggs. But I agree with you as to that.
+I am still at a loss to understand why I should not have come or let the
+others come. I was startled at the Brahmin."
+
+"I saw you were; you were as white as a sheet, and yet you turned up
+your nose at Ram Lal when he told you not to come."
+
+"The Brahmin said something more than Ram Lal. He said I should not have
+brought the white-haired lady into the tiger's jaws. I saw that the
+first warning had been on her account, and I suppose the impression of
+possible danger for her frightened me."
+
+"It would not have frightened you three weeks ago about any woman," I
+said. "It appears to me that your ideas in certain quarters have
+undergone some little change. You are as different from the Isaacs I
+knew at first as Philip drunk was different from Philip sober. Such is
+human nature--scoffing at women the one day, and risking life and soul
+for their whims the next."
+
+"I hate your reflections about the human kind, Griggs, and I do not like
+your way of looking at women. You hate women so!"
+
+"No. You like my descriptions of the 'ideal creatures I rave about' much
+better, it seems. Upon my soul, friend, if you want a criterion of
+yourself, take this conversation. A fortnight ago to-day--or to-morrow,
+will it be?--I was lecturing you about the way to regard women; begging
+you to consider that they had souls and were capable of loving, as well
+as of being loved. And here you are accusing me of hating the whole sex,
+and without the slightest provocation on my part, either. Here is Birnam
+wood coming to Dunsinane with a vengeance!"
+
+"Oh, I don't deny it. I don't pretend to argue about it. I have changed
+a good deal in the last month." He pensively crossed one leg over the
+other as he lay back on the long chair and pulled at his slipper. "I
+suppose I have--changed a good deal."
+
+"No wonder. I presume your views of immortality, the future state of the
+fair sex, and the application of transcendental analysis to matrimony,
+all changed about the same time?"
+
+"Don't be unreasonable," he answered. "It all dates from that evening
+when I had that singular fit and the vision I related to you. I have
+never been the same man since; and I am glad of it. I now believe women
+to be much more adorable than you painted them, and not half enough
+adored." Suddenly he dropped the extremely English manner which he
+generally affected in the idiom and construction of his speech, and
+dropped back into something more like his own language. "The star that
+was over my life is over it no longer. I have no life-star any longer.
+The jewel of the southern sky withdraws his light, paling before the
+white gold from the northern land. The gold that shall be mine through
+all the cycles of the sun, the gold that neither man nor monarch shall
+take from me. What have I to do with stars in heaven? Is not my star
+come down to earth to abide with me through life? And when life is over
+and the scroll is full, shall not my star bear me hence, beyond the
+fiery foot-bridge, beyond the paradise of my people and its senseless
+sensuality of houris and strong wine? Beyond the very memory of limited
+and bounded life, to that life eternal where there is neither limit, nor
+bound, nor sorrow? Shall our two souls not unite and be one soul to roam
+through the countless circles of revolving outer space? Not through
+years, or for times, or for ages--but for ever? The light of life is
+woman, the love of life is the love of woman; the light that pales not,
+the life that cannot die, the love that can know not any ending; _my_
+light, _my_ life, and _my_ love!" His whole soul was in his voice, and
+his whole heart; the twining white fingers, the half-closed eyes, and
+the passionate quivering tone, told all he had left unsaid. It was
+surely a high and a noble thing that he felt, worthy of the man in his
+beauty of mind and body. He loved an ideal, revealed to him, as he
+thought, in the shape of the fair English girl; he worshipped his ideal
+through her, without a thought that he could be mistaken. Happy man!
+Perhaps he had a better chance of going through life without any cruel
+revelation of his mistake than falls to the lot of most lovers, for she
+was surpassingly beautiful, and most good and true hearted. But are not
+people always mistaken who think to find the perfect comprehended in the
+imperfect, the infinite enchained and made tangible in the finite? Bah!
+The same old story, the same old vicious circle, the everlastingly
+recurring mathematical view of things that cannot be treated
+mathematically; the fruitless attempt to measure the harmonious circle
+of the soul by the angular square of the book. What poor things our
+minds are, after all. We have but one way of thinking derived from what
+we know, and we incontinently apply it to things of which we can know
+nothing, and then we quarrel with the result, which is a mere _reductio
+ad absurdum_, showing how utterly false and meagre are our hypotheses,
+premisses, and so-called axioms. Confucius, who began his system with
+the startling axiom that "man is good," arrived at much more really
+serviceable conclusions than Schopenhauer and all the pessimists put
+together. Meanwhile, Isaacs was in love, and, I supposed, expected me to
+say something appreciative.
+
+"My dear friend," I began, "it is a rare pleasure to hear any one talk
+like that; it refreshes a man's belief in human nature, and enthusiasm,
+and all kinds of things. I talked like that some time ago because you
+would not. I think you are a most satisfactory convert."
+
+"I am indeed a convert. I would not have believed it possible, and now I
+cannot believe that I ever thought differently. I suppose it is the way
+with all converts--in religion as well--and with all people who are
+taken up by a fair-winged genius from an arid desert and set down in a
+garden of roses." He could not long confine himself to ordinary
+language. "And yet the hot sand of the desert, and the cool of the
+night, and the occasional patch of miserable, languishing green, with
+the little kindly spring in the camel-trodden oasis, seemed all so
+delightful in the past life that one was quite content, never suspecting
+the existence of better things. But now--I could almost laugh to think
+of it. I stand in the midst of the garden that is filled with all things
+fair, and the tree of life is beside me, blossoming straight and broad
+with the flowers that wither not, and the fruit that is good to the
+parched lips and the thirsty spirit. And the garden is for us to dwell
+in now, and the eternity of the heavenly spheres is ours hereafter." He
+was all on fire again. I kept silence for some time; and his hands
+unfolded, and he raised them and clasped them under his head, and drew a
+deep long breath, as if to taste the new life that was in him.
+
+"Forgive my bringing you down to earth again," I said after a while,
+"but have you made all necessary arrangements? Is there anything I can
+do, after you are gone? Anything to be said to these good people, if
+they question me about your sudden departure?"
+
+"Yes. I was forgetting. If you will be so kind, I wish you would see the
+expedition out, and take charge of the expenses. There are some bags of
+rupees somewhere among my traps. Narain knows. I shall not take him with
+me--or, no; on second thoughts I will hand you over the money, and take
+him to Simla. Then, about the other thing. Do not tell any one where I
+have gone, unless it be Miss Westonhaugh, and use your own discretion
+about her. We shall all be in Simla in ten days, and I do not want this
+thing known, as you may imagine. I do not think there is anything else,
+thanks." He paused, as if thinking. "Yes, there is one more
+consideration. If anything out of the way should occur in this
+transaction with Baithopoor, I should want your assistance, if you will
+give it. Would you mind?"
+
+"Of course not. Anything----"
+
+"In that case, if Ram Lal thinks you are wanted, he will send a swift
+messenger to you with a letter signed by me, in the Persian
+_shikast_--which you read.--Will you come by the way he will direct you,
+if I send? He will answer for your safety."
+
+"I will come," I said, though I thought it was rather rash of me, who am
+a cautious man, to trust my life in the hands of a shadowy person like
+Ram Lal, who seemed to come and go in strange ways, and was in
+communication with suspicious old Brahmin jugglers. But I trusted Isaacs
+better than his adept friend.
+
+"I suppose," I said, vaguely hoping there might yet be a possibility of
+detaining him, "that there is no way of doing this business so that you
+could remain here."
+
+"No, friend Griggs. If there were any other way, I would not go now. I
+would not go to-day, of all days in the year--of all days in my life.
+There is no other way, by the grave of my father, on whom be the peace
+of Allah." So we went to bed.
+
+At four o'clock Narain waked us, and in twenty minutes Isaacs was on
+horseback. I had ordered a _tat_ to be in readiness for me, thinking I
+would ride with him an hour or two in the cool of the morning. So we
+passed along by the quiet tents, Narain disappearing in the manner
+peculiar to Hindoo servants, to be found at the end of the day's march,
+smiling as ever. The young moon had set some time before, but the stars
+were bright, though it was dark under the trees.
+
+Twenty yards beyond the last tent, a dark figure swept suddenly out from
+the blackness and laid a hand on Isaacs' rein. He halted and bent over,
+and I heard some whispering. It only lasted a moment, and the figure
+shot away again. I was sure I heard something like a kiss, in the gloom,
+and there was a most undeniable smell of roses in the air. I held my
+peace, though I was astonished. I could not have believed her capable of
+it. Lying in wait in the dusk of the morning to give her lover a kiss
+and a rose and a parting word. She must have taken me for his servant in
+the dark.
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs as we parted some six or seven miles farther
+on,--"an odd thing happened this morning. I have left something more in
+your keeping than money."
+
+"I know. Trust me. Good-bye," and he cantered off.
+
+I confess I was very dejected and low-spirited when I came back into
+camp. My acquaintance with Isaacs, so suddenly grown into intimacy, had
+become a part of my life. I felt a sort of devotion to him that I had
+never felt for any man in my life before. I would rather have gone with
+him to Keitung, for a presentiment told me there was trouble in the
+wind. He had not talked to me about the Baithopoor intrigue, for
+everything was as much settled beforehand as it was possible to settle
+anything. There was nothing to be said, for all that was to come was
+action; but I knew Isaacs distrusted the maharajah, and that without Ram
+Lal's assistance--of whatever nature that might prove to be--he would
+not have ventured to go alone to such a tryst.
+
+When I returned the camp was all alive, for it was nearly seven o'clock.
+Kildare and the collector, my servant said, had gone off on _tats_ to
+shoot some small game. Mr. Ghyrkins was occupied with the shikarries in
+the stretching and dressing of the skin he had won the previous day.
+Neither Miss Westonhaugh nor her brother had been seen. So I dressed and
+rested myself and had some tea, and sat wondering what the camp would be
+like without Isaacs, who, to me and to one other person, was
+emphatically, as Ghyrkins had said the night before, the life of the
+party. The weather was not so warm as on the previous day, and I was
+debating whether I should not try and induce the younger men to go and
+stick a pig--the shikarry said there were plenty in some place he knew
+of--or whether I should settle myself in the dining-tent for a long day
+with my books, when the arrival of a mounted messenger with some letters
+from the distant post-office decided me in favour of the more peaceful
+disposition of my time. So I glanced at the papers, and assured myself
+that the English were going deeper and deeper into the mire of
+difficulties and reckless expenditure that characterised their campaign
+in Afghanistan in the autumn of 1879; and when I had assured myself,
+furthermore, by the perusal of a request for the remittance of twenty
+pounds, that my nephew, the only relation, male or female, that I have
+in the world, had not come to the untimely death he so richly deserved,
+I fell to considering what book I should read. And from one thing to
+another, I found myself established about ten o'clock at the table in
+the dining-tent, with Miss Westonhaugh at one side, worsted work,
+writing materials and all, just as she had been at the same table a week
+or so before. At her request I had continued my writing when she came
+in. I was finishing off a column of a bloodthirsty article for the
+_Howler_; it probably would come near enough to the mark, for in India
+you may print a leader anywhere within a month of its being written, and
+if it was hot enough to begin with, it will still answer the purpose.
+Journalism is not so rapid in its requirements as in New York, but, on
+the other hand, it is more lucrative.
+
+"Mr. Griggs, are you _very_ busy?"
+
+"Oh dear, no--nothing to speak of," I went on writing--the
+unprecedented--folly--the--blatant--charlatanism----
+
+"Mr. Griggs, do you understand these things?"
+
+----Lord Beaconsfield's--"I think so, Miss Westonhaugh"--Afghan
+policy----There, I thought,
+
+I think that would rouse Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, if he ever saw it, which I
+trust he never will. I had done, and I folded the numbered sheets in an
+oblong bundle.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Miss Westonhaugh; I was just finishing a sentence. I
+am quite at your service."
+
+"Oh no! I see you are too busy."
+
+"Not in the least, I assure you. Is it that tangled skein? Let me help
+you."
+
+"Oh thank you. It is so tiresome, and I am not in the least inclined to
+be industrious."
+
+I took the wool and set to work. It was very easy, after all; I pulled
+the loops through, and back again and through from the other side, and I
+found the ends, and began to wind it up on a piece of paper. It is
+singular, though, how the unaided wool can tie itself into every kind of
+a knot--reef, carrick bend, bowline, bowline in a bight, not to mention
+a variety of hitches and indescribable perversions of entanglement. I
+was getting on very well, though. I looked up at her face, pale and
+weary with a sleepless night, but beautiful--ah yes--beautiful beyond
+compare. She smiled faintly.
+
+"You are very clever with your fingers. Where did you learn it? Have you
+a sister who makes you wind her wool for her at home?"
+
+"No. I have no sister. I went to sea once upon a time."
+
+"Were you ever in the navy, Mr. Griggs?"
+
+"Oh no. I went before the mast."
+
+"But you would not learn to unravel wool before the mast. I suppose your
+mother taught you when you were small--if you ever were small."
+
+"I never had a mother that I can remember--I learned to do all those
+things at sea."
+
+"Forgive me," she said, guessing she had struck some tender chord in my
+existence. "What an odd life you must have had."
+
+"Perhaps. I never had any relations that I can remember, except a
+brother, much older than I. He died years ago, and his son is my only
+living relation. I was born in Italy."
+
+"But when did you learn so many things? You seem to know every language
+under the sun."
+
+"I had a good education when I got ashore. Some one was very kind to me,
+and I had learned Latin and Greek in the common school in Rome before I
+ran away to sea."
+
+I answered her questions reluctantly. I did not want to talk about my
+history, especially to a girl like her. I suppose she saw my
+disinclination, for as I handed her the card with the wool neatly wound
+on it, she thanked me and presently changed the subject, or at least
+shifted the ground.
+
+"There is something so free about the life of an adventurer--I mean a
+man who wanders about doing brave things. If I were a man I would be an
+adventurer like you."
+
+"Not half so much of an adventurer, as you call it, as our friend who
+went off this morning."
+
+It was the first mention of Isaacs since his departure. I had said the
+thing inadvertently, for I would not have done anything to increase her
+trouble for the world. She leaned back, dropping her hands with her work
+in her lap, and stared straight out through the doorway, as pale as
+death--pale as only fair-skinned people are when they are ill, or hurt.
+She sat quite still. I wondered if she were ill, or if it were only
+Isaacs' going that had wrought this change in her brilliant looks.
+"Would you like me to read something to you, Miss Westonhaugh? Here is a
+comparatively new book--_The Light of Asia_, by Mr. Edwin Arnold. It is
+a poem about India. Would it give you any pleasure?" She guessed the
+kind intention, and a little shadow of a smile passed over her lips.
+
+"You are so kind, Mr. Griggs. Please, you are so very kind."
+
+I began to read, and read on and on through the exquisite rise and fall
+of the stanzas, through the beautiful clear high thoughts which seem to
+come as a breath and a breeze from an unattainable heaven, from the
+Nirvana we all hope for in our inmost hearts, whatever our confession of
+faith. And the poor girl was soothed, and touched and lulled by the
+music of thought and the sigh of verse that is in the poem; and the
+morning passed. I suppose the quiet and the poetry wrought up in her the
+feeling of confidence she felt in me, as being her lover's friend, for
+after I had paused a minute or two, seeing some one coming toward the
+tent, she said quite simply--
+
+"Where is he gone?"
+
+"He is gone to do a very noble deed. He is gone to save the life of a
+man he never saw." A bright light came into her face, and all the
+chilled heart's blood, driven from her cheeks by the weariness of her
+first parting, rushed joyously back, and for one moment there dwelt on
+her features the glory and bloom of the love and happiness that had been
+hers all day yesterday, that would be hers again--when? Poor Miss
+Westonhaugh, it seemed so long to wait.
+
+The day passed somehow, but the dinner was dismal. Miss Westonhaugh was
+evidently far from well, and I could not conceive that the pain of a
+temporary parting should make so sudden a change in one so perfectly
+strong and healthy--even were her nature ever so sensitive. Kildare and
+the Pegnugger magistrate tried to keep up the spirits of the party, but
+John Westonhaugh was anxious about his sister, and even old Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins was beginning to fancy there must be something wrong. We sat
+smoking outside, and the young girl refused to leave us, though John
+begged her to. As we sat, it may have been half an hour after dinner, a
+messenger came galloping up in hot haste, and leaping to the ground
+asked for "Gurregis Sahib," with the usual native pronunciation of my
+euphonious name. Being informed, he salaamed low and handed me a letter,
+which I took to the light. It was in _shikast_ Persian, and signed
+"Abdul Hafiz-ben-Isâk." "Ram Lal," he said, "has met me unexpectedly,
+and sends you this by his own means, which are swift as the flight of
+the eagle. It is indispensable that you meet us below Keitung, towards
+Sultanpoor, on the afternoon of the day when the moon is full. Travel by
+Julinder and Sultanpoor; you will easily overtake me, since I go by
+Simla. For friendship's sake, for love's sake, come. It is life and
+death. Give the money to the Irishman. Peace be with you."
+
+I sighed a sigh of the most undetermined description. Was I glad to
+rejoin my friend? or was I pained to leave the woman he loved in her
+present condition? I hardly knew.
+
+"I think we had all better go back to Simla," said John, when I
+explained that the most urgent business called me away at dawn.
+
+"There will be none of us left soon," said Ghyrkins quite quietly and
+mournfully.
+
+I found means to let Miss Westonhaugh understand where I was going. I
+gave Kildare the money in charge.
+
+In the dark of the morning, as I cleared the tents, the same shadow I
+had seen before shot out and laid a hand on my rein. I halted on the
+same spot where Isaacs had drawn rein twenty-four hours before.
+
+"Give him this from me. God be with you!" She was gone in a moment,
+leaving a small package in my right hand. I thrust it in my bosom and
+rode away.
+
+"How she loves him," I thought, wondering greatly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+It was not an agreeable journey I had undertaken. In order to reach the
+inaccessible spot, chosen by Isaacs for the scene of Shere Ali's
+liberation, in time to be of any use, it was necessary that I should
+travel by a more direct and arduous route than that taken by my friend.
+He had returned to Simla, and by his carefully made arrangements would
+be able to reach Keitung, or the spot near it, where the transaction was
+to take place, by constant changes of horses where riding was possible,
+and by a strong body of dooly-bearers wherever the path should prove too
+steep for four-footed beasts of burden. I, on the other hand, must leave
+the road at Julinder, a place I had never visited, and must trust to my
+own unaided wits and a plentiful supply of rupees to carry me over at
+least two hundred miles of country I did not know--difficult certainly,
+and perhaps impracticable for riding. The prospect was not a pleasant
+one, but I was convinced that in a matter of this importance a man of
+Isaacs' wit and wealth would have made at least some preliminary
+arrangements for me, since he probably knew the country well enough
+himself. I had but six days at the outside to reach my destination.
+
+I had resolved to take one servant, Kiramat Ali, with me as far as
+Julinder, whence I would send him back to Simla with what slender
+luggage we carried, for I meant to ride as light as possible, with no
+encumbrance to delay me when once I left the line of the railway. I
+might have ridden five miles with Kiramat Ali behind me on a sturdy
+_tat_, when I was surprised by the appearance of an unknown saice in
+plain white clothes, holding a pair of strong young ponies by the halter
+and salaaming low.
+
+"Pundit Ram Lal sends your highness his peace, and bids you ride without
+sparing. The _dâk_ is laid to the fire-carriages."
+
+The saddles were changed in a moment, Kiramat Ali and I assisting in the
+operation. It was clear that Ram Lal's messengers were swift, for even
+if he had met Isaacs when the latter reached the railroad, no ordinary
+horse could have returned with the message at the time I had received
+it. Still less would any ordinary Hindus be capable of laying a _dâk_,
+or post route of relays, over a hundred miles long in twelve hours. Once
+prepared, it was a mere matter of physical endurance in the rider to
+cover the ground, for the relays were stationed every five or six miles.
+It was well known that Lord Steepleton Kildare had lately ridden from
+Simla to Umballa one night and back the next day, ninety-two miles each
+way, with constant change of cattle. What puzzled me was the rapidity
+with which the necessary dispositions had been made. On the whole, I was
+reassured. If Ram Lal had been able to prepare my way at such short
+notice here, with two more days at his disposal he would doubtless
+succeed in laying me a _dâk_ most of the way from Julinder to Keitung. I
+will not dwell upon the details of the journey. I reached the railroad
+and prepared for forty-eight hours of jolting and jostling and broken
+sleep. It is true that railway travelling is nowhere so luxurious as in
+India, where a carriage has but two compartments, each holding as a rule
+only two persons, though four can be accommodated by means of hanging
+berths. Each compartment has a spacious bathroom attached, where you may
+bathe as often as you please, and there are various contrivances for
+ventilating and cooling the air. Nevertheless the heat is sometimes
+unbearable, and a journey from Bombay to Calcutta direct during the warm
+months is a severe trial to the strongest constitution. On this occasion
+I had about forty-eight hours to travel, and I was resolved to get all
+the rest in that time that the jolting made possible; for I knew that
+once in the saddle again it might be days before I got a night's sleep.
+And so we rumbled along, through the vast fields of sugar-cane, now
+mostly tied in huge sheaves upright, through boundless stretches of
+richly-cultivated soil, intersected with the regularity of a chess-board
+by the rivulets and channels of a laborious irrigation. Here and there
+stood the high frames made by planting four bamboos in a square and
+wickering the top, whereon the ryots sit when the crops are ripening, to
+watch against thieves and cattle, and to drive away the birds of the
+air. On we spun, past Meerut and Mozuffernugger, past Umballa and
+Loodhiana, till we reached our station of Julinder at dawn. Descending
+from the train, I was about to begin making inquiries about my next
+move, when I was accosted by a tall and well-dressed Mussulman, in a
+plain cloth _caftán_ and a white turban, but exquisitely clean and fresh
+looking, as it seemed to me, for my eyes were smarting with dust and
+wearied with the perpetual shaking of the train.
+
+The courteous native soon explained that he was Isaacs' agent in
+Julinder, and that a _târ ki khaber_, a telegram in short, had warned
+him to be on the lookout for me. I was greatly relieved, for it was
+evident that every arrangement had been made for my comfort, so far as
+comfort was possible. Isaacs had asked my assistance, but he had taken
+every precaution against all superfluous bodily inconvenience to me, and
+I felt sure that from this point I should move quickly and easily
+through every difficulty. And so it proved. The Mussulman took me to his
+house, where there was a spacious apartment, occupied by Isaacs when he
+passed that way. Every luxury was prepared for the enjoyment of the
+bath, and a breakfast of no mean taste was served me in my own room.
+Then my host entered and explained that he had been directed to make
+certain arrangements for my journey. He had laid a _dâk_ nearly a
+hundred miles ahead, and had been ordered to tell me that similar steps
+had been taken beyond that point as far as my ultimate destination, of
+which, however, he was ignorant. My servant, he said, must stay with him
+and return to Simla with my traps.
+
+So an hour later I mounted for my long ride, provided with a revolver
+and some rupees in a bag, in case of need. The country, my entertainer
+informed me, was considered perfectly safe, unless I feared the _tap_,
+the bad kind of fever which infests all the country at the base of the
+hills. I was not afraid of this. My experience is that some people are
+predisposed to fever, and will generally be attacked by it in their
+first year in India, whether they are much exposed to it or not, while
+others seem naturally proof against any amount of malaria, and though
+they sleep out of doors through the whole rainy season, and tramp about
+the jungles in the autumn, will never catch the least ague, though they
+may have all other kinds of ills to contend with.
+
+On and on, galloping along the heavy roads, sometimes over no road at
+all, only a broad green track, where the fresh grass that had sprung up
+after the rains was not yet killed by the trampling of the bullocks and
+the grinding jolt of the heavy cart. At intervals of seven or eight
+miles I found a saice with a fresh pony picketed and grazing at the end
+of the long rope. The saice was generally squatting near by, with his
+bag of food and his three-sided kitchen of stones, blackened with the
+fire from his last meal, beside him; sometimes in the act of cooking his
+chowpatties, sometimes eating them, according to the time of day.
+Several times I stopped to drink some water where it seemed to be good,
+and I ate a little chocolate from my supply, well knowing the
+miraculous, sustaining powers of the simple little block of "Menier,"
+which, with its six small tablets, will not only sustain life, but will
+supply vigour and energy, for as much as two days, with no other food.
+On and on, through the day and the night, past sleeping villages, where
+the jackals howled around the open doors of the huts; and across vast
+fields of late crops, over hills thickly grown with trees, past the
+broad bend of the Sutlej river, and over the plateau toward Sultanpoor,
+the cultivation growing scantier and the villages rarer all the while,
+as the vast masses of the Himalayas defined themselves more and more
+distinctly in the moonlight. Horses of all kinds under me, lean and fat,
+short and high, roman-nosed and goose-necked, broken and unbroken; away
+and away, shifting saddle and bridle and saddle-bag as I left each tired
+mount behind me. Once I passed a stream, and pulling off my boots to
+cool my feet, the temptation way too strong, so I hastily threw off my
+clothes and plunged in and had a short refreshing bath. Then on, with,
+the galloping even triplet of the house's hoofs beneath me, as they came
+down in quick succession, as if the earth were a muffled drum and we
+were beating an untiring _rataplan_ on her breast.
+
+I must have ridden a hundred and thirty miles before dawn, and the pace
+was beginning to tell, even on my strong frame. True, to a man used to
+the saddle, the effort of riding is reduced to a minimum when every hour
+or two gives him a fresh horse. There is then no heed for the welfare of
+the animal necessary; he has but his seven or eight miles to gallop, and
+then his work is done; there are none of those thousand little cares and
+sympathetic shiftings and adjustings of weight and seat to be thought
+of, which must constantly engage the attention of a man who means to
+ride the same horse a hundred miles, or even fifty or forty. Conscious
+that a fresh mount awaits him, he sits back lazily and never eases his
+weight for a moment; before he has gone thirty miles he will kick his
+feet out of the stirrups about once in twenty minutes, and if he has for
+the moment a quiet old stager who does not mind tricks, he will probably
+fetch one leg over and go a few miles sitting sideways. He will go to
+sleep once or twice, and wake up apparently in the very act to
+fall--though I believe that a man will sleep at a full gallop and never
+loosen his knees until the moment of waking startles him. Nevertheless,
+and notwithstanding Lord Steepleton Kildare and his ride to Umballa and
+back in twenty-four hours, when a man, be he ever so strong, has ridden
+over a hundred miles, he feels inclined for a rest, and a walk, and a
+little sleep.
+
+Once more an emissary of Ram Lal strode to my side as I rolled off the
+saddle into the cool grass at sunrise in a very impracticable-looking
+country. The road had been steeper and less defined during the last two
+hours of the ride, and as I crossed one leg high over the other lying on
+my back in the grass, the morning light caught my spur, and there was
+blood on it, bright and red. I had certainly come as fast as I could; if
+I should be too late, it would not be my fault. The agent, whoever he
+might be, was a striking-looking fellow in a dirty brown cloth _caftán_
+and an enormous sash wound round his middle. A pointed cap with some
+tawdry gold lace on it covered his head, and greasy black love-locks
+writhed filthily over his high cheek bones and into his scanty tangled
+beard; a suspicious hilt bound with brass wire reared its snake-like
+head from the folds of his belt, and his legs, terminating in
+thick-soled native shoes, reminded one of a tarantula in boots. He
+salaamed awkwardly with a tortuous grin, and addressed me with the
+northern salutation, "May your feet never be weary with the march."
+Having been twenty-four hours in the saddle, my feet were not that
+portion of my body most wearied, but I replied to the effect that I
+trusted the shadow of the greasy gentleman might not diminish a
+hairsbreadth in the next ten thousand years. We then proceeded to
+business, and I observed that the man spoke a very broken and hardly
+intelligible Hindustani. I tried him in Persian, but it was of no avail.
+He spoke Persian, he said, but it was not of the kind that any human
+being could understand; so we returned to the first language, and I
+concluded that he was a wandering kábuli.
+
+As an introduction of himself he mentioned Isaacs, calling him Abdul
+Hafiz Sáhib, and he seemed to know him personally. Abdul, he said, was
+not far off as distances go in the Himalayas. He thought I should find
+him the day after to-morrow, _mungkul_. He said I should not be able to
+ride much farther, as the pass beyond Sultanpoor was utterly
+impracticable for horses; coolies, however, awaited me with a dooly, one
+of those low litters slung on a bamboo, in which you may travel swiftly
+and without effort, but to the destruction of the digestive organs. He
+said also that he would accompany me the next stage as far as the
+doolies, and I thought he showed some curiosity to know whither I was
+going; but he was a wise man in his generation, and knowing his orders,
+did not press me overmuch with questions. I remarked in a mild way that
+the saddle was the throne of the warrior, and that the air of the black
+mountains was the breath of freedom; but I added that the voice of the
+empty stomach was as the roar of the king of the forest. Whereupon the
+man replied that the forest was mine and the game therein, whereof I was
+lord, as I probably was of the rest of the world, since I was his father
+and mother and most of his relations; but that, perceiving that I was
+occupied with the cares of a mighty empire, he had ventured to slay with
+his own hand a kid and some birds, which, if I would condescend to
+partake of them, he would proceed to cook. I replied that the light of
+my countenance would shine upon my faithful servant to the extent of
+several coins, both rupees and pais, but that the peculiar customs of my
+caste forbid me to touch food cooked by any one but myself. I would,
+however, in consideration of his exertions and his guileless heart,
+invite the true follower of the prophet, whose name is blessed, to
+partake with me of the food which I should presently prepare. Whereat he
+was greatly delighted, and fetched the meat, which he had stowed away in
+a kind of horse-cloth, for safety against ants.
+
+I am not a bad cook at a pinch, and so we sat down and made a
+cooking-place with stones, and built a fire, and let the flame die down
+into coals, and I dressed the meat as best I could, and flavoured it
+with gunpowder and pepper, and we were merry. The man was thenceforth
+mine, and I knew I could trust him; a bivouac in the Himalayas, when one
+is alone and far from any kind of assistance, is not the spot to indulge
+in any prejudice about colour. I did not think much about it as I
+hungrily gnawed the meat and divided the birds with my pocket-knife.
+
+The lower Himalayas are at first extremely disappointing. The scenery is
+enormous but not grand, and at first hardly seems large. The lower parts
+are at first sight a series of gently undulating hills and wooded dells;
+in some places it looks as if one might almost hunt the country. It is
+long before you realise that it is all on a gigantic scale; that the
+quickset hedges are belts of rhododendrons of full growth, the
+water-jumps rivers, and the stone walls mountain-ridges; that to hunt a
+country like that you would have to ride a horse at least two hundred
+feet high. You cannot see at first, or even for some time, that the
+gentle-looking hill is a mountain of five or six thousand feet; in Simla
+you will not believe you are three thousand feet above the level of the
+Rhigi Kulm in Switzerland. Persons who are familiar with the aspect of
+the Rocky Mountains are aware of the singular lack of dignity in those
+enormous elevations. They are merely big, without any superior beauty,
+until you come to the favoured spots of nature's art, where some great
+contrast throws out into appalling relief the gulf between the high and
+the low. It is so in the Himalayas.
+
+You may travel for hours and days amidst vast forests and hills without
+the slightest sensation of pleasure or sense of admiration for the
+scene, till suddenly your path leads you out on to the dizzy brink of an
+awful precipice--a sheer fall, so exaggerated in horror that your most
+stirring memories of Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, and the hideous _arête_
+of the Pitz Bernina, sink into vague insignificance. The gulf that
+divides you from the distant mountain seems like a huge bite taken
+bodily out of the world by some voracious god; far away rise snow peaks
+such as were not dreamt of in your Swiss tour; the bottomless valley at
+your feet is misty and gloomy with blackness, streaked with mist, while
+the peaks above shoot gladly to the sun and catch his broadside rays
+like majestic white standards. Between you, as you stand leaning
+cautiously against the hill behind you, and the wonderful background far
+away in front, floats a strange vision, scarcely moving, but yet not
+still. A great golden shield sails steadily in vast circles, sending
+back the sunlight in every tint of burnished glow. The golden eagle of
+the Himalayas hangs in mid-air, a sheet of polished metal to the eye,
+pausing sometimes in the full blaze of reflection, as ages ago the sun
+and the moon stood still in the valley of Ajalon; too magnificent for
+description, as he is too dazzling to look at. The whole scene, if no
+greater name can be given to it, is on a scale so Titanic in its massive
+length and breadth and depth, that you stand utterly trembling and weak
+and foolish as you look for the first time. You have never seen such
+masses of the world before.
+
+It was in such a spot as this that, nearly at noon on the appointed day,
+my dooly-bearers set me down and warned me I was at my journey's end. I
+stepped out and stood on the narrow way, pausing to look and to enjoy
+all that I saw. I had been in other parts of the lower Himalayas before,
+and the first sensations I had experienced had given way to those of a
+contemplative admiration. No longer awed or overpowered or oppressed by
+the sense of physical insignificance in my own person, I could endure to
+look on the stupendous panorama before me, and could even analyse what I
+felt. But before long my pardonable reverie was disturbed by a
+well-known voice. The clear tones rang like a trumpet along the
+mountain-side in a glad shout of welcome. I turned and saw Isaacs coming
+quickly towards me, bounding along the edge of the precipice as if his
+life had been passed in tending goats and robbing eagles' nests. I, too,
+moved on to meet him, and in a moment we clasped hands in unfeigned
+delight at being again together. What was Ghyrkins or his party to me?
+Here was the man I sought; the one man on earth who seemed worth having
+for a friend. And yet it was but three weeks since we first met, and I
+am not enthusiastic by temperament.
+
+"What news, friend Griggs?"
+
+"She greets you and sends you this," I said, taking from my bosom the
+parcel she had thrust into my hand as I left in the dark. His face fell
+suddenly. It was the silver box he had given her; was it possible she
+had taken so much trouble to return it? He turned it over mournfully.
+
+"You had better open it. There is probably something in it."
+
+I never saw a more complete change in a man's face during a single
+second than came over Isaacs' in that moment. He had not thought of
+opening it, in his first disappointment at finding it returned. He
+turned back the lid. Bound with a bit of narrow ribbon and pressed down
+carefully, he found a heavy lock of gold-white hair, so fair that it
+made everything around it seem dark--the grass, our clothes, and even
+the white streamer that hung down from Isaacs' turban. It seemed to shed
+a bright light, even in the broad noon-day, as it lay there in the
+curiously wrought box--just as the body of some martyred saint found
+jealously concealed in the dark corner of an ancient crypt, and broken
+in upon by unsuspecting masons delving a king's grave, might throw up in
+their dusky faces a dazzling halo of soft radiance--the glory of the
+saint hovering lovingly by the body wherein the soul's sufferings were
+perfected.
+
+The moment Isaacs realised what it was, he turned away, his face all
+gladness, and moved on a few steps with bent head, evidently
+contemplating his new treasure. Then he snapped the spring, and putting
+the casket in his vest turned round to me.
+
+"Thank you, Griggs; how are they all?"
+
+"It was worth a two-hundred mile ride to see your face when you opened
+that box. They are pretty well. I left them swearing that the party was
+broken up, and that they would all go back to Simla."
+
+"The sooner the better. We shall be there in three days from here, by
+the help of Ram Lal's wonderful post."
+
+"Between you I managed to get here quite well. How did you do it? I
+never missed a relay all the way from Julinder."
+
+"Oh, it is very easy," answered Isaacs. "You could have a _dâk_ to the
+moon from India if you would pay for it; or any other thing in heaven or
+earth or hell that you might fancy. Money, that is all. But, my dear
+fellow, you have lost flesh sensibly since we parted. You take your
+travelling hard."
+
+"Where is Ram Lal?" I asked, curious to learn something of our movements
+for the night.
+
+"Oh, I don't know. He is probably somewhere about the place charming
+cobras or arresting avalanches, or indulging in some of those playful
+freaks he says he learned in Edinburgh. We have had a great good time
+the last two days. He has not disappeared, or swallowed himself even
+once, or delivered himself of any fearful and mysterious prophecies. We
+have been talking transcendentalism. He knows as much about 'functional
+gamma' and 'All X is Y' and the rainbow, and so on, as you do yourself.
+I recommend him. I think he would be a charming companion for you. There
+he is now, with his pockets full of snakes and evil beasts. I wanted him
+to catch a golden eagle this morning, and tame it for Miss Westonhaugh,
+but he said it would eat the jackal and probably the servants, so I have
+given it up for the present." Isaacs was evidently in a capital humour.
+Ram Lal approached us.
+
+I saw at a glance that Ram Lal the Buddhist, when on his beats in the
+civilisation of Simla, was one person. Ram Lal, the cultured votary of
+science, among the hills and the beasts and the specimens that he loved,
+was a very different man. He was as gray as ever, it is true, but better
+defined, the outlines sharper, the features more Dantesque and easier to
+discern in the broad light of the sun. He did not look now as if he
+could sit down and cross his legs and fade away into thin air, like the
+Cheshire cat. He looked more solid and fleshly, his voice was fuller,
+and sounded close to me as he spoke, without a shadow of the curious
+distant ring I had noticed before.
+
+"Ah!" he said in English, "Mr. Griggs, at last! Well, you are in plenty
+of time. The gentleman who is not easily astonished. That is just as
+well, too. I like people with quiet nerves. I see by your appearance
+that you are hungry, Mr. Griggs. Abdul Hafiz, why should we not dine? It
+is much better to get that infliction of the flesh over before this
+evening."
+
+"By all means. Come along. But first send those dooly-bearers about
+their business. They can wait till to-morrow over there on the other
+side. They always carry food, and there is any amount of fuel."
+
+Just beyond the shoulder of the hill, sheltered from the north by the
+projecting boulders, was a small tent, carefully pitched and adjusted to
+stand the storms if any should come. Thither we all three bent our steps
+and sat down by the fire, for it was chilly, even cold, in the passes in
+September. Food was brought out by Isaacs, and we ate together as if no
+countless ages of different nationalities separated us. Ram Lal was
+perfectly natural and easy in his manners, and affable in what he said.
+Until the meal was finished no reference was made to the strange
+business that brought us from different points of the compass to the
+Himalayan heights. Then, at last, Ram Lal spoke; his meal had been the
+most frugal of the three, and he had soon eaten his fill, but he
+employed himself in rolling cigarettes, which he did with marvellous
+skill, until we two had satisfied our younger and healthier appetites.
+
+"Abdul Hafiz," he said, his gray face bent over his colourless hands as
+he twisted the papers, "shall we not tell Mr. Griggs what is to be done?
+Afterward he can lie in the tent and sleep until evening, for he is
+weary and needs to recruit his strength."
+
+"So be it, Ram Lal," answered Isaacs.
+
+"Very well. The position is this, Mr. Griggs. Neither Mr. Isaacs nor I
+trust those men that we are to meet, and therefore, as we are afraid of
+being killed unawares, we thought we would send for you to protect us."
+He smiled pleasantly as he saw the blank expression in my face.
+
+"Certainly, and you shall hear how it is to be done. The place is not
+far from here in the valley below. The band are already nearing the
+spot, and at midnight we will go down and meet them. The meeting will
+be, of course, like all formal rendezvous for the delivery of prisoners.
+The captain of the band will come forward accompanied by his charge, and
+perhaps by a sowar. We three will stand together, side by side, and
+await their coming. Now the plot is this. They have determined if
+possible to murder both Shere Ali and Isaacs then and there together.
+They have not counted on us, but they probably expect that our friend
+will arrive guarded by a troop of horse. The maharajah's men will try
+and sneak up close to where we stand, and at a signal, which the leader,
+in conversation with Isaacs, will give by laying his hand on his
+shoulder, the men will rush in and cut Shere Ali to pieces, and Isaacs
+too if the captain cannot do it alone. Now look here, Mr. Griggs. What
+we want you to do is this. Your friend--my friend--wants no miracles, so
+that you have got to do by strength what might be done by stratagem,
+though not so quickly. When you see the leader lay his hand on Isaacs'
+shoulder, seize him by the throat and mind his other arm, which will be
+armed. Prevent him from injuring Isaacs, and I will attend to the rest,
+who will doubtless require my whole attention."
+
+"But," I objected, "supposing that this captain turned out to be
+stronger or more active than I. What then?"
+
+"Never fear," said Isaacs, smiling. "There aren't any."
+
+"No," continued Ram Lal, "never disturb yourself about that, but just
+knock your man down and be done with it. I will guarantee you can do it
+well enough, and if he gives you trouble I may be able to help you."
+
+"All right; give me some cigarettes;" and before I had smoked one I was
+asleep.
+
+When I awoke the sun was down, but there was a great light over
+everything. The full moon had just risen above the hills to eastward and
+bathed every object in silver sheen. The far peaks, covered with snow,
+caught the reflection and sent the beams floating across the deep dark
+valleys between. The big boulder, against which the tent was pitched,
+caught it too, and seemed changed from rough stone to precious metal; it
+was on the tent-pegs and the ropes, it was upon Isaacs' lithe figure, as
+he tightened his sash round his waist and looked to his pocket-book for
+the agreement. It made Ram Lal, the gray and colourless, look like a
+silver statue, and it made the smouldering flame of the watch-fire
+utterly dim and faint. It was a wonderful moon. I looked at my watch; it
+was eight o'clock.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, "you were tired and have slept long. It is time to
+be off. There is some whiskey in that flask. I don't take those things,
+but Ram Lal says you had better have some, as you might get fever." So I
+did. Then we started, leaving everything in the tent, of which we pegged
+down the flap. There were no natives about, the dooly-bearers having
+retired to the other side of the valley, and the jackals would find
+nothing to attract them, as we had thrown the remainder of our meal over
+the edge. As for weapons, I had a good revolver and a thick stick;
+Isaacs had a revolver and a vicious-looking Turkish knife; and Ram Lal
+had nothing at all, as far as I could see, except a long light staff.
+
+The effect of the moonlight was wild in the extreme, as we descended the
+side of the mountain by paths which were very far from smooth or easy.
+Every now and then, as we neared the valley, we turned the corner of
+some ridge and got a fair view of the plain. Then a step farther, and we
+were in the dark again, behind boulders and picking our way over loose
+stones, or struggling with the wretched foothold afforded by a surface
+of light gravel, inclined to the horizontal at an angle of forty-five
+degrees. Then, with a scramble, a jump, and a little swearing in a great
+many languages--I think we counted that we spoke twenty-seven between
+us--we were on firm soil again, and swinging along over the bit of easy
+level path. It would have been out of the question to go in doolies, and
+no pony could keep a foothold for five minutes on the uncertain ground.
+
+At last, as we emerged into the bright moonlight on a little platform of
+rock at an angle of the path, we paused. Ram Lal, who seemed to know the
+way, was in front, and held up his hand to silence us; Isaacs and I
+kneeled down and looked over the brink. Some two hundred feet below, on
+a broad strip of green bordering the steep cliffs, was picketed a small
+body of horse. We could see the men squatting about in their small
+compact turbans and their shining accoutrements; the horses tethered at
+various distances on the sward, cropping so vigorously that even at that
+height we could hear the dull sound as they rhythmically munched the
+grass. We could see in the middle of the little camp a man seated on a
+rug and wrapped in a heavy garment of some kind, quietly smoking a
+common hubble-bubble. Beside him stood another who reflected more
+moonlight than the rest, and who was therefore, by his trappings, the
+captain of the band. The seated smoker could be no other than Shere Ali.
+
+Cautiously we descended the remaining windings of the steep path,
+turning whenever we had a chance, to look down on the horsemen and their
+prisoner below, till at last we emerged in the valley a quarter of a
+mile or so beyond where they were stationed. Here on the level of the
+plain we stopped a moment, and Ram Lal renewed his instructions to me.
+
+"If the captain," he said, "lays his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, seize him
+and throw him. If you cannot get him down kill him--any way you
+can--shoot him under the arm with your pistol. It is a matter of life
+and death."
+
+"All right." And we walked boldly along the broad strip of sward. The
+moon was now almost immediately overhead, for it was midnight, or near
+it. I confess the scene awed me, the giant masses of the mountains above
+us, the vast distances of mysterious blue air, through which the
+snow-peaks shone out with a strange look that was not natural. The swish
+of the quickly flowing stream at the edge of the plot we were walking
+over sounded hollow and unearthly; the velvety whirr of the great
+mountain bats as they circled near us, stirred from the branches as we
+passed out, was disagreeable and heavy to hear. The moon shone brighter
+and brighter.
+
+We were perhaps thirty yards from the little camp, in which there might
+be fifty men all told. Isaacs stood still and sung out a greeting.
+
+"Peace to you, men of Baithopoor!" he shouted. It was the preconcerted
+form of address. Instantly the captain turned and looked toward us. Then
+he gave some orders in a low voice, and taking his prisoner by the hand
+assisted him to rise. There was a scurrying to and fro in the camp. The
+men seemed to be collecting, and moving to the edge of the bivouac. Some
+began to saddle the horses. The moon was so intensely bright that their
+movements were as plain to us as though it had been broad daylight.
+
+Two figures came striding toward us--the captain and Shere Ali. As I
+looked at them, curiously enough, as may be imagined, I noticed that the
+captain was the taller man by two or three inches, but Shere Ali's broad
+chest and slightly-bowed legs produced an impression of enormous
+strength. He looked the fierce-hearted, hard-handed warrior, from head
+to heel; though in accordance with Isaacs' treaty he had been well taken
+care of and was dressed in the finest stuffs, his beard carefully
+clipped and his Indian turban rolled with great neatness round his dark
+and prominent brows.
+
+The first thing for the captain was to satisfy himself as far as
+possible that we had no troops in ambush up there in the jungle on the
+base of the mountain. He had probably sent scouts out before, and was
+pretty sure there was no one there. To gain time, he made a great show
+of reading the agreement through from beginning to end, comparing it all
+the while with a copy he held. While this was going on, and I had put
+myself as near as possible to the captain, Isaacs and Shere Ali were in
+earnest conversation in the Persian tongue. Shere Ali told Abdul that
+the captain's perusal of the contract must be a mere empty show, since
+the man did not know a word of the language. Isaacs, on hearing that the
+captain could not understand, immediately warned Shere Ali of the
+intended attempt to murder them both, of which Ram Lal, his friend, had
+heard, and I could see the old soldier's eye flash and his hand feel for
+his weapon, where there was none, at the mere mention of a fight. The
+captain began to talk to Isaacs, and I edged as near as I could to be
+ready for my grip. Still it did not come. He talked on, very civilly, in
+intelligible Hindustani. What was the matter with the moon?
+
+A few minutes before it had seemed as if there would be neither cloud
+nor mist in such a sky; and now a light filmy wreath was rising and
+darkening the splendour of the wonderful night. I looked across at Ram
+Lal. He was standing with one hand on his hip, and leaning with the
+other on his staff, and he was gazing up at the moon with as much
+interest as he ever displayed about anything. At that moment the captain
+handed Isaacs a prepared receipt for signature, to the effect that the
+prisoner had been duly delivered to his new owner. The light was growing
+dimmer, and Isaacs could hardly see to read the characters before he
+signed. He raised the scroll to his eyes and turned half round to see it
+better. At that moment the tall captain stretched forth his arm and laid
+his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, raising his other arm at the same time to
+his men, who had crept nearer and nearer to our group while the endless
+talking was going on. I was perfectly prepared, and the instant the
+soldier's hand touched Isaacs I had the man in my grip, catching his
+upraised arm in one hand and his throat with the other. The struggle did
+not last long, but it was furious in its agony. The tough Punjabi
+writhed and twisted like a cat in my grasp, his eyes gleaming like
+living coals, springing back and forward in his vain and furious efforts
+to reach my feet and trip me. But it was no use. I had his throat and
+one arm well in hand, and could hold him so that he could not reach me
+with the other. My fingers sank deeper and deeper in his neck as we
+swayed backwards and sideways tugging and hugging, breast to breast,
+till at last, with a fearful strain and wrench of every muscle in our
+two bodies, his arm went back with a jerk, broken like a pipe-stem, and
+his frame collapsing and bending backwards, fell heavily to the ground
+beneath me.
+
+The whole strength of me was at work in the struggle, but I could get a
+glimpse of the others as we whirled and swayed about.
+
+Like the heavy pall of virgin white that is laid on the body of a pure
+maiden; of velvet, soft and sweet but heavy and impenetrable as death,
+relentless, awful, appalling the soul, and freezing the marrow in the
+bones, it came near the earth. The figure of the gray old man grew
+mystically to gigantic and unearthly size, his vast old hands stretched
+forth their skinny palms to receive the great curtain as it descended
+between the moonlight and the sleeping earth. His eyes were as stars,
+his hoary head rose majestically to an incalculable height; still the
+thick, all-wrapping mist came down, falling on horse and rider and
+wrestler and robber and Amir; hiding all, covering all, folding all, in
+its soft samite arms, till not a man's own hand was visible to him a
+span's length from his face.
+
+I could feel the heaving chest of the captain beneath my knee; I could
+feel the twitching of the broken arm tortured under the pressure of my
+left hand; but I could see neither face nor arm nor breast, nor even my
+own fingers. Only above me, as I stared up, seemed to tower the
+supernatural proportions of Ram Lal, a white apparition visible through
+the opaque whiteness that hid everything else from view. It was only a
+moment. A hand was on my shoulder, Isaacs' voice was in my ear, speaking
+to Shere Ali. Ram Lal drew me away.
+
+"Be quick," he said; "take my hand, I will lead you to the light." We
+ran along the soft grass, following the sound of each other's feet,
+swiftly. A moment more and we were in the pass; the mist was lighter,
+and we could see our way. We rushed up the stony path fast and sure,
+till we reached the clear bright moonlight, blazing forth in silver
+splendour again. Far down below the velvet pall of mist lay thick and
+heavy, hiding the camp and its horses and men from our sight.
+
+"Friend," said Isaacs, "you are as free as I. Praise Allah, and let us
+depart in peace."
+
+The savage old warrior grasped the outstretched hand of the Persian and
+yelled aloud--
+
+"Illallaho-ho-ho-ho!" His throat was as brass.
+
+"La illah ill-allah!" repeated Isaacs in tones as of a hundred clarions,
+echoing by tree and mountain and river, down the valley.
+
+"Thank God!" I said to Ram Lal.
+
+"Call Him as you please, friend Griggs," answered the pundit.
+
+It was daylight when we reached the tent at the top of the pass.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+"Abdul Hafiz," said Ram Lal, as we sat round the fire we had made,
+preparing food, "if it is thy pleasure I will conduct thy friend to a
+place of safety and set his feet in the paths that lead to pleasant
+places. For thou art weary and wilt take thy rest until noon, but I am
+not weary and the limbs of the Afghan are as iron." He spoke in Persian,
+so that Shere Ali could understand what he said. The latter looked
+uneasy at first, but soon perceived that his best chance of safety lay
+in immediately leaving the neighbourhood, which was unpleasantly near
+Simla on the one side and the frontiers of Baithopoor on the other.
+
+"I thank thee, Ram Lal," replied Isaacs, "and I gladly accept thy offer.
+Whither wilt thou conduct our friend the Amir?"
+
+"I will lead him by a sure road into Thibet, and my brethren shall take
+care of him, and presently he shall journey safely northwards into the
+Tartar country, and thence to the Russ people, where the followers of
+your prophet are many, and if thou wilt give him the letters thou hast
+written, which he may present to the principal moolahs, he shall
+prosper. And as for money, if thou hast gold, give him of it, and if
+not, give him silver; and if thou hast none, take no thought, for the
+freedom of the spirit is better than the obesity of the body."
+
+"Bishmillah! Thou speakest with the tongue of wisdom, old man," said
+Shere Ali; "nevertheless a few rupees--"
+
+"Fear nothing," broke in Isaacs. "I have for thee a store of a few
+rupees in silver, and there are two hundred gold mohurs in this bag.
+They are scarce in Hind and pass not as money, but the value of them
+whither thou goest shall buy thee food many days. Take also this
+diamond, which if thou be in want thou shalt sell and be rich."
+
+Shere Ali, who had been suspicious of treachery, or at least was afraid
+to believe himself really free, was convinced by this generosity. The
+great rough warrior, the brave patriot who had shut the gates of Kabul
+in the face of Sir Neville Chamberlain, and who had faced every danger
+and defeat, rather than tamely suffer the advance of the all-devouring
+English into his dominions, was proud and unbending still, through all
+his captivity and poverty and trouble, and weariness of soul and
+suffering of body; he could bear his calamities like a man, the
+unrelenting chief of an unrelenting race. But when Isaacs stretched
+forth his hand and freed him, and bestowed upon him, moreover, a goodly
+stock of cash, and bid him go in peace, his gratitude got the better of
+him, and he fairly broke down. The big tears coursed down over his rough
+cheeks, and his face sank between his hands, which trembled violently
+for a moment. Then his habitual calm of outward manner returned.
+
+"Allah requite thee, my brother," he said, "I can never hope to."
+
+"I have done nothing," said Isaacs. "Shall believers languish and perish
+in the hands of swine without faith? Verily it is Allah's doing, whose
+name is great and powerful. He will not suffer the followers of His
+prophet to be devoured of jackals and unclean beasts. Masallah! There is
+no God but God."
+
+Therefore, when they had eaten some food, Ram Lal and Shere Ali
+departed, journeying north-east towards Thibet, and Isaacs and I
+remained sleeping in the tent until past noon. Then we arose and went
+our way, having packed up the little canvas house and the utensils and
+the pole into a neat bundle which we carried by turns along the steep
+rough paths, until we found the dooly-bearers squatting round the embers
+after their mid-day meal. As we journeyed we talked of the events of the
+night. It seemed to me that the whole thing might have been managed very
+much more simply. Isaacs did things in his own way, however, and, after
+all, he generally had a good reason for his actions.
+
+"I think not," he said in reply to my question. "While you were throwing
+that ruffian, who would have overmatched me in an instant, Shere Ali and
+I disposed of the sowars who ran up at the captain's signal. Shere Ali
+says he killed one of them with his hands, and my little knife here
+seems to have done some damage." He produced the vicious-looking dagger,
+stained above the hilt with dark blood, which he began to scrape off
+with a bit of stick.
+
+"My dear fellow," I objected, "I am delighted to have served you, and I
+see that since Shere Ali could not be warned of the signal, I was the
+only person there who could tackle that Punjabi man; yet I am completely
+at a loss to explain why, if Ram Lal can command the forces of nature to
+the extent of calling down a thick mist under the cover of which we
+might escape, he could not have calmly destroyed the whole band by
+lightning, or indigestion, or some simple and efficacious means, so that
+we need not have risked our lives in supplementing what he only half
+did."
+
+"There are plenty of answers to that question," Isaacs answered. "In the
+first place, how do you know that Ram Lal could do anything more than
+discover the preconcerted signal and bring down that fog? He pretends to
+no supernatural power; he only asserts that he understands the workings
+of nature better than you do. How do you know that the fog was his doing
+at all? Your excited imagination, developed suddenly by the tussle with
+the captain, which undoubtedly sent the blood to your head, made you
+think you saw Ram Lal's figure magnified beyond human proportion. If
+there had been no mist at all, we should most likely have got away
+unhurt all the same. Those fellows would not fight after their leader
+was down. Again, I like to let Ram Lal feel that I am able to do
+something for myself, and that I have other friends as powerful. He aims
+at obtaining too much ascendency over me. I do not like it."
+
+"Oh--if you look at it in that light, I have nothing to say. It has been
+a very pleasant and interesting excursion to me, and I am rather glad I
+only broke that fellow's arm instead of killing him, as you and Shere
+Ali did your sowars."
+
+"I don't know whether I killed him. I suppose I did. Poor fellow.
+However, he would certainly have killed me."
+
+"Of course. No use crying over spilt milk," I answered.
+
+So we got into the doolies and swung away. As we neared Simla my
+friend's spirits rose, and he chanted wild Persian and Arabic
+love-songs, and kept up a fire of conversation all day and all night,
+singing and talking alternately.
+
+"Griggs," he said, as we approached the end of our journey, "did you
+have occasion to tell Miss Westonhaugh where I had gone?"
+
+"Yes. She asked me, and I answered that you had gone to save a man's
+life. She looked very much pleased, I thought, but just then somebody
+came up, and we did not talk any more about it. I got your message the
+evening of the day you left."
+
+"She looked pleased?"
+
+"Very much. I remember the colour came into her cheeks."
+
+"Was she so pale, then?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Why, yes. You remember how she looked the night before you left? She
+was even paler the next day, but when I said you had gone to do a good
+deed, the light came into her face for a moment."
+
+"Do you think she was ill, Griggs?"
+
+"She did not look well, but of course she was anxious about you, and a
+good deal cut up about your going."
+
+"No; but did you really think she was ill?" he insisted.
+
+"Oh no, nothing but your going."
+
+His spirits were gone again, and he said very little more that day. As
+we were ascending the last hills, some eight or nine hours from Simla,
+the moon rose majestically behind us. It must have been ten o'clock, for
+she could not have been seen above the notch in the mountains to
+eastward until she had been risen an hour at least.
+
+"I wonder where they are now, those two," said Isaacs.
+
+"Shere Ali and Ram Lal?"
+
+"Yes. They are probably across the borders into Thibet, watching the
+moon rise from the door of some Buddhist monastery. I am glad I am not
+there."
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "I would really like to know why you took so much
+trouble about Shere Ali. It seems to me you might have procured his
+liberation in some simpler way, if it was merely an act of charity that
+you contemplated."
+
+"Call it anything you like. I had read about the poor man until my
+imagination was wrought up, and I could not bear to think of a man so
+brave and patriotic and at the same time a true believer, lying in the
+clutches of that old beast of a maharajah. And as for the method of my
+procedure, do you realise the complete secrecy of the whole affair? Do
+you see that no one but you and I and the Baithopoor people know
+anything of the transaction? Do you suppose that I should be tolerated a
+day in the country if the matter were known? Above all, what do you
+imagine Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would think of me if he knew I had been
+liberating and enriching the worst foe of his little god, Lord
+Beaconsfield?"
+
+There was truth in what he said. By no arrangement could the liberation
+of Shere Ali have been effected with such secrecy and despatch as by the
+simple plan of going ourselves. And now we toiled up the last hills,
+vainly attempting to keep our horses in a canter; long before the relay
+was reached they had relapsed into a dogged jog-trot.
+
+So we reached Simla at sunrise, and crawled wearily up the steps of the
+hotel to our rooms, tired with the cramp of dooly and saddle for so many
+days, and longing for the luxury of the bath, the civilised meal, and
+the arm-chair. Of course I did not suppose Isaacs would go to bed. He
+expected that the Westonhaughs would have returned by this time, and he
+would doubtless go to them as soon as he had breakfasted. So we
+separated to dress and be shaved--my beard was a week old at least--and
+to make ourselves as comfortable as we deserved to be after our manifold
+exertions. We had been three days and a half from Keitung to Simla.
+
+At my door stood the faithful Kiramat Ali, salaaming and making a
+pretence of putting dust on his head according to his ideas of
+respectful greeting. On the table lay letters; one of these, a note, lay
+in a prominent position. I took it instinctively, though I did not know
+the hand. It was from Mr. Currie Ghyrkins.
+
+
+     _Saturday morning_.
+
+     MY DEAR MR. GRIGGS--If you have returned to
+     Simla, I should be glad to see you for half an hour on
+     a matter of urgent importance. I would come to you
+     if I could. My niece, Miss Westonhaugh, is, I am
+     sorry to say, dangerously ill.--Sincerely yours,
+
+     A. CURRIE GHYRKINS.
+
+
+It was dated two days before, for to-day was Monday. I made every
+possible haste in my toilet and ordered a horse. I wondered whether
+Isaacs had received a similar missive. What could be the matter? What
+might not have happened in those two days since the note was written? I
+felt sure that the illness had begun before I left them in the Terai,
+hastened probably by the pain she had felt at Isaacs' departure; there
+is nothing like a little mental worry to hasten an illness, if it is to
+come at all. Poor Miss Westonhaugh! So, after all her gaiety and all the
+enjoyment she had from the tiger-hunt on which she had set her heart,
+she had come back to be ill in Simla. Well, the air was fresh enough
+now--almost cold, in fact. She would soon be well. Still, it was a great
+pity. We might have had such a gay week before breaking up.
+
+I was dressed, and I went down the steps, passing Isaacs' open door. He
+was calmly reading a newspaper and having a morning smoke, until it
+should be time to go out. Clearly he had not heard anything of Miss
+Westonhaugh's illness. I resolved I would say nothing until I knew the
+worst, so I merely put my head in and said I should be back in an hour
+to breakfast with him, and passed on. Once on horseback, I galloped as
+hard as I could, scattering chuprassies and children and marketers to
+right and left in the bazaar. It was not long before I left my horse at
+the corner of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' lawn, and walking to the verandah,
+which looked suspiciously neat and unused, inquired for the master of
+the house. I was shown into his bedroom, for it was still very early and
+he was dressing.
+
+I noticed a considerable change in the old gentleman's manner and
+appearance in the last ten days. His bright red colour was nearly faded,
+his eyes had grown larger and less bright, he had lost flesh, and his
+tone was subdued in the extreme. He came from his dressing-glass to
+greet me with a ghost of the old smile on his face, and his hand
+stretched eagerly out.
+
+"My dear Mr. Griggs, I am sincerely glad to see you."
+
+"I have not been in Simla two hours," I answered, "and I found your
+note. How is Miss Westonhaugh? I am so sorry to----"
+
+"Don't talk about her, Griggs. I am afraid she's g--g--goin' to die." He
+nearly broke down, but he struggled bravely. I was terribly shocked,
+though a moment's reflection told me that so strong and healthy a person
+would not die so easily. I expressed my sympathy as best I could.
+
+"What is it? What is the illness?" I asked when he was quieter.
+
+"Jungle fever, my dear fellow, jungle fever; caught in that beastly
+tiger-hunt. Oh! I wish I had never taken her. I wish we had never gone.
+Why wasn't I firm? Damn it all, sir, why wasn't I firm, eh?" In his
+anger at himself something of the former jerky energy of the man showed
+itself. Then it faded away into the jaded sorrowful look that was on his
+face when I came in. He sat down with his elbows on his knees and his
+hands in his scanty gray hair, his suspenders hanging down at his
+sides--the picture of misery. I tried to console him, but I confess I
+felt very much like breaking down myself. I did not see what I could do,
+except break the bad news to Isaacs.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," he said at last, "she has been asking for you all the
+time, and the doctor thought if you came she had best see you, as it
+might quiet her. Understand?" I understood better than he thought.
+
+People who are dangerously ill have no morning and no evening. Their
+hours are eternally the same, save for the alternation of suffering and
+rest. The nurse and the doctor are their sun and moon, relieving each
+other in the watches of day and night. As they are worse--as they draw
+nearer to eternity, they are less and less governed by ideas of time. A
+dying person will receive a visit at midnight or at mid-day with no
+thought but to see the face of friend--or foe--once more. So I was not
+surprised to find that Miss Westonhaugh would see me; in an interval of
+the fever she had been moved to a chair in her room, and her brother was
+with her. I might go in--indeed she sent a very urgent message imploring
+that I would go. I went.
+
+The morning sun was beating brightly on the shutters, and the room
+looked cheerful as I entered. John Westonhaugh, paler than death, came
+quickly to the door and grasped my hand.
+
+On a long cane-chair by the window, carefully covered from the possible
+danger of any insidious draught, with a mass of soft white wraps and
+shawls, lay Katharine Westonhaugh--the transparant phantasm of her
+brilliant self. The rich masses of pale hair were luxuriously nestled
+around her shoulders and the blazing eyes flamed, lambently, under the
+black brows--but that was all. Colour, beside the gold hair and the
+black eyes, there was hardly any. The strong clean-cut outline of the
+features was there, but absolutely startling in emaciation, so that
+there seemed to be no flesh at all; the pale lips scarcely closed over
+the straight white teeth. A wonderful and a fearful sight to see, that
+stately edifice of queenly strength and beauty thus laid low and
+pillaged and stript of all colour save purple and white--the hues of
+mourning--the purple lips and the white cheek. I have seen many people
+die, and the moment I looked at Katharine Westonhaugh I felt that the
+hand of death was already closed over her, gripped round, never to
+relax. John led me to her side, and a faint smile showed she was glad to
+see me. I knelt reverently down, as one would kneel beside one already
+dead. She spoke first, clearly and easily, as it seemed. People who are
+ill from fever seldom lose the faculty of speech.
+
+"I am so glad you are come. There are many things I want you to do."
+
+"Yes, Miss Westonhaugh. I will do everything."
+
+"Is he come back?" she asked--then, as I looked at her brother, she
+added, "John knows, he is very glad."
+
+"Yes, we came back this morning together; I came here at once."
+
+"Thank you--it was kind. Did you give him the box?"
+
+"Yes--he does not know you are ill. He means to come at eleven."
+
+"Tell him to come now. _Now_--do you understand?" Then she added in a
+low tone, for my ear only, "I don't think they know it; I am dying. I
+shall be dead before to-night. Don't tell him that. Make him come now.
+John knows. Now go. I am tired. No--wait! Did he save the man's life?"
+
+"Yes; the man is safe and free in Thibet."
+
+"That was nobly done. Now go. You have always been kind to me, and you
+love him. When you see me again I shall be gone." Her voice was
+perceptibly weaker, though still clearly audible. "When I am gone, put
+some flowers on me for friendship's sake. You have always been so kind.
+Good-bye, dear Mr. Griggs. Good-bye. God keep you." I moved quickly to
+the door, fearing lest the piteous sight should make a coward of me. It
+was so ineffably pathetic--this lovely creature, just tasting of the cup
+of life and love and dying so.
+
+"Bring him here at once, Griggs, please. I know all about it. It may
+save her." John Westonhaugh clasped my hand in his again, and pushed me
+out to speed me on my errand. I tore along the crooked paths and the
+winding road, up through the bazaar, past the church and the narrow
+causeway beyond to the hotel. I found him still smoking and reading the
+paper.
+
+"Well?" said he cheerfully, for the morning sun had dispelled the doubts
+of the night.
+
+"My dear friend," I said, "Miss Westonhaugh wants to see you
+immediately."
+
+"How? What? Of course; I will go at once, but how did you know?"
+
+"Wait a minute, Isaacs; she is not well at all--in fact, she is quite
+ill."
+
+"What's the matter--for God's sake--Why, Griggs, man, how white you
+are--O my God, my God--she is dead!" I seized him quickly in my arms or
+he would have thrown himself on the ground.
+
+"No," I said, "she is not dead. But, my dear boy, she is dying. I do not
+believe she will live till this evening. Therefore get to horse and ride
+there quickly, before it is too late."
+
+Isaacs was a brave man, and of surpassing strength to endure. After the
+first passionate outburst, his manner never changed as he mechanically
+ordered his horse and pulled on his boots. He was pale naturally, and
+great purple rings seemed to come out beneath his eyes--as if he had
+received a blow--from the intensity of his suppressed emotion. Once only
+he spoke before he mounted.
+
+"What is it?" he asked.
+
+"Jungle fever," I answered. He groaned. "Shall I go with you?" asked I,
+thinking it might be as well. He shook his head, and was off in a
+moment.
+
+I turned to my rooms and threw myself on my bed. Poor fellow; was there
+ever a more piteous case? Oh the cruel misery of feeling that nothing
+could save her! And he--he who would give life and wealth and fortune
+and power to give her back a shade of colour--as much as would tinge a
+rose-leaf, even a very little rose-leaf--and could not. Poor fellow!
+What would he do to-night--to-morrow. I could see him kneeling by her
+side and weeping hot tears over the wasted hands. I could almost hear
+his smothered sob--his last words of speeding to the parting soul--the
+picture grew intensely in my thoughts. How beautiful she would look when
+she was dead!
+
+I started as the thought came into my mind. How superficial was my
+acquaintance with her, poor girl,--how little was she a part of my life,
+since I could really so heartlessly think of her beauty when her breath
+should be gone! Of course, though, it was natural enough, why should I
+feel any personal pang for her? It was odd that I should even expect
+to--I, who never felt a "personal pang" of regret for the death of any
+human creature, excepting poor dear old Lucia, who brought me up, and
+sent me to school, and gave me roast chestnuts when I knew my lessons,
+in the streets of Rome, thirty years ago. When she died, I was there;
+poor old soul, how fond she was of me! And I of her! I remember the
+tears I shed, though I was a bearded man even then. How long is that?
+Since she died, it must be ten years.
+
+My thoughts wandered about among all sorts of _bric-à-brac_ memories.
+Presently something brought me back to the present. Why must this fair
+girl from the north die miserably here in India? Ah yes! the eternal
+why. Why did we go at such a season into the forests of the Terai? it
+was madness; we knew it was, and Ram Lal knew it too. Hence his warning.
+O Ram Lal, you are a wise old man, with your gray beard and you mists of
+wet white velvet and your dark sayings! Ram Lal, will you riddle me,
+also, my weird that I must dree?
+
+A cold draught passed over my head, and I turned on my couch to see
+whence it came. I started bolt upright, and my hair stood on end with
+sudden terror. I had uttered the name of Ram Lal aloud in my reverie,
+and there he sat on a chair by the door, as gray as ever, with his long
+staff leaning from his feet across his breast and shoulder. He looked at
+me quietly.
+
+"I come opportunely, Mr. Griggs, it seems. _Lupus in fabula._ I hear my
+name pronounced as I enter the door. This is flattering to a man of my
+modest pretensions to social popularity. You would like me to tell you
+your fortune? Well, I am not a fortune-teller."
+
+"Never mind my fortune. Will Miss Westonhaugh recover?"
+
+"No. She will die at sundown."
+
+"How do you know, since you say you are no prophet?"
+
+"Because I am a doctor of medicine. M.D. of Edinburgh."
+
+"Why can you not save her then? A man who is a Scotch doctor, and who
+possesses the power of performing such practical jokes on nature as you
+exhibited the other night, might do something. However, I suppose I am
+not talking to you at all. You are in Thibet with Shere Ali. This is
+your astral body, and if I were near enough, I could poke my fingers
+right through you, as you sit there, telling me you are an Edinburgh
+doctor, forsooth."
+
+"Quite right, Mr. Griggs. At the present moment my body is quietly
+asleep in a lamastery in Thibet, and this is my astral shape, which,
+from force of habit, I begin to like almost as well. But to be
+serious----"
+
+"I think it is very serious, your going about in this casual manner."
+
+"To be serious. I warned Isaacs that he should not allow the tiger-hunt
+to come off. He would not heed my warning. It is too late now. I am not
+omnipotent."
+
+"Of course not. Still, you might be of some use if you went there. While
+there is life there is hope."
+
+"Proverbs," said Earn Lai scornfully, "are the wisdom of wise men
+prepared in portable doses for the foolish; and the saying you quote is
+one of them. There is life yet, but there is no hope."
+
+"Well, I am afraid you are right. I saw her this morning--I suppose I
+shall never see her again, not alive, at least. She looked nearly dead
+then. Poor girl; poor Isaacs, left behind!"
+
+"You may well say that, Mr. Griggs," said the adept. "On the whole,
+perhaps he is to be less pitied than she; who knows? Perhaps we should
+pity neither, but rather envy both."
+
+"Why? Either you are talking the tritest of cant, or you are indulging
+in more of your dark sayings, to be interpreted, _post facto_, entirely
+to your own satisfaction, and to every one else's disgust." I was
+impatient with the man. If he had such extraordinary powers as were
+ascribed to him--I never heard him assert that he possessed any; if he
+could prophesy, he might as well do so to some purpose. Why could he not
+speak plainly? He could not impose on me, who was ready to give him
+credit for what he really could do, while finding fault with the way he
+did it.
+
+"I understand what passes in your mind, friend Griggs," he said, not in
+the least disconcerted at my attack. "You want me to speak plainly to
+you, because you think you are a plain-spoken, clear-headed man of
+science yourself. Very well, I will. I think you might yourself become a
+brother some day, if you would. But you will not now, neither will in
+the future. Yet you understand some little distant inkling of the
+science. When you ask your scornful questions of me, you know perfectly
+well that you are putting an inquiry which you yourself can answer as
+well as I. I am not omnipotent. I have very little more power than you.
+Given certain conditions and I can produce certain results, palpable,
+visible, and appreciable to all; but my power, as you know, is itself
+merely the knowledge of the laws of nature, which Western scientists, in
+their wisdom, ignore. I can replenish the oil in the lamp, and while
+there is wick the lamp shall burn--ay, even for hundreds of years. But
+give me a lamp wherein the wick is consumed, and I shall waste my oil;
+for it will not burn unless there be the fibre to carry it. So also is
+the body of man. While there is the flame of vitality and the essence of
+life in his nerves and finer tissues, I will put blood in his veins, and
+if he meet with no accident he may live to see hundreds of generations
+pass by him. But where there is no vitality and no essence of life in a
+man, he must die; for though I fill his veins with blood, and cause his
+heart to beat for a time, there is no spark in him--no fire, no nervous
+strength. So is Miss Westonhaugh now--dead while yet breathing, and
+sighing her sweet farewells to her lover."
+
+"I know. I understand you very well. But do not deny that you might have
+saved her. Why did you not?" Ram Lal smiled a strange smile, which I
+should have described as self-satisfied, had it not been so gentle and
+kind.
+
+"Ah yes!" he said, with something like a sigh, though there was no
+sorrow or regret in it. "Yes, Griggs, I might have saved her life. I
+would certainly have saved her--well, if he had not persuaded her to go
+down into that steaming country at this time of year, since it was my
+advice to remain here. But it is no use talking about it."
+
+"I think you might have conveyed your meaning to him a little more
+clearly. He had no idea that you meant danger to her."
+
+"No, very likely not. It is not my business to mould men's destinies for
+them. If I give them advice that is good, it is quite enough. It is like
+a man playing cards: if he does not seize his chance it does not return.
+Besides, it is much better for him that she should die."
+
+"Your moral reflections are insufferable. Can you not find some one else
+to whom you may confide your secret joy of my friend's misfortunes?"
+
+"Calm yourself. I say it is better for her, better for him, better for
+both. Remember what you said to him yourself about the difference
+between pleasure and happiness. They shall be one yet, their happiness
+shall not be less eternal because their pleasure in this life has been
+brief. Can you not conceive of immortal peace and joy without the
+satisfaction of earthly lust?"
+
+"I would not call such a beautiful union as theirs might have been by
+such a name. For myself, I confess to a very real desire for pleasure
+first and happiness afterwards."
+
+"I know you better than you think, Mr. Griggs. You are merely
+argumentative, rarely sceptical. If I had begun by denying what I
+instead asserted, you would by this time have been arguing as strongly
+on my side as you now are on yours. You are often very near degenerating
+into a common sophist."
+
+"Very likely, it was a charming profession. Meanwhile, by going to the
+very opposite extreme from sophistry, I mean by a more than Quixotic
+veneration for an abstract dogma you hold to be true, and by your
+determination to make people die for it, you are causing fearful misery
+of body, untold agony of soul, to a woman and a man whom you should have
+every reason to like. Go to, Ram Lal, adept, magician, enthusiast, and
+prophet, you are mistaken, like all your kind!"
+
+"No, I am not mistaken, time will show. Moreover, I would have you
+remark that the lady in question is not suffering at all, and that the
+'untold agony of soul' you attribute to Isaacs is a wholesome medicine
+for one with such a soul as his. And now I am going, for you are not the
+sort of person with whom I can enjoy talking very long. You are violent
+and argumentative, though you are sometimes amusing. I am rarely
+violent, and I never argue: life is too short. And yet I have more time
+for it than you, seeing my life will be indefinitely longer than yours.
+Good-bye, for the present; and believe me, those two will be happier
+far, and far more blessed, in a few short years hence, than ever you or
+I shall be in all the unreckonable cycles of this or any future world."
+Ram Lal sighed as he uttered the last words, and he was gone; yet the
+musical cadence of the deep-drawn breath of a profound sorrow, vibrated
+whisperingly through the room where I lay. Poor Ram Lal, he must have
+had some disappointment in his youth, which, with all his wisdom and
+superiority over the common earth, still left a sore place in his heart.
+
+I was not inclined to move. I knew where Isaacs was, where he would
+remain to the bitter end, and I would not go out into the world that
+day, while he was kneeling in the chamber of death. He might come back
+at any time. How long would it last? God in his mercy grant it might be
+soon and quickly over, without suffering. Oh! but those strong people
+die so deathly hard. I have seen a man--No, I was sure of that. She
+would not suffer any more now.
+
+I lay thinking. Would Isaacs send for me when he returned, or would he
+face his grief alone for a night before he spoke? The latter, I thought;
+I hoped so too. How little sympathy there must be for any one, even the
+dearest, in our souls and hearts, when it is so hard to look forward to
+speaking half-a-dozen words of comfort to some poor wretch of a friend
+who has lost everything in the wide world that is dear to him. We would
+rather give him all we possess outright than attempt to console him for
+the loss. And yet--what is there in life more sweet than to be consoled
+and comforted, and to have the true sympathy of some one, even a little
+near to us, when we ourselves are suffering. The people we do not want
+shower cards of condolence on us, and carriage-loads of flowers on the
+poor dead thing; the ones who could be of some help to the tortured soul
+are afraid to speak; the very delicacy of kind-heartedness in them,
+which makes us wish they would come, makes them stay away.
+
+I hope Isaacs will not send for me, poor fellow.
+
+If he does, what shall I say? God help me.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+The hours came and went, and though worn out with the exertions of the
+past days, and with the emotions of the morning, I lay in my rooms,
+unable to sleep even for a moment. I went down once or twice to Isaacs'
+rooms to know whether he had returned, but he had not, nor had any one
+heard from him. At last the evening shadows crept stealthily up,
+darkening first one room, then another, until there was not light enough
+to read by. Then I dropped my book and went out to breathe the cold air
+on the verandah. Wearily the hours went by, and still there was no sign
+of my friend.
+
+Towards eleven o'clock the moon, now waning, once more rose above the
+hills and shed her light across the lawn, splendid still, but with the
+first tinge of melancholy that clouds her departing glory. Exhausted
+nature asserted herself, and chilled to the bone I went to bed, and, at
+last, to sleep.
+
+I slept peacefully at first, but soon the events that had come over my
+life began to weave themselves in wild disharmony through my restful
+visions, and the events that were to come cast their lengthening shadows
+before them. The world of past, present, and future thoughts, came into
+my soul, distorted, without perspective, nothing to help me to discern
+the good from the evil, the suffering gone and long-forgotten from the
+pain in store. The triumph of discrepancy over waking reason, the
+fancied victories of the sleep-dulled intellect over the outrageous
+discord of the wakeful imagination. I passed a most miserable night. It
+seemed rest to wake, until I was awake, and then it seemed rest to sleep
+again, until my eyes were closed. At last it came, no dream this time;
+Isaacs stood by my bed-side in the gray of the morning, himself grayer
+than the soft neutral-tinted dawn. It was a terrible moment to me,
+though I had expected it since yesterday. I felt like the condemned
+criminal in France, who does not know the day or hour of his death. The
+first intimation is when the executioner at daybreak enters his cell and
+bids him come forth to die, sometimes in less than sixty seconds from
+his waking.[2]
+
+How gray he looked, and how infinitely tried. I rose swiftly and took
+his hands, which were deadly cold, and led him to the outer room. I
+could not say anything, for I did not know how such a terribly sudden
+blow would affect him; he was so unlike any one else. Why is it so hard
+to comfort the afflicted? Why should the most charitable duty it is ever
+given us to perform be, without exception, the hardest of tasks?
+
+I am sure most people feel as I do. It is far less painful to suffer
+wounds and sickness in one's own body than to stand by and see the cold
+clean knife go through skin and flesh and cartilage; it is surely easier
+to suffer disease than to smooth daily and hourly the bed and pillows of
+some poor tormented wretch, calling on God and man to end his misery.
+There is a hidden instinct--of a low and cowardly kind, but human
+nevertheless--which bids us turn away from spectacles of agony whether
+harrowing or repulsive, until the good angel comes and whispers that we
+must trample on such coarse impulse and do our duty. "Show pity," said
+the wise old Frenchman, "do anything to alleviate distress, but avoid
+actually feeling either compassion or sympathy. They can lead to no
+good." That was only his way of making to himself an excuse for doing a
+good action, for Larochefoucauld was a man who really possessed every
+virtue that he disclaimed for himself and denied in others.
+
+I felt much of this as I led Isaacs to the outer room, not knowing what
+form his sorrow might take, but feeling in my own person a grief as
+poignant, perhaps, for the moment, as his own. I had known he would
+come, that was all, though I had hoped he would not, and I knew that I
+must do my best to send him away a little less sorrowful than he had
+come. I was not prepared for the extreme calm of voice and manner that
+marked his first words, coming with measured rhythm and even cadence
+from his pale lips.
+
+"It is all over, my friend," he said.
+
+"It has but begun," said the solemn tones of Ram Lal, the Buddhist, from
+the door. He entered and approached us.
+
+"Friend Isaacs," he continued, "I am not here to mock at your grief or
+to weary your strained heartstrings with such petty condolence as
+well-nigh drove Ayoub of old to impatience. But I love you, my brother,
+and I have somewhat to say to you in your trouble, some advice to give
+you in your distress. You are suffering greatly, past the power of
+reason to alleviate, for you no longer know yourself, nor are aware what
+you really think. But I will show to you three pictures of yourself that
+shall rouse you to what you are, to what you were, and to what you shall
+be.
+
+"I found you, not many years ago, a very young man, most exceptionally
+placed in regard to the world. You were even then rich, though not so
+rich as you now are. You were beautiful and full of vigour, but you have
+now upon you the glow of a higher beauty, the overflowing promise of a
+more glorious life. You were happy because you thought you were, but
+such happiness as you had proceeded from without rather than from
+within. You were a materially thinking man. Your thoughts were of the
+flesh, and your delights--harmless it is true--were in the things that
+were under your eyes--wealth, power, book knowledge, and perhaps woman,
+if you can call the creatures you believed in women.
+
+"You gathered wealth in great heaps, and your precious stones in
+storehouses. You laid your hand upon the diamond of the river and upon
+the pearl of the sea, and they abode with you, as the light of the sun
+and the moon. And you said, 'Behold it is my star, which is the lord of
+the dog-heat in summer, and it is my kismet.' You also took to yourself
+wives of rare qualities, having both golden and raven black hair, whose
+skin was as fine silk, and their breath as the freshness of the dawning,
+and their eyes as jewels. Then said you, rejoicing in your heart, that
+you were happy; and so you dwelt in peace and plenty, and waxed glad.
+
+"Therefore you accomplished your first destiny, and you drank of the cup
+that was filled to overflowing. And if it had been the law of nature
+that from pleasure man should derive permanent lasting peace, you had
+been happy so long as you lived. But, though you have the faultless life
+of the body to enjoy all things of the earth, even as other men, though
+in another degree, you have within you something more. There is in your
+breast a heart beating--an organ so wonderful in its sensitiveness, so
+perfect in its consciousness of good, that the least throb and thrill of
+pleasure that it feels is worth years and ages of mere sensual life
+enjoyment. The body having tasted of all happiness whereof it is
+capable, and having found that it is good, is saturated with its own
+ease and enjoys less keenly. But the heart is the border-land between
+body and soul. The heart can love and the body can love, but the body
+can only love itself; the heart is the wellspring of the lore that goes
+beyond self. Therefore your heart awoke.
+
+"Shall I tell you of the first early stirrings of your love? Think you,
+because I am gray and loveless, that I have never known youth and
+gladness of heart? Ah, I know, better than you can think. It is not
+sudden, really, the blossoming out of the tree of life. The small leaves
+grow larger and stronger though still closely folded in the bud, until
+the bright warmth of the spring makes them burst into bloom. The little
+lark in the nest among the grass grows beneath the mother's wing and
+idly moves, now and then, unconscious of the cloud-cleaving gift of
+flight, until all at once, in the fair dawning, there wells up in his
+tiny breast the mighty sense of power to rise.
+
+"The human heart is like the budded folded leaves, and like the untaught
+lark. The quiet sleep before the day of blooming is, while it lasts, a
+state of happiness. But it is not comparable with the breathing joy of
+the leaf that feels and sees the wonderful life around it, whispering
+divine answers to the wooing breeze. The humble nest where it has first
+seen light is for many days a happy home to the tender songster, soon
+left behind, when the first wing-strokes waft the small body upwards to
+the sky, and forgotten as the first glad trill and quaver of the
+new-found voice roll out the prelude to the glorious life-long hymn of
+praise. The heart of man--your heart, my dear friend--gave a great leap
+from earth to sky, when first it felt the magic of the other life. The
+grosser scales of material vision fell away from your inner sight on the
+day when you met, and knew you had met, the woman you were to love.
+
+"I found you again, a different man, a far happier man, though you would
+hardly allow that. A sweet uncertainty of the future half-tinged your
+joy with a shadow of sadness, which you had not known before: but love
+sadness is only the shading and gentle pencilling in love's wondrous
+picture, whereby the whole light of the painting is made clearer and
+stronger. A new world opened out before you in endless vistas of untold
+and undreamed bliss. You looked back at your former self, so careless
+and sunny, so consciously happy in the strong sense of life and power,
+and you wondered how you could have been even contented through so many
+years. The good and evil deeds of your past life lost colour and
+perspective, and fell back into a dull, flat background, against which
+the ineffable vision of beautiful and immortal womanhood stood forth in
+transcendent glory. The eternal womanly element of the great universe
+beckoned you on, as it did Doctor Faustus of old. You had hitherto
+accepted woman and ignored womanhood, as so many of the followers of the
+prophet have always done. Henceforth there was to be a change, entire,
+complete, and enduring. No doubts now, or careless scepticism; no cant
+about women having no souls and no individual being; you had made a
+great step to a better understanding of the world you live in. Filled
+with a new life, you went on your way rejoicing and longing to do great
+deeds for her who had come into your destiny. From dawn to sunset, and
+from evening to dawn, one picture ever was before you leading you on.
+You were ready to run any risk for a smile and a blush of pleasure, you
+were willing to sacrifice anything and everything for her praise. And
+when, down there among the mango-trees in the Terai, your lips first
+touched hers and your arm pressed her to your side, the joy that was
+yours was as the joy of the immortals."
+
+Ram Lal paused, and Isaacs, who had been sitting by the table, stony and
+dry-eyed, hid his face in his hands, clutching with his white fingers
+among his bright black hair--all that seemed left to him of life, so
+dead and ashy was his face. He remained thus without looking up, as the
+old man continued.
+
+"Think not, dear friend and brother, that I have come here to dwell
+needlessly on your grief, to rouse again the keen agonies that have so
+lately burned through and through you to the quick. I love you well, and
+would but trace the past in order to paint the future. All that you felt
+and knew in those short days of perfect love on earth was good and true
+and noble, and shall not be forgotten hereafter. But last night closed
+the second of your three destinies--as true love always must close on
+earth--in bitter grief and sorrow because the one is gone before. Rather
+should you rejoice, Abdul Hafiz, that she is gone in virgin whiteness,
+whither ere long you shall follow and be with her till time shall chase
+the crumbling world out over the broad quicksands of eternity, and
+nought shall survive of all this but the pure and the constant and the
+faithful to death. There is before you a third, destiny, great and
+awful, but grand beyond power of telling. Body and heart have had their
+full cup of happiness, have enjoyed to the full what has been set in
+their way to enjoy. To the full you have enjoyed wealth and success and
+the sensuality of a refined and artistic luxury; to the full, as only a
+few rarely-gifted men can, you have enjoyed the purest and highest love
+that earth can give. Think not that all ends here. The greatest of
+destinies is but begun, and it is the destiny of the soul. Two days ago
+if I had told you there was something higher in you than the loving
+heart, you would not have believed me; now you do. It is the ethereal
+portion of the heart, that which longs to be loosed from the body and
+floating upwards to rejoin its other half.
+
+"Your love has been of the best kind that falls to the lot of man. Not a
+single shadow of doubting fell between you. It has been sweet if it has
+seemed short--but it has really lasted a long time, as long as some
+people's lives. You are many years older than you were when it began,
+for a month or two ago--or whenever it was that your heart first
+awoke--you were entirely immersed in the material view of things that
+belonged naturally enough to your position and mode of life. Now you
+have passed the critical border-land wherein love wanders, himself not
+knowing whither he shall lead his followers, whether back to the thick
+green pasture and heavy-scented groves of sensual existence or forward
+to free wind-swept heights of spiritual blessedness, where those who are
+true until they die walk forth into truth everlasting. Yours is the
+faith and the truth that abide always, yours henceforward shall be the
+perfect union of souls, yours the ethereal range of the outer firmament.
+Take my hand, brother, in yours, and seek with me the path to those
+heights--to that pinnacle of paradise where you shall meet once more the
+spirit elected to yours."
+
+Ram Lal stood beside Isaacs, whose face was still hidden, and laid his
+hand with tender gentleness on the weary head. The old man looked kindly
+down as he touched the thick black hair, and then raised his eyes and
+looked out through the door at the brightening landscape over which the
+morning sun was shedding warmth and beauty once more.
+
+"Brother," he continued, "come forth with me. You have suffered too much
+to mix again with the world, even if you wished it. Come forth, and your
+soul shall live for ever. Your grief shall be turned to joy, and the
+sinking heart shall be lifted to heights untried. As now the sun
+steadily rises in his unerring course, following the pale footsteps of
+the fleet dawning, and fulfilling her half spoken promises a
+million-fold in his goodness; as now the all-muffling heaviness of the
+sad dark night is forgotten in the gladness of day--so shall your brief
+time of darkness and dull distress perish and vanish swiftly at the
+first glimpses of the heavenly day on which follows no creeping night
+nor shadow of earthly care. I come not to bid you forget; I come to bid
+you remember. Remember all that is past, treasure it in the secret
+storehouse of the soul where the few flowers culled from life's abundant
+thorn are laid in their fragrance and garnered up. Remember also the
+future. Think that your time is short, and that the labour shall be
+sweet; so that in a few quick years you shall reap a harvest of
+unearthly blooming. Fear not to tread boldly in the tracks of those who
+have climbed before you, and who have attained and have conquered. What
+can anything earthly ever be to you? What can you ever care again for
+gold, or gem, or horse, or slave? Do with those things as it may seem
+good in your eyes, but leave them behind. The weight of the money-bags
+is a weariness and soreness to the feet that toil to overtake eternity.
+The flesh itself is weariness to the spirit, and soon leaves it to wing
+its flight untrammelled and untiring. Come, I will give you of my poor
+strength what shall carry your uncertain steps over the first great
+difficulties, or at least over so many as you have not yet surmounted.
+Be bold, aspiring, fearless, and firm of purpose. What guerdon can man
+or Heaven offer, higher than eternal communion with the bright spirit
+that waits and watches for your coming? With her--you said it while she
+lived--was your life, your light, and your love; it is true tenfold now,
+for with her is life eternal, light ethereal, and love spiritual. Come,
+brother, come with me!"
+
+Slowly Isaacs raised his head from his hands and gazed long on the old
+man. And while he gazed it was as if his pale face were transparent and
+the whiteness of the burning spirit, dazzling to see, came and went
+quickly and came again as flashes in the northern sky. Slowly he rose to
+his feet, and laying his hand in the Buddhist's, spoke at last.
+
+"Brother, I come," he said. "Show me the way."
+
+"Right gladly will I be thy guide, Abdul," Ram Lal gave answer. "Right
+willingly will I go with thee whither thou wouldest. Never was teacher
+sought by more worthy pupil; never did man embrace the pure life of the
+brethren with more single heart or truer purpose. The way shall be short
+that leads thee upward, the stones that are therein shall be as wings to
+lift thy feet instead of stumbling-blocks for thy destruction. The
+hidden forces of nature shall lend thee strength, and her secrets
+wisdom; the deep sweet springs of the eternal water shall refresh thee
+and the food of the angels shall be thine. Thy sorrows shall turn from
+bitter into sweet, and from the stings of thy past agonies shall grow up
+the golden flowers of thy future crown. Thou shalt not tire in the way,
+nor crave rest by the wayside."
+
+"Friend, tell me what I shall do that I may attain all this."
+
+"Be faithful to her who has preceded you, and learn of us, who know it,
+wherein consists true happiness. You need but little help, dear friend.
+Banish only from your thoughts the human suggestion that what you love
+most is lost, gone irrevocably. Rejoice, and mourn not, that she has
+entered in already where all your striving is to follow. Be glad because
+she looks on those sights and hears those sounds which are too bright
+and strong yet for your eyes and ears. Some of these unspeakable things
+you shall perceive with your perishable body; but the more perfect and
+glorious remain hidden to our mortal senses, be they ever so keen and
+exquisite. Believe me, you shall reach that state before I do. My poor
+soul is still bound to earth by some slender bonds of pleasure and
+contemptible pain, fine indeed as threads of gossamer, and soon, I
+trust, to be shaken off for ever. Yet am I bound and not utterly free.
+You, my brother, have been wrenched suddenly from the life of the body
+to the life of the soul. In you the vile desire to live for living's
+sake will soon be dead, if it is not dead already. Your soul, drawn
+strongly upward to other spheres, is well nigh loosed from love of life
+and fear of death. If at this moment you could lie down and die, you
+would meet your end joyfully. Very subtle are the fast-vanishing links
+between you and the world; very thin and impalpable the faint shadows
+that mar to your vision those transcendent hues of heavenly glory you
+shall so soon behold. Look forward, look upward, look onward--never once
+look back, and your waiting shall not be long, nor her watching many
+days. She stands before you, beckoning and praying that you tarry not.
+See that you do her bidding faithfully, as being near the blessed end,
+and fearful of losing even one moment in the attainment of what you
+seek."
+
+"Fear not, Ram Lal. My determination shall not fail me, nor my courage
+waver, until all is reached."
+
+The light of another world was on the beautiful brow and features as he
+looked full at his future teacher. What strange powers these adept
+brethren have! What marvellous magnetism over the souls of lesser
+men--whereby they turn sorrow into gladness, and defeat into triumph by
+mere words. I myself, bound by thought and word and deed to the lesser
+life, was not unmoved by the glorious promises that flowed with glowing
+eloquence from the lips of that gray old man in the early morning. They
+moved toward the door. Ram Lal spoke as he turned away.
+
+"We leave you, friend Griggs, but we will return this evening and bid
+you farewell." So I was left alone. Another comforter had taken my
+place; one knowing human nature better, and well versed in the learning
+of the spirit. One of that small band of high priests who in all ages
+and nations and religions and societies have been the mediators between
+time and eternity, to cheer and comfort the broken-hearted, to rebuke
+him who would lose his own soul, to speed the awakening spirit in its
+heavenward flight.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As I sat in my room that night the door opened and they were with me,
+standing hand in hand.
+
+"My friend," said Isaacs, "I have come to bid you farewell. You will
+never see me again. I am here once more to thank you, from the bottom of
+my heart, for your friendship and kind offices, for the strength of your
+arm in the hour of need, and for the gold of your words in time of
+uncertainty."
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "I know little of the journey you are undertaking, and
+I cannot go with you. This I know, that you are very near to a life I
+cannot hope for; and I pray God that you may speed quickly to the
+desired end, that you may attain that happiness which your brave soul
+and honest heart so well deserve. Once more, then, I offer you my
+fullest service, if there is anything that I still can do."
+
+"There is nothing," he answered, "though if there were I know you would
+do it gladly and entirely. I have bestowed all my worldly possessions on
+the one man besides yourself to whom I owe a debt of gratitude--John
+Westonhaugh. Had I known you less well, I would have made you a sharer
+in my forsaken wealth. Only this I beg of you. Take this gem and keep it
+always for my sake. No--do not look at it in that way. Do not consider
+its value. It is to recall one who will often think of you, for you have
+been a great deal to me in this month."
+
+"I would I might have been more," I said, and it was all I could say,
+for my voice failed me.
+
+"Think of me," he continued, and the bright light shone through his face
+in the dusk, "think of me, not as you see me now, or as I was this
+morning, bowed beneath a great sorrow, but as looking forward to a
+happiness that transcends this mortal joy that I have lost, even as the
+glory of things celestial transcends the glory of the terrestrial. Think
+of me, not as mourning the departed day, but as watching longingly for
+the first faint dawn of the day eternal. Above all, think of me not as
+alone but as wedded for all ages to her who has gone before me."
+
+Ram Lal laid his hand on my arm and looked long into my eyes.
+
+"Farewell for the present, my chance acquaintance," he said, "and
+remember that in me you have a friend. The day may come when you too
+will be in dire distress, beyond the skill of mere solitude and books to
+soothe. Farewell, and may all good things be with you."
+
+Isaacs laid his two hands on my shoulders, and once more I met the
+wondrous lustre of his eyes, now veiled but not darkened with the last
+look of his tender friendship.
+
+"Good-bye, my dear Griggs. You have been the instructor and the genius
+of my love. Learn yourself the lessons you can teach others so well. Be
+yourself what you would have made me."
+
+One last loving look--one more pressure of the reluctant fingers, and
+those two went out, hand in hand, under the clear stars, and I saw them
+no more.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+Footnote 1: Sir Gore Ousely, _Notices of the Persian Poets_.
+
+Footnote 2: A fact, as is well known.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
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+Title: Mr. Isaacs
+
+Author: F. Marion Crawford
+
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+
+<h1>MR. ISAACS</h1>
+<h2>A Tale of Modern India</h2>
+<br />
+<h3>BY</h3>
+<h2>F. MARION CRAWFORD</h2>
+<br />
+<h4>WITH FRONTISPIECE</h4>
+<br />
+
+<br />
+<h4>1882</h4> <h4>BY F. MARION CRAWFORD</h4>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="figure"> <a name="isaacs001"><img width="80%" alt="Illustration:
+HER FACE WAS WHITER THAN HIS" src="isaacs001.png" /></a><br
+/> HER FACE WAS WHITER THAN HIS, THOUGH NOT A QUIVER OF MOUTH OR EYELASH
+BETRAYED HER EMOTION. &mdash;<i>Mr. Isaacs</i>.</p>
+<br />
+
+
+
+
+<p>CONTENTS</p>
+
+<a href='#CHAPTER_I'>CHAPTER I</a><br />
+<a href='#Chapter_II'>CHAPTER II</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_III'>CHAPTER III</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_IV'>CHAPTER IV</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_V'>CHAPTER V</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_VI'>CHAPTER VI</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_VII'>CHAPTER VII</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_VIII'>CHAPTER VIII</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_IX'>CHAPTER IX</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_X'>CHAPTER X</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_XI'>CHAPTER XI</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_XII'>CHAPTER XII</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_XIII'>CHAPTER XIII</a><br />
+<a href='#CHAPTER_XIV'>CHAPTER XIV</a><br />
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_1"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_I'></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In spite of Jean-Jacques and his school, men are not everywhere born
+free, any more than they are everywhere in chains, unless these be of their
+own individual making. Especially in countries where excessive liberty or
+excessive tyranny favours the growth of that class most usually designated
+as adventurers, it is true that man, by his own dominant will, or by a
+still more potent servility, may rise to any grade of elevation; as by the
+absence of these qualities he may fall to any depth in the social
+scale.</p>
+
+<p>Wherever freedom degenerates into license, the ruthless predatory
+instinct of certain bold and unscrupulous persons may, and almost certainly
+will, place at their disposal the goods, the honours, and the preferment
+justly the due of others; and in those more numerous and certainly more
+unhappy countries, where the rule of the tyrant is substituted for <a
+name="Page_2"></a>the law of God, the unwearying flatterer, patient under
+blows and abstemious under high-feeding, will assuredly make his way to
+power.</p>
+
+<p>Without doubt the Eastern portion of the world, where an hereditary, or
+at least traditional, despotism has never ceased since the earliest social
+records, and where a mode of thought infinitely more degrading than any
+feudalism has become ingrained in the blood and soul of the chief races,
+presents far more favourable conditions to the growth and development of
+the true adventurer than are offered in any free country. For in a free
+country the majority can rise and overthrow the favourite of fortune,
+whereas in a despotic country they cannot. Of Eastern countries in this
+condition, Russia is the nearest to us; though perhaps we understand the
+Chinese character better than the Russian. The Ottoman empire and Persia
+are, and always have been, swayed by a clever band of flatterers acting
+through their nominal master; while India, under the kindly British rule,
+is a perfect instance of a ruthless military despotism, where neither blood
+nor stratagem have been spared in exacting the uttermost farthing from the
+miserable serfs&mdash;they are nothing else&mdash;and in robbing and defrauding the
+rich of their just and lawful possessions. All these countries teem with
+stories of adventurers risen from the ranks to the command of armies, of
+itinerant merchants wedded to princesses, of hardy sailors promoted to
+admiralties, of half-educated younger sons of English peers dying in the
+undisputed possession <a name="Page_3"></a>of ill-gotten millions. With the
+strong personal despotism of the First Napoleon began a new era of
+adventurers in France; not of elegant and accomplished adventurers like M.
+de St. Germain, Cagliostro, or the Comtesse de la Motte, but regular
+rag-tag-and-bobtail cut-throat moss-troopers, who carved and slashed
+themselves into notice by sheer animal strength and brutality.</p>
+
+<p>There is infinitely more grace and romance about the Eastern adventurer.
+There is very little slashing and hewing to be done there, and what there
+is, is managed as quietly as possible. When a Sultan must be rid of the
+last superfluous wife, she is quietly done up in a parcel with a few shot,
+and dropped into the Bosphorus without more ado. The good old-fashioned
+Rajah of Mudpoor did his killing without scandal, and when the kindly
+British wish to keep a secret, the man is hanged in a quiet place where
+there are no reporters. As in the Greek tragedies, the butchery is done
+behind the scenes, and there is no glory connected with the business, only
+gain. The ghosts of the slain sometimes appear in the columns of the
+recalcitrant Indian newspapers and gibber a feeble little "Otototoi!" after
+the manner of the shade of Dareios, but there is very little heed paid to
+such visitations by the kindly British. But though the "raw head and bloody
+bones" type of adventurer is little in demand in the East, there is plenty
+of scope for the intelligent and wary flatterer, and some room for the
+honest man of superior gifts, <a name="Page_4"></a>who is sufficiently free
+from Oriental prejudice to do energetically the thing which comes in his
+way, distancing all competitors for the favours of fortune by sheer
+industry and unerring foresight.</p>
+
+<p>I once knew a man in the East who was neither a flatterer nor
+freebooter, but who by his own masterly perseverance worked his way to
+immense wealth, and to such power as wealth commands, though his high view
+of the social aims of mankind deterred him from mixing in political
+questions. <i>Bon chien chasse de race</i> is a proverb which applies to
+horses, cattle, and men, as well as to dogs; and in this man, who was a
+noble type of the Aryan race, the qualities which have made that race
+dominant were developed in the highest degree. The sequel, indeed, might
+lead the ethnographer into a labyrinth of conjecture, but the story is too
+tempting a one for me to forego telling it, although the said ethnographer
+should lose his wits in striving to solve the puzzle.</p>
+
+<p>In September, 1879, I was at Simla in the lower Himalayas,&mdash;at the time
+of the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari at Kabul,&mdash;being called there in the
+interests of an Anglo-Indian newspaper, of which I was then editor. In
+other countries, notably in Europe and in America, there are hundreds of
+spots by the sea-shore, or on the mountain-side, where specific ills may be
+cured by their corresponding antidotes of air or water, or both. Following
+the aristocratic and holy example of the Bishops of Salzburg for the last
+eight centuries, the sovereigns of the Continent are told <a
+name="Page_5"></a>that the air and waters of Hofgastein are the only
+nenuphar for the over-taxed brain in labour beneath a crown. The
+self-indulgent sybarite is recommended to Ems, or Wiesbaden, or
+Aix-la-Chapelle, and the quasi-incurable sensualist to Aix in Savoy, or to
+Karlsbad in Bohemia. In our own magnificent land Bethesdas abound, in every
+state, from the attractive waters of lotus-eating Saratoga to the magnetic
+springs of Lansing, Michigan; from Virginia, the carcanet of sources, the
+heaving, the warm, the hot sulphur springs, the white sulphur, the alum, to
+the hot springs of Arkansas, the Ultima Thule of our migratory and
+despairing humanity. But in India, whatever the ailing, low fever, high
+fever, "brandy pawnee" fever, malaria caught in the chase of tigers in the
+Terai, or dysentery imbibed on the banks of the Ganges, there is only one
+cure, the "hills;" and chief of "hill-stations" is Simla.</p>
+
+<p>On the hip rather than on the shoulder of the aspiring Himalayas,
+Simla&mdash;or Shumla, as the natives call it&mdash;presents during the wet monsoon
+period a concourse of pilgrims more varied even than the Bagn&egrave;res de
+Bigorre in the south of France, where the gay Frenchman asks permission of
+the lady with whom he is conversing to leave her abruptly, in order to part
+with his remaining lung, the loss of the first having brought him there.
+"Pardon, madame," said he, "je m'en vais cracher mon autre poumon."</p>
+
+<p>To Simla the whole supreme Government migrates for the summer&mdash;Viceroy,
+council, clerks, printers, <a name="Page_6"></a>and hangers-on. Thither the
+high official from the plains takes his wife, his daughters, and his liver.
+There the journalists congregate to pick up the news that oozes through the
+pent-house of Government secrecy, and failing such scant drops of
+information, to manufacture as much as is necessary to fill the columns of
+their dailies. On the slopes of "Jako"&mdash;the wooded eminence that rises
+above the town&mdash;the enterprising German establishes his concert-hall and
+his beer-garden; among the rhododendron trees Madame Blavatzky, Colonel
+Olcott and Mr. Sinnett move mysteriously in the performance of their
+wonders; and the wealthy tourist from America, the botanist from Berlin,
+and the casual peer from Great Britain, are not wanting to complete the
+motley crowd. There are no roads in Simla proper where it is possible to
+drive, excepting one narrow way, reserved when I was there, and probably
+still set apart, for the exclusive delectation of the Viceroy. Every one
+rides&mdash;man, woman, and child; and every variety of horseflesh may be seen
+in abundance, from Lord Steepleton Kildare's thoroughbreds to the
+broad-sterned equestrian vessel of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, the Revenue
+Commissioner of Mudnugger in Bengal. But I need not now dwell long on the
+description of this highly-favoured spot, where Baron de Zach might have
+added force to his demonstration of the attraction of mountains for the
+pendulum. Having achieved my orientation and established my servants and
+luggage in one of the reputed hotels, I <a name="Page_7"></a>began to look
+about me, and, like an intelligent American observer, as I pride myself
+that I am, I found considerable pleasure in studying out the character of
+such of the changing crowd on the verandah and on the mall as caught my
+attention.</p>
+
+<p>At last the dinner-hour came. With the rest I filed into the large
+dining-room and took my seat. The place allotted to me was the last at one
+side of the long table, and the chair opposite was vacant, though two
+remarkably well-dressed servants, in turbans of white and gold, stood with
+folded arms behind it, apparently awaiting their master. Nor was he long in
+coming. I never remember to have been so much struck by the personal
+appearance of any man in my life. He sat down opposite me, and immediately
+one of his two servants, or <i>khitmatgars</i>, as they are called,
+retired, and came back bearing a priceless goblet and flask of the purest
+old Venetian mould. Filling the former, he ceremoniously presented his
+master with a brimming beaker of cold water. A water-drinker in India is
+always a phenomenon, but a water-drinker who did the thing so artistically
+was such a manifestation as I had never seen. I was interested beyond the
+possibility of holding my peace, and as I watched the man's abstemious
+meal,&mdash;for he ate little,&mdash;I contrasted him with our neighbours at the
+board, who seemed to be vying, like the captives of Circe, to ascertain by
+trial who could swallow the most beef and mountain mutton, and who could
+absorb the most "pegs"&mdash;those vile <a name="Page_8"></a>concoctions of
+spirits, ice, and soda-water, which have destroyed so many splendid
+constitutions under the tropical sun. As I watched him an impression came
+over me that he must be an Italian. I scanned his appearance narrowly, and
+watched for a word that should betray his accent. He spoke to his servant
+in Hindustani, and I noticed at once the peculiar sound of the dental
+consonants, never to be acquired by a northern-born person.</p>
+
+<p>Before I go farther, let me try and describe Mr. Isaacs; I certainly
+could not have done so satisfactorily after my first meeting, but
+subsequent acquaintance, and the events I am about to chronicle, threw me
+so often in his society, and gave me such ample opportunities of
+observation, that the minutest details of his form and feature, as well as
+the smallest peculiarities of his character and manner, are indelibly
+graven in my memory.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was a man of more than medium stature, though he would never be
+spoken of as tall. An easy grace marked his movements at all times, whether
+deliberate or vehement,&mdash;and he often went to each extreme,&mdash;a grace which
+no one acquainted with the science of the human frame would be at a loss to
+explain for a moment. The perfect harmony of all the parts, the even
+symmetry of every muscle, the equal distribution of a strength, not
+colossal and overwhelming, but ever ready for action, the natural courtesy
+of gesture&mdash;all told of a body in which true proportion of every limb and
+sinew were at once <a name="Page_9"></a>the main feature and the pervading
+characteristic. This infinitely supple and swiftly-moving figure was but
+the pedestal, as it were, for the noble face and nobler brain to which it
+owed its life and majestic bearing. A long oval face of a wondrous
+transparent olive tint, and of a decidedly Oriental type. A prominent brow
+and arched but delicate eyebrows fitly surmounted a nose smoothly aquiline,
+but with the broad well-set nostrils that bespeak active courage. His
+mouth, often smiling, never laughed, and the lips, though closely meeting,
+were not thin and writhing and cunning, as one so often sees in eastern
+faces, but rather inclined to a generous Greek fullness, the curling lines
+ever ready to express a sympathy or a scorn which, the commanding features
+above seemed to control and curb, as the stern, square-elbowed Arab checks
+his rebellious horse, or gives him the rein, at will.</p>
+
+<p>But though Mr. Isaacs was endowed with exceptional gifts of beauty by a
+bountiful nature, those I have enumerated were by no means what first
+attracted the attention of the observer. I have spoken of his graceful
+figure and perfect Iranian features, but I hardly noticed either at our
+first meeting. I was enthralled and fascinated by his eyes. I once saw in
+France a jewel composed of six precious stones, each a gem of great value,
+so set that they appeared to form but one solid mass, yielding a strange
+radiance that changed its hue at every movement, and multiplied the
+sunlight a thousand-fold. Were I to seek <a name="Page_10"></a>a comparison
+for my friend's eyes, I might find an imperfect one in this masterpiece of
+the jeweler's art. They were dark and of remarkable size; when half closed
+they were long and almond-shaped; when suddenly opened in anger or surprise
+they had the roundness and bold keenness of the eagle's sight. There was a
+depth of life and vital light in them that told of the pent-up force of a
+hundred generations of Persian magii. They blazed with the splendour of a
+god-like nature, needing neither meat nor strong drink to feed its
+power.</p>
+
+<p>My mind was made up. Between his eyes, his temperance, and his dental
+consonants, he certainly might be an Italian. Being myself a native of
+Italy, though an American by parentage, I addressed him in the language,
+feeling comparatively sure of his answer. To my surprise, and somewhat to
+my confusion, he answered in two words of modern Greek&mdash;"[Greek: <i>den
+eno&ecirc;sa</i>]"&mdash;"I do not understand." He evidently supposed I was
+speaking a Greek dialect, and answered in the one phrase of that tongue
+which he knew, and not a good phrase at that.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," said I in English, "I believed you a countryman, and
+ventured to address you in my native tongue. May I inquire whether you
+speak English?"</p>
+
+<p>I was not a little astonished when he answered me in pure English, and
+with an evident command of the language. We fell into conversation, and I
+found him pungent, ready, impressive, and most <a
+name="Page_11"></a>entertaining, thoroughly acquainted with Anglo-Indian
+and English topics, and apparently well read. An Indian dinner is a long
+affair, so that we had ample time to break the ice, an easy matter always
+for people who are not English, and when, after the fruit, he invited me to
+come down and smoke with him in his rooms, I gladly availed myself of the
+opportunity. We separated for a few moments, and I despatched my servant to
+the manager of the hotel to ascertain the name of the strange gentleman who
+looked like an Italian and spoke like a fellow of Balliol. Having
+discovered that he was a "Mr. Isaacs," I wended my way through verandahs
+and corridors, preceded by a <i>chuprassie</i> and followed by my
+pipe-bearer, till I came to his rooms.</p>
+
+<p>The fashion of the hookah or narghyle in India has long disappeared from
+the English portion of society. Its place has been assumed and usurped by
+the cheroot from Burmah or Trichinopoli, by the cigarette from Egypt, or
+the more expensive Manilla and Havana cigars. I, however, in an early burst
+of Oriental enthusiasm, had ventured upon the obsolete fashion, and so
+charmed was I by the indolent aromatic enjoyment I got from the rather
+cumbrous machine, that I never gave it up while in the East. So when Mr.
+Isaacs invited me to come and smoke in his rooms, or rather before his
+rooms, for the September air was still warm in the hills, I ordered my
+"bearer" to bring down the apparatus and to prepare it for use. I myself
+passed through the glass <a name="Page_12"></a>door in accordance with my
+new acquaintance's invitation, curious to see the kind of abode in which a
+man who struck me as being so unlike his fellows spent his summer months.
+For some minutes after I entered I did not speak, and indeed I hardly
+breathed. It seemed to me that I was suddenly transported into the
+subterranean chambers whither the wicked magician sent Aladdin in quest of
+the lamp. A soft but strong light filled the room, though I did not
+immediately comprehend whence it came, nor did I think to look, so amazed
+was I by the extraordinary splendour of the objects that met my eyes. In
+the first glance it appeared as if the walls and the ceiling were lined
+with gold and precious stones; and in reality it was almost literally the
+truth. The apartment, I soon saw, was small,&mdash;for India at least,&mdash;and
+every available space, nook and cranny, were filled with gold and jeweled
+ornaments, shining weapons, or uncouth but resplendent idols. There were
+sabres in scabbards set from end to end with diamonds and sapphires, with
+cross hilts of rubies in massive gold mounting, the spoil of some worsted
+rajah or Nawab of the mutiny. There were narghyles four feet high, crusted
+with gems and curiously wrought work from Baghdad or Herat; water flasks of
+gold and drinking cups of jade; yataghans from Bourn and idols from the far
+East. Gorgeous lamps of the octagonal Oriental shape hung from the ceiling,
+and, fed by aromatic oils, shed their soothing light on all around. The
+floor was covered <a name="Page_13"></a>with a rich soft pile, and low
+divans were heaped with cushions of deep-tinted silk and gold. On the
+floor, in a corner which seemed the favourite resting-place of my host, lay
+open two or three superbly illuminated Arabic manuscripts, and from a
+chafing dish of silver near by a thin thread of snow-white smoke sent up
+its faint perfume through the still air. To find myself transported from
+the conventionalities of a stiff and starched Anglo-Indian hotel to such a
+scene was something novel and delicious in the extreme. No wonder I stood
+speechless and amazed. Mr. Isaacs remained near the door while I breathed
+in the strange sights to which he had introduced me. At last I turned, and
+from contemplating the magnificence of inanimate wealth I was riveted by
+the majestic face and expression of the beautiful living creature who, by a
+turn of his wand, or, to speak prosaically, by an invitation to smoke, had
+lifted me out of humdrum into a land peopled with all the effulgent
+phantasies and the priceless realities of the magic East. As I gazed, it
+seemed as if the illumination from the lamps above were caught up and flung
+back with the vitality of living fire by his dark eyes, in which more than
+ever I saw and realised the inexplicable blending of the precious stones
+with the burning spark of a divine soul breathing within. For some moments
+we stood thus; he evidently amused at my astonishment, and I fascinated and
+excited by the problem presented me for solution in his person and
+possessions.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_14"></a>"Yes," said Isaacs, "you are naturally surprised
+at my little Eldorado, so snugly hidden away in the lower story of a
+commonplace hotel. Perhaps you are surprised at finding me here, too. But
+come out into the air, your hookah is blazing, and so are the stars."</p>
+
+<p>I followed him into the verandah, where the long cane chairs of the
+country were placed, and taking the tube of the pipe from the solemn
+Mussulman whose duty it was to prepare it, I stretched myself out in that
+indolent lazy peace which is only to be enjoyed in tropical countries.
+Silent and for the nonce perfectly happy, I slowly inhaled the fragrant
+vapour of tobacco and aromatic herbs and honey with which the hookah is
+filled. No sound save the monotonous bubbling and chuckling of the smoke
+through the water, or the gentle rustle of the leaves on the huge
+rhododendron-tree which reared its dusky branches to the night in the
+middle of the lawn. There was no moon, though the stars were bright and
+clear, the foaming path of the milky way stretching overhead like the wake
+of some great heavenly ship; a soft mellow lustre from the lamps in Isaacs'
+room threw a golden stain half across the verandah, and the chafing dish
+within, as the light breeze fanned the coals, sent out a little cloud of
+perfume which mingled pleasantly with the odour of the <i>chillum</i> in
+the pipe. The turbaned servant squatted on the edge of the steps at a
+little distance, peering into the dusk, as Indians will do for hours
+together. Isaacs <a name="Page_15"></a>lay quite still in his chair, his
+hands above his head, the light through the open door just falling on the
+jeweled mouthpiece of his narghyle. He sighed&mdash;a sigh only half regretful,
+half contented, and seemed about to speak, but the spirit did not move him,
+and the profound silence continued. For my part, I was so much absorbed in
+my reflections on the things I had seen that I had nothing to say, and the
+strange personality of the man made me wish to let him begin upon his own
+subject, if perchance I might gain some insight into his mind and mode of
+thought. There are times when silence seems to be sacred, even
+unaccountably so. A feeling is in us that to speak would be almost a
+sacrilege, though we are unable to account in any way for the pause. At
+such moments every one seems instinctively to feel the same influence, and
+the first person who breaks the spell either experiences a sensation of
+awkwardness, and says something very foolish, or, conscious of the odds
+against him, delivers himself of a sentiment of ponderous severity and
+sententiousness. As I smoked, watching the great flaming bowl of the water
+pipe, a little coal, forced up by the expansion of the heat, toppled over
+the edge and fell tinkling on the metal foot below. The quick ear of the
+servant on the steps caught the sound, and he rose and came forward to trim
+the fire. Though he did not speak, his act was a diversion. The spell was
+broken.</p>
+
+<p>"The Germans," said Isaacs, "say that an angel is passing over the
+house. I do not believe it."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_16"></a>I was surprised at the remark. It did not seem
+quite natural for Mr. Isaacs to begin talking about the Germans, and from
+the tone of his voice I could almost have fancied he thought the proverb
+was held as an article of faith by the Teutonic races in general.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not believe it," he repeated reflectively. "There is no such thing
+as an angel 'passing'; it is a misuse of terms. If there are such things as
+angels, their changes of place cannot be described as motion, seeing that
+from the very nature of things such changes must be instantaneous, not
+involving time as a necessary element. Have you ever thought much about
+angels? By-the-bye, pardon my abruptness, but as there is no one to
+introduce us, what is your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"My name is Griggs&mdash;Paul Griggs. I am an American, but was born in
+Italy. I know your name is Isaacs; but, frankly, I do not comprehend how
+you came by the appellation, for I do not believe you are either, English,
+American, or Jewish of origin."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite right," he replied, "I am neither Yankee, Jew, nor beef-eater; in
+fact, I am not a European at all. And since you probably would not guess my
+nationality, I will tell you that I am a Persian, a pure Iranian, a
+degenerate descendant of Zoroaster, as you call him, though by religion I
+follow the prophet, whose name be blessed," he added, with an expression of
+face I did not then understand. "I call myself Isaacs for convenience in
+business. There is <a name="Page_17"></a>no concealment about it, as many
+know my story; but it has an attractive Semitic twang that suite my
+occupation, and is simpler and shorter for Englishmen to write than Abdul
+Hafizben-Is&acirc;k, which is my lawful name."</p>
+
+<p>"Since you lay sufficient store by your business to have been willing to
+change your name, may I inquire what your business is? It seems to be a
+lucrative one, to judge by the accumulations of wealth you have allowed me
+a glimpse of."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Wealth is my occupation. I am a dealer in precious stones and
+similar objects of value. Some day I will show you my diamonds; they are
+worth seeing."</p>
+
+<p>It is no uncommon thing to meet in India men of all Asiatic
+nationalities buying and selling stones of worth, and enriching themselves
+in the business. I supposed he had come with a caravan by way of Baghdad,
+and had settled. But again, his perfect command of English, as pure as
+though he had been educated at Eton and Oxford, his extremely careful,
+though quiet, English dress, and especially his polished manners, argued a
+longer residence in the European civilisation of his adopted home than
+agreed with his young looks, supposing him to have come to India at sixteen
+or seventeen. A pardonable curiosity led me to remark this.</p>
+
+<p>"You must have come here very young," I said. "A thoroughbred Persian
+does not learn to speak English like a university man, and to quote German
+<a name="Page_18"></a>proverbs, in a residence of a few years; unless,
+indeed, he possess the secret by which the initiated absorb knowledge
+without effort, and assimilate it without the laborious process of
+intellectual digestion."</p>
+
+<p>"I am older than I look&mdash;considerably. I have been in India twelve
+years, and with a natural talent for languages, stimulated by constant
+intercourse with Englishmen who know their own speech well, I have
+succeeded, as you say, in acquiring a certain fluency and mastery of
+accent. I have had an adventurous life enough. I see no reason why I should
+not tell you something of it, especially as you are not English, and can
+therefore hear me with an unprejudiced ear. But, really, do you care for a
+yarn?"</p>
+
+<p>I begged him to proceed, and I beckoned the servant to arrange our
+pipes, that we might not be disturbed. When this was done, Isaacs
+began.</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to try and make a long story short. We Persians like to
+listen to long stories, as we like to sit and look on at a wedding nautch.
+But we are radically averse to dancing or telling long tales ourselves, so
+I shall condense as much as possible. I was born in Persia, of Persian
+parents, as I told you, but I will not burden your memory with names you
+are not familiar with. My father was a merchant in prosperous
+circumstances, and a man of no mean learning in Arabic and Persian
+literature. I soon showed a strong taste for books, and every opportunity
+<a name="Page_19"></a>was given me for pursuing my inclinations in this
+respect. At the early age of twelve I was kidnapped by a party of
+slave-dealers, and carried off into Roum&mdash;Turkey you call it. I will not
+dwell upon my tears and indignation. We travelled rapidly, and my captors
+treated me well, as they invariably do their prizes, well knowing how much
+of the value of a slave depends on his plump and sleek condition when
+brought to market. In Istamboul I was soon disposed of, my fair skin and
+accomplishments as a writer and a singer of Persian songs fetching a high
+price.</p>
+
+<p>"It is no uncommon thing for boys to be stolen and sold in this way. A
+rich pacha will pay almost anything. The fate of such slaves is not
+generally a happy one." Isaacs paused a moment, and drew in two or three
+long breaths of smoke. "Do you see that bright star in the south?" he said,
+pointing with his long jewel-set mouthpiece.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. It must be Sirius."</p>
+
+<p>"That is my star. Do you believe in the agency of the stars in human
+affairs? Of course you do not; you are a European: how should you? But to
+proceed. The stars, or the fates or K&acirc;li, or whatever you like to
+term your kismet, your portion of good and evil, allotted me a somewhat
+happier existence than generally falls to the share of young slaves in
+Roum. I was bought by an old man of great wealth and of still greater
+learning, who was so taken with my proficiency in Arabic and in writing
+that he <a name="Page_20"></a>resolved to make of me a pupil instead of a
+servant to carry his coffee and pipe, or a slave to bear the heavier burden
+of his vices. Nothing better could have happened to me. I was installed in
+his house and treated with exemplary kindness, though he kept me rigorously
+at work with my books. I need not tell you that with such a master I made
+fair progress, and that at the age of twenty-one I was, for a Turk, a young
+man of remarkably good education. Then my master died suddenly, and I was
+thrown into great distress. I was of course nothing but a slave, and liable
+to be sold at any time. I escaped. Active and enduring, though never
+possessing any vast muscular strength, I bore with ease the hardships of a
+long journey on foot with little food and scant lodging. Falling in with a
+band of pilgrims, I recognised the wisdom of joining them on their march to
+Mecca. I was, of course, a sound Mohammedan, as I am to this day, and my
+knowledge of the Koran soon gained me some reputation in the caravan. I was
+considered a creditable addition, and altogether an eligible pilgrim. My
+exceptional physique protected me from the disease and exhaustion of which
+not a few of our number died by the wayside, and the other pilgrims, in
+consideration of my youth and piety, gave me willingly the few handfuls of
+rice and dates that I needed to support life and strength.</p>
+
+<p>"You have read about Mecca; and your <i>hadji</i> barber, who of course
+has been there, has doubtless <a name="Page_21"></a>related his experiences
+to you scores of times in the plains, as he does everywhere. As you may
+imagine, I had no intention of returning towards Roum with my companions.
+When I had fulfilled all the observances required, I made my way to Yeddah
+and shipped on board an Arabian craft, touching at Mocha, and bearing
+coffee to Bombay. I had to work my passage, and as I had no experience of
+the sea, save in the ca&iuml;ques of the Golden Horn, you will readily
+conceive that the captain of the vessel had plenty of fault to find. But my
+agility and quick comprehension stood me in good stead, and in a few days I
+had learned enough to haul on a rope or to reef the great latteen sails as
+well as any of them. The knowledge that I was just returning from a
+pilgrimage to Mecca obtained for me also a certain respect among the crew.
+It makes very little difference what the trade, business, or branch of
+learning; in mechanical labour, or intellectual effort, the educated man is
+always superior to the common labourer. One who is in the habit of applying
+his powers in the right way will carry his system into any occupation, and
+it will help him as much to handle a rope as to write a poem.</p>
+
+<p>"At last we landed in Bombay. I was in a wretched condition. What little
+clothes I had had were in tatters; hard work and little food had made me
+even thinner than my youthful age and slight frame tolerated. I had in all
+about three pence money in small copper coins, carefully hoarded <a
+name="Page_22"></a>against a rainy day. I could not speak a word of the
+Indian dialects, still less of English, and I knew no one save the crew of
+the vessel I had come in, as poor as I, but saved from starvation by the
+slender pittance allowed them on land. I wandered about all day through the
+bazaars, occasionally speaking to some solemn looking old shopkeeper or
+long-bearded Mussulman, who, I hoped, might understand a little Arabic. But
+not one did I find. At evening I bathed in the tank of a temple full from
+the recent rains, and I lay down supperless to sleep on the steps of the
+great mosque. As I lay on the hard stones I looked up to my star, and took
+comfort, and slept. That night a dream came to me. I thought I was still
+awake and lying on the steps, watching the wondrous ruler of my fate. And
+as I looked he glided down from his starry throne with an easy swinging
+motion, like a soap-bubble settling to the earth. And the star came and
+poised among the branches of the palm-tree over the tank, opalescent,
+unearthly, heart shaking. His face was as the face of the prophet, whose
+name be blessed, and his limbs were as the limbs of the Hameshaspenthas of
+old. Garments he had none, being of heavenly birth, but he was clothed with
+light as with a garment, and the crest of his silver hair was to him a
+crown of glory. And he spoke with the tongues of a thousand lutes, sweet
+strong tones, that rose and fell on the night air as the song of a lover
+beneath the lattice of his mistress, the song of the mighty star wooing the
+<a name="Page_23"></a>beautiful sleeping earth. And then he looked on me
+and said: 'Abdul Hafiz, be of good cheer. I am with thee and will not
+forsake thee, even to the day when thou shalt pass over the burning bridge
+of death. Thou shalt touch the diamond of the rivers and the pearl of the
+sea, and they shall abide with thee, and great shall be thy wealth. And the
+sunlight which is in the diamond shall warm thee and comfort thy heart; and
+the moonlight which is in the pearl shall give thee peace in the
+night-time, and thy children shall be to thee a garland of roses in the
+land of the unbeliever.' And the star floated down from the palm-branches
+and touched me with his hand, and breathed upon my lips the cool breath of
+the outer firmament, and departed. Then I awoke and saw him again in his
+place far down the horizon, and he was alone, for the dawn was in the sky
+and the lesser lights were extinguished. And I rose from the stony stairway
+that seemed like a bed of flowers for the hopeful dream, and I turned
+westward, and praised Allah, and went my way.</p>
+
+<p>"The sun being up, all was life, and the life in me spoke of a most
+capacious appetite. So I cast about for a shop where I might buy a little
+food with my few coppers, and seeing a confectioner spreading out his
+wares, I went near and took stock of the queer balls of flour and sugar,
+and strange oily-looking sweetmeats. Having selected what I thought would
+be within my modest means, I addressed the shopkeeper to call his
+attention, though I knew he <a name="Page_24"></a>would not understand me,
+and I touched with my hand the article I wanted, showing with the other
+some of the small coins I had. As soon as I touched the sweetmeats the man
+became very angry, and bounding from his seat called his neighbours
+together, and they all shouted and screamed at me, and called a man I
+thought to be a soldier, though he looked more like an ape in his long
+loose trousers of dirty black, and his untidy red turban, under which
+cumbrous garments his thin and stunted frame seemed even blacker and more
+contemptible than nature had made them. I afterwards discovered him to be
+one of the Bombay police. He seized me by the arm, and I, knowing I had
+done no wrong, and curious to discover, if possible, what the trouble was,
+accompanied him whither he led me. After waiting many hours in a kind of
+little shed where there were more policemen, I was brought before an
+Englishman. Of course all attempts at explanation were useless. I could
+speak not a word of anything but Arabic and Persian, and no one present
+understood either. At last, when I was in despair, trying to muster a few
+words of Greek I had learned in Istamboul, and failing signally therein, an
+old man with a long beard looked curiously in at the door of the crowded
+court. Some instinct told me to appeal to him, and I addressed him in
+Arabic. To my infinite relief he replied in that tongue, and volunteered to
+be interpreter. In a few moments I learned that my crime was that I had
+<i>touched</i> the sweetmeats on the counter.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_25"></a>"In India, as you who have lived here doubtless
+know, it is a criminal offence, punishable by fine or imprisonment, for a
+non-Hindu person to defile the food of even the lowest caste man. To touch
+one sweetmeat in a trayful defiles the whole baking, rendering it all unfit
+for the use of any Hindu, no matter how mean. Knowing nothing of caste and
+its prejudices, it was with the greatest difficulty that the <i>moolah</i>,
+who was trying to help me out of my trouble, could make me comprehend
+wherein my wrong-doing lay, and that the English courts, being obliged in
+their own interest to uphold and protect the caste practices of the Hindus,
+at the risk of another mutiny, could not make any exception in favour of a
+stranger unacquainted with Indian customs. So the Englishman who presided
+said he would have to inflict a fine, but being a very young man, not yet
+hardened to the despotic ways of Eastern life, he generously paid the fine
+himself, and gave me a rupee as a present into the bargain. It was only two
+shillings, but as I had not had so much money for months I was as grateful
+as though it had been a hundred. If I ever meet him I will requite him, for
+I owe him all I now possess.</p>
+
+<p>"My case being dismissed, I left the court with the old <i>moolah</i>,
+who took me to his house and inquired of my story, having first given me a
+good meal of rice and sweetmeats, and that greatest of luxuries, a little
+pot of fragrant Mocha coffee; he sat in silence while I ate, ministering to
+my wants, and evidently <a name="Page_26"></a>pleased with the good he was
+doing. Then he brought out a package of <i>birris</i>, those little
+cigarettes rolled in leaves that they smoke in Bombay, and I told him what
+had happened to me. I implored him to put me in the way of obtaining some
+work by which I could at least support life, and he promised to do so,
+begging me to stay with him until I should be independent. The day
+following I was engaged to pull a punkah in the house of an English lawyer
+connected with an immense lawsuit involving one of the Mohammedan
+principalities. For this irksome work I was to receive six rupees&mdash;twelve
+shillings&mdash;monthly, but before the month was up I was transferred, by the
+kindness of the English lawyer and the good offices of my co-religionist
+the <i>moolah</i>, to the retinue of the Nizam of Haiderabad, then in
+Bombay. Since that time I have never known want.</p>
+
+<p>"I soon mastered enough of the dialects to suit my needs, and applied
+myself to the study of English, for which opportunities were not lacking.
+At the end of two years I could speak the language enough to be understood,
+and my accent from the first was a matter of surprise to all; I had also
+saved out of my gratuities about one hundred rupees. Having been conversant
+with the qualities of many kinds of precious stones from my youth up, I
+determined to invest my economies in a diamond or a pearl. Before long I
+struck a bargain with an old <i>marwarri</i> over a small stone, of which I
+thought he misjudged the value, owing to the rough cutting. The fellow was
+cunning <a name="Page_27"></a>and hard in his dealings, but my superior
+knowledge of diamonds gave me the advantage. I paid him ninety-three rupees
+for the little gem, and sold it again in a month for two hundred to a young
+English 'collector and magistrate,' who wanted to make his wife a present.
+I bought a larger stone, and again made nearly a hundred per cent on the
+money. Then I bought two, and so on, until having accumulated sufficient
+capital, I bade farewell to the Court of the Nizam, where my salary never
+exceeded sixteen rupees a month as scribe and Arabic interpreter, and I
+went my way with about two thousand rupees in cash and precious stones. I
+came northwards, and finally settled in Delhi, where I set up as a dealer
+in gems and objects of intrinsic value. It is now twelve years since I
+landed in Bombay. I have never soiled my hands with usury, though I have
+twice advanced large sums at legal interest for purposes I am not at
+liberty to disclose; I have never cheated a customer or underrated a gem I
+bought of a poor man, and my wealth, as you may judge from what you have
+seen, is considerable. Moreover, though in constant intercourse with Hindus
+and English, I have not forfeited my title to be called a true believer and
+a follower of the prophet, whose name be blessed."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs ceased speaking, and presently the waning moon rose pathetically
+over the crest of the mountains with that curiously doleful look she wears
+after the full is past, as if weeping over the loss of her <a
+name="Page_28"></a>better half. The wind rose and soughed drearily through
+the rhododendrons and the pines; and Kiramat Ali, the pipe-bearer, shivered
+audibly as he drew his long cloth uniform around him. We rose and entered
+my friend's rooms, where the warmth of the lights, the soft rugs and downy
+cushions, invited us temptingly to sit down and continue our conversation.
+But it was late, for Isaacs, like a true Oriental, had not hurried himself
+over his narrative, and it had been nine o'clock when we sat down to smoke.
+So I bade him good-night, and, musing on all I had heard and seen, retired
+to my own apartments, glancing at Sirius and at the unhappy-looking moon
+before I turned in from the verandah.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_29"></a><h2><a name='Chapter_II'></a>Chapter II.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In India&mdash;in the plains&mdash;people rise before dawn, and it is not till
+after some weeks' residence in the cooler atmosphere of the mountains that
+they return to the pernicious habit of allowing the sun to be before them.
+The hours of early morning, when one either mopes about in loose flannel
+clothes, or goes for a gallop on the green <i>maidán</i>, are without
+exception the most delicious of the day. I shall have occasion hereafter to
+describe the morning's proceedings in the plains. On the day after the
+events recorded in the last chapter I awoke as usual at five o'clock, and
+meandered out on to the verandah to have a look at the hills, so novel and
+delicious a sight after the endless flats of the northwest provinces. It
+was still nearly dark, but there was a faint light in the east, which
+rapidly grew as I watched it, till, turning the angle of the house, I
+distinguished a snow-peak over the tops of the dark rhododendrons, and,
+while I gazed, the first tinge of distant dawning caught the summit, and
+the beautiful hill blushed, as a fair woman, at the kiss of the awakening
+sun. The old story, the heaven wooing the earth with a wondrous shower of
+gold.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_30"></a>"Prati 'shya sunar&icirc; jan&icirc;"&mdash;the
+exquisite lines of the old Vedic hymn to the dawn maiden, rose to my lips.
+I had never appreciated or felt their truth down in the dusty plains, but
+here, on the free hills, the glad welcoming of the morning light seemed to
+run through every fibre, as thousands of years ago the same joyful thrill
+of returning life inspired the pilgrim fathers of the Aryan race. Almost
+unconsciously, I softly intoned the hymn, as I had heard my old Brahmin
+teacher in Allahabad when he came and sat under the porch at daybreak,
+until I was ready for him&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+The lissome heavenly maiden here,<br />
+Forth flashing from her sister's arms,<br />
+High heaven's daughter, now is come.<br />
+<br />
+In rosy garments, shining like<br />
+A swift bay mare; the twin knights' friend,<br />
+Mother of all our herds of kine.<br />
+<br />
+Yea, thou art she, the horseman's friend;<br />
+Of grazing cattle mother thou,<br />
+All wealth is thine, thou blushing dawn.<br />
+<br />
+Thou who hast driven the foeman back,<br />
+With praise we call on thee to wake<br />
+In tender reverence, beauteous one.<br />
+<br />
+The spreading beams of morning light<br />
+Are countless as our hosts of kine,<br />
+They fill the atmosphere of space.<br />
+<br />
+Filling the sky, thou openedst wide<br />
+The gates of night, thou glorious dawn&mdash;<br />
+Rejoicing-run thy daily race!<br />
+<br />
+<a name="Page_31"></a>The heaven above thy rays have filled,<br />
+The broad belov&egrave;d room of air,<br />
+O splendid, brightest maid of morn!<br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>I went indoors again to attend to my correspondence, and presently a
+gorgeously liveried white-bearded <i>chuprassie</i> appeared at the door,
+and bending low as he touched his hand to his forehead, intimated that "if
+the great lord of the earth, the protector of the poor, would turn his ear
+to the humblest of his servants, he would hear of something to his
+advantage."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, he presented a letter from the official with whom I had to
+do, an answer to my note of the previous afternoon, requesting an
+interview. In due course, therefore, the day wore on, and I transacted my
+business, returned to "tiffin," and then went up to my rooms for a little
+quiet. I might have been there an hour, smoking and dreaming over a book,
+when the servant announced a sahib who wanted to see me, and Isaacs walked
+in, redolent of the sunshine without, his luminous eyes shining brightly in
+the darkened room. I was delighted, for I felt my wits stagnating in the
+unwonted idleness of the autumn afternoon, and the book I had taken up was
+not conducive to wakefulness or brilliancy. It was a pleasant surprise too.
+It is not often that an hotel acquaintance pushes an intimacy much, and
+besides I had feared my silence during the previous evening might have
+produced the impression of indifference, on which reflection I had resolved
+to make myself agreeable at our next meeting.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_32"></a>Truly, had I asked myself the cause of a certain
+attraction I felt for Mr. Isaacs, it would have been hard to find an
+answer. I am generally extremely shy of persons who begin an acquaintance
+by making confidences, and, in spite of Isaacs' charm of manner, I had
+certainly speculated on his reasons for suddenly telling an entire stranger
+his whole story. My southern birth had not modified the northern character
+born in me, though it gave me the more urbane veneer of the Italian; and
+the early study of Larochefoucauld and his school had not predisposed me to
+an unlimited belief in the disinterestedness of mankind. Still there was
+something about the man which seemed to sweep away unbelief and cynicism
+and petty distrust, as the bright mountain freshet sweeps away the wretched
+little mud puddles and the dust and impurities from the bed of a half dry
+stream. It was a new sensation and a novel era in my experience of
+humanity, and the desire to get behind that noble forehead, and see its
+inmost workings, was strong beyond the strength of puny doubts and
+preconceived prejudice. Therefore, when Isaacs appeared, looking like the
+sun-god for all his quiet dress of gray and his unobtrusive manner, I felt
+the "little thrill of pleasure" so aptly compared by Swinburne to the soft
+touch of a hand stroking the outer hair.</p>
+
+<p>"What a glorious day after all that detestable rain!" were his first
+words. "Three mortal months of water, mud, and Mackintoshes, not to mention
+the <a name="Page_33"></a>agreeable sensation of being glued to a wet
+saddle with your feet in water-buckets, and mountain torrents running up
+and down the inside of your sleeves, in defiance of the laws of
+gravitation; such is life in the monsoon. Pah!" And he threw himself down
+on a cane chair and stretched out his dainty feet, so that the sunlight
+through the crack of the half-closed door might fall comfortingly on his
+toes, and remind him that it was fine outside.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you been doing all day?" I asked, for lack of a better
+question, not having yet recovered from the mental stagnation induced by
+the last number of the serial story I had been reading.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh&mdash;I don't know. Are you married?" he asked irrelevantly.</p>
+
+<p>"God forbid!" I answered reverently, and with some show of feeling.</p>
+
+<p>"Amen," was the answer. "As for me&mdash;I am, and my wives have been
+quarreling."</p>
+
+<p>"Your wives! Did I understand you to use the plural number?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes. I have three; that is the worst of it. If there were only
+two, they might get on better. You know 'two are company and three are
+none,' as your proverb has it." He said this reflectively, as if meditating
+a reduction in the number.</p>
+
+<p>The application of the proverb to such a case was quite new in my
+recollection. As for the plurality of my friend's conjugal relations, I
+remembered he was a Mohammedan, and my surprise vanished. <a
+name="Page_34"></a>Isaacs was lost in meditation. Suddenly he rose to his
+feet, and took a cigarette from the table.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder"&mdash;the match would not light, and he struggled a moment with
+another. Then he blew a great cloud of smoke, and sat down in a different
+chair&mdash;"I wonder whether a fourth would act as a fly-wheel," and he looked
+straight at me, as if asking my opinion.</p>
+
+<p>I had never been in direct relations with a Mussulman of education and
+position. To be asked point-blank whether I thought four wives better than
+three on general principles, and quite independently of the contemplated
+spouse, was a little embarrassing. He seemed perfectly capable of marrying
+another before dinner for the sake of peace, and I do not believe he would
+have considered it by any means a bad move.</p>
+
+<p>"Diamond cut diamond," I said. "You too have proverbs, and one of them
+is that a man is better sitting than standing; better lying than sitting;
+better dead than lying down. Now I should apply that same proverb to
+marriage. A man is, by a similar successive reasoning, better with no wife
+at all than with three."</p>
+
+<p>His subtle mind caught the flaw instantly. "To be without a wife at all
+would be about as conducive to happiness as to be dead. Negative happiness,
+very negative."</p>
+
+<p>"Negative happiness is better than positive discomfort."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_35"></a>"Come, come," he answered, "we are bandying terms
+and words, as if empty breath amounted to anything but inanity. Do you
+really doubt the value of the institution of marriage?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Marriage is a very good thing when two people are so poor that they
+depend on each other, mutually, for daily bread, or if they are rich enough
+to live apart. For a man in my own position marriage would be the height of
+folly; an act of rashness only second to deliberate suicide. Now, you are
+rich, and if you had but one wife, she living in Delhi and you in Simla,
+you would doubtless be very happy."</p>
+
+<p>"There is something in that," said Isaacs. "She might mope and beat the
+servants, but she could not quarrel if she were alone. Besides, it is so
+much easier to look after one camel than three. I think I must try it."</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause, during which he seemed settling the destiny of the
+two who were to be shelved in favour of a monogamic experiment. Presently
+he asked if I had brought any horses, and hearing I had not, offered me a
+mount, and proposed we should ride round Jako, and perhaps, if there were
+time, take a look at Annandale in the valley, where there was polo, and a
+racing-ground. I gladly accepted, and Isaacs despatched one of my servants,
+the faithful Kiramat Ali, to order the horses. Meantime the conversation
+turned on the expedition to Kabul to avenge the death of Cavagnari. I found
+Isaacs held <a name="Page_36"></a>the same view that I did in regard to the
+whole business. He thought the sending of four Englishmen, with a handful
+of native soldiers of the guide regiment to protect them, a piece of
+unparalleled folly, on a par with the whole English policy in regard to
+Afghanistan.</p>
+
+<p>"You English&mdash;pardon me, I forgot you did not belong to them&mdash;the
+English, then, have performed most of their great acts of valour as a
+direct consequence of having wantonly exposed themselves in situations
+where no sane man would have placed himself. Look at Balaclava; think of
+the things they did in the mutiny, and in the first Afghan war; look at the
+mutiny itself, the result of a hair-brained idea that a country like India
+could be held for ever with no better defences than the trustworthiness of
+native officers, and the gratitude of the people for the 'kindly British
+rule.' Poor Cavagnari! when he was here last summer, before leaving on his
+mission, he said several times he should never came back. And yet no better
+man could have been chosen, whether for politics or fighting; if only they
+had had the sense to protect him."</p>
+
+<p>Having delivered himself of this eulogy, my friend dropped his exhausted
+cigarette, lit another, and appeared again absorbed in the triangulation of
+his matrimonial problem. I imagined him weighing the question whether he
+should part with Zobeida and Zuleika and keep Anima, or send Zuleika and
+Amina about their business, and keep Zobeida to be a light <a
+name="Page_37"></a>in his household. At last Kiramat Ali, on the watch in
+the verandah, announced the saices with the horses, and we descended.</p>
+
+<p>I had expected that a man of Isaacs' tastes and habits would not be
+stingy about his horseflesh, and so was prepared for the character of the
+animals that awaited us. They were two superb Arab stallions, one of them
+being a rare specimen of the weight-carrying kind, occasionally seen in the
+far East. Small head, small feet, and feather-tailed, but broad in the
+quarters and deep in the chest, able to carry a twelve-stone man for hours
+at the stretching, even gallop, that never trembles and never tires;
+surefooted as a mule, and tender-tempered as a baby.</p>
+
+<p>So we mounted the gentle creatures and rode away. The mountain on which
+Simla is situated has a double summit, like a Swiss peak, the one higher
+than the other. On the lower height and the neck between the two is built
+the town, and the bungalows used as offices and residences for the
+Government officials cover a very considerable, area. "Jako," the higher
+eminence, is thickly covered with a forest of primeval rhododendrons and
+pines, and though there are outlying bungalows and villas scattered about
+among the trees near the town, they are so far back from the main road,
+reserved as I have said for the use of the Viceroy, as far as driving is
+concerned, that they are not seen in riding along the shady way; and on the
+opposite side, where the trees are thin, the magnificent view looks far out
+over the spurs of the <a name="Page_38"></a>mountains, the only human
+habitation visible being a Catholic convent, which rears its little Italian
+<i>campanile</i> against the blue sky, and rather adds to the beauty of the
+scene than otherwise. As we rode along we continued our talk about the new
+Afghan war, though neither of us was very much in the humour for animated
+conversation. The sweet scent of the pines, the matchless motion of the
+Arab, and the joyous feeling that the worst part of the tropical year was
+passed, were enough for me, and I drank in the high, rarefied air, with the
+intense delight of a man who has been smothered with dust and heat, and
+then steamed to a jelly by a spring and summer in the plains of
+Hindustan.</p>
+
+<p>The road abounds in sharp turns, and I, as the heavier mount, rode on
+the inside as we went round the mountain. On reaching the open part on the
+farther side, we drew rein for a moment to look down at the deep valleys,
+now dark with the early shade, at the higher peaks red with the westering
+sun, and at the black masses of foliage, through which some giant trunk
+here and there caught a lingering ray of the departing light. Then, as we
+felt the cool of the evening coming on, we wheeled and scampered along the
+level stretch, stirrup to stirrup and knee to knee. The sharp corner at the
+end pulled us up, but before we had quite reined in our horses, as
+delighted as we to have a couple of minutes' straight run, we swung past
+the angle and cannoned into a man ambling peaceably along with his reins on
+one finger and his <a name="Page_39"></a>large gray felt hat flapping at
+the back of his neck. There was a moment's confusion, profuse apologies on
+our part, and some ill-concealed annoyance on the part of the victim, who
+was, however, only a little jostled and taken by surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, sir," he began. "Oh! Mr. Isaacs. No harm done, I assure you,
+that is, not much. Bad thing riding fast round corners. No harm, no harm,
+not much. How are you?" all in a breath.</p>
+
+<p>"How d'ye do! Mr. Ghyrkins; my friend Mr. Griggs."</p>
+
+<p>"The real offender," I added in a conciliatory tone, for I had kept my
+place on the inside.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs?" said Mr. Currie Ghyrkins. "Mr. Griggs of Allahabad?
+<i>Daily Howler?</i> Yes, yes, corresponded; glad to see you in the
+flesh."</p>
+
+<p>I did not think he looked particularly glad. He was a Revenue
+Commissioner residing in Mudnugger; a rank Conservative; a regular old
+"John Company" man, with whom I had had more than one tiff in the columns
+of the <i>Howler,</i> leading to considerable correspondence.</p>
+
+<p>"I trust that our collision in the flesh has had no worse results than
+our tilts in print, Mr. Ghyrkins?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all. Oh don't mention it. Bad enough, though, but no harm done,
+none whatever," pulling up and looking at me as he pronounced the hist two
+words with a peculiarly English slowness after a very quick sentence.</p>
+
+<p>While he was speaking, I was aware of a pair of <a
+name="Page_40"></a>riders walking their horses toward us, and apparently
+struggling to suppress their amusement at the mishap to the old gentleman,
+which they must have witnessed. In truth, Mr. Ghyrkins, who was stout and
+rode a broad-backed obese "tat," can have presented no very dignified
+appearance, for he was jerked half out of the saddle by the concussion, and
+his near leg, returning to its place, had driven his nether garment half
+way to his knee, while the large felt hat was settling back on to his head
+at a rakish angle, and his coat collar had gone well up the back of his
+neck.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear uncle," said the lady as she rode up, "I hope you are not hurt?"
+She was very handsome as she sat there trying not to laugh. A lithe figure
+in a gray habit and a broad-brimmed hat, fair as a Swede, but with dark
+eyes and heavy lashes. Just then she was showing her brilliant teeth,
+ostensibly in delight at her dear uncle's escape, and her whole expression
+was animated and amused. Her companion was a soldierly looking young
+Englishman, with a heavy moustache and a large nose. A certain
+devil-may-care look about his face was attractive as he sat carelessly
+watching us. I noticed his long stirrups and the curb rein hanging loose,
+while he held the snaffle, and concluded he was a cavalry officer. Isaacs
+bowed low to the lady and wheeled his horse. She replied by a nod,
+indifferent enough; but as he turned, her eyes instantly went back to him,
+and a pleasant thoughtful look passed over her face, which betrayed at
+least a trifling interest in the stranger, if stranger he were.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_41"></a>All this time Mr. Ghyrkins was talking and asking
+questions of me. When had I come? what brought me here? how long would I
+stay? and so on, showing that whether friendly or not he had an interest in
+my movements. In answering his questions I found an opportunity of calling
+the Queen the "Empress," of lauding Lord Beaconsfield's policy in India,
+and of congratulating Mr. Ghyrkins upon the state of his district, with
+which he had nothing to do, of course; but he swallowed the bait, all in a
+breath, as he seemed to do everything. Then he introduced us.</p>
+
+<p>"Katharine, you know Mr. Isaacs; Mr. Griggs, Miss Westonhaugh, Lord
+Steepleton Kildare, Mr. Isaacs."</p>
+
+<p>We bowed and rode back together over the straight piece we passed before
+the encounter. Isaacs and the Englishman walked their horses on each side
+of Miss Westonhaugh, and Ghyrkins and I brought up the rear. I tried to
+turn the conversation to Isaacs, but with little result.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, good fellow Isaacs, for a fire-worshipper, or whatever he is.
+Good judge of a horse. Lots of rupees too. Queer fish. By-the-bye, Mr.
+Griggs, this new expedition is going to cost us something handsome,
+eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes. I doubt whether you will get off under ten millions sterling.
+And where is it to come from? You will have a nice time making your
+assessments in Bengal, Mr. Ghyrkins, and we shall have an income-tax and
+all sorts of agreeable things."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_42"></a>"Income-tax? Well, I think not. You see, Mr.
+Griggs, it would hit the members of the council, so they won't do it, for
+their own sakes, and the Viceroy too. Ha, ha, how do you think Lord Lytton
+would like an income-tax, eh?" And the old fellow chuckled.</p>
+
+<p>We reached the end of the straight, and Isaacs reined in and bid Miss
+Westonhaugh and her companion good evening. I bowed from where I was, and
+took Mr. Ghyrkins' outstretched hand. He was in a good humour again, and
+called out to us to come and see him, as we rode away. I thought to myself
+I certainly would; and we paced back, crossing the open stretch for the
+third time.</p>
+
+<p>It was almost dark under the trees as we re-entered the woods; I pulled
+out a cheroot and lit it. Isaacs did the same, and we walked our horses
+along in silence. I was thinking of the little picture I had just seen. The
+splendid English girl on her thoroughbred beside the beautiful Arab steed
+and his graceful rider. What a couple, I thought: what noble specimens of
+great races. Why did not this fiery young Persian, with his wealth, his
+beauty, and his talents, wed some such wife as that, some high-bred
+Englishwoman, who should love him and give him home and children&mdash;and, I
+was forced to add, commonplace happiness? How often does it happen that
+some train of thought, unacknowledged almost to ourselves, runs abruptly
+into a blind alley; especially when we try to plan out the future life of
+some one <a name="Page_43"></a>else, or to sketch for him what we should
+call happiness. The accidental confronting of two individuals pleases the
+eye, we unite them in our imagination, carrying on the picture before us,
+and suddenly we find ourselves in a quagmire of absurd incongruities. Now
+what could be more laughable than to suppose the untamed, and probably
+untameable young man at my side, with his three wives, his notions about
+the stars and his Mussulman faith, bound for life to a girl like Miss
+Westonhaugh? A wise man of the East trying to live the life of an English
+country gentleman, hunting in pink and making speeches on the local
+hustings! I smiled to myself in the dark and puffed at my cigar.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Isaacs was palpably uneasy. First he kicked his feet free of
+the stirrups, and put them back again. Then he hummed a few words of a
+Persian song and let his cigar go out, after which he swore loudly in
+Arabic at the eternal matches that never would light. Finally he put his
+horse into a hand gallop, which could not last on such a road in the dark,
+and at last he broke down completely in his efforts to do impossible
+things, and began talking to me.</p>
+
+<p>"You know Mr. Ghyrkins by correspondence, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and by controversy. And you, I see, know Miss Westonhaugh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; what do you think of her?"</p>
+
+<p>"A charming creature of her type. Fair and <a
+name="Page_44"></a>English, she will be fat at thirty-five, and will
+probably paint at forty, but at present she is perfection&mdash;of her kind of
+course," I added, not wishing to engage my friend in the defence of his
+three wives on the score of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>"I see very little of Englishwomen," said Isaacs. "My position is
+peculiar, and though the men, many of whom I know quite intimately, often
+ask me to their houses, I fancy when I meet their women I can detect a
+certain scorn of my nationality, a certain undefinable manner toward me, by
+which I suppose they mean to convey to my obtuse comprehension that I am
+but a step better than a 'native'&mdash;a 'nigger' in fact, to use the term they
+love so well. So I simply avoid them, as a rule, for my temper is hasty. Of
+course I understand it well enough; they are brought up or trained by their
+fathers and husbands to regard the native Indian as an inferior being, an
+opinion in which, on the whole, I heartily concur. But they go a step
+farther and include all Asiatics in the same category. I do not choose to
+be confounded with a race I consider worn out and effete. As for the men,
+it is different. They know I am rich and influential in many ways that are
+useful to them now, and they hope that the fortunes of war or revolution
+may give them a chance of robbing me hereafter, in which they are mistaken.
+Now there is our stout friend, whom we nearly brought to grief a few
+minutes ago; he is always extremely civil, and never meets me that he does
+not renew his invitation to visit him."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_45"></a>"I should like to see something more of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins myself. I do not believe he is half as bad as I thought. Do you
+ever go there?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes. Yes, on second thoughts I believe I call on Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins pretty often." Then after a pause he added, "I like her."</p>
+
+<p>I pointed out the confusion of genders. Isaacs must have smiled to
+himself in the gloom, but he answered quietly&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I mean Miss Westonhaugh. I like her&mdash;yes, I am quite sure I do. She is
+beautiful and sensible, though if she stays here much longer she will be
+like all the rest. We will go and see them to-morrow. Here we are; just in
+time for dinner. Come and smoke afterwards."</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_46"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_III'></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+
+<p>A loose robe of light material from Kashmir thrown around him, Isaacs
+half sat, half lay, on the soft dark cushions in the corner of his outer
+room. His feet were slipperless, Eastern fashion, and his head covered with
+an embroidered cap of curious make. By the yellow light of the hanging
+lamps he was reading an Arabic book, and his face wore a puzzled look that
+sat strangely on the bold features. As I entered the book fell back on the
+cushion, sinking deep into the down by its weight, and one of the heavy
+gold clasps clanged sharply as it turned. He looked up, but did not rise,
+and greeted me, smiling, with the Arabic salutation&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Peace be with you!"</p>
+
+<p>"And with you, peace," I answered in the same tongue. He smiled again at
+my unfamiliar pronunciation. I established myself on the divan near him,
+and inquired whether he had arrived at any satisfactory solution of his
+domestic difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>"My father," he said, "upon whom be peace, had but one wife, my mother.
+You know Mussulmans are allowed four lawful wives. Here is the passage in
+the beginning of the fourth chapter, 'If ye fear <a name="Page_47"></a>that
+ye shall not act with equity towards orphans of the female sex, take in
+marriage of such other women as please you, two, or three, or four, and not
+more. But, if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably towards so many, marry
+one only, or the slaves which ye shall have acquired.'</p>
+
+<p>"The first part of this passage," continued Isaacs, "is disputed; I mean
+the words referring to orphans. But the latter portion is plain enough.
+When the apostle warns those who fear they 'cannot act equitably towards so
+many,' I am sure that in his wisdom he meant something more by 'equitable'
+treatment than the mere supplying of bodily wants. He meant us to so order
+our households that there should be no jealousies, no heart-burnings, no
+unnecessary troubling of the peace. Now woman is a thing of the devil,
+jealous; and to manage a number of such creatures so that they shall be
+even passably harmonious among themselves is a fearful task, soul-wearying,
+heart-hardening, never-ending, leading to no result."</p>
+
+<p>"Just what I told you; a man is better with no wife at all than with
+three. But why do you talk about such matters with me, an unbeliever, a
+Christian, who, in the words of your prophet, 'shall swallow down nothing
+but fire into my belly, and shall broil in raging flames' when I die?
+Surely it is contrary to the custom of your co-religionists; and how can
+you expect an infidel Frank to give you advice?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't," laconically replied my host.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_48"></a>"Besides, with your views of women in general,
+their vocation, their aims, and their future state, is it at all likely
+that we should ever arrive at even a fair discussion of marriage and
+marriage laws? With us, women have souls, and, what is a great deal more,
+seem likely to have votes. They certainly have the respectful and courteous
+service of a large proportion of the male sex. You call a woman a thing of
+the devil; we call her an angel from heaven; and though some eccentric
+persons like myself refuse to ally themselves for life with any woman, I
+confess, as far as I am concerned, that it is because I cannot contemplate
+the constant society of an angel with the degree of appreciation such a
+privilege justly deserves; and I suspect that most confirmed bachelors,
+knowingly or unconsciously, think as I do. The Buddhists are not singular
+in their theory that permanent happiness should be the object."</p>
+
+<p>"They say," said Isaacs, quickly interrupting, "that the aim of the
+ignorant is pleasure; the pursuit of the wise, happiness. Pray, under which
+category would you class marriage? I suppose it comes under one or the
+other."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot say I see the force of that. Look at your own case, since you
+have introduced it."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind my own case. I mean with your ideas of one wife, and
+heavenly woman, and voting, and domestic joy, and all the rest of it. Take
+the ideal creature you rave about&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I never rave about anything."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_49"></a>"Take the fascinating female you describe, and for
+the sake of argument imagine yourself very poor or very rich, since you
+would not enter wedlock in your present circumstances. Suppose you married
+your object of 'courteous service and respectful adoration;' which should
+you say you would attain thereby, pleasure or happiness?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pleasure is but the refreshment that cheers us in the pursuit of true
+happiness," I answered, hoping to evade the direct question by a
+sententious phrase.</p>
+
+<p>"I will not let you off so easily. You shall answer my question," he
+said. He looked full at me with a deep searching gaze that seemed hardly
+warranted by the lightness of the argument. I hesitated, and he impatiently
+leaned forward, uncrossing his legs and clasping his hands over one knee to
+bring himself nearer to me.</p>
+
+<p>"Pleasure or happiness?" he repeated, "which is it to be?"</p>
+
+<p>A sudden light flashed over my obscured intellect.</p>
+
+<p>"Both," I answered. "Could you see the ideal woman as I would fain paint
+her to you, you would understand me better. The pleasure you enjoy in the
+society of a noble and beautiful woman should be but the refreshment by the
+wayside as you journey through life together. The day will come when she
+will be beautiful no longer, only noble and good, and true to you as to
+herself; and then, if pleasure has been to you what it should be, you will
+find that in the happiness attained it is no longer counted, or <a
+name="Page_50"></a>needed, or thought of. It will have served its end, as
+the crib holds the ship in her place while she is building; and when your
+white-winged vessel has smoothly glided off into the great ocean of
+happiness, the crib and the stocks and the artificial supports will fall to
+pieces and be forgotten for ever. Yet have they had a purpose, and have
+borne a very important part in the life of your ship."</p>
+
+<p>Having heard me attentively till I had finished, Isaacs relaxed his hold
+on his knee and threw himself back on the cushions, as if to entrench
+himself for a better fight. I had made an impression on him, but he was not
+the man to own it easily. Presumably to gain time, he called for hookahs
+and sherbet, and though the servants moved noiselessly in preparing them,
+their presence was an interruption.</p>
+
+<p>When we were settled again he had taken a nearly upright position on the
+couch, and as he pulled at the long tube his face assumed that stolid look
+of Oriental indifference which is the most discouraging shower-bath to the
+persuasive powers. I had really no interest in converting him to my own
+point of view about women. Honestly, was it my own point of view at all?
+Would anything under heaven induce me, Paul Griggs, rich, or poor, or
+comfortably off, to marry any one&mdash;Miss Westonhaugh, for instance? Probably
+not. But then my preference for single blessedness did not prevent me from
+believing that women have souls. That morning the question of the marriage
+of the whole universe had <a name="Page_51"></a>been a matter of the utmost
+indifference, and now I, a confirmed and hopelessly contented bachelor, was
+trying to convince a man with three wives that matrimony was a most
+excellent thing in its way, and that the pleasure of the honeymoon was but
+the faint introduction to the bliss of the silver wedding. It certainly
+must be Isaacs' own doing. He had launched on a voyage of discovery and had
+taken me in tow. I had a strong suspicion that he wanted to be convinced,
+and was playing indifference to soothe his conscience.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said I at last, "have you any fault to find with my reasoning or
+my simile?"</p>
+
+<p>"With your simile&mdash;none. It is faultlessly perfect. You have not mixed
+up your metaphors in the least. Crib, stocks, ocean, ship&mdash;all correct, and
+very nautical. As for your reasoning, I do not believe there is anything in
+it. I do not believe that pleasure leads to happiness; I do not believe
+that a woman has a soul, and I deny the whole argument from beginning to
+end. There," he added with a smile that belied the brusqueness of his
+words, "that is my position. Talk me out of it if you can; the night is
+long, and my patience as that of the ass."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think this is a case for rigid application of logic. When the
+feelings are concerned&mdash;and where can they be more concerned than in our
+intercourse with women?&mdash;the only way to arrive at any conclusion is by a
+sort of trying-on process, imagining ourselves in the position indicated,
+and striving <a name="Page_52"></a>to fancy how it would suit us. Let us
+begin in that way. Suppose yourself unmarried, your three wives and their
+children removed&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Allah in his mercy grant it!" ejaculated Isaacs with great fervour.</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;removed from the question altogether. Then imagine yourself thrown
+into daily conversation with some beautiful woman who has read what you
+have read, thought what you have thought, and dreamed the dreams of a
+nobler destiny that have visited you in waking and sleeping hours. A woman
+who, as she learned your strange story, should weep for the pains you
+suffered and rejoice for the difficulties overcome, who should understand
+your half spoken thoughts and proudly sympathise in your unuttered
+aspirations; in whom you might see the twin nature to your own, and detect
+the strong spirit and the brave soul, half revealed through the feminine
+gentleness and modesty that clothe her as with a garment. Imagine all this,
+and then suppose it lay in your power, was a question of choice, for you to
+take her hand in yours and go through life and death together, till death
+seem life for the joy of being united for ever. Suppose you married
+her&mdash;not to lock her up in an indolent atmosphere of rosewater, narghyles,
+and sweetmeats, to die of inanition or to pester you to death with
+complaints and jealousies and inopportune caresses; but to be with you and
+help your life when you most need help, by word and thought and deed, to
+grow more and more a part of you, an essential <a
+name="Page_53"></a>element of you in action or repose, to part from which
+would be to destroy at a blow the whole fabric of your existence. Would you
+not say that with such a woman the transitory pleasure of early
+conversation and intercourse had been the stepping-stone to the lasting
+happiness of such a friendship as you could never hope for in your old age
+among your sex? Would not her faithful love and abounding sympathy be
+dearer to you every day, though the roses in her cheek should fade and the
+bright hair whiten with the dust of life's journey? Would you not feel that
+when you died your dearest wish must be to join her where there should be
+no parting&mdash;her from whom there could be no parting here, short of death
+itself? Would you not believe she had a soul?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is no end of your 'supposing,' but it is quite pretty. I am half
+inclined to 'suppose' too." He took a sip of sherbet from the tall crystal
+goblet the servant had placed on a little three-legged stool beside him,
+and as he drank the cool liquid slowly, looked over the glass into my eyes,
+with a curious, half earnest, half smiling glance; I could not tell whether
+my enthusiastic picture of conjugal bliss amused him or attracted him, so I
+waited for him to speak again.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that you have had your cruise in your ship of happiness on the
+waters of your cerulean imagination, permit me, who am land-born and a
+lover of the chase, to put my steed at a few fences in the difficult
+country of unadorned facts over which I propose to <a
+name="Page_54"></a>hunt the wily fox, matrimony. I have never hunted a fox,
+but I can quite well imagine what it is like.</p>
+
+<p>"In the first place, it is all very well to suppose that it had pleased
+Allah in his goodness to relieve me of my three incumbrances&mdash;meanwhile,
+there they are, and they are very real difficulties I assure you.
+Nevertheless are there means provided us by the foresight of the apostle,
+by which we may ease ourselves of domestic burdens when they are too heavy
+for us to bear. It would be quite within the bounds of possibility for me
+to divorce them all three, without making any special scandal. But if I did
+this thing, do you not think that my experience of married life has given
+me the most ineradicable prejudices against women as daily companions? Am I
+not persuaded that they all bicker and chatter and nibble sweetmeats
+alike&mdash;absolutely alike? Or if I looked abroad&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Stop," I said, "I am not reasoner enough to persuade you that all women
+have souls. Very likely in Persia and India they have not. I only want you
+to believe that there may be women so fortunate as to possess a modicum of
+immortality. Well, pardon my interruption, 'if you looked abroad,' as you
+were saying?&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"If I looked abroad, I should probably discover little petty traits of
+the same class, if not exactly identical. I know little of Englishmen, and
+might be the more readily deceived. Supposing, if you will, that, after
+freeing myself from all my present <a name="Page_55"></a>ties, in order to
+start afresh, I were to find myself attracted by some English girl
+here"&mdash;there must have been something wrong with the mouthpiece of his
+pipe, for he examined it very attentively&mdash; "attracted," he continued, "by
+some one, for instance, by Miss Westonhaugh&mdash;" he stopped short.</p>
+
+<p>So my inspiration was right. My little picture, framed as we rode
+homeward, and indignantly scoffed at by my calmer reason, had visited his
+brain too. He had looked on the fair northern woman and fancied himself at
+her side, her lover, her husband. All this conversation and argument had
+been only a set plan to give himself the pleasure of contemplating and
+discussing such a union, without exciting surprise or comment. I had been
+suspecting it for some time, and now his sudden interest in his mouthpiece,
+to conceal a very real embarrassment, put the matter beyond all doubt.</p>
+
+<p>He was probably in love, my acquaintance of two days. He saw in me a
+plain person, who could not possibly be a rival, having some knowledge of
+the world, and he was in need of a confidant, like a school-girl. I
+reflected that he was probably a victim for the first time. There is very
+little romance in India, and he had, of course, married for convenience and
+respectability rather than for any real affection. His first passion! This
+man who had been tossed about like a bit of driftwood, who had by his own
+determination and intelligence carved his way to wealth and power in the
+teeth of every difficulty. Just <a name="Page_56"></a>now, in his
+embarrassment, he looked very boyish. His troubles had left no wrinkles on
+his smooth forehead, his bright black hair was untinged by a single thread
+of gray, and as he looked up, after the pause that followed when he
+mentioned the name of the woman he loved, there was a very really youthful
+look of mingled passion and distress in his beautiful eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I think, Mr. Isaacs, that you have used a stronger argument against the
+opinions you profess to hold than I could have found in my whole armoury of
+logic."</p>
+
+<p>As he looked at me, the whole field of possibilities seemed opened. I
+must have been mistaken in thinking this marriage impossible and
+incongruous. What incongruity could there be in Isaacs marrying Miss
+Westonhaugh? My conclusions were false. Why must he necessarily return with
+her to England, and wear a red coat, and make himself ridiculous at the
+borough elections? Why should not this ideal couple choose some happy spot,
+as far from the corrosive influence of Anglo-Saxon prejudice as from the
+wretched sensualism of prosperous life east of the Mediterranean? I was
+carried away by the idea, returning with redoubled strength as a sequel to
+what I had argued and to what I had guessed. "Why not?" was the question I
+repeated to myself over and over again in the half minute's pause after
+Isaacs finished speaking.</p>
+
+<p>"You are right," he said slowly, his half-closed <a
+name="Page_57"></a>eyes fixed on his feet. "Yes, you are right. Why not?
+Indeed, indeed, why not?"</p>
+
+<p>It must have been pure guess-work, this reading of my thoughts. When he
+was last speaking his manner was all indifference, scorn of my ideas, and
+defiance of every western mode of reasoning. And now, apparently by pure
+intuition, he gave a direct answer to the direct question I had mentally
+asked, and, what is more, his answer came with a quiet, far-away tone of
+conviction that had not a shade of unbelief in it. It was delivered as
+monotonously and naturally as a Christian says "Credo in unum Deum," as if
+it were not worth disputing; or as the devout Mussulman says "La Illah
+illallah," not stooping to consider the existence of any one bold enough to
+deny the dogma. No argument, not hours of patient reasoning, or weeks of
+well directed persuasion, could have wrought the change in the man's tone
+that came over it at the mere mention of the woman he loved. I had no share
+in his conversion. My arguments had been the excuse by which he had
+converted himself. Was he converted? was it real?</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;I think I am," he replied in the same mechanical monotonous
+accent.</p>
+
+<p>I shook myself, drank some sherbet, and kicked off one shoe impatiently.
+Was I dreaming? or had I been speaking aloud, really putting the questions
+he answered so quickly and appositively? Pshaw! a coincidence. I called the
+servant and ordered my hookah to be refilled. Isaacs sat still, immovable,
+<a name="Page_58"></a>lost in thought, looking at his toes; an expression,
+almost stupid in its vacancy, was on his face, and the smoke curled slowly
+up in lazy wreaths from his neglected narghyle.</p>
+
+<p>"You are converted then at last?" I said aloud. No answer followed my
+question; I watched him attentively.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Isaacs!" still silence, was it possible that he had fallen asleep?
+his eyes were open, but I thought he was very pale. His upright position,
+however, belied any symptoms of unconsciousness.</p>
+
+<p>"Isaacs! Abdul Hafiz! what is the matter!" He did not move. I rose to my
+feet and knelt beside him where he sat rigid, immovable, like a statue.
+Kiramat Ali, who had been watching, clapped his hands wildly and cried,
+"Wah! wah! Sahib margy&acirc;!"&mdash;"The lord is dead." I motioned him away
+with a gesture and he held his peace, cowering in the corner, his eyes
+fixed on us. Then I bent low as I knelt and looked under my friend's brows,
+into his eyes. It was clear he did not see me, though he was looking
+straight at his feet. I felt for his pulse. It was very low, almost
+imperceptible, and certainly below forty beats to the minute. I took his
+right arm and tried to put it on my shoulder. It was perfectly rigid. There
+was no doubt about it&mdash;the man was in a cataleptic trance. I felt for the
+pulse again; it was lost.</p>
+
+<p>I was no stranger to this curious phenomenon, where the mind is
+perfectly awake, but every bodily <a name="Page_59"></a>faculty is lulled
+to sleep beyond possible excitation, unless the right means be employed. I
+went out and breathed the cool night air, bidding the servants be quiet, as
+the sahib was asleep. When sufficiently refreshed I re-entered the room,
+cast off my slippers, and stood a moment by my friend, who was as rigid as
+ever.</p>
+
+<p>Nature, in her bountiful wisdom, has compensated me for a singular
+absence of beauty by endowing me with great strength, and with one of those
+exceptional constitutions which seem constantly charged with electricity.
+Without being what is called a mesmerist, I am possessed of considerable
+magnetic power, which I have endeavoured to develop as far as possible. In
+many a long conversation with old Manu Lal, my Brahmin instructor in
+languages and philosophy while in the plains, we had discussed the trance
+state in all its bearings. This old pundit was himself a distinguished
+mesmerist, and though generally unwilling to talk about what is termed
+occultism, on finding in me a man naturally endowed with the physical
+characteristics necessary to those pursuits, he had given me several
+valuable hints as to the application of my powers. Here was a worthy
+opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>I rubbed my feet on the soft carpet, and summoning all my strength,
+began to make the prescribed passes over my friend's head and body. Very
+gradually the look of life returned to his face, the generous blood welled
+up under the clear olive skin, the lips <a name="Page_60"></a>parted, and
+he sighed softly. Animation, as always happens in such cases, began at the
+precise point at which it had been suspended, and his first movement was to
+continue his examination of the mouthpiece in his hand. Then he looked up
+suddenly, and seeing me standing over him, gave a little shake, half
+turning his shoulders forward and back, and speaking once more in his
+natural voice, said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I must have been asleep! Have I? What has happened? Why are you
+standing there looking at me in that way?" Then, after a short
+interrogatory silence, his face changed and a look of annoyance shaded his
+features as he added in a low tone, "Oh! I see. It has happened to me once
+before. Sit down. I am all right now." He sipped a little sherbet and
+leaned back in his old position. I begged him to go to bed, and prepared to
+withdraw, but he would not let me, and he seemed so anxious that I should
+stay, that I resumed my place. The whole incident had passed in ten
+minutes.</p>
+
+<p>"Stay with me a little longer," he repeated. "I need your company,
+perhaps your advice. I have had a vision, and you must hear about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought as I sat here that my spirit left my body and passed out
+through the night air and hovered over Simla. I could see into every
+bungalow, and was conscious of what passed in each, but there was only one
+where my gaze rested, for I saw upon a couch in a spacious chamber the
+sleeping form of one I knew. The masses of fair hair were heaped as <a
+name="Page_61"></a>they fell upon the pillow, as if she had lain down weary
+of bearing the burden of such wealth of gold. The long dark lashes threw
+little shadows on her cheeks, and the parted lips seemed to smile at the
+sweetness of the gently heaving breath that fanned them as it came and
+went. And while I looked, the breath of her body became condensed, as it
+were, and took shape and form and colour, so that the image of herself
+floated up between her body and my watching spirit. Nearer and nearer to me
+came the exquisite vision of beauty, till we were face to face, my soul and
+hers, high up in the night. And there came from her eyes, as the long lids
+lifted, a look of perfect trust, and of love, and of infinite joy. Then she
+turned her face southward and pointed to my life star burning bright among
+his lesser fellows; and with a long sweet glance that bid me follow where
+she led, her maiden soul floated away, half lingering at first, as I
+watched her; then, with dizzy speed, vanishing in the firmament as a
+falling star, and leaving no trace behind, save an infinitely sad regret,
+and a longing to enter with her into that boundless empire of peace. But I
+could not, for my spirit was called back to this body. And I bless Allah
+that he has given me to see her once so, and to know that she has a soul,
+even as I have, for I have looked upon her spirit and I know it."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs rose slowly to his feet and moved towards the open door. I
+followed him, and for a few moments we stood looking out at the scene below
+us. <a name="Page_62"></a>It was near midnight, and the ever-decreasing
+moon was dragging herself up, as if ashamed of her waning beauty and
+tearful look.</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," said my friend, dropping the formal prefix for the first time,
+"all this is very strange. I believe I am in love!"</p>
+
+<p>"I have not a doubt of it," I replied. "Peace be with you!"</p>
+
+<p>"And with you peace."</p>
+
+<p>So we parted.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_63"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_IV'></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In Simla people make morning calls in the morning instead of after dark,
+as in more civilised countries. Soon after dawn I received a note from
+Isaacs, saying that he had business with the Maharajah of Baithopoor about
+some precious stones, but that he would be ready to go with me to call on
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins at ten o'clock, or soon after. I had been thinking a
+great deal about the events of the previous evening, and I was looking
+forward to my next meeting with Isaacs with intense interest. After what
+had passed, nothing could be such a test of his true feelings as the visit
+to Miss Westonhaugh, which we proposed to make together, and I promised
+myself to lose no gesture, no word, no expression, which might throw light
+on the question that interested me&mdash;whether such a union were practical,
+possible, and wise.</p>
+
+<p>At the appointed time, therefore, I was ready, and we mounted and
+sallied forth into the bright autumn day. All visits are made on horseback
+in Simla, as the distances are often considerable. You ride quietly along,
+and the saice follows you, walking or keeping pace with your gentle trot,
+as the case may <a name="Page_64"></a>be. We rode along the bustling mall,
+crowded with men and women on horseback, with numbers of gorgeously arrayed
+native servants and <i>chuprassies</i> of the Government offices hurrying
+on their respective errands, or dawdling for a chat with some
+shabby-looking acquaintance in private life; we passed by the crowded
+little shops on the hill below the church, and glanced at the
+conglomeration of grain-sellers, jewellers, confectioners, and dealers in
+metal or earthen vessels, every man sitting knee-deep in his wares, smoking
+the eternal "hubble-bubble;" we noted the keen eyes of the buyers and the
+hawk's glance of the sellers, the long snake-like fingers eagerly grasping
+the passing coin, and seemingly convulsed into serpentine contortion when
+they relinquished their clutch on a single "pi;" we marked this busy scene,
+set down, like a Punch and Judy show, in the midst of the trackless waste
+of the Himalayas, as if for the delectation and pastime of some merry
+<i>genius loci</i> weary of the solemn silence in his awful mountains, and
+we chatted carelessly of the sights animate and inanimate before us,
+laughing at the asseverations of the salesmen, and at the hardened
+scepticism of the customer, at the portentous dignity of the superb old
+messenger, white-bearded and clad in scarlet and gold, as he bombastically
+described to the knot of poor relations and admirers that elbowed him the
+splendours of the last entertainment at "Peterhof," where Lord Lytton still
+reigned. I smiled, and Isaacs frowned at the ancient and hairy <a
+name="Page_65"></a>ascetic believer, who suddenly rose from his lair in a
+corner, and bustled through the crowd of Hindoos, shouting at the top of
+his voice the confession of his faith&mdash;"Beside God there is no God, and
+Muhammad is his apostle!" The universality of the Oriental spirit is
+something amazing. Customs, dress, thought, and language, are wonderfully
+alike among all Asiatics west of Thibet and south of Turkistan. The
+greatest difference is in language, and yet no one unacquainted with the
+dialects could distinguish by the ear between Hindustani, Persian, Arabic,
+and Turkish.</p>
+
+<p>So we moved along, and presently found ourselves on the road we had
+traversed the previous evening, leading round Jako. On the slope of the
+hill, hidden by a dense growth of rhododendrons, lay the bungalow of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, and a board at the entrance of the ride&mdash;drive there was
+none&mdash;informed us that the estate bore the high-sounding title of
+"Carisbrooke Castle," in accordance with the Simla custom of calling little
+things by big names.</p>
+
+<p>Having reached the lawn near the house, we left our horses in charge of
+the saice and strolled up the short walk to the verandah. A charming
+picture it was, prepared as if on purpose for our especial delectation. The
+bungalow was a large one for Simla, and the verandah was deep and shady;
+many chairs of all sorts and conditions stood about in natural positions,
+as if they had just been sat in, instead of <a name="Page_66"></a>being
+ranged in stiff rows against the wall, and across one angle hung a
+capacious hammock. Therein, swinging her feet to the ground, and holding on
+by the edge rope, sat the beautiful Miss Westonhaugh, clad in one of those
+close-fitting unadorned costumes of plain dark-blue serge, which only suit
+one woman in ten thousand, though, when they clothe a really beautiful
+young figure, I know of no garment better calculated to display grace of
+form and motion. She was kicking a ball of worsted with her dainty toes,
+for the amusement and instruction of a small tame jackal&mdash;the only one I
+ever saw thoroughly domesticated. A charming little beast it was, with long
+gray fur and bright twinkling eyes, mischievous and merry as a gnome's.
+From a broad blue ribbon round its neck was suspended a small silver bell
+that tinkled spasmodically, as the lively little thing sprang from side to
+side in pursuit of the ball, alighting with apparent indifference on its
+head or its heels.</p>
+
+<p>So busy was the girl with her live plaything that she had not seen us
+dismount and approach her, and it was not till our feet sounded on the
+boards of the verandah that she looked up with a little start, and tried to
+rise to her feet. Now any one who has sat sideways in a netted hammock,
+with feet swinging to the ground, and all the weight in the middle of the
+thing, knows how difficult it is to get out with grace, or indeed in any
+way short of rolling out and running for luck. You may break all your bones
+in <a name="Page_67"></a>the feat, and you both look and feel as if you
+were going to. Though we both sprang forward to her assistance, Miss
+Westonhaugh had recognised the inexpediency of moving after the first
+essay, and, with a smile of greeting, and the faintest tinge of
+embarrassment on her fair cheek, abandoned the attempt; the quaint little
+jackal sat up, backing against the side of the house, and, eyeing us
+critically, growled a little.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so glad to see you, Mr. Isaacs. How do you do, Mr.&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," murmured Isaacs, as he straightened a rope of the hammock by
+her side.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs?" she continued. "We met last night, briefly, but to the
+point, or at least you and my uncle did. I am alone; my uncle is gone down
+towards Kalka to meet my brother, who is coming up for a fortnight at the
+end of the season to get rid of the Bombay mould. Bring up some of those
+chairs and sit down. I cannot tell what has become of the 'bearer' and the
+'boy,' and the rest of the servants, and I could not make them understand
+me if they were here. So you must wait on yourselves."</p>
+
+<p>I was the first to lay hands on a chair, and as I turned to bring it I
+noticed she was following Isaacs with the same expression I had seen on her
+face the previous evening; but I could see it better now. A pleasant
+friendly look, not tender so much as kind, while the slightest possible
+contraction of the eyes showed a feeling of curiosity. She was evidently
+going to speak to him as soon as he turned his face.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_68"></a>"You see I have been giving him lessons," she
+said, as he brought back the seat he had chosen.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs looked at the queer small beast sitting up against the boards
+under the window, his brush tail curled round him, and his head turned
+inquiringly on one side.</p>
+
+<p>"He seems to be learning manners, at all events," said my friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; I think I may say now, with safety, that his bark is worse than
+his bite."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure you could not have said so the last time I came. Do you
+remember what fearful havoc he made among my nether garments? And yet he is
+my god-child, so to speak, for I gave him into your care, and named him
+into the bargain."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't suppose I am ungrateful for the gift," answered Miss Westonhaugh.
+"Snap! Snap! here! come here, darling, to your mistress, and be petted!" In
+spite of this eloquent appeal Snap, the baby jackal, only growled
+pleasantly and whisked his brush right and left. "You see," she went on,
+"your sponsorship has had no very good results. He will not obey any more
+than you yourself." Her glance, turning towards Isaacs, did not reach him,
+and, in fact, she could not have seen anything beyond the side of his
+chair. Isaacs, on the contrary, seemed to be counting her eyelashes, and
+taking a mental photograph of her brows.</p>
+
+<p>"Snap!" said he. The jackal instantly rose and trotted to him, fawning
+on his outstretched hand.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_69"></a>"You malign me, Miss Westonhaugh. Snap is no less
+obedient than I."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why did you insist on playing tennis left-handed the other day,
+though you know very well how it puzzles me?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Miss Westonhaugh," he answered, "I am not a tennis-player at
+all, to begin with, and as I do not understand the <i>finesse</i> of the
+game, to use a word I do not understand either, you must pardon my
+clumsiness in employing the hand most convenient and ready."</p>
+
+<p>"Some people," I began, "are what is called ambidexter, and can use
+either hand with equal ease. Now the ancient Persians, who invented the
+game of polo&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not quarrel so much with you, Mr. Isaacs&mdash;" as she said this, she
+looked at me, though entirely disregarding and interrupting my instructive
+sentence&mdash;"I don't quarrel with you so much for using your left hand at
+tennis as for employing left-handed weapons when you speak of other things,
+or beings, for you are never so left-handed and so adroit as when you are
+indulging in some elaborate abuse of our sex."</p>
+
+<p>"How can you say that?" protested Isaacs. "You know with what respectful
+and almost devotional reverence I look upon all women, and," his eyes
+brightening perceptibly, "upon you in particular."</p>
+
+<p>English women, especially in their youth, are not used to pretty
+speeches. They are so much accustomed <a name="Page_70"></a>to the men of
+their own nationality that they regard the least approach to a compliment
+as the inevitable introduction to the worst kind of insult. Miss
+Westonhaugh was no exception to this rule, and she drew herself up
+proudly.</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's pause, during which Isaacs seemed penitent, and she
+appeared to be revolving the bearings of the affront conveyed in his last
+words. She looked along the floor, slowly, till she might have seen his
+toes; then her eyes opened a moment and met his, falling again instantly
+with a change of colour.</p>
+
+<p>"And pray, Mr. Isaacs, would you mind giving us a list of the ladies you
+look upon with 'respectful and devotional reverence?'" One of the horses
+held by the saice at the corner of the lawn neighed lowly, and gave Isaacs
+an opportunity of looking away.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Westonhaugh," he said quietly, "you know I am a Mussulman, and
+that I am married. It may be that I have borrowed a phrase from your
+language which expresses more than I would convey, though it would ill
+become me to withdraw my last words, since they are true."</p>
+
+<p>It was my turn to be curious now. I wondered where his boldness would
+carry him. Among his other accomplishments, this man was capable of
+speaking the truth even to a woman, not as a luxury and a <i>bonne
+bouche</i>, but as a matter of habit. As I looked, the hot blood mantled up
+to his brows. <a name="Page_71"></a>She was watching him, and womanlike,
+seeing he was in earnest and embarrassed, she regained her perfect natural
+composure.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I had forgotten!" she said. "I forgot about your wife in Delhi."
+She half turned in the hammock, and after some searching, during which we
+were silent, succeeded in finding a truant piece of worsted work behind
+her. The wool was pulled out of the needle, and she held the steel
+instrument up against the light, as she doubled the worsted round the eye
+and pushed it back through the little slit. I observed that Isaacs was
+apparently in a line with the light, and that the threading took some
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs," she said slowly, and by the very slowness of the address I
+knew she was going to talk to me, and at my friend, as women will; "Mr.
+Griggs, do you know anything about Mohammedans?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is a very broad question," I answered; "almost as broad as the
+Mussulman creed." She began making stitches in the work she held, and with
+a little side shake settled herself to listen, anticipating a discourse.
+The little jackal sidled up and fawned on her feet. I had no intention,
+however, of delivering a lecture on the faith of the prophet. I saw my
+friend was embarrassed in the conversation, and I resolved, if possible, to
+interest her.</p>
+
+<p>"Among primitive people and very young persons," I continued, "marriage
+is an article of faith, a moral precept, and a social law."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_72"></a>"I suppose you are married, Mr. Griggs," she said,
+with an air of childlike simplicity.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me, Miss Westonhaugh, I neither condescend to call myself
+primitive, nor aspire to call myself young."</p>
+
+<p>She laughed. I had put a wedge into my end of the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought," said she, "from the way in which you spoke of 'primitive
+and young persons' that you considered their opinion in regard to&mdash;to this
+question, as being the natural and proper opinion of the original and
+civilised young man."</p>
+
+<p>"I repeat that I do not claim to be very civilised, or very
+young&mdash;certainly not to be very original, and my renunciation of all these
+qualifications is my excuse for the confirmed bachelorhood to which I
+adhere. Many Mohammedans are young and original; some of them are
+civilised, as you see, and all of them are married. 'There is no God but
+God, Muhammad is his prophet, and if you refuse to marry you are not
+respectable,' is their full creed."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs frowned at my profanity, but I continued&mdash;"I do not mean to say
+anything disrespectful to a creed so noble and social. I think you have
+small chance of converting Mr. Isaacs."</p>
+
+<p>"I would not attempt it," she said, laying down her work in her lap, and
+looking at me for a moment. "But since you speak of creeds, to what
+confession do you yourself belong, if I may ask?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a Roman Catholic," I answered; adding <a
+name="Page_73"></a>presently&mdash;"Really, though, I do not see how my belief
+in the papal infallibility affects my opinion of Mohammedan marriages."</p>
+
+<p>"And what <i>do</i> you think of them?" she inquired, resuming her work
+and applying herself thereto with great attention.</p>
+
+<p>"I think that, though justified in principle by the ordinary
+circumstances of Eastern life, there are cases in which the system acts
+very badly. I think that young men are often led by sheer force of example
+into marrying several wives before they have sufficiently reflected on the
+importance of what they are doing. I think that both marriage and divorce
+are too easily managed in consideration of their importance to a man's
+life, and I am convinced that no civilised man of Western education, if he
+were to adopt Islam, would take advantage of his change of faith to marry
+four wives. It is a case of theory <i>versus</i> practice, which I will not
+attempt to explain. It may often be good in logic, but it seems to me it is
+very often bad in real life."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Isaacs; "there are cases&mdash;&mdash;" He stopped, and Miss
+Westonhaugh, who had been very busy over her work, looked quietly up, only
+to find that he was profoundly interested in the horses cropping the short
+grass, as far as the saice would let them stretch their necks, on the other
+side of the lawn.</p>
+
+<p>"I confess," said Miss Westonhaugh, "that my ideas about Mohammedans are
+chiefly the result of <a name="Page_74"></a>reading the Arabian Nights,
+ever so long ago. It seems to me that they treat women as if they had no
+souls and no minds, and were incapable of doing anything rational if left
+to themselves. It is a man's religion. My uncle says so too, and he ought
+to know."</p>
+
+<p>The conversation was meandering in a kind of vicious circle. Both Isaacs
+and I were far too deeply interested in the question to care for such idle
+discussion. How could this beautiful but not very intellectual English
+girl, with her prejudices and her clumsiness at repartee or argument, ever
+comprehend or handle delicately so difficult a subject? I was disappointed
+in her. Perhaps this was natural enough, considering that with two such men
+as we she must be entirely out of her element. She was of the type of
+brilliant, healthy, northern girls, who depend more on their animal spirits
+and enjoyment of living for their happiness than upon any natural or
+acquired mental powers. With a horse, or a tennis court, or even a ball to
+amuse her, she would appear at her very best; would be at ease and do the
+right thing. But when called upon to sustain a conversation, such as that
+into which her curiosity about Isaacs had plunged her, she did not know
+what to do. She was constrained, and even some of her native grace of
+manner forsook her. Why did she avoid his eyes and resort to such a petty
+little trick as threading a needle in order to get a look at him? An
+American girl, or a French woman, would <a name="Page_75"></a>have seen
+that her strength lay in perfect frankness; that Isaacs' straightforward
+nature would make him tell her unhesitatingly anything she wanted to know
+about himself, and that her position was strong enough for her to look him
+in the face and ask him what she pleased. But she allowed herself to be
+embarrassed, and though she had been really glad to see him, and liked him
+and thought him handsome, she was beginning to wish he would go, merely
+because she did not know what to talk about, and would not give him a
+chance to choose his own subject. As neither of us were inclined to carry
+the analysis of matrimony any farther, nor to dispute the opinions of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins as quoted by his niece, there was a pause. I struck in and
+boldly changed the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to see the polo this afternoon, Miss Westonhaugh? I heard
+at the hotel that there was to be a match to-day of some interest."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, of course. I would not miss it for anything. Lord Steepleton is
+coming to tiffin, and we shall ride down together to Annandale. Of course
+you are going too; it will be a splendid thing. Do you play polo, Mr.
+Griggs? Mr. Isaacs is a great player, when he can be induced to take the
+trouble. He knows more about it than he does about tennis."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very fond of the game," I answered, "but I have no horses here,
+and with my weight it is not easy to get a mount for such rough work."</p>
+
+<p>"Do not disturb yourself on that score," said <a
+name="Page_76"></a>Isaacs; "you know my stable is always at your disposal,
+and I have a couple of ponies that would carry you well enough. Let us have
+a game one of those days, whenever we can get the ground. We will play on
+opposite sides and match the far west against the far east."</p>
+
+<p>"What fun!" cried Miss Westonhaugh, her face brightening at the idea,
+"and I will hold the stakes and bestow the crown on the victor."</p>
+
+<p>"What is to be the prize?" asked Isaacs, with a smile of pleasure. He
+was very literal and boyish sometimes.</p>
+
+<p>"That depends on which is the winner," she answered.</p>
+
+<p>There was a noise among the trees of horses' hoofs on the hard path, and
+presently we heard a voice calling loudly for a saice who seemed to be
+lagging far behind. It was a clear strong voice, and the speaker abused the
+groom's female relations to the fourth and fifth generations with
+considerable command of the Hindustani language. Miss Westonhaugh, who had
+not been in the country long, did not understand a word of the very free
+swearing that was going on in the woods, but Isaacs looked annoyed, and I
+registered a black mark against the name of the new-comer, whoever he might
+be.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! it is Lord Steepleton," said the young girl. "He seems to be always
+having a row with his servants. Don't go," she went on as I took up my hat;
+"he is such a good fellow, you ought to know him."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_77"></a>Lord Steepleton Kildare now appeared at the corner
+of the lawn, hotly pursued by his breathless groom, who had been loitering
+on the way, and had thus roused his master's indignation. He was, as I have
+said, a fine specimen of a young Englishman, though being Irish by descent
+he would have indignantly denied any such nationality. I saw when he had
+dismounted that he was tall and straight, though not a very heavily built
+man. He carried his head high, and looked every inch a soldier as he strode
+across the grass, carefully avoiding the pegs of the tennis net. He wore a
+large gray felt hat, like every one else, and he shook hands all round
+before he took it off, and settled himself in an easy chair as near as he
+could get to Miss Westonhaugh's hammock.</p>
+
+<p>"How are ye? Ah&mdash;yes, Mr. Isaacs, Mr. Griggs of Allahabad. Jolly day,
+isn't it?" and he looked vaguely at the grass. "Really, Miss Westonhaugh, I
+got in such a rage with my rascal of a saice that I did not remember I was
+so near the house. I am really very sorry I talked like that. I hope you
+did not think I was murdering him?"</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs looked annoyed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said he, "we thought Mahmoud was going to have a bad time of it.
+I believe Miss Westonhaugh does not understand Hindustani."</p>
+
+<p>A look of genuine distress came into the Englishman's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Really," said he, very simply. "You don't know how sorry I am that any
+one should have heard me. <a name="Page_78"></a>I am so hasty. But let me
+apologise to you all most sincerely for disturbing you with my brutal
+temper."</p>
+
+<p>His misdeed had not been a very serious crime after all, and there was
+something so frank and honest about his awkward little apology that I was
+charmed. The man was a gentleman. Isaacs bowed in silence, and Miss
+Westonhaugh had evidently never thought much about it.</p>
+
+<p>"We were talking about polo when you came, Lord Steepleton; Mr. Isaacs
+and Mr. Griggs are going to play a match, and I am to hold the stakes. Do
+you not want to make one in the game?"</p>
+
+<p>"May I?" said the young man, grateful to her for having helped him out.
+"May I? I should like it awfully. I so rarely get a chance of playing with
+any except the regular set here." And he looked inquiringly at us.</p>
+
+<p>"We should be delighted, of course," said Isaacs. "By the way, can you
+help us to make up the number? And when shall it be?" He seemed suddenly
+very much interested in this projected contest.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," said Kildare, "I will manage to fill up the game, and we can
+play next Monday. I know the ground is free then."</p>
+
+<p>"Very good; on Monday. We are at Laurie's on the hill."</p>
+
+<p>"I am staying with Jack Tygerbeigh, near Peterhof. Come and see us. I
+will let you know before Monday. Oh, Mr. Griggs, I saw such a nice thing
+about me in the <i>Howler</i> the other day&mdash;so many <a
+name="Page_79"></a>thanks. No, really, greatly obliged, you know; people
+say horrid things about me sometimes. Good-bye, good-bye, delighted to have
+seen you."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Miss Westonhaugh."</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning; so good of you to take pity on my solitude." She smiled
+kindly at Isaacs and civilly at me. And we went our way. As we looked back
+after mounting to lift our hats once more, I saw that Miss Westonhaugh had
+succeeded in getting out of the hammock and was tying on a pith hat, while
+Lord Steepleton had armed himself with balls and rackets from a box on the
+verandah. As we bowed they came down the steps, looking the very
+incarnation of animal life and spirits in the anticipation of the game they
+loved best. The bright autumn sun threw their figures into bold relief
+against the dark shadow of the verandah, and I thought to myself they made
+a very pretty picture. I seemed to be always seeing pictures, and my
+imagination was roused in a new direction.</p>
+
+<p>We rode away under the trees. My impression of the whole visit was
+unsatisfactory. I had thought Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would be there, and that
+I would be able to engage him in a political discussion. We could have
+talked income-tax, and cotton duties, and Kabul by the hour, and Miss
+Westonhaugh and Isaacs would have had a pleasant
+<i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te.</i> Instead of this I had been decidedly
+the unlucky third who destroys the balance of so much pleasure in life, for
+I felt that Isaacs was not a man <a name="Page_80"></a>to be embarrassed if
+left alone with a woman, or to embarrass her. He was too full of tact, and
+his sensibilities were so fine that, with his easy command of language, he
+must be agreeable <i>quand m&ecirc;me</i>; and such an opportunity would
+have given him an easy lead away from the athletic Kildare, whom I
+suspected strongly of being a rival for Miss Westonhaugh's favour. There is
+an easy air of familiar proprietorship about an Englishman in love that is
+not to be mistaken. It is a subtle thing, and expresses itself neither in
+word nor deed in its earlier stages of development; but it is there all the
+same, and the combination of this possessive mood, with a certain shyness
+which often goes with it, is amusing.</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," said Isaacs, "have you ever seen the Rajah of Baithopoor?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; you had some business with him this morning, had you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;some&mdash;business&mdash;if you call it so. If you would like to see him I
+can take you there, and I think you would be interested in the&mdash;the
+business. It is not often such gems are bought and sold in such a way, and
+besides, he is very amusing. He is at least two thousand years old, and
+will go to Saturn when he dies. His fingers are long and crooked, and that
+which he putteth into his pockets, verily he shall not take it out."</p>
+
+<p>"A pleasing picture; a good contrast to the one we have left behind us.
+I like contrasts, and I should like to see him."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall." And we lit our cheroots.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_81"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_V'></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"We will go there at four," said Isaacs, coming into my rooms after
+tiffin, a meal of which I found he rarely partook. "I said three, this
+morning, but it is not a bad plan to keep natives waiting. It makes them
+impatient, and then they commit themselves."</p>
+
+<p>"You are Machiavellian. It is pretty clear which of you is asking the
+favour."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is pretty clear." He sat down and took up the last number of
+the <i>Howler</i> which lay on the table. Presently he looked up. "Griggs,
+why do you not come to Delhi? We might start a newspaper there, you know,
+in the Conservative interest."</p>
+
+<p>"In the interest of Mr. Algernon Currie Ghyrkins?" I inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Precisely. You anticipate my thoughts with a true sympathy. I suppose
+you have no conscience?"</p>
+
+<p>"Political conscience? No, certainly not, out of my own country, which
+is the only one where that sort of thing commands a high salary. No, I have
+no conscience."</p>
+
+<p>"You would really write as willingly for the Conservatives as you do for
+the Liberals?"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_82"></a>"Oh yes. I could not write so well on the
+Conservative side just now, because they are 'in,' and it is more blessed
+to abuse than to be abused, and ever so much easier. But as far as any
+prejudice on the subject is concerned, I have none. I had as lief defend a
+party that robs India 'for her own good,' as support those who would rob
+her with a more cynical frankness and unblushingly transfer the proceeds to
+their own pockets. I do not care a rush whether they rob Peter to pay Paul,
+or fraudulently deprive Paul of his goods for the benefit of Peter."</p>
+
+<p>"That is the way to look at it. I could tell you some very pretty
+stories about that kind of thing. As for the journalistic enterprise, it is
+only a possible card to be played if the old gentleman is obdurate."</p>
+
+<p>"Isaacs," said I, "I have only known you three days, but you have taken
+me into your confidence to some extent; probably because I am not English.
+I may be of use to you, and I am sure I sincerely hope so. Meanwhile I want
+to ask you a question, if you will allow me to." I paused for an answer. We
+were standing by the open door, and Isaacs leaned back against the
+door-post, his eyes fixed on me, half closed, as he threw his head back. He
+looked at me somewhat curiously, and I thought a smile flickered round his
+mouth, as if he anticipated what the question would be.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly," he said slowly. "Ask me anything you like. I have nothing
+to conceal."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you seriously think of marrying, or proposing to marry, Miss
+Katharine Westonhaugh?"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_83"></a>"I do seriously think of proposing to marry, and
+of marrying, Miss Westonhaugh." He looked very determined as he thus
+categorically affirmed his intention. I knew he meant it, and I knew enough
+of Oriental character to understand that a man like Abdul
+Hafizben-Is&acirc;k, of strong passions, infinite wit, and immense wealth,
+was not likely to fail in anything he undertook to do. When Asiatic
+indifference gives way under the strong pressure of some master passion,
+there is no length to which the hot and impetuous temper beneath may not
+carry the man. Isaacs had evidently made up his mind. I did not think he
+could know much about the usual methods of wooing English girls, but as I
+glanced at his graceful figure, his matchless eyes, and noted for the
+hundredth time the commanding, high-bred air that was the breath of his
+character, I felt that his rival would have but a poor chance of success.
+He guessed my thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think of me?" he asked, smiling. "Will you back me for a
+place? I have advantages, you must allow&mdash;and worldly advantages too. They
+are not rich people at all."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Isaacs, I will back you to win. But as far as 'worldly
+advantages' are concerned, do not trust to wealth for a moment. Do not
+flatter yourself that there will be any kind of a bargain, as if you were
+marrying a Persian girl. There is nothing venal in that young lady's veins,
+I am sure."</p>
+
+<p>"Allah forbid! But there is something very venal <a
+name="Page_84"></a>in the veins of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins. I propose to carry
+the outworks one by one. He is her uncle, her guardian, her only relation,
+save her brother. I do not think either of those men would be sorry to see
+her married to a man of stainless name and considerable fortune."</p>
+
+<p>"You forget your three incumbrances, as you called them last night."</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;I do not forget them. It is allowed me by my religion to marry a
+fourth, and I need not tell you that she would be thenceforth my only
+wife."</p>
+
+<p>"But would her guardian and brother ever think of allowing her to take
+such a position?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? You know very well that the English in general hardly consider
+our marriages to be marriages at all&mdash;knowing the looseness of the bond.
+That is the prevailing impression."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know. But then they would consider your marriage with Miss
+Westonhaugh in the same light, which would not make matters any easier, as
+far as I can see."</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me. I should marry Miss Westonhaugh by the English marriage
+service and under English law. I should be as much bound to her, and to her
+alone, as if I were an Englishman myself."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you have evidently thought it out and taken legal advice; and
+really, as far as the technical part of it goes, I suppose you have as good
+a chance as Lord Steepleton Kildare."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs frowned, and his eyes flashed. I saw at <a
+name="Page_85"></a>once that he considered the Irish officer a rival, and a
+dangerous one. I did not think that if Isaacs had fair play and the same
+opportunities Kildare had much chance. Besides there was a difficulty in
+the way.</p>
+
+<p>"As far as religion is concerned, Lord Steepleton is not much better off
+than you, if he wants to marry Miss Westonhaugh. The Kildares have been
+Roman Catholics since the memory of man, and they are very proud of it.
+Theoretically, it is as hard for a Roman Catholic man to marry a Protestant
+woman, as for a Mussulman to wed a Christian of any denomination. Harder,
+in fact, for your marriage depends upon the consent of the lady, and his
+upon the consent of the Church. He has all sorts of difficulties to
+surmount, while you have only to get your personality accepted&mdash;which, when
+I look at you, I think might be done," I added, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Jo hoga, so hoga</i>&mdash;what will be, will be," he said; "but religion
+or no religion, I mean to do it." Then he lighted a cigarette and said,
+"Come, it is time to go and see his Saturnine majesty, the Maharajah of
+Baithopoor."</p>
+
+<p>I called for my hat and gloves.</p>
+
+<p>"By-the-bye, Griggs, you may as well put on a black coat. You know the
+old fellow is a king, after all, and you had better produce a favourable
+impression." I retired to comply with his request, and as I came back he
+turned quickly and came towards me, holding out both hands, with a very
+earnest look in his face.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_86"></a>"Griggs, I care for that lady more than I can tell
+you," he said, taking my hands in his.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, I am sure you do. People do not go suddenly into
+trances at a name that is indifferent to them. I am sure you love her very
+honestly and dearly."</p>
+
+<p>"You and she have come into my life almost together, for it was not
+until I talked with you last night that I made up my mind. Will you help
+me? I have not a friend in the world." The simple, boyish look was in his
+eyes, and he stood holding my hands and waiting for my answer. I was so
+fascinated that I would have then and there gone through fire and water for
+him, as I would now.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I will help you. I will be a friend to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you. I believe you." He dropped my hands, and we turned and went
+out, silent.</p>
+
+<p>In all my wanderings I had never promised any man my friendship and
+unconditional support before. There was something about Isaacs that
+overcame and utterly swept away preconceived ideas, rules, and prejudices.
+It was but the third day of our acquaintance, and here was I swearing
+eternal friendship like a school-girl; promising to help a man, of whose
+very existence I knew nothing three days ago, to marry a woman whom I had
+seen for the first time yesterday. But I resolved that, having pledged
+myself, I would do my part with my might, whatever that part might be.
+Meanwhile we rode along, and <a name="Page_87"></a>Isaacs began to talk
+about the visit we were going to make.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," he said, "that you had better know something about this
+matter beforehand. The way is long, and we cannot ride fast over the steep
+roads, so there is plenty of time. Do not imagine that I have idly asked
+you to go with me because I supposed it would amuse you. Dismiss also from
+your mind the impression that it is a question of buying and selling
+jewels. It is a very serious matter, and if you would prefer to have
+nothing to do with it, do not hesitate to say so. I promised the maharajah
+this morning that I would bring, this afternoon, a reliable person of
+experience, who could give advice, and who might be induced to give his
+assistance as well as his counsel. I have not known you long, but I know
+you by reputation, and I decided to bring you, if you would come. From the
+very nature of the case I can tell you nothing more, unless you consent to
+go with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I will go," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"In that case I will try and explain the situation in as few words as
+possible. The maharajah is in a tight place. You will readily understand
+that the present difficulties in Kabul cause him endless anxiety,
+considering the position of his dominions. The unexpected turn of events,
+following now so rapidly on each other since the English wantonly
+sacrificed Cavagnari and his friends to a vainglorious love of bravado, has
+shaken the confidence of the <a name="Page_88"></a>native princes in the
+stability of English rule. They are frightened out of their senses, having
+the fear of the tribes before them if the English should be worsted; and
+they dread, on the other hand, lest the English, finding themselves in
+great straits, should levy heavy contributions on them&mdash;the native
+princes&mdash;for the consolidation of what they term the 'Empire.' They have
+not much sense, these poor old kings and boy princes, or they would see
+that the English do not dare to try any of those old-fashioned Clive
+tactics now. But old Baithopoor has heard all about the King of Oude, and
+thinks he may share the same fate."</p>
+
+<p>"I think he may make his mind easy on that score. The kingdom of
+Baithopoor is too inconveniently situated and too full of mosquitoes to
+attract the English. Besides, there are more roses than rubies there just
+now."</p>
+
+<p>"True, and that question interests me closely, for the old man owes me a
+great deal of money. It was I who pulled him through the last famine."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a very profitable investment, I should think. Shall you ever see a
+rupee of that money again?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he will pay me; though I did not think so a week ago, or indeed
+yesterday. I lent him the means of feeding his people and saving many of
+them from actual death by starvation, because there are so many Mussulmans
+among them, though the maharajah is a Hindoo. As for him, he might starve
+to-morrow, the infidel hound; I would not give him a <a
+name="Page_89"></a><i>chowpatti</i> or a mouthful of <i>dal</i> to keep his
+wretched old body alive."</p>
+
+<p>"Do I understand that this interview relates to the repayment of the
+moneys you have advanced?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; though that is not the most interesting part of it. He wanted to
+pay me in flesh&mdash;human flesh, and he offered to make me a king into the
+bargain, if I would forgive him the debt. The latter part of the proposal
+was purely visionary. The promise to pay in so much humanity he is able to
+perform. I have not made up my mind."</p>
+
+<p>I looked at Isaacs in utter astonishment. What in the world could he
+mean? Had the maharajah offered him some more wives&mdash;creatures of peerless
+beauty and immense value? No; I knew he would not hesitate now to refuse
+such a proposition.</p>
+
+<p>"Will you please to explain what you mean by his paying you in man?" I
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>"In two words. The Maharajah of Baithopoor has in his possession a man.
+Safely stowed away under a triple watch and carefully tended, this man
+awaits his fate as the maharajah may decide. The English Government would
+pay an enormous sum for this man, but Baithopoor fears that they would ask
+awkward questions, and perhaps not believe the answers he would give them.
+So, as he owes me a good deal, he thinks I might be induced to take his
+prisoner and realise him, so to speak; thus cancelling the debt, and saving
+him from the alternative of putting the man to death privately, or of going
+through dangerous <a name="Page_90"></a>negotiations with the Government.
+Now this thing is perfectly feasible, and it depends upon me to say 'yes'
+or 'no' to the proposition. Do you see now? It is a serious matter
+enough."</p>
+
+<p>"But the man&mdash;who is he? Why do the English want him so much?"</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs pressed his horse close to mine, and looking round to see that
+the saice was a long way behind, he put his hand on my shoulder, and,
+leaning out of the saddle till his mouth almost touched my ear, he
+whispered quickly&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Shere Ali."</p>
+
+<p>"The devil, you say!" I ejaculated, surprised out of grammar and decorum
+by the startling news. Persons who were in India in 1879 will not have
+forgotten the endless speculation caused by the disappearance of the Emir
+of Afghanistan, Shere Ali, in the spring of that year. Defeated by the
+English at Ali Musjid and Peiwar, and believing his cause lost, he fled, no
+one knew whither; though there is reason to think that he might have
+returned to power and popularity among the Afghan tribes if he had
+presented himself after the murder of Cavagnari.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," continued Isaacs, "he has been a prisoner in the palace of
+Baithopoor for six weeks, and not a soul save the maharajah and you and I
+know it. He came to Baithopoor, humbly disguised as a Yogi from the hills,
+though he is a Mussulman, and having obtained a private hearing, disclosed
+his real name, proposing to the sovereign a joint movement on <a
+name="Page_91"></a>Kabul, then just pacified by the British, and promising
+all manner of things for the assistance. Old Baitho, who is no fool,
+clapped him into prison under a guard of Punjabi soldiers who could not
+speak a word of Afghan, and after due consideration packed up his traps and
+betook himself to Simla by short stages, for the journey is not an easy one
+for a man of his years. He arrived the day before yesterday, and has
+ostensibly come to congratulate the Viceroy on the success of the British
+arms. He has had to modify the enthusiasm of his proposed address, in
+consequence of the bad news from Kabul. Of course, his first move was to
+send for me, and I had a long interview this morning, in which he explained
+everything. I told him that I would not move in the matter without a third
+person&mdash;necessary as a witness when dealing with such people&mdash;and I have
+brought you."</p>
+
+<p>"But what was his proposal to invest you with a crown? Did he think you
+were a likely person for a new Emir of Kabul?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. My faith, and above all, my wealth, suggested to him that I,
+as a born Persian, might be the very man for the vacant throne. No doubt,
+the English would be delighted to have me there. But the whole thing is
+visionary and ridiculous. I think I shall accept the other proposition, and
+take the prisoner. It is a good bargain."</p>
+
+<p>I was silent. The intimate way in which I had seen Isaacs hitherto had
+made me forget his immense <a name="Page_92"></a>wealth and his power. I
+had not realised that he could be so closely connected with intrigues of
+such importance as this, or that independant native princes were likely to
+look upon him as a possible Emir of Afghanistan. I had nothing to say, and
+I determined to keep to the part I was brought to perform, which was that
+of a witness, and nothing more. If my advice were asked, I would speak
+boldly for Shere Ali's liberation and protest against the poor man being
+bought and sold in this way. This train of thought reminded me of Isaacs'
+words when we left Miss Westonhaugh that morning. "It is not often," he had
+said, "that you see such jewels bought and sold." No, indeed!</p>
+
+<p>"You see," said Isaacs, as we neared our destination, "Baithopoor is in
+my power, body and soul, for a word from me would expose him to the British
+Government as 'harbouring traitors,' as they would express it. On the other
+hand, the fact that you, the third party, are a journalist, and could at a
+moment's notice give publicity to the whole thing, will be an additional
+safeguard. I have him as in a vice. And now put on your most formal manners
+and look as if you were impenetrable as the rock and unbending as cast
+iron, for we have reached his bungalow."</p>
+
+<p>I could not but admire the perfect calm and caution with which he was
+conducting an affair involving millions of money, a possible indictment for
+high treason, and the key-note of the Afghan question, <a
+name="Page_93"></a>while I knew that his whole soul was absorbed in the
+contemplation of a beautiful picture ever before him, sleeping or waking.
+Whatever I might think of his bargaining for the possession of Shere Ali,
+he had a great, even untiring, intellect. He had the elements of a leader
+of men, and I fondly hoped he might be a ruler some day.</p>
+
+<p>The bungalow in which the Maharajah of Baithopoor had taken up his
+residence during his visit was very much like all the rest of the houses I
+saw in Simla. The verandah, however, was crowded with servants and sowars
+in gorgeous but rather tawdry liveries, not all of them as clean as they
+should have been. Horses with elaborate high saddles and embroidered
+trappings rather the worse for wear were being led up and down the walk. As
+we neared the door there was a strong smell of rosewater and native
+perfumes and hookah tobacco&mdash;the indescribable odour of Eastern high life.
+There was also a general air of wasteful and tawdry dowdiness, if I may
+coin such a word, which one constantly sees in the retinues of native
+princes and rich native merchants, ill contrasting with the great intrinsic
+value of some of the ornaments worn by the chief officers of the train.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs spoke a few words in a low voice to the jemadar at the door, and
+we were admitted into a small room in the side of the house, opening, as
+all rooms do in India, on to the verandah. There were low wooden charpoys
+around the walls, and we sat <a name="Page_94"></a>down, waiting till the
+maharajah should be advised of our arrival. Very soon a jemadar came in and
+informed us that "if the <i>sahib log</i>, who were the protectors of the
+poor, would deign to be led by him," we should be shown into the royal
+presence. So we rose and followed the obsequious official into another
+apartment.</p>
+
+<p>The room where the maharajah awaited us was even smaller than the one
+into which we had been first shown. It was on the back of the house, and
+only half lighted by the few rays of afternoon sun that struggled through
+the dense foliage outside. I suppose this apartment had been chosen as the
+scene of the interview on account of its seclusion. Outside the window,
+which was closed, a sowar paced slowly up and down to keep away any curious
+listeners. A heavy curtain hung before the door through which we had
+entered. I thought that on the whole the place seemed pretty safe.</p>
+
+<p>The old maharajah sat cross-legged upon a great pile of dark-red
+cushions, his slippers by his side, and a huge hookah before him. He wore a
+plain white pugree with a large jewel set on one side, and his body was
+swathed and wrapped in dark thick stuffs, as if he felt keenly the cold
+autumn air. His face was long, of an ashy yellowish colour, and an immense
+white moustache hung curling down over his sombre robe. One hand protruded
+from the folds and held the richly-jewelled mouthpiece of the pipe to his
+lips, and I noticed that the fingers were long <a name="Page_95"></a>and
+crooked, winding themselves curiously round the gold stem, as if revelling
+in the touch of the precious metal and the gems. As we came within his
+range of vision, his dark eyes shot a quick glance of scrutiny at me and
+then dropped again. Not a movement of the head or body betrayed a
+consciousness of our presence. Isaacs made a long salutation in Hindustani,
+and I followed his example, but he did not take off his shoes or make
+anything more than an ordinary bow. It was quite evident that he was master
+of the situation. The old man took the pipe from his mouth and replied in a
+deep hollow voice that he was glad to see us, and that, in consideration of
+our wealth, fame, and renowned wisdom, he would waive all ceremony and beg
+us to be seated. We sat down cross-legged on cushions before him, and as
+near as we could get, so that it seemed as if we three were performing some
+sacred rite of which the object was the tall hookah that stood in the
+centre of our triangle.</p>
+
+<p>Being seated, Isaacs addressed the prince, still in Hindustani, and said
+that the splendour of his sublime majesty, which was like the sun
+dispelling the clouds, so overcame him with fear and trembling, that he
+humbly implored permission to make use of the Persian tongue, which, he was
+aware, the lord of boundless wisdom spoke with even greater ease than
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>Without waiting for an answer, and with no perceptible manifestation of
+any such "fear and trembling" <a name="Page_96"></a>as he professed, Isaacs
+at once began to speak in his native tongue, and dropping all forms of
+ceremony or circumlocution plunged boldly into business. He did not
+hesitate to explain to the maharajah the strength of his position, dwelling
+on the fact that, by a word to the English of the whereabouts of Shere Ali,
+he could plunge Baithopoor into hopeless and endless entanglements, to
+which there could be but one issue&mdash;absorption into the British R&acirc;j.
+He dwelt on the large sums the maharajah owed him for assistance lent
+during the late famine, and he skilfully produced the impression that he
+wanted the money down, then and there.</p>
+
+<p>"If your majesty should refuse to satisfy my just claims, I have ample
+weapons by which to satisfy them for myself, and no considerations of mercy
+or pity for your majesty will tempt me to abate one rupee in the account of
+your indebtedness, which, as you well know, is not swelled by any usurious
+interest. You could not have borrowed the money on such easy terms from any
+bank in India or England, and if I have been merciful hitherto, I will be
+so no longer. What saith the Apostle of Allah? 'Verily, life for life, and
+eye for eye, and nose for nose, and ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and
+for wounding retaliation.' And the time of your promise is expired and you
+shall pay me. And is not the wise Frank, who sitteth at my right hand, the
+ready writer, who giveth to the public every day a new book to read, the
+paper of news, <i>Khabar-i-Khagaz</i> wherein are written the <a
+name="Page_97"></a>misdeeds of the wicked, and the dealings of the
+fraudulent and the unwary receive their just reward? And think you he will
+not make a great writing, several columns in length, and deliver it to the
+devils that perform his bidding, and shall they not multiply what he hath
+written, and sow it broadcast over the British R&acirc;j for the minor
+consideration of one anna a copy, that all shall see how the Maharajah of
+Baithopoor doth scandalously repudiate his debts, and harbour traitors to
+the R&acirc;j in his palace?"</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs said all this in a solemn and impressive manner, calculated to
+inspire awe and terror in the soul of the unhappy debtor. As for the
+maharajah, the cold sweat stood on his face, and at the last words his
+anxiety was so great that the long fingers uncurled spasmodically and the
+jewelled mouthpiece fell back, as the head of a snake, among the silken
+coils of the tube at his feet. Instantly, on feeling the grasping hand
+empty, his majesty, with more alacrity than I would have expected, darted
+forward with outstretched claws, as a hawk on his prey, and seizing the
+glittering thing returned it to his lips with a look of evident relief. It
+was habit, of course, for we were not exactly the men to plunder him of his
+toy, but there was a fierceness about the whole action that spoke of the
+real miser. Then there was silence for a moment. The old man was evidently
+greatly impressed by the perils of his situation. Isaacs continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Your majesty well perceives that you have surrounded <a
+name="Page_98"></a>yourself with dangers on all sides. No danger threatens
+me. I could buy you and Baithopoor to-morrow if I chose. But I am a just
+man. When the prophet, whose name be blessed, saith that we shall have eye
+for eye, and nose for nose, and for wounding retaliation, he saith also
+that 'he that remitteth the same as alms it shall be an atonement unto
+him.' Now your majesty is a hard man, and I well know that if I force you
+to pay me now you will cruelly tax and oppress your subjects to refill your
+coffers. And many of your subjects are true believers, following the
+prophet, upon whom be peace; and it is also written 'Thou shalt rob a
+stranger, but thou shalt not rob a brother,'&mdash;and if I cause you to rob my
+brethren is not the sin mine, and the atonement thereof? Now also has the
+lawful interest on your bond mounted up to several lakhs of rupees. But for
+the sake of my brethren who are in bondage to you, who are an unbeliever
+and shall broil everlastingly in raging flames, I will yet make a covenant
+with you, and the agreement thereof shall be this:</p>
+
+<p>"You shall deliver into my hand, before the dark half of the next moon,
+the man"&mdash;Isaacs lowered his voice to a whisper, barely audible in the
+still room, where the only sound heard as he paused was the tread of the
+sowar on the verandah outside&mdash; "the man Shere Ali, formerly Emir of
+Afghanistan, now hidden in your palace of Baithopoor. Him you shall give to
+me safe and untouched at the place <a name="Page_99"></a>which I shall
+choose, northwards from here, in the pass towards Keitung. And there shall
+not be an hair of his head touched, and if it is good in my eyes I will
+give him up to the British; and if it is good in my eyes, I will slay him,
+and you shall ask no questions. And if you refuse to do this I will go to
+the great lord sahib and tell him of your doings, and you will be arrested
+before this night and shall not escape. But if you consent and put your
+hand to this agreement, I will speak no word, and you shall depart in
+peace; and moreover, for the sake of the true believers in your kingdom I
+will remit to you the whole of the interest on your debt; and the bond you
+shall pay at your convenience. I have spoken, do you answer me." Isaacs
+calmly took from his pocket two rolls covered with Persian writing, and
+lighting a cigarette, proceeded to peruse them carefully, to detect any
+flaw or error in their composition. The face of the old maharajah betrayed
+great emotion, but he bravely pulled away at his hookah and tried to think
+over the situation. In the hope of delivering himself from his whole debt
+he had rashly given himself into the hands of a man who hated him, though
+he had discovered that hatred too late. He had flattered himself that the
+loan had been made out of friendly feeling and a desire for his interest
+and support; he found that Isaacs had lent the money, for real or imaginary
+religious motives, in the interest of his co-religionists. I sat silently
+watching the varying passions as they swept over the <a
+name="Page_100"></a>repulsive face of the old man. The silence must have
+lasted a quarter of an hour.</p>
+
+<p>"Give me the covenant," he said at last, "for I am in the tiger's
+clutches. I will sign it, since I must. But it shall be requited to you,
+Abdul Hafiz; and when your body has been eaten of jackals and wild pigs in
+the forest, your soul shall enter into the shape of a despised sweeper, and
+you and your off-spring shall scavenge the streets of the cities of my
+kingdom and of the kingdom of my son, and son's son, to ten thousand
+generations." A Hindoo cannot express scorn more deadly or hate more
+lasting than this. Isaacs smiled, but there was a concentrated look in his
+face, relentless and hard, as he answered the insult.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not going to bandy words with you. But if you are not quick about
+signing that paper I may change my mind, and send for the Angrezi sowars
+from Peterhof. So you had better hurry yourself." Isaacs produced a small
+inkhorn and a reed pen from his pocket. "Sign," he said, rising to his feet
+"before that soldier outside passes the window three times, or I will
+deliver you to the British."</p>
+
+<p>Trembling in every joint, and the perspiration standing on his face like
+beads, the old man seized the pen and traced his name and titles at the
+foot, first of one copy, and then of the other. Isaacs followed, writing
+his full name in the Persian character, and I signed my name last, "Paul
+Griggs," in large letters at the bottom of each roll, adding the <a
+name="Page_101"></a>word "witness," in case of the transaction becoming
+known.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," said Isaacs to the maharajah, "despatch at once a messenger,
+and let the man here mentioned be brought under a strong guard and by
+circuitous roads to the pass of Keitung, and let them there encamp before
+the third week from to-day, when the moon is at the full. And I will be
+there and will receive the man. And woe to you if he come not; and woe to
+you if you oppress the true believers in your realm." He turned on his
+heel, and I followed him out of the room after making a brief salutation to
+the old man, cowering among his cushions, a ceremony which Isaacs omitted,
+whether intentionally or from forgetfulness, I could not say. We passed
+through the house out into the air, and mounting our horses rode away,
+leaving the double row of servants salaaming to the ground. The duration of
+our private interview with the maharajah had given them an immense idea of
+our importance. We had come at four and it was now nearly five. The long
+pauses and the Persian circumlocutions had occupied a good deal of
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"You do not seem to have needed my counsel or assistance much," I said.
+"With such an armoury of weapons you could manage half-a-dozen
+maharajahs."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;perhaps so. But I have strong reasons for wishing this affair
+quickly over, and the editor of a daily paper is a thing of terror to a
+native prince; you must have seen that."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_102"></a>"What do you mean to do with your man when he is
+safely in your hands, if it is not an indiscreet question?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do with him?" asked Isaacs with some astonishment. "Is it possible you
+have not guessed? He is a brave man, and a true believer. I will give him
+money and letters, that he may make his way to Baghdad, or wherever he will
+be safe. He shall depart in peace, and be as free as air."</p>
+
+<p>I had half suspected my friend of some such generous intention, but he
+had played his part of unrelenting hardness so well in our late interview
+with the Hindoo prince that it seemed incomprehensible that a man should be
+so pitiless and so kind on the same day. There was not a trace of hardness
+on his beautiful features now, and as we rounded the hill and caught the
+last beams of the sun, now sinking behind the mountains, his face seemed
+transfigured as with a glory, and I could hardly bear to look at him. He
+held his hat in his hand and faced the west for an instant, as though
+thanking the declining day for its freshness and beauty; and I thought to
+myself that the sun was lucky to see such an exquisite picture before he
+bid Simla good-night, and that he should shine the brighter for it the next
+day, since he would look on nothing fairer in his twelve hours' wandering
+over the other half of creation.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," said he, "it is late, but if we ride towards Annandale we may
+meet them coming back <a name="Page_103"></a>from the polo match we have
+missed." His eyes glowed at the thought. Shere Ali, the maharajah, bonds,
+principal, and interest, were all forgotten in the anticipation of a brief
+meeting with the woman he loved.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_104"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_VI'></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Why did you not come and see the game? After all your enthusiasm about
+polo this morning, I did not think you would miss anything so good," were
+the first words of Miss Westonhaugh as we met her and Kildare in the narrow
+path that leads down to Annandale. Two men were riding behind them, who
+proved to be Mr. Currie Ghyrkins and Mr. John Westonhaugh. The latter was
+duly introduced to us; a quiet, spare man, with his sister's features, but
+without a trace of her superb colour and animal spirits. He had the real
+Bombay paleness, and had been steamed to the bone through the rains. As we
+were introduced, Isaacs started and said quickly that he believed he had
+met Mr. Westonhaugh before.</p>
+
+<p>"It is possible, quite possible," said that gentleman affably,
+"especially if you ever go to Bombay."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;it was in Bombay&mdash;some twelve years ago. You have probably
+forgotten me."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes. I was young and green then. I wonder you remember me." He did
+not show any very lively interest in the matter, though he smiled
+pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Westonhaugh must have been teasing Lord <a
+name="Page_105"></a>Steepleton, for he looked flushed and annoyed, and she
+was in capital spirits. We turned to go back with the party, and by a turn
+of the wrist Isaacs wheeled his horse to the side of Miss Westonhaugh's, a
+position he did not again abandon. They were leading, and I resolved they
+should have a chance, as the path was not broad enough for more than two to
+ride abreast. So I furtively excited my horse by a touch of the heel and a
+quick strain on the curb, throwing him across the road, and thus producing
+a momentary delay, of which the two riders in front took advantage to
+increase their distance. Then we fell in, Mr. Ghyrkins and I in front,
+while the dejected Kildare rode behind with Mr. John Westonhaugh. Ghyrkins
+and I, being heavy men, heavily mounted, controlled the situation, and
+before long Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were a couple of hundred yards
+ahead, and we only caught occasional glimpses of them through the trees as
+they wound in and out along the path.</p>
+
+<p>"What are those youngsters talking about, back there? Tigers, I'll be
+bound," said Mr. Ghyrkins to me. Sure enough, they were.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suppose I found when we got back this afternoon, Mr.
+Griggs? Why, this hair-brained young Kildare has been proposing to my
+niece&mdash;&mdash;" his horse stumbled, but recovered himself in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean it," said I, rather startled.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, no, no. I don't mean that at all. Ha! <a name="Page_106"></a>ha!
+ha! very good, very good. No, no. Lord Steepleton wants us all to go on a
+tiger-hunt to amuse John, and he proposes&mdash;ha! ha!&mdash;really too funny of
+me&mdash;that Miss Westonhaugh should go with us."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you have no objection, Mr. Ghyrkins? Ladies constantly go on
+such expeditions, and they do not appear to be the least in the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Objections? Of course I have objections. Do you suppose I want to drag
+my niece to a premature grave? Think of the fever and the rough living and
+all, and she only just out from England."</p>
+
+<p>"She looks as if she could stand anything," I said, as just then an open
+space in the trees gave us a glimpse of Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs ambling
+along and apparently in earnest conversation. She certainly looked strong
+enough to go tiger-hunting that minute, as she sat erect but half turned to
+the off side, listening to what Isaacs seemed to be saying.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you will not go and tell her so," said Ghyrkins. "If she gets an
+idea that the thing is possible, there will be no holding her. You don't
+know her. I hardly know her myself. Never saw her since she was a baby till
+the other day. Now you are the sort of person to go after tigers. Why do
+you not go off with my nephew and Mr. Isaacs and Kildare, and kill as many
+of them as you like?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have no objection, I am sure. I suppose the <i>Howler</i> could spare
+me for a fortnight, now that I have converted the Press Commissioner, your
+new <a name="Page_107"></a><i>deus ex machina</i> for the obstruction of
+news. What a motley party we should be. Let me see.&mdash;a Bombay Civil
+Servant, an Irish nobleman, a Persian millionaire, and a Yankee newspaper
+man. By Jove! add to that a famous Revenue Commissioner and a reigning
+beauty, and the sextett is complete." Mr. Ghyrkins looked pleased at the
+gross flattery of himself. I recollected suddenly that, though he was far
+from famous as a revenue commissioner, I had read of some good shooting he
+had done in his younger days. Here was a chance.</p>
+
+<p>"Besides, Mr. Ghyrkins, a tiger-hunting party would not be the thing
+without some seasoned Nimrod to advise and direct us. Who so fitted for the
+post as the man of many a chase, the companion of Maori, the slayer of the
+twelve foot tiger in the Nepaul hills in 1861?"</p>
+
+<p>"You have a good memory, Mr. Griggs," said the old fellow, perfectly
+delighted, and now fairly launched on his favourite topic. "By Gad, sir, if
+I thought I should get such another chance I would go with you
+to-morrow!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why not? there are lots of big man-eaters about," and I incontinently
+reeled off half a page of statistics, more or less accurate, about the
+number of persons destroyed by snakes and wild beasts in the last year. "Of
+course most of those deaths were from tigers, and it is a really good
+action to kill a few. Many people can see tigers but cannot shoot them,
+whereas your deeds of death amongst them <a name="Page_108"></a>ate a
+matter of history. You really ought to be philanthropic, Mr. Ghyrkins, and
+go with us. We might stand a chance of seeing some real sport then."</p>
+
+<p>"Why, really, now that you make me think of it, I believe I should like
+it amazingly, and I could leave my niece with Lady&mdash;Lady&mdash;Stick-in-the-mud;
+what the deuce is her name? The wife of the Chief Justice, you know. You
+ought to know, really&mdash;I never remember names much;" he jerked out his
+sentences irately.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, Lady Smith-Tompkins, you mean. Yes, you might do that&mdash;that
+is, if Miss Westonhaugh has had the measles, and is not afraid of them. I
+heard this morning that three of the little Smith-Tompkinses had them quite
+badly."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't say so! Well, well, we shall find some one else, no
+doubt."</p>
+
+<p>I was certain that at that very moment Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were
+planning the whole expedition, and so I returned to the question of sport
+and inquired where we should go. This led to considerable discussion, and
+before we arrived at Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow&mdash;still in the same order&mdash;it
+was very clear that the old sportsman had made up his mind to kill one more
+tiger at all events; and that, rather than forego the enjoyment of the
+chase, he would be willing to take his niece with him. As for the direction
+of the expedition, that could be decided in a day or two. It was not the
+best season for tigers&mdash;the early spring is better&mdash;but they are <a
+name="Page_109"></a>always to be found in the forests of the Terai, the
+country along the base of the hills, north of Oude.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached the house it was quite dark, for we had ridden slowly.
+The light from the open door, falling across the verandah, showed us Miss
+Westonhaugh seated in a huge chair, and Isaacs standing by her side
+slightly bending, and holding his hat in his hand. They were still talking,
+but as we rode up to the lawn and shouted for the saices, Isaacs stood up
+and looked across towards us, and their voices ceased. It was evident that
+he had succeeded in thoroughly interesting her, for I thought&mdash;though it
+was some distance, and the light on them was not strong&mdash;that as he
+straightened himself and stopped speaking, she looked up to his face as if
+regretting that he did not go on. I dismounted with the rest and walked up
+to bid Miss Westonhaugh good-night.</p>
+
+<p>"You must come and dine to-morrow night," said Mr. Ghyrkins, "and we
+will arrange all about it. Sharp seven. To-morrow is Sunday, you know.
+Kildare, you must come too, if you mean business. Seven. We must look sharp
+and start, if we mean to come back here before the Viceroy goes."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh in that case," said Kildare, turning to me, "we can settle all about
+the polo match for Monday, can't we?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, very good of you to take the trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of it. Good-night." We bowed and went back to find our horses
+in the gloom. After <a name="Page_110"></a>some fumbling, for it was
+intensely dark after facing the light in the doorway of the bungalow, we
+got into the saddle and turned homeward through the trees.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Griggs," said Isaacs. "May your feet never weary, and your
+shadow never be less."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't mention it, and thanks about the shadow. Only it is never likely
+to be less than at the present moment. How dark it is, to be sure!" I knew
+well enough what he was thanking me for. I lit a cheroot.</p>
+
+<p>"Isaacs," I said, "you are a pretty cool hand, upon my word."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, indeed! Here you and Miss Westonhaugh have been calmly planning an
+extensive tiger-hunt, when you have promised to be in the neighbourhood of
+Keitung in three weeks, wherever that may be. I suppose it is in the
+opposite direction from here, for you will not find any tigers nearer than
+the Terai at this time of year."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not see the difficulty," he answered. "We can be in Oude in two
+days from here; shoot tigers for ten days, and be here again in two days
+more. That is just a fortnight. It will not take me a week to reach
+Keitung. I am much mistaken if I do not get there in three days. I shall
+lay a <i>d&acirc;k</i> by messengers before I go to Oude, and between a
+double set of coolies and lots of ponies wherever the roads are good
+enough, I shall be at the place of meeting soon enough, never fear."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_111"></a>"Oh, very well; but I hardly think Ghyrkins will
+want to return under three weeks; and&mdash;I did not think you would want to
+leave the party." He had evidently planned the whole three weeks' business
+carefully. I did not continue the conversation. He was naturally absorbed
+in the arrangement of his numerous schemes&mdash;no easy matter, when affairs of
+magnitude have to be ordered to suit the exigencies of a <i>grande
+passion</i>. I shrank from intruding on his reflections, and I had quite
+enough to do in keeping my horse on his feet in the thick darkness.
+Suddenly he reared violently, and then stood still, quivering in every
+limb. Isaacs' horse plunged and snorted by my side, and cannoned heavily
+against me. Then all was quiet. I could see nothing. Presently a voice, low
+and musical, broke on the darkness, and I thought I could distinguish a
+tall figure on foot at Isaacs' knee. Whoever the man was he must be on the
+other side of my companion, but I made out a head from which the voice
+proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>"Peace, Abdul Hafiz!" it said.</p>
+
+<p>"Aleikum Salaam, Ram Lal!" answered Isaacs. He must have recognised the
+man by his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Abdul," continued the stranger, speaking Persian. "I have business with
+thee this night; thou art going home. If it is thy pleasure I will be with
+thee in two hours in thy dwelling."</p>
+
+<p>"Thy pleasure is my pleasure. Be it so." I thought the head
+disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Be it so," the voice echoed, growing faint, as if <a
+name="Page_112"></a>moving rapidly away from us. The horses, momentarily
+startled by the unexpected pedestrian, regained their equanimity. I confess
+the incident gave me a curiously unpleasant sensation. It was so very odd
+that a man on foot&mdash;a Persian, I judged, by his accent&mdash;should know of my
+companion's whereabouts, and that they should recognise each other by their
+voices. I recollected that our coming to Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow was wholly
+unpremeditated, and I was sure Isaacs had spoken to none but our party&mdash;not
+even to his saice&mdash;since our meeting with the Westonhaughs on the Annandale
+road an hour and a half before.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what he wants," said my friend, apparently soliloquising.</p>
+
+<p>"He seems to know where to find you, at all events," I answered. "He
+must have second sight to know you had been to Carisbrooke."</p>
+
+<p>"He has. He is a very singular personage altogether. However, he has
+done me more than one service before now, and though I do not comprehend
+his method of arriving at conclusions, still less his mode of locomotion, I
+am always glad of his advice."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is he? Is he a Persian?&mdash;you called him by an Indian name, but
+that may be a disguise&mdash;is he a wise man from Iran?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is a very wise man, but not from Iran. No. He is a Brahmin by birth,
+a Buddhist by adopted religion, and he calls himself an 'adept' by
+profession, I suppose, if he can be said to have any. He <a
+name="Page_113"></a>comes and goes unexpectedly, with amazing rapidity. His
+visits are brief, but he always seems to be perfectly conversant with the
+matter in hand, whatever it be. He will come to-night and give me about
+twenty words of advice, which I may follow or may not, as my judgment
+dictates; and before I have answered or recovered from my surprise, he will
+have vanished, apparently into space; for if I ask my servants where he is
+gone they will stare at me as if I were crazy, until I show them that the
+room is empty, and accuse them of going to sleep instead of seeing who goes
+in and out of my apartment. He speaks more languages than I do, and better.
+He once told me he was educated in Edinburgh, and his perfect knowledge of
+European affairs and of European topics leads me to think he must have been
+there a long time. Have you ever looked into the higher phases of Buddhism?
+It is a very interesting study."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have read something about it. Indeed I have read a good deal,
+and have thought more. The subject is full of interest, as you say. If I
+had been an Asiatic by birth, I am sure I should have sought to attain
+<i>moksha</i>, even if it required a lifetime to pass through all the
+degrees of initiation. There is something so rational about their theories,
+disclaiming, as they do, all supernatural power; and, at the same time,
+there is something so pure and high in their conception of life, in their
+ideas about the ideal, if you will allow me the expression, that I do <a
+name="Page_114"></a>not wonder Edwin Arnold has set our American
+transcendentalists and Unitarians and freethinkers speculating about it
+all, and wondering whether the East may not have had men as great as
+Emerson and Channing among its teachers." I paused. My greatest fault is
+that if any one starts me upon a subject I know anything about, I
+immediately become didactic. So I paused and reflected that Isaacs, being,
+as he himself declared, frequently in the society of an "adept" of a high
+class, was sure to know a great deal more than I.</p>
+
+<p>"I too," he said, "have been greatly struck, and sometimes almost
+converted, by the beauty of the higher Buddhist thoughts. As for their
+apparently supernatural powers and what they do with them, I care nothing
+about phenomena of that description. We live in a land where marvels are
+common enough. Who has ever explained the mango trick, or the basket trick,
+or the man who throws a rope up into the air and then climbs up it and
+takes the rope after him, disappearing into blue space? And yet you have
+seen those things&mdash;I have seen them, every one has seen them,&mdash;and the
+performers claim no supernatural agency or assistance. It is merely a
+difference of degree, whether you make a mango grow from the seed to the
+tree in half an hour, or whether you transport yourself ten thousand miles
+in as many seconds, passing through walls of brick and stone on your way,
+and astonishing some ordinary mortal by showing that you know all about his
+affairs. I see <a name="Page_115"></a>no essential difference between the
+two 'phenomena,' as the newspapers call them, since Madame Blavatsky has
+set them all by the ears in this country. It is just the difference in the
+amount of power brought to bear on the action. That is all. I have seen, in
+a workshop in Calcutta, a hammer that would crack an eggshell without
+crushing it, or bruise a lump of iron as big as your head into a flat cake.
+'Phenomena' may amuse women and children, but the real beauty of the system
+lies in the promised attainment of happiness. Whether that state of supreme
+freedom from earthly care gives the fortunate initiate the power of
+projecting himself to the antipodes by a mere act of volition, or of
+condensing the astral fluid into articles of daily use, or of stimulating
+the vital forces of nature to an abnormal activity, is to me a matter of
+supreme indifference. I am tolerably happy in my own way as things are. I
+should not be a whit happier if I were able to go off after dinner and take
+a part in American politics for a few hours, returning to business here
+to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"That is an extreme case," I said. "No man in his senses ever connects
+the idea of happiness with American politics."</p>
+
+<p>"Of one thing I am sure, though." He paused as if choosing his words. "I
+am sure of this. If any unforeseen event, whether an act of folly of my
+own, or the hand of Allah, who is wise, should destroy the peace of mind I
+have enjoyed for ten years, with very trifling interruption,&mdash;if anything
+should occur <a name="Page_116"></a>to make me permanently unhappy, beyond
+the possibility of ordinary consolation,&mdash;I should seek comfort in the
+study of the pure doctrines of the higher Buddhists. The pursuit of a
+happiness, so immeasurably beyond all earthly considerations of bodily
+comfort or of physical enjoyment, can surely not be inconsistent with my
+religion&mdash;or with yours."</p>
+
+<p>"No indeed," said I. "But, considering that you are the strictest of
+Mohammedans, it seems to me you are wonderfully liberal. So you have
+seriously contemplated the possibility of your becoming one of the
+'brethren'&mdash;as they style themselves?"</p>
+
+<p>"It never struck me until to-day that anything might occur by which my
+life could be permanently disturbed. Something to-day has whispered to me
+that such an existence could not be permanent. I am sure that it cannot be.
+The issue must be either to an infinite happiness or to a still more
+infinite misery. I cannot tell which." His clear, evenly modulated voice
+trembled a little. We were in sight of the lights from the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not dine with you to-night, Griggs. I will have something in my
+own rooms. Come in as soon as you have done&mdash;that is if you are free. There
+is no reason why you should not see Ram Lal the adept, since we think alike
+about his religion, or school, or philosophy&mdash;find a name for it while you
+are dining." And we separated for a time.</p>
+
+<p>It had been a long and exciting day to me. I felt no more inclined than
+he did for the din and racket <a name="Page_117"></a>and lights of the
+public dining-room. So I followed his example and had something in my own
+apartment. Then I settled myself to a hookah, resolved not to take
+advantage of Isaacs' invitation until near the time when he expected Ram
+Lal. I felt the need of an hour's solitude to collect my thoughts and to
+think over the events of the last twenty-four hours. I recognised that I
+was fast becoming very intimate with Isaacs, and I wanted to think about
+him and excogitate the problem of his life; but when I tried to revolve the
+situation logically, and deliver to myself a verdict, I found myself
+carried off at a tangent by the wonderful pictures that passed before my
+eyes. I could not detach the events from the individual. His face was ever
+before me, whether I thought of Miss Westonhaugh, or of the wretched old
+maharajah, or of Ram Lal the Buddhist. Isaacs was the central figure in
+every picture, always in the front, always calm and beautiful, always
+controlling the events around him. Then I entered on a series of trite
+reflections to soothe my baffled reason, as a man will who is used to
+understanding what goes on before him and suddenly finds himself at a loss.
+Of course, I said to myself, it is no wonder he controls things, or appears
+to. The circumstances in which I find this three days' acquaintance are
+emphatically those of his own making. He has always been a successful man,
+and he would not raise spirits that he could not keep well in hand. He
+knows perfectly well what he is about in making love to that beautiful <a
+name="Page_118"></a>creature, and is no doubt at this moment laughing in
+his sleeve at my simplicity in believing that he was really asking my
+advice. Pshaw! as if any advice could influence a man like that!
+Absurd.</p>
+
+<p>I sipped my coffee in disgust with myself. All the time, while trying to
+persuade myself that Isaacs was only a very successful schemer, neither
+better nor worse than other men, I was conscious of the face that would not
+be banished from my sight. I saw the beautiful boyish look in his deep dark
+eyes, the gentle curve of the mouth, the grand smooth architrave of the
+brows. No&mdash;I was a fool! I had never met a man like him, nor should again.
+How could Miss Westonhaugh save herself from loving such a perfect
+creature? I thought, too, of his generosity. He would surely keep his
+promise and deliver poor Shere Ali, hunted to death by English and Afghan
+foes, from all his troubles. Had he not the Maharajah of Baithopoor in his
+power? He might have exacted the full payment of the debt, principal and
+interest, and saved the Afghan chief into the bargain. But he feared lest
+the poor Mohammedans should suffer from the prince's extortion, and he
+forgave freely the interest, amounting now to a huge sum, and put off the
+payment of the bond itself to the maharajah's convenience. Did ever an
+Oriental forgive a debt before even to his own brother? Not in my
+experience.</p>
+
+<p>I rose and went down to Isaacs. I found him as on the previous evening,
+among his cushions with a <a name="Page_119"></a>manuscript book. He looked
+up smiling and motioned me to be seated, keeping his place on the page with
+one finger. He finished the verse before he spoke, and then laid the book
+down and leaned back.</p>
+
+<p>"So you have made up your mind that you would like to see Ram Lal. He
+will be here in a minute, unless he changes his mind and does not come
+after all."</p>
+
+<p>There was a sound of voices outside. Some one asked if Isaacs were in,
+and the servant answered. A tall figure in a gray <i>caftán</i> and a plain
+white turban stood in the door.</p>
+
+<p>"I never change my mind," said the stranger, in excellent English,
+though with an accent peculiar to the Hindoo tongue when struggling with
+European languages. His voice was musical and high in pitch, though soft
+and sweet in tone. The quality of voice that can be heard at a great
+distance, with no apparent effort to the speaker. "I never change my mind.
+I am here. Is it well with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is well, Ram Lal. I thank you. Be seated, if you will stay with us a
+while. This is my friend Mr. Griggs, of whom you probably know. He thinks
+as I do on many points, and I was anxious that you should meet."</p>
+
+<p>While Isaacs was speaking, Ram Lal advanced into the room and stood a
+moment under the soft light, a gray figure, very tall, but not otherwise
+remarkable. He was all gray. The long <i>caftán</i> wrapped round him, the
+turban which I had first <a name="Page_120"></a>thought white, the skin of
+his face, the pointed beard and long moustache, the heavy eyebrows&mdash;a study
+of grays against the barbaric splendour of the richly hung wall&mdash;a soft
+outline on which the yellow light dwelt lovingly, as if weary of being cast
+back and reflected from the glory of gold and the thousand facets of the
+priceless gems. Ram Lal looked toward me, and as I gazed into his eyes I
+saw that they too were gray&mdash;a very singular thing in the East&mdash;and that
+they were very far apart, giving his face a look of great dignity and
+fearless frankness. To judge by his features he seemed to be very thin, and
+his high shoulders were angular, though the long loose garment concealed
+the rest of his frame from view. I had plenty of time to note these
+details, for he stood a full minute in the middle of the room, as if
+deciding whether to remain or to go. Then he moved quietly to a divan and
+sat down cross-legged.</p>
+
+<p>"Abdul, you have done a good deed to-day, and I trust you will not
+change your mind before you have carried out your present intentions."</p>
+
+<p>"I never change my mind, Bam Lai," said Isaacs, smiling as he quoted his
+visitor's own words. I was startled at first. What good deed was the
+Buddhist referring to if not to the intended liberation of Shere Ali? How
+could he know of it? Then I reflected that this man was, according to
+Isaacs' declaration, an adept of the higher grades, a seer and a knower of
+men's hearts. I resolved not to be astonished at anything that occurred,
+only marvelling that it should <a name="Page_121"></a>have pleased this
+extraordinary man to make his entrance like an ordinary mortal, instead of
+through the floor or the ceiling.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," answered Ram Lal, "if I venture to contradict you. You do
+change your mind sometimes. Who was it who lately scoffed at women, their
+immortality, their virtue, and their intellect? Will you tell me now,
+friend Abdul, that you have not changed your mind? Do you think of
+anything, sleeping or waking, but the one woman for whom you <i>have</i>
+changed your mind? Is not her picture ever before you, and the breath of
+her beauty upon your soul? Have you not met her in the spirit as well as in
+the flesh? Surely we shall hear no more of your doubts about women for some
+time to come. I congratulate you, as far as that goes, on your conversion.
+You have made a step towards a higher understanding of the world you live
+in."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs did not seem in the least surprised at his visitor's intimate
+acquaintance with his affairs. He bowed his head in silence, acquiescing to
+what Bam Lai had said, and waited for him to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>"I have come," continued the Buddhist, "to give you some good
+advice&mdash;the best I have for you. You will probably not take it, for you are
+the most self-reliant man I know, though you have changed a little since
+you have been in love, witness your sudden intimacy with Mr. Griggs." He
+looked at me, and there was a faint approach to a smile in his gray eyes.
+"My advice to you is, do not let this projected <a
+name="Page_122"></a>tiger-hunt take place if you can prevent it. No good
+can come of it, and harm may. Now I have spoken because my mind would not
+be at rest if I did not warn you. Of course you will do as you please, only
+never forget that I pointed out to you the right course in time."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Ram Lal, for your friendly concern in my behalf. I do not
+think I shall act as you suggest, but I am nevertheless grateful to you.
+There is one thing I want to ask you, and consult you about, however."</p>
+
+<p>"My friend, what is the use of my giving you advice that you will not
+follow? If I lived with you, and were your constant companion, you would
+ask me to advise you twenty times a day, and then you would go and do the
+diametric opposite of what I suggested. If I did not see in you something
+that I see in few other men, I would not be here. There are plenty of fools
+who have wit enough to take counsel of a wise man. There are few men of wit
+wise enough to be guided by their betters, as if they were only fools for
+the time. Yet because you are so wayward I will help you once or twice
+more, and then I will leave you to your own course&mdash;which you, in your
+blindness, will call your kismet, not seeing that your fate is continually
+in your own hands&mdash;more so at this moment than ever before. Ask, and I will
+answer."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks, Ram Lal. It is this I would know. You are aware that I have
+undertaken a novel kind of <a name="Page_123"></a>bargain. The man you wot
+of is to be delivered to me near Keitung. I am anxious for the man's safety
+afterwards, and I would be glad of some hint about disposing of him. I must
+go alone, for I do not want any witness of what I am going to do, and as a
+mere matter of personal safety for myself and the man I am going to set
+free, I must decide on some plan of action when I meet the band of sowars
+who will escort him. They are capable of murdering us both if the maharajah
+instructs them to. As long as I am alive to bring the old man into disgrace
+with the British, the captive is safe; but it would be an easy matter for
+those fellows to dispose of us together, and there would be an end of the
+business."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course they could," replied Ram Lal, adding in an ironical tone "and
+if you insist upon putting your head down the tiger's throat, how do you
+expect me to prevent the brute from snapping it off? That would be a
+'phenomenon,' would it not? And only this evening you were saying that you
+despised 'phenomena.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I said that such things were indifferent to me. I did not say I
+despised them. But I think that this thing may be done without performing
+any miracles."</p>
+
+<p>"If it were not such a good action on your part I would have nothing to
+do with it. But since you mean to risk your neck for your own peculiar
+views of what is right, I will endeavour that you shall not break it. I
+will meet you a day's journey before you reach Keitung, somewhere on the
+road, and we will <a name="Page_124"></a>go together and do the business.
+But if I am to help you I will not promise not to perform some miracles, as
+you call them, though you know very well they are no such thing. Meanwhile,
+do as you please about the tiger-hunt; I shall say no more about it." He
+paused, and then, withdrawing one delicate hand from the folds of his
+<i>caftán</i>, he pointed to the wall behind Isaacs and me, and said, "What
+a very singular piece of workmanship is that yataghan!"</p>
+
+<p>We both naturally turned half round to look at the weapon he spoke of,
+which was the central piece in a trophy of jewelled sabres and Afghan
+knives.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Isaacs, turning back to answer his guest, "it is a &mdash;&mdash;" He
+stopped, and I, who had not seen the weapon before, lost among so many, and
+was admiring its singular beauty, turned too; to my astonishment I saw that
+Isaacs was gazing into empty space. The divan where Ram Lal had been
+sitting an instant before, was vacant. He was gone.</p>
+
+<p>"That is rather sudden," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"More so than usual," was the reply. "Did you see him go? Did he go out
+by the door?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not I," I answered, "when I looked round at the wall he was placidly
+sitting on that divan pointing with one hand at the yataghan. Does he
+generally go so quickly?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, more or less. Now I will show you some pretty sport." He rose to
+his feet and went to the door. "Narain!" he cried. Narain, the bearer, <a
+name="Page_125"></a>who was squatting against the door-post outside, sprang
+up and stood before his master. "Narain, why did you not show that pundit
+the way downstairs? What do you mean? have you no manners?"</p>
+
+<p>Narain stood open mouthed. "What pundit, sahib?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, the pundit who came a quarter of an hour ago, you donkey! He has
+just gone out, and you did not even get up and make a salaam, you
+impertinent vagabond!" Narain protested that no pundit, or sahib, or any
+one else, had passed the threshold since Ram Lal had entered. "Ha! you
+<i>budmash</i>. You lazy dog of a Hindoo! you have been asleep again, you
+swine, you son of a pig, you father of piglings! Is that the way you do
+your work in my service?" Isaacs was enjoying the joke in a quiet way
+immensely.</p>
+
+<p>"Sahib," said the trembling Narain, apparently forgetting the genealogy
+his master had thrust upon him, "Sahib, you are protector of the poor, you
+are my father and my mother, and my brother, and all my relations," the
+common form of Hindoo supplication, "but, Sri Krishnaji! by the blessed
+Krishna, I have not slept a wink."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I suppose you mean me to believe that the pundit went through the
+ceiling, or is hidden under the cushions. Swear not by your false idols,
+slave; I shall not believe you for that, you dog of an unbeliever, you
+soor-be-iman, you swine without faith!"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_126"></a>"Han, sahib, han!" cried Narain, seizing at the
+idea that the pundit had disappeared mysteriously through the walls. "Yes,
+sahib, the pundit is a great yogi, and has made the winds carry him off."
+The fellow thought this was a bright idea, not by any means beneath
+consideration. Isaacs appeared somewhat pacified.</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you think he is a yogi, dog?" he inquired in a milder tone.
+Narain had no answer ready, but stood looking rather stupidly through the
+door at the room whence the unearthly visitor had so suddenly disappeared.
+"Well," continued Isaacs, "you are more nearly right than you imagine. The
+pundit is a bigger yogi than any your idiotic religion can produce. Never
+mind, there is an eight anna bit for you, because I said you were asleep
+when you were not." Narain bent to the ground in thanks, as his master
+turned on his heel. "Not that he minds being told that he is a pig, in the
+least," said Isaacs. "I would not call a Mussulman so, but you can insult
+these Hindoos so much worse in other ways that I think the porcine simile
+is quite merciful by comparison." He sat down again among the cushions, and
+putting off his slippers, curled himself comfortably together for a
+chat.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think of Ram Lal?" he asked, when Narain had brought
+hookahs and sherbet.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow, I have hardly made up my mind what to think. I have not
+altogether recovered from my astonishment. I confess that there was nothing
+<a name="Page_127"></a>startling about his manner or his person. He behaved
+and talked like a well educated native, in utter contrast to the amazing
+things he said, and to his unprecedented mode of leave-taking. It would
+have seemed more natural&mdash;I would say, more fitting&mdash;if he had appeared in
+the classic dress of an astrologer, surrounded with zodiacs, and blue
+lights, and black cats. Why do you suppose he wants you to abandon the
+tiger-hunt?"</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell. Perhaps he thinks something may happen to me to prevent
+my keeping the other engagement. Perhaps he does not approve&mdash;&mdash;" he
+stopped, as if not wanting to approach the subject of Ram Lal's
+disapprobation. "I intend, nevertheless, that the expedition come off, and
+I mean, moreover, to have a very good time, and to kill a tiger if I see
+one."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought he seemed immensely pleased at your conversion, as he calls
+it. He said that your newly acquired belief in woman was a step towards a
+better understanding of life."</p>
+
+<p>"Of the world, he said," answered-Isaacs, correcting me. "There is a
+great difference between the 'world' and 'life.' The one is a finite, the
+other an infinite expression. I believe, from what I have learned of Ram
+Lal, that the ultimate object of the adepts is happiness, only to be
+attained by wisdom, and I apprehend that by wisdom they mean a knowledge of
+the world in the broadest sense of the word. The world to them is a great
+repository of facts, <a name="Page_128"></a>physical and social, of which
+they propose to acquire a specific knowledge by transcendental methods. If
+that seems to you a contradiction of terms, I will try and express myself
+better. If you understand me, I am satisfied. Of course I use
+transcendental in the sense in which it is applied by Western
+mathematicians to a mode of reasoning which I very imperfectly comprehend,
+save that it consists in reaching finite results by an adroit use of the
+infinite."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bad definition of transcendental analysis for a man who professes
+to know nothing about it," said I. "I would not accuse you of a
+contradiction of terms, either. I have often thought that what some people
+call the 'philosophy of the nineteenth century,' is nothing after all but
+the unconscious application of transcendental analysis to the everyday
+affairs of life. Consider the theories of Darwin, for instance. What are
+they but an elaborate application of the higher calculus? He differentiates
+men into protoplasms, and integrates protoplasms into monkeys, and shows
+the caudal appendage to be the independent variable, a small factor in man,
+a large factor in monkey. And has not the idea of successive development
+supplanted the early conception of spontaneous perfection? Take an
+illustration from India&mdash;the new system of competition, which the natives
+can never understand. Formerly the members of the Civil Service received
+their warrants by divine authority, so to speak. They were born perfect, as
+Aphrodite from the foam of the sea; they sprang <a
+name="Page_129"></a>armed and ready from the head of old John Company as
+Pallas Athene from the head of Zeus. Now all that is changed; they are
+selected from a great herd of candidates by methods of extreme exactness,
+and when they are chosen they represent the final result of infinite
+probabilities for and against their election. They are all exactly alike;
+they are a formula for taxation and the administration of justice, and so
+long as you do not attempt to use the formula for any other purpose, such,
+for instance, as political negotiation or the censorship of the public
+press, the equation will probably be amenable to solution."</p>
+
+<p>"As I told you," said Isaacs, "I know nothing, or next to nothing, of
+Western mathematics, but I have a general idea of the comparison you make.
+In Asia and in Asiatic minds, there prevails an idea that knowledge can be
+assimilated once and for all. That if you can obtain it, you immediately
+possess the knowledge of everything&mdash;the pass-key that shall unlock every
+door. That is the reason of the prolonged fasting and solitary meditation
+of the ascetics. They believe that by attenuating the bond between soul and
+body, the soul can be liberated and can temporarily identify itself with
+other objects, animate and inanimate, besides the especial body to which it
+belongs, acquiring thus a direct knowledge of those objects, and they
+believe that this direct knowledge remains. Western philosophers argue that
+the only acquaintance a man can have with <a name="Page_130"></a>bodies
+external to his mind is that which he acquires by the medium of his bodily
+senses&mdash;though these, are themselves external to his mind, in the truest
+sanse. The senses not being absolutely reliable, knowledge acquired by
+means of them is not absolutely reliable either. So the ultimate difference
+between the Asiatic saint and the European man of science is, that while
+the former believes all knowledge to be directly within the grasp of the
+soul, under certain conditions, the latter, on the other hand, denies that
+any knowledge can be absolute, being all obtained indirectly through a
+medium not absolutely reliable. The reasoning, by which the Western mind
+allows itself to act fearlessly on information which is not (according to
+its own verdict) necessarily accurate, depends on a clever use of the
+infinite in unconsciously calculating the probabilities of that
+accuracy&mdash;and this entirely falls in with what you said about the
+application of transcendental analysis to the affairs of everyday
+life."</p>
+
+<p>"I see you have entirely comprehended me," I said. "But as for the
+Asiatic mind&mdash;you seem to deny to it the use of the calculus of thought,
+and yet you denned adepts as attempting to acquire specific knowledge by
+general and transcendental methods. Here is a real contradiction."</p>
+
+<p>"No; I see no confusion, for I do not include the higher adepts in
+either class, since they have the wisdom to make use of the learning and of
+the methods of both. They seem to me to be endeavouring, <a
+name="Page_131"></a>roughly speaking, to combine the two. They believe
+absolute knowledge attainable, and they devote much time to the study of
+nature, in which pursuit they make use of highly analytical methods. They
+subdivide phenomena to an extent that would surprise and probably amuse a
+Western thinker. They count fourteen distinct colours in the rainbow, and
+invariably connect sound, even to the finest degrees, with shades of
+colour. I could name many other peculiarities of their mode of studying
+natural phenomena, which displays a much more minute subdivision and
+classification of results than you are accustomed to. But beside all this
+they consider that the senses of the normal man are susceptible of infinite
+refinement, and that upon a greater or less degree of acquired acuteness of
+perception the value of his results must depend. To attain this high degree
+of sensitiveness, necessary to the perception of very subtle phenomena, the
+adepts find it necessary to train their faculties, bodily and mental, by a
+life of rigid abstention from all pleasures or indulgences not
+indispensable in maintaining the relation between the physical and
+intellectual powers."</p>
+
+<p>"The common <i>fakir</i> aims at the same thing," I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"But he does not attain it. The common <i>fakir</i> is an idiot. He may,
+by fasting and self-torture, of a kind no adept would approve, sharpen his
+senses till he can hear and see some sounds and sights inaudible and
+invisible to you and me. But his whole system <a name="Page_132"></a>lacks
+any intellectual basis: he regards knowledge as something instantaneously
+attainable when it comes at last; he believes he will have a vision, and
+that everything will be revealed to him. His devotion to his object is
+admirable, when he is a genuine ascetic and not, as is generally the case,
+a good-for-nothing who makes his piety pay for his subsistence; but it is
+devotion of a very low intellectual order. The true adept thinks the
+training of the mind in intellectual pursuits no less necessary than the
+moderate and reasonable mortification of the flesh, and higher Buddhism
+pays as much attention to the one as to the other."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me," said I, "if I make a digression. I think there are two
+classes of minds commonly to be found among thinkers all over the world.
+The one seek to attain to knowledge, the others strive to acquire it. There
+is a class of commonplace intellects who regard knowledge of all kinds in
+the light of a ladder; one ladder for each science, and the rungs of the
+ladders are the successive facts mastered by an effort and remembered in
+the order they have been passed. These persons think it is possible to
+attain to high eminence on one particular ladder, that is, in one
+particular science, without having been up any of the other ladders, that
+is, without a knowledge of other branches of seience. This is the mind of
+the plodder, the patient man who climbs, step by step, in his own unvarying
+round of thought; not seeing that it is but the wheel of a treadmill over
+which he <a name="Page_133"></a>is labouring, and that though every step
+may pass, and repass, beneath his toiling feet, he can never obtain a
+birdseye view of what he is doing, because his eyes are continually fixed
+on the step in front."</p>
+
+<p>"But," I continued, as Isaacs assented to my simile by a nod, "there is
+another class of minds also. There are persons who regard the whole
+imaginable and unimaginable knowledge of mankind, past, present, and
+future, as a boundless plain over which they hang suspended and can look
+down. Immediately beneath them there is a map spread out which represents,
+in the midst of the immense desert, the things they themselves know. It is
+a puzzle map, like those they make for children, where each piece fits into
+its appointed place, and will fit nowhere else; every piece of knowledge
+acquired fits into the space allotted to it, and when there is a piece,
+that is, a fact, wanting, it is still possible to define its extent and
+shape by the surrounding portions, though all the details of colour and
+design are lacking. These are the people who regard knowledge as a whole,
+harmonious, when every science and fragment of a science has its appointed
+station and is necessary to completeness of perfect knowledge. I hope I
+have made clear to you what I mean, though I am conscious of only sketching
+the outlines of a distinction which I believe to be fundamental."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is fundamental. Broadly, it is the difference between
+analytic and synthetic thought; between the subjective and the objective
+views; <a name="Page_134"></a>between the finite conception of a limited
+world and the infinite ideal of perfect wisdom. I understand you
+perfectly."</p>
+
+<p>"You puzzle me continually, Isaacs. Where did you learn to talk about
+'analytic' and 'synthetic,' and 'subjective' and 'objective,' and
+transcendental analysis, and so forth?" It seemed so consistent with his
+mind that he should understand the use of philosophical terms, that I had
+not realised how odd it was that a man of his purely Oriental education
+should know anything about the subject. His very broad application of the
+words 'analytic' and 'synthetic' to my pair of illustrations attracted my
+attention and prompted the question I had asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I read a good deal," he said simply. Then he added in a reflective
+tone, "I rather think I have a philosophical mind. The old man who taught
+me theology in Istamboul when I was a boy used to talk philosophy to me by
+the hour, though I do not believe he knew much about it. He was a plodder,
+and went up ladders in search of information, like the man you describe.
+But he was very patient and good to me; the peace of Allah be with
+him."</p>
+
+<p>It was late, and soon afterwards we parted for the night. The next day
+was Sunday, and I had a heap of unanswered letters to attend to, so we
+agreed to meet after tiffin and ride together before dining with Mr.
+Ghyrkins and the Westonhaughs.</p>
+
+<p>I went to my room and sat a while over a volume of Kant, which I always
+travel with&mdash;a sort of <a name="Page_135"></a>philosopher's stone on which
+to whet the mind's tools when they are dulled with boring into the
+geological strata of other people's ideas. I was too much occupied with the
+personality of the man I had been talking with to read long, and so I
+abandoned myself to a reverie, passing in review the events of the long
+day.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_136"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_VII'></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Sabbatarian tendency of the English mind at home and abroad is
+proverbial, and if they are well-behaved on Sunday in London they are
+models of virtue in Simla on the same day. Whether they labour and are
+well-fed and gouty in their island home, or suffer themselves to be boiled
+for gain in the tropical kettles of Ceylon and Singapore; whether they risk
+their lives in hunting for the north pole or the northwest passage, or
+endanger their safety in the pursuit of tigers in the Terai, they will have
+their Sunday, come rain, come shine. On the deck of the steamer in the Red
+Sea, in the cabin of the inbound Arctic explorer, in the crowded Swiss
+hotel, or the straggling Indian hill station, there is always a parson of
+some description, in a surplice of no description at all, who produces a
+Bible and a couple of well-thumbed sermons from the recesses of his trunk
+or his lunch basket, or his gun-case, and goes at the work of weekly
+redemption with a will. And, what is more, he is listened to, and for the
+time being&mdash;though on week days he is styled a bore by the old and a prig
+by the young&mdash;he becomes temporarily invested with a dignity not his own,
+with an authority <a name="Page_137"></a>he could not claim on any other
+day. It is the dignity of a people who with all their faults have the
+courage of their opinions, and it is the authority that they have been
+taught from their childhood to reverence, whenever their traditions give it
+the right to assert itself. Not otherwise. It is a fine trait of national
+character, though it is one which has brought upon the English much
+unmerited ridicule. One may differ from them in faith and in one's estimate
+of the real value of these services, which are often only saved from being
+irreverent in their performance by the perfect sincerity of parson and
+congregation. But no one who dispassionately judges them can deny that the
+custom inspires respect for English consistency and admiration for their
+supreme contempt of surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>I presume that the periodical manifestations of religious belief to
+which I refer are intimately and indissolubly connected with the staid and
+funereal solemnity which marks an Englishman's dress, conversation, and
+conduct on Sunday. He is a different being for the nonce, and must sustain
+the entire character of his dual existence, or it will fall to the ground
+and forsake him altogether. He cannot take his religion in the morning and
+enjoy himself the rest of the day. He must abstain from everything that
+could remind him that he has a mind at all, besides a soul. No amusement
+will he tolerate, no reading of even the most harmless fiction can he
+suffer, while he is in the weekly devotional trance.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_138"></a>I cannot explain these things; they are race
+questions, problems for the ethnologist. Certain it is, however, that the
+partial decay of strict Sabbatarianism which seems to have set in during
+the last quarter of a century has not been attended by any notable
+development of power in English thought of that class. The first Republic
+tried the experiment of the decimal week, and it was a failure. The English
+who attempt to put off even a little of the quaint armour of righteousness,
+which they have been accustomed to buckle on every seventh day for so many
+generations, are not so successful in the attempt as to attract many to
+follow them. They are not graceful in their holiday gambols.</p>
+
+<p>Meditating somewhat on this wise I lay in my long chair by the open door
+that Sunday morning in September. It was a little warmer again and the sun
+shone pleasantly across the lawn on the great branches and bright leaves of
+the rhododendron. The house was very quiet. All the inmates were gone to
+the church on the mall, and the servants were basking in the last few days
+of warmth they would enjoy before their masters returned to the plains. The
+Hindoo servant hates the cold. He fears it as he fears cobras, fever, and
+freemasons. His ideal life is nothing to do, nothing to wear, and plenty to
+eat, with the thermometer at 135 degrees in the verandah and 110 inside.
+Then he is happy. His body swells with much good rice and <i>dal</i>, and
+his heart with pride; he will wear as little as you will let him, and <a
+name="Page_139"></a>whether you will let him or not, he will do less work
+in a given time than any living description of servant. So they basked in
+rows in the sunshine, and did not even quarrel or tell yarns among
+themselves; it was quiet and warm and sleepy. I dozed lazily, dropped my
+book in my lap, struggled once, and then fairly fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>I was roused by Kiramat Ali pulling at my foot, as natives will when
+they are afraid of the consequences of waking their master. When I opened
+my eyes he presented a card on a salver, and explained that the gentleman
+wanted to see me. I looked, and was rather surprised to see it was
+Kildare's card. "Lord Steepleton Kildare, 33d Lancers "&mdash;there was no word
+in pencil, or any message. I told Kiramat to show the sahib in, wondering
+why he should call on me. By Indian etiquette, if there was to be any
+calling, it was my duty to make the first visit. Before I had time to think
+more I heard the clanking of spurs and sabre on the verandah, and the young
+man walked in, clad in the full uniform of his regiment. I rose to greet
+him, and was struck by his soldierly bearing and straight figure, as I had
+been at our first meeting. He took off his bearskin &mdash;for he was in the
+fullest of full dress&mdash;and sat down.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad to find you at home," he said: "I feared you might have
+gone to church, like everybody else in this place."</p>
+
+<p>"No. I went early this morning. I belong to a <a
+name="Page_140"></a>different persuasion. I suppose you are on your way to
+Peterhof?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. There is some sort of official reception to somebody,&mdash;I forget
+who,&mdash;and we had notice to turn out. It is a detestable nuisance."</p>
+
+<p>"I should think so."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs, I came to ask you about something. You heard of my proposal
+to get up a tiger-hunt? Mr. Ghyrkins was speaking of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. He wanted us to go,&mdash;Mr. Isaacs and me,&mdash;and suggested leaving his
+niece, Miss Westonhaugh, with Lady Smith-Tompkins."</p>
+
+<p>"It would be so dull without a lady in the party. Nothing but tigers and
+shikarries and other native abominations to talk to. Do you not think
+so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes. I told Mr. Ghyrkins that all the little Smith-Tompkins
+children had the measles, and the house was not safe. If they have not had
+them, they will, I have no doubt. Heaven is just, and will not leave you to
+the conversational mercies of the entertaining tiger and the engaging
+shikarry."</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove, Mr. Griggs, that was a brilliant idea: and, as you say, they
+may all get the measles yet. The fact is, I have set my heart on this
+thing. Miss Westonhaugh said she had never seen a tiger, except in cages
+and that kind of thing, and so I made up my mind she should. Besides, it
+will be no end of a lark; just when nobody is thinking about tigers, you go
+off and kill a tremendous fellow, fifteen or sixteen feet long, and come
+back covered with glory <a name="Page_141"></a>and mosquito bites, and tell
+everybody that Miss Westonhaugh shot him herself with a pocket pistol. That
+will be glorious!"</p>
+
+<p>"I should like it very much too; and I really see no reason why it
+should not be done. Mr. Ghyrkins seemed in a very cheerful humour about
+tigers last night, and I have no doubt a little persuasion from you will
+bring him to a proper view of his obligations to Miss Westonhaugh." He
+looked pleased and bright and hopeful, thoroughly enthusiastic, as became
+his Irish blood. He evidently intended to have quite as "good" a "time" as
+Isaacs proposed to enjoy. I thought the spectacle of those rivals for the
+beautiful girl's favour would be extremely interesting. Lord Steepleton was
+doubtless a good shot and a brave man, and would risk anything to secure
+Miss Westonhaugh's approval; Isaacs, on the other hand, was the sort of man
+who is very much the same in danger as anywhere else.</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I came to ask you about. We shall all meet there at dinner
+this evening, and I wanted to secure as many allies as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"You may count on me, Lord Steepleton, at all events. There is nothing I
+should enjoy better than such a fortnight's holiday, in such good
+company."</p>
+
+<p>"All right," said Lord Steepleton, rising, "I must be off now to
+Peterhof. It is an organised movement on Mr. Ghyrkins this evening, then.
+Is it understood?" He took his bearskin from the table, and prepared to go,
+pulling his straps and belts into place, and dusting a particle of ash from
+his sleeve.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_142"></a>"Perfectly," I answered. "We will drag him forth
+into the arena before three days are past." We shook hands, and he went
+out.</p>
+
+<p>I was glad he had come, though I had been waked from a pleasant nap to
+receive him. He was so perfectly gay, and natural, and healthy, that one
+could not help liking him. You felt at once that he was honest and would do
+the right thing in spite of any one, according to his light; that he would
+stand by a friend in danger, and face any odds in fight, with as much
+honest determination to play fair and win, as he would bring to a cricket
+match or a steeple-chase. His Irish blood gave him a somewhat less formal
+manner than belongs to the Englishman; more enthusiasm and less regard for
+"form," while his good heart and natural courtesy would lead him right in
+the long-run. He seemed all sunshine, with his bright blue eyes and great
+fair moustache and brown face; the closely fitting uniform showed off his
+erect figure and elastic gait, and the whole impression was fresh and
+exhilarating in the extreme. I was sorry he had gone. I would have liked to
+talk with him about boating and fishing and shooting; about athletics and
+horses and tandem-driving, and many things I used, to like years ago at
+college, before I began my wandering life. I watched him as he swung
+himself into the military saddle, and he threw up his hand in a parting
+salute as he rode away. Poor fellow! was he, too, going to be food for
+powder and Afghan knives in the avenging army <a name="Page_143"></a>on its
+way to Kabul? I went back to my books and remained reading until the
+afternoon sun slanted in through the open door, and falling across my book
+warned me it was time to keep my appointment with Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>As we passed the church the people were coming out from the evening
+service, and I saw Kildare, once more in the garb of a civilian, standing
+near the door, apparently watching for some one to appear. I knew that,
+with his strict observance of Catholic rules&mdash;often depending more on pride
+of family than on religious conviction, in the house of Kildare&mdash;he would
+not have entered the English Church at such a time, and I was sure he was
+lying in wait for Miss Westonhaugh, probably intending to surprise her and
+join her on her homeward ride. The road winds down below the Church, so
+that for some minutes after passing the building you may get a glimpse of
+the mall above and of the people upon it&mdash;or at least of their heads&mdash;if
+they are moving near the edge of the path. I was unaccountably curious this
+evening, and I dropped a little behind Isaacs, craning my neck and turning
+back in the saddle as I watched the stream of heads and shoulders, strongly
+foreshortened against the blue sky above, moving ceaselessly along the
+parapet over my head. Before long I was rewarded; Miss Westonhaugh's fair
+hair and broad hat entered the field of my vision, and a moment later Lord
+Steepleton, who must have pushed through the crowd from the other side, <a
+name="Page_144"></a>appeared struggling after her. She turned quickly, and
+I saw no more, but I did not think she had changed colour.</p>
+
+<p>I began to be deeply interested in ascertaining whether she had any
+preference for one or the other of the two young men. Kildare's visit in
+the morning&mdash;though he had said very little&mdash;had given me a new impression
+of the man, and I felt that he was no contemptible rival. I saw from the
+little incident I had just witnessed that he neglected no opportunity of
+being with Miss Westonhaugh, and that he had the patience to wait and the
+boldness to find her in a crowd. I had seen very little of her myself; but
+I had been amply satisfied that Isaacs was capable of interesting her in a
+<i>t&ecirc;te-&agrave;-t&ecirc;te</i> conversation. "The talker has the
+best chance, if he is bold enough," I said to myself; but I was not
+satisfied, and I resolved that if I could manage it Isaacs should have
+another chance that very evening after the dinner. Meanwhile I would
+involve Isaacs in a conversation on some one of those subjects that seemed
+to interest him most. He had not seen the couple on the mall, and was
+carelessly ambling along with his head in the air and one hand in the
+pocket of his short coat, the picture of unconcern.</p>
+
+<p>I was trying to make up my mind whether I would open fire upon the
+immortality of the soul, matrimony, or the differential calculus, when, as
+we passed from the narrow street into the road leading sound Jako, Isaacs
+spoke.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_145"></a>"Look here, Griggs," said he, "there is something
+I want to impress upon your mind."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is all very well for Ram Lal to give advice about things he
+understands. I have a very sincere regard for him, but I do not believe he
+was ever in my position. I have set my heart on this tiger-hunt. Miss
+Westonhaugh said the other day that she had never seen a tiger, and I then
+and there made up my mind that she should."</p>
+
+<p>I laughed. There seemed to be no essential difference of opinion between
+the Irishman and the Persian in regard to the pleasures of the chase. Miss
+Westonhaugh was evidently anxious to see tigers, and meant to do it, since
+she had expressed her wish to the two men most likely to procure her that
+innocent recreation. Lord Steepleton Kildare by his position, and Isaacs by
+his wealth, could, if they chose, get up such a tiger-hunt for her benefit
+as had never been seen. I thought she might have waited till the
+spring&mdash;but I had learned that she intended to return to England in April,
+and was to spend the early months of the year with her brother in
+Bombay.</p>
+
+<p>"You want to see Miss Westonhaugh, and Miss Westonhaugh wants to see
+tigers! My dear fellow, go in and win; I will back you."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you laugh, Griggs?" asked Isaacs, who saw nothing particularly
+amusing in what he had said.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I laughed because another young gentleman <a
+name="Page_146"></a>expressed the same opinions to me, in identically the
+same words, this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Westonhaugh?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. You know very well that Mr. Westonhaugh cares nothing about it, one
+way or the other. The little plan for 'amusing brother John' is a hoax. The
+thing cannot be done. You might as well try to amuse an undertaker as to
+make a man from Bombay laugh. The hollowness of life is ever upon them. No.
+It was Kildare; he called and said that Miss Westonhaugh had never seen a
+tiger, and he seemed anxious to impress upon me his determination that she
+should. Pshaw! what does Kildare care about brother John?"</p>
+
+<p>"Brother John, as you call him, is a better fellow than he looks. I owe
+a great deal to brother John." Isaacs' olive skin flushed a little, and he
+emphasised the epithet by which I had designated Mr. John Westonhaugh as if
+he were offended by it.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean nothing against Mr. Westonhaugh," said I half apologetically. "I
+remember when you met yesterday afternoon you said you had seen him in
+Bombay a long time ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you remember the story I told you of myself the other night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Perfectly."</p>
+
+<p>"Westonhaugh was the young civil servant who paid my fine and gave me a
+rupee, when I was a ragged sailor from a Mocha craft, and could not speak a
+word of English. To that rupee I ultimately <a name="Page_147"></a>owe my
+entire fortune. I never forget a face, and I am sure it is he&mdash;do you
+understand me now? I owe to his kindness everything I possess in the
+world."</p>
+
+<p>"The unpardonable sin is ingratitude," I answered, "of which you will
+certainly not be accused. That is a very curious coincidence."</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is something more. A man has always at least one opportunity
+of repaying a debt, and, besm Illah! I will repay what I can of it. By the
+beard of the apostle, whose name is blessed, I am not ungrateful!" Isaacs
+was excited as he said this. He was no longer the calm Mr. Isaacs, he was
+Abdul Hafiz the Persian, fiery and enthusiastic.</p>
+
+<p>"You say well, my friend," he continued earnestly, "that the
+unpardonable sin is ingratitude. Doubtless, had the blessed prophet of
+Allah lived in our day, he would have spoken of the doom that hangs over
+the ungrateful. It is the curse of this age; for he who forgets or refuses
+to remember the kindness done to him by others sets himself apart, and
+worships his miserable self, and he makes an idol of himself, saying, 'I am
+of more importance than my fellows in the world, and it is meet and right
+that they should give and that I should receive.' Ingratitude is
+selfishness, and selfishness is the worship of oneself, the setting of
+oneself higher than man and goodness and God. And when man perishes and the
+angel Al Sijil, the recorder, rolls up his scroll, what is written therein
+is written; and Israfil shall call <a name="Page_148"></a>men to judgment,
+and the scrolls shall be unfolded, and he that has taken of others and not
+given in return, but has ungratefully forgotten and put away the
+remembrance of the kindness received, shall be counted among the
+unbelievers and the extortioners and the unjust, and shall broil in raging
+flames. By the hairs of the prophet's beard, whose name is blessed."</p>
+
+<p>I had not seen Isaacs so thoroughly roused before upon any subject. The
+flush had left his face and given place to a perfect paleness, and his eyes
+shone like coals of fire as he looked upward in pronouncing the last words.
+I said to myself that there was a strong element of religious exaltation in
+all Asiatics, and put his excitement down to this cause. His religion was a
+very beautiful and real thing to him, ever present in his life, and I mused
+on the future of the man, with his great endowments, his exquisite
+sensitiveness, and his high view of his obligations to his fellows. I am
+not a worshipper of heroes, but I felt that, for the first time in my life,
+I was intimate with a man who was ready to stand in the breach and to die
+for what he thought and believed to be right. After a pause of some
+minutes, during which we had ridden beyond the last straggling bungalows of
+the town, he spoke again, quietly, his temporary excitement having
+subsided.</p>
+
+<p>"I feel very strongly about these things," he said, and then stopped
+short.</p>
+
+<p>"I can see you do, and I honour you for it. I <a
+name="Page_149"></a>think you are the first grateful person I have ever
+met; a rare and unique bird in the earth."</p>
+
+<p>"Do not say that."</p>
+
+<p>"I do say it. There is very little of the philosophy of the nineteenth
+century about you, Isaacs. Your belief in the obligations of gratitude and
+in the general capacity of the human race for redemption, savours little of
+'transcendental analysis.'"</p>
+
+<p>"You have too much of it," he answered seriously. "I do not think you
+see how much your cynicism involves. You would very likely, if you are the
+man I take you for, be very much offended if I accused you of not believing
+any particular dogma of your religion. And yet, with all your faith, you do
+not believe in God."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot see how you get at that conclusion," I replied. "I must deny
+your hypothesis, at the risk of engaging you in an argument." I could not
+see what he was driving at.</p>
+
+<p>"How can you believe in God, and yet condemn the noblest of His works as
+altogether bad? You are not consistent."</p>
+
+<p>"What makes you think I am so cynical?" I inquired, harking back to gain
+time.</p>
+
+<p>"A little cloud, a little sultriness in the air, is all that betrays the
+coming <i>khemsin</i>, that by and by shall overwhelm and destroy man and
+beast in its sandy darkness. You have made one or two remarks lately that
+show little faith in human nature, and if you do not believe in human
+nature what is there left for <a name="Page_150"></a>you to believe in? You
+said a moment ago that I was the first grateful person you had ever met.
+Then the rest of humanity are all selfish, and worshippers of themselves,
+and altogether vile, since you yourself say, as I do, that ingratitude is
+the unpardonable sin; and God has made a world full of unpardonable
+sinners, and unless you include yourself in the exception you graciously
+make in my favour, no one but I shall be saved. And yet you say also with
+me that God is good. Do you deny that you are utterly inconsistent?"</p>
+
+<p>"I may make you some concession in a few minutes, but I am not going to
+yield to such logic. You have committed the fallacy of the undistributed
+middle term, if you care to know the proper name for it. I did not say that
+all men, saving you, were ungrateful. I said that, saving you, the persons
+I have met in my life have been ungrateful. You ought to distinguish."</p>
+
+<p>"All I can say is, then, that you have had a very unfortunate experience
+of life," retorted Isaacs warmly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have," said I, "but since you yield the technical point of logic, I
+will confess that I made the assertion hastily and overshot the mark. I do
+not remember, however, to have met any one who felt so strongly on the
+point as you do."</p>
+
+<p>"Now you speak like a rational being," said Isaacs, quite pacified.
+"Extraordinary feelings are the result of unusual circumstances. I was in
+such distress <a name="Page_151"></a>as rarely falls to the lot of an
+innocent man of fine temperament and good abilities. I am now in a position
+of such wealth and prosperity as still more seldom are given to a man of my
+age and antecedents. I remember that I obtained the first step on my road
+to fortune through the kindness of John Westonhaugh, though I could never
+learn his name, and I met him at last, as you saw, by an accident. I call
+that accident a favour, and an opportunity bestowed on me by Allah, and the
+meeting has roused in me those feelings of thankfulness which, for want of
+an object upon which to show them, have been put away out of sight as a
+thing sacred for many years. I am willing you should say that, were my
+present fortune less, my gratitude would be proportionately less felt&mdash;it
+is very likely&mdash;though the original gift remain the same, one rupee and no
+more. You are entitled to think of any man as grateful in proportion to the
+gift, so long as you allow the gratitude at all." He made this speech in a
+perfectly natural and unconcerned way, as if he were contemplating the case
+of another person.</p>
+
+<p>"Seriously, Isaacs, I would not do so for the world. I believe you were
+as grateful twelve years ago, when you were poor, as you are now that you
+are rich." Isaacs was silent, but a look of great gentleness crossed his
+face. There was at times something almost angelic in the perfect kindness
+of his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"To return," I said at last, "to the subject from which we started, the
+tigers. If we are really going, <a name="Page_152"></a>we must leave here
+the day after to-morrow morning&mdash;indeed, why not to-morrow?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; to-morrow we are to play that game of polo, which I am looking
+forward to with pleasure. Besides, it will take the men three days to get
+the elephants together, and I only telegraphed this morning to the
+collector of the district to make the arrangements."</p>
+
+<p>"So you have already taken steps? Does Kildare know you have sent
+orders?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly. He came to me this morning at daybreak, and we determined to
+arrange everything and take uncle Ghyrkins for granted. You need not look
+astonished; Kildare and I are allies, and very good friends." What a true
+Oriental! How wise and far-sighted was the Persian, how bold and reckless
+the Irishman! It was odd, I thought, that Kildare had not mentioned the
+interview with Isaacs. Yet there was a certain rough
+delicacy&mdash;contradictory and impulsive&mdash;in his silence about this coalition
+with his rival. We rode along and discussed the plans for the expedition.
+All the men in the party, except Lord Steepleton, who had not been long in
+India, had killed tigers before. There would be enough of us, without
+asking any one else to join. The collector to whom Isaacs had telegraphed
+was an old acquaintance of his, and would probably go out for a few days
+with us. It all seemed easy enough and plain sailing. In the course of time
+we returned to our hotel, dressed, <a name="Page_153"></a>and made our way
+through the winding roads to Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' bungalow.</p>
+
+<p>We were met on the verandah by the old commissioner, who welcomed us
+warmly and praised our punctuality, for the clock was striking seven in the
+drawing-room, as we divested ourselves of our light top-coats. In the
+vestibule, Miss Westonhaugh and her brother came forward to greet us.</p>
+
+<p>"John," said the young lady, "you know I told you there was some one
+here whom you got out of trouble ever so many years ago in Bombay. Here he
+is. This is a new introduction. Mr. John Westonhaugh, Mr. Abdul
+Hafiz-ben-Is&acirc;k, commonly known to his friends as Mr. Isaacs." Her
+face beamed with pleasure, and I thought with pride, as she led her brother
+to Isaacs, and her eyes rested long on the Persian with a look that, to me,
+argued something more than a mere interest. The two men clasped hands and
+stood for some seconds looking at each other in silence, but with very
+different expressions. Westonhaugh wore a look of utter amazement, though
+he certainly seemed pleased. The good heart that had prompted the good
+action twelve years before was still in the right place, above any petty
+considerations about nationality. His astonishment gradually changed to a
+smile of real greeting and pleasure, as he began to shake the hand he still
+held. I thought that even the faintest tinge of blood coloured his pale
+cheek.</p>
+
+<p>"God bless my soul," said he, "I remember you <a
+name="Page_154"></a>perfectly well now. But it is so unexpected; my sister
+reminded me of the story, which I had not forgotten, and now I look at you
+I remember you perfectly. I am so glad."</p>
+
+<p>As Isaacs answered, his voice trembled, and his face was very pale.
+There was a moisture in the brilliant eyes that told of genuine
+emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Westonhaugh, I consider that I owe to you everything I have in the
+world. This is a greater pleasure than I thought was in store for me.
+Indeed I thank you again."</p>
+
+<p>His voice would not serve him. He stopped short and turned away to look
+for something in his coat.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed," said Westonhaugh, "it was a very little thing I did for you."
+And presently the two men went together into the drawing-room, Westonhaugh
+asking all manner of questions, which Isaacs, who was himself again, began
+to answer. The rest of us remained in the vestibule to meet Lord
+Steepleton, who at that moment came up the steps. There were more
+greetings, and then the head <i>khitmatgar</i> appeared and informed the
+"<i>Sahib log</i>, protectors of the poor, that their meat was ready." So
+we filed into the dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was placed at Miss Westonhaugh's right, and her brother sat on
+his other side. Ghyrkins was opposite his niece at the other end, and
+Kildare and I were together, facing Westonhaugh and Isaacs, a party of six.
+Of course Kildare sat beside the lady.</p>
+
+<p>The dinner opened very pleasantly. <i>I</i> could see <a
+name="Page_155"></a>that Isaacs' undisguised gratitude and delight in
+having at last met the man who had helped him had strongly predisposed John
+Westonhaugh in his favour. Who is it that is not pleased at finding that
+some deed of kindness, done long ago with hardly a thought, has borne fruit
+and been remembered and treasured up by the receiver as the turning-point
+in his life? Is there any pleasure greater than that we enjoy through the
+happiness of others&mdash;in those rare cases where kindness is not misplaced? I
+had had time to reflect that Isaacs had most likely told a part of his
+story to Miss Westonhaugh on the previous afternoon as soon as he had
+recognised her brother. He might have told her before; I did not know how
+long he had known her, but it must have been some time. Presently she
+turned to him.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "some of us know something of your history. Why
+will you not tell us the rest now? My uncle has heard nothing of it, and I
+know Lord Steepleton is fond of novels."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs hesitated long, but as every one pressed him in turn, he yielded
+at last. And he told it well. It was exactly the narrative he had given me,
+in every detail of fact, but the whole effect was different. I saw how true
+a mastery he had of the English language, for he knew his audience
+thoroughly, and by a little colour here and an altered expression there he
+made it graphic and striking, not without humour, and altogether free of a
+certain mystical tinge he had imparted to it when we were alone. He talked
+<a name="Page_156"></a>easily, with no more constraint than on other
+occasions, and his narrative was a small social success. I had not seen him
+in evening dress before, and I could not help thinking how much more
+thoroughly he looked the polished man of the world than the other men.
+Kildare never appeared to greater advantage than in the uniform and
+trappings of his profession. In a black coat and a white tie he looked like
+any other handsome young Englishman, utterly without individuality. But
+Isaacs, with his pale complexion and delicate high-bred features, bore
+himself like a noble of the old school. Westonhaugh beside him looked
+washed-out and deathly, Kildare was too coarsely healthy, and Ghyrkins and
+I, representing different types of extreme plainness, served as foils to
+all three.</p>
+
+<p>I watched Miss Westonhaugh while Isaacs was speaking. She had evidently
+heard the whole story, for her expression showed beforehand the emotion she
+expected to feel at each point. Her colour came and went softly, and her
+eyes brightened with a warm light beneath the dark brows that contrasted so
+strangely yet delightfully with the mass of flaxen-white hair. She wore
+something dark and soft, cut square at the neck, and a plain circlet of
+gold was her only ornament. She was a beautiful creature, certainly; one of
+those striking-looking women of whom something is always expected, until
+they drop quietly out of youth into middle age, and the world finds out
+that they are, after all, not heroines of <a name="Page_157"></a>romance,
+but merely plain, honest, good women; good wives and good mothers who love
+their homes and husbands well, though it has pleased nature in some strange
+freak to give them the form and feature of a Semiramis, a Cleopatra, or a
+Jeanne d'Arc.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me, how very interesting!" exclaimed Mr. Ghyrkins, looking up from
+his hill mutton as Isaacs finished, and a little murmur of sympathetic
+applause went round the table.</p>
+
+<p>"I would give a great deal to have been through all that," said Lord
+Steepleton, slowly proceeding to sip a glass of claret.</p>
+
+<p>"Just think!" ejaculated John Westonhaugh. "And I was entertaining such
+a Sinbad unawares!" and he took another green pepper from the dish his
+servant handed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Upon my word, Isaacs," I said, "some one ought to make a novel of that
+story; it would sell like wildfire."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you do it yourself, Griggs?" he asked. "You are a pressman,
+and I am sure you are welcome to the whole thing."</p>
+
+<p>"I will," I answered.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh do, Mr. Griggs," said the young lady, "and make it wind up with a
+tiger-hunt. You could lay the scene in Australia or the Barbadoes, or some
+of those places, and put us all in&mdash;and kill us all off, if you like, you
+know. It would be such fun." Poor Miss Westonhaugh!</p>
+
+<p>"It is easy to see what you are thinking about <a
+name="Page_158"></a>most, Miss Westonhaugh," said Lord Steepleton: "the
+tigers are uppermost in your mind; and therefore in mine also," he added
+gallantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, no&mdash;I was thinking about Mr. Isaacs." She blushed scarlet&mdash;the
+first time I had ever seen her really embarrassed. It was very natural that
+she should be thinking of Isaacs and the strange adventures he had just
+recounted; and if she had not cared about him she would not have changed
+colour. So I thought, at all events.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear, drink some water immediately, this curry is very hot&mdash;deuced
+hot, in fact," said Mr. Ghyrkins, in perfectly good faith.</p>
+
+<p>John Westonhaugh, who was busy breaking up biscuits and green peppers
+and "Bombay ducks" into his curry, looked up slowly at his sister and
+smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you are quite a griffin, Katharine," said he, "how they will laugh
+at you in Bombay!" I was amused; of course the remarks of her uncle and
+brother did not make the blush subside&mdash;on the contrary. Kildare was
+drinking more claret, to conceal his annoyance. Isaacs had a curious
+expression. There was a short silence, and for one instant he turned his
+eyes to Miss Westonhaugh. It was only a look, but it betrayed to me&mdash;who
+knew what he felt&mdash;infinite surprise, joy, and sympathy. His quick
+understanding had comprehended that he had scored his first victory over
+his rival.</p>
+
+<p>As her eyes met those of Isaacs, the colour left her <a
+name="Page_159"></a>cheeks as suddenly as it had come, leaving her face
+dead white. She drank a little water, and presently seemed at ease again. I
+was beginning to think she cared for him seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"And pray, John," she asked, "what may a griffin be? It is not a very
+pretty name to call a young lady, is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, a griffin," put in Mr. Ghyrkins, "is the 'Mr. Verdant Green' of
+the Civil Service. A young civilian&mdash;or anybody else&mdash;who is just out from
+home is called a griffin. John calls you a griffin because you don't
+understand eating pepper. You don't find it as <i>chilly</i> as he does!
+Ha! ha! ha!" and the old fellow laughed heartily, till he was red in the
+face, at his bleared old pun. Of course every one was amused or professed
+to be, for it was a diversion welcomed by the three men of us who had seen
+the young girl's embarrassment.</p>
+
+<p>"A griffin," said I, "is a thing of joy. Mr. Westonhaugh was a griffin
+when he gave Mr. Isaacs that historical rupee." I cast my little bombshell
+into the conversation, and placidly went on manipulating my rice.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was in too gay a humour to be offended, and he only said, turning
+to Miss Westonhaugh&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs is a cynyic, you know. You must not believe anything he
+says."</p>
+
+<p>"If doing kind things makes one a griffin, I hope I may be one always,"
+said Miss Westonhaugh quickly, "and I trust my brother is as much a griffin
+as ever."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_160"></a>"I am, I assure you," said he. "But Mr. Griggs is
+quite right, and shows a profound knowledge of Indian life. No one but a
+griffin of the greenest ever gave anybody a rupee in Bombay&mdash;or ever will
+now, I should think."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, John, are you going to be cynical too?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Katharine, I am not cynical at all. I do not think you are quite
+sure what a 'cynic' is."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, I know quite well. Diogenes was a cynic, and Saint Jerome, and
+other people of that class."</p>
+
+<p>"A man who lives in a tub, and abuses Alexander the Great, and that sort
+of thing," remarked Kildare, who had not spoken for some time.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs," said John Westonhaugh, "since you are the accused, pray
+define what you mean by a cynic, and then Mr. Isaacs, as the accuser, can
+have a chance too."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I will. A man is a cynic if he will do no good to any one
+because he believes every one past improvement. Most men who do good
+actions are also cynics, because they well know that they are doing more
+harm than good by their charity. Mr. Westonhaugh has the discrimination to
+appreciate this, and therefore he is not a cynic."</p>
+
+<p>"It is well you introduced the saving clause, Griggs," said Isaacs to me
+from across the table. "I am going to define you now; for I strongly
+suspect that you are the very ideal of a philosopher of that class. You are
+a man who believes in all that is good <a name="Page_161"></a>and beautiful
+in theory, but by too much indifference to good in small measures&mdash;for you
+want a thing perfect, or you want it not at all&mdash;you have abstracted
+yourself from perceiving it anywhere, except in the most brilliant examples
+of heroism that history affords. You set up in your imagination an ideal
+which you call the good man, and you are utterly dissatisfied with anything
+less perfect than perfection. The result is that, though you might do a
+good action from your philosophical longing to approach the ideal in your
+own person, you will not suffer yourself to believe that others are
+consciously or unconsciously striving to make themselves better also. And
+you do not believe that any one can be made a better man by any one else,
+by any exterior agency, by any good that you or others may do to him. What
+makes you what you are is the fact that you really cherish this beautiful
+ideal image of your worship and reverence, and love it; but for this, you
+would be the most insufferable man of my acquaintance, instead of being the
+most agreeable."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was gifted with a marvellous frankness of speech. He always said
+what he meant, with a supreme indifference to consequences; but he said it
+with such perfect honesty and evident appreciation of what was good, even
+when he most vehemently condemned what he did not like, that it was
+impossible to be annoyed. Every one laughed at his attack on me, and having
+satisfied my desire to observe Miss Westonhaugh, which had prompted my
+first <a name="Page_162"></a>remark about griffins, I thought it was time
+to turn the conversation to the projected hunt.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," I said, "I think that in spite of your Parthian shaft,
+your definition of a cynic is as complimentary to the school at large as to
+me in particular. Meanwhile, however," I added, turning to Mr. Ghyrkins, "I
+am inclined to believe with Lord Steepleton that the subject uppermost in
+the thoughts of most of us is the crusade against the tigers. What do you
+say? Shall we not all go as we are, a neat party of six?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, Mr. Griggs, we shall see, you know. Now, if we are going at
+all, when do you mean to start?"</p>
+
+<p>"The sooner the better of course," broke in Kildare, and he launched
+into a host of reasons for going immediately, including the wildest
+statistics about the habits of tigers in winter. This was quite natural,
+however, as he was a thorough Irishman and had never seen a tiger in his
+life. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins vainly attempted to stem the torrent of his
+eloquence, but at last pinned him on some erratic statement about tigers
+moulting later in the year and their skins not being worth taking. Kildare
+would have asserted with equal equanimity that all tigers shed their teeth
+and their tails in December; he was evidently trying to rouse Mr. Ghyrkins
+into a discussion on the subject of tiger shooting in general, a purpose
+very easily accomplished. The old gentleman was soon goaded to madness by
+Kildare's wonderful <a name="Page_163"></a>opinions, and before long he
+vowed that the youngster had never seen a tiger,&mdash;not one in his whole
+life, sir,&mdash;and that it was high time he did, high time indeed, and he
+swore he should see one before he was a week older. Yes, sir, before he was
+a week older, "if I have to carry you among 'em like a baby in arms, sir,
+by gad, sir&mdash;I should think so!"</p>
+
+<p>This was all we wanted, and in another ten minutes we were drinking a
+bumper to the health of the whole tiger-hunt and of Miss Westonhaugh in
+particular. Isaacs joined with the rest, and though he only drank some
+sherbet, as I watched his bright eyes and pale cheek, I thought that never
+knight drank truer toast to his lady. Miss Westonhaugh rose and went out,
+leaving us to smoke for a while. The conversation was general, and turned
+on the chase, of course. In a few minutes Isaacs dropped his cigarette and
+went quietly out. I determined to detain the rest as long as possible, and
+I seconded Mr. Ghyrkins in passing the claret briskly round, telling all
+manner of stories of all nations and peoples&mdash;ancient tales that would not
+amuse a schoolboy in America, but which were a revelation of profound wit
+and brilliant humour to the unsophisticated British mind. By immense
+efforts&mdash;and I hate to exert myself in conversation&mdash;I succeeded in
+prolonging the session through a cigar and a half, but at last I was forced
+to submit to a move; and with a somewhat ancient remark from Mr. Ghyrkins,
+to the effect that all good things <a name="Page_164"></a>must come to an
+end, we returned to the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were looking over some English photographs,
+and she was enthusiastically praising the beauties of Gothic architecture,
+while Isaacs was making the most of his opportunity, and taking a good look
+at her as she bent over the album. After we came in, she made a little
+music at the tuneless piano&mdash;there never was a piano in India yet that had
+any tune in it&mdash;playing and singing a little, very prettily. She sang
+something about a body in the rye, and then something else about drinking
+only with the eyes, to which her brother sang a sort of second very nicely.
+I do not understand much about music, but I thought the allusion to Isaacs'
+temperance in only drinking with his eyes was rather pointed. He said,
+however, that he liked it even better with a second than when she sang it
+alone, so I argued that it was not the first time he had heard it.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "you have often promised to sing something
+Persian for us. Will you not keep your word now?"</p>
+
+<p>"When we are among the tigers, Miss Westonhaugh, next week. Then I will
+try and borrow a lute and sing you something."</p>
+
+<p>It was late for an Indian dinner-party, so we took our departure soon
+afterwards, having agreed to meet the following afternoon at Annandale for
+the game of polo, in which Westonhaugh said he would also <a
+name="Page_165"></a>play. He and Isaacs made some appointment for the
+morning; they seemed to be very sympathetic to each other. Kildare mounted
+and rode homeward with us, though he had much farther to go than we. If he
+felt any annoyance at the small successes Isaacs had achieved during the
+evening, he was far too courteous a gentleman to show it; and so, as we
+groped our way through the trees by the starlight, chiefly occupied in
+keeping our horses on their legs, the snatches of conversation that were
+possible were pleasant, if not animated, and there was a cordial
+"Good-night" on both sides, as we left Kildare to pursue his way alone.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_166"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_VIII'></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon when Isaacs and I emerged
+from the narrow road upon the polo ground. We were clad in the
+tight-fitting garments which are necessary for the game, and wrapped in
+light top-coats; as we came out on the green we saw a number of other men
+in similar costume standing about, and a great many native grooms leading
+ponies up and down. Miss Westonhaugh was there in her gray habit and broad
+hat, and by her side, on foot, Lord Steepleton Kildare was making the most
+of his time, as he waited for the rest of the players. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins
+was ambling about on his broad little horse, and John Westonhaugh stood
+with his hands in his pockets and a large Trichinopoli cheroot between his
+lips, apparently gazing into space. Several other men, more or less known
+to us and to each other, moved about or chatted disconnectedly, and one or
+two arrived after us. Some of them wore coloured jerseys that showed
+brightly over the open collars of their coats, others were in ordinary
+dress and had come to see the game. Farther off, at one side of the ground,
+one or two groups of ladies and their escorting cavaliers haunted at a
+short distance <a name="Page_167"></a>by their saices in many-coloured
+turbans and belts, or <i>cummer-bunds,</i> as the sash is called in India,
+moved slowly about, glancing from time to time towards the place where the
+players and their ponies were preparing for the contest.</p>
+
+<p>Few games require so little preparation and so few preliminaries as
+polo, descended as it is from an age when more was thought of good
+horsemanship and quick eye than of any little refinements depending on an
+accurate knowledge of fixed rules. Any one who is a firstrate rider and is
+quick with his hands can learn to play polo. The stiffest of arms can be
+limbered and the most recalcitrant wrist taught to turn nimbly in its
+socket; but the essential condition is, that the player should know how to
+ride. This being established, there is no reason why anybody who likes
+should not play the game, if he will only use a certain amount of caution,
+and avoid braining the other players and injuring the ponies by too wild a
+use of his mallet. Presently it was found that all who were to play had
+arrived&mdash;eight of us all told. Kildare had arranged the sides and had
+brought the other men necessary to make the number complete, so we mounted
+and took up our positions on the ground. Kildare and Isaacs were together,
+and Westonhaugh and I on the other side, with two men I knew slightly. We
+won the charge, and Westonhaugh, who was a celebrated player, struck the
+ball off cleverly, and I followed him up with a rush as he raced after it.
+Isaacs, on the other side, swept <a name="Page_168"></a>along easily, and
+as the ball swerved on striking the ground bent far over till he looked as
+though he were out of the saddle and stopped it cleverly, while Kildare,
+who was close behind, got a good stroke in just in time, as Westonhaugh and
+I galloped down on him, and landed the ball far to the rear near our goal.
+As we wheeled quickly, I saw that one of the other two men on our side had
+stopped it and was beginning to "dribble" it along. This was very bad play,
+both Westonhaugh and I being so far forward, and it met its reward. Isaacs
+and Kildare raced down on him, but the latter soon pulled up on finding
+himself passed, and waited. Isaacs rushed upon the temporising player and
+got the ball away from him in no time; eluded the other man, and with a
+neat stroke sent the ball right between the poles. The game had hardly
+lasted three minutes, and a little sound of clapping was heard from where
+the spectators were standing, far off on one side. I could see Miss
+Westonhaugh plainly, as she cantered with her uncle to where the victors
+were standing together on the other side, patting their ponies and
+adjusting stirrup and saddle. Isaacs had his back turned, but wheeled round
+as he heard the sound of hoofs behind him and bowed low in his saddle to
+the fair girl, whose face, I could see even at that distance, was flushed
+with pleasure. They remained a few minutes in conversation, and then the
+two spectators rode away, and we took up our positions once more.</p>
+
+<p>The next game was a much longer one. It was <a name="Page_169"></a>the
+turn of the other party to hit off, for Kildare won the charge. There were
+encounters of all kinds; twice the ball was sent over the line, but outside
+the goal, by long sweeping blows from Isaacs, who ever hovered on the edge
+of the scrimmage, and, by his good riding, and the help of a splendid pony,
+often had a chance where another would have had none. At last it happened
+that I was chasing the ball back towards our goal, from one of his hits,
+and he was pursuing me. I had the advantage of a long start, and before he
+could reach me I got in a heavy "backhander" that sent the ball far away to
+one side, where, as good luck would have it, Westonhaugh was waiting. Quick
+as thought he carried it along, and in another minute we had scored a goal,
+amidst enthusiastic shouts from the spectators, who had been kept long in
+suspense by the protracted game. This time it was to our side that the
+young girl came, riding up to her brother to congratulate him on his
+success. I thought she had less colour as she came nearer, and though she
+smiled sweetly as she said, "It was splendidly played, John," there was not
+so much enthusiasm in her voice as the said John, who had really won the
+game with masterly neatness, might have expected. Then she sat quietly
+looking over the ground, while we dismounted from our ponies, breathless,
+and foaming, and lathery, from the hard-fought battle. The grooms ran up
+with blankets and handfuls of grass to give the poor beasts a rub, and
+covering them carefully after removing the saddles, led them away.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_170"></a>The sun leaves Annandale early, and I put on a
+coat and lit a cigarette, while the saice saddled our second mounts. There
+are few prettier sights than an English game, of any kind, on a beautiful
+stretch of turf. The English live, and move and have their being out of
+doors. A cricket-match, tennis, a racecourse, or a game of polo, show them
+at their greatest advantage, whether as players or spectators. Their fresh
+complexions suit the green of the grass and of the trees as naturally as a
+bed of roses, or cyclamens, or any fresh and healthy flower will combine
+with the grass and the ferns in garden or glen. The glorious vitality that
+belongs to their race seems to blossom freshly in the contact with their
+mother earth, and the physical capacity for motion with which nature endows
+them makes them graceful and fascinating to watch, when in some free and
+untrammelled dress of white they are at their games, batting and bowling
+and galloping and running; they have the same natural grace then as a herd
+of deer or antelopes; they are beautiful animals in the full enjoyment of
+life and vigour, of health and strength; they are intensely alive.
+Something of this kind passed through my mind, in all probability, and,
+combined with the delightful sensation any strong man feels in the pause
+after great exertion, disposed me well towards my fellows and towards
+mankind at large. Besides we had won the last game.</p>
+
+<p>"You look pleased, Mr. Griggs," said Miss Westonhaugh, who had probably
+been watching me for a <a name="Page_171"></a>moment or two. "I did not
+know cynics were ever pleased."</p>
+
+<p>"I remember who it was that promised to crown the victors of this match,
+Miss Westonhaugh, and I cherish some hopes of being one of them. Would you
+mind very much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mind? Oh dear no; you had better try. But if you stand there with your
+coat on, you will not have much chance. They are all mounted, and waiting
+for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, here goes," I said to myself, as I got into the saddle again. "I
+hope he may win, but he would find me out in a minute if I tried to play
+into his hands." We were only to play the best out of three goals, and the
+score was "one all." All eight of us had fresh mounts, and the experience
+of each other's play we had got in the preceding games made it likely that
+the game would be a long one. And so it turned out.</p>
+
+<p>From the first things went badly. John Westonhaugh's fresh pony was very
+wild, and he had to take him a breather half over the ground before he
+could take his place for the charge. When at last the first stroke was
+made, the ball went low along the ground, spinning and twisting to right
+and left. Both Kildare and Isaacs missed it and wheeled across to return,
+when a prolonged scrimmage ensued less than thirty yards from their goal.
+Every one played his best, and we wheeled and spun round in a way that
+reminded one of a cavalry skirmish. Strokes <a name="Page_172"></a>and
+back-strokes followed quickly, till at last I got the ball as it came
+rolling out between my horse's legs, and, hotly pursued, beyond the
+possibility of making a fair stroke, I moved away with it in front of
+me.</p>
+
+<p>Then began one of those interminable circular games that all polo
+players know so well, round and round the battlefield, riding close
+together, sometimes one succeeding in driving the ball a little, only to be
+foiled by the next man's ill-delivered back-stroke; racing, and pulling up
+short, and racing again, till horses and riders were in a perspiration and
+a state of madness not to be attained by any peaceful means. At last, as we
+were riding near our own goal, some one, I could not see who, struck the
+ball out into the open. Isaacs, who had just missed, and was ahead, rode
+for it like a madman, his club raised high for a back-stroke. He was hotly
+pressed by the man who had roused my wrath in the first game by his
+"dribbling" policy. He was a light weight and had kept his best horse for
+the last game, so that as Isaacs spun along at lightning speed the little
+man was very close to him, his club well back for a sweeping hit. He rode
+well, but was evidently not so old a hand in the game as the rest of us.
+They neared the ball rapidly and Isaacs swerved a little to the left in
+order to get it well under his right hand, thus throwing himself somewhat
+across the track of his pursuer. As the Persian struck with all his force
+downwards and backwards, his adversary, <a name="Page_173"></a>excited by
+the chase, beyond all judgment or reckoning of his chances, hit out wildly,
+as beginners will. The long elastic handle of his weapon struck Isaacs'
+horse on the flank and glanced upward, the head of the club striking Isaacs
+just above the back of the neck. We saw him throw up his arms, the club in
+his right hand hanging to his wrist by the strap. The infuriated little
+arab pony tore on, and in a moment more the iron grip of the rider's knees
+relaxed, Isaacs swayed heavily in the saddle and fell over on the near
+side, his left foot hanging in the stirrup and dragging him along some
+paces before the horse finally shook himself clear and scampered away
+across the turf. The whole catastrophe occurred in a moment; the man who
+had done the mischief threw away his club to reach the injured player the
+sooner, and as we thundered after him, my pony stumbled over the long
+handle, and falling, threw me heavily over his head. I escaped with a very
+slight kick from one of the other horses, and leaving my beast to take care
+of himself, ran as fast as I could to where Isaacs lay, now surrounded by
+the six players as they dismounted to help him. But there was some one
+there before them.</p>
+
+<p>The accident had occurred near the middle of the ground, and opposite
+the place where Miss Westonhaugh and her uncle had taken up their stand to
+watch the contest. With a shake of the reins and a blow of the hand that
+made the thoroughbred bound his length as he plunged into a gallop, the
+girl rode <a name="Page_174"></a>wildly to where Isaacs lay, and reining
+the animal back on his haunches, sprang to the ground and knelt quickly
+down, so that before the others had reached them she had propped up his
+head and was rubbing his hands in hers. There was no mistaking the impulse
+that prompted her. She had seen many an accident in the hunting-field, and
+knew well that when a man fell like that it was ten to one he was badly
+hurt.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was ghastly pale, and there was a little blood on Miss
+Westonhaugh's white gauntlet. Her face was whiter even than his, though not
+a quiver of mouth or eyelash betrayed emotion. The man who had done it
+knelt on the other side, rubbing one of the hands. Kildare and Westonhaugh
+galloped off at full speed, and presently returned bearing a brandy-flask
+and a smelling-bottle, and followed by a groom with some water in a native
+<i>lota</i>. I wanted to make him swallow some of the liquor, but Miss
+Westonhaugh took the flask from my hands.</p>
+
+<p>"He would not like it. He never drinks it, you know," she said in a
+quiet low voice, and pouring some of the contents on her handkerchief,
+moistened all his brows and face and hair with the powerful alcohol.</p>
+
+<p>"Loosen his belt! pull off his boots, some of you!" cried Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins, as he came up breathless. "Take off his belt&mdash;damn it, you know!
+Dear, dear!" and he got off his <i>tat</i> with all the alacrity he could
+muster.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_175"></a>Miss Westonhaugh never took her eyes from the
+face of the prostrate man&mdash;pressing the wet handkerchief to his brow, and
+moistening the palm of the hand she held with brandy. In a few minutes
+Isaacs breathed a long heavy breath, and opened his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter?" he said; then, recollecting himself and trying to
+move his head&mdash;"Oh! I have had a tumble. Give me some water to drink."
+There was a sigh of relief from every one present as he spoke, quite
+naturally, and I held the <i>lota</i> to his lips. "What became of the
+ball?" he asked quickly, as he sat up. Then turning round, he saw the
+beautiful girl kneeling at his side. The blood rushed violently to his
+face, and his eyes, a moment ago dim with unconsciousness, flashed
+brightly. "What! Miss Westonhaugh&mdash;you?" he bounded to his feet, but would
+have fallen back if I had not caught him in my arms, for he was still dizzy
+from the heavy blow that had stunned him. The blood came and went in his
+cheeks, and he hung on my arm confused and embarrassed, looking on the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>"I really owe you all manner of apologies&mdash;" he began.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of it, my dear boy," broke in Ghyrkins, "my niece was nearest
+to you when you fell, and so she came up and did the right thing, like the
+brave girl she is." The old fellow helped her to rise as he said this, and
+he looked so pleased and proud of her that I was delighted with him. "And
+now," he went on, "we must see how much you are hurt&mdash;the <a
+name="Page_176"></a>deuce of a knock, you know, enough to kill you&mdash;and if
+you are not able to ride, why, we will carry you home, you know; the devil
+of a way off it is, too, confound it all." As he jerked out his sentences
+he was feeling the back of Isaacs' head, to ascertain, if he could, how
+much harm had been done. All this time the man who had done the mischief
+was standing by, looking very penitent, and muttering sentences of apology
+as he tried to perform any little office for his victim that came in his
+way. Isaacs stretched out his arm, while Ghyrkins was feeling and twisting
+his head, and taking the man's hand, held it a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear sir," he said, "I am not in the least hurt, I assure you, and
+it was my fault for crossing you at such a moment. Please do not think
+anything more about it." He smiled kindly at the young fellow, who seemed
+very grateful, and who from that day on would have risked everything in the
+world for him. I heard behind me the voice of Kildare, soliloquising
+softly.</p>
+
+<p>"Faith," said he, "that fellow is a gentleman if I ever saw one. I am
+afraid I should not have let that infernal duffer off so easily.
+By-the-bye, Isaacs," he said aloud, coming up to us, "you know you won the
+game. Nobody stopped the ball after you hit it, and the saices say it ran
+right through the goal. So cheer up; you have got something for your pains
+and your tumble." It was quite true; the phlegmatic saices had watched the
+ball instead of the falling <a name="Page_177"></a>man. Miss Westonhaugh,
+who was really a sensible and self-possessed young woman, and had begun to
+be sure that the accident would have no serious results, expressed the most
+unbounded delight.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Miss Westonhaugh," said Isaacs; "you have kept your promise;
+you have crowned the victor."</p>
+
+<p>"With brandy," I remarked, folding up a scarf which somebody had given
+me wherewith to tie a wet compress to the back of his head.</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing the matter," said Ghyrkins; "no end of a bad bruise,
+that's all. He will be all right in the morning, and the skin is only a
+little broken."</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," said Isaacs, who could now stand quite firm again, "hold the
+wet handkerchief in place, and give me that scarf." I did as he directed,
+and he took the white woollen shawl, and in half a dozen turns wound it
+round his head in a turban, deftly and gracefully. It was wonderfully
+becoming to his Oriental features and dark eyes, and I could see that Miss
+Westonhaugh thought so. There was a murmur of approbation from the native
+grooms who were looking on, and who understood the thing.</p>
+
+<p>"You see I have done it before," he said, smiling. "And now give me my
+coat, and we will be getting home. Oh yes! I can ride quite well."</p>
+
+<p>"That man has no end of pluck in him," said John Westonhaugh to
+Kildare.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! yes," was the answer. "I have seen <a name="Page_178"></a>men
+at home make twice the fuss over a tumble in a ploughed field, when they
+were not even stunned. I would not have thought it."</p>
+
+<p>"He is not the man to make much fuss about anything of that kind."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs stoutly refused any further assistance, and after walking up and
+down a few minutes, he said he had got his legs back, and demanded a
+cigarette. He lit it carefully, and mounted as if nothing had happened, and
+we moved homeward, followed by the spectators, many of whom, of course,
+were acquaintances, and who had ridden up more or less quickly to make
+polite inquiries about the accident. No one disputed with Isaacs the right
+to ride beside Miss Westonhaugh on the homeward road. He was the victor of
+the day, and of course was entitled to the best place. We were all
+straggling along, but without any great intervals between us, so that the
+two were not able to get away as they had done on Saturday evening, but
+they talked, and I heard Miss Westonhaugh laugh. Isaacs was determined to
+show that he appreciated his advantage, and though, for all I know, he
+might be suffering a good deal of pain, he talked gaily and sat his horse
+easily, rather a strange figure in his light-coloured English overcoat,
+surmounted by the large white turban he had made out of the shawl. As we
+came out on the mall at the top of the hill, Mr. Ghyrkins called a council
+of war.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course we shall have to put off the tiger-hunt."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_179"></a>"I suppose so," muttered Kildare,
+disconsolately.</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" said Isaacs. "Not a bit of it. Head or no head, we will start
+to-morrow morning. I am well enough, never fear."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense, you know it's nonsense," said Ghyrkins, "you will be in bed
+all day with a raging headache. Horrid things, knocks on the back of the
+head."</p>
+
+<p>"Not I. My traps are all packed, and my servants have gone down to
+Kalka, and I am going to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, of course, if you really think you can," etc. etc. So he was
+prevailed upon to promise that if he should be suffering in the morning he
+would send word in time to put off the party. "Besides," he added, "even if
+I could not go, that is no reason why you should not."</p>
+
+<p>"Stuff," said Ghyrkins.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Miss Westonhaugh, looking rather blank.</p>
+
+<p>"That would never do," said John.</p>
+
+<p>"Preposterous! we could not think of going without you," said Lord
+Steepleton Kildare loudly; he was beginning to like Isaacs in spite of
+himself. And so we parted.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not dine to-night, Griggs," said Isaacs, as we paused before
+his door. "Come in for a moment: you can help me." We entered the richly
+carpeted room, and he went to a curious old Japanese cabinet, and after
+opening various doors and divisions, <a name="Page_180"></a>showed a small
+iron safe. This he opened by some means known to himself, for he used no
+key, and he took out a small vessel of jade and brought it to the light.
+"Now," he said, "be good enough to warm this little jar in your hands while
+I go into the next room and get my boots and spurs and things off. But do
+not open it on any account&mdash;not on any account, until I come back," he
+added very emphatically.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, go ahead," said I, and began to warm the cold thing that
+felt like a piece of ice between my hands. He returned in a few minutes
+robed in loose garments from Kashmir, with the low Eastern slippers he
+generally wore indoors. He sat down among his cushions and leaned back,
+looking pale and tired; after ordering the lamps to be lit and the doors
+closed, he motioned me to sit down beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"I have had a bad shaking," he said, "and my head is a good deal
+bruised. But I mean to go to-morrow in spite of everything. In that little
+vial there is a powerful remedy unknown in your Western medicine. Now I
+want you to apply it, and to follow with the utmost exactness my
+instructions. If you fear you should forget what I tell you, write it down,
+for a mistake might be fatal to you, and would certainly be fatal to
+me."</p>
+
+<p>I took out an old letter and a pencil, not daring to trust my
+memory.</p>
+
+<p>"Put the vial in your bosom while you write: it must be near the
+temperature of the body. Now <a name="Page_181"></a>listen to me. In that
+silver box is wax. Tie first this piece of silk over your mouth, and then
+stop your nostrils carefully with the wax. Then open the vial quickly and
+pour a little of the contents into your hand. You must be quick, for it is
+very volatile. Rub that on the back of my head, keeping the vial closed.
+When your hand is dry, hold the vial open to my nostrils for two minutes by
+your watch. By that time, I shall be asleep. Put the vial in this pocket of
+my <i>caftán</i>; open all the doors and windows, and tell my servant to
+leave them so, but not to admit any one. Then you can leave me; I shall
+sleep very comfortably. Come back and wake me a little before midnight. You
+will wake me easily by lifting my head and pressing one of my hands.
+Remember, if you should forget to wake me, and I should still be asleep at
+one o'clock, I should never open my eyes again, and should be dead before
+morning. Do as I tell you, for friendship's sake, and when I wake I shall
+bathe and sleep naturally the rest of the night."</p>
+
+<p>I carefully fulfilled his instructions. Before I had finished rubbing
+his head he was drowsy, and when I took the vial from his nostrils he was
+sound asleep. I placed the precious thing where he had told me, and
+arranged his limbs on the cushions. Then I opened everything, and leaving
+the servant in charge went my way to my rooms. On removing the silk and the
+wax which had protected me from the powerful drug, an indescribable odour
+which <a name="Page_182"></a>permeated my clothes ascended to my nostrils;
+aromatic, yet pungent and penetrating; I never smelt anything that it
+reminded me of, but I presume the compound contained something of the
+nature of an opiate. I took some books down to Isaacs' rooms and passed the
+evening there, unwilling to leave him to the care of an inquisitive
+servant, and five minutes before midnight I awoke him in the manner he had
+directed. He seemed to be sleeping lightly, for he was awake in a moment,
+and his first action was to replace the vial in the curious safe. He
+professed himself perfectly restored; and, indeed, on examining his bruise
+I found there was no swelling or inflammation. The odour of the medicament,
+which, as he had said, seemed to be very volatile, had almost entirely
+disappeared. He begged me to go to bed, saying that he would bathe and then
+do likewise, and I left him for the night; speculating on the nature of
+this secret and precious remedy.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_183"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_IX'></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The Himalayan <i>tonga</i> is a thing of delight. It is easily
+described, for in principle it is the ancient Persian war-chariot, though
+the accommodation is so modified as to allow four persons to sit in it back
+to back; that is, three besides the driver. It is built for great strength,
+the wheels being enormously heavy, and the pole of the size of a mast.
+Harness the horses have none, save a single belt with a sort of lock at the
+top, which fits into the iron yoke through the pole, and can slide from it
+to the extremity; there is neither breeching nor trace nor collar, and the
+reins run from the heavy curb bit directly through loops on the yoke to the
+driver's hands. The latter, a wiry, long-bearded Mohammedan, is armed with
+a long whip attached to a short thick stock, and though he sits low, on the
+same level as the passenger beside him on the front seat, he guides his
+half broken horses with amazing dexterity round sharp curves and by giddy
+precipices, where neither parapet nor fencing give the startled mind even a
+momentary impression of security. The road from Simla to Kalka at the foot
+of the hills is so narrow that if two vehicles meet, the one has to <a
+name="Page_184"></a>draw up to the edge of the road, while the other passes
+on its way. In view of the frequent encounters, every tonga-driver is
+provided with a post horn of tremendous power and most discordant harmony;
+for the road is covered with bullock carts bearing provisions and stores to
+the hill station. Smaller loads, such as trunks and other luggage, are
+generally carried by coolies, who follow a shorter path, the carriage road
+being ninety-two miles from Umballa, the railroad station, to Simla, but a
+certain amount may be stowed away in the tonga, of which the capacity is
+considerable.</p>
+
+<p>In three of these vehicles our party of six began the descent on Tuesday
+morning, wrapped in linen "dusters" of various shades and shapes, and armed
+with countless varieties of smoking gear. The roughness of the road
+precludes all possibility of reading, and, after all, the rapid motion and
+the constant appearance of danger&mdash;which in reality does not exist&mdash;prevent
+any overpowering <i>ennui</i> from assailing the dusty traveller. So we
+spun along all day, stopping once or twice for a little refreshment, and
+changing horses every five or six miles. Everybody was in capital spirits,
+and we changed seats often, thus obtaining some little variety. Isaacs, who
+to every one's astonishment, seemed not to feel any inconvenience from his
+accident, clung to his seat in Miss Westonhaugh's tonga, sitting in front
+with the driver, while she and her uncle or brother occupied the seat
+behind, which is far more comfortable. <a name="Page_185"></a>At last,
+however, he was obliged to give his place to Kildare, who had been very
+patient, but at last said it "really wasn't fair, you know," and so Isaacs
+courteously yielded. At last we reached Kalka, where the tongas are
+exchanged for <i>d&acirc;k gharry</i> or mail carriage, a thing in which
+you can sit up in the daytime and lie down at night, there being an
+extension under the driver's box calculated for the accommodation of the
+longest legs. When lying down in one of these vehicles the sensation is
+that of being in a hearse and playing a game of funeral. On this occasion,
+however, it was still early when we made the change, and we paired off, two
+and two, for the last part of the drive. By the well planned arrangements
+of Isaacs and Kildare, two carriages were in readiness for us on the
+express train, and though the difference in temperature was enormous
+between Simla and the plains, still steaming from the late rainy season,
+the travelling was made easy for us, and we settled ourselves for the
+journey, after dining at the little hotel; Miss Westonhaugh bidding us all
+a cheery "good-night" as she retired with her <i>ayah</i> into the carriage
+prepared for her. I will not go into tedious details of the journey&mdash;we
+slept and woke and slept again, and smoked, and occasionally concocted iced
+drinks from our supplies, for in India the carriages are so large that the
+traveller generally provides himself with a generous basket of provisions
+and a travelling ice-chest full of bottles, and takes a trunk or two with
+<a name="Page_186"></a>him in his compartment. Suffice it to say that we
+arrived on the following day at Fyzabad in Oude, and that we were there met
+by guides and shikarries&mdash;the native huntsmen&mdash;who assured us that there
+were tigers about near the outlying station of Pegnugger, where the
+elephants, previously ordered, would all be in readiness for us on the
+following day. The journey from Fyzabad to Pegnugger was not a long one,
+and we set out in the cool of the evening, sending our servants along in
+that "happy-go-lucky" fashion which characterises Indian life. It has
+always been a mystery to me how native servants manage always to turn up at
+the right moment. You say to your man, "Go there and wait for me," and you
+arrive and find him waiting; though how he transferred himself thither,
+with his queer-looking bundle, and his lota, and cooking utensils, and your
+best teapot wrapped up in a newspaper and ready for use, and with all the
+other hundred and one things that a native servant contrives to carry about
+without breaking or losing one of them, is an unsolved puzzle. Yet there he
+is, clean and grinning as ever, and if he were not clean and grinning and
+provided with tea and cheroots, you would not keep him in your service a
+day, though you would be incapable of looking half so spotless and pleased
+under the same circumstances yourself.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day, therefore, we found ourselves at Pegnugger,
+surrounded by shikarries and provided with every instrument of the chase
+that the <a name="Page_187"></a>ingenuity of man and the foresight of
+Isaacs and Ghyrkins could provide. There were numbers of tents, sleeping
+tents, cooking tents, and servants' tents; guns and ammunition of every
+calibre likely to be useful; <i>kookries</i>, broad strong weapons not
+unlike the famous American bowie knives (which are all made in Sheffield,
+to the honour, glory, and gain, of British trade); there were huge packs of
+provisions edible and potable; baskets of utensils for the kitchen and the
+table, and piles of blankets and tenting gear for the camp. There was also
+the little collector of Pegnugger, whose small body housed a stout heart,
+for he had shot tigers on foot before now in company with a certain German
+doctor of undying sporting fame, whose big round spectacles seemed to
+direct his bullets with unerring precision. But the doctor was not here
+now, and so the sturdy Englishman condescended to accept a seat in the
+howdah, and to kill his game with somewhat less risk than usual.</p>
+
+<p>This first day was occupied in transferring our party, now swelled by
+countless beaters and numerous huntsmen, not to mention all the retinue of
+servants necessary for an Indian camp, to the neighbourhood of the
+battlefield. There is not much conversation on these occasions, for the
+party is apt to become scattered, and there is a general tone of expectancy
+in the air, the old hands conversing more with the natives who know the
+district than with each other, and the young ones either wondering how <a
+name="Page_188"></a>many tigers they will kill, or listening open mouthed
+to the tales of adventure reeled off by the yard by the old bearded
+shikarry, who has slain the king of the jungle with a <i>kookrie</i> in
+hand to hand struggle when he was young, and bears the scars of the deadly
+encounter on his brown chest to this day. Old Ghyrkins, who was evidently
+in his element, rode about on a little <i>tat</i>, questioning beaters and
+shikarries, and coming back every now and then to bawl up some piece of
+information to the little collector, who had established himself on one of
+the elephants and looked down over the edge of the howdah, the great pith
+hat on his head making him look like an immense mushroom with a very thin
+stem sprouting suddenly from the back of the huge beast. He smiled
+pleasantly at the old sportsman from his elevation, and seemed to know all
+about it. It so chanced that when he received Isaacs' telegrams he had been
+planning a little excursion on his own account, and had been sending out
+scouts and beaters for some days to ascertain where the game lay. This, of
+course, was so much clear gain to us, and the little man was delighted at
+the opportune coincidence which enabled him, by the unlimited money
+supplied, to join in such a hunt as he had not seen since the time when the
+Prince of Wales disported himself among the royal game, three years before.
+As for Miss Westonhaugh, she was in the gayest of spirits, as she sat with
+her brother on an elephant's back, while Isaacs, who loved the saddle,
+circled <a name="Page_189"></a>round her and kept up a fire of little
+compliments and pretty speeches, to which she was fast becoming inured.
+Kildare and I followed them closely on another elephant, discoursing
+seriously about the hunt, and occasionally shouting some question to John
+Westonhaugh, ahead, about sport in the south.</p>
+
+<p>Before evening we had arrived at our first camping ground, near a small
+village on the outskirts of the jungle, and the tents were pitched on a
+little elevation covered with grass, now green and waving. The men had
+mowed a patch clear, and were busy with the pegs and all the paraphernalia
+of a canvas house, and we strolled about, some of us directing the
+operations, others offering a sacrifice of cooling liquids and tobacco to
+the setting sun. Miss Westonhaugh had heard about living in tents ever
+since she came to India, and had often longed to sleep in one of those
+temporary chambers that are set up anywhere in the "compound" of an English
+bungalow for the accommodation of the bachelor guests whom the house itself
+is too small to hold; now she was enchanted at the prospect of a whole
+fortnight under canvas, and watched with rapt interest the driving of the
+pegs, the raising of the poles, and the careful furnishing of her dwelling.
+There was a carpet, and armchairs, and tables, and even a small bookcase
+with a few favourite volumes. To us in civilised life it seems a great deal
+of trouble to transport a lunch basket and a novel to some shady glen to
+enjoy a day's rest in the open air, and we would <a
+name="Page_190"></a>almost rather starve than take the trouble to carry
+provisions. In India you speak the word, and as by magic there arises in
+the wilderness a little village of tents, furnished with every necessary
+luxury&mdash;and the luxuries necessary to our degenerate age are many&mdash;a
+kitchen tent is raised, and a skilled dark-skinned artist provides you in
+an hour with a dinner such as you could eat in no hotel. The treasures of
+the huge portable ice-chest reveal cooling wines and soda water to the
+thirsty soul, and if you are going very far beyond the reach of the large
+towns, a small ice-machine is kept at work day and night to increase the
+supply while you sleep, and to maintain it while you wake. In the
+<i>conn&acirc;t</i> or verandah of the tent, long chairs await you after
+your meal, and as you smoke the fragrant cigarette and watch the stars
+coming out, you feel as comfortable as though you had been dining in your
+own spacious bungalow in Mudnugger.</p>
+
+<p>It was not long before all was ready, and having made many ablutions and
+a little toilet, we assembled round the dinner table in the eating tent,
+the same party that had dined at Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' house on Sunday
+night, with the addition of the little collector of Pegnugger, whose
+stories of his outlying district were full of humour and anecdote. The talk
+bending in the direction of adventure, Kildare, who had been lately in
+South Africa with his regiment, told some tales of Zulus and assegais and
+Boers in the Hibernian style of hyperbole. The <a name="Page_191"></a>Irish
+blood never comes out so strongly as when a story is to be told, and no
+amount of English education and Oxford accent will suppress the tendency.
+The brogue is gone, but the love of the marvellous is there still. Isaacs
+related the experience of "a man he knew," who had been pulled off his
+elephant, howdah and all, and had killed the tiger with a revolver at half
+arm's length.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah yes," said the little collector, who had not caught the names of all
+the party when introduced, "I read about it at the time; I remember it very
+well. It happened in Purneah two years ago. The gentleman was a Mr. Isaacs
+of Delhi. Queer name too&mdash;remember perfectly." There was a roar of laughter
+at this, in which the collector joined vociferously on being informed that
+the man with the "queer name" was his neighbour at table.</p>
+
+<p>"You see what you get for your modesty," cried old Ghyrkins, laughing to
+convulsions.</p>
+
+<p>"And is it really true, Mr. Isaacs?" asked Miss Westonhaugh, looking
+admiringly across at the young man, who seemed rather annoyed.</p>
+
+<p>And so the conversation went round and all were merry, and some were
+sleepy after dinner, and we sat in long chairs under the awning or
+<i>conn&acirc;t</i>. There was no moon yet, but the stars shone out as they
+shine nowhere save in India, and the evening breeze played pleasantly
+through the ropes after the long hot day. Miss Westonhaugh assured
+everybody for the hundredth time that day that she rather <a
+name="Page_192"></a>liked the smell of cigars, and so we smoked and chatted
+a little, and presently there was a jerk and a sputtering sneeze from Mr.
+Ghyrkins, who, being weary with the march and the heat and the good dinner,
+and on the borders of sleep, had put the wrong end of his cigar in his
+mouth with destructive results. Then he threw it away with a small volley
+of harmless expletives, and swore he would go to bed, as he could not stand
+our dulness any longer; but he merely shifted his position a little, and
+was soon snoring merrily.</p>
+
+<p>"What a pity it is we have no piano, Katharine," said John Westonhaugh,
+who was fond of music. "Could you not sing something without any
+accompaniment?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no. Mr. Isaacs," she said, turning her voice to where she could see
+the light of his cigarette and the faint outline of his chair in the
+starlight, "here we are in the camp. Now where is the 'lute' you promised
+to produce for us? I think the time has come at last for you to keep your
+promise."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said he, "I believe there really is an old guitar or something
+of the kind among my traps somewhere. But it might wake Mr. Ghyrkins, who,
+I understand from his tones, is asleep."</p>
+
+<p>Various opinions were expressed to the effect that Mr. Ghyrkins was not
+so easily disturbed, and a voice like Kildare's was heard to mumble that
+"it would not hurt him if he was," a sentence no one attempted to construe.
+So the faithful Narain was <a name="Page_193"></a>summoned, and instructed
+to bring the instrument if he could find it. I was rather surprised at
+Isaacs' readiness to sing; but in the first place I had never heard him,
+and besides I did not make allowance for the Oriental courtesy of his
+character, which would not refuse anything, or make any show of refusal in
+order to be pressed. Narain returned with a very modern-looking
+guitar-case, and, opening the box, presented his master with the
+instrument, which, as Isaacs took it to the light in the door of the tent
+to see if it had travelled safely, appeared to be a perfectly new German
+guitar. I suspected him of having purchased it at the little music shop at
+Simla, for the especial amusement of our party.</p>
+
+<p>"I thought it was a lute you played on," said Miss Westonhaugh, "a real,
+lovely, ancient Assyrian lute, or something of that kind."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, a plain guitar is infinitely better and less troublesome," said
+Isaacs as he returned to his seat in the dark and began to tune the strings
+softly. "It takes so long to tune one of those old things, and then nothing
+will make them stand. Now this one, you see,&mdash;or rather you cannot
+see,&mdash;has an ingenious contrivance of screws by which you may tune it in a
+moment." While he was speaking he was altering the pitch of the strings,
+and presently he added, "There, it is done now," and two or three sounding
+chords fell on the still air. "Now what shall I sing? I await your
+commands."</p>
+
+<p>"Something soft, and sweet, and gentle."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_194"></a>"A love-song?" asked he quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well yes&mdash;a love-song if you like. Why not?" said she.</p>
+
+<p>"No reason in the world that I can think of," I remarked. Whereat Lord
+Steepleton Kildare threw his cigar away, and began lighting another a
+moment after, as if he had discarded his weed by mistake.</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs struck a few chords softly, and then began a sort of running
+accompaniment. His voice, which seemed to me to be very high, was
+wonderfully smooth and round, and produced the impression of being much
+more powerful than he cared to show. He sang without the least effort, and
+yet there was none of that effeminate character that I have noticed in
+European male singers when producing high notes very softly. I do not
+understand music, but I am sure I never heard an opera tenor with a voice
+of such quality. The words of his song were Persian, and the pure accents
+of his native tongue seemed well suited to the half passionate, half
+plaintive air he had chosen. I afterwards found a translation of the sonnet
+by an English officer, which I here give, though it conveys little idea of
+the music of the original verse.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+Last night, my eyes being closed in sleep, but my good fortune awake,<br />
+The whole night, the livelong night, the image of my beloved one was the
+companion of my soul.<br />
+The sweetness of her melodious voice still remains vibrating on my soul;<br
+/>
+Heavens! how did the sugared words fall from her sweeter lips;<br />
+Alas! all that she said to me in that dream has escaped from my memory,<br
+/>
+<a name="Page_195"></a>Although it was my care till break of day to repeat
+over and over her sweet words.<br />
+The day, unless illuminated by her beauty, is, to my eyes, of nocturnal
+darkness.<br />
+Happy day that first I gazed upon that lovely face!<br />
+May the eyes of Jami long be blessed with pleasing visions, since they
+presented to his view last night<br />
+The object, on whose account he passed his waking life in
+expectation.<sup><a href="#fn1" name="rfn1">[1]</a></sup><br />
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>His beautiful voice ceased, and with infinite skill he wove a few
+strains of the melody into the final chords he played when he had finished
+singing. It was all so entirely novel, so unlike any music most of us had
+ever heard, and it was so undeniably good, that every one applauded and
+said something to the singer in turn, expressing the greatest admiration
+and appreciation. Miss Westonhaugh was the last to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"It is perfectly lovely," she said. "I wish I could understand the
+words&mdash;are they as sweet as the music?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sweeter," he answered, and he gave an offhand translation of two or
+three verses.</p>
+
+<p>"Beautiful indeed," she said; "and now sing me another, please." There
+was no resisting such an appeal, with the personal pronoun in the singular
+number. He moved a little nearer, and emphatically sang to her, and to no
+one else. A song of the same character as the first, but, I thought, more
+passionate and less dreamy, as his great sweet voice swelled and softened
+and rose again in burning vibrations <a name="Page_196"></a>and waves of
+sound. She did not ask a translation this time, but some one else did,
+after the applause had subsided.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot translate these things," said Isaacs, "so as to do them
+justice, or give you any idea of the strength and vitality of the Persian
+verses. Perhaps Griggs, who understands Persian very well and is a literary
+man, may do it for you. I would rather not try." I professed my entire
+inability to comply with the request, and to turn the conversation asked
+him where he had learned to play the guitar so well.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," he answered, "in Istamboul, years ago. Everybody plays in
+Istamboul&mdash;and most people sing love-songs. Besides it is so easy," and he
+ran scales up and down the strings with marvellous rapidity to illustrate
+what he said.</p>
+
+<p>"And do you never sing English songs, Mr. Isaacs?" asked the collector
+of Pegnugger, who was enchanted, not having heard a note of music for
+months.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, sometimes," he answered. "I think I could sing 'Drink to me only
+with thine eyes'&mdash;do you know it?" He began to play the melody on the
+guitar while he spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Rather&mdash;I should think so!" Kildare was heard to say. He was beginning
+to think the concert had lasted long enough.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do sing it, Mr. Isaacs," said the young girl, "and my brother and I
+will join in. It will be so pretty!"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_197"></a>It certainly sounded very sweetly as he gave the
+melody in his clear, high tones, and Miss Westonhaugh and John sang with
+him. Having heard it several thousand times myself, I was beginning to
+recognise the tune well enough to enjoy it a good deal.</p>
+
+<p>"That is very nice," said Kildare, who was sorry he had made an
+impatient remark before, and wanted to atone.</p>
+
+<p>"Eh? what? how's that?" said Mr. Ghyrkins just waking up. "Oh! of
+course. My niece sings charmingly. Quite an artist, you know." And he
+struggled out of his chair and said it was high time we all went to bed if
+we meant to shoot straight in the morning. The magistrate of Pegnugger
+concurred in the opinion, and we reluctantly separated for the night to our
+respective quarters, Isaacs and I occupying a tent together, which he had
+caused to be sent on from Delhi, as being especially adapted to his
+comfort.</p>
+
+<p>On the following day at dawn we were roused by the sound of
+preparations, and before we were dressed the voices of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins
+and the collector were heard in the camp, stirring up the sleepy servants
+and ordering us to be waked. The two old sportsmen felt it their duty to be
+first on such an occasion as this, and in the calm security that they would
+do everything that was right, Isaacs and I discussed our tea and fruit&mdash;the
+<i>chota haziri</i> or "little breakfast" usually taken in India on
+waking&mdash;sitting <a name="Page_198"></a>in the door of our tent, while
+Kiramat Ali and Narain and Mahmoud and the rest of the servants were giving
+a final rub to the weapons of the chase, and making all the little
+preparations for a long day. And we sat looking out and sipping our
+tea.</p>
+
+<p>In the cool of the dawn Miss Westonhaugh came tripping across the wet
+grass to where her uncle was giving his final directions about the
+furnishing of his howdah for the day; a lovely apparition of freshness in
+the gray morning, all dressed in dark blue, a light pith helmet-shaped hat
+pressing the rebellious white-gold hair almost out of sight. She walked so
+easily it seemed as if her dainty little feet had wings, as Hermes' of old,
+to ease the ground of their feather weight. A broad belt hung across her
+shoulder with little rows of cartridges set all along, and at the end hung
+a very business-like revolver case of brown leather and of goodly length.
+No toy miniature pistol would she carry, but a full-sized, heavy
+"six-shooter," that might really be of use at close quarters. She stood
+some minutes talking with Mr. Ghyrkins, not noticing us in the shadow of
+the tent some thirty yards away; Isaacs and I watched her intently&mdash;with
+very different feelings, possibly, but yet intensely admiring the fair
+creature, so strong and pliant, and yet so erect and straight. She turned
+half round towards us, and I saw there were flowers in the front of her
+dress. I wondered where they had come from; they were roses&mdash;of all flowers
+in the world to be blooming in the desert. Perhaps she <a
+name="Page_199"></a>had brought them carefully from Fyzabad, but that was
+improbable; or from Pegnugger&mdash;yes, there would be roses in the collector's
+garden there. Isaacs rose to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, come along, Griggs. You have had quite enough tea!"</p>
+
+<p>"Go ahead; I will be with you in a moment." But a sudden thought struck
+me, and I went with him, bareheaded, to greet Miss Westonhaugh. She smiled
+brightly as she held out her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Good morning, Mr. Isaacs. Thank you so much for the roses. How
+<i>did</i> you do it? They are <i>too</i> lovely!" So it was just as I
+thought. Isaacs had probably despatched a man back to Pegnugger in the
+night.</p>
+
+<p>"Very easy I assure you. I am so glad you like them. They are not very
+fresh after all though, I see," he added depreciatingly, as men do when
+they give flowers to people they care about. I never heard a man find fault
+with flowers he gave out of a sense of duty. It is perhaps that the woman
+best loved of all things in the world has for him a sweetness and a beauty
+that kills the coarser hues of the rose, and outvies the fragrance of the
+double violets.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no!" she said, emphasising the negative vigorously. "I think they
+are perfectly beautiful, but I want you to tell me where you got them." I
+began talking to Ghyrkins, who was intent on the arrangement of his guns
+which was going on under his eyes, but I heard the answer, though Isaacs
+spoke in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_200"></a>"You must not say that, Miss Westonhaugh. You
+yourself are the most perfect and beautiful thing God ever made." By a
+superhuman effort I succeeded in keeping my eyes fixed on Ghyrkins,
+probably with a stony, unconscious stare, for he presently asked what I was
+looking at. I do not think Isaacs cared whether I heard him or not, knowing
+that I sympathised, but Mr. Ghyrkins was another matter. The Persian had
+made progress, for there was no trace of annoyance in Miss Westonhaugh's
+answer, though she entirely overlooked her companion's pretty speech.</p>
+
+<p>"Seriously, Mr. Isaacs, if you mean to have one of them for your badge
+to-day, you must tell me how you got them." I turned slowly round. She was
+holding a single rose in her fingers, and looking from it to him, as if to
+see if it would match his olive skin and his Karkee shooting-coat. He could
+not resist the bribe.</p>
+
+<p>"If you really want to know I will tell you, but it is a profound
+secret," he said, smiling. "Griggs, swear!"</p>
+
+<p>I raised my hand and murmured something about the graves of my
+ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he continued, "yesterday morning at the collector's house I saw
+a garden; in the garden there were roses, carefully tended, for it is late.
+I took the gardener apart and said, 'My friend, behold, here is silver for
+thee, both rupees and pais. And if thou wilt pick the best of thy roses and
+deliver them to the swift runner whom I will send to thee at supper <a
+name="Page_201"></a>time when the stars are coming out, I will give thee as
+much as thou shalt earn in a month with thy English master. But if thou
+wilt not do it, or if thou failest to do it, having promised, I will cause
+the grave of thy father to be defiled with the slaughter of swine, and,
+moreover, I will return and beat thee with a thick stick!' The fellow was a
+Mussulman, and there was a merry twinkle in his eye as he took the money
+and swore a great oath. I left a running man at Pegnugger with a basket,
+and that is how you got the roses. Don't tell the collector, that is
+all."</p>
+
+<p>We all laughed, and Miss Westonhaugh gave the rose to Isaacs, who
+touched it to his lips, under pretence of smelling it, and put it in his
+buttonhole. Kildare came up at this moment and created a diversion; then
+the collector joined us and scattered us right and left, saying it was high
+time we were in the howdahs and on the way. So we buckled on our belts, and
+those who wore hats put them on, and those who preferred turbans bent while
+their bearers wound them on, and then we moved off to where the elephants
+were waiting and got into our places, and the <i>mahouts</i> urged the huge
+beasts from their knees to their feet, and we went swinging off to the
+forest. The pad elephants, who serve as beaters and move between the howdah
+animals, joined us, and presently we went splashing through the reedy
+patches of fern, and crashing through the branches, towards the heart of
+the jungle.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_202"></a>Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, whose long experience had
+made him as cool when after tigers as when reading the <i>Pioneer</i> in
+his shady bungalow at Simla, had taken Miss Westonhaugh with him in his
+howdah, and as an additional precaution for her safety, the little
+collector of Pegnugger, who was a dead shot, only allowed two pad elephants
+to move between himself and Ghyrkins. As there were thirty-seven animals in
+all, the rest of the party were much scattered. I thought there were too
+many elephants for our six howdahs, but it turned out that I was mistaken,
+for we had capital sport. The magistrate of Pegnugger, who knew the country
+thoroughly, was made the despot of the day. His orders were obeyed
+unquestioningly and unconditionally, and we halted in long line or marched
+onwards, forcing a passage through every obstacle, at his word. We might
+have been out a couple of hours, watching every patch of jungle and blade
+of long rank grass for a sight of the striped skin, writhing through the
+reeds, that we so longed to see, when the quick, short crack of a rifle
+away to the right brought us to a halt, and every one drew a long breath
+and turned, gun in hand, in the direction whence the sound had come. It was
+Kildare; he had met his first tiger, and the first also of the hunt. He had
+put up the animal not five paces in front of him, stealing along in the
+cool grass and hoping to escape between the elephants, in the cunning way
+they often do. He had fired a snap shot too quickly, inflicting a wound in
+the flank which <a name="Page_203"></a>only served to rouse the tiger to
+madness. With a leap that seemed to raise its body perpendicularly from the
+ground, the gorgeous creature flew into the air and settled right on the
+head of Kildare's elephant, while the terrified <i>mahout</i> wound himself
+round the howdah. It would have been a trying position for the oldest
+sportsman, but to be brought into such terrific encounter at arm's length,
+almost, at one's very first experience of the chase, was a terrible test of
+nerve. Those who were near said that in that awful moment Kildare never
+changed colour. The elephant plunged wildly in his efforts to shake off the
+beast from his head, but Kildare had seized his second gun the moment he
+had discharged the first, and aiming for one second only, as the tossing
+head and neck of the tusker brought the gigantic cat opposite him, fired
+again. The fearful claws, driven deep and sure into the thick hide of the
+poor elephant, relaxed their hold, the beautiful lithe limbs straightened
+by their own perpendicular weight, and the first prize of the day dropped
+to the ground like lead, dead, shot through the head.</p>
+
+<p>A great yell of triumph arose all along the line, and the little
+<i>mahout</i> crept cautiously back from his lurking-place behind the
+howdah to see if the coast were clear. Kildare had behaved splendidly, and
+shouts of congratulation reached his ears from all sides. Miss Westonhaugh
+waved her handkerchief in token of approbation, every one applauded, and
+far away to the left Isaacs, who was in the last howdah, <a
+name="Page_204"></a>clapped his hands vigorously, and sent his high clear
+voice ringing like a trumpet down the line.</p>
+
+<p>"Well done, Kildare! well done, indeed!" and his rival's praise was not
+the least grateful to Lord Steepleton on that day. Meanwhile the shikarries
+gathered around the fallen beast. It proved to be a young tigress some
+eight feet long, and the clean bright coat showed that she was no
+man-eater. So the pad elephant came alongside, to use a nautical phrase not
+inappropriate, and kneeling down received its burden willingly, well
+knowing that the slain beauty was one of his deadly foes. The <i>mahout</i>
+pronounced the elephant on which Kildare was mounted able to proceed, and
+only a few huge drops of blood marked where the tigress had kept her hold.
+We moved on again, beating the jungle, wheeling and doubling the long line,
+wherever it seemed likely that some striped monster might have eluded us.
+Marching and counter-marching through the heat of the day, we picked up
+another-prize in the afternoon. It was a large old tiger, nine feet six as
+he lay; he fell an easy prey to the gun of the little collector of
+Pegnugger, who sent a bullet through his heart at the first shot, and
+smiled rather contemptuously as he removed the empty shell of the cartridge
+from his gun. He would rather have had Kildare's chance in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>After all, two tigers in a day was not bad sport for the time of year. I
+knew Isaacs would be disappointed at not having had a shot, where his rival
+in <a name="Page_205"></a>a certain quarter had had so good an opportunity
+for displaying skill and courage; and I confessed to myself that I
+preferred a small party, say, a dozen elephants and three howdahs, to this
+tremendous and expensive <i>battue</i>. I had a shot-gun with me, and
+consoled myself by shooting a peacock or two as we rolled and swayed
+homewards. We had determined to keep to the same camp for a day or two, as
+we could enter the forest from another point on the morrow, and might even
+beat some of the same ground again with success.</p>
+
+<p>It was past five when we got down to the tents and descended from our
+howdahs, glad to stretch our stiffened limbs in a brisk walk. The dead
+tigers were hauled into the middle of the camp, and the servants ran
+together to see the result of the <i>sahib log's</i> day out. We retired to
+dress and refresh ourselves for dinner.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_206"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_X'></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+
+<p>In Isaacs' tent I was pulling off my turban, all shapeless and crumpled
+by the long day, while Isaacs stood disconsolately looking at the clean
+guns and unbroken rows of cartridges which Narain deposited on the table.
+The sun was very low, and shone horizontally through the raised door of the
+tent on my friend's rather gloomy face. At that moment something
+intercepted the sunshine, and a dark shadow fell across the floor. I
+looked, and saw a native standing on the threshold, salaaming and waiting
+to be spoken to. He was not one of our men, but a common ryot, clad simply
+in a <i>dhoti</i> or waist-cloth, and a rather dirty turban.</p>
+
+<p>"Kya chahte ho?"&mdash;"What do you want?" asked Isaacs impatiently. He was
+not in a good humour by any means. "Wilt thou deprive thy betters of the
+sunlight thou enjoyest thyself?"</p>
+
+<p>"The sahib's face is like the sun and the moon," replied the man
+deprecatingly. "But if the great lord will listen I will tell him what
+shall rejoice his heart."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak, unbeliever," said Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"Protector of the poor! you are my father and my <a
+name="Page_207"></a>mother! but I know where there lieth a great tiger, an
+eater of men, hard-hearted, that delighteth in blood."</p>
+
+<p>"Dog," answered Isaacs, calmly removing his coat, "the tiger you speak
+of was seen by you many moons since; what do you come to me with idle tales
+for?" Isaacs was familiar with the native trick of palming off old tigers
+on the unwary stranger, in the hope of a reward.</p>
+
+<p>"Sahib, I am no liar. I saw the tiger, who is the king of the forest,
+this morning." Isaacs' manner relaxed a little, and he sat down and lighted
+the eternal cigarette. "Slave," he said meditatively, "if it is as you say,
+I will kill the tiger, but if it is not as you say, I will kill you, and
+cause your body to be buried with the carcass of an ox, and your soul shall
+not live." The man did not seem much moved by the threat. He moved nearer,
+and salaamed again.</p>
+
+<p>"It is near to the dwelling of the sahib, who is my father," said the
+man, speaking low. "The day before yesterday he destroyed a man from the
+village. He has eaten five men in the last moon. I have seen him enter his
+lair, and he will surely return before the dawn; and the sahib shall strike
+him by his lightning; and the sahib will not refuse me the ears of the
+man-eater, that I may make a <i>j&auml;du</i>, a charm against sudden
+death?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hound! if thou speakest the truth, and I kill the tiger, the monarch of
+game, I will make thee a rich man; but thou shalt not have his ears. I
+desire the <i>j&auml;du</i> for myself. I have spoken; wait thou here my <a
+name="Page_208"></a>pleasure." The ryot bent low to the earth, and then
+squatted by the tent-door to wait, in the patient way that a Hindoo can,
+for Isaacs to go and eat his dinner. As the latter came out ten minutes
+later, he paused and addressed the man once more. "Speak not to any man of
+thy tiger while I am gone, or I will cut off thine ears with a pork knife."
+And we passed on.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was now set and hovering in the afterglow, the new moon was
+following lazily down. I stopped a moment to look at her, and was surprised
+by Miss Westonhaugh's voice close behind me.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you wishing by the new moon, Mr. Griggs?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said I, "I was. And what were you wishing, Miss Westonhaugh, if I
+may ask?" Isaacs came up, and paused beside us. The beautiful girl stood
+quite still, looking to westward, a red glow on the white-gold masses of
+her hair.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you say you were wishing for something, Miss Westonhaugh?" he
+asked. "Perhaps I can get it for you. More flowers, perhaps? They are very
+easily got."</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;that is, not especially. I was wishing&mdash;well, that a tiger-hunt
+might last for ever; and I want a pair of tiger's ears. My old <i>ayah</i>
+says they keep off evil spirits and sickness; and all sorts of things."</p>
+
+<p>"I know; it is a curious idea. I suppose both those beasts there have
+lost theirs already. These fellows cut them off in no time."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_209"></a>"Yes. I have looked. So I suppose I must wait
+till to-morrow. But promise me, Mr. Isaacs, if you shoot one to-morrow,
+let me have the ears!"</p>
+
+<p>"I will promise that readily enough. I would promise anything you&mdash;" The
+last part of the sentence was lost to me, as I moved away and left
+them.</p>
+
+<p>At dinner, of course, every one talked of the day's sport, and
+compliments of all kinds were showered on Lord Steepleton, who looked very
+much pleased, and drank a good deal of wine. Ghyrkins and the little
+magistrate expressed their opinion that he would make a famous tiger-killer
+one of these days, when he had learned to wait. Every one was hungry and
+rather tired, and after a somewhat silent cigar, we parted for the night,
+Miss Westonhaugh rising first. Isaacs went to his quarters, and I remained
+alone in a long chair, by the deserted dining-tent. Kiramat Ali brought me
+a fresh hookah, and I lay quietly smoking and thinking of all kinds of
+things&mdash;things of all kinds, tigers, golden hair, more tigers, Isaacs,
+Shere Ali, Baithop&mdash;, what was his name&mdash;Baithop&mdash;p&mdash;. I fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>Some one touched my hand, waking me suddenly. I sprang to my feet and
+seized the man by the throat, before I recognised in the starlight that it
+was Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"You are not a nice person to rouse," remarked he in a low voice, as I
+relaxed my grasp. "You will have fever if you sleep out-of-doors at this
+time of year. Now look here; it is past midnight, and I am going <a
+name="Page_210"></a>out a little way." I noticed that he had a
+<i>kookrie</i> knife at his waist, and that his cartridge-belt was on his
+chest.</p>
+
+<p>"I will go with you," said I, guessing his intention. "I will be ready
+in a moment," and I began to move towards the tent.</p>
+
+<p>"No. I must go alone, and do this thing single-handed. I have a
+particular reason. I only wanted to warn you I was gone, in case you missed
+me. I shall take that ryot fellow with me to show me the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Give him a gun," I suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"He could not use one if I did. He has your <i>kookrie</i> in case of
+accidents."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, very well! do not let me interfere with any innocent and childlike
+pastime you may propose for your evening hours. I will attend to your
+funeral in the morning. Good-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night; I shall be back before you are up." And he walked quickly
+off to where the ryot was waiting and holding his guns. He had the sense to
+take two. I was angry at the perverse temerity of the man. Why could he not
+have an elephant out and go like a sensible thinking being, instead of
+sneaking out with one miserable peasant to lie all night among the reeds,
+in as great danger from cobras as from the beast he meant to kill? And all
+for a girl &mdash;an English girl&mdash;a creature all fair hair and eyes, with no
+more intelligence than a sheep! Was it not she who sent him out to his
+death in the jungle, that <a name="Page_211"></a>her miserable caprice for
+a pair of tiger's ears might be immediately satisfied? If a woman ever
+loved me, Paul Griggs,&mdash;thank heaven no woman ever did,&mdash;would I go out
+into bogs and desert places and risk my precious skin to find her a pair of
+cat's ears? Not I;&mdash;wait a moment, though. If I were in his place, if Miss
+Westonhaugh loved <i>me</i>&mdash;I laughed at the conceit. But supposing she
+did. Just for the sake of argument, I would allow it. I think that I would
+risk something after all. What a glorious thing it would be to be loved by
+a woman, once, wholly and for ever. To meet the creature I described to him
+the other night, waiting for me to come into her life, and to be to her all
+I could be to the woman I should love. But she has never come; never will,
+now; still, there is a sort of rest to me in thinking of rest. Hearth,
+home, wife, children; the worn old staff resting in the corner, never to
+wander again. What a strange thing it is that men should have all these,
+and more, and yet never see that they have the simple elements of earthly
+happiness, if they would but use them. And we, outcasts and wanderers,
+children of sin and darkness, in whose hands one commandment seems hardly
+less fragile than another, would give anything&mdash;had we anything to
+give&mdash;for the happiness of a home, to call our own. How strange it is that
+what I said to Isaacs should be true. "Do not marry unless you must depend
+on each other for daily bread, or unless you are rich enough to live
+apart." Yes, it is true, in ninetynine <a name="Page_212"></a>cases out of
+a hundred. But then, I should add a saving clause, "and unless you are
+quite sure that you love each other." Ay, there is the <i>pons
+asinorum,</i> the bridge whereon young asses and old fools come to such
+terrible grief. They are perfectly sure they love eternally; they will
+indignantly scorn the suggestions of prudence; love any other woman? never,
+while I live, answers the happy and unsophisticated youth. Be sorry I did
+it? Do you think I am a schoolboy in my first passion? demands the aged
+bridegroom. And so they marry, and in a year or two the enthusiastic young
+man runs away with some other enthusiastic man's wife, and the octogenarian
+spouse finds himself constituted into a pot of honey for his wife's
+swarming relations to settle on, like flies. But a man in strong middle
+prime of age, like me, knows his own mind; and&mdash;yes, on the whole I was
+unjust to Isaacs and to Miss Westonhaugh. If a woman loved me, she should
+have all the tiger's ears she wanted. "Still, I hope he will get back
+safely," I added, in afterthought to my reverie, as I turned into bed and
+ordered Kiramat Ali to wake me half an hour before dawn.</p>
+
+<p>I was restless, sleeping a little and dreaming much. At last I struck a
+light and looked at my watch. Four o'clock. It would not be dawn for more
+than an hour; I knew Isaacs had made for the place where the tiger passed
+his days, certain that he would return near daybreak, according to all
+common probability. He need not have gone so early, I <a
+name="Page_213"></a>thought. However, it might be a long way off. I lay
+still for a while, but it seemed very hot and close under the canvas. I got
+up and threw a <i>caftán</i> round me, drew a chair into the
+<i>conn&acirc;t</i> and sat, or rather lay, down in the cool morning
+breeze. Then I dozed again until Kiramat Ali woke me by pulling at my foot.
+He said it would be dawn in half an hour. I had passed a bad night, and
+went out, as I was, to walk on the grass. There was Miss Westonhaugh's tent
+away off at the other end. She was sleeping calmly enough, never doubting
+that at that very moment the man who loved her was risking his life for her
+pleasure&mdash;her slightest whim. She would be wide awake if she knew it,
+staring out into the darkness and listening for the crack of his rifle. A
+faint light appeared behind the dining-tent, over the distant trees, like
+the light of London seen from twenty or thirty miles' distance in the
+country, a faint, suggestive, murky grayness in the sky, making the stars
+look dimmer.</p>
+
+<p>The sound of a shot rang true and clear through the chill air; not far
+off I thought. I held my breath, listening for a second report, but none
+came. So it was over. Either he had killed the tiger with his first bullet,
+or the tiger had killed him before he could fire a second. I was intensely
+excited. If he were safe I wished him to have the glory of coming home
+quite alone. There was nothing for it but to wait, so I went into my tent
+and took a bath&mdash;a very simple operation where the bathing consists in <a
+name="Page_214"></a>pouring a huge jar of water over one's head. Tents in
+India have always a small side tent with a ditch dug to drain off the water
+from the copious ablutions of the inmate. I emerged into the room feeling
+better. It was now quite light, and I proceeded to dress leisurely to spin
+out the time. As I was drawing on my boots, Isaacs sauntered in quietly and
+laid his gun on the table. He was pale, and his Karkee clothes were covered
+with mud and leaves and bits of creeper, but his movements showed he was
+not hurt in any way; he hardly seemed tired.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" I said anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, thank you. Here they are," and he produced from the pocket
+of his coat the <i>spolia opima</i> in the shape of a pair of ears, that
+looked very large to me. There was a little blood on them and on his hands
+as he handed the precious trophies to me for inspection. We stood by the
+open door, and while I was turning over the ears curiously in my hands, he
+looked down at his clothes.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I will take a bath," he said; "I must have been in a dirty
+place."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," I said, taking his hand, "this is absurd. I mean all
+this affected calmness. I was angry at your going in that way, to risk your
+head in a tiger's mouth; but I am sincerely glad to see you back alive. I
+congratulate you most heartily."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, old man," he said, his pale face brightening a little. "I am
+very glad myself. Do you know I have a superstition that I must fulfil <a
+name="Page_215"></a>every wish of&mdash;like that&mdash;even half expressed, to the
+very letter?"</p>
+
+<p>"The 'superstition,' as you call it, is worthy of the bravest knight
+that ever laid lance in rest. Don't part with superstitions like that. They
+are noble and generous things."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," he answered, "but I really am very superstitious," he added,
+as he turned into the bathing <i>conn&acirc;t</i>. Soon I heard him
+splashing among the water jars.</p>
+
+<p>"By-the-bye, Griggs," he called out through the canvas, "I forgot to
+tell you. They are bringing that beast home on an elephant. It was much
+nearer than we supposed. They will be here in twenty minutes." A tremendous
+splashing interrupted him. "You can go and attend to that funeral you were
+talking about last night," he added, and his voice was again drowned in the
+swish and souse of the water. "He was rather large&mdash;over ten feet&mdash;I should
+say. Measure him as soon as he&mdash;" another cascade completed the sentence. I
+went out, taking the measuring tape from the table.</p>
+
+<p>In a few minutes the procession appeared. Two or three matutinal
+shikarries had gone out and come back, followed by the elephant, for which
+Isaacs had sent the ryot at full speed the moment he was sure the beast was
+dead. And so they came up the little hill behind the dining-tent. The great
+tusker moved evenly along, bearing on the pad an enormous yellow carcass,
+at which the little <i>mahout</i> glanced occasionally <a
+name="Page_216"></a>over his shoulder. Astride of the dead king sat the
+ryot, who had directed Isaacs, crooning a strange psalm of victory in his
+outlandish northern dialect, and occasionally clapping his hands over his
+head with an expression of the most intense satisfaction I have ever seen
+on a human face. The little band came to the middle of the camp where the
+other tigers, now cut up and skinned elsewhere, had been deposited the
+night before, and as the elephant knelt down, the shikarries pulled the
+whole load over, pad, tiger, ryot and all, the latter skipping nimbly
+aside. There he lay, the great beast that had taken so many lives. We
+stretched him out and measured him&mdash;eleven feet from the tip of his nose to
+the end of his tail, all but an inch&mdash;as a little more straightening fills
+the measure, eleven feet exactly.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the servant and shikarries collected, and the noise of the
+exploit went abroad. The sun was just rising when Mr. Ghyrkins put his head
+out of his tent and wanted to know "what the deuce all this
+<i>tam&auml;sha</i> was about."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, nothing especial," I called out. "Isaacs has killed an eleven foot
+man-eater in the night. That is all."</p>
+
+<p>"Well I'm damned," said Mr. Ghyrkins briefly, and to the point, as he
+stared from his tent at the great carcass, which lay stretched out for all
+to see, the elephant having departed.</p>
+
+<p>"Clear off those fellows and let me have a look at him, can't you?" he
+called out, gathering the tent <a name="Page_217"></a>curtains round his
+neck; and there he stood, his jolly red face and dishevelled gray hair
+looking as if they had no body attached at all.</p>
+
+<p>I went back to our quarters. Isaacs was putting the ears, which he had
+carefully cleansed from blood, into a silver box of beautiful workmanship,
+which Narain had extracted from his master's numerous traps.</p>
+
+<p>"Take that box to Miss Westonhaugh's tent," he said, giving it to the
+servant, "with a greeting from me&mdash;with 'much peace.'" The man went
+out.</p>
+
+<p>"She will send the box back," said I. "Such is the Englishwoman. She
+will take a pair of tiger's ears that nearly cost you your life, and she
+would rather die than accept the bit of silver in which you enclose them,
+without the 'permission of her uncle.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I do not care," he said, "so long as she keeps the ears. But unless I
+am much mistaken, she will keep the box too. She is not like other
+Englishwomen in the least."</p>
+
+<p>I was not sure of that. We had some tea in the door of our tent, and
+Isaacs seemed hungry and thirsty, as well he might be. Now that he was
+refreshed by bathing and the offices of the camp barber, he looked much as
+usual, save that the extreme paleness I had noticed when he came in had
+given place to a faint flush beneath the olive, probably due to his
+excitement, the danger being past. As we sat there, the rest of the party,
+who had slept rather later than usual after their fatigues of the previous
+<a name="Page_218"></a>day, came out one by one and stood around the dead
+tiger, wondering at the tale told by the delighted ryot, who squatted at
+the beast's head to relate the adventure to all comers. We could see the
+group from where we sat, in the shadow of the <i>conn&acirc;t</i>, and the
+different expressions of the men as they came out. The little collector of
+Pegnugger measured and measured again; Mr. Ghyrkins stood with his hands in
+his coat pockets and his legs apart, then going to the other side he took
+up the same position again. Lord Steepleton Kildare sauntered round and
+twirled his big moustache, saying nothing the while, but looking rather
+serious. John Westonhaugh, who seemed to be the artistic genius of the
+party, sent for a chair and made his servant hold an umbrella over him
+while he sketched the animal in his notebook, and presently his sister came
+out, a big bunch of roses in her belt, and a broad hat half hiding her
+face, and looked at the tiger and then round the party quickly, searching
+for Isaacs. In her hand she held a little package wrapped in white tissue
+paper. I strolled up to the group, leaving Isaacs in his tent. I thought I
+might as well play innocence.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," I remarked, "those fellows have bagged his ears as
+usual."</p>
+
+<p>"They never omit that," said Ghyrkins.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, uncle," broke in Miss Westonhaugh, "he gave them to me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Who?" asked Ghyrkins, opening his little eyes wide.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_219"></a>"Mr. Isaacs. Did not he kill the tiger? He sent
+me the ears in a little silver box. Here it is&mdash;the box, I mean. I am going
+to give it back to him, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"How did Mr. Isaacs know you wanted them?" asked her uncle, getting red
+in the face.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, we were talking about them last night before dinner, and he
+promised that if he shot a tiger to-day he would give me the ears." Mr.
+Ghyrkins was redder and redder in the morning sun. There was a storm of
+some kind brewing. We were collected together on the other side of the dead
+tiger and exchanged all kinds of spontaneous civilities and remarks, not
+wishing to witness Mr. Ghyrkins' wrath, nor to go away too suddenly. I
+heard the conversation, however, for the old gentleman made no pretence of
+lowering his voice.</p>
+
+<p>"And do you mean to say you let him go off like that? He must have been
+out all night. That beast of a nigger says so. On foot, too. I say on foot!
+Do you know what you are talking about? Eh? Shooting tigers on foot? What?
+Eh? Might have been killed as easily as not! And then what would you have
+said? Eh? What? Upon my soul! You girls from home have no more hearts than
+a parcel of old Juggernauts!" Ghyrkins was now furious. We edged away
+towards the dining-tent, making a great talk about the terrible heat of the
+sun in the morning. I caught the beginning of Miss Westonhaugh's answer.
+She had hardly appreciated the situation <a name="Page_220"></a>yet, and
+probably thought her uncle was joking, but she spoke very coldly, being
+properly annoyed at his talking in such a way.</p>
+
+<p>"You cannot suppose for a moment that I meant him to go," I heard her
+say, and something else followed in a lower tone. We then went into the
+dining-tent.</p>
+
+<p>"Now look here, Katharine," Mr. Ghyrkins' irate voice rang across the
+open space, "if any young woman asked me&mdash;&mdash;" John Westonhaugh had risen
+from his chair and apparently interrupted his uncle. Miss Westonhaugh
+walked slowly to her tent, while her male relations remained talking. I
+thought Isaacs had shown some foresight in not taking part in the morning
+discussion. The two men went into their tents together and the dead tiger
+lay alone in the grass, the sun rising higher and higher, pouring down his
+burning rays on man and beast and green thing. And soon the shikarries came
+with a small elephant and dragged the carcass away to be skinned and cut
+up. Kildare and the collector said they would go and shoot some small game
+for dinner. Isaacs, I supposed, was sleeping, and I was alone in the
+dining-tent. I shouted for Kiramat Ali and sent for books, paper, and pens,
+and a hookah, resolved to have a quiet morning to myself, since it was
+clear we were not going out to-day. I saw Ghyrkins' servant enter his tent
+with bottles and ice, and I suspected the old fellow was going to cool his
+wrath with a "peg," and would be asleep most of the morning. <a
+name="Page_221"></a>John would take a peg too, but he would not sleep in
+consequence, being of Bombay, iron-headed and spirit-proof. So I read on
+and wrote, and was happy, for I like the heat of the noon-day and the
+buzzing of the flies, and the smell of the parched grass, being southern
+born.</p>
+
+<p>About twelve o'clock, when I was beginning to think I had done enough
+work for one day, I saw Miss Westonhaugh's native maid come out of her
+mistress's tent and survey the landscape, shading her eyes with her hand.
+She was dressed, of course, in spotless white drapery, and there were heavy
+anklets on her feet and bangles of silver on her wrist. She seemed
+satisfied by her inspection and went in again, returning presently with
+Miss Westonhaugh and a large package of work and novels and letter-writing
+materials. They came straight to where I was sitting under the airy tent
+where we dined, and Miss Westonhaugh established herself at one side of the
+table at the end of which I was writing.</p>
+
+<p>"It is so hot in my tent," she said almost apologetically, and began to
+unroll some worsted work.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, it is quite unbearable," I answered politely, though I had not
+thought much about the temperature. There was a long silence, and I
+collected my papers in a bundle and leaned back in my chair. I did not know
+what to say, nor was anything expected of me. I looked occasionally at the
+young girl, who had laid her hat on the table, allowing the rich coils of
+dazzling hair to assert their independence. Her <a name="Page_222"></a>dark
+eyes were bent over her work as her fingers deftly pushed the needle in and
+out of the brown linen she worked on.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs," she began at last without looking up, "did you know Mr.
+Isaacs was going out last night to kill that horrid thing?" I had expected
+the question for some time.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he told me about midnight, when he started."</p>
+
+<p>"Then why did you let him go?" she asked, looking suddenly at me, and
+knitting her dark eyebrows rather fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not think I could have prevented him. I do not think anybody could
+prevent him from doing anything he had made up his mind to. I nearly
+quarrelled with him, as it was."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I could have stopped him, if I had been you," she said
+innocently.</p>
+
+<p>"I have not the least doubt that you could. Unfortunately, however, you
+were not available at the time, or I would have suggested it to you."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I had known," she went on, plunging deeper and deeper. "I would
+not have had him go for&mdash;for anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Well, I suppose not. But, seriously, Miss Westonhaugh, are you not
+flattered that a man should be willing and ready to risk life and limb in
+satisfying your lightest fancy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Flattered?" she looked at me with much astonishment and some anger. I
+was sure the look was genuine and not assumed.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_223"></a>"At all events the tiger's ears will always be a
+charming reminiscence, a token of esteem that any one might be proud
+of."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not proud of them in the least, though I shall always keep them as
+a warning not to wish for such things. I hope that the next time Mr. Isaacs
+is going to do a foolish thing you will have the common sense to prevent
+him." She returned to her starting-point; but I saw no use in prolonging
+the skirmish, and turned the talk upon other things. And soon John
+Westonhaugh joined us, and found in me a sympathetic talker and listener,
+as we both cared a great deal more for books than for tigers, though not
+averse to a stray shot now and then.</p>
+
+<p>In this kind of life the week passed, shooting to-day and staying in
+camp to-morrow. We shifted our ground several times, working along the
+borders of the forest and crashing through the jungle after tiger with
+varying success. In the evenings, when not tired with the day's work, we
+sat together, and Isaacs sang, and at last even prevailed upon Miss
+Westonhaugh to let him accompany her with his guitar, in which he proved
+very successful. They were constantly together, and Ghyrkins was heard to
+say that Isaacs was "a very fine fellow, and it was a pity he wasn't
+English," to which Kildare assented somewhat mournfully, allowing that it
+was quite true. His chance was gone, and he knew it, and bore it like a
+gentleman, though he still made use of every opportunity he had to make
+himself acceptable to <a name="Page_224"></a>Miss Westonhaugh. The girl
+liked his manly ways, and was always grateful for any little attention from
+him that attracted her notice, but it was evident that all her interest
+ceased there. She liked him in the same way she liked her brother, but
+rather less, if anything. She hardly knew, for she had seen so little of
+John since she was a small child. I suppose Isaacs must have talked to her
+about me, for she treated me with a certain consideration, and often
+referred questions to me, on which I thought she might as well have
+consulted some one else. For my part, I served the lovers in every way I
+could think of. I would have done anything for Isaacs then as now, and I
+liked her for the honest good feeling she had shown about him, especially
+in the matter of the tiger's ears, for which she could not forgive
+herself&mdash;though in truth she had been innocent enough. And they were really
+lovers, those two. Any one might have seen it, and but for the wondrous
+fascination Isaacs exercised over every one who came near him, and the
+circumstances of his spotless name and reputation for integrity in the
+large transactions in which he was frequently known to be engaged, it is
+certain that Mr. Ghyrkins would have looked askance at the whole affair,
+and very likely would have broken up the party.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of time we became a little <i>blas&eacute;</i> about
+tigers, till on the eighth day from the beginning of the hunt, which was a
+Thursday, I remember, an incident occurred which left a lasting impression
+on <a name="Page_225"></a>the mind of every one who witnessed it. It was a
+very hot morning, the hottest day we had had, and we had just crossed a
+<i>nullah</i> in the forest, full from the recent rains, wherein the
+elephants lingered lovingly to splash the water over their heated sides,
+drowning the swarms of mosquitoes from which they suffer such torments, in
+spite of their thick skins. The collector called a halt on the opposite
+side; our line of march had become somewhat disordered by the passage, and
+numerous tracks in the pasty black mud showed that the <i>nullah</i> was a
+favourite resort of tigers&mdash;though at this time of day they might be a long
+distance off. I had come next to the collector after we emerged from the
+stream, the pad elephants having lingered longer in the water, and Mr.
+Ghyrkins with Miss Westonhaugh was three or four places beyond me. It was
+shady and cool under the thick trees, and the light was not good. The
+collector bent over his howdah, looking at some tracks.</p>
+
+<p>"Those tracks look suspiciously fresh, Mr. Griggs," said the collector,
+scrutinising the holes, not yet filled by the oozing back water of the
+<i>nullah</i>. "Don't you think so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, yes. I do not understand it at all," I replied. At the
+collector's call a couple of beaters came forward and stooped down to
+examine the trail. One of them, a good-looking young <i>gowala</i>, or
+cowherd, followed along the footprints, examining each to be sure he was
+not going on a false spoor; he moved slowly, scrutinising each hole, as the
+traces grew <a name="Page_226"></a>shallower on the rising ground,
+approaching a bit of small jungle. My sight followed the probable course of
+the track ahead of him and something caught my eyes, which are remarkably
+good, even at a great distance. The object was brown and hairy; a dark
+brown, not the kind of colour one expects to see in the jungle in
+September. I looked closely, and was satisfied that it must be part of an
+animal; still more clearly I saw it, and no doubt remained in my mind; it
+was the head of a bullock or a heifer. I shouted to the man to be careful,
+to stop and let the elephants plough through the undergrowth, as only
+elephants can. But he did not understand my Hindustani, which was of the
+civilised <i>Urdu</i> kind learnt in the North-West Provinces. The man went
+quickly along, and I tried to make the collector comprehend what I saw. But
+the pad elephants were coming out of the water and forcing themselves
+between our beasts, and he hardly caught what I said in the confusion. The
+track led away to my left, nearly opposite to the elephant bearing Mr.
+Ghyrkins and his niece. The little Pegnugger man was on my right. The
+native held on, moving more and more rapidly as he found himself following
+a single track. I shouted to him&mdash;to Ghyrkins&mdash;to everybody, but they could
+not make the doomed man understand what I saw&mdash;the freshly slain head of
+the tiger's last victim. There was little doubt that the king himself was
+near by&mdash;probably in that suspicious-looking bit of green jungle, slimy
+green too, as green <a name="Page_227"></a>is, that grows in sticky
+chocolate-coloured mud. The young fellow was courageous, and ignorant of
+the immediate danger, and, above all, he was on the look out for
+bucksheesh. He reached the reeds and unclean vegetables that grew thick and
+foul together in the little patch. He put one foot into the bush.</p>
+
+<p>A great fiery yellow and black head rose cautiously above the level of
+the green and paused a moment, glaring. The wretched man, transfixed with
+terror, stood stock still, expecting death. Then he moved, as if to throw
+himself on one side, and at the same instant the tiger made a dash at his
+naked body, such a dash as a great relentless cat makes at a gold-fish
+trying to slide away from its grip. The tiger struck the man a heavy blow
+on the right shoulder, felling him like a log, and coming down to a
+standing position over his prey, with one paw on the native's right arm.
+Probably the parade of elephants and bright coloured howdahs, and the
+shouts of the beaters and shikarries, distracted his attention for a
+moment. He stood whirling his tail to right and left, with half dropped jaw
+and flaming eyes, half pressing, half grabbing the fleshy arm of the
+senseless man beneath him&mdash;impatient, alarmed, and horrible.</p>
+
+<p>"Pack!!! Pi-i-i-i-ing ..." went the crack and the sing of the merry
+rifle, and the scene changed.</p>
+
+<p>With a yell like a soul in everlasting torment the great beast whirled
+himself into the air ten feet at least, and fell dead beside his victim,
+shot through <a name="Page_228"></a>breast and breastbone and heart. A dead
+silence fell on the spectators. Then I looked, and saw Miss Westonhaugh
+holding out a second gun to Mr. Ghyrkins, while he, seeing that the first
+had done its work, leaned forward, his broad face pale with the extremity
+of his horror for the man's danger, and his hands gripping at the empty
+rifle.</p>
+
+<p>"You've done it this time," cried the collector from the right. "Take
+six to four the man's dead!"</p>
+
+<p>"Done," called Kildare from the other end. I was the nearest to the
+scene, after Ghyrkins. I dropped over the edge of the howdah and made for
+the spot, running. I think I reflected as I ran that it was rather low for
+men to bet on the poor fellow's life in that way. Tigers are often very
+deceptive and always die hard, and I am a cautious person, so when I was
+near I pulled out my long army six-shooter, and, going within arm's
+length, quietly put a bullet through the beast's eye as a matter of safety.
+When he was cut up, however, the ball from the rifle of Mr. Ghyrkins was
+found in his heart; the old fellow was a dead shot still. I went up and
+examined the prostrate man. He was lying on his face, and so I picked him
+up and propped his head against the dead tiger. He was still breathing, but
+a very little examination proved that his right collar-bone and the bone of
+his upper arm were broken. A little brandy revived him, and he immediately
+began to scream with pain. I was soon joined by the collector, who with
+characteristic promptitude had torn and hewed some broad <a
+name="Page_229"></a>slats of bamboo from his howdah, and with a little
+pulling and wrenching, and the help of my long, tough turban-cloth, a real
+native pugree, we set and bound the arm as best we could, giving the poor
+fellow brandy all the while. The collar-bone we left to its own devices; an
+injury there takes care of itself.</p>
+
+<p>An elephant came up and received the dead tiger, and the man was carried
+off and placed in my howdah. The other animals with their riders had
+gathered near the scene, and every one had something to say to Ghyrkins,
+who by his brilliant shot and the life he had saved, had maintained his
+reputation, and come off the hero of the whole campaign. Miss Westonhaugh
+was speechless with horror at the whole thing, and seemed to cling to her
+uncle, as if fearing something of the same kind might happen to her at any
+moment. Isaacs, as usual the last on the line of beating, came up and
+called out his congratulations.</p>
+
+<p>"After saving a life so well, Mr. Ghyrkins, you will not grudge me the
+poor honour of risking one, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not I, my boy!" answered the delighted old sportsman, "only if that
+mangy old man-eater had got you down the other day, I should not have been
+there to pot him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Great shot, sir! I envy you," said Kildare.</p>
+
+<p>"Splendid shot. A hundred yards at least," said John Westonhaugh
+meditatively, but in a loud voice.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_230"></a>So we swung away toward the camp, though it was
+early. Ghyrkins chuckled, and the man with the broken bones groaned. But
+between the different members of the party he would be a rich man before he
+was well. I amused myself with my favourite sport of potting peacocks with
+bullets; it is very good practice. Isaacs had told me that morning when we
+started that he would leave us the next day to meet Shere Ali near Keitung.
+We reached camp about three o'clock, in the heat of the afternoon. The
+injured beater was put in a servant's tent to be sent off to Pegnugger in a
+litter in the cool of the night. There was a doctor there who would take
+care of him under the collector's written orders.</p>
+
+<p>The camp was in a shady place, quite unlike the spot where we had first
+pitched our tents. There was a little grove of mango-trees, rather stunted,
+as they are in the north, and away at one corner of the plantation was a
+well with a small temple where a Brahmin, related to all the best families
+in the neighbouring village, dwelt and collected the gifts bestowed on him
+and his simple shrine by the superstitious, devout, or worldly pilgrims who
+yearly and monthly visited him in search of counsel, spiritual or social.
+The men had mowed the grass smooth under the trees, and the shade was not
+so close as to make it damp. Some ryots had been called in to dig a ditch
+and raised a rough <i>chapudra</i> or terrace, some fifteen feet in
+diameter, opposite the dining-tent, on which elevation we could sit, even
+late at night, in reasonable <a name="Page_231"></a>security from cobras
+and other evil beasts. It was a pleasant place in the afternoon, and
+pleasanter still at night. As I turned into our tent after we got back, I
+thought I would go and sit there when I had bathed, and send for a hookah
+and a novel, and go to sleep.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_232"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_XI'></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I observed that Isaacs was very quick about his toilet, and when I came
+out and ascended the terrace, followed by Kiramat Ali with books and
+tobacco, I glanced lazily over the quiet scene, settling myself in my
+chair, and fully expecting to see my friend somewhere among the trees, not
+unaccompanied by some one else. I was not mistaken. Turning my eyes towards
+the corner of the grove where the old Brahmin had his shrine, I saw the two
+well-known figures of Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh sauntering towards the
+well. Having satisfied the expectations of my curiosity, I turned over the
+volume of philosophy, well thumbed and hard used as a priest's breviary,
+and I inhaled long draughts of tobacco, debating whether I should read, or
+meditate, or dream. Deciding in favour of the more mechanical form of
+intellectuality, I fixed on a page that looked inviting, and followed the
+lines, from left to right, lazily at first, then with increased interest,
+and finally in that absorbed effort of continued comprehension which
+constitutes real study. Page after page, syllogism after syllogism,
+conclusion after conclusion, I followed for the hundredth time in the book
+I love well&mdash;the <a name="Page_233"></a>book of him that would destroy the
+religion I believe, but whose brilliant failure is one of the grandest
+efforts of the purely human mind. I finished a chapter and, in thought
+still, but conscious again of life, I looked up. They were still down there
+by the well, those two, but while I looked the old priest, bent and white,
+came out of the little temple where he had been sprinkling his image of
+Vishnu, and dropped his aged limbs from one step to the other painfully,
+steadying his uncertain descent with a stick. He went to the beautiful
+couple seated on the edge of the well, built of mud and sun-dried bricks,
+and he seemed to speak to Isaacs, I watched, and became interested in the
+question whether Isaacs would give him a two-anna bit or a copper, and
+whether I could distinguish with the naked eye at that distance between the
+silver and the baser metal. Curious, thought I, how odd little trifles will
+absorb the attention. The interview which was to lead to the expected act
+of charity seemed to be lasting a long time.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Isaacs turned and called to me; his high, distinct tones
+seeming to gather volume from the hollow of the well. He was calling me to
+join them. I rose, rather reluctantly, from my books and moved through the
+trees to where they were.</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," Isaacs called out before I had reached him, "here is an old
+fellow who knows something. I really believe he is something of a
+yogi."</p>
+
+<p>"What ridiculous nonsense," I said impatiently, <a
+name="Page_234"></a>"who ever heard of a yogi living in a temple and
+feeding on the fat of the land in the way all these men do? Is that all you
+wanted?" Miss Westonhaugh, peering down into the depths of the well,
+laughed gaily.</p>
+
+<p>"I told you so! Never try to make Mr. Griggs swallow that kind of thing.
+Besides, he is a 'cynic' you know."</p>
+
+<p>"As far as personal appearance goes, Miss Westonhaugh, I think your
+friend the Brahmin there stands more chance of being taken for a
+philosopher of that school. He really does not look particularly well fed,
+in spite of the riches I thought he possessed." He was a strange-looking
+old man, with a white beard and a small badly-rolled pugree. His black eyes
+were filmy and disagreeable to look at. I addressed him in Hindustani, and
+told him what Isaacs said, that he thought he was a yogi. The old fellow
+did not look at me, nor did the bleared eyes give any sign of intelligence.
+Nevertheless he answered my question.</p>
+
+<p>"Of what avail that I do wonders for you who believe not?" he asked, and
+his voice sounded cracked and far off.</p>
+
+<p>"It will avail thee several coins, friend," I answered, "both rupees and
+pais. Reflect that there may be bucksheesh in store for thee, and do a
+miracle."</p>
+
+<p>"I will not do wonders for bucksheesh," said the priest, and began to
+hobble away. Isaacs stepped <a name="Page_235"></a>lightly to his side and
+whispered something in his ear. The ancient Brahmin turned.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will do a wonder for you, but I want no bucksheesh. I will do it
+for the lady with white hair, whose face resembles Chunder." He looked long
+and fixedly at Miss Westonhaugh. "Let the <i>sáhib log</i> come with me a
+stone's throw from the well, and let one sáhib call his servant and bid him
+draw water that he may wash his hands. And I will do this wonder; the man
+shall not draw any water, though he had the strength of Siva, until I say
+the word." So we moved away under the trees, and I shouted for Kiramat Ali,
+who came running down, and I told him to send a <i>bhisti</i>, a
+water-carrier, with his leathern bucket. Then we waited. Presently the man
+came, with bucket and rope.</p>
+
+<p>"Draw water, that I may wash my hands," said I.</p>
+
+<p>"Achhá, sáhib," and he strode to the well and lowered his pail by the
+rope. The priest looked intently at him as he shook the rope to turn the
+bucket over and let it fill; then he began to pull. The bucket seemed to be
+caught. He jerked, and then bent his whole weight back, drawing the rope
+across the edge of the brickwork. The thing was immovable. He seemed
+astonished and looked down into the well, thinking the pail was caught in a
+stone. I could not resist the temptation to go down and inspect the thing.
+No. The bucket was full and lying in the middle of the round sheet of water
+at the bottom of the well. The man tugged, while the <a
+name="Page_236"></a>Brahmin never took his eyes, now bright and fiery, off
+him. I went back to where they all stood. The thing had lasted five
+minutes. Then the priest's lips moved silently.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the strain was released and the stout water-carrier fell
+headlong backwards on the grass, his heels in the air, jerking the bucket
+right over the edge of the well. He bounded to his feet and ran up the
+grove, shouting "Bhût, Bhût," "devils, devils," at the top of his voice.
+His obstinacy had lasted so long as the bucket would not move, but then his
+terror got the better of him and he fled.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever see anything of that kind before, Miss Westonhaugh?" I
+inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"No indeed; have you? How is it done?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have seen similar things done, but not often. There are not many of
+them that know how. But I cannot tell you the process any more than I can
+explain the mango trick, which belongs, distantly, to the same class of
+phenomena."</p>
+
+<p>The Brahmin, whose eyes were again dim and filmy, turned to Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"I have done a wonder for you. I will also tell you a saying. You have
+done wrong in not taking the advice of your friend. You should not have
+come forth to kill the king of game, nor have brought the white-haired lady
+into the tiger's jaws. I have spoken. Peace be with you." And he moved
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"And with you peace, friend," answered Isaacs mechanically, but as I
+looked at him he turned white to the very lips.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_237"></a>Miss Westonhaugh did not understand the language,
+and Isaacs would have been the last person to translate such a speech as
+the Brahmin had made. We turned and strolled up the hill, and presently I
+bethought me of some errand, and left them together under the trees. They
+were so happy and so beautiful together, the fair lily from the English
+dale and the deep red rose of Persian Gulistán. The sun slanted low through
+the trees and sank in rose-coloured haze, and the moon, now just at the
+half, began to shine out softly through the mangoes, and still the lovers
+walked, pacing slowly to and fro near the well. No wonder they dallied
+long; it was their last evening together, and I doubted not that Isaacs was
+telling her of his sudden departure, necessary for reasons which I knew he
+would not explain to her or to any one else.</p>
+
+<p>At last we all assembled in the dining-tent. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was
+among the first, and his niece was the last to enter the room. He was
+glorious that evening, his kindly red face beamed on every one, and he
+carried himself like a victorious general at a ladies' tea-party. He had
+reason to be happy, and his jerky good spirits were needed to
+counterbalance the deep melancholy that seemed to have settled upon his
+niece. The colour was gone from her cheeks, and her dark eyes, heavily
+fringed by the black brows and lashes, shone out strangely; the contrast
+between the white flaxen hair, drawn back in simple massive waves like a
+Greek statue, and the broad level eyes <a name="Page_238"></a>as dark as
+night, was almost startling this evening in the singularity of its beauty.
+She sat like a queenly marble at the end of the table, not silent, by any
+means, but so evidently out of spirits that John Westonhaugh, who did not
+know that Isaacs was going in the morning, and would not have supposed that
+his sister could care so much, if he had known, remarked upon her
+depression.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the matter, Katharine?" he asked kindly. "Have you a headache
+this evening?" She was just then staring rather blankly into space.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no," she said, trying to smile. "I was thinking."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," said Mr. Ghyrkins merrily, "that is why you look so unlike
+yourself, my dear!" And he laughed at his rough little joke.</p>
+
+<p>"Do I?" asked the girl absently.</p>
+
+<p>But Ghyrkins was not to be repressed, and as Kildare and the Pegnugger
+man were gay and wide awake, the dinner was not as dull as might have been
+expected. When it was over, Isaacs announced his intention of leaving early
+the next morning. Very urgent business recalled him suddenly, he explained.
+A messenger had arrived just before dinner. He must leave without fail in
+the morning. Miss Westonbaugh of course was forewarned; but the others were
+not. Lord Steepleton Kildare, in the act of lighting a cheroot, dropped the
+vesuvian incontinently, and stood staring at Isaacs with an indescribable
+expression of empty wonder in his face, while the <a
+name="Page_239"></a>match sputtered and smouldered and died away in the
+grass by the door. John Westonhaugh, who liked Isaacs sincerely, and had
+probably contemplated the possibility of the latter marrying Katharine,
+looked sorry at first, and then a half angry expression crossed his face,
+which softened instantly again. Currie Ghyrkins swore loudly that it was
+out of the question&mdash;that it would break up the party&mdash;that he would not
+hear of it, and so on.</p>
+
+<p>"I must go," said Isaacs quietly. "It is a very serious matter. I am
+sorry&mdash;more sorry than I can tell you; but I must."</p>
+
+<p>"But you cannot, you know. Damn it, sir, you are the life of the party,
+you know! Come, come, this will never do!"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear sir," said Isaacs, addressing Ghyrkins, "if, when you were
+about to fire this morning to save that poor devil's life, I had begged you
+not to shoot, would you have complied?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, of course not," ejaculated Ghyrkins angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, neither can I comply, though I would give anything to stay with
+you all."</p>
+
+<p>"But nobody's life depends on your going away to-morrow morning. What do
+you mean? The deuce and all, you know, I don't understand you a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot tell you, Mr. Ghyrkins; but something depends on my going,
+which is of as great importance to the person concerned as life itself.
+Believe me," he said, going near to the old gentleman and <a
+name="Page_240"></a>laying a hand on his arm, "I do not go willingly."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I hope not, I am sure," said Ghyrkins gruffly, though yielding.
+"If you will, you will, and there's no holding you; but we are all very
+sorry. That's all. Mahmoud! bring fire, you lazy pigling, that I may
+smoke." And he threw himself into a chair, the very creaking of the cane
+wicker expressing annoyance and dissatisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>So there was an end of it, and Isaacs strode off through the moonlight
+to his quarters, to make some arrangement, I supposed. But he did not come
+back. Miss Westonhaugh retired also to her tent, and no one was surprised
+to see her go. Kildare rose presently and asked if I would not stroll to
+the well, or anywhere, it was such a jolly night. I went with him, and arm
+in arm we walked slowly down. The young moon was bright among the
+mango-trees, striking the shining leaves, that reflected a strange greenish
+light. We moved leisurely, and spoke little. I understood Kildare's silence
+well enough, and I had nothing to say. The ground was smooth and even, for
+the men had cut the grass close, and the little humped cow that belonged to
+the old Brahmin cropped all she could get at.</p>
+
+<p>We skirted round the edge of the grove, intending to go back to the
+tents another way. Suddenly I saw something in front that arrested my
+attention. Two figures, some thirty yards away. They stood quite still,
+turned from us. A man and a woman <a name="Page_241"></a>between the trees,
+an opening in the leaves just letting a ray of moonlight slip through on
+them. His arm around her, the tall lissome figure of her bent, and her head
+resting on his shoulder. I have good eyes and was not mistaken, but I
+trusted Kildare had not seen. A quick twitch of his arm, hanging carelessly
+through mine, told me the mischief was done before I could turn his
+attention. By a common instinct we wheeled to the left, and passing into
+the open strolled back in the direction whence we had come. I did not look
+at Kildare, but after a minute he began to talk about the moonlight and
+tigers, and whether tigers were ever shot by moonlight, and altogether was
+rather incoherent; but I took up the question, and we talked bravely till
+we got back to the dining-tent, where we sat down again, secretly wishing
+we had not gone for a stroll after all. In a few minutes Isaacs came from
+his tent, which he must have entered from the other side. He was perfectly
+at his ease, and at once began talking about the disagreeable journey he
+had before him. Then, after a time, we broke up, and he said good-bye to
+every one in turn, and Ghyrkins told John to call his sister, if she were
+still visible, for "Mr. Isaacs wanted to say good-bye." So she came and
+took his hand, and made a simple speech about "meeting again before long,"
+as she stood with her uncle; and my friend and I went away to our tent.</p>
+
+<p>We sat long in the <i>conn&acirc;t</i>. Isaacs did not seem to <a
+name="Page_242"></a>want rest, and I certainly did not. For the first half
+hour he was engaged in giving directions to the faithful Narain, who moved
+about noiselessly among the portmanteaus and gun-cases and boots which
+strewed the floor. At last all was settled for the start before dawn, and
+he turned to me.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall meet again in Simla, Griggs, of course?"</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so. Of course we shall, unless you are killed by those fellows
+at Keitung. I would not trust them."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not trust them in the least, but I have an all-powerful ally in
+Ram Lal. Did you not think it very singular that the Brahmin should know
+all about Ram Lal's warning? and that he should have the same opinion?"</p>
+
+<p>"We live in a country where nothing should astonish us, as I remember
+saying to you a fortnight ago, when we first met," I answered. "That the
+Brahmin possesses some knowledge of <i>yog-vidya</i> is more clearly shown
+by his speech about Ram Lal than by that ridiculous trick with my
+water-carrier."</p>
+
+<p>"You are not easily astonished, Griggs. But I agree with you as to that.
+I am still at a loss to understand why I should not have come or let the
+others come. I was startled at the Brahmin."</p>
+
+<p>"I saw you were; you were as white as a sheet, and yet you turned up
+your nose at Ram Lal when he told you not to come."</p>
+
+<p>"The Brahmin said something more than Ram Lal. He said I should not have
+brought the white-haired <a name="Page_243"></a>lady into the tiger's jaws.
+I saw that the first warning had been on her account, and I suppose the
+impression of possible danger for her frightened me."</p>
+
+<p>"It would not have frightened you three weeks ago about any woman," I
+said. "It appears to me that your ideas in certain quarters have undergone
+some little change. You are as different from the Isaacs I knew at first as
+Philip drunk was different from Philip sober. Such is human
+nature&mdash;scoffing at women the one day, and risking life and soul for their
+whims the next."</p>
+
+<p>"I hate your reflections about the human kind, Griggs, and I do not like
+your way of looking at women. You hate women so!"</p>
+
+<p>"No. You like my descriptions of the 'ideal creatures I rave about' much
+better, it seems. Upon my soul, friend, if you want a criterion of
+yourself, take this conversation. A fortnight ago to-day&mdash;or to-morrow,
+will it be?&mdash;I was lecturing you about the way to regard women; begging you
+to consider that they had souls and were capable of loving, as well as of
+being loved. And here you are accusing me of hating the whole sex, and
+without the slightest provocation on my part, either. Here is Birnam wood
+coming to Dunsinane with a vengeance!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't deny it. I don't pretend to argue about it. I have changed
+a good deal in the last month." He pensively crossed one leg over the other
+as he lay back on the long chair and pulled at his slipper. "I suppose I
+have&mdash;changed a good deal."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_244"></a>"No wonder. I presume your views of immortality,
+the future state of the fair sex, and the application of transcendental
+analysis to matrimony, all changed about the same time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be unreasonable," he answered. "It all dates from that evening
+when I had that singular fit and the vision I related to you. I have never
+been the same man since; and I am glad of it. I now believe women to be
+much more adorable than you painted them, and not half enough adored."
+Suddenly he dropped the extremely English manner which he generally
+affected in the idiom and construction of his speech, and dropped back into
+something more like his own language. "The star that was over my life is
+over it no longer. I have no life-star any longer. The jewel of the
+southern sky withdraws his light, paling before the white gold from the
+northern land. The gold that shall be mine through all the cycles of the
+sun, the gold that neither man nor monarch shall take from me. What have I
+to do with stars in heaven? Is not my star come down to earth to abide with
+me through life? And when life is over and the scroll is full, shall not my
+star bear me hence, beyond the fiery foot-bridge, beyond the paradise of my
+people and its senseless sensuality of houris and strong wine? Beyond the
+very memory of limited and bounded life, to that life eternal where there
+is neither limit, nor bound, nor sorrow? Shall our two souls not unite and
+be one soul to roam through the countless circles of revolving <a
+name="Page_245"></a>outer space? Not through years, or for times, or for
+ages&mdash;but for ever? The light of life is woman, the love of life is the
+love of woman; the light that pales not, the life that cannot die, the love
+that can know not any ending; <i>my</i> light, <i>my</i> life, and
+<i>my</i> love!" His whole soul was in his voice, and his whole heart; the
+twining white fingers, the half-closed eyes, and the passionate quivering
+tone, told all he had left unsaid. It was surely a high and a noble thing
+that he felt, worthy of the man in his beauty of mind and body. He loved an
+ideal, revealed to him, as he thought, in the shape of the fair English
+girl; he worshipped his ideal through her, without a thought that he could
+be mistaken. Happy man! Perhaps he had a better chance of going through
+life without any cruel revelation of his mistake than falls to the lot of
+most lovers, for she was surpassingly beautiful, and most good and true
+hearted. But are not people always mistaken who think to find the perfect
+comprehended in the imperfect, the infinite enchained and made tangible in
+the finite? Bah! The same old story, the same old vicious circle, the
+everlastingly recurring mathematical view of things that cannot be treated
+mathematically; the fruitless attempt to measure the harmonious circle of
+the soul by the angular square of the book. What poor things our minds are,
+after all. We have but one way of thinking derived from what we know, and
+we incontinently apply it to things of which we can know nothing, and then
+we quarrel with the result, <a name="Page_246"></a>which is a mere
+<i>reductio ad absurdum</i>, showing how utterly false and meagre are our
+hypotheses, premisses, and so-called axioms. Confucius, who began his
+system with the startling axiom that "man is good," arrived at much more
+really serviceable conclusions than Schopenhauer and all the pessimists put
+together. Meanwhile, Isaacs was in love, and, I supposed, expected me to
+say something appreciative.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear friend," I began, "it is a rare pleasure to hear any one talk
+like that; it refreshes a man's belief in human nature, and enthusiasm, and
+all kinds of things. I talked like that some time ago because you would
+not. I think you are a most satisfactory convert."</p>
+
+<p>"I am indeed a convert. I would not have believed it possible, and now I
+cannot believe that I ever thought differently. I suppose it is the way
+with all converts&mdash;in religion as well&mdash;and with all people who are taken
+up by a fair-winged genius from an arid desert and set down in a garden of
+roses." He could not long confine himself to ordinary language. "And yet
+the hot sand of the desert, and the cool of the night, and the occasional
+patch of miserable, languishing green, with the little kindly spring in the
+camel-trodden oasis, seemed all so delightful in the past life that one was
+quite content, never suspecting the existence of better things. But now&mdash;I
+could almost laugh to think of it. I stand in the midst of the garden that
+is filled with all <a name="Page_247"></a>things fair, and the tree of life
+is beside me, blossoming straight and broad with the flowers that wither
+not, and the fruit that is good to the parched lips and the thirsty spirit.
+And the garden is for us to dwell in now, and the eternity of the heavenly
+spheres is ours hereafter." He was all on fire again. I kept silence for
+some time; and his hands unfolded, and he raised them and clasped them
+under his head, and drew a deep long breath, as if to taste the new life
+that was in him.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive my bringing you down to earth again," I said after a while,
+"but have you made all necessary arrangements? Is there anything I can do,
+after you are gone? Anything to be said to these good people, if they
+question me about your sudden departure?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I was forgetting. If you will be so kind, I wish you would see the
+expedition out, and take charge of the expenses. There are some bags of
+rupees somewhere among my traps. Narain knows. I shall not take him with
+me&mdash;or, no; on second thoughts I will hand you over the money, and take him
+to Simla. Then, about the other thing. Do not tell any one where I have
+gone, unless it be Miss Westonhaugh, and use your own discretion about her.
+We shall all be in Simla in ten days, and I do not want this thing known,
+as you may imagine. I do not think there is anything else, thanks." He
+paused, as if thinking. "Yes, there is one more consideration. If anything
+out of the way should occur in this transaction with Baithopoor, I should
+<a name="Page_248"></a>want your assistance, if you will give it. Would you
+mind?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not. Anything&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"In that case, if Ram Lal thinks you are wanted, he will send a swift
+messenger to you with a letter signed by me, in the Persian
+<i>shikast</i>&mdash;which you read.&mdash;Will you come by the way he will direct
+you, if I send? He will answer for your safety."</p>
+
+<p>"I will come," I said, though I thought it was rather rash of me, who am
+a cautious man, to trust my life in the hands of a shadowy person like Ram
+Lal, who seemed to come and go in strange ways, and was in communication
+with suspicious old Brahmin jugglers. But I trusted Isaacs better than his
+adept friend.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose," I said, vaguely hoping there might yet be a possibility of
+detaining him, "that there is no way of doing this business so that you
+could remain here."</p>
+
+<p>"No, friend Griggs. If there were any other way, I would not go now. I
+would not go to-day, of all days in the year&mdash;of all days in my life. There
+is no other way, by the grave of my father, on whom be the peace of Allah."
+So we went to bed.</p>
+
+<p>At four o'clock Narain waked us, and in twenty minutes Isaacs was on
+horseback. I had ordered a <i>tat</i> to be in readiness for me, thinking I
+would ride with him an hour or two in the cool of the morning. So we passed
+along by the quiet tents, Narain disappearing in the manner peculiar to
+Hindoo servants, <a name="Page_249"></a>to be found at the end of the day's
+march, smiling as ever. The young moon had set some time before, but the
+stars were bright, though it was dark under the trees.</p>
+
+<p>Twenty yards beyond the last tent, a dark figure swept suddenly out from
+the blackness and laid a hand on Isaacs' rein. He halted and bent over, and
+I heard some whispering. It only lasted a moment, and the figure shot away
+again. I was sure I heard something like a kiss, in the gloom, and there
+was a most undeniable smell of roses in the air. I held my peace, though I
+was astonished. I could not have believed her capable of it. Lying in wait
+in the dusk of the morning to give her lover a kiss and a rose and a
+parting word. She must have taken me for his servant in the dark.</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," said Isaacs as we parted some six or seven miles farther
+on,&mdash;"an odd thing happened this morning. I have left something more in
+your keeping than money."</p>
+
+<p>"I know. Trust me. Good-bye," and he cantered off.</p>
+
+<p>I confess I was very dejected and low-spirited when I came back into
+camp. My acquaintance with Isaacs, so suddenly grown into intimacy, had
+become a part of my life. I felt a sort of devotion to him that I had never
+felt for any man in my life before. I would rather have gone with him to
+Keitung, for a presentiment told me there was trouble in the wind. He had
+not talked to me about the <a name="Page_250"></a>Baithopoor intrigue, for
+everything was as much settled beforehand as it was possible to settle
+anything. There was nothing to be said, for all that was to come was
+action; but I knew Isaacs distrusted the maharajah, and that without Ram
+Lal's assistance&mdash;of whatever nature that might prove to be&mdash;he would not
+have ventured to go alone to such a tryst.</p>
+
+<p>When I returned the camp was all alive, for it was nearly seven o'clock.
+Kildare and the collector, my servant said, had gone off on <i>tats</i> to
+shoot some small game. Mr. Ghyrkins was occupied with the shikarries in the
+stretching and dressing of the skin he had won the previous day. Neither
+Miss Westonhaugh nor her brother had been seen. So I dressed and rested
+myself and had some tea, and sat wondering what the camp would be like
+without Isaacs, who, to me and to one other person, was emphatically, as
+Ghyrkins had said the night before, the life of the party. The weather was
+not so warm as on the previous day, and I was debating whether I should not
+try and induce the younger men to go and stick a pig&mdash;the shikarry said
+there were plenty in some place he knew of&mdash;or whether I should settle
+myself in the dining-tent for a long day with my books, when the arrival of
+a mounted messenger with some letters from the distant post-office decided
+me in favour of the more peaceful disposition of my time. So I glanced at
+the papers, and assured myself that the English were going deeper and
+deeper into the mire of difficulties and reckless expenditure that <a
+name="Page_251"></a>characterised their campaign in Afghanistan in the
+autumn of 1879; and when I had assured myself, furthermore, by the perusal
+of a request for the remittance of twenty pounds, that my nephew, the only
+relation, male or female, that I have in the world, had not come to the
+untimely death he so richly deserved, I fell to considering what book I
+should read. And from one thing to another, I found myself established
+about ten o'clock at the table in the dining-tent, with Miss Westonhaugh at
+one side, worsted work, writing materials and all, just as she had been at
+the same table a week or so before. At her request I had continued my
+writing when she came in. I was finishing off a column of a bloodthirsty
+article for the <i>Howler</i>; it probably would come near enough to the
+mark, for in India you may print a leader anywhere within a month of its
+being written, and if it was hot enough to begin with, it will still answer
+the purpose. Journalism is not so rapid in its requirements as in New York,
+but, on the other hand, it is more lucrative.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs, are you <i>very</i> busy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, no&mdash;nothing to speak of," I went on writing&mdash;the
+unprecedented&mdash;folly&mdash;the&mdash;blatant&mdash;charlatanism&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs, do you understand these things?"</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;&mdash;Lord Beaconsfield's&mdash;"I think so, Miss Westonhaugh"&mdash;Afghan
+policy&mdash;&mdash;There, I thought,</p>
+
+<p>I think that would rouse Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, if he ever saw it, which I
+trust he never will. I had <a name="Page_252"></a>done, and I folded the
+numbered sheets in an oblong bundle.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, Miss Westonhaugh; I was just finishing a sentence. I
+am quite at your service."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no! I see you are too busy."</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least, I assure you. Is it that tangled skein? Let me help
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh thank you. It is so tiresome, and I am not in the least inclined to
+be industrious."</p>
+
+<p>I took the wool and set to work. It was very easy, after all; I pulled
+the loops through, and back again and through from the other side, and I
+found the ends, and began to wind it up on a piece of paper. It is
+singular, though, how the unaided wool can tie itself into every kind of a
+knot&mdash;reef, carrick bend, bowline, bowline in a bight, not to mention a
+variety of hitches and indescribable perversions of entanglement. I was
+getting on very well, though. I looked up at her face, pale and weary with
+a sleepless night, but beautiful&mdash;ah yes&mdash;beautiful beyond compare. She
+smiled faintly.</p>
+
+<p>"You are very clever with your fingers. Where did you learn it? Have you
+a sister who makes you wind her wool for her at home?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I have no sister. I went to sea once upon a time."</p>
+
+<p>"Were you ever in the navy, Mr. Griggs?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no. I went before the mast."</p>
+
+<p>"But you would not learn to unravel wool before the mast. I suppose your
+mother taught you when you were small&mdash;if you ever were small."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_253"></a>"I never had a mother that I can remember&mdash;I
+learned to do all those things at sea."</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me," she said, guessing she had struck some tender chord in my
+existence. "What an odd life you must have had."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps. I never had any relations that I can remember, except a
+brother, much older than I. He died years ago, and his son is my only
+living relation. I was born in Italy."</p>
+
+<p>"But when did you learn so many things? You seem to know every language
+under the sun."</p>
+
+<p>"I had a good education when I got ashore. Some one was very kind to me,
+and I had learned Latin and Greek in the common school in Rome before I ran
+away to sea."</p>
+
+<p>I answered her questions reluctantly. I did not want to talk about my
+history, especially to a girl like her. I suppose she saw my
+disinclination, for as I handed her the card with the wool neatly wound on
+it, she thanked me and presently changed the subject, or at least shifted
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"There is something so free about the life of an adventurer&mdash;I mean a
+man who wanders about doing brave things. If I were a man I would be an
+adventurer like you."</p>
+
+<p>"Not half so much of an adventurer, as you call it, as our friend who
+went off this morning."</p>
+
+<p>It was the first mention of Isaacs since his departure. I had said the
+thing inadvertently, for I would not have done anything to increase her
+trouble for <a name="Page_254"></a>the world. She leaned back, dropping her
+hands with her work in her lap, and stared straight out through the
+doorway, as pale as death&mdash;pale as only fair-skinned people are when they
+are ill, or hurt. She sat quite still. I wondered if she were ill, or if it
+were only Isaacs' going that had wrought this change in her brilliant
+looks. "Would you like me to read something to you, Miss Westonhaugh? Here
+is a comparatively new book&mdash;<i>The Light of Asia</i>, by Mr. Edwin Arnold.
+It is a poem about India. Would it give you any pleasure?" She guessed the
+kind intention, and a little shadow of a smile passed over her lips.</p>
+
+<p>"You are so kind, Mr. Griggs. Please, you are so very kind."</p>
+
+<p>I began to read, and read on and on through the exquisite rise and fall
+of the stanzas, through the beautiful clear high thoughts which seem to
+come as a breath and a breeze from an unattainable heaven, from the Nirvana
+we all hope for in our inmost hearts, whatever our confession of faith. And
+the poor girl was soothed, and touched and lulled by the music of thought
+and the sigh of verse that is in the poem; and the morning passed. I
+suppose the quiet and the poetry wrought up in her the feeling of
+confidence she felt in me, as being her lover's friend, for after I had
+paused a minute or two, seeing some one coming toward the tent, she said
+quite simply&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is gone to do a very noble deed. He is gone <a
+name="Page_255"></a>to save the life of a man he never saw." A bright light
+came into her face, and all the chilled heart's blood, driven from her
+cheeks by the weariness of her first parting, rushed joyously back, and for
+one moment there dwelt on her features the glory and bloom of the love and
+happiness that had been hers all day yesterday, that would be hers
+again&mdash;when? Poor Miss Westonhaugh, it seemed so long to wait.</p>
+
+<p>The day passed somehow, but the dinner was dismal. Miss Westonhaugh was
+evidently far from well, and I could not conceive that the pain of a
+temporary parting should make so sudden a change in one so perfectly strong
+and healthy&mdash;even were her nature ever so sensitive. Kildare and the
+Pegnugger magistrate tried to keep up the spirits of the party, but John
+Westonhaugh was anxious about his sister, and even old Mr. Currie Ghyrkins
+was beginning to fancy there must be something wrong. We sat smoking
+outside, and the young girl refused to leave us, though John begged her to.
+As we sat, it may have been half an hour after dinner, a messenger came
+galloping up in hot haste, and leaping to the ground asked for "Gurregis
+Sahib," with the usual native pronunciation of my euphonious name. Being
+informed, he salaamed low and handed me a letter, which I took to the
+light. It was in <i>shikast</i> Persian, and signed "Abdul
+Hafiz-ben-Is&acirc;k." "Ram Lal," he said, "has met me unexpectedly, and
+sends you this by his own means, which are swift as the flight of the
+eagle. It is indispensable that you meet <a name="Page_256"></a>us below
+Keitung, towards Sultanpoor, on the afternoon of the day when the moon is
+full. Travel by Julinder and Sultanpoor; you will easily overtake me, since
+I go by Simla. For friendship's sake, for love's sake, come. It is life and
+death. Give the money to the Irishman. Peace be with you."</p>
+
+<p>I sighed a sigh of the most undetermined description. Was I glad to
+rejoin my friend? or was I pained to leave the woman he loved in her
+present condition? I hardly knew.</p>
+
+<p>"I think we had all better go back to Simla," said John, when I
+explained that the most urgent business called me away at dawn.</p>
+
+<p>"There will be none of us left soon," said Ghyrkins quite quietly and
+mournfully.</p>
+
+<p>I found means to let Miss Westonhaugh understand where I was going. I
+gave Kildare the money in charge.</p>
+
+<p>In the dark of the morning, as I cleared the tents, the same shadow I
+had seen before shot out and laid a hand on my rein. I halted on the same
+spot where Isaacs had drawn rein twenty-four hours before.</p>
+
+<p>"Give him this from me. God be with you!" She was gone in a moment,
+leaving a small package in my right hand. I thrust it in my bosom and rode
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"How she loves him," I thought, wondering greatly.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_257"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_XII'></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>It was not an agreeable journey I had undertaken. In order to reach the
+inaccessible spot, chosen by Isaacs for the scene of Shere Ali's
+liberation, in time to be of any use, it was necessary that I should travel
+by a more direct and arduous route than that taken by my friend. He had
+returned to Simla, and by his carefully made arrangements would be able to
+reach Keitung, or the spot near it, where the transaction was to take
+place, by constant changes of horses where riding was possible, and by a
+strong body of dooly-bearers wherever the path should prove too steep for
+four-footed beasts of burden. I, on the other hand, must leave the road at
+Julinder, a place I had never visited, and must trust to my own unaided
+wits and a plentiful supply of rupees to carry me over at least two hundred
+miles of country I did not know&mdash;difficult certainly, and perhaps
+impracticable for riding. The prospect was not a pleasant one, but I was
+convinced that in a matter of this importance a man of Isaacs' wit and
+wealth would have made at least some preliminary arrangements for me, since
+he probably knew the country well enough <a name="Page_258"></a>himself. I
+had but six days at the outside to reach my destination.</p>
+
+<p>I had resolved to take one servant, Kiramat Ali, with me as far as
+Julinder, whence I would send him back to Simla with what slender luggage
+we carried, for I meant to ride as light as possible, with no encumbrance
+to delay me when once I left the line of the railway. I might have ridden
+five miles with Kiramat Ali behind me on a sturdy <i>tat</i>, when I was
+surprised by the appearance of an unknown saice in plain white clothes,
+holding a pair of strong young ponies by the halter and salaaming low.</p>
+
+<p>"Pundit Ram Lal sends your highness his peace, and bids you ride without
+sparing. The <i>d&acirc;k</i> is laid to the fire-carriages."</p>
+
+<p>The saddles were changed in a moment, Kiramat Ali and I assisting in the
+operation. It was clear that Ram Lal's messengers were swift, for even if
+he had met Isaacs when the latter reached the railroad, no ordinary horse
+could have returned with the message at the time I had received it. Still
+less would any ordinary Hindus be capable of laying a <i>d&acirc;k</i>, or
+post route of relays, over a hundred miles long in twelve hours. Once
+prepared, it was a mere matter of physical endurance in the rider to cover
+the ground, for the relays were stationed every five or six miles. It was
+well known that Lord Steepleton Kildare had lately ridden from Simla to
+Umballa one night and back the next day, ninety-two miles each way, with
+constant change of cattle. What <a name="Page_259"></a>puzzled me was the
+rapidity with which the necessary dispositions had been made. On the whole,
+I was reassured. If Ram Lal had been able to prepare my way at such short
+notice here, with two more days at his disposal he would doubtless succeed
+in laying me a <i>d&acirc;k</i> most of the way from Julinder to Keitung. I
+will not dwell upon the details of the journey. I reached the railroad and
+prepared for forty-eight hours of jolting and jostling and broken sleep. It
+is true that railway travelling is nowhere so luxurious as in India, where
+a carriage has but two compartments, each holding as a rule only two
+persons, though four can be accommodated by means of hanging berths. Each
+compartment has a spacious bathroom attached, where you may bathe as often
+as you please, and there are various contrivances for ventilating and
+cooling the air. Nevertheless the heat is sometimes unbearable, and a
+journey from Bombay to Calcutta direct during the warm months is a severe
+trial to the strongest constitution. On this occasion I had about
+forty-eight hours to travel, and I was resolved to get all the rest in that
+time that the jolting made possible; for I knew that once in the saddle
+again it might be days before I got a night's sleep. And so we rumbled
+along, through the vast fields of sugar-cane, now mostly tied in huge
+sheaves upright, through boundless stretches of richly-cultivated soil,
+intersected with the regularity of a chess-board by the rivulets and
+channels of a laborious irrigation. Here and there stood the high frames
+made by planting <a name="Page_260"></a>four bamboos in a square and
+wickering the top, whereon the ryots sit when the crops are ripening, to
+watch against thieves and cattle, and to drive away the birds of the air.
+On we spun, past Meerut and Mozuffernugger, past Umballa and Loodhiana,
+till we reached our station of Julinder at dawn. Descending from the train,
+I was about to begin making inquiries about my next move, when I was
+accosted by a tall and well-dressed Mussulman, in a plain cloth
+<i>caftán</i> and a white turban, but exquisitely clean and fresh looking,
+as it seemed to me, for my eyes were smarting with dust and wearied with
+the perpetual shaking of the train.</p>
+
+<p>The courteous native soon explained that he was Isaacs' agent in
+Julinder, and that a <i>t&acirc;r ki khaber</i>, a telegram in short, had
+warned him to be on the lookout for me. I was greatly relieved, for it was
+evident that every arrangement had been made for my comfort, so far as
+comfort was possible. Isaacs had asked my assistance, but he had taken
+every precaution against all superfluous bodily inconvenience to me, and I
+felt sure that from this point I should move quickly and easily through
+every difficulty. And so it proved. The Mussulman took me to his house,
+where there was a spacious apartment, occupied by Isaacs when he passed
+that way. Every luxury was prepared for the enjoyment of the bath, and a
+breakfast of no mean taste was served me in my own room. Then my host
+entered and explained that he had been directed to make certain
+arrangements <a name="Page_261"></a>for my journey. He had laid a
+<i>d&acirc;k</i> nearly a hundred miles ahead, and had been ordered to tell
+me that similar steps had been taken beyond that point as far as my
+ultimate destination, of which, however, he was ignorant. My servant, he
+said, must stay with him and return to Simla with my traps.</p>
+
+<p>So an hour later I mounted for my long ride, provided with a revolver
+and some rupees in a bag, in case of need. The country, my entertainer
+informed me, was considered perfectly safe, unless I feared the <i>tap</i>,
+the bad kind of fever which infests all the country at the base of the
+hills. I was not afraid of this. My experience is that some people are
+predisposed to fever, and will generally be attacked by it in their first
+year in India, whether they are much exposed to it or not, while others
+seem naturally proof against any amount of malaria, and though they sleep
+out of doors through the whole rainy season, and tramp about the jungles in
+the autumn, will never catch the least ague, though they may have all other
+kinds of ills to contend with.</p>
+
+<p>On and on, galloping along the heavy roads, sometimes over no road at
+all, only a broad green track, where the fresh grass that had sprung up
+after the rains was not yet killed by the trampling of the bullocks and the
+grinding jolt of the heavy cart. At intervals of seven or eight miles I
+found a saice with a fresh pony picketed and grazing at the end of the long
+rope. The saice was generally squatting near by, with his bag of food and
+his three-sided kitchen <a name="Page_262"></a>of stones, blackened with
+the fire from his last meal, beside him; sometimes in the act of cooking
+his chowpatties, sometimes eating them, according to the time of day.
+Several times I stopped to drink some water where it seemed to be good, and
+I ate a little chocolate from my supply, well knowing the miraculous,
+sustaining powers of the simple little block of "Menier," which, with its
+six small tablets, will not only sustain life, but will supply vigour and
+energy, for as much as two days, with no other food. On and on, through the
+day and the night, past sleeping villages, where the jackals howled around
+the open doors of the huts; and across vast fields of late crops, over
+hills thickly grown with trees, past the broad bend of the Sutlej river,
+and over the plateau toward Sultanpoor, the cultivation growing scantier
+and the villages rarer all the while, as the vast masses of the Himalayas
+defined themselves more and more distinctly in the moonlight. Horses of all
+kinds under me, lean and fat, short and high, roman-nosed and goose-necked,
+broken and unbroken; away and away, shifting saddle and bridle and
+saddle-bag as I left each tired mount behind me. Once I passed a stream,
+and pulling off my boots to cool my feet, the temptation way too strong, so
+I hastily threw off my clothes and plunged in and had a short refreshing
+bath. Then on, with, the galloping even triplet of the house's hoofs
+beneath me, as they came down in quick succession, as if the earth were a
+muffled drum and we were beating an untiring <i>rataplan</i> on her
+breast.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_263"></a>I must have ridden a hundred and thirty miles
+before dawn, and the pace was beginning to tell, even on my strong frame.
+True, to a man used to the saddle, the effort of riding is reduced to a
+minimum when every hour or two gives him a fresh horse. There is then no
+heed for the welfare of the animal necessary; he has but his seven or eight
+miles to gallop, and then his work is done; there are none of those
+thousand little cares and sympathetic shiftings and adjustings of weight
+and seat to be thought of, which must constantly engage the attention of a
+man who means to ride the same horse a hundred miles, or even fifty or
+forty. Conscious that a fresh mount awaits him, he sits back lazily and
+never eases his weight for a moment; before he has gone thirty miles he
+will kick his feet out of the stirrups about once in twenty minutes, and if
+he has for the moment a quiet old stager who does not mind tricks, he will
+probably fetch one leg over and go a few miles sitting sideways. He will go
+to sleep once or twice, and wake up apparently in the very act to
+fall&mdash;though I believe that a man will sleep at a full gallop and never
+loosen his knees until the moment of waking startles him. Nevertheless, and
+notwithstanding Lord Steepleton Kildare and his ride to Umballa and back in
+twenty-four hours, when a man, be he ever so strong, has ridden over a
+hundred miles, he feels inclined for a rest, and a walk, and a little
+sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Once more an emissary of Ram Lal strode to my side as I rolled off the
+saddle into the cool grass at <a name="Page_264"></a>sunrise in a very
+impracticable-looking country. The road had been steeper and less defined
+during the last two hours of the ride, and as I crossed one leg high over
+the other lying on my back in the grass, the morning light caught my spur,
+and there was blood on it, bright and red. I had certainly come as fast as
+I could; if I should be too late, it would not be my fault. The agent,
+whoever he might be, was a striking-looking fellow in a dirty brown cloth
+<i>caftán</i> and an enormous sash wound round his middle. A pointed cap
+with some tawdry gold lace on it covered his head, and greasy black
+love-locks writhed filthily over his high cheek bones and into his scanty
+tangled beard; a suspicious hilt bound with brass wire reared its
+snake-like head from the folds of his belt, and his legs, terminating in
+thick-soled native shoes, reminded one of a tarantula in boots. He salaamed
+awkwardly with a tortuous grin, and addressed me with the northern
+salutation, "May your feet never be weary with the march." Having been
+twenty-four hours in the saddle, my feet were not that portion of my body
+most wearied, but I replied to the effect that I trusted the shadow of the
+greasy gentleman might not diminish a hairsbreadth in the next ten thousand
+years. We then proceeded to business, and I observed that the man spoke a
+very broken and hardly intelligible Hindustani. I tried him in Persian, but
+it was of no avail. He spoke Persian, he said, but it was not of the kind
+that any human being could understand; so we returned to the first
+language, <a name="Page_265"></a>and I concluded that he was a wandering
+kábuli.</p>
+
+<p>As an introduction of himself he mentioned Isaacs, calling him Abdul
+Hafiz Sáhib, and he seemed to know him personally. Abdul, he said, was not
+far off as distances go in the Himalayas. He thought I should find him the
+day after to-morrow, <i>mungkul</i>. He said I should not be able to ride
+much farther, as the pass beyond Sultanpoor was utterly impracticable for
+horses; coolies, however, awaited me with a dooly, one of those low litters
+slung on a bamboo, in which you may travel swiftly and without effort, but
+to the destruction of the digestive organs. He said also that he would
+accompany me the next stage as far as the doolies, and I thought he showed
+some curiosity to know whither I was going; but he was a wise man in his
+generation, and knowing his orders, did not press me overmuch with
+questions. I remarked in a mild way that the saddle was the throne of the
+warrior, and that the air of the black mountains was the breath of freedom;
+but I added that the voice of the empty stomach was as the roar of the king
+of the forest. Whereupon the man replied that the forest was mine and the
+game therein, whereof I was lord, as I probably was of the rest of the
+world, since I was his father and mother and most of his relations; but
+that, perceiving that I was occupied with the cares of a mighty empire, he
+had ventured to slay with his own hand a kid and some birds, which, if I
+would condescend to partake <a name="Page_266"></a>of them, he would
+proceed to cook. I replied that the light of my countenance would shine
+upon my faithful servant to the extent of several coins, both rupees and
+pais, but that the peculiar customs of my caste forbid me to touch food
+cooked by any one but myself. I would, however, in consideration of his
+exertions and his guileless heart, invite the true follower of the prophet,
+whose name is blessed, to partake with me of the food which I should
+presently prepare. Whereat he was greatly delighted, and fetched the meat,
+which he had stowed away in a kind of horse-cloth, for safety against
+ants.</p>
+
+<p>I am not a bad cook at a pinch, and so we sat down and made a
+cooking-place with stones, and built a fire, and let the flame die down
+into coals, and I dressed the meat as best I could, and flavoured it with
+gunpowder and pepper, and we were merry. The man was thenceforth mine, and
+I knew I could trust him; a bivouac in the Himalayas, when one is alone and
+far from any kind of assistance, is not the spot to indulge in any
+prejudice about colour. I did not think much about it as I hungrily gnawed
+the meat and divided the birds with my pocket-knife.</p>
+
+<p>The lower Himalayas are at first extremely disappointing. The scenery is
+enormous but not grand, and at first hardly seems large. The lower parts
+are at first sight a series of gently undulating hills and wooded dells; in
+some places it looks as if one might almost hunt the country. It is long
+before you realise that it is all on a gigantic scale; that the quickset <a
+name="Page_267"></a>hedges are belts of rhododendrons of full growth, the
+water-jumps rivers, and the stone walls mountain-ridges; that to hunt a
+country like that you would have to ride a horse at least two hundred feet
+high. You cannot see at first, or even for some time, that the
+gentle-looking hill is a mountain of five or six thousand feet; in Simla
+you will not believe you are three thousand feet above the level of the
+Rhigi Kulm in Switzerland. Persons who are familiar with the aspect of the
+Rocky Mountains are aware of the singular lack of dignity in those enormous
+elevations. They are merely big, without any superior beauty, until you
+come to the favoured spots of nature's art, where some great contrast
+throws out into appalling relief the gulf between the high and the low. It
+is so in the Himalayas.</p>
+
+<p>You may travel for hours and days amidst vast forests and hills without
+the slightest sensation of pleasure or sense of admiration for the scene,
+till suddenly your path leads you out on to the dizzy brink of an awful
+precipice&mdash;a sheer fall, so exaggerated in horror that your most stirring
+memories of Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, and the hideous <i>ar&ecirc;te</i> of
+the Pitz Bernina, sink into vague insignificance. The gulf that divides you
+from the distant mountain seems like a huge bite taken bodily out of the
+world by some voracious god; far away rise snow peaks such as were not
+dreamt of in your Swiss tour; the bottomless valley at your feet is misty
+and gloomy with blackness, streaked with mist, while the peaks above shoot
+<a name="Page_268"></a>gladly to the sun and catch his broadside rays like
+majestic white standards. Between you, as you stand leaning cautiously
+against the hill behind you, and the wonderful background far away in
+front, floats a strange vision, scarcely moving, but yet not still. A great
+golden shield sails steadily in vast circles, sending back the sunlight in
+every tint of burnished glow. The golden eagle of the Himalayas hangs in
+mid-air, a sheet of polished metal to the eye, pausing sometimes in the
+full blaze of reflection, as ages ago the sun and the moon stood still in
+the valley of Ajalon; too magnificent for description, as he is too
+dazzling to look at. The whole scene, if no greater name can be given to
+it, is on a scale so Titanic in its massive length and breadth and depth,
+that you stand utterly trembling and weak and foolish as you look for the
+first time. You have never seen such masses of the world before.</p>
+
+<p>It was in such a spot as this that, nearly at noon on the appointed day,
+my dooly-bearers set me down and warned me I was at my journey's end. I
+stepped out and stood on the narrow way, pausing to look and to enjoy all
+that I saw. I had been in other parts of the lower Himalayas before, and
+the first sensations I had experienced had given way to those of a
+contemplative admiration. No longer awed or overpowered or oppressed by the
+sense of physical insignificance in my own person, I could endure to look
+on the stupendous panorama before me, and could even analyse what I felt.
+But before long my <a name="Page_269"></a>pardonable reverie was disturbed
+by a well-known voice. The clear tones rang like a trumpet along the
+mountain-side in a glad shout of welcome. I turned and saw Isaacs coming
+quickly towards me, bounding along the edge of the precipice as if his life
+had been passed in tending goats and robbing eagles' nests. I, too, moved
+on to meet him, and in a moment we clasped hands in unfeigned delight at
+being again together. What was Ghyrkins or his party to me? Here was the
+man I sought; the one man on earth who seemed worth having for a friend.
+And yet it was but three weeks since we first met, and I am not
+enthusiastic by temperament.</p>
+
+<p>"What news, friend Griggs?"</p>
+
+<p>"She greets you and sends you this," I said, taking from my bosom the
+parcel she had thrust into my hand as I left in the dark. His face fell
+suddenly. It was the silver box he had given her; was it possible she had
+taken so much trouble to return it? He turned it over mournfully.</p>
+
+<p>"You had better open it. There is probably something in it."</p>
+
+<p>I never saw a more complete change in a man's face during a single
+second than came over Isaacs' in that moment. He had not thought of opening
+it, in his first disappointment at finding it returned. He turned back the
+lid. Bound with a bit of narrow ribbon and pressed down carefully, he found
+a heavy lock of gold-white hair, so fair that it made everything around it
+seem dark&mdash;the grass, our clothes, <a name="Page_270"></a>and even the
+white streamer that hung down from Isaacs' turban. It seemed to shed a
+bright light, even in the broad noon-day, as it lay there in the curiously
+wrought box&mdash;just as the body of some martyred saint found jealously
+concealed in the dark corner of an ancient crypt, and broken in upon by
+unsuspecting masons delving a king's grave, might throw up in their dusky
+faces a dazzling halo of soft radiance&mdash;the glory of the saint hovering
+lovingly by the body wherein the soul's sufferings were perfected.</p>
+
+<p>The moment Isaacs realised what it was, he turned away, his face all
+gladness, and moved on a few steps with bent head, evidently contemplating
+his new treasure. Then he snapped the spring, and putting the casket in his
+vest turned round to me.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Griggs; how are they all?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was worth a two-hundred mile ride to see your face when you opened
+that box. They are pretty well. I left them swearing that the party was
+broken up, and that they would all go back to Simla."</p>
+
+<p>"The sooner the better. We shall be there in three days from here, by
+the help of Ram Lal's wonderful post."</p>
+
+<p>"Between you I managed to get here quite well. How did you do it? I
+never missed a relay all the way from Julinder."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it is very easy," answered Isaacs. "You could have a
+<i>d&acirc;k</i> to the moon from India if you would pay for it; or any
+other thing in heaven or earth or hell that you might fancy. Money, that is
+all. But, <a name="Page_271"></a>my dear fellow, you have lost flesh
+sensibly since we parted. You take your travelling hard."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is Ram Lal?" I asked, curious to learn something of our movements
+for the night.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know. He is probably somewhere about the place charming
+cobras or arresting avalanches, or indulging in some of those playful
+freaks he says he learned in Edinburgh. We have had a great good time the
+last two days. He has not disappeared, or swallowed himself even once, or
+delivered himself of any fearful and mysterious prophecies. We have been
+talking transcendentalism. He knows as much about 'functional gamma' and
+'All X is Y' and the rainbow, and so on, as you do yourself. I recommend
+him. I think he would be a charming companion for you. There he is now,
+with his pockets full of snakes and evil beasts. I wanted him to catch a
+golden eagle this morning, and tame it for Miss Westonhaugh, but he said it
+would eat the jackal and probably the servants, so I have given it up for
+the present." Isaacs was evidently in a capital humour. Ram Lal approached
+us.</p>
+
+<p>I saw at a glance that Ram Lal the Buddhist, when on his beats in the
+civilisation of Simla, was one person. Ram Lal, the cultured votary of
+science, among the hills and the beasts and the specimens that he loved,
+was a very different man. He was as gray as ever, it is true, but better
+defined, the outlines sharper, the features more Dantesque and easier to
+discern in the broad light of the sun. He did not <a
+name="Page_272"></a>look now as if he could sit down and cross his legs and
+fade away into thin air, like the Cheshire cat. He looked more solid and
+fleshly, his voice was fuller, and sounded close to me as he spoke, without
+a shadow of the curious distant ring I had noticed before.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" he said in English, "Mr. Griggs, at last! Well, you are in plenty
+of time. The gentleman who is not easily astonished. That is just as well,
+too. I like people with quiet nerves. I see by your appearance that you are
+hungry, Mr. Griggs. Abdul Hafiz, why should we not dine? It is much better
+to get that infliction of the flesh over before this evening."</p>
+
+<p>"By all means. Come along. But first send those dooly-bearers about
+their business. They can wait till to-morrow over there on the other side.
+They always carry food, and there is any amount of fuel."</p>
+
+<p>Just beyond the shoulder of the hill, sheltered from the north by the
+projecting boulders, was a small tent, carefully pitched and adjusted to
+stand the storms if any should come. Thither we all three bent our steps
+and sat down by the fire, for it was chilly, even cold, in the passes in
+September. Food was brought out by Isaacs, and we ate together as if no
+countless ages of different nationalities separated us. Ram Lal was
+perfectly natural and easy in his manners, and affable in what he said.
+Until the meal was finished no reference was made to the strange business
+that brought us from different points of the <a name="Page_273"></a>compass
+to the Himalayan heights. Then, at last, Ram Lal spoke; his meal had been
+the most frugal of the three, and he had soon eaten his fill, but he
+employed himself in rolling cigarettes, which he did with marvellous skill,
+until we two had satisfied our younger and healthier appetites.</p>
+
+<p>"Abdul Hafiz," he said, his gray face bent over his colourless hands as
+he twisted the papers, "shall we not tell Mr. Griggs what is to be done?
+Afterward he can lie in the tent and sleep until evening, for he is weary
+and needs to recruit his strength."</p>
+
+<p>"So be it, Ram Lal," answered Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. The position is this, Mr. Griggs. Neither Mr. Isaacs nor I
+trust those men that we are to meet, and therefore, as we are afraid of
+being killed unawares, we thought we would send for you to protect us." He
+smiled pleasantly as he saw the blank expression in my face.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly, and you shall hear how it is to be done. The place is not
+far from here in the valley below. The band are already nearing the spot,
+and at midnight we will go down and meet them. The meeting will be, of
+course, like all formal rendezvous for the delivery of prisoners. The
+captain of the band will come forward accompanied by his charge, and
+perhaps by a sowar. We three will stand together, side by side, and await
+their coming. Now the plot is this. They have determined if possible to
+murder both Shere Ali and Isaacs then and there together. They have not
+counted on us, but they <a name="Page_274"></a>probably expect that our
+friend will arrive guarded by a troop of horse. The maharajah's men will
+try and sneak up close to where we stand, and at a signal, which the
+leader, in conversation with Isaacs, will give by laying his hand on his
+shoulder, the men will rush in and cut Shere Ali to pieces, and Isaacs too
+if the captain cannot do it alone. Now look here, Mr. Griggs. What we want
+you to do is this. Your friend&mdash;my friend&mdash;wants no miracles, so that you
+have got to do by strength what might be done by stratagem, though not so
+quickly. When you see the leader lay his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, seize
+him by the throat and mind his other arm, which will be armed. Prevent him
+from injuring Isaacs, and I will attend to the rest, who will doubtless
+require my whole attention."</p>
+
+<p>"But," I objected, "supposing that this captain turned out to be
+stronger or more active than I. What then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never fear," said Isaacs, smiling. "There aren't any."</p>
+
+<p>"No," continued Ram Lal, "never disturb yourself about that, but just
+knock your man down and be done with it. I will guarantee you can do it
+well enough, and if he gives you trouble I may be able to help you."</p>
+
+<p>"All right; give me some cigarettes;" and before I had smoked one I was
+asleep.</p>
+
+<p>When I awoke the sun was down, but there was a great light over
+everything. The full moon had just <a name="Page_275"></a>risen above the
+hills to eastward and bathed every object in silver sheen. The far peaks,
+covered with snow, caught the reflection and sent the beams floating across
+the deep dark valleys between. The big boulder, against which the tent was
+pitched, caught it too, and seemed changed from rough stone to precious
+metal; it was on the tent-pegs and the ropes, it was upon Isaacs' lithe
+figure, as he tightened his sash round his waist and looked to his
+pocket-book for the agreement. It made Ram Lal, the gray and colourless,
+look like a silver statue, and it made the smouldering flame of the
+watch-fire utterly dim and faint. It was a wonderful moon. I looked at my
+watch; it was eight o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Isaacs, "you were tired and have slept long. It is time to
+be off. There is some whiskey in that flask. I don't take those things, but
+Ram Lal says you had better have some, as you might get fever." So I did.
+Then we started, leaving everything in the tent, of which we pegged down
+the flap. There were no natives about, the dooly-bearers having retired to
+the other side of the valley, and the jackals would find nothing to attract
+them, as we had thrown the remainder of our meal over the edge. As for
+weapons, I had a good revolver and a thick stick; Isaacs had a revolver and
+a vicious-looking Turkish knife; and Ram Lal had nothing at all, as far as
+I could see, except a long light staff.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of the moonlight was wild in the extreme, as we descended the
+side of the mountain <a name="Page_276"></a>by paths which were very far
+from smooth or easy. Every now and then, as we neared the valley, we turned
+the corner of some ridge and got a fair view of the plain. Then a step
+farther, and we were in the dark again, behind boulders and picking our way
+over loose stones, or struggling with the wretched foothold afforded by a
+surface of light gravel, inclined to the horizontal at an angle of
+forty-five degrees. Then, with a scramble, a jump, and a little swearing in
+a great many languages&mdash;I think we counted that we spoke twenty-seven
+between us&mdash;we were on firm soil again, and swinging along over the bit of
+easy level path. It would have been out of the question to go in doolies,
+and no pony could keep a foothold for five minutes on the uncertain
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>At last, as we emerged into the bright moonlight on a little platform of
+rock at an angle of the path, we paused. Ram Lal, who seemed to know the
+way, was in front, and held up his hand to silence us; Isaacs and I kneeled
+down and looked over the brink. Some two hundred feet below, on a broad
+strip of green bordering the steep cliffs, was picketed a small body of
+horse. We could see the men squatting about in their small compact turbans
+and their shining accoutrements; the horses tethered at various distances
+on the sward, cropping so vigorously that even at that height we could hear
+the dull sound as they rhythmically munched the grass. We could see in the
+middle of the little camp a man seated on a <a name="Page_277"></a>rug and
+wrapped in a heavy garment of some kind, quietly smoking a common
+hubble-bubble. Beside him stood another who reflected more moonlight than
+the rest, and who was therefore, by his trappings, the captain of the band.
+The seated smoker could be no other than Shere Ali.</p>
+
+<p>Cautiously we descended the remaining windings of the steep path,
+turning whenever we had a chance, to look down on the horsemen and their
+prisoner below, till at last we emerged in the valley a quarter of a mile
+or so beyond where they were stationed. Here on the level of the plain we
+stopped a moment, and Ram Lal renewed his instructions to me.</p>
+
+<p>"If the captain," he said, "lays his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, seize him
+and throw him. If you cannot get him down kill him&mdash;any way you can&mdash;shoot
+him under the arm with your pistol. It is a matter of life and death."</p>
+
+<p>"All right." And we walked boldly along the broad strip of sward. The
+moon was now almost immediately overhead, for it was midnight, or near it.
+I confess the scene awed me, the giant masses of the mountains above us,
+the vast distances of mysterious blue air, through which the snow-peaks
+shone out with a strange look that was not natural. The swish of the
+quickly flowing stream at the edge of the plot we were walking over sounded
+hollow and unearthly; the velvety whirr of the great mountain bats as they
+circled near us, stirred from the branches as we passed out, was
+disagreeable and heavy to hear. The moon shone brighter and brighter.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_278"></a>We were perhaps thirty yards from the little
+camp, in which there might be fifty men all told. Isaacs stood still and
+sung out a greeting.</p>
+
+<p>"Peace to you, men of Baithopoor!" he shouted. It was the preconcerted
+form of address. Instantly the captain turned and looked toward us. Then he
+gave some orders in a low voice, and taking his prisoner by the hand
+assisted him to rise. There was a scurrying to and fro in the camp. The men
+seemed to be collecting, and moving to the edge of the bivouac. Some began
+to saddle the horses. The moon was so intensely bright that their movements
+were as plain to us as though it had been broad daylight.</p>
+
+<p>Two figures came striding toward us&mdash;the captain and Shere Ali. As I
+looked at them, curiously enough, as may be imagined, I noticed that the
+captain was the taller man by two or three inches, but Shere Ali's broad
+chest and slightly-bowed legs produced an impression of enormous strength.
+He looked the fierce-hearted, hard-handed warrior, from head to heel;
+though in accordance with Isaacs' treaty he had been well taken care of and
+was dressed in the finest stuffs, his beard carefully clipped and his
+Indian turban rolled with great neatness round his dark and prominent
+brows.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing for the captain was to satisfy himself as far as
+possible that we had no troops in ambush up there in the jungle on the base
+of the mountain. He had probably sent scouts out before, and was <a
+name="Page_279"></a>pretty sure there was no one there. To gain time, he
+made a great show of reading the agreement through from beginning to end,
+comparing it all the while with a copy he held. While this was going on,
+and I had put myself as near as possible to the captain, Isaacs and Shere
+Ali were in earnest conversation in the Persian tongue. Shere Ali told
+Abdul that the captain's perusal of the contract must be a mere empty show,
+since the man did not know a word of the language. Isaacs, on hearing that
+the captain could not understand, immediately warned Shere Ali of the
+intended attempt to murder them both, of which Ram Lal, his friend, had
+heard, and I could see the old soldier's eye flash and his hand feel for
+his weapon, where there was none, at the mere mention of a fight. The
+captain began to talk to Isaacs, and I edged as near as I could to be ready
+for my grip. Still it did not come. He talked on, very civilly, in
+intelligible Hindustani. What was the matter with the moon?</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes before it had seemed as if there would be neither cloud
+nor mist in such a sky; and now a light filmy wreath was rising and
+darkening the splendour of the wonderful night. I looked across at Ram Lal.
+He was standing with one hand on his hip, and leaning with the other on his
+staff, and he was gazing up at the moon with as much interest as he ever
+displayed about anything. At that moment the captain handed Isaacs a
+prepared receipt for signature, to the effect that the prisoner had been <a
+name="Page_280"></a>duly delivered to his new owner. The light was growing
+dimmer, and Isaacs could hardly see to read the characters before he
+signed. He raised the scroll to his eyes and turned half round to see it
+better. At that moment the tall captain stretched forth his arm and laid
+his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, raising his other arm at the same time to his
+men, who had crept nearer and nearer to our group while the endless talking
+was going on. I was perfectly prepared, and the instant the soldier's hand
+touched Isaacs I had the man in my grip, catching his upraised arm in one
+hand and his throat with the other. The struggle did not last long, but it
+was furious in its agony. The tough Punjabi writhed and twisted like a cat
+in my grasp, his eyes gleaming like living coals, springing back and
+forward in his vain and furious efforts to reach my feet and trip me. But
+it was no use. I had his throat and one arm well in hand, and could hold
+him so that he could not reach me with the other. My fingers sank deeper
+and deeper in his neck as we swayed backwards and sideways tugging and
+hugging, breast to breast, till at last, with a fearful strain and wrench
+of every muscle in our two bodies, his arm went back with a jerk, broken
+like a pipe-stem, and his frame collapsing and bending backwards, fell
+heavily to the ground beneath me.</p>
+
+<p>The whole strength of me was at work in the struggle, but I could get a
+glimpse of the others as we whirled and swayed about.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_281"></a>Like the heavy pall of virgin white that is laid
+on the body of a pure maiden; of velvet, soft and sweet but heavy and
+impenetrable as death, relentless, awful, appalling the soul, and freezing
+the marrow in the bones, it came near the earth. The figure of the gray old
+man grew mystically to gigantic and unearthly size, his vast old hands
+stretched forth their skinny palms to receive the great curtain as it
+descended between the moonlight and the sleeping earth. His eyes were as
+stars, his hoary head rose majestically to an incalculable height; still
+the thick, all-wrapping mist came down, falling on horse and rider and
+wrestler and robber and Amir; hiding all, covering all, folding all, in its
+soft samite arms, till not a man's own hand was visible to him a span's
+length from his face.</p>
+
+<p>I could feel the heaving chest of the captain beneath my knee; I could
+feel the twitching of the broken arm tortured under the pressure of my left
+hand; but I could see neither face nor arm nor breast, nor even my own
+fingers. Only above me, as I stared up, seemed to tower the supernatural
+proportions of Ram Lal, a white apparition visible through the opaque
+whiteness that hid everything else from view. It was only a moment. A hand
+was on my shoulder, Isaacs' voice was in my ear, speaking to Shere Ali. Ram
+Lal drew me away.</p>
+
+<p>"Be quick," he said; "take my hand, I will lead you to the light." We
+ran along the soft grass, following the sound of each other's feet,
+swiftly. <a name="Page_282"></a>A moment more and we were in the pass; the
+mist was lighter, and we could see our way. We rushed up the stony path
+fast and sure, till we reached the clear bright moonlight, blazing forth in
+silver splendour again. Far down below the velvet pall of mist lay thick
+and heavy, hiding the camp and its horses and men from our sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Friend," said Isaacs, "you are as free as I. Praise Allah, and let us
+depart in peace."</p>
+
+<p>The savage old warrior grasped the outstretched hand of the Persian and
+yelled aloud&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Illallaho-ho-ho-ho!" His throat was as brass.</p>
+
+<p>"La illah ill-allah!" repeated Isaacs in tones as of a hundred clarions,
+echoing by tree and mountain and river, down the valley.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God!" I said to Ram Lal.</p>
+
+<p>"Call Him as you please, friend Griggs," answered the pundit.</p>
+
+<p>It was daylight when we reached the tent at the top of the pass.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_283"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_XIII'></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+
+<p>"Abdul Hafiz," said Ram Lal, as we sat round the fire we had made,
+preparing food, "if it is thy pleasure I will conduct thy friend to a place
+of safety and set his feet in the paths that lead to pleasant places. For
+thou art weary and wilt take thy rest until noon, but I am not weary and
+the limbs of the Afghan are as iron." He spoke in Persian, so that Shere
+Ali could understand what he said. The latter looked uneasy at first, but
+soon perceived that his best chance of safety lay in immediately leaving
+the neighbourhood, which was unpleasantly near Simla on the one side and
+the frontiers of Baithopoor on the other.</p>
+
+<p>"I thank thee, Ram Lal," replied Isaacs, "and I gladly accept thy offer.
+Whither wilt thou conduct our friend the Amir?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will lead him by a sure road into Thibet, and my brethren shall take
+care of him, and presently he shall journey safely northwards into the
+Tartar country, and thence to the Russ people, where the followers of your
+prophet are many, and if thou wilt give him the letters thou hast written,
+which he may present to the principal moolahs, he shall prosper. And <a
+name="Page_284"></a>as for money, if thou hast gold, give him of it, and if
+not, give him silver; and if thou hast none, take no thought, for the
+freedom of the spirit is better than the obesity of the body."</p>
+
+<p>"Bishmillah! Thou speakest with the tongue of wisdom, old man," said
+Shere Ali; "nevertheless a few rupees&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Fear nothing," broke in Isaacs. "I have for thee a store of a few
+rupees in silver, and there are two hundred gold mohurs in this bag. They
+are scarce in Hind and pass not as money, but the value of them whither
+thou goest shall buy thee food many days. Take also this diamond, which if
+thou be in want thou shalt sell and be rich."</p>
+
+<p>Shere Ali, who had been suspicious of treachery, or at least was afraid
+to believe himself really free, was convinced by this generosity. The great
+rough warrior, the brave patriot who had shut the gates of Kabul in the
+face of Sir Neville Chamberlain, and who had faced every danger and defeat,
+rather than tamely suffer the advance of the all-devouring English into his
+dominions, was proud and unbending still, through all his captivity and
+poverty and trouble, and weariness of soul and suffering of body; he could
+bear his calamities like a man, the unrelenting chief of an unrelenting
+race. But when Isaacs stretched forth his hand and freed him, and bestowed
+upon him, moreover, a goodly stock of cash, and bid him go in peace, his
+gratitude got the better of him, and he fairly broke down. The big tears
+coursed down over <a name="Page_285"></a>his rough cheeks, and his face
+sank between his hands, which trembled violently for a moment. Then his
+habitual calm of outward manner returned.</p>
+
+<p>"Allah requite thee, my brother," he said, "I can never hope to."</p>
+
+<p>"I have done nothing," said Isaacs. "Shall believers languish and perish
+in the hands of swine without faith? Verily it is Allah's doing, whose name
+is great and powerful. He will not suffer the followers of His prophet to
+be devoured of jackals and unclean beasts. Masallah! There is no God but
+God."</p>
+
+<p>Therefore, when they had eaten some food, Ram Lal and Shere Ali
+departed, journeying north-east towards Thibet, and Isaacs and I remained
+sleeping in the tent until past noon. Then we arose and went our way,
+having packed up the little canvas house and the utensils and the pole into
+a neat bundle which we carried by turns along the steep rough paths, until
+we found the dooly-bearers squatting round the embers after their mid-day
+meal. As we journeyed we talked of the events of the night. It seemed to me
+that the whole thing might have been managed very much more simply. Isaacs
+did things in his own way, however, and, after all, he generally had a good
+reason for his actions.</p>
+
+<p>"I think not," he said in reply to my question. "While you were throwing
+that ruffian, who would have overmatched me in an instant, Shere Ali and I
+disposed of the sowars who ran up at the captain's <a
+name="Page_286"></a>signal. Shere Ali says he killed one of them with his
+hands, and my little knife here seems to have done some damage." He
+produced the vicious-looking dagger, stained above the hilt with dark
+blood, which he began to scrape off with a bit of stick.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," I objected, "I am delighted to have served you, and I
+see that since Shere Ali could not be warned of the signal, I was the only
+person there who could tackle that Punjabi man; yet I am completely at a
+loss to explain why, if Ram Lal can command the forces of nature to the
+extent of calling down a thick mist under the cover of which we might
+escape, he could not have calmly destroyed the whole band by lightning, or
+indigestion, or some simple and efficacious means, so that we need not have
+risked our lives in supplementing what he only half did."</p>
+
+<p>"There are plenty of answers to that question," Isaacs answered. "In the
+first place, how do you know that Ram Lal could do anything more than
+discover the preconcerted signal and bring down that fog? He pretends to no
+supernatural power; he only asserts that he understands the workings of
+nature better than you do. How do you know that the fog was his doing at
+all? Your excited imagination, developed suddenly by the tussle with the
+captain, which undoubtedly sent the blood to your head, made you think you
+saw Ram Lal's figure magnified beyond human proportion. If there had been
+no mist at all, we should most likely have got away unhurt all the same.
+Those fellows would not fight after their <a name="Page_287"></a>leader was
+down. Again, I like to let Ram Lal feel that I am able to do something for
+myself, and that I have other friends as powerful. He aims at obtaining too
+much ascendency over me. I do not like it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh&mdash;if you look at it in that light, I have nothing to say. It has been
+a very pleasant and interesting excursion to me, and I am rather glad I
+only broke that fellow's arm instead of killing him, as you and Shere Ali
+did your sowars."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know whether I killed him. I suppose I did. Poor fellow.
+However, he would certainly have killed me."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. No use crying over spilt milk," I answered.</p>
+
+<p>So we got into the doolies and swung away. As we neared Simla my
+friend's spirits rose, and he chanted wild Persian and Arabic love-songs,
+and kept up a fire of conversation all day and all night, singing and
+talking alternately.</p>
+
+<p>"Griggs," he said, as we approached the end of our journey, "did you
+have occasion to tell Miss Westonhaugh where I had gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. She asked me, and I answered that you had gone to save a man's
+life. She looked very much pleased, I thought, but just then somebody came
+up, and we did not talk any more about it. I got your message the evening
+of the day you left."</p>
+
+<p>"She looked pleased?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very much. I remember the colour came into her cheeks."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_288"></a>"Was she so pale, then?" he asked anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, yes. You remember how she looked the night before you left? She
+was even paler the next day, but when I said you had gone to do a good
+deed, the light came into her face for a moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think she was ill, Griggs?"</p>
+
+<p>"She did not look well, but of course she was anxious about you, and a
+good deal cut up about your going."</p>
+
+<p>"No; but did you really think she was ill?" he insisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, nothing but your going."</p>
+
+<p>His spirits were gone again, and he said very little more that day. As
+we were ascending the last hills, some eight or nine hours from Simla, the
+moon rose majestically behind us. It must have been ten o'clock, for she
+could not have been seen above the notch in the mountains to eastward until
+she had been risen an hour at least.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder where they are now, those two," said Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"Shere Ali and Ram Lal?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. They are probably across the borders into Thibet, watching the
+moon rise from the door of some Buddhist monastery. I am glad I am not
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"Isaacs," I said, "I would really like to know why you took so much
+trouble about Shere Ali. It seems to me you might have procured his
+liberation in some simpler way, if it was merely an act of charity that you
+contemplated."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_289"></a>"Call it anything you like. I had read about the
+poor man until my imagination was wrought up, and I could not bear to think
+of a man so brave and patriotic and at the same time a true believer, lying
+in the clutches of that old beast of a maharajah. And as for the method of
+my procedure, do you realise the complete secrecy of the whole affair? Do
+you see that no one but you and I and the Baithopoor people know anything
+of the transaction? Do you suppose that I should be tolerated a day in the
+country if the matter were known? Above all, what do you imagine Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins would think of me if he knew I had been liberating and enriching
+the worst foe of his little god, Lord Beaconsfield?"</p>
+
+<p>There was truth in what he said. By no arrangement could the liberation
+of Shere Ali have been effected with such secrecy and despatch as by the
+simple plan of going ourselves. And now we toiled up the last hills, vainly
+attempting to keep our horses in a canter; long before the relay was
+reached they had relapsed into a dogged jog-trot.</p>
+
+<p>So we reached Simla at sunrise, and crawled wearily up the steps of the
+hotel to our rooms, tired with the cramp of dooly and saddle for so many
+days, and longing for the luxury of the bath, the civilised meal, and the
+arm-chair. Of course I did not suppose Isaacs would go to bed. He expected
+that the Westonhaughs would have returned by this time, and he would
+doubtless go to them as soon as he had breakfasted. So we separated to
+dress and be shaved&mdash;my <a name="Page_290"></a>beard was a week old at
+least&mdash;and to make ourselves as comfortable as we deserved to be after our
+manifold exertions. We had been three days and a half from Keitung to
+Simla.</p>
+
+<p>At my door stood the faithful Kiramat Ali, salaaming and making a
+pretence of putting dust on his head according to his ideas of respectful
+greeting. On the table lay letters; one of these, a note, lay in a
+prominent position. I took it instinctively, though I did not know the
+hand. It was from Mr. Currie Ghyrkins.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<i>Saturday morning</i>.
+
+<p>MY DEAR MR. GRIGGS&mdash;If you have returned to</p>
+Simla, I should be glad to see you for half an hour on
+a matter of urgent importance. I would come to you
+if I could. My niece, Miss Westonhaugh, is, I am
+sorry to say, dangerously ill.&mdash;Sincerely yours,
+
+<p>A. CURRIE GHYRKINS.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>It was dated two days before, for to-day was Monday. I made every
+possible haste in my toilet and ordered a horse. I wondered whether Isaacs
+had received a similar missive. What could be the matter? What might not
+have happened in those two days since the note was written? I felt sure
+that the illness had begun before I left them in the Terai, hastened
+probably by the pain she had felt at Isaacs' departure; there is nothing
+like a little mental worry to hasten an illness, if it is to come at all.
+Poor Miss Westonhaugh! So, after all her gaiety and all <a
+name="Page_291"></a>the enjoyment she had from the tiger-hunt on which she
+had set her heart, she had come back to be ill in Simla. Well, the air was
+fresh enough now&mdash;almost cold, in fact. She would soon be well. Still, it
+was a great pity. We might have had such a gay week before breaking up.</p>
+
+<p>I was dressed, and I went down the steps, passing Isaacs' open door. He
+was calmly reading a newspaper and having a morning smoke, until it should
+be time to go out. Clearly he had not heard anything of Miss Westonhaugh's
+illness. I resolved I would say nothing until I knew the worst, so I merely
+put my head in and said I should be back in an hour to breakfast with him,
+and passed on. Once on horseback, I galloped as hard as I could, scattering
+chuprassies and children and marketers to right and left in the bazaar. It
+was not long before I left my horse at the corner of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins'
+lawn, and walking to the verandah, which looked suspiciously neat and
+unused, inquired for the master of the house. I was shown into his bedroom,
+for it was still very early and he was dressing.</p>
+
+<p>I noticed a considerable change in the old gentleman's manner and
+appearance in the last ten days. His bright red colour was nearly faded,
+his eyes had grown larger and less bright, he had lost flesh, and his tone
+was subdued in the extreme. He came from his dressing-glass to greet me
+with a ghost of the old smile on his face, and his hand stretched eagerly
+out.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Mr. Griggs, I am sincerely glad to see you."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_292"></a>"I have not been in Simla two hours," I answered,
+"and I found your note. How is Miss Westonhaugh? I am so sorry to&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't talk about her, Griggs. I am afraid she's g&mdash;g&mdash;goin' to die." He
+nearly broke down, but he struggled bravely. I was terribly shocked, though
+a moment's reflection told me that so strong and healthy a person would not
+die so easily. I expressed my sympathy as best I could.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it? What is the illness?" I asked when he was quieter.</p>
+
+<p>"Jungle fever, my dear fellow, jungle fever; caught in that beastly
+tiger-hunt. Oh! I wish I had never taken her. I wish we had never gone. Why
+wasn't I firm? Damn it all, sir, why wasn't I firm, eh?" In his anger at
+himself something of the former jerky energy of the man showed itself. Then
+it faded away into the jaded sorrowful look that was on his face when I
+came in. He sat down with his elbows on his knees and his hands in his
+scanty gray hair, his suspenders hanging down at his sides&mdash;the picture of
+misery. I tried to console him, but I confess I felt very much like
+breaking down myself. I did not see what I could do, except break the bad
+news to Isaacs.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Griggs," he said at last, "she has been asking for you all the
+time, and the doctor thought if you came she had best see you, as it might
+quiet her. Understand?" I understood better than he thought.</p>
+
+<p>People who are dangerously ill have no morning <a
+name="Page_293"></a>and no evening. Their hours are eternally the same,
+save for the alternation of suffering and rest. The nurse and the doctor
+are their sun and moon, relieving each other in the watches of day and
+night. As they are worse&mdash;as they draw nearer to eternity, they are less
+and less governed by ideas of time. A dying person will receive a visit at
+midnight or at mid-day with no thought but to see the face of friend&mdash;or
+foe&mdash;once more. So I was not surprised to find that Miss Westonhaugh would
+see me; in an interval of the fever she had been moved to a chair in her
+room, and her brother was with her. I might go in&mdash;indeed she sent a very
+urgent message imploring that I would go. I went.</p>
+
+<p>The morning sun was beating brightly on the shutters, and the room
+looked cheerful as I entered. John Westonhaugh, paler than death, came
+quickly to the door and grasped my hand.</p>
+
+<p>On a long cane-chair by the window, carefully covered from the possible
+danger of any insidious draught, with a mass of soft white wraps and
+shawls, lay Katharine Westonhaugh&mdash;the transparant phantasm of her
+brilliant self. The rich masses of pale hair were luxuriously nestled
+around her shoulders and the blazing eyes flamed, lambently, under the
+black brows&mdash;but that was all. Colour, beside the gold hair and the black
+eyes, there was hardly any. The strong clean-cut outline of the features
+was there, but absolutely startling in emaciation, so that there seemed to
+be no flesh at all; the pale lips <a name="Page_294"></a>scarcely closed
+over the straight white teeth. A wonderful and a fearful sight to see, that
+stately edifice of queenly strength and beauty thus laid low and pillaged
+and stript of all colour save purple and white&mdash;the hues of mourning&mdash;the
+purple lips and the white cheek. I have seen many people die, and the
+moment I looked at Katharine Westonhaugh I felt that the hand of death was
+already closed over her, gripped round, never to relax. John led me to her
+side, and a faint smile showed she was glad to see me. I knelt reverently
+down, as one would kneel beside one already dead. She spoke first, clearly
+and easily, as it seemed. People who are ill from fever seldom lose the
+faculty of speech.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad you are come. There are many things I want you to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Westonhaugh. I will do everything."</p>
+
+<p>"Is he come back?" she asked&mdash;then, as I looked at her brother, she
+added, "John knows, he is very glad."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we came back this morning together; I came here at once."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you&mdash;it was kind. Did you give him the box?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;he does not know you are ill. He means to come at eleven."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him to come now. <i>Now</i>&mdash;do you understand?" Then she added in
+a low tone, for my ear only, "I don't think they know it; I am dying. I
+shall be dead before to-night. Don't tell him that. <a
+name="Page_295"></a>Make him come now. John knows. Now go. I am tired.
+No&mdash;wait! Did he save the man's life?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; the man is safe and free in Thibet."</p>
+
+<p>"That was nobly done. Now go. You have always been kind to me, and you
+love him. When you see me again I shall be gone." Her voice was perceptibly
+weaker, though still clearly audible. "When I am gone, put some flowers on
+me for friendship's sake. You have always been so kind. Good-bye, dear Mr.
+Griggs. Good-bye. God keep you." I moved quickly to the door, fearing lest
+the piteous sight should make a coward of me. It was so ineffably
+pathetic&mdash;this lovely creature, just tasting of the cup of life and love
+and dying so.</p>
+
+<p>"Bring him here at once, Griggs, please. I know all about it. It may
+save her." John Westonhaugh clasped my hand in his again, and pushed me out
+to speed me on my errand. I tore along the crooked paths and the winding
+road, up through the bazaar, past the church and the narrow causeway beyond
+to the hotel. I found him still smoking and reading the paper.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" said he cheerfully, for the morning sun had dispelled the doubts
+of the night.</p>
+
+<p>"My dear friend," I said, "Miss Westonhaugh wants to see you
+immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"How? What? Of course; I will go at once, but how did you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wait a minute, Isaacs; she is not well at all&mdash;in fact, she is quite
+ill."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_296"></a>"What's the matter&mdash;for God's sake&mdash;Why, Griggs,
+man, how white you are&mdash;O my God, my God&mdash;she is dead!" I seized him
+quickly in my arms or he would have thrown himself on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>"No," I said, "she is not dead. But, my dear boy, she is dying. I do not
+believe she will live till this evening. Therefore get to horse and ride
+there quickly, before it is too late."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs was a brave man, and of surpassing strength to endure. After the
+first passionate outburst, his manner never changed as he mechanically
+ordered his horse and pulled on his boots. He was pale naturally, and great
+purple rings seemed to come out beneath his eyes&mdash;as if he had received a
+blow&mdash;from the intensity of his suppressed emotion. Once only he spoke
+before he mounted.</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Jungle fever," I answered. He groaned. "Shall I go with you?" asked I,
+thinking it might be as well. He shook his head, and was off in a
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>I turned to my rooms and threw myself on my bed. Poor fellow; was there
+ever a more piteous case? Oh the cruel misery of feeling that nothing could
+save her! And he&mdash;he who would give life and wealth and fortune and power
+to give her back a shade of colour&mdash;as much as would tinge a rose-leaf,
+even a very little rose-leaf&mdash;and could not. Poor fellow! What would he do
+to-night&mdash;to-morrow. I could see him kneeling by her side and weeping hot
+tears over the wasted hands. I could almost hear his <a
+name="Page_297"></a>smothered sob&mdash;his last words of speeding to the
+parting soul&mdash;the picture grew intensely in my thoughts. How beautiful she
+would look when she was dead!</p>
+
+<p>I started as the thought came into my mind. How superficial was my
+acquaintance with her, poor girl,&mdash;how little was she a part of my life,
+since I could really so heartlessly think of her beauty when her breath
+should be gone! Of course, though, it was natural enough, why should I feel
+any personal pang for her? It was odd that I should even expect to&mdash;I, who
+never felt a "personal pang" of regret for the death of any human creature,
+excepting poor dear old Lucia, who brought me up, and sent me to school,
+and gave me roast chestnuts when I knew my lessons, in the streets of Rome,
+thirty years ago. When she died, I was there; poor old soul, how fond she
+was of me! And I of her! I remember the tears I shed, though I was a
+bearded man even then. How long is that? Since she died, it must be ten
+years.</p>
+
+<p>My thoughts wandered about among all sorts of <i>bric-&agrave;-brac</i>
+memories. Presently something brought me back to the present. Why must this
+fair girl from the north die miserably here in India? Ah yes! the eternal
+why. Why did we go at such a season into the forests of the Terai? it was
+madness; we knew it was, and Ram Lal knew it too. Hence his warning. O Ram
+Lal, you are a wise old man, with your gray beard and you mists of wet
+white velvet and your dark sayings! Ram Lal, will you riddle me, also, my
+weird that I must dree?</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_298"></a>A cold draught passed over my head, and I turned
+on my couch to see whence it came. I started bolt upright, and my hair
+stood on end with sudden terror. I had uttered the name of Ram Lal aloud in
+my reverie, and there he sat on a chair by the door, as gray as ever, with
+his long staff leaning from his feet across his breast and shoulder. He
+looked at me quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"I come opportunely, Mr. Griggs, it seems. <i>Lupus in fabula.</i> I
+hear my name pronounced as I enter the door. This is flattering to a man of
+my modest pretensions to social popularity. You would like me to tell you
+your fortune? Well, I am not a fortune-teller."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind my fortune. Will Miss Westonhaugh recover?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. She will die at sundown."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know, since you say you are no prophet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I am a doctor of medicine. M.D. of Edinburgh."</p>
+
+<p>"Why can you not save her then? A man who is a Scotch doctor, and who
+possesses the power of performing such practical jokes on nature as you
+exhibited the other night, might do something. However, I suppose I am not
+talking to you at all. You are in Thibet with Shere Ali. This is your
+astral body, and if I were near enough, I could poke my fingers right
+through you, as you sit there, telling me you are an Edinburgh doctor,
+forsooth."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite right, Mr. Griggs. At the present moment <a
+name="Page_299"></a>my body is quietly asleep in a lamastery in Thibet, and
+this is my astral shape, which, from force of habit, I begin to like almost
+as well. But to be serious&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I think it is very serious, your going about in this casual
+manner."</p>
+
+<p>"To be serious. I warned Isaacs that he should not allow the tiger-hunt
+to come off. He would not heed my warning. It is too late now. I am not
+omnipotent."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not. Still, you might be of some use if you went there. While
+there is life there is hope."</p>
+
+<p>"Proverbs," said Earn Lai scornfully, "are the wisdom of wise men
+prepared in portable doses for the foolish; and the saying you quote is one
+of them. There is life yet, but there is no hope."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am afraid you are right. I saw her this morning&mdash;I suppose I
+shall never see her again, not alive, at least. She looked nearly dead
+then. Poor girl; poor Isaacs, left behind!"</p>
+
+<p>"You may well say that, Mr. Griggs," said the adept. "On the whole,
+perhaps he is to be less pitied than she; who knows? Perhaps we should pity
+neither, but rather envy both."</p>
+
+<p>"Why? Either you are talking the tritest of cant, or you are indulging
+in more of your dark sayings, to be interpreted, <i>post facto</i>,
+entirely to your own satisfaction, and to every one else's disgust." I was
+impatient with the man. If he had such extraordinary powers as were
+ascribed to him&mdash;I never <a name="Page_300"></a>heard him assert that he
+possessed any; if he could prophesy, he might as well do so to some
+purpose. Why could he not speak plainly? He could not impose on me, who was
+ready to give him credit for what he really could do, while finding fault
+with the way he did it.</p>
+
+<p>"I understand what passes in your mind, friend Griggs," he said, not in
+the least disconcerted at my attack. "You want me to speak plainly to you,
+because you think you are a plain-spoken, clear-headed man of science
+yourself. Very well, I will. I think you might yourself become a brother
+some day, if you would. But you will not now, neither will in the future.
+Yet you understand some little distant inkling of the science. When you ask
+your scornful questions of me, you know perfectly well that you are putting
+an inquiry which you yourself can answer as well as I. I am not omnipotent.
+I have very little more power than you. Given certain conditions and I can
+produce certain results, palpable, visible, and appreciable to all; but my
+power, as you know, is itself merely the knowledge of the laws of nature,
+which Western scientists, in their wisdom, ignore. I can replenish the oil
+in the lamp, and while there is wick the lamp shall burn&mdash;ay, even for
+hundreds of years. But give me a lamp wherein the wick is consumed, and I
+shall waste my oil; for it will not burn unless there be the fibre to carry
+it. So also is the body of man. While there is the flame of vitality and
+the essence of life in his nerves and <a name="Page_301"></a>finer tissues,
+I will put blood in his veins, and if he meet with no accident he may live
+to see hundreds of generations pass by him. But where there is no vitality
+and no essence of life in a man, he must die; for though I fill his veins
+with blood, and cause his heart to beat for a time, there is no spark in
+him&mdash;no fire, no nervous strength. So is Miss Westonhaugh now&mdash;dead while
+yet breathing, and sighing her sweet farewells to her lover."</p>
+
+<p>"I know. I understand you very well. But do not deny that you might have
+saved her. Why did you not?" Ram Lal smiled a strange smile, which I should
+have described as self-satisfied, had it not been so gentle and kind.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah yes!" he said, with something like a sigh, though there was no
+sorrow or regret in it. "Yes, Griggs, I might have saved her life. I would
+certainly have saved her&mdash;well, if he had not persuaded her to go down into
+that steaming country at this time of year, since it was my advice to
+remain here. But it is no use talking about it."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you might have conveyed your meaning to him a little more
+clearly. He had no idea that you meant danger to her."</p>
+
+<p>"No, very likely not. It is not my business to mould men's destinies for
+them. If I give them advice that is good, it is quite enough. It is like a
+man playing cards: if he does not seize his chance it does not return.
+Besides, it is much better for him that she should die."</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_302"></a>"Your moral reflections are insufferable. Can you
+not find some one else to whom you may confide your secret joy of my
+friend's misfortunes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Calm yourself. I say it is better for her, better for him, better for
+both. Remember what you said to him yourself about the difference between
+pleasure and happiness. They shall be one yet, their happiness shall not be
+less eternal because their pleasure in this life has been brief. Can you
+not conceive of immortal peace and joy without the satisfaction of earthly
+lust?"</p>
+
+<p>"I would not call such a beautiful union as theirs might have been by
+such a name. For myself, I confess to a very real desire for pleasure first
+and happiness afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>"I know you better than you think, Mr. Griggs. You are merely
+argumentative, rarely sceptical. If I had begun by denying what I instead
+asserted, you would by this time have been arguing as strongly on my side
+as you now are on yours. You are often very near degenerating into a common
+sophist."</p>
+
+<p>"Very likely, it was a charming profession. Meanwhile, by going to the
+very opposite extreme from sophistry, I mean by a more than Quixotic
+veneration for an abstract dogma you hold to be true, and by your
+determination to make people die for it, you are causing fearful misery of
+body, untold agony of soul, to a woman and a man whom you should have every
+reason to like. Go to, Ram Lal, adept, magician, enthusiast, and prophet,
+you are mistaken, like all your kind!"</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_303"></a>"No, I am not mistaken, time will show. Moreover,
+I would have you remark that the lady in question is not suffering at all,
+and that the 'untold agony of soul' you attribute to Isaacs is a wholesome
+medicine for one with such a soul as his. And now I am going, for you are
+not the sort of person with whom I can enjoy talking very long. You are
+violent and argumentative, though you are sometimes amusing. I am rarely
+violent, and I never argue: life is too short. And yet I have more time for
+it than you, seeing my life will be indefinitely longer than yours.
+Good-bye, for the present; and believe me, those two will be happier far,
+and far more blessed, in a few short years hence, than ever you or I shall
+be in all the unreckonable cycles of this or any future world." Ram Lal
+sighed as he uttered the last words, and he was gone; yet the musical
+cadence of the deep-drawn breath of a profound sorrow, vibrated
+whisperingly through the room where I lay. Poor Ram Lal, he must have had
+some disappointment in his youth, which, with all his wisdom and
+superiority over the common earth, still left a sore place in his
+heart.</p>
+
+<p>I was not inclined to move. I knew where Isaacs was, where he would
+remain to the bitter end, and I would not go out into the world that day,
+while he was kneeling in the chamber of death. He might come back at any
+time. How long would it last? God in his mercy grant it might be soon and
+quickly over, without suffering. Oh! but those strong people <a
+name="Page_304"></a>die so deathly hard. I have seen a man&mdash;No, I was sure
+of that. She would not suffer any more now.</p>
+
+<p>I lay thinking. Would Isaacs send for me when he returned, or would he
+face his grief alone for a night before he spoke? The latter, I thought; I
+hoped so too. How little sympathy there must be for any one, even the
+dearest, in our souls and hearts, when it is so hard to look forward to
+speaking half-a-dozen words of comfort to some poor wretch of a friend who
+has lost everything in the wide world that is dear to him. We would rather
+give him all we possess outright than attempt to console him for the loss.
+And yet&mdash;what is there in life more sweet than to be consoled and
+comforted, and to have the true sympathy of some one, even a little near to
+us, when we ourselves are suffering. The people we do not want shower cards
+of condolence on us, and carriage-loads of flowers on the poor dead thing;
+the ones who could be of some help to the tortured soul are afraid to
+speak; the very delicacy of kind-heartedness in them, which makes us wish
+they would come, makes them stay away.</p>
+
+<p>I hope Isaacs will not send for me, poor fellow.</p>
+
+<p>If he does, what shall I say? God help me.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+
+
+
+<a name="Page_305"></a><h2><a name='CHAPTER_XIV'></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+
+<p>The hours came and went, and though worn out with the exertions of the
+past days, and with the emotions of the morning, I lay in my rooms, unable
+to sleep even for a moment. I went down once or twice to Isaacs' rooms to
+know whether he had returned, but he had not, nor had any one heard from
+him. At last the evening shadows crept stealthily up, darkening first one
+room, then another, until there was not light enough to read by. Then I
+dropped my book and went out to breathe the cold air on the verandah.
+Wearily the hours went by, and still there was no sign of my friend.</p>
+
+<p>Towards eleven o'clock the moon, now waning, once more rose above the
+hills and shed her light across the lawn, splendid still, but with the
+first tinge of melancholy that clouds her departing glory. Exhausted nature
+asserted herself, and chilled to the bone I went to bed, and, at last, to
+sleep.</p>
+
+<p>I slept peacefully at first, but soon the events that had come over my
+life began to weave themselves in wild disharmony through my restful
+visions, and the events that were to come cast their lengthening shadows
+before them. The world of past, present, <a name="Page_306"></a>and future
+thoughts, came into my soul, distorted, without perspective, nothing to
+help me to discern the good from the evil, the suffering gone and
+long-forgotten from the pain in store. The triumph of discrepancy over
+waking reason, the fancied victories of the sleep-dulled intellect over the
+outrageous discord of the wakeful imagination. I passed a most miserable
+night. It seemed rest to wake, until I was awake, and then it seemed rest
+to sleep again, until my eyes were closed. At last it came, no dream this
+time; Isaacs stood by my bed-side in the gray of the morning, himself
+grayer than the soft neutral-tinted dawn. It was a terrible moment to me,
+though I had expected it since yesterday. I felt like the condemned
+criminal in France, who does not know the day or hour of his death. The
+first intimation is when the executioner at daybreak enters his cell and
+bids him come forth to die, sometimes in less than sixty seconds from his
+waking.<sup><a href="#fn2" name="rfn2">[2]</a></sup></p>
+
+<p>How gray he looked, and how infinitely tried. I rose swiftly and took
+his hands, which were deadly cold, and led him to the outer room. I could
+not say anything, for I did not know how such a terribly sudden blow would
+affect him; he was so unlike any one else. Why is it so hard to comfort the
+afflicted? Why should the most charitable duty it is ever given us to
+perform be, without exception, the hardest of tasks?</p>
+
+<p>I am sure most people feel as I do. It is far less painful to suffer
+wounds and sickness in one's own <a name="Page_307"></a>body than to stand
+by and see the cold clean knife go through skin and flesh and cartilage; it
+is surely easier to suffer disease than to smooth daily and hourly the bed
+and pillows of some poor tormented wretch, calling on God and man to end
+his misery. There is a hidden instinct&mdash;of a low and cowardly kind, but
+human nevertheless&mdash;which bids us turn away from spectacles of agony
+whether harrowing or repulsive, until the good angel comes and whispers
+that we must trample on such coarse impulse and do our duty. "Show pity,"
+said the wise old Frenchman, "do anything to alleviate distress, but avoid
+actually feeling either compassion or sympathy. They can lead to no good."
+That was only his way of making to himself an excuse for doing a good
+action, for Larochefoucauld was a man who really possessed every virtue
+that he disclaimed for himself and denied in others.</p>
+
+<p>I felt much of this as I led Isaacs to the outer room, not knowing what
+form his sorrow might take, but feeling in my own person a grief as
+poignant, perhaps, for the moment, as his own. I had known he would come,
+that was all, though I had hoped he would not, and I knew that I must do my
+best to send him away a little less sorrowful than he had come. I was not
+prepared for the extreme calm of voice and manner that marked his first
+words, coming with measured rhythm and even cadence from his pale lips.</p>
+
+<p>"It is all over, my friend," he said.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_308"></a>"It has but begun," said the solemn tones of Ram
+Lal, the Buddhist, from the door. He entered and approached us.</p>
+
+<p>"Friend Isaacs," he continued, "I am not here to mock at your grief or
+to weary your strained heartstrings with such petty condolence as well-nigh
+drove Ayoub of old to impatience. But I love you, my brother, and I have
+somewhat to say to you in your trouble, some advice to give you in your
+distress. You are suffering greatly, past the power of reason to alleviate,
+for you no longer know yourself, nor are aware what you really think. But I
+will show to you three pictures of yourself that shall rouse you to what
+you are, to what you were, and to what you shall be.</p>
+
+<p>"I found you, not many years ago, a very young man, most exceptionally
+placed in regard to the world. You were even then rich, though not so rich
+as you now are. You were beautiful and full of vigour, but you have now
+upon you the glow of a higher beauty, the overflowing promise of a more
+glorious life. You were happy because you thought you were, but such
+happiness as you had proceeded from without rather than from within. You
+were a materially thinking man. Your thoughts were of the flesh, and your
+delights&mdash;harmless it is true&mdash;were in the things that were under your
+eyes&mdash;wealth, power, book knowledge, and perhaps woman, if you can call the
+creatures you believed in women.</p>
+
+<p>"You gathered wealth in great heaps, and your <a
+name="Page_309"></a>precious stones in storehouses. You laid your hand upon
+the diamond of the river and upon the pearl of the sea, and they abode with
+you, as the light of the sun and the moon. And you said, 'Behold it is my
+star, which is the lord of the dog-heat in summer, and it is my kismet.'
+You also took to yourself wives of rare qualities, having both golden and
+raven black hair, whose skin was as fine silk, and their breath as the
+freshness of the dawning, and their eyes as jewels. Then said you,
+rejoicing in your heart, that you were happy; and so you dwelt in peace and
+plenty, and waxed glad.</p>
+
+<p>"Therefore you accomplished your first destiny, and you drank of the cup
+that was filled to overflowing. And if it had been the law of nature that
+from pleasure man should derive permanent lasting peace, you had been happy
+so long as you lived. But, though you have the faultless life of the body
+to enjoy all things of the earth, even as other men, though in another
+degree, you have within you something more. There is in your breast a heart
+beating&mdash;an organ so wonderful in its sensitiveness, so perfect in its
+consciousness of good, that the least throb and thrill of pleasure that it
+feels is worth years and ages of mere sensual life enjoyment. The body
+having tasted of all happiness whereof it is capable, and having found that
+it is good, is saturated with its own ease and enjoys less keenly. But the
+heart is the border-land between body and soul. The heart can love and the
+body can love, but the body can only love itself; the <a
+name="Page_310"></a>heart is the wellspring of the lore that goes beyond
+self. Therefore your heart awoke.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I tell you of the first early stirrings of your love? Think you,
+because I am gray and loveless, that I have never known youth and gladness
+of heart? Ah, I know, better than you can think. It is not sudden, really,
+the blossoming out of the tree of life. The small leaves grow larger and
+stronger though still closely folded in the bud, until the bright warmth of
+the spring makes them burst into bloom. The little lark in the nest among
+the grass grows beneath the mother's wing and idly moves, now and then,
+unconscious of the cloud-cleaving gift of flight, until all at once, in the
+fair dawning, there wells up in his tiny breast the mighty sense of power
+to rise.</p>
+
+<p>"The human heart is like the budded folded leaves, and like the untaught
+lark. The quiet sleep before the day of blooming is, while it lasts, a
+state of happiness. But it is not comparable with the breathing joy of the
+leaf that feels and sees the wonderful life around it, whispering divine
+answers to the wooing breeze. The humble nest where it has first seen light
+is for many days a happy home to the tender songster, soon left behind,
+when the first wing-strokes waft the small body upwards to the sky, and
+forgotten as the first glad trill and quaver of the new-found voice roll
+out the prelude to the glorious life-long hymn of praise. The heart of
+man&mdash;your heart, my dear friend&mdash;gave a great leap from earth to sky, when
+first it felt the magic of the other life. The <a
+name="Page_311"></a>grosser scales of material vision fell away from your
+inner sight on the day when you met, and knew you had met, the woman you
+were to love.</p>
+
+<p>"I found you again, a different man, a far happier man, though you would
+hardly allow that. A sweet uncertainty of the future half-tinged your joy
+with a shadow of sadness, which you had not known before: but love sadness
+is only the shading and gentle pencilling in love's wondrous picture,
+whereby the whole light of the painting is made clearer and stronger. A new
+world opened out before you in endless vistas of untold and undreamed
+bliss. You looked back at your former self, so careless and sunny, so
+consciously happy in the strong sense of life and power, and you wondered
+how you could have been even contented through so many years. The good and
+evil deeds of your past life lost colour and perspective, and fell back
+into a dull, flat background, against which the ineffable vision of
+beautiful and immortal womanhood stood forth in transcendent glory. The
+eternal womanly element of the great universe beckoned you on, as it did
+Doctor Faustus of old. You had hitherto accepted woman and ignored
+womanhood, as so many of the followers of the prophet have always done.
+Henceforth there was to be a change, entire, complete, and enduring. No
+doubts now, or careless scepticism; no cant about women having no souls and
+no individual being; you had made a great step to a better understanding of
+the world you live in. Filled with a new life, you <a
+name="Page_312"></a>went on your way rejoicing and longing to do great
+deeds for her who had come into your destiny. From dawn to sunset, and from
+evening to dawn, one picture ever was before you leading you on. You were
+ready to run any risk for a smile and a blush of pleasure, you were willing
+to sacrifice anything and everything for her praise. And when, down there
+among the mango-trees in the Terai, your lips first touched hers and your
+arm pressed her to your side, the joy that was yours was as the joy of the
+immortals."</p>
+
+<p>Ram Lal paused, and Isaacs, who had been sitting by the table, stony and
+dry-eyed, hid his face in his hands, clutching with his white fingers among
+his bright black hair&mdash;all that seemed left to him of life, so dead and
+ashy was his face. He remained thus without looking up, as the old man
+continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Think not, dear friend and brother, that I have come here to dwell
+needlessly on your grief, to rouse again the keen agonies that have so
+lately burned through and through you to the quick. I love you well, and
+would but trace the past in order to paint the future. All that you felt
+and knew in those short days of perfect love on earth was good and true and
+noble, and shall not be forgotten hereafter. But last night closed the
+second of your three destinies&mdash;as true love always must close on earth&mdash;in
+bitter grief and sorrow because the one is gone before. Rather should you
+rejoice, Abdul Hafiz, that she is gone in virgin whiteness, whither ere
+long you shall <a name="Page_313"></a>follow and be with her till time
+shall chase the crumbling world out over the broad quicksands of eternity,
+and nought shall survive of all this but the pure and the constant and the
+faithful to death. There is before you a third, destiny, great and awful,
+but grand beyond power of telling. Body and heart have had their full cup
+of happiness, have enjoyed to the full what has been set in their way to
+enjoy. To the full you have enjoyed wealth and success and the sensuality
+of a refined and artistic luxury; to the full, as only a few rarely-gifted
+men can, you have enjoyed the purest and highest love that earth can give.
+Think not that all ends here. The greatest of destinies is but begun, and
+it is the destiny of the soul. Two days ago if I had told you there was
+something higher in you than the loving heart, you would not have believed
+me; now you do. It is the ethereal portion of the heart, that which longs
+to be loosed from the body and floating upwards to rejoin its other
+half.</p>
+
+<p>"Your love has been of the best kind that falls to the lot of man. Not a
+single shadow of doubting fell between you. It has been sweet if it has
+seemed short&mdash;but it has really lasted a long time, as long as some
+people's lives. You are many years older than you were when it began, for a
+month or two ago&mdash;or whenever it was that your heart first awoke&mdash;you were
+entirely immersed in the material view of things that belonged naturally
+enough to your position and mode of life. Now you have passed the critical
+border-land wherein love wanders, himself <a name="Page_314"></a>not
+knowing whither he shall lead his followers, whether back to the thick
+green pasture and heavy-scented groves of sensual existence or forward to
+free wind-swept heights of spiritual blessedness, where those who are true
+until they die walk forth into truth everlasting. Yours is the faith and
+the truth that abide always, yours henceforward shall be the perfect union
+of souls, yours the ethereal range of the outer firmament. Take my hand,
+brother, in yours, and seek with me the path to those heights&mdash;to that
+pinnacle of paradise where you shall meet once more the spirit elected to
+yours."</p>
+
+<p>Ram Lal stood beside Isaacs, whose face was still hidden, and laid his
+hand with tender gentleness on the weary head. The old man looked kindly
+down as he touched the thick black hair, and then raised his eyes and
+looked out through the door at the brightening landscape over which the
+morning sun was shedding warmth and beauty once more.</p>
+
+<p>"Brother," he continued, "come forth with me. You have suffered too much
+to mix again with the world, even if you wished it. Come forth, and your
+soul shall live for ever. Your grief shall be turned to joy, and the
+sinking heart shall be lifted to heights untried. As now the sun steadily
+rises in his unerring course, following the pale footsteps of the fleet
+dawning, and fulfilling her half spoken promises a million-fold in his
+goodness; as now the all-muffling heaviness of the sad dark night is
+forgotten in the gladness of day&mdash;so shall your brief time of darkness <a
+name="Page_315"></a>and dull distress perish and vanish swiftly at the
+first glimpses of the heavenly day on which follows no creeping night nor
+shadow of earthly care. I come not to bid you forget; I come to bid you
+remember. Remember all that is past, treasure it in the secret storehouse
+of the soul where the few flowers culled from life's abundant thorn are
+laid in their fragrance and garnered up. Remember also the future. Think
+that your time is short, and that the labour shall be sweet; so that in a
+few quick years you shall reap a harvest of unearthly blooming. Fear not to
+tread boldly in the tracks of those who have climbed before you, and who
+have attained and have conquered. What can anything earthly ever be to you?
+What can you ever care again for gold, or gem, or horse, or slave? Do with
+those things as it may seem good in your eyes, but leave them behind. The
+weight of the money-bags is a weariness and soreness to the feet that toil
+to overtake eternity. The flesh itself is weariness to the spirit, and soon
+leaves it to wing its flight untrammelled and untiring. Come, I will give
+you of my poor strength what shall carry your uncertain steps over the
+first great difficulties, or at least over so many as you have not yet
+surmounted. Be bold, aspiring, fearless, and firm of purpose. What guerdon
+can man or Heaven offer, higher than eternal communion with the bright
+spirit that waits and watches for your coming? With her&mdash;you said it while
+she lived&mdash;was your life, your light, and your love; it is true tenfold
+now, for <a name="Page_316"></a>with her is life eternal, light ethereal,
+and love spiritual. Come, brother, come with me!"</p>
+
+<p>Slowly Isaacs raised his head from his hands and gazed long on the old
+man. And while he gazed it was as if his pale face were transparent and the
+whiteness of the burning spirit, dazzling to see, came and went quickly and
+came again as flashes in the northern sky. Slowly he rose to his feet, and
+laying his hand in the Buddhist's, spoke at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Brother, I come," he said. "Show me the way."</p>
+
+<p>"Right gladly will I be thy guide, Abdul," Ram Lal gave answer. "Right
+willingly will I go with thee whither thou wouldest. Never was teacher
+sought by more worthy pupil; never did man embrace the pure life of the
+brethren with more single heart or truer purpose. The way shall be short
+that leads thee upward, the stones that are therein shall be as wings to
+lift thy feet instead of stumbling-blocks for thy destruction. The hidden
+forces of nature shall lend thee strength, and her secrets wisdom; the deep
+sweet springs of the eternal water shall refresh thee and the food of the
+angels shall be thine. Thy sorrows shall turn from bitter into sweet, and
+from the stings of thy past agonies shall grow up the golden flowers of thy
+future crown. Thou shalt not tire in the way, nor crave rest by the
+wayside."</p>
+
+<p>"Friend, tell me what I shall do that I may attain all this."</p>
+
+<p>"Be faithful to her who has preceded you, and learn of us, who know it,
+wherein consists true happiness. <a name="Page_317"></a>You need but little
+help, dear friend. Banish only from your thoughts the human suggestion that
+what you love most is lost, gone irrevocably. Rejoice, and mourn not, that
+she has entered in already where all your striving is to follow. Be glad
+because she looks on those sights and hears those sounds which are too
+bright and strong yet for your eyes and ears. Some of these unspeakable
+things you shall perceive with your perishable body; but the more perfect
+and glorious remain hidden to our mortal senses, be they ever so keen and
+exquisite. Believe me, you shall reach that state before I do. My poor soul
+is still bound to earth by some slender bonds of pleasure and contemptible
+pain, fine indeed as threads of gossamer, and soon, I trust, to be shaken
+off for ever. Yet am I bound and not utterly free. You, my brother, have
+been wrenched suddenly from the life of the body to the life of the soul.
+In you the vile desire to live for living's sake will soon be dead, if it
+is not dead already. Your soul, drawn strongly upward to other spheres, is
+well nigh loosed from love of life and fear of death. If at this moment you
+could lie down and die, you would meet your end joyfully. Very subtle are
+the fast-vanishing links between you and the world; very thin and
+impalpable the faint shadows that mar to your vision those transcendent
+hues of heavenly glory you shall so soon behold. Look forward, look upward,
+look onward&mdash;never once look back, and your waiting shall not be long, nor
+her watching many days. She stands <a name="Page_318"></a>before you,
+beckoning and praying that you tarry not. See that you do her bidding
+faithfully, as being near the blessed end, and fearful of losing even one
+moment in the attainment of what you seek."</p>
+
+<p>"Fear not, Ram Lal. My determination shall not fail me, nor my courage
+waver, until all is reached."</p>
+
+<p>The light of another world was on the beautiful brow and features as he
+looked full at his future teacher. What strange powers these adept brethren
+have! What marvellous magnetism over the souls of lesser men&mdash;whereby they
+turn sorrow into gladness, and defeat into triumph by mere words. I myself,
+bound by thought and word and deed to the lesser life, was not unmoved by
+the glorious promises that flowed with glowing eloquence from the lips of
+that gray old man in the early morning. They moved toward the door. Ram Lal
+spoke as he turned away.</p>
+
+<p>"We leave you, friend Griggs, but we will return this evening and bid
+you farewell." So I was left alone. Another comforter had taken my place;
+one knowing human nature better, and well versed in the learning of the
+spirit. One of that small band of high priests who in all ages and nations
+and religions and societies have been the mediators between time and
+eternity, to cheer and comfort the broken-hearted, to rebuke him who would
+lose his own soul, to speed the awakening spirit in its heavenward
+flight.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>As I sat in my room that night the door opened and they were with me,
+standing hand in hand.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_319"></a>"My friend," said Isaacs, "I have come to bid you
+farewell. You will never see me again. I am here once more to thank you,
+from the bottom of my heart, for your friendship and kind offices, for the
+strength of your arm in the hour of need, and for the gold of your words in
+time of uncertainty."</p>
+
+<p>"Isaacs," I said, "I know little of the journey you are undertaking, and
+I cannot go with you. This I know, that you are very near to a life I
+cannot hope for; and I pray God that you may speed quickly to the desired
+end, that you may attain that happiness which your brave soul and honest
+heart so well deserve. Once more, then, I offer you my fullest service, if
+there is anything that I still can do."</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing," he answered, "though if there were I know you would
+do it gladly and entirely. I have bestowed all my worldly possessions on
+the one man besides yourself to whom I owe a debt of gratitude&mdash;John
+Westonhaugh. Had I known you less well, I would have made you a sharer in
+my forsaken wealth. Only this I beg of you. Take this gem and keep it
+always for my sake. No&mdash;do not look at it in that way. Do not consider its
+value. It is to recall one who will often think of you, for you have been a
+great deal to me in this month."</p>
+
+<p>"I would I might have been more," I said, and it was all I could say,
+for my voice failed me.</p>
+
+<p>"Think of me," he continued, and the bright light shone through his face
+in the dusk, "think of me, not as you see me now, or as I was this morning,
+<a name="Page_320"></a>bowed beneath a great sorrow, but as looking forward
+to a happiness that transcends this mortal joy that I have lost, even as
+the glory of things celestial transcends the glory of the terrestrial.
+Think of me, not as mourning the departed day, but as watching longingly
+for the first faint dawn of the day eternal. Above all, think of me not as
+alone but as wedded for all ages to her who has gone before me."</p>
+
+<p>Ram Lal laid his hand on my arm and looked long into my eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Farewell for the present, my chance acquaintance," he said, "and
+remember that in me you have a friend. The day may come when you too will
+be in dire distress, beyond the skill of mere solitude and books to soothe.
+Farewell, and may all good things be with you."</p>
+
+<p>Isaacs laid his two hands on my shoulders, and once more I met the
+wondrous lustre of his eyes, now veiled but not darkened with the last look
+of his tender friendship.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, my dear Griggs. You have been the instructor and the genius
+of my love. Learn yourself the lessons you can teach others so well. Be
+yourself what you would have made me."</p>
+
+<p>One last loving look&mdash;one more pressure of the reluctant fingers, and
+those two went out, hand in hand, under the clear stars, and I saw them no
+more.</p>
+
+<p>THE END.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+<p><a href="#rfn1" name="fn1">1.</a>   Sir Gore Ousely, <i>Notices of the
+Persian Poets</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#rfn2" name="fn2">2.</a>   A fact, as is well known.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Mr. Isaacs
+
+Author: F. Marion Crawford
+
+Release Date: August 31, 2004 [EBook #13340]
+[Last updated: September 24, 2015]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. ISAACS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Kevin Handy, John Hagerson and PG Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+MR. ISAACS
+A TALE OF MODERN INDIA
+
+BY F. MARION CRAWFORD
+
+
+1882
+
+
+
+BY F. MARION CRAWFORD
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+In spite of Jean-Jacques and his school, men are not everywhere born
+free, any more than they are everywhere in chains, unless these be of
+their own individual making. Especially in countries where excessive
+liberty or excessive tyranny favours the growth of that class most
+usually designated as adventurers, it is true that man, by his own
+dominant will, or by a still more potent servility, may rise to any
+grade of elevation; as by the absence of these qualities he may fall to
+any depth in the social scale.
+
+Wherever freedom degenerates into license, the ruthless predatory
+instinct of certain bold and unscrupulous persons may, and almost
+certainly will, place at their disposal the goods, the honours, and the
+preferment justly the due of others; and in those more numerous and
+certainly more unhappy countries, where the rule of the tyrant is
+substituted for the law of God, the unwearying flatterer, patient under
+blows and abstemious under high-feeding, will assuredly make his way to
+power.
+
+Without doubt the Eastern portion of the world, where an hereditary, or
+at least traditional, despotism has never ceased since the earliest
+social records, and where a mode of thought infinitely more degrading
+than any feudalism has become ingrained in the blood and soul of the
+chief races, presents far more favourable conditions to the growth and
+development of the true adventurer than are offered in any free country.
+For in a free country the majority can rise and overthrow the favourite
+of fortune, whereas in a despotic country they cannot. Of Eastern
+countries in this condition, Russia is the nearest to us; though perhaps
+we understand the Chinese character better than the Russian. The Ottoman
+empire and Persia are, and always have been, swayed by a clever band of
+flatterers acting through their nominal master; while India, under the
+kindly British rule, is a perfect instance of a ruthless military
+despotism, where neither blood nor stratagem have been spared in
+exacting the uttermost farthing from the miserable serfs--they are
+nothing else--and in robbing and defrauding the rich of their just and
+lawful possessions. All these countries teem with stories of adventurers
+risen from the ranks to the command of armies, of itinerant merchants
+wedded to princesses, of hardy sailors promoted to admiralties, of
+half-educated younger sons of English peers dying in the undisputed
+possession of ill-gotten millions. With the strong personal despotism of
+the First Napoleon began a new era of adventurers in France; not of
+elegant and accomplished adventurers like M. de St. Germain, Cagliostro,
+or the Comtesse de la Motte, but regular rag-tag-and-bobtail cut-throat
+moss-troopers, who carved and slashed themselves into notice by sheer
+animal strength and brutality.
+
+There is infinitely more grace and romance about the Eastern adventurer.
+There is very little slashing and hewing to be done there, and what
+there is, is managed as quietly as possible. When a Sultan must be rid
+of the last superfluous wife, she is quietly done up in a parcel with a
+few shot, and dropped into the Bosphorus without more ado. The good
+old-fashioned Rajah of Mudpoor did his killing without scandal, and when
+the kindly British wish to keep a secret, the man is hanged in a quiet
+place where there are no reporters. As in the Greek tragedies, the
+butchery is done behind the scenes, and there is no glory connected with
+the business, only gain. The ghosts of the slain sometimes appear in the
+columns of the recalcitrant Indian newspapers and gibber a feeble little
+"Otototoi!" after the manner of the shade of Dareios, but there is very
+little heed paid to such visitations by the kindly British. But though
+the "raw head and bloody bones" type of adventurer is little in demand
+in the East, there is plenty of scope for the intelligent and wary
+flatterer, and some room for the honest man of superior gifts, who is
+sufficiently free from Oriental prejudice to do energetically the thing
+which comes in his way, distancing all competitors for the favours of
+fortune by sheer industry and unerring foresight.
+
+I once knew a man in the East who was neither a flatterer nor
+freebooter, but who by his own masterly perseverance worked his way to
+immense wealth, and to such power as wealth commands, though his high
+view of the social aims of mankind deterred him from mixing in political
+questions. _Bon chien chasse de race_ is a proverb which applies to
+horses, cattle, and men, as well as to dogs; and in this man, who was a
+noble type of the Aryan race, the qualities which have made that race
+dominant were developed in the highest degree. The sequel, indeed, might
+lead the ethnographer into a labyrinth of conjecture, but the story is
+too tempting a one for me to forego telling it, although the said
+ethnographer should lose his wits in striving to solve the puzzle.
+
+In September, 1879, I was at Simla in the lower Himalayas,--at the time
+of the murder of Sir Louis Cavagnari at Kabul,--being called there in
+the interests of an Anglo-Indian newspaper, of which I was then editor.
+In other countries, notably in Europe and in America, there are hundreds
+of spots by the sea-shore, or on the mountain-side, where specific ills
+may be cured by their corresponding antidotes of air or water, or both.
+Following the aristocratic and holy example of the Bishops of Salzburg
+for the last eight centuries, the sovereigns of the Continent are told
+that the air and waters of Hofgastein are the only nenuphar for the
+over-taxed brain in labour beneath a crown. The self-indulgent sybarite
+is recommended to Ems, or Wiesbaden, or Aix-la-Chapelle, and the
+quasi-incurable sensualist to Aix in Savoy, or to Karlsbad in Bohemia.
+In our own magnificent land Bethesdas abound, in every state, from the
+attractive waters of lotus-eating Saratoga to the magnetic springs of
+Lansing, Michigan; from Virginia, the carcanet of sources, the heaving,
+the warm, the hot sulphur springs, the white sulphur, the alum, to the
+hot springs of Arkansas, the Ultima Thule of our migratory and
+despairing humanity. But in India, whatever the ailing, low fever, high
+fever, "brandy pawnee" fever, malaria caught in the chase of tigers in
+the Terai, or dysentery imbibed on the banks of the Ganges, there is
+only one cure, the "hills;" and chief of "hill-stations" is Simla.
+
+On the hip rather than on the shoulder of the aspiring Himalayas,
+Simla--or Shumla, as the natives call it--presents during the wet
+monsoon period a concourse of pilgrims more varied even than the
+Bagneres de Bigorre in the south of France, where the gay Frenchman asks
+permission of the lady with whom he is conversing to leave her abruptly,
+in order to part with his remaining lung, the loss of the first having
+brought him there. "Pardon, madame," said he, "je m'en vais cracher mon
+autre poumon."
+
+To Simla the whole supreme Government migrates for the summer--Viceroy,
+council, clerks, printers, and hangers-on. Thither the high official
+from the plains takes his wife, his daughters, and his liver. There the
+journalists congregate to pick up the news that oozes through the
+pent-house of Government secrecy, and failing such scant drops of
+information, to manufacture as much as is necessary to fill the columns
+of their dailies. On the slopes of "Jako"--the wooded eminence that
+rises above the town--the enterprising German establishes his
+concert-hall and his beer-garden; among the rhododendron trees Madame
+Blavatzky, Colonel Olcott and Mr. Sinnett move mysteriously in the
+performance of their wonders; and the wealthy tourist from America, the
+botanist from Berlin, and the casual peer from Great Britain, are not
+wanting to complete the motley crowd. There are no roads in Simla proper
+where it is possible to drive, excepting one narrow way, reserved when I
+was there, and probably still set apart, for the exclusive delectation
+of the Viceroy. Every one rides--man, woman, and child; and every
+variety of horseflesh may be seen in abundance, from Lord Steepleton
+Kildare's thoroughbreds to the broad-sterned equestrian vessel of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, the Revenue Commissioner of Mudnugger in Bengal. But I
+need not now dwell long on the description of this highly-favoured spot,
+where Baron de Zach might have added force to his demonstration of the
+attraction of mountains for the pendulum. Having achieved my orientation
+and established my servants and luggage in one of the reputed hotels, I
+began to look about me, and, like an intelligent American observer, as I
+pride myself that I am, I found considerable pleasure in studying out
+the character of such of the changing crowd on the verandah and on the
+mall as caught my attention.
+
+At last the dinner-hour came. With the rest I filed into the large
+dining-room and took my seat. The place allotted to me was the last at
+one side of the long table, and the chair opposite was vacant, though
+two remarkably well-dressed servants, in turbans of white and gold,
+stood with folded arms behind it, apparently awaiting their master. Nor
+was he long in coming. I never remember to have been so much struck by
+the personal appearance of any man in my life. He sat down opposite me,
+and immediately one of his two servants, or _khitmatgars_, as they are
+called, retired, and came back bearing a priceless goblet and flask of
+the purest old Venetian mould. Filling the former, he ceremoniously
+presented his master with a brimming beaker of cold water. A
+water-drinker in India is always a phenomenon, but a water-drinker who
+did the thing so artistically was such a manifestation as I had never
+seen. I was interested beyond the possibility of holding my peace, and
+as I watched the man's abstemious meal,--for he ate little,--I
+contrasted him with our neighbours at the board, who seemed to be vying,
+like the captives of Circe, to ascertain by trial who could swallow the
+most beef and mountain mutton, and who could absorb the most
+"pegs"--those vile concoctions of spirits, ice, and soda-water, which
+have destroyed so many splendid constitutions under the tropical sun. As
+I watched him an impression came over me that he must be an Italian. I
+scanned his appearance narrowly, and watched for a word that should
+betray his accent. He spoke to his servant in Hindustani, and I noticed
+at once the peculiar sound of the dental consonants, never to be
+acquired by a northern-born person.
+
+Before I go farther, let me try and describe Mr. Isaacs; I certainly
+could not have done so satisfactorily after my first meeting, but
+subsequent acquaintance, and the events I am about to chronicle, threw
+me so often in his society, and gave me such ample opportunities of
+observation, that the minutest details of his form and feature, as well
+as the smallest peculiarities of his character and manner, are indelibly
+graven in my memory.
+
+Isaacs was a man of more than medium stature, though he would never be
+spoken of as tall. An easy grace marked his movements at all times,
+whether deliberate or vehement,--and he often went to each extreme,--a
+grace which no one acquainted with the science of the human frame would
+be at a loss to explain for a moment. The perfect harmony of all the
+parts, the even symmetry of every muscle, the equal distribution of a
+strength, not colossal and overwhelming, but ever ready for action, the
+natural courtesy of gesture--all told of a body in which true proportion
+of every limb and sinew were at once the main feature and the pervading
+characteristic. This infinitely supple and swiftly-moving figure was but
+the pedestal, as it were, for the noble face and nobler brain to which
+it owed its life and majestic bearing. A long oval face of a wondrous
+transparent olive tint, and of a decidedly Oriental type. A prominent
+brow and arched but delicate eyebrows fitly surmounted a nose smoothly
+aquiline, but with the broad well-set nostrils that bespeak active
+courage. His mouth, often smiling, never laughed, and the lips, though
+closely meeting, were not thin and writhing and cunning, as one so often
+sees in eastern faces, but rather inclined to a generous Greek fullness,
+the curling lines ever ready to express a sympathy or a scorn which, the
+commanding features above seemed to control and curb, as the stern,
+square-elbowed Arab checks his rebellious horse, or gives him the rein,
+at will.
+
+But though Mr. Isaacs was endowed with exceptional gifts of beauty by a
+bountiful nature, those I have enumerated were by no means what first
+attracted the attention of the observer. I have spoken of his graceful
+figure and perfect Iranian features, but I hardly noticed either at our
+first meeting. I was enthralled and fascinated by his eyes. I once saw
+in France a jewel composed of six precious stones, each a gem of great
+value, so set that they appeared to form but one solid mass, yielding a
+strange radiance that changed its hue at every movement, and multiplied
+the sunlight a thousand-fold. Were I to seek a comparison for my
+friend's eyes, I might find an imperfect one in this masterpiece of the
+jeweler's art. They were dark and of remarkable size; when half closed
+they were long and almond-shaped; when suddenly opened in anger or
+surprise they had the roundness and bold keenness of the eagle's sight.
+There was a depth of life and vital light in them that told of the
+pent-up force of a hundred generations of Persian magii. They blazed
+with the splendour of a god-like nature, needing neither meat nor strong
+drink to feed its power.
+
+My mind was made up. Between his eyes, his temperance, and his dental
+consonants, he certainly might be an Italian. Being myself a native of
+Italy, though an American by parentage, I addressed him in the language,
+feeling comparatively sure of his answer. To my surprise, and somewhat
+to my confusion, he answered in two words of modern Greek--"[Greek: _den
+enoesa_]"--"I do not understand." He evidently supposed I was speaking a
+Greek dialect, and answered in the one phrase of that tongue which he
+knew, and not a good phrase at that.
+
+"Pardon me," said I in English, "I believed you a countryman, and
+ventured to address you in my native tongue. May I inquire whether you
+speak English?"
+
+I was not a little astonished when he answered me in pure English, and
+with an evident command of the language. We fell into conversation, and
+I found him pungent, ready, impressive, and most entertaining,
+thoroughly acquainted with Anglo-Indian and English topics, and
+apparently well read. An Indian dinner is a long affair, so that we had
+ample time to break the ice, an easy matter always for people who are
+not English, and when, after the fruit, he invited me to come down and
+smoke with him in his rooms, I gladly availed myself of the opportunity.
+We separated for a few moments, and I despatched my servant to the
+manager of the hotel to ascertain the name of the strange gentleman who
+looked like an Italian and spoke like a fellow of Balliol. Having
+discovered that he was a "Mr. Isaacs," I wended my way through verandahs
+and corridors, preceded by a _chuprassie_ and followed by my
+pipe-bearer, till I came to his rooms.
+
+The fashion of the hookah or narghyle in India has long disappeared from
+the English portion of society. Its place has been assumed and usurped
+by the cheroot from Burmah or Trichinopoli, by the cigarette from Egypt,
+or the more expensive Manilla and Havana cigars. I, however, in an early
+burst of Oriental enthusiasm, had ventured upon the obsolete fashion,
+and so charmed was I by the indolent aromatic enjoyment I got from the
+rather cumbrous machine, that I never gave it up while in the East. So
+when Mr. Isaacs invited me to come and smoke in his rooms, or rather
+before his rooms, for the September air was still warm in the hills, I
+ordered my "bearer" to bring down the apparatus and to prepare it for
+use. I myself passed through the glass door in accordance with my new
+acquaintance's invitation, curious to see the kind of abode in which a
+man who struck me as being so unlike his fellows spent his summer
+months. For some minutes after I entered I did not speak, and indeed I
+hardly breathed. It seemed to me that I was suddenly transported into
+the subterranean chambers whither the wicked magician sent Aladdin in
+quest of the lamp. A soft but strong light filled the room, though I did
+not immediately comprehend whence it came, nor did I think to look, so
+amazed was I by the extraordinary splendour of the objects that met my
+eyes. In the first glance it appeared as if the walls and the ceiling
+were lined with gold and precious stones; and in reality it was almost
+literally the truth. The apartment, I soon saw, was small,--for India at
+least,--and every available space, nook and cranny, were filled with
+gold and jeweled ornaments, shining weapons, or uncouth but resplendent
+idols. There were sabres in scabbards set from end to end with diamonds
+and sapphires, with cross hilts of rubies in massive gold mounting, the
+spoil of some worsted rajah or Nawab of the mutiny. There were narghyles
+four feet high, crusted with gems and curiously wrought work from
+Baghdad or Herat; water flasks of gold and drinking cups of jade;
+yataghans from Bourn and idols from the far East. Gorgeous lamps of the
+octagonal Oriental shape hung from the ceiling, and, fed by aromatic
+oils, shed their soothing light on all around. The floor was covered
+with a rich soft pile, and low divans were heaped with cushions of
+deep-tinted silk and gold. On the floor, in a corner which seemed the
+favourite resting-place of my host, lay open two or three superbly
+illuminated Arabic manuscripts, and from a chafing dish of silver near
+by a thin thread of snow-white smoke sent up its faint perfume through
+the still air. To find myself transported from the conventionalities of
+a stiff and starched Anglo-Indian hotel to such a scene was something
+novel and delicious in the extreme. No wonder I stood speechless and
+amazed. Mr. Isaacs remained near the door while I breathed in the
+strange sights to which he had introduced me. At last I turned, and from
+contemplating the magnificence of inanimate wealth I was riveted by the
+majestic face and expression of the beautiful living creature who, by a
+turn of his wand, or, to speak prosaically, by an invitation to smoke,
+had lifted me out of humdrum into a land peopled with all the effulgent
+phantasies and the priceless realities of the magic East. As I gazed, it
+seemed as if the illumination from the lamps above were caught up and
+flung back with the vitality of living fire by his dark eyes, in which
+more than ever I saw and realised the inexplicable blending of the
+precious stones with the burning spark of a divine soul breathing
+within. For some moments we stood thus; he evidently amused at my
+astonishment, and I fascinated and excited by the problem presented me
+for solution in his person and possessions.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, "you are naturally surprised at my little Eldorado,
+so snugly hidden away in the lower story of a commonplace hotel. Perhaps
+you are surprised at finding me here, too. But come out into the air,
+your hookah is blazing, and so are the stars."
+
+I followed him into the verandah, where the long cane chairs of the
+country were placed, and taking the tube of the pipe from the solemn
+Mussulman whose duty it was to prepare it, I stretched myself out in
+that indolent lazy peace which is only to be enjoyed in tropical
+countries. Silent and for the nonce perfectly happy, I slowly inhaled
+the fragrant vapour of tobacco and aromatic herbs and honey with which
+the hookah is filled. No sound save the monotonous bubbling and
+chuckling of the smoke through the water, or the gentle rustle of the
+leaves on the huge rhododendron-tree which reared its dusky branches to
+the night in the middle of the lawn. There was no moon, though the stars
+were bright and clear, the foaming path of the milky way stretching
+overhead like the wake of some great heavenly ship; a soft mellow lustre
+from the lamps in Isaacs' room threw a golden stain half across the
+verandah, and the chafing dish within, as the light breeze fanned the
+coals, sent out a little cloud of perfume which mingled pleasantly with
+the odour of the _chillum_ in the pipe. The turbaned servant squatted on
+the edge of the steps at a little distance, peering into the dusk, as
+Indians will do for hours together. Isaacs lay quite still in his chair,
+his hands above his head, the light through the open door just falling
+on the jeweled mouthpiece of his narghyle. He sighed--a sigh only half
+regretful, half contented, and seemed about to speak, but the spirit did
+not move him, and the profound silence continued. For my part, I was so
+much absorbed in my reflections on the things I had seen that I had
+nothing to say, and the strange personality of the man made me wish to
+let him begin upon his own subject, if perchance I might gain some
+insight into his mind and mode of thought. There are times when silence
+seems to be sacred, even unaccountably so. A feeling is in us that to
+speak would be almost a sacrilege, though we are unable to account in
+any way for the pause. At such moments every one seems instinctively to
+feel the same influence, and the first person who breaks the spell
+either experiences a sensation of awkwardness, and says something very
+foolish, or, conscious of the odds against him, delivers himself of a
+sentiment of ponderous severity and sententiousness. As I smoked,
+watching the great flaming bowl of the water pipe, a little coal, forced
+up by the expansion of the heat, toppled over the edge and fell tinkling
+on the metal foot below. The quick ear of the servant on the steps
+caught the sound, and he rose and came forward to trim the fire. Though
+he did not speak, his act was a diversion. The spell was broken.
+
+"The Germans," said Isaacs, "say that an angel is passing over the
+house. I do not believe it."
+
+I was surprised at the remark. It did not seem quite natural for Mr.
+Isaacs to begin talking about the Germans, and from the tone of his
+voice I could almost have fancied he thought the proverb was held as an
+article of faith by the Teutonic races in general.
+
+"I do not believe it," he repeated reflectively. "There is no such thing
+as an angel 'passing'; it is a misuse of terms. If there are such things
+as angels, their changes of place cannot be described as motion, seeing
+that from the very nature of things such changes must be instantaneous,
+not involving time as a necessary element. Have you ever thought much
+about angels? By-the-bye, pardon my abruptness, but as there is no one
+to introduce us, what is your name?"
+
+"My name is Griggs--Paul Griggs. I am an American, but was born in
+Italy. I know your name is Isaacs; but, frankly, I do not comprehend how
+you came by the appellation, for I do not believe you are either,
+English, American, or Jewish of origin."
+
+"Quite right," he replied, "I am neither Yankee, Jew, nor beef-eater; in
+fact, I am not a European at all. And since you probably would not guess
+my nationality, I will tell you that I am a Persian, a pure Iranian, a
+degenerate descendant of Zoroaster, as you call him, though by religion
+I follow the prophet, whose name be blessed," he added, with an
+expression of face I did not then understand. "I call myself Isaacs for
+convenience in business. There is no concealment about it, as many know
+my story; but it has an attractive Semitic twang that suite my
+occupation, and is simpler and shorter for Englishmen to write than
+Abdul Hafizben-Isak, which is my lawful name."
+
+"Since you lay sufficient store by your business to have been willing to
+change your name, may I inquire what your business is? It seems to be a
+lucrative one, to judge by the accumulations of wealth you have allowed
+me a glimpse of."
+
+"Yes. Wealth is my occupation. I am a dealer in precious stones and
+similar objects of value. Some day I will show you my diamonds; they are
+worth seeing."
+
+It is no uncommon thing to meet in India men of all Asiatic
+nationalities buying and selling stones of worth, and enriching
+themselves in the business. I supposed he had come with a caravan by way
+of Baghdad, and had settled. But again, his perfect command of English,
+as pure as though he had been educated at Eton and Oxford, his extremely
+careful, though quiet, English dress, and especially his polished
+manners, argued a longer residence in the European civilisation of his
+adopted home than agreed with his young looks, supposing him to have
+come to India at sixteen or seventeen. A pardonable curiosity led me to
+remark this.
+
+"You must have come here very young," I said. "A thoroughbred Persian
+does not learn to speak English like a university man, and to quote
+German proverbs, in a residence of a few years; unless, indeed, he
+possess the secret by which the initiated absorb knowledge without
+effort, and assimilate it without the laborious process of intellectual
+digestion."
+
+"I am older than I look--considerably. I have been in India twelve
+years, and with a natural talent for languages, stimulated by constant
+intercourse with Englishmen who know their own speech well, I have
+succeeded, as you say, in acquiring a certain fluency and mastery of
+accent. I have had an adventurous life enough. I see no reason why I
+should not tell you something of it, especially as you are not English,
+and can therefore hear me with an unprejudiced ear. But, really, do you
+care for a yarn?"
+
+I begged him to proceed, and I beckoned the servant to arrange our
+pipes, that we might not be disturbed. When this was done, Isaacs began.
+
+"I am going to try and make a long story short. We Persians like to
+listen to long stories, as we like to sit and look on at a wedding
+nautch. But we are radically averse to dancing or telling long tales
+ourselves, so I shall condense as much as possible. I was born in
+Persia, of Persian parents, as I told you, but I will not burden your
+memory with names you are not familiar with. My father was a merchant in
+prosperous circumstances, and a man of no mean learning in Arabic and
+Persian literature. I soon showed a strong taste for books, and every
+opportunity was given me for pursuing my inclinations in this respect.
+At the early age of twelve I was kidnapped by a party of slave-dealers,
+and carried off into Roum--Turkey you call it. I will not dwell upon my
+tears and indignation. We travelled rapidly, and my captors treated me
+well, as they invariably do their prizes, well knowing how much of the
+value of a slave depends on his plump and sleek condition when brought
+to market. In Istamboul I was soon disposed of, my fair skin and
+accomplishments as a writer and a singer of Persian songs fetching a
+high price.
+
+"It is no uncommon thing for boys to be stolen and sold in this way. A
+rich pacha will pay almost anything. The fate of such slaves is not
+generally a happy one." Isaacs paused a moment, and drew in two or three
+long breaths of smoke. "Do you see that bright star in the south?" he
+said, pointing with his long jewel-set mouthpiece.
+
+"Yes. It must be Sirius."
+
+"That is my star. Do you believe in the agency of the stars in human
+affairs? Of course you do not; you are a European: how should you? But
+to proceed. The stars, or the fates or Kali, or whatever you like to
+term your kismet, your portion of good and evil, allotted me a somewhat
+happier existence than generally falls to the share of young slaves in
+Roum. I was bought by an old man of great wealth and of still greater
+learning, who was so taken with my proficiency in Arabic and in writing
+that he resolved to make of me a pupil instead of a servant to carry his
+coffee and pipe, or a slave to bear the heavier burden of his vices.
+Nothing better could have happened to me. I was installed in his house
+and treated with exemplary kindness, though he kept me rigorously at
+work with my books. I need not tell you that with such a master I made
+fair progress, and that at the age of twenty-one I was, for a Turk, a
+young man of remarkably good education. Then my master died suddenly,
+and I was thrown into great distress. I was of course nothing but a
+slave, and liable to be sold at any time. I escaped. Active and
+enduring, though never possessing any vast muscular strength, I bore
+with ease the hardships of a long journey on foot with little food and
+scant lodging. Falling in with a band of pilgrims, I recognised the
+wisdom of joining them on their march to Mecca. I was, of course, a
+sound Mohammedan, as I am to this day, and my knowledge of the Koran
+soon gained me some reputation in the caravan. I was considered a
+creditable addition, and altogether an eligible pilgrim. My exceptional
+physique protected me from the disease and exhaustion of which not a few
+of our number died by the wayside, and the other pilgrims, in
+consideration of my youth and piety, gave me willingly the few handfuls
+of rice and dates that I needed to support life and strength.
+
+"You have read about Mecca; and your _hadji_ barber, who of course has
+been there, has doubtless related his experiences to you scores of times
+in the plains, as he does everywhere. As you may imagine, I had no
+intention of returning towards Roum with my companions. When I had
+fulfilled all the observances required, I made my way to Yeddah and
+shipped on board an Arabian craft, touching at Mocha, and bearing coffee
+to Bombay. I had to work my passage, and as I had no experience of the
+sea, save in the caiques of the Golden Horn, you will readily conceive
+that the captain of the vessel had plenty of fault to find. But my
+agility and quick comprehension stood me in good stead, and in a few
+days I had learned enough to haul on a rope or to reef the great latteen
+sails as well as any of them. The knowledge that I was just returning
+from a pilgrimage to Mecca obtained for me also a certain respect among
+the crew. It makes very little difference what the trade, business, or
+branch of learning; in mechanical labour, or intellectual effort, the
+educated man is always superior to the common labourer. One who is in
+the habit of applying his powers in the right way will carry his system
+into any occupation, and it will help him as much to handle a rope as to
+write a poem.
+
+"At last we landed in Bombay. I was in a wretched condition. What little
+clothes I had had were in tatters; hard work and little food had made me
+even thinner than my youthful age and slight frame tolerated. I had in
+all about three pence money in small copper coins, carefully hoarded
+against a rainy day. I could not speak a word of the Indian dialects,
+still less of English, and I knew no one save the crew of the vessel I
+had come in, as poor as I, but saved from starvation by the slender
+pittance allowed them on land. I wandered about all day through the
+bazaars, occasionally speaking to some solemn looking old shopkeeper or
+long-bearded Mussulman, who, I hoped, might understand a little Arabic.
+But not one did I find. At evening I bathed in the tank of a temple full
+from the recent rains, and I lay down supperless to sleep on the steps
+of the great mosque. As I lay on the hard stones I looked up to my star,
+and took comfort, and slept. That night a dream came to me. I thought I
+was still awake and lying on the steps, watching the wondrous ruler of
+my fate. And as I looked he glided down from his starry throne with an
+easy swinging motion, like a soap-bubble settling to the earth. And the
+star came and poised among the branches of the palm-tree over the tank,
+opalescent, unearthly, heart shaking. His face was as the face of the
+prophet, whose name be blessed, and his limbs were as the limbs of the
+Hameshaspenthas of old. Garments he had none, being of heavenly birth,
+but he was clothed with light as with a garment, and the crest of his
+silver hair was to him a crown of glory. And he spoke with the tongues
+of a thousand lutes, sweet strong tones, that rose and fell on the night
+air as the song of a lover beneath the lattice of his mistress, the song
+of the mighty star wooing the beautiful sleeping earth. And then he
+looked on me and said: 'Abdul Hafiz, be of good cheer. I am with thee
+and will not forsake thee, even to the day when thou shalt pass over the
+burning bridge of death. Thou shalt touch the diamond of the rivers and
+the pearl of the sea, and they shall abide with thee, and great shall be
+thy wealth. And the sunlight which is in the diamond shall warm thee and
+comfort thy heart; and the moonlight which is in the pearl shall give
+thee peace in the night-time, and thy children shall be to thee a
+garland of roses in the land of the unbeliever.' And the star floated
+down from the palm-branches and touched me with his hand, and breathed
+upon my lips the cool breath of the outer firmament, and departed. Then
+I awoke and saw him again in his place far down the horizon, and he was
+alone, for the dawn was in the sky and the lesser lights were
+extinguished. And I rose from the stony stairway that seemed like a bed
+of flowers for the hopeful dream, and I turned westward, and praised
+Allah, and went my way.
+
+"The sun being up, all was life, and the life in me spoke of a most
+capacious appetite. So I cast about for a shop where I might buy a
+little food with my few coppers, and seeing a confectioner spreading out
+his wares, I went near and took stock of the queer balls of flour and
+sugar, and strange oily-looking sweetmeats. Having selected what I
+thought would be within my modest means, I addressed the shopkeeper to
+call his attention, though I knew he would not understand me, and I
+touched with my hand the article I wanted, showing with the other some
+of the small coins I had. As soon as I touched the sweetmeats the man
+became very angry, and bounding from his seat called his neighbours
+together, and they all shouted and screamed at me, and called a man I
+thought to be a soldier, though he looked more like an ape in his long
+loose trousers of dirty black, and his untidy red turban, under which
+cumbrous garments his thin and stunted frame seemed even blacker and
+more contemptible than nature had made them. I afterwards discovered him
+to be one of the Bombay police. He seized me by the arm, and I, knowing
+I had done no wrong, and curious to discover, if possible, what the
+trouble was, accompanied him whither he led me. After waiting many hours
+in a kind of little shed where there were more policemen, I was brought
+before an Englishman. Of course all attempts at explanation were
+useless. I could speak not a word of anything but Arabic and Persian,
+and no one present understood either. At last, when I was in despair,
+trying to muster a few words of Greek I had learned in Istamboul, and
+failing signally therein, an old man with a long beard looked curiously
+in at the door of the crowded court. Some instinct told me to appeal to
+him, and I addressed him in Arabic. To my infinite relief he replied in
+that tongue, and volunteered to be interpreter. In a few moments I
+learned that my crime was that I had _touched_ the sweetmeats on the
+counter.
+
+"In India, as you who have lived here doubtless know, it is a criminal
+offence, punishable by fine or imprisonment, for a non-Hindu person to
+defile the food of even the lowest caste man. To touch one sweetmeat in
+a trayful defiles the whole baking, rendering it all unfit for the use
+of any Hindu, no matter how mean. Knowing nothing of caste and its
+prejudices, it was with the greatest difficulty that the _moolah_, who
+was trying to help me out of my trouble, could make me comprehend
+wherein my wrong-doing lay, and that the English courts, being obliged
+in their own interest to uphold and protect the caste practices of the
+Hindus, at the risk of another mutiny, could not make any exception in
+favour of a stranger unacquainted with Indian customs. So the Englishman
+who presided said he would have to inflict a fine, but being a very
+young man, not yet hardened to the despotic ways of Eastern life, he
+generously paid the fine himself, and gave me a rupee as a present into
+the bargain. It was only two shillings, but as I had not had so much
+money for months I was as grateful as though it had been a hundred. If I
+ever meet him I will requite him, for I owe him all I now possess.
+
+"My case being dismissed, I left the court with the old _moolah_, who
+took me to his house and inquired of my story, having first given me a
+good meal of rice and sweetmeats, and that greatest of luxuries, a
+little pot of fragrant Mocha coffee; he sat in silence while I ate,
+ministering to my wants, and evidently pleased with the good he was
+doing. Then he brought out a package of _birris_, those little
+cigarettes rolled in leaves that they smoke in Bombay, and I told him
+what had happened to me. I implored him to put me in the way of
+obtaining some work by which I could at least support life, and he
+promised to do so, begging me to stay with him until I should be
+independent. The day following I was engaged to pull a punkah in the
+house of an English lawyer connected with an immense lawsuit involving
+one of the Mohammedan principalities. For this irksome work I was to
+receive six rupees--twelve shillings--monthly, but before the month was
+up I was transferred, by the kindness of the English lawyer and the good
+offices of my co-religionist the _moolah_, to the retinue of the Nizam
+of Haiderabad, then in Bombay. Since that time I have never known want.
+
+"I soon mastered enough of the dialects to suit my needs, and applied
+myself to the study of English, for which opportunities were not
+lacking. At the end of two years I could speak the language enough to be
+understood, and my accent from the first was a matter of surprise to
+all; I had also saved out of my gratuities about one hundred rupees.
+Having been conversant with the qualities of many kinds of precious
+stones from my youth up, I determined to invest my economies in a
+diamond or a pearl. Before long I struck a bargain with an old
+_marwarri_ over a small stone, of which I thought he misjudged the
+value, owing to the rough cutting. The fellow was cunning and hard in
+his dealings, but my superior knowledge of diamonds gave me the
+advantage. I paid him ninety-three rupees for the little gem, and sold
+it again in a month for two hundred to a young English 'collector and
+magistrate,' who wanted to make his wife a present. I bought a larger
+stone, and again made nearly a hundred per cent on the money. Then I
+bought two, and so on, until having accumulated sufficient capital, I
+bade farewell to the Court of the Nizam, where my salary never exceeded
+sixteen rupees a month as scribe and Arabic interpreter, and I went my
+way with about two thousand rupees in cash and precious stones. I came
+northwards, and finally settled in Delhi, where I set up as a dealer in
+gems and objects of intrinsic value. It is now twelve years since I
+landed in Bombay. I have never soiled my hands with usury, though I have
+twice advanced large sums at legal interest for purposes I am not at
+liberty to disclose; I have never cheated a customer or underrated a gem
+I bought of a poor man, and my wealth, as you may judge from what you
+have seen, is considerable. Moreover, though in constant intercourse
+with Hindus and English, I have not forfeited my title to be called a
+true believer and a follower of the prophet, whose name be blessed."
+
+Isaacs ceased speaking, and presently the waning moon rose pathetically
+over the crest of the mountains with that curiously doleful look she
+wears after the full is past, as if weeping over the loss of her better
+half. The wind rose and soughed drearily through the rhododendrons and
+the pines; and Kiramat Ali, the pipe-bearer, shivered audibly as he drew
+his long cloth uniform around him. We rose and entered my friend's
+rooms, where the warmth of the lights, the soft rugs and downy cushions,
+invited us temptingly to sit down and continue our conversation. But it
+was late, for Isaacs, like a true Oriental, had not hurried himself over
+his narrative, and it had been nine o'clock when we sat down to smoke.
+So I bade him good-night, and, musing on all I had heard and seen,
+retired to my own apartments, glancing at Sirius and at the
+unhappy-looking moon before I turned in from the verandah.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+In India--in the plains--people rise before dawn, and it is not till
+after some weeks' residence in the cooler atmosphere of the mountains
+that they return to the pernicious habit of allowing the sun to be
+before them. The hours of early morning, when one either mopes about in
+loose flannel clothes, or goes for a gallop on the green _maidan_, are
+without exception the most delicious of the day. I shall have occasion
+hereafter to describe the morning's proceedings in the plains. On the
+day after the events recorded in the last chapter I awoke as usual at
+five o'clock, and meandered out on to the verandah to have a look at the
+hills, so novel and delicious a sight after the endless flats of the
+northwest provinces. It was still nearly dark, but there was a faint
+light in the east, which rapidly grew as I watched it, till, turning the
+angle of the house, I distinguished a snow-peak over the tops of the
+dark rhododendrons, and, while I gazed, the first tinge of distant
+dawning caught the summit, and the beautiful hill blushed, as a fair
+woman, at the kiss of the awakening sun. The old story, the heaven
+wooing the earth with a wondrous shower of gold.
+
+"Prati 'shya sunari jani"--the exquisite lines of the old Vedic hymn to
+the dawn maiden, rose to my lips. I had never appreciated or felt their
+truth down in the dusty plains, but here, on the free hills, the glad
+welcoming of the morning light seemed to run through every fibre, as
+thousands of years ago the same joyful thrill of returning life inspired
+the pilgrim fathers of the Aryan race. Almost unconsciously, I softly
+intoned the hymn, as I had heard my old Brahmin teacher in Allahabad
+when he came and sat under the porch at daybreak, until I was ready for
+him--
+
+    The lissome heavenly maiden here,
+    Forth flashing from her sister's arms,
+    High heaven's daughter, now is come.
+
+    In rosy garments, shining like
+    A swift bay mare; the twin knights' friend,
+    Mother of all our herds of kine.
+
+    Yea, thou art she, the horseman's friend;
+    Of grazing cattle mother thou,
+    All wealth is thine, thou blushing dawn.
+
+    Thou who hast driven the foeman back,
+    With praise we call on thee to wake
+    In tender reverence, beauteous one.
+
+    The spreading beams of morning light
+    Are countless as our hosts of kine,
+    They fill the atmosphere of space.
+
+    Filling the sky, thou openedst wide
+    The gates of night, thou glorious dawn--
+    Rejoicing-run thy daily race!
+
+    The heaven above thy rays have filled,
+    The broad beloved room of air,
+    O splendid, brightest maid of morn!
+
+I went indoors again to attend to my correspondence, and presently a
+gorgeously liveried white-bearded _chuprassie_ appeared at the door, and
+bending low as he touched his hand to his forehead, intimated that "if
+the great lord of the earth, the protector of the poor, would turn his
+ear to the humblest of his servants, he would hear of something to his
+advantage."
+
+So saying, he presented a letter from the official with whom I had to
+do, an answer to my note of the previous afternoon, requesting an
+interview. In due course, therefore, the day wore on, and I transacted
+my business, returned to "tiffin," and then went up to my rooms for a
+little quiet. I might have been there an hour, smoking and dreaming over
+a book, when the servant announced a sahib who wanted to see me, and
+Isaacs walked in, redolent of the sunshine without, his luminous eyes
+shining brightly in the darkened room. I was delighted, for I felt my
+wits stagnating in the unwonted idleness of the autumn afternoon, and
+the book I had taken up was not conducive to wakefulness or brilliancy.
+It was a pleasant surprise too. It is not often that an hotel
+acquaintance pushes an intimacy much, and besides I had feared my
+silence during the previous evening might have produced the impression
+of indifference, on which reflection I had resolved to make myself
+agreeable at our next meeting.
+
+Truly, had I asked myself the cause of a certain attraction I felt for
+Mr. Isaacs, it would have been hard to find an answer. I am generally
+extremely shy of persons who begin an acquaintance by making
+confidences, and, in spite of Isaacs' charm of manner, I had certainly
+speculated on his reasons for suddenly telling an entire stranger his
+whole story. My southern birth had not modified the northern character
+born in me, though it gave me the more urbane veneer of the Italian; and
+the early study of Larochefoucauld and his school had not predisposed me
+to an unlimited belief in the disinterestedness of mankind. Still there
+was something about the man which seemed to sweep away unbelief and
+cynicism and petty distrust, as the bright mountain freshet sweeps away
+the wretched little mud puddles and the dust and impurities from the bed
+of a half dry stream. It was a new sensation and a novel era in my
+experience of humanity, and the desire to get behind that noble
+forehead, and see its inmost workings, was strong beyond the strength of
+puny doubts and preconceived prejudice. Therefore, when Isaacs appeared,
+looking like the sun-god for all his quiet dress of gray and his
+unobtrusive manner, I felt the "little thrill of pleasure" so aptly
+compared by Swinburne to the soft touch of a hand stroking the outer
+hair.
+
+"What a glorious day after all that detestable rain!" were his first
+words. "Three mortal months of water, mud, and Mackintoshes, not to
+mention the agreeable sensation of being glued to a wet saddle with your
+feet in water-buckets, and mountain torrents running up and down the
+inside of your sleeves, in defiance of the laws of gravitation; such is
+life in the monsoon. Pah!" And he threw himself down on a cane chair and
+stretched out his dainty feet, so that the sunlight through the crack of
+the half-closed door might fall comfortingly on his toes, and remind him
+that it was fine outside.
+
+"What have you been doing all day?" I asked, for lack of a better
+question, not having yet recovered from the mental stagnation induced by
+the last number of the serial story I had been reading.
+
+"Oh--I don't know. Are you married?" he asked irrelevantly.
+
+"God forbid!" I answered reverently, and with some show of feeling.
+
+"Amen," was the answer. "As for me--I am, and my wives have been
+quarreling."
+
+"Your wives! Did I understand you to use the plural number?"
+
+"Why, yes. I have three; that is the worst of it. If there were only
+two, they might get on better. You know 'two are company and three are
+none,' as your proverb has it." He said this reflectively, as if
+meditating a reduction in the number.
+
+The application of the proverb to such a case was quite new in my
+recollection. As for the plurality of my friend's conjugal relations, I
+remembered he was a Mohammedan, and my surprise vanished. Isaacs was
+lost in meditation. Suddenly he rose to his feet, and took a cigarette
+from the table.
+
+"I wonder"--the match would not light, and he struggled a moment with
+another. Then he blew a great cloud of smoke, and sat down in a
+different chair--"I wonder whether a fourth would act as a fly-wheel,"
+and he looked straight at me, as if asking my opinion.
+
+I had never been in direct relations with a Mussulman of education and
+position. To be asked point-blank whether I thought four wives better
+than three on general principles, and quite independently of the
+contemplated spouse, was a little embarrassing. He seemed perfectly
+capable of marrying another before dinner for the sake of peace, and I
+do not believe he would have considered it by any means a bad move.
+
+"Diamond cut diamond," I said. "You too have proverbs, and one of them
+is that a man is better sitting than standing; better lying than
+sitting; better dead than lying down. Now I should apply that same
+proverb to marriage. A man is, by a similar successive reasoning, better
+with no wife at all than with three."
+
+His subtle mind caught the flaw instantly. "To be without a wife at all
+would be about as conducive to happiness as to be dead. Negative
+happiness, very negative."
+
+"Negative happiness is better than positive discomfort."
+
+"Come, come," he answered, "we are bandying terms and words, as if empty
+breath amounted to anything but inanity. Do you really doubt the value
+of the institution of marriage?"
+
+"No. Marriage is a very good thing when two people are so poor that they
+depend on each other, mutually, for daily bread, or if they are rich
+enough to live apart. For a man in my own position marriage would be the
+height of folly; an act of rashness only second to deliberate suicide.
+Now, you are rich, and if you had but one wife, she living in Delhi and
+you in Simla, you would doubtless be very happy."
+
+"There is something in that," said Isaacs. "She might mope and beat the
+servants, but she could not quarrel if she were alone. Besides, it is so
+much easier to look after one camel than three. I think I must try it."
+
+There was a pause, during which he seemed settling the destiny of the
+two who were to be shelved in favour of a monogamic experiment.
+Presently he asked if I had brought any horses, and hearing I had not,
+offered me a mount, and proposed we should ride round Jako, and perhaps,
+if there were time, take a look at Annandale in the valley, where there
+was polo, and a racing-ground. I gladly accepted, and Isaacs despatched
+one of my servants, the faithful Kiramat Ali, to order the horses.
+Meantime the conversation turned on the expedition to Kabul to avenge
+the death of Cavagnari. I found Isaacs held the same view that I did in
+regard to the whole business. He thought the sending of four Englishmen,
+with a handful of native soldiers of the guide regiment to protect them,
+a piece of unparalleled folly, on a par with the whole English policy in
+regard to Afghanistan.
+
+"You English--pardon me, I forgot you did not belong to them--the
+English, then, have performed most of their great acts of valour as a
+direct consequence of having wantonly exposed themselves in situations
+where no sane man would have placed himself. Look at Balaclava; think of
+the things they did in the mutiny, and in the first Afghan war; look at
+the mutiny itself, the result of a hair-brained idea that a country like
+India could be held for ever with no better defences than the
+trustworthiness of native officers, and the gratitude of the people for
+the 'kindly British rule.' Poor Cavagnari! when he was here last summer,
+before leaving on his mission, he said several times he should never
+came back. And yet no better man could have been chosen, whether for
+politics or fighting; if only they had had the sense to protect him."
+
+Having delivered himself of this eulogy, my friend dropped his exhausted
+cigarette, lit another, and appeared again absorbed in the triangulation
+of his matrimonial problem. I imagined him weighing the question whether
+he should part with Zobeida and Zuleika and keep Anima, or send Zuleika
+and Amina about their business, and keep Zobeida to be a light in his
+household. At last Kiramat Ali, on the watch in the verandah, announced
+the saices with the horses, and we descended.
+
+I had expected that a man of Isaacs' tastes and habits would not be
+stingy about his horseflesh, and so was prepared for the character of
+the animals that awaited us. They were two superb Arab stallions, one of
+them being a rare specimen of the weight-carrying kind, occasionally
+seen in the far East. Small head, small feet, and feather-tailed, but
+broad in the quarters and deep in the chest, able to carry a
+twelve-stone man for hours at the stretching, even gallop, that never
+trembles and never tires; surefooted as a mule, and tender-tempered as a
+baby.
+
+So we mounted the gentle creatures and rode away. The mountain on which
+Simla is situated has a double summit, like a Swiss peak, the one higher
+than the other. On the lower height and the neck between the two is
+built the town, and the bungalows used as offices and residences for the
+Government officials cover a very considerable, area. "Jako," the higher
+eminence, is thickly covered with a forest of primeval rhododendrons and
+pines, and though there are outlying bungalows and villas scattered
+about among the trees near the town, they are so far back from the main
+road, reserved as I have said for the use of the Viceroy, as far as
+driving is concerned, that they are not seen in riding along the shady
+way; and on the opposite side, where the trees are thin, the magnificent
+view looks far out over the spurs of the mountains, the only human
+habitation visible being a Catholic convent, which rears its little
+Italian _campanile_ against the blue sky, and rather adds to the beauty
+of the scene than otherwise. As we rode along we continued our talk
+about the new Afghan war, though neither of us was very much in the
+humour for animated conversation. The sweet scent of the pines, the
+matchless motion of the Arab, and the joyous feeling that the worst part
+of the tropical year was passed, were enough for me, and I drank in the
+high, rarefied air, with the intense delight of a man who has been
+smothered with dust and heat, and then steamed to a jelly by a spring
+and summer in the plains of Hindustan.
+
+The road abounds in sharp turns, and I, as the heavier mount, rode on
+the inside as we went round the mountain. On reaching the open part on
+the farther side, we drew rein for a moment to look down at the deep
+valleys, now dark with the early shade, at the higher peaks red with the
+westering sun, and at the black masses of foliage, through which some
+giant trunk here and there caught a lingering ray of the departing
+light. Then, as we felt the cool of the evening coming on, we wheeled
+and scampered along the level stretch, stirrup to stirrup and knee to
+knee. The sharp corner at the end pulled us up, but before we had quite
+reined in our horses, as delighted as we to have a couple of minutes'
+straight run, we swung past the angle and cannoned into a man ambling
+peaceably along with his reins on one finger and his large gray felt hat
+flapping at the back of his neck. There was a moment's confusion,
+profuse apologies on our part, and some ill-concealed annoyance on the
+part of the victim, who was, however, only a little jostled and taken by
+surprise.
+
+"Really, sir," he began. "Oh! Mr. Isaacs. No harm done, I assure you,
+that is, not much. Bad thing riding fast round corners. No harm, no
+harm, not much. How are you?" all in a breath.
+
+"How d'ye do! Mr. Ghyrkins; my friend Mr. Griggs."
+
+"The real offender," I added in a conciliatory tone, for I had kept my
+place on the inside.
+
+"Mr. Griggs?" said Mr. Currie Ghyrkins. "Mr. Griggs of Allahabad? _Daily
+Howler?_ Yes, yes, corresponded; glad to see you in the flesh."
+
+I did not think he looked particularly glad. He was a Revenue
+Commissioner residing in Mudnugger; a rank Conservative; a regular old
+"John Company" man, with whom I had had more than one tiff in the
+columns of the _Howler,_ leading to considerable correspondence.
+
+"I trust that our collision in the flesh has had no worse results than
+our tilts in print, Mr. Ghyrkins?"
+
+"Not at all. Oh don't mention it. Bad enough, though, but no harm done,
+none whatever," pulling up and looking at me as he pronounced the hist
+two words with a peculiarly English slowness after a very quick
+sentence.
+
+While he was speaking, I was aware of a pair of riders walking their
+horses toward us, and apparently struggling to suppress their amusement
+at the mishap to the old gentleman, which they must have witnessed. In
+truth, Mr. Ghyrkins, who was stout and rode a broad-backed obese "tat,"
+can have presented no very dignified appearance, for he was jerked half
+out of the saddle by the concussion, and his near leg, returning to its
+place, had driven his nether garment half way to his knee, while the
+large felt hat was settling back on to his head at a rakish angle, and
+his coat collar had gone well up the back of his neck.
+
+"Dear uncle," said the lady as she rode up, "I hope you are not hurt?"
+She was very handsome as she sat there trying not to laugh. A lithe
+figure in a gray habit and a broad-brimmed hat, fair as a Swede, but
+with dark eyes and heavy lashes. Just then she was showing her brilliant
+teeth, ostensibly in delight at her dear uncle's escape, and her whole
+expression was animated and amused. Her companion was a soldierly
+looking young Englishman, with a heavy moustache and a large nose. A
+certain devil-may-care look about his face was attractive as he sat
+carelessly watching us. I noticed his long stirrups and the curb rein
+hanging loose, while he held the snaffle, and concluded he was a cavalry
+officer. Isaacs bowed low to the lady and wheeled his horse. She replied
+by a nod, indifferent enough; but as he turned, her eyes instantly went
+back to him, and a pleasant thoughtful look passed over her face, which
+betrayed at least a trifling interest in the stranger, if stranger he
+were.
+
+All this time Mr. Ghyrkins was talking and asking questions of me. When
+had I come? what brought me here? how long would I stay? and so on,
+showing that whether friendly or not he had an interest in my movements.
+In answering his questions I found an opportunity of calling the Queen
+the "Empress," of lauding Lord Beaconsfield's policy in India, and of
+congratulating Mr. Ghyrkins upon the state of his district, with which
+he had nothing to do, of course; but he swallowed the bait, all in a
+breath, as he seemed to do everything. Then he introduced us.
+
+"Katharine, you know Mr. Isaacs; Mr. Griggs, Miss Westonhaugh, Lord
+Steepleton Kildare, Mr. Isaacs."
+
+We bowed and rode back together over the straight piece we passed before
+the encounter. Isaacs and the Englishman walked their horses on each
+side of Miss Westonhaugh, and Ghyrkins and I brought up the rear. I
+tried to turn the conversation to Isaacs, but with little result.
+
+"Yes, yes, good fellow Isaacs, for a fire-worshipper, or whatever he is.
+Good judge of a horse. Lots of rupees too. Queer fish. By-the-bye, Mr.
+Griggs, this new expedition is going to cost us something handsome, eh?"
+
+"Why, yes. I doubt whether you will get off under ten millions sterling.
+And where is it to come from? You will have a nice time making your
+assessments in Bengal, Mr. Ghyrkins, and we shall have an income-tax and
+all sorts of agreeable things."
+
+"Income-tax? Well, I think not. You see, Mr. Griggs, it would hit the
+members of the council, so they won't do it, for their own sakes, and
+the Viceroy too. Ha, ha, how do you think Lord Lytton would like an
+income-tax, eh?" And the old fellow chuckled.
+
+We reached the end of the straight, and Isaacs reined in and bid Miss
+Westonhaugh and her companion good evening. I bowed from where I was,
+and took Mr. Ghyrkins' outstretched hand. He was in a good humour again,
+and called out to us to come and see him, as we rode away. I thought to
+myself I certainly would; and we paced back, crossing the open stretch
+for the third time.
+
+It was almost dark under the trees as we re-entered the woods; I pulled
+out a cheroot and lit it. Isaacs did the same, and we walked our horses
+along in silence. I was thinking of the little picture I had just seen.
+The splendid English girl on her thoroughbred beside the beautiful Arab
+steed and his graceful rider. What a couple, I thought: what noble
+specimens of great races. Why did not this fiery young Persian, with his
+wealth, his beauty, and his talents, wed some such wife as that, some
+high-bred Englishwoman, who should love him and give him home and
+children--and, I was forced to add, commonplace happiness? How often
+does it happen that some train of thought, unacknowledged almost to
+ourselves, runs abruptly into a blind alley; especially when we try to
+plan out the future life of some one else, or to sketch for him what we
+should call happiness. The accidental confronting of two individuals
+pleases the eye, we unite them in our imagination, carrying on the
+picture before us, and suddenly we find ourselves in a quagmire of
+absurd incongruities. Now what could be more laughable than to suppose
+the untamed, and probably untameable young man at my side, with his
+three wives, his notions about the stars and his Mussulman faith, bound
+for life to a girl like Miss Westonhaugh? A wise man of the East trying
+to live the life of an English country gentleman, hunting in pink and
+making speeches on the local hustings! I smiled to myself in the dark
+and puffed at my cigar.
+
+Meanwhile Isaacs was palpably uneasy. First he kicked his feet free of
+the stirrups, and put them back again. Then he hummed a few words of a
+Persian song and let his cigar go out, after which he swore loudly in
+Arabic at the eternal matches that never would light. Finally he put his
+horse into a hand gallop, which could not last on such a road in the
+dark, and at last he broke down completely in his efforts to do
+impossible things, and began talking to me.
+
+"You know Mr. Ghyrkins by correspondence, then?"
+
+"Yes, and by controversy. And you, I see, know Miss Westonhaugh?"
+
+"Yes; what do you think of her?"
+
+"A charming creature of her type. Fair and English, she will be fat at
+thirty-five, and will probably paint at forty, but at present she is
+perfection--of her kind of course," I added, not wishing to engage my
+friend in the defence of his three wives on the score of beauty.
+
+"I see very little of Englishwomen," said Isaacs. "My position is
+peculiar, and though the men, many of whom I know quite intimately,
+often ask me to their houses, I fancy when I meet their women I can
+detect a certain scorn of my nationality, a certain undefinable manner
+toward me, by which I suppose they mean to convey to my obtuse
+comprehension that I am but a step better than a 'native'--a 'nigger' in
+fact, to use the term they love so well. So I simply avoid them, as a
+rule, for my temper is hasty. Of course I understand it well enough;
+they are brought up or trained by their fathers and husbands to regard
+the native Indian as an inferior being, an opinion in which, on the
+whole, I heartily concur. But they go a step farther and include all
+Asiatics in the same category. I do not choose to be confounded with a
+race I consider worn out and effete. As for the men, it is different.
+They know I am rich and influential in many ways that are useful to them
+now, and they hope that the fortunes of war or revolution may give them
+a chance of robbing me hereafter, in which they are mistaken. Now there
+is our stout friend, whom we nearly brought to grief a few minutes ago;
+he is always extremely civil, and never meets me that he does not renew
+his invitation to visit him."
+
+"I should like to see something more of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins myself. I do
+not believe he is half as bad as I thought. Do you ever go there?"
+
+"Sometimes. Yes, on second thoughts I believe I call on Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins pretty often." Then after a pause he added, "I like her."
+
+I pointed out the confusion of genders. Isaacs must have smiled to
+himself in the gloom, but he answered quietly--
+
+"I mean Miss Westonhaugh. I like her--yes, I am quite sure I do. She is
+beautiful and sensible, though if she stays here much longer she will be
+like all the rest. We will go and see them to-morrow. Here we are; just
+in time for dinner. Come and smoke afterwards."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+A loose robe of light material from Kashmir thrown around him, Isaacs
+half sat, half lay, on the soft dark cushions in the corner of his outer
+room. His feet were slipperless, Eastern fashion, and his head covered
+with an embroidered cap of curious make. By the yellow light of the
+hanging lamps he was reading an Arabic book, and his face wore a puzzled
+look that sat strangely on the bold features. As I entered the book fell
+back on the cushion, sinking deep into the down by its weight, and one
+of the heavy gold clasps clanged sharply as it turned. He looked up, but
+did not rise, and greeted me, smiling, with the Arabic salutation--
+
+"Peace be with you!"
+
+"And with you, peace," I answered in the same tongue. He smiled again at
+my unfamiliar pronunciation. I established myself on the divan near him,
+and inquired whether he had arrived at any satisfactory solution of his
+domestic difficulties.
+
+"My father," he said, "upon whom be peace, had but one wife, my mother.
+You know Mussulmans are allowed four lawful wives. Here is the passage
+in the beginning of the fourth chapter, 'If ye fear that ye shall not
+act with equity towards orphans of the female sex, take in marriage of
+such other women as please you, two, or three, or four, and not more.
+But, if ye fear that ye cannot act equitably towards so many, marry one
+only, or the slaves which ye shall have acquired.'
+
+"The first part of this passage," continued Isaacs, "is disputed; I mean
+the words referring to orphans. But the latter portion is plain enough.
+When the apostle warns those who fear they 'cannot act equitably towards
+so many,' I am sure that in his wisdom he meant something more by
+'equitable' treatment than the mere supplying of bodily wants. He meant
+us to so order our households that there should be no jealousies, no
+heart-burnings, no unnecessary troubling of the peace. Now woman is a
+thing of the devil, jealous; and to manage a number of such creatures so
+that they shall be even passably harmonious among themselves is a
+fearful task, soul-wearying, heart-hardening, never-ending, leading to
+no result."
+
+"Just what I told you; a man is better with no wife at all than with
+three. But why do you talk about such matters with me, an unbeliever, a
+Christian, who, in the words of your prophet, 'shall swallow down
+nothing but fire into my belly, and shall broil in raging flames' when I
+die? Surely it is contrary to the custom of your co-religionists; and
+how can you expect an infidel Frank to give you advice?"
+
+"I don't," laconically replied my host.
+
+"Besides, with your views of women in general, their vocation, their
+aims, and their future state, is it at all likely that we should ever
+arrive at even a fair discussion of marriage and marriage laws? With us,
+women have souls, and, what is a great deal more, seem likely to have
+votes. They certainly have the respectful and courteous service of a
+large proportion of the male sex. You call a woman a thing of the devil;
+we call her an angel from heaven; and though some eccentric persons like
+myself refuse to ally themselves for life with any woman, I confess, as
+far as I am concerned, that it is because I cannot contemplate the
+constant society of an angel with the degree of appreciation such a
+privilege justly deserves; and I suspect that most confirmed bachelors,
+knowingly or unconsciously, think as I do. The Buddhists are not
+singular in their theory that permanent happiness should be the object."
+
+"They say," said Isaacs, quickly interrupting, "that the aim of the
+ignorant is pleasure; the pursuit of the wise, happiness. Pray, under
+which category would you class marriage? I suppose it comes under one or
+the other."
+
+"I cannot say I see the force of that. Look at your own case, since you
+have introduced it."
+
+"Never mind my own case. I mean with your ideas of one wife, and
+heavenly woman, and voting, and domestic joy, and all the rest of it.
+Take the ideal creature you rave about--"
+
+"I never rave about anything."
+
+"Take the fascinating female you describe, and for the sake of argument
+imagine yourself very poor or very rich, since you would not enter
+wedlock in your present circumstances. Suppose you married your object
+of 'courteous service and respectful adoration;' which should you say
+you would attain thereby, pleasure or happiness?"
+
+"Pleasure is but the refreshment that cheers us in the pursuit of true
+happiness," I answered, hoping to evade the direct question by a
+sententious phrase.
+
+"I will not let you off so easily. You shall answer my question," he
+said. He looked full at me with a deep searching gaze that seemed hardly
+warranted by the lightness of the argument. I hesitated, and he
+impatiently leaned forward, uncrossing his legs and clasping his hands
+over one knee to bring himself nearer to me.
+
+"Pleasure or happiness?" he repeated, "which is it to be?"
+
+A sudden light flashed over my obscured intellect.
+
+"Both," I answered. "Could you see the ideal woman as I would fain paint
+her to you, you would understand me better. The pleasure you enjoy in
+the society of a noble and beautiful woman should be but the refreshment
+by the wayside as you journey through life together. The day will come
+when she will be beautiful no longer, only noble and good, and true to
+you as to herself; and then, if pleasure has been to you what it should
+be, you will find that in the happiness attained it is no longer
+counted, or needed, or thought of. It will have served its end, as the
+crib holds the ship in her place while she is building; and when your
+white-winged vessel has smoothly glided off into the great ocean of
+happiness, the crib and the stocks and the artificial supports will fall
+to pieces and be forgotten for ever. Yet have they had a purpose, and
+have borne a very important part in the life of your ship."
+
+Having heard me attentively till I had finished, Isaacs relaxed his hold
+on his knee and threw himself back on the cushions, as if to entrench
+himself for a better fight. I had made an impression on him, but he was
+not the man to own it easily. Presumably to gain time, he called for
+hookahs and sherbet, and though the servants moved noiselessly in
+preparing them, their presence was an interruption.
+
+When we were settled again he had taken a nearly upright position on the
+couch, and as he pulled at the long tube his face assumed that stolid
+look of Oriental indifference which is the most discouraging shower-bath
+to the persuasive powers. I had really no interest in converting him to
+my own point of view about women. Honestly, was it my own point of view
+at all? Would anything under heaven induce me, Paul Griggs, rich, or
+poor, or comfortably off, to marry any one--Miss Westonhaugh, for
+instance? Probably not. But then my preference for single blessedness
+did not prevent me from believing that women have souls. That morning
+the question of the marriage of the whole universe had been a matter of
+the utmost indifference, and now I, a confirmed and hopelessly contented
+bachelor, was trying to convince a man with three wives that matrimony
+was a most excellent thing in its way, and that the pleasure of the
+honeymoon was but the faint introduction to the bliss of the silver
+wedding. It certainly must be Isaacs' own doing. He had launched on a
+voyage of discovery and had taken me in tow. I had a strong suspicion
+that he wanted to be convinced, and was playing indifference to soothe
+his conscience.
+
+"Well," said I at last, "have you any fault to find with my reasoning or
+my simile?"
+
+"With your simile--none. It is faultlessly perfect. You have not mixed
+up your metaphors in the least. Crib, stocks, ocean, ship--all correct,
+and very nautical. As for your reasoning, I do not believe there is
+anything in it. I do not believe that pleasure leads to happiness; I do
+not believe that a woman has a soul, and I deny the whole argument from
+beginning to end. There," he added with a smile that belied the
+brusqueness of his words, "that is my position. Talk me out of it if you
+can; the night is long, and my patience as that of the ass."
+
+"I do not think this is a case for rigid application of logic. When the
+feelings are concerned--and where can they be more concerned than in our
+intercourse with women?--the only way to arrive at any conclusion is by
+a sort of trying-on process, imagining ourselves in the position
+indicated, and striving to fancy how it would suit us. Let us begin in
+that way. Suppose yourself unmarried, your three wives and their
+children removed--"
+
+"Allah in his mercy grant it!" ejaculated Isaacs with great fervour.
+
+"--removed from the question altogether. Then imagine yourself thrown
+into daily conversation with some beautiful woman who has read what you
+have read, thought what you have thought, and dreamed the dreams of a
+nobler destiny that have visited you in waking and sleeping hours. A
+woman who, as she learned your strange story, should weep for the pains
+you suffered and rejoice for the difficulties overcome, who should
+understand your half spoken thoughts and proudly sympathise in your
+unuttered aspirations; in whom you might see the twin nature to your
+own, and detect the strong spirit and the brave soul, half revealed
+through the feminine gentleness and modesty that clothe her as with a
+garment. Imagine all this, and then suppose it lay in your power, was a
+question of choice, for you to take her hand in yours and go through
+life and death together, till death seem life for the joy of being
+united for ever. Suppose you married her--not to lock her up in an
+indolent atmosphere of rosewater, narghyles, and sweetmeats, to die of
+inanition or to pester you to death with complaints and jealousies and
+inopportune caresses; but to be with you and help your life when you
+most need help, by word and thought and deed, to grow more and more a
+part of you, an essential element of you in action or repose, to part
+from which would be to destroy at a blow the whole fabric of your
+existence. Would you not say that with such a woman the transitory
+pleasure of early conversation and intercourse had been the
+stepping-stone to the lasting happiness of such a friendship as you
+could never hope for in your old age among your sex? Would not her
+faithful love and abounding sympathy be dearer to you every day, though
+the roses in her cheek should fade and the bright hair whiten with the
+dust of life's journey? Would you not feel that when you died your
+dearest wish must be to join her where there should be no parting--her
+from whom there could be no parting here, short of death itself? Would
+you not believe she had a soul?"
+
+"There is no end of your 'supposing,' but it is quite pretty. I am half
+inclined to 'suppose' too." He took a sip of sherbet from the tall
+crystal goblet the servant had placed on a little three-legged stool
+beside him, and as he drank the cool liquid slowly, looked over the
+glass into my eyes, with a curious, half earnest, half smiling glance; I
+could not tell whether my enthusiastic picture of conjugal bliss amused
+him or attracted him, so I waited for him to speak again.
+
+"Now that you have had your cruise in your ship of happiness on the
+waters of your cerulean imagination, permit me, who am land-born and a
+lover of the chase, to put my steed at a few fences in the difficult
+country of unadorned facts over which I propose to hunt the wily fox,
+matrimony. I have never hunted a fox, but I can quite well imagine what
+it is like.
+
+"In the first place, it is all very well to suppose that it had pleased
+Allah in his goodness to relieve me of my three incumbrances--meanwhile,
+there they are, and they are very real difficulties I assure you.
+Nevertheless are there means provided us by the foresight of the
+apostle, by which we may ease ourselves of domestic burdens when they
+are too heavy for us to bear. It would be quite within the bounds of
+possibility for me to divorce them all three, without making any special
+scandal. But if I did this thing, do you not think that my experience of
+married life has given me the most ineradicable prejudices against women
+as daily companions? Am I not persuaded that they all bicker and chatter
+and nibble sweetmeats alike--absolutely alike? Or if I looked abroad--"
+
+"Stop," I said, "I am not reasoner enough to persuade you that all women
+have souls. Very likely in Persia and India they have not. I only want
+you to believe that there may be women so fortunate as to possess a
+modicum of immortality. Well, pardon my interruption, 'if you looked
+abroad,' as you were saying?--"
+
+"If I looked abroad, I should probably discover little petty traits of
+the same class, if not exactly identical. I know little of Englishmen,
+and might be the more readily deceived. Supposing, if you will, that,
+after freeing myself from all my present ties, in order to start afresh,
+I were to find myself attracted by some English girl here"--there must
+have been something wrong with the mouthpiece of his pipe, for he
+examined it very attentively-- "attracted," he continued, "by some one,
+for instance, by Miss Westonhaugh--" he stopped short.
+
+So my inspiration was right. My little picture, framed as we rode
+homeward, and indignantly scoffed at by my calmer reason, had visited
+his brain too. He had looked on the fair northern woman and fancied
+himself at her side, her lover, her husband. All this conversation and
+argument had been only a set plan to give himself the pleasure of
+contemplating and discussing such a union, without exciting surprise or
+comment. I had been suspecting it for some time, and now his sudden
+interest in his mouthpiece, to conceal a very real embarrassment, put
+the matter beyond all doubt.
+
+He was probably in love, my acquaintance of two days. He saw in me a
+plain person, who could not possibly be a rival, having some knowledge
+of the world, and he was in need of a confidant, like a school-girl. I
+reflected that he was probably a victim for the first time. There is
+very little romance in India, and he had, of course, married for
+convenience and respectability rather than for any real affection. His
+first passion! This man who had been tossed about like a bit of
+driftwood, who had by his own determination and intelligence carved his
+way to wealth and power in the teeth of every difficulty. Just now, in
+his embarrassment, he looked very boyish. His troubles had left no
+wrinkles on his smooth forehead, his bright black hair was untinged by a
+single thread of gray, and as he looked up, after the pause that
+followed when he mentioned the name of the woman he loved, there was a
+very really youthful look of mingled passion and distress in his
+beautiful eyes.
+
+"I think, Mr. Isaacs, that you have used a stronger argument against the
+opinions you profess to hold than I could have found in my whole armoury
+of logic."
+
+As he looked at me, the whole field of possibilities seemed opened. I
+must have been mistaken in thinking this marriage impossible and
+incongruous. What incongruity could there be in Isaacs marrying Miss
+Westonhaugh? My conclusions were false. Why must he necessarily return
+with her to England, and wear a red coat, and make himself ridiculous at
+the borough elections? Why should not this ideal couple choose some
+happy spot, as far from the corrosive influence of Anglo-Saxon prejudice
+as from the wretched sensualism of prosperous life east of the
+Mediterranean? I was carried away by the idea, returning with redoubled
+strength as a sequel to what I had argued and to what I had guessed.
+"Why not?" was the question I repeated to myself over and over again in
+the half minute's pause after Isaacs finished speaking.
+
+"You are right," he said slowly, his half-closed eyes fixed on his feet.
+"Yes, you are right. Why not? Indeed, indeed, why not?"
+
+It must have been pure guess-work, this reading of my thoughts. When he
+was last speaking his manner was all indifference, scorn of my ideas,
+and defiance of every western mode of reasoning. And now, apparently by
+pure intuition, he gave a direct answer to the direct question I had
+mentally asked, and, what is more, his answer came with a quiet,
+far-away tone of conviction that had not a shade of unbelief in it. It
+was delivered as monotonously and naturally as a Christian says "Credo
+in unum Deum," as if it were not worth disputing; or as the devout
+Mussulman says "La Illah illallah," not stooping to consider the
+existence of any one bold enough to deny the dogma. No argument, not
+hours of patient reasoning, or weeks of well directed persuasion, could
+have wrought the change in the man's tone that came over it at the mere
+mention of the woman he loved. I had no share in his conversion. My
+arguments had been the excuse by which he had converted himself. Was he
+converted? was it real?
+
+"Yes--I think I am," he replied in the same mechanical monotonous
+accent.
+
+I shook myself, drank some sherbet, and kicked off one shoe impatiently.
+Was I dreaming? or had I been speaking aloud, really putting the
+questions he answered so quickly and appositively? Pshaw! a coincidence.
+I called the servant and ordered my hookah to be refilled. Isaacs sat
+still, immovable, lost in thought, looking at his toes; an expression,
+almost stupid in its vacancy, was on his face, and the smoke curled
+slowly up in lazy wreaths from his neglected narghyle.
+
+"You are converted then at last?" I said aloud. No answer followed my
+question; I watched him attentively.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs!" still silence, was it possible that he had fallen asleep?
+his eyes were open, but I thought he was very pale. His upright
+position, however, belied any symptoms of unconsciousness.
+
+"Isaacs! Abdul Hafiz! what is the matter!" He did not move. I rose to my
+feet and knelt beside him where he sat rigid, immovable, like a statue.
+Kiramat Ali, who had been watching, clapped his hands wildly and cried,
+"Wah! wah! Sahib margya!"--"The lord is dead." I motioned him away with
+a gesture and he held his peace, cowering in the corner, his eyes fixed
+on us. Then I bent low as I knelt and looked under my friend's brows,
+into his eyes. It was clear he did not see me, though he was looking
+straight at his feet. I felt for his pulse. It was very low, almost
+imperceptible, and certainly below forty beats to the minute. I took his
+right arm and tried to put it on my shoulder. It was perfectly rigid.
+There was no doubt about it--the man was in a cataleptic trance. I felt
+for the pulse again; it was lost.
+
+I was no stranger to this curious phenomenon, where the mind is
+perfectly awake, but every bodily faculty is lulled to sleep beyond
+possible excitation, unless the right means be employed. I went out and
+breathed the cool night air, bidding the servants be quiet, as the sahib
+was asleep. When sufficiently refreshed I re-entered the room, cast off
+my slippers, and stood a moment by my friend, who was as rigid as ever.
+
+Nature, in her bountiful wisdom, has compensated me for a singular
+absence of beauty by endowing me with great strength, and with one of
+those exceptional constitutions which seem constantly charged with
+electricity. Without being what is called a mesmerist, I am possessed of
+considerable magnetic power, which I have endeavoured to develop as far
+as possible. In many a long conversation with old Manu Lal, my Brahmin
+instructor in languages and philosophy while in the plains, we had
+discussed the trance state in all its bearings. This old pundit was
+himself a distinguished mesmerist, and though generally unwilling to
+talk about what is termed occultism, on finding in me a man naturally
+endowed with the physical characteristics necessary to those pursuits,
+he had given me several valuable hints as to the application of my
+powers. Here was a worthy opportunity.
+
+I rubbed my feet on the soft carpet, and summoning all my strength,
+began to make the prescribed passes over my friend's head and body. Very
+gradually the look of life returned to his face, the generous blood
+welled up under the clear olive skin, the lips parted, and he sighed
+softly. Animation, as always happens in such cases, began at the precise
+point at which it had been suspended, and his first movement was to
+continue his examination of the mouthpiece in his hand. Then he looked
+up suddenly, and seeing me standing over him, gave a little shake, half
+turning his shoulders forward and back, and speaking once more in his
+natural voice, said--
+
+"I must have been asleep! Have I? What has happened? Why are you
+standing there looking at me in that way?" Then, after a short
+interrogatory silence, his face changed and a look of annoyance shaded
+his features as he added in a low tone, "Oh! I see. It has happened to
+me once before. Sit down. I am all right now." He sipped a little
+sherbet and leaned back in his old position. I begged him to go to bed,
+and prepared to withdraw, but he would not let me, and he seemed so
+anxious that I should stay, that I resumed my place. The whole incident
+had passed in ten minutes.
+
+"Stay with me a little longer," he repeated. "I need your company,
+perhaps your advice. I have had a vision, and you must hear about it."
+
+"I thought as I sat here that my spirit left my body and passed out
+through the night air and hovered over Simla. I could see into every
+bungalow, and was conscious of what passed in each, but there was only
+one where my gaze rested, for I saw upon a couch in a spacious chamber
+the sleeping form of one I knew. The masses of fair hair were heaped as
+they fell upon the pillow, as if she had lain down weary of bearing the
+burden of such wealth of gold. The long dark lashes threw little shadows
+on her cheeks, and the parted lips seemed to smile at the sweetness of
+the gently heaving breath that fanned them as it came and went. And
+while I looked, the breath of her body became condensed, as it were, and
+took shape and form and colour, so that the image of herself floated up
+between her body and my watching spirit. Nearer and nearer to me came
+the exquisite vision of beauty, till we were face to face, my soul and
+hers, high up in the night. And there came from her eyes, as the long
+lids lifted, a look of perfect trust, and of love, and of infinite joy.
+Then she turned her face southward and pointed to my life star burning
+bright among his lesser fellows; and with a long sweet glance that bid
+me follow where she led, her maiden soul floated away, half lingering at
+first, as I watched her; then, with dizzy speed, vanishing in the
+firmament as a falling star, and leaving no trace behind, save an
+infinitely sad regret, and a longing to enter with her into that
+boundless empire of peace. But I could not, for my spirit was called
+back to this body. And I bless Allah that he has given me to see her
+once so, and to know that she has a soul, even as I have, for I have
+looked upon her spirit and I know it."
+
+Isaacs rose slowly to his feet and moved towards the open door. I
+followed him, and for a few moments we stood looking out at the scene
+below us. It was near midnight, and the ever-decreasing moon was
+dragging herself up, as if ashamed of her waning beauty and tearful
+look.
+
+"Griggs," said my friend, dropping the formal prefix for the first time,
+"all this is very strange. I believe I am in love!"
+
+"I have not a doubt of it," I replied. "Peace be with you!"
+
+"And with you peace."
+
+So we parted.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+In Simla people make morning calls in the morning instead of after dark,
+as in more civilised countries. Soon after dawn I received a note from
+Isaacs, saying that he had business with the Maharajah of Baithopoor
+about some precious stones, but that he would be ready to go with me to
+call on Mr. Currie Ghyrkins at ten o'clock, or soon after. I had been
+thinking a great deal about the events of the previous evening, and I
+was looking forward to my next meeting with Isaacs with intense
+interest. After what had passed, nothing could be such a test of his
+true feelings as the visit to Miss Westonhaugh, which we proposed to
+make together, and I promised myself to lose no gesture, no word, no
+expression, which might throw light on the question that interested
+me--whether such a union were practical, possible, and wise.
+
+At the appointed time, therefore, I was ready, and we mounted and
+sallied forth into the bright autumn day. All visits are made on
+horseback in Simla, as the distances are often considerable. You ride
+quietly along, and the saice follows you, walking or keeping pace with
+your gentle trot, as the case may be. We rode along the bustling mall,
+crowded with men and women on horseback, with numbers of gorgeously
+arrayed native servants and _chuprassies_ of the Government offices
+hurrying on their respective errands, or dawdling for a chat with some
+shabby-looking acquaintance in private life; we passed by the crowded
+little shops on the hill below the church, and glanced at the
+conglomeration of grain-sellers, jewellers, confectioners, and dealers
+in metal or earthen vessels, every man sitting knee-deep in his wares,
+smoking the eternal "hubble-bubble;" we noted the keen eyes of the
+buyers and the hawk's glance of the sellers, the long snake-like fingers
+eagerly grasping the passing coin, and seemingly convulsed into
+serpentine contortion when they relinquished their clutch on a single
+"pi;" we marked this busy scene, set down, like a Punch and Judy show,
+in the midst of the trackless waste of the Himalayas, as if for the
+delectation and pastime of some merry _genius loci_ weary of the solemn
+silence in his awful mountains, and we chatted carelessly of the sights
+animate and inanimate before us, laughing at the asseverations of the
+salesmen, and at the hardened scepticism of the customer, at the
+portentous dignity of the superb old messenger, white-bearded and clad
+in scarlet and gold, as he bombastically described to the knot of poor
+relations and admirers that elbowed him the splendours of the last
+entertainment at "Peterhof," where Lord Lytton still reigned. I smiled,
+and Isaacs frowned at the ancient and hairy ascetic believer, who
+suddenly rose from his lair in a corner, and bustled through the crowd
+of Hindoos, shouting at the top of his voice the confession of his
+faith--"Beside God there is no God, and Muhammad is his apostle!" The
+universality of the Oriental spirit is something amazing. Customs,
+dress, thought, and language, are wonderfully alike among all Asiatics
+west of Thibet and south of Turkistan. The greatest difference is in
+language, and yet no one unacquainted with the dialects could
+distinguish by the ear between Hindustani, Persian, Arabic, and Turkish.
+
+So we moved along, and presently found ourselves on the road we had
+traversed the previous evening, leading round Jako. On the slope of the
+hill, hidden by a dense growth of rhododendrons, lay the bungalow of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins, and a board at the entrance of the ride--drive there
+was none--informed us that the estate bore the high-sounding title of
+"Carisbrooke Castle," in accordance with the Simla custom of calling
+little things by big names.
+
+Having reached the lawn near the house, we left our horses in charge of
+the saice and strolled up the short walk to the verandah. A charming
+picture it was, prepared as if on purpose for our especial delectation.
+The bungalow was a large one for Simla, and the verandah was deep and
+shady; many chairs of all sorts and conditions stood about in natural
+positions, as if they had just been sat in, instead of being ranged in
+stiff rows against the wall, and across one angle hung a capacious
+hammock. Therein, swinging her feet to the ground, and holding on by the
+edge rope, sat the beautiful Miss Westonhaugh, clad in one of those
+close-fitting unadorned costumes of plain dark-blue serge, which only
+suit one woman in ten thousand, though, when they clothe a really
+beautiful young figure, I know of no garment better calculated to
+display grace of form and motion. She was kicking a ball of worsted with
+her dainty toes, for the amusement and instruction of a small tame
+jackal--the only one I ever saw thoroughly domesticated. A charming
+little beast it was, with long gray fur and bright twinkling eyes,
+mischievous and merry as a gnome's. From a broad blue ribbon round its
+neck was suspended a small silver bell that tinkled spasmodically, as
+the lively little thing sprang from side to side in pursuit of the ball,
+alighting with apparent indifference on its head or its heels.
+
+So busy was the girl with her live plaything that she had not seen us
+dismount and approach her, and it was not till our feet sounded on the
+boards of the verandah that she looked up with a little start, and tried
+to rise to her feet. Now any one who has sat sideways in a netted
+hammock, with feet swinging to the ground, and all the weight in the
+middle of the thing, knows how difficult it is to get out with grace, or
+indeed in any way short of rolling out and running for luck. You may
+break all your bones in the feat, and you both look and feel as if you
+were going to. Though we both sprang forward to her assistance, Miss
+Westonhaugh had recognised the inexpediency of moving after the first
+essay, and, with a smile of greeting, and the faintest tinge of
+embarrassment on her fair cheek, abandoned the attempt; the quaint
+little jackal sat up, backing against the side of the house, and, eyeing
+us critically, growled a little.
+
+"I'm so glad to see you, Mr. Isaacs. How do you do, Mr.----"
+
+"Griggs," murmured Isaacs, as he straightened a rope of the hammock by
+her side.
+
+"Mr. Griggs?" she continued. "We met last night, briefly, but to the
+point, or at least you and my uncle did. I am alone; my uncle is gone
+down towards Kalka to meet my brother, who is coming up for a fortnight
+at the end of the season to get rid of the Bombay mould. Bring up some
+of those chairs and sit down. I cannot tell what has become of the
+'bearer' and the 'boy,' and the rest of the servants, and I could not
+make them understand me if they were here. So you must wait on
+yourselves."
+
+I was the first to lay hands on a chair, and as I turned to bring it I
+noticed she was following Isaacs with the same expression I had seen on
+her face the previous evening; but I could see it better now. A pleasant
+friendly look, not tender so much as kind, while the slightest possible
+contraction of the eyes showed a feeling of curiosity. She was evidently
+going to speak to him as soon as he turned his face.
+
+"You see I have been giving him lessons," she said, as he brought back
+the seat he had chosen.
+
+Isaacs looked at the queer small beast sitting up against the boards
+under the window, his brush tail curled round him, and his head turned
+inquiringly on one side.
+
+"He seems to be learning manners, at all events," said my friend.
+
+"Yes; I think I may say now, with safety, that his bark is worse than
+his bite."
+
+"I am sure you could not have said so the last time I came. Do you
+remember what fearful havoc he made among my nether garments? And yet he
+is my god-child, so to speak, for I gave him into your care, and named
+him into the bargain."
+
+"Don't suppose I am ungrateful for the gift," answered Miss Westonhaugh.
+"Snap! Snap! here! come here, darling, to your mistress, and be petted!"
+In spite of this eloquent appeal Snap, the baby jackal, only growled
+pleasantly and whisked his brush right and left. "You see," she went on,
+"your sponsorship has had no very good results. He will not obey any
+more than you yourself." Her glance, turning towards Isaacs, did not
+reach him, and, in fact, she could not have seen anything beyond the
+side of his chair. Isaacs, on the contrary, seemed to be counting her
+eyelashes, and taking a mental photograph of her brows.
+
+"Snap!" said he. The jackal instantly rose and trotted to him, fawning
+on his outstretched hand.
+
+"You malign me, Miss Westonhaugh. Snap is no less obedient than I."
+
+"Then why did you insist on playing tennis left-handed the other day,
+though you know very well how it puzzles me?"
+
+"My dear Miss Westonhaugh," he answered, "I am not a tennis-player at
+all, to begin with, and as I do not understand the _finesse_ of the
+game, to use a word I do not understand either, you must pardon my
+clumsiness in employing the hand most convenient and ready."
+
+"Some people," I began, "are what is called ambidexter, and can use
+either hand with equal ease. Now the ancient Persians, who invented the
+game of polo----"
+
+"I do not quarrel so much with you, Mr. Isaacs--" as she said this, she
+looked at me, though entirely disregarding and interrupting my
+instructive sentence--"I don't quarrel with you so much for using your
+left hand at tennis as for employing left-handed weapons when you speak
+of other things, or beings, for you are never so left-handed and so
+adroit as when you are indulging in some elaborate abuse of our sex."
+
+"How can you say that?" protested Isaacs. "You know with what respectful
+and almost devotional reverence I look upon all women, and," his eyes
+brightening perceptibly, "upon you in particular."
+
+English women, especially in their youth, are not used to pretty
+speeches. They are so much accustomed to the men of their own
+nationality that they regard the least approach to a compliment as the
+inevitable introduction to the worst kind of insult. Miss Westonhaugh
+was no exception to this rule, and she drew herself up proudly.
+
+There was a moment's pause, during which Isaacs seemed penitent, and she
+appeared to be revolving the bearings of the affront conveyed in his
+last words. She looked along the floor, slowly, till she might have seen
+his toes; then her eyes opened a moment and met his, falling again
+instantly with a change of colour.
+
+"And pray, Mr. Isaacs, would you mind giving us a list of the ladies you
+look upon with 'respectful and devotional reverence?'" One of the horses
+held by the saice at the corner of the lawn neighed lowly, and gave
+Isaacs an opportunity of looking away.
+
+"Miss Westonhaugh," he said quietly, "you know I am a Mussulman, and
+that I am married. It may be that I have borrowed a phrase from your
+language which expresses more than I would convey, though it would ill
+become me to withdraw my last words, since they are true."
+
+It was my turn to be curious now. I wondered where his boldness would
+carry him. Among his other accomplishments, this man was capable of
+speaking the truth even to a woman, not as a luxury and a _bonne
+bouche_, but as a matter of habit. As I looked, the hot blood mantled up
+to his brows. She was watching him, and womanlike, seeing he was in
+earnest and embarrassed, she regained her perfect natural composure.
+
+"Oh, I had forgotten!" she said. "I forgot about your wife in Delhi."
+She half turned in the hammock, and after some searching, during which
+we were silent, succeeded in finding a truant piece of worsted work
+behind her. The wool was pulled out of the needle, and she held the
+steel instrument up against the light, as she doubled the worsted round
+the eye and pushed it back through the little slit. I observed that
+Isaacs was apparently in a line with the light, and that the threading
+took some time.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," she said slowly, and by the very slowness of the address I
+knew she was going to talk to me, and at my friend, as women will; "Mr.
+Griggs, do you know anything about Mohammedans?"
+
+"That is a very broad question," I answered; "almost as broad as the
+Mussulman creed." She began making stitches in the work she held, and
+with a little side shake settled herself to listen, anticipating a
+discourse. The little jackal sidled up and fawned on her feet. I had no
+intention, however, of delivering a lecture on the faith of the prophet.
+I saw my friend was embarrassed in the conversation, and I resolved, if
+possible, to interest her.
+
+"Among primitive people and very young persons," I continued, "marriage
+is an article of faith, a moral precept, and a social law."
+
+"I suppose you are married, Mr. Griggs," she said, with an air of
+childlike simplicity.
+
+"Pardon me, Miss Westonhaugh, I neither condescend to call myself
+primitive, nor aspire to call myself young."
+
+She laughed. I had put a wedge into my end of the conversation.
+
+"I thought," said she, "from the way in which you spoke of 'primitive
+and young persons' that you considered their opinion in regard to--to
+this question, as being the natural and proper opinion of the original
+and civilised young man."
+
+"I repeat that I do not claim to be very civilised, or very
+young--certainly not to be very original, and my renunciation of all
+these qualifications is my excuse for the confirmed bachelorhood to
+which I adhere. Many Mohammedans are young and original; some of them
+are civilised, as you see, and all of them are married. 'There is no
+God but God, Muhammad is his prophet, and if you refuse to marry you are
+not respectable,' is their full creed."
+
+Isaacs frowned at my profanity, but I continued--"I do not mean to say
+anything disrespectful to a creed so noble and social. I think you have
+small chance of converting Mr. Isaacs."
+
+"I would not attempt it," she said, laying down her work in her lap, and
+looking at me for a moment. "But since you speak of creeds, to what
+confession do you yourself belong, if I may ask?"
+
+"I am a Roman Catholic," I answered; adding presently--"Really, though,
+I do not see how my belief in the papal infallibility affects my opinion
+of Mohammedan marriages."
+
+"And what _do_ you think of them?" she inquired, resuming her work and
+applying herself thereto with great attention.
+
+"I think that, though justified in principle by the ordinary
+circumstances of Eastern life, there are cases in which the system acts
+very badly. I think that young men are often led by sheer force of
+example into marrying several wives before they have sufficiently
+reflected on the importance of what they are doing. I think that both
+marriage and divorce are too easily managed in consideration of their
+importance to a man's life, and I am convinced that no civilised man of
+Western education, if he were to adopt Islam, would take advantage of
+his change of faith to marry four wives. It is a case of theory _versus_
+practice, which I will not attempt to explain. It may often be good in
+logic, but it seems to me it is very often bad in real life."
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs; "there are cases----" He stopped, and Miss
+Westonhaugh, who had been very busy over her work, looked quietly up,
+only to find that he was profoundly interested in the horses cropping
+the short grass, as far as the saice would let them stretch their necks,
+on the other side of the lawn.
+
+"I confess," said Miss Westonhaugh, "that my ideas about Mohammedans are
+chiefly the result of reading the Arabian Nights, ever so long ago. It
+seems to me that they treat women as if they had no souls and no minds,
+and were incapable of doing anything rational if left to themselves. It
+is a man's religion. My uncle says so too, and he ought to know."
+
+The conversation was meandering in a kind of vicious circle. Both Isaacs
+and I were far too deeply interested in the question to care for such
+idle discussion. How could this beautiful but not very intellectual
+English girl, with her prejudices and her clumsiness at repartee or
+argument, ever comprehend or handle delicately so difficult a subject? I
+was disappointed in her. Perhaps this was natural enough, considering
+that with two such men as we she must be entirely out of her element.
+She was of the type of brilliant, healthy, northern girls, who depend
+more on their animal spirits and enjoyment of living for their happiness
+than upon any natural or acquired mental powers. With a horse, or a
+tennis court, or even a ball to amuse her, she would appear at her very
+best; would be at ease and do the right thing. But when called upon to
+sustain a conversation, such as that into which her curiosity about
+Isaacs had plunged her, she did not know what to do. She was
+constrained, and even some of her native grace of manner forsook her.
+Why did she avoid his eyes and resort to such a petty little trick as
+threading a needle in order to get a look at him? An American girl, or a
+French woman, would have seen that her strength lay in perfect
+frankness; that Isaacs' straightforward nature would make him tell her
+unhesitatingly anything she wanted to know about himself, and that her
+position was strong enough for her to look him in the face and ask him
+what she pleased. But she allowed herself to be embarrassed, and though
+she had been really glad to see him, and liked him and thought him
+handsome, she was beginning to wish he would go, merely because she did
+not know what to talk about, and would not give him a chance to choose
+his own subject. As neither of us were inclined to carry the analysis of
+matrimony any farther, nor to dispute the opinions of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins as quoted by his niece, there was a pause. I struck in and
+boldly changed the subject.
+
+"Are you going to see the polo this afternoon, Miss Westonhaugh? I heard
+at the hotel that there was to be a match to-day of some interest."
+
+"Oh yes, of course. I would not miss it for anything. Lord Steepleton is
+coming to tiffin, and we shall ride down together to Annandale. Of
+course you are going too; it will be a splendid thing. Do you play polo,
+Mr. Griggs? Mr. Isaacs is a great player, when he can be induced to take
+the trouble. He knows more about it than he does about tennis."
+
+"I am very fond of the game," I answered, "but I have no horses here,
+and with my weight it is not easy to get a mount for such rough work."
+
+"Do not disturb yourself on that score," said Isaacs; "you know my
+stable is always at your disposal, and I have a couple of ponies that
+would carry you well enough. Let us have a game one of those days,
+whenever we can get the ground. We will play on opposite sides and match
+the far west against the far east."
+
+"What fun!" cried Miss Westonhaugh, her face brightening at the idea,
+"and I will hold the stakes and bestow the crown on the victor."
+
+"What is to be the prize?" asked Isaacs, with a smile of pleasure. He
+was very literal and boyish sometimes.
+
+"That depends on which is the winner," she answered.
+
+There was a noise among the trees of horses' hoofs on the hard path, and
+presently we heard a voice calling loudly for a saice who seemed to be
+lagging far behind. It was a clear strong voice, and the speaker abused
+the groom's female relations to the fourth and fifth generations with
+considerable command of the Hindustani language. Miss Westonhaugh, who
+had not been in the country long, did not understand a word of the very
+free swearing that was going on in the woods, but Isaacs looked annoyed,
+and I registered a black mark against the name of the new-comer, whoever
+he might be.
+
+"Oh! it is Lord Steepleton," said the young girl. "He seems to be always
+having a row with his servants. Don't go," she went on as I took up my
+hat; "he is such a good fellow, you ought to know him."
+
+Lord Steepleton Kildare now appeared at the corner of the lawn, hotly
+pursued by his breathless groom, who had been loitering on the way, and
+had thus roused his master's indignation. He was, as I have said, a fine
+specimen of a young Englishman, though being Irish by descent he would
+have indignantly denied any such nationality. I saw when he had
+dismounted that he was tall and straight, though not a very heavily
+built man. He carried his head high, and looked every inch a soldier as
+he strode across the grass, carefully avoiding the pegs of the tennis
+net. He wore a large gray felt hat, like every one else, and he shook
+hands all round before he took it off, and settled himself in an easy
+chair as near as he could get to Miss Westonhaugh's hammock.
+
+"How are ye? Ah--yes, Mr. Isaacs, Mr. Griggs of Allahabad. Jolly day,
+isn't it?" and he looked vaguely at the grass. "Really, Miss
+Westonhaugh, I got in such a rage with my rascal of a saice that I did
+not remember I was so near the house. I am really very sorry I talked
+like that. I hope you did not think I was murdering him?"
+
+Isaacs looked annoyed.
+
+"Yes," said he, "we thought Mahmoud was going to have a bad time of it.
+I believe Miss Westonhaugh does not understand Hindustani."
+
+A look of genuine distress came into the Englishman's face.
+
+"Really," said he, very simply. "You don't know how sorry I am that any
+one should have heard me. I am so hasty. But let me apologise to you all
+most sincerely for disturbing you with my brutal temper."
+
+His misdeed had not been a very serious crime after all, and there was
+something so frank and honest about his awkward little apology that I
+was charmed. The man was a gentleman. Isaacs bowed in silence, and Miss
+Westonhaugh had evidently never thought much about it.
+
+"We were talking about polo when you came, Lord Steepleton; Mr. Isaacs
+and Mr. Griggs are going to play a match, and I am to hold the stakes.
+Do you not want to make one in the game?"
+
+"May I?" said the young man, grateful to her for having helped him out.
+"May I? I should like it awfully. I so rarely get a chance of playing
+with any except the regular set here." And he looked inquiringly at us.
+
+"We should be delighted, of course," said Isaacs. "By the way, can you
+help us to make up the number? And when shall it be?" He seemed suddenly
+very much interested in this projected contest.
+
+"Oh yes," said Kildare, "I will manage to fill up the game, and we can
+play next Monday. I know the ground is free then."
+
+"Very good; on Monday. We are at Laurie's on the hill."
+
+"I am staying with Jack Tygerbeigh, near Peterhof. Come and see us. I
+will let you know before Monday. Oh, Mr. Griggs, I saw such a nice thing
+about me in the _Howler_ the other day--so many thanks. No, really,
+greatly obliged, you know; people say horrid things about me sometimes.
+Good-bye, good-bye, delighted to have seen you."
+
+"Good morning, Miss Westonhaugh."
+
+"Good morning; so good of you to take pity on my solitude." She smiled
+kindly at Isaacs and civilly at me. And we went our way. As we looked
+back after mounting to lift our hats once more, I saw that Miss
+Westonhaugh had succeeded in getting out of the hammock and was tying on
+a pith hat, while Lord Steepleton had armed himself with balls and
+rackets from a box on the verandah. As we bowed they came down the
+steps, looking the very incarnation of animal life and spirits in the
+anticipation of the game they loved best. The bright autumn sun threw
+their figures into bold relief against the dark shadow of the verandah,
+and I thought to myself they made a very pretty picture. I seemed to be
+always seeing pictures, and my imagination was roused in a new
+direction.
+
+We rode away under the trees. My impression of the whole visit was
+unsatisfactory. I had thought Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would be there, and
+that I would be able to engage him in a political discussion. We could
+have talked income-tax, and cotton duties, and Kabul by the hour, and
+Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs would have had a pleasant _tete-a-tete._
+Instead of this I had been decidedly the unlucky third who destroys the
+balance of so much pleasure in life, for I felt that Isaacs was not a
+man to be embarrassed if left alone with a woman, or to embarrass her.
+He was too full of tact, and his sensibilities were so fine that, with
+his easy command of language, he must be agreeable _quand meme_; and
+such an opportunity would have given him an easy lead away from the
+athletic Kildare, whom I suspected strongly of being a rival for Miss
+Westonhaugh's favour. There is an easy air of familiar proprietorship
+about an Englishman in love that is not to be mistaken. It is a subtle
+thing, and expresses itself neither in word nor deed in its earlier
+stages of development; but it is there all the same, and the combination
+of this possessive mood, with a certain shyness which often goes with
+it, is amusing.
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs, "have you ever seen the Rajah of Baithopoor?"
+
+"No; you had some business with him this morning, had you not?"
+
+"Yes--some--business--if you call it so. If you would like to see him I
+can take you there, and I think you would be interested in the--the
+business. It is not often such gems are bought and sold in such a way,
+and besides, he is very amusing. He is at least two thousand years old,
+and will go to Saturn when he dies. His fingers are long and crooked,
+and that which he putteth into his pockets, verily he shall not take it
+out."
+
+"A pleasing picture; a good contrast to the one we have left behind us.
+I like contrasts, and I should like to see him."
+
+"You shall." And we lit our cheroots.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+"We will go there at four," said Isaacs, coming into my rooms after
+tiffin, a meal of which I found he rarely partook. "I said three, this
+morning, but it is not a bad plan to keep natives waiting. It makes them
+impatient, and then they commit themselves."
+
+"You are Machiavellian. It is pretty clear which of you is asking the
+favour."
+
+"Yes, it is pretty clear." He sat down and took up the last number of
+the _Howler_ which lay on the table. Presently he looked up. "Griggs,
+why do you not come to Delhi? We might start a newspaper there, you
+know, in the Conservative interest."
+
+"In the interest of Mr. Algernon Currie Ghyrkins?" I inquired.
+
+"Precisely. You anticipate my thoughts with a true sympathy. I suppose
+you have no conscience?"
+
+"Political conscience? No, certainly not, out of my own country, which
+is the only one where that sort of thing commands a high salary. No, I
+have no conscience."
+
+"You would really write as willingly for the Conservatives as you do for
+the Liberals?"
+
+"Oh yes. I could not write so well on the Conservative side just now,
+because they are 'in,' and it is more blessed to abuse than to be
+abused, and ever so much easier. But as far as any prejudice on the
+subject is concerned, I have none. I had as lief defend a party that
+robs India 'for her own good,' as support those who would rob her with a
+more cynical frankness and unblushingly transfer the proceeds to their
+own pockets. I do not care a rush whether they rob Peter to pay Paul, or
+fraudulently deprive Paul of his goods for the benefit of Peter."
+
+"That is the way to look at it. I could tell you some very pretty
+stories about that kind of thing. As for the journalistic enterprise, it
+is only a possible card to be played if the old gentleman is obdurate."
+
+"Isaacs," said I, "I have only known you three days, but you have taken
+me into your confidence to some extent; probably because I am not
+English. I may be of use to you, and I am sure I sincerely hope so.
+Meanwhile I want to ask you a question, if you will allow me to." I
+paused for an answer. We were standing by the open door, and Isaacs
+leaned back against the door-post, his eyes fixed on me, half closed, as
+he threw his head back. He looked at me somewhat curiously, and I
+thought a smile flickered round his mouth, as if he anticipated what the
+question would be.
+
+"Certainly," he said slowly. "Ask me anything you like. I have nothing
+to conceal."
+
+"Do you seriously think of marrying, or proposing to marry, Miss
+Katharine Westonhaugh?"
+
+"I do seriously think of proposing to marry, and of marrying, Miss
+Westonhaugh." He looked very determined as he thus categorically
+affirmed his intention. I knew he meant it, and I knew enough of
+Oriental character to understand that a man like Abdul Hafizben-Isak, of
+strong passions, infinite wit, and immense wealth, was not likely to
+fail in anything he undertook to do. When Asiatic indifference gives way
+under the strong pressure of some master passion, there is no length to
+which the hot and impetuous temper beneath may not carry the man. Isaacs
+had evidently made up his mind. I did not think he could know much about
+the usual methods of wooing English girls, but as I glanced at his
+graceful figure, his matchless eyes, and noted for the hundredth time
+the commanding, high-bred air that was the breath of his character, I
+felt that his rival would have but a poor chance of success. He guessed
+my thoughts.
+
+"What do you think of me?" he asked, smiling. "Will you back me for a
+place? I have advantages, you must allow--and worldly advantages too.
+They are not rich people at all."
+
+"My dear Isaacs, I will back you to win. But as far as 'worldly
+advantages' are concerned, do not trust to wealth for a moment. Do not
+flatter yourself that there will be any kind of a bargain, as if you
+were marrying a Persian girl. There is nothing venal in that young
+lady's veins, I am sure."
+
+"Allah forbid! But there is something very venal in the veins of Mr.
+Currie Ghyrkins. I propose to carry the outworks one by one. He is her
+uncle, her guardian, her only relation, save her brother. I do not think
+either of those men would be sorry to see her married to a man of
+stainless name and considerable fortune."
+
+"You forget your three incumbrances, as you called them last night."
+
+"No--I do not forget them. It is allowed me by my religion to marry a
+fourth, and I need not tell you that she would be thenceforth my only
+wife."
+
+"But would her guardian and brother ever think of allowing her to take
+such a position?"
+
+"Why not? You know very well that the English in general hardly consider
+our marriages to be marriages at all--knowing the looseness of the bond.
+That is the prevailing impression."
+
+"Yes, I know. But then they would consider your marriage with Miss
+Westonhaugh in the same light, which would not make matters any easier,
+as far as I can see."
+
+"Pardon me. I should marry Miss Westonhaugh by the English marriage
+service and under English law. I should be as much bound to her, and to
+her alone, as if I were an Englishman myself."
+
+"Well, you have evidently thought it out and taken legal advice; and
+really, as far as the technical part of it goes, I suppose you have as
+good a chance as Lord Steepleton Kildare."
+
+Isaacs frowned, and his eyes flashed. I saw at once that he considered
+the Irish officer a rival, and a dangerous one. I did not think that if
+Isaacs had fair play and the same opportunities Kildare had much chance.
+Besides there was a difficulty in the way.
+
+"As far as religion is concerned, Lord Steepleton is not much better off
+than you, if he wants to marry Miss Westonhaugh. The Kildares have been
+Roman Catholics since the memory of man, and they are very proud of it.
+Theoretically, it is as hard for a Roman Catholic man to marry a
+Protestant woman, as for a Mussulman to wed a Christian of any
+denomination. Harder, in fact, for your marriage depends upon the
+consent of the lady, and his upon the consent of the Church. He has all
+sorts of difficulties to surmount, while you have only to get your
+personality accepted--which, when I look at you, I think might be done,"
+I added, laughing.
+
+"_Jo hoga, so hoga_--what will be, will be," he said; "but religion or
+no religion, I mean to do it." Then he lighted a cigarette and said,
+"Come, it is time to go and see his Saturnine majesty, the Maharajah of
+Baithopoor."
+
+I called for my hat and gloves.
+
+"By-the-bye, Griggs, you may as well put on a black coat. You know the
+old fellow is a king, after all, and you had better produce a favourable
+impression." I retired to comply with his request, and as I came back he
+turned quickly and came towards me, holding out both hands, with a very
+earnest look in his face.
+
+"Griggs, I care for that lady more than I can tell you," he said, taking
+my hands in his.
+
+"My dear fellow, I am sure you do. People do not go suddenly into
+trances at a name that is indifferent to them. I am sure you love her
+very honestly and dearly."
+
+"You and she have come into my life almost together, for it was not
+until I talked with you last night that I made up my mind. Will you help
+me? I have not a friend in the world." The simple, boyish look was in
+his eyes, and he stood holding my hands and waiting for my answer. I was
+so fascinated that I would have then and there gone through fire and
+water for him, as I would now.
+
+"Yes. I will help you. I will be a friend to you."
+
+"Thank you. I believe you." He dropped my hands, and we turned and went
+out, silent.
+
+In all my wanderings I had never promised any man my friendship and
+unconditional support before. There was something about Isaacs that
+overcame and utterly swept away preconceived ideas, rules, and
+prejudices. It was but the third day of our acquaintance, and here was I
+swearing eternal friendship like a school-girl; promising to help a man,
+of whose very existence I knew nothing three days ago, to marry a woman
+whom I had seen for the first time yesterday. But I resolved that,
+having pledged myself, I would do my part with my might, whatever that
+part might be. Meanwhile we rode along, and Isaacs began to talk about
+the visit we were going to make.
+
+"I think," he said, "that you had better know something about this
+matter beforehand. The way is long, and we cannot ride fast over the
+steep roads, so there is plenty of time. Do not imagine that I have idly
+asked you to go with me because I supposed it would amuse you. Dismiss
+also from your mind the impression that it is a question of buying and
+selling jewels. It is a very serious matter, and if you would prefer to
+have nothing to do with it, do not hesitate to say so. I promised the
+maharajah this morning that I would bring, this afternoon, a reliable
+person of experience, who could give advice, and who might be induced to
+give his assistance as well as his counsel. I have not known you long,
+but I know you by reputation, and I decided to bring you, if you would
+come. From the very nature of the case I can tell you nothing more,
+unless you consent to go with me."
+
+"I will go," I said.
+
+"In that case I will try and explain the situation in as few words as
+possible. The maharajah is in a tight place. You will readily understand
+that the present difficulties in Kabul cause him endless anxiety,
+considering the position of his dominions. The unexpected turn of
+events, following now so rapidly on each other since the English
+wantonly sacrificed Cavagnari and his friends to a vainglorious love of
+bravado, has shaken the confidence of the native princes in the
+stability of English rule. They are frightened out of their senses,
+having the fear of the tribes before them if the English should be
+worsted; and they dread, on the other hand, lest the English, finding
+themselves in great straits, should levy heavy contributions on
+them--the native princes--for the consolidation of what they term the
+'Empire.' They have not much sense, these poor old kings and boy
+princes, or they would see that the English do not dare to try any of
+those old-fashioned Clive tactics now. But old Baithopoor has heard all
+about the King of Oude, and thinks he may share the same fate."
+
+"I think he may make his mind easy on that score. The kingdom of
+Baithopoor is too inconveniently situated and too full of mosquitoes to
+attract the English. Besides, there are more roses than rubies there
+just now."
+
+"True, and that question interests me closely, for the old man owes me a
+great deal of money. It was I who pulled him through the last famine."
+
+"Not a very profitable investment, I should think. Shall you ever see a
+rupee of that money again?"
+
+"Yes; he will pay me; though I did not think so a week ago, or indeed
+yesterday. I lent him the means of feeding his people and saving many of
+them from actual death by starvation, because there are so many
+Mussulmans among them, though the maharajah is a Hindoo. As for him, he
+might starve to-morrow, the infidel hound; I would not give him a
+_chowpatti_ or a mouthful of _dal_ to keep his wretched old body alive."
+
+"Do I understand that this interview relates to the repayment of the
+moneys you have advanced?"
+
+"Yes; though that is not the most interesting part of it. He wanted to
+pay me in flesh--human flesh, and he offered to make me a king into the
+bargain, if I would forgive him the debt. The latter part of the
+proposal was purely visionary. The promise to pay in so much humanity he
+is able to perform. I have not made up my mind."
+
+I looked at Isaacs in utter astonishment. What in the world could he
+mean? Had the maharajah offered him some more wives--creatures of
+peerless beauty and immense value? No; I knew he would not hesitate now
+to refuse such a proposition.
+
+"Will you please to explain what you mean by his paying you in man?" I
+asked.
+
+"In two words. The Maharajah of Baithopoor has in his possession a man.
+Safely stowed away under a triple watch and carefully tended, this man
+awaits his fate as the maharajah may decide. The English Government
+would pay an enormous sum for this man, but Baithopoor fears that they
+would ask awkward questions, and perhaps not believe the answers he
+would give them. So, as he owes me a good deal, he thinks I might be
+induced to take his prisoner and realise him, so to speak; thus
+cancelling the debt, and saving him from the alternative of putting the
+man to death privately, or of going through dangerous negotiations with
+the Government. Now this thing is perfectly feasible, and it depends
+upon me to say 'yes' or 'no' to the proposition. Do you see now? It is a
+serious matter enough."
+
+"But the man--who is he? Why do the English want him so much?"
+
+Isaacs pressed his horse close to mine, and looking round to see that
+the saice was a long way behind, he put his hand on my shoulder, and,
+leaning out of the saddle till his mouth almost touched my ear, he
+whispered quickly--
+
+"Shere Ali."
+
+"The devil, you say!" I ejaculated, surprised out of grammar and decorum
+by the startling news. Persons who were in India in 1879 will not have
+forgotten the endless speculation caused by the disappearance of the
+Emir of Afghanistan, Shere Ali, in the spring of that year. Defeated by
+the English at Ali Musjid and Peiwar, and believing his cause lost, he
+fled, no one knew whither; though there is reason to think that he might
+have returned to power and popularity among the Afghan tribes if he had
+presented himself after the murder of Cavagnari.
+
+"Yes," continued Isaacs, "he has been a prisoner in the palace of
+Baithopoor for six weeks, and not a soul save the maharajah and you and
+I know it. He came to Baithopoor, humbly disguised as a Yogi from the
+hills, though he is a Mussulman, and having obtained a private hearing,
+disclosed his real name, proposing to the sovereign a joint movement on
+Kabul, then just pacified by the British, and promising all manner of
+things for the assistance. Old Baitho, who is no fool, clapped him into
+prison under a guard of Punjabi soldiers who could not speak a word of
+Afghan, and after due consideration packed up his traps and betook
+himself to Simla by short stages, for the journey is not an easy one for
+a man of his years. He arrived the day before yesterday, and has
+ostensibly come to congratulate the Viceroy on the success of the
+British arms. He has had to modify the enthusiasm of his proposed
+address, in consequence of the bad news from Kabul. Of course, his first
+move was to send for me, and I had a long interview this morning, in
+which he explained everything. I told him that I would not move in the
+matter without a third person--necessary as a witness when dealing with
+such people--and I have brought you."
+
+"But what was his proposal to invest you with a crown? Did he think you
+were a likely person for a new Emir of Kabul?"
+
+"Exactly. My faith, and above all, my wealth, suggested to him that I,
+as a born Persian, might be the very man for the vacant throne. No
+doubt, the English would be delighted to have me there. But the whole
+thing is visionary and ridiculous. I think I shall accept the other
+proposition, and take the prisoner. It is a good bargain."
+
+I was silent. The intimate way in which I had seen Isaacs hitherto had
+made me forget his immense wealth and his power. I had not realised that
+he could be so closely connected with intrigues of such importance as
+this, or that independant native princes were likely to look upon him as
+a possible Emir of Afghanistan. I had nothing to say, and I determined
+to keep to the part I was brought to perform, which was that of a
+witness, and nothing more. If my advice were asked, I would speak boldly
+for Shere Ali's liberation and protest against the poor man being bought
+and sold in this way. This train of thought reminded me of Isaacs' words
+when we left Miss Westonhaugh that morning. "It is not often," he had
+said, "that you see such jewels bought and sold." No, indeed!
+
+"You see," said Isaacs, as we neared our destination, "Baithopoor is in
+my power, body and soul, for a word from me would expose him to the
+British Government as 'harbouring traitors,' as they would express it.
+On the other hand, the fact that you, the third party, are a journalist,
+and could at a moment's notice give publicity to the whole thing, will
+be an additional safeguard. I have him as in a vice. And now put on your
+most formal manners and look as if you were impenetrable as the rock and
+unbending as cast iron, for we have reached his bungalow."
+
+I could not but admire the perfect calm and caution with which he was
+conducting an affair involving millions of money, a possible indictment
+for high treason, and the key-note of the Afghan question, while I knew
+that his whole soul was absorbed in the contemplation of a beautiful
+picture ever before him, sleeping or waking. Whatever I might think of
+his bargaining for the possession of Shere Ali, he had a great, even
+untiring, intellect. He had the elements of a leader of men, and I
+fondly hoped he might be a ruler some day.
+
+The bungalow in which the Maharajah of Baithopoor had taken up his
+residence during his visit was very much like all the rest of the houses
+I saw in Simla. The verandah, however, was crowded with servants and
+sowars in gorgeous but rather tawdry liveries, not all of them as clean
+as they should have been. Horses with elaborate high saddles and
+embroidered trappings rather the worse for wear were being led up and
+down the walk. As we neared the door there was a strong smell of
+rosewater and native perfumes and hookah tobacco--the indescribable
+odour of Eastern high life. There was also a general air of wasteful and
+tawdry dowdiness, if I may coin such a word, which one constantly sees
+in the retinues of native princes and rich native merchants, ill
+contrasting with the great intrinsic value of some of the ornaments worn
+by the chief officers of the train.
+
+Isaacs spoke a few words in a low voice to the jemadar at the door, and
+we were admitted into a small room in the side of the house, opening, as
+all rooms do in India, on to the verandah. There were low wooden
+charpoys around the walls, and we sat down, waiting till the maharajah
+should be advised of our arrival. Very soon a jemadar came in and
+informed us that "if the _sahib log_, who were the protectors of the
+poor, would deign to be led by him," we should be shown into the royal
+presence. So we rose and followed the obsequious official into another
+apartment.
+
+The room where the maharajah awaited us was even smaller than the one
+into which we had been first shown. It was on the back of the house, and
+only half lighted by the few rays of afternoon sun that struggled
+through the dense foliage outside. I suppose this apartment had been
+chosen as the scene of the interview on account of its seclusion.
+Outside the window, which was closed, a sowar paced slowly up and down
+to keep away any curious listeners. A heavy curtain hung before the door
+through which we had entered. I thought that on the whole the place
+seemed pretty safe.
+
+The old maharajah sat cross-legged upon a great pile of dark-red
+cushions, his slippers by his side, and a huge hookah before him. He
+wore a plain white pugree with a large jewel set on one side, and his
+body was swathed and wrapped in dark thick stuffs, as if he felt keenly
+the cold autumn air. His face was long, of an ashy yellowish colour, and
+an immense white moustache hung curling down over his sombre robe. One
+hand protruded from the folds and held the richly-jewelled mouthpiece of
+the pipe to his lips, and I noticed that the fingers were long and
+crooked, winding themselves curiously round the gold stem, as if
+revelling in the touch of the precious metal and the gems. As we came
+within his range of vision, his dark eyes shot a quick glance of
+scrutiny at me and then dropped again. Not a movement of the head or
+body betrayed a consciousness of our presence. Isaacs made a long
+salutation in Hindustani, and I followed his example, but he did not
+take off his shoes or make anything more than an ordinary bow. It was
+quite evident that he was master of the situation. The old man took the
+pipe from his mouth and replied in a deep hollow voice that he was glad
+to see us, and that, in consideration of our wealth, fame, and renowned
+wisdom, he would waive all ceremony and beg us to be seated. We sat down
+cross-legged on cushions before him, and as near as we could get, so
+that it seemed as if we three were performing some sacred rite of which
+the object was the tall hookah that stood in the centre of our triangle.
+
+Being seated, Isaacs addressed the prince, still in Hindustani, and said
+that the splendour of his sublime majesty, which was like the sun
+dispelling the clouds, so overcame him with fear and trembling, that he
+humbly implored permission to make use of the Persian tongue, which, he
+was aware, the lord of boundless wisdom spoke with even greater ease
+than himself.
+
+Without waiting for an answer, and with no perceptible manifestation of
+any such "fear and trembling" as he professed, Isaacs at once began to
+speak in his native tongue, and dropping all forms of ceremony or
+circumlocution plunged boldly into business. He did not hesitate to
+explain to the maharajah the strength of his position, dwelling on the
+fact that, by a word to the English of the whereabouts of Shere Ali, he
+could plunge Baithopoor into hopeless and endless entanglements, to
+which there could be but one issue--absorption into the British Raj. He
+dwelt on the large sums the maharajah owed him for assistance lent
+during the late famine, and he skilfully produced the impression that he
+wanted the money down, then and there.
+
+"If your majesty should refuse to satisfy my just claims, I have ample
+weapons by which to satisfy them for myself, and no considerations of
+mercy or pity for your majesty will tempt me to abate one rupee in the
+account of your indebtedness, which, as you well know, is not swelled by
+any usurious interest. You could not have borrowed the money on such
+easy terms from any bank in India or England, and if I have been
+merciful hitherto, I will be so no longer. What saith the Apostle of
+Allah? 'Verily, life for life, and eye for eye, and nose for nose, and
+ear for ear, and tooth for tooth, and for wounding retaliation.' And the
+time of your promise is expired and you shall pay me. And is not the
+wise Frank, who sitteth at my right hand, the ready writer, who giveth
+to the public every day a new book to read, the paper of news,
+_Khabar-i-Khagaz_ wherein are written the misdeeds of the wicked, and
+the dealings of the fraudulent and the unwary receive their just reward?
+And think you he will not make a great writing, several columns in
+length, and deliver it to the devils that perform his bidding, and shall
+they not multiply what he hath written, and sow it broadcast over the
+British Raj for the minor consideration of one anna a copy, that all
+shall see how the Maharajah of Baithopoor doth scandalously repudiate
+his debts, and harbour traitors to the Raj in his palace?"
+
+Isaacs said all this in a solemn and impressive manner, calculated to
+inspire awe and terror in the soul of the unhappy debtor. As for the
+maharajah, the cold sweat stood on his face, and at the last words his
+anxiety was so great that the long fingers uncurled spasmodically and
+the jewelled mouthpiece fell back, as the head of a snake, among the
+silken coils of the tube at his feet. Instantly, on feeling the grasping
+hand empty, his majesty, with more alacrity than I would have expected,
+darted forward with outstretched claws, as a hawk on his prey, and
+seizing the glittering thing returned it to his lips with a look of
+evident relief. It was habit, of course, for we were not exactly the men
+to plunder him of his toy, but there was a fierceness about the whole
+action that spoke of the real miser. Then there was silence for a
+moment. The old man was evidently greatly impressed by the perils of his
+situation. Isaacs continued.
+
+"Your majesty well perceives that you have surrounded yourself with
+dangers on all sides. No danger threatens me. I could buy you and
+Baithopoor to-morrow if I chose. But I am a just man. When the prophet,
+whose name be blessed, saith that we shall have eye for eye, and nose
+for nose, and for wounding retaliation, he saith also that 'he that
+remitteth the same as alms it shall be an atonement unto him.' Now your
+majesty is a hard man, and I well know that if I force you to pay me now
+you will cruelly tax and oppress your subjects to refill your coffers.
+And many of your subjects are true believers, following the prophet,
+upon whom be peace; and it is also written 'Thou shalt rob a stranger,
+but thou shalt not rob a brother,'--and if I cause you to rob my
+brethren is not the sin mine, and the atonement thereof? Now also has
+the lawful interest on your bond mounted up to several lakhs of rupees.
+But for the sake of my brethren who are in bondage to you, who are an
+unbeliever and shall broil everlastingly in raging flames, I will yet
+make a covenant with you, and the agreement thereof shall be this:
+
+"You shall deliver into my hand, before the dark half of the next moon,
+the man"--Isaacs lowered his voice to a whisper, barely audible in the
+still room, where the only sound heard as he paused was the tread of the
+sowar on the verandah outside-- "the man Shere Ali, formerly Emir of
+Afghanistan, now hidden in your palace of Baithopoor. Him you shall give
+to me safe and untouched at the place which I shall choose, northwards
+from here, in the pass towards Keitung. And there shall not be an hair
+of his head touched, and if it is good in my eyes I will give him up to
+the British; and if it is good in my eyes, I will slay him, and you
+shall ask no questions. And if you refuse to do this I will go to the
+great lord sahib and tell him of your doings, and you will be arrested
+before this night and shall not escape. But if you consent and put your
+hand to this agreement, I will speak no word, and you shall depart in
+peace; and moreover, for the sake of the true believers in your kingdom
+I will remit to you the whole of the interest on your debt; and the bond
+you shall pay at your convenience. I have spoken, do you answer me."
+Isaacs calmly took from his pocket two rolls covered with Persian
+writing, and lighting a cigarette, proceeded to peruse them carefully,
+to detect any flaw or error in their composition. The face of the old
+maharajah betrayed great emotion, but he bravely pulled away at his
+hookah and tried to think over the situation. In the hope of delivering
+himself from his whole debt he had rashly given himself into the hands
+of a man who hated him, though he had discovered that hatred too late.
+He had flattered himself that the loan had been made out of friendly
+feeling and a desire for his interest and support; he found that Isaacs
+had lent the money, for real or imaginary religious motives, in the
+interest of his co-religionists. I sat silently watching the varying
+passions as they swept over the repulsive face of the old man. The
+silence must have lasted a quarter of an hour.
+
+"Give me the covenant," he said at last, "for I am in the tiger's
+clutches. I will sign it, since I must. But it shall be requited to you,
+Abdul Hafiz; and when your body has been eaten of jackals and wild pigs
+in the forest, your soul shall enter into the shape of a despised
+sweeper, and you and your off-spring shall scavenge the streets of the
+cities of my kingdom and of the kingdom of my son, and son's son, to ten
+thousand generations." A Hindoo cannot express scorn more deadly or hate
+more lasting than this. Isaacs smiled, but there was a concentrated look
+in his face, relentless and hard, as he answered the insult.
+
+"I am not going to bandy words with you. But if you are not quick about
+signing that paper I may change my mind, and send for the Angrezi sowars
+from Peterhof. So you had better hurry yourself." Isaacs produced a
+small inkhorn and a reed pen from his pocket. "Sign," he said, rising to
+his feet "before that soldier outside passes the window three times, or
+I will deliver you to the British."
+
+Trembling in every joint, and the perspiration standing on his face like
+beads, the old man seized the pen and traced his name and titles at the
+foot, first of one copy, and then of the other. Isaacs followed, writing
+his full name in the Persian character, and I signed my name last, "Paul
+Griggs," in large letters at the bottom of each roll, adding the word
+"witness," in case of the transaction becoming known.
+
+"And now," said Isaacs to the maharajah, "despatch at once a messenger,
+and let the man here mentioned be brought under a strong guard and by
+circuitous roads to the pass of Keitung, and let them there encamp
+before the third week from to-day, when the moon is at the full. And I
+will be there and will receive the man. And woe to you if he come not;
+and woe to you if you oppress the true believers in your realm." He
+turned on his heel, and I followed him out of the room after making a
+brief salutation to the old man, cowering among his cushions, a ceremony
+which Isaacs omitted, whether intentionally or from forgetfulness, I
+could not say. We passed through the house out into the air, and
+mounting our horses rode away, leaving the double row of servants
+salaaming to the ground. The duration of our private interview with the
+maharajah had given them an immense idea of our importance. We had come
+at four and it was now nearly five. The long pauses and the Persian
+circumlocutions had occupied a good deal of time.
+
+"You do not seem to have needed my counsel or assistance much," I said.
+"With such an armoury of weapons you could manage half-a-dozen
+maharajahs."
+
+"Yes--perhaps so. But I have strong reasons for wishing this affair
+quickly over, and the editor of a daily paper is a thing of terror to a
+native prince; you must have seen that."
+
+"What do you mean to do with your man when he is safely in your hands,
+if it is not an indiscreet question?"
+
+"Do with him?" asked Isaacs with some astonishment. "Is it possible you
+have not guessed? He is a brave man, and a true believer. I will give
+him money and letters, that he may make his way to Baghdad, or wherever
+he will be safe. He shall depart in peace, and be as free as air."
+
+I had half suspected my friend of some such generous intention, but he
+had played his part of unrelenting hardness so well in our late
+interview with the Hindoo prince that it seemed incomprehensible that a
+man should be so pitiless and so kind on the same day. There was not a
+trace of hardness on his beautiful features now, and as we rounded the
+hill and caught the last beams of the sun, now sinking behind the
+mountains, his face seemed transfigured as with a glory, and I could
+hardly bear to look at him. He held his hat in his hand and faced the
+west for an instant, as though thanking the declining day for its
+freshness and beauty; and I thought to myself that the sun was lucky to
+see such an exquisite picture before he bid Simla good-night, and that
+he should shine the brighter for it the next day, since he would look on
+nothing fairer in his twelve hours' wandering over the other half of
+creation.
+
+"And now," said he, "it is late, but if we ride towards Annandale we may
+meet them coming back from the polo match we have missed." His eyes
+glowed at the thought. Shere Ali, the maharajah, bonds, principal, and
+interest, were all forgotten in the anticipation of a brief meeting with
+the woman he loved.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+"Why did you not come and see the game? After all your enthusiasm about
+polo this morning, I did not think you would miss anything so good,"
+were the first words of Miss Westonhaugh as we met her and Kildare in
+the narrow path that leads down to Annandale. Two men were riding behind
+them, who proved to be Mr. Currie Ghyrkins and Mr. John Westonhaugh. The
+latter was duly introduced to us; a quiet, spare man, with his sister's
+features, but without a trace of her superb colour and animal spirits.
+He had the real Bombay paleness, and had been steamed to the bone
+through the rains. As we were introduced, Isaacs started and said
+quickly that he believed he had met Mr. Westonhaugh before.
+
+"It is possible, quite possible," said that gentleman affably,
+"especially if you ever go to Bombay."
+
+"Yes--it was in Bombay--some twelve years ago. You have probably
+forgotten me."
+
+"Ah, yes. I was young and green then. I wonder you remember me." He did
+not show any very lively interest in the matter, though he smiled
+pleasantly.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh must have been teasing Lord Steepleton, for he looked
+flushed and annoyed, and she was in capital spirits. We turned to go
+back with the party, and by a turn of the wrist Isaacs wheeled his horse
+to the side of Miss Westonhaugh's, a position he did not again abandon.
+They were leading, and I resolved they should have a chance, as the path
+was not broad enough for more than two to ride abreast. So I furtively
+excited my horse by a touch of the heel and a quick strain on the curb,
+throwing him across the road, and thus producing a momentary delay, of
+which the two riders in front took advantage to increase their distance.
+Then we fell in, Mr. Ghyrkins and I in front, while the dejected Kildare
+rode behind with Mr. John Westonhaugh. Ghyrkins and I, being heavy men,
+heavily mounted, controlled the situation, and before long Isaacs and
+Miss Westonhaugh were a couple of hundred yards ahead, and we only
+caught occasional glimpses of them through the trees as they wound in
+and out along the path.
+
+"What are those youngsters talking about, back there? Tigers, I'll be
+bound," said Mr. Ghyrkins to me. Sure enough, they were.
+
+"What do you suppose I found when we got back this afternoon, Mr.
+Griggs? Why, this hair-brained young Kildare has been proposing to my
+niece----" his horse stumbled, but recovered himself in a moment.
+
+"You don't mean it," said I, rather startled.
+
+"Oh no, no, no. I don't mean that at all. Ha! ha! ha! very good, very
+good. No, no. Lord Steepleton wants us all to go on a tiger-hunt to
+amuse John, and he proposes--ha! ha!--really too funny of me--that Miss
+Westonhaugh should go with us."
+
+"I suppose you have no objection, Mr. Ghyrkins? Ladies constantly go on
+such expeditions, and they do not appear to be the least in the way."
+
+"Objections? Of course I have objections. Do you suppose I want to drag
+my niece to a premature grave? Think of the fever and the rough living
+and all, and she only just out from England."
+
+"She looks as if she could stand anything," I said, as just then an open
+space in the trees gave us a glimpse of Miss Westonhaugh and Isaacs
+ambling along and apparently in earnest conversation. She certainly
+looked strong enough to go tiger-hunting that minute, as she sat erect
+but half turned to the off side, listening to what Isaacs seemed to be
+saying.
+
+"I hope you will not go and tell her so," said Ghyrkins. "If she gets an
+idea that the thing is possible, there will be no holding her. You don't
+know her. I hardly know her myself. Never saw her since she was a baby
+till the other day. Now you are the sort of person to go after tigers.
+Why do you not go off with my nephew and Mr. Isaacs and Kildare, and
+kill as many of them as you like?"
+
+"I have no objection, I am sure. I suppose the _Howler_ could spare me
+for a fortnight, now that I have converted the Press Commissioner, your
+new _deus ex machina_ for the obstruction of news. What a motley party
+we should be. Let me see.--a Bombay Civil Servant, an Irish nobleman, a
+Persian millionaire, and a Yankee newspaper man. By Jove! add to that a
+famous Revenue Commissioner and a reigning beauty, and the sextett is
+complete." Mr. Ghyrkins looked pleased at the gross flattery of himself.
+I recollected suddenly that, though he was far from famous as a revenue
+commissioner, I had read of some good shooting he had done in his
+younger days. Here was a chance.
+
+"Besides, Mr. Ghyrkins, a tiger-hunting party would not be the thing
+without some seasoned Nimrod to advise and direct us. Who so fitted for
+the post as the man of many a chase, the companion of Maori, the slayer
+of the twelve foot tiger in the Nepaul hills in 1861?"
+
+"You have a good memory, Mr. Griggs," said the old fellow, perfectly
+delighted, and now fairly launched on his favourite topic. "By Gad, sir,
+if I thought I should get such another chance I would go with you
+to-morrow!"
+
+"Why not? there are lots of big man-eaters about," and I incontinently
+reeled off half a page of statistics, more or less accurate, about the
+number of persons destroyed by snakes and wild beasts in the last year.
+"Of course most of those deaths were from tigers, and it is a really
+good action to kill a few. Many people can see tigers but cannot shoot
+them, whereas your deeds of death amongst them ate a matter of history.
+You really ought to be philanthropic, Mr. Ghyrkins, and go with us. We
+might stand a chance of seeing some real sport then."
+
+"Why, really, now that you make me think of it, I believe I should like
+it amazingly, and I could leave my niece with
+Lady--Lady--Stick-in-the-mud; what the deuce is her name? The wife of
+the Chief Justice, you know. You ought to know, really--I never remember
+names much;" he jerked out his sentences irately.
+
+"Certainly, Lady Smith-Tompkins, you mean. Yes, you might do that--that
+is, if Miss Westonhaugh has had the measles, and is not afraid of them.
+I heard this morning that three of the little Smith-Tompkinses had them
+quite badly."
+
+"You don't say so! Well, well, we shall find some one else, no doubt."
+
+I was certain that at that very moment Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were
+planning the whole expedition, and so I returned to the question of
+sport and inquired where we should go. This led to considerable
+discussion, and before we arrived at Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow--still in
+the same order--it was very clear that the old sportsman had made up his
+mind to kill one more tiger at all events; and that, rather than forego
+the enjoyment of the chase, he would be willing to take his niece with
+him. As for the direction of the expedition, that could be decided in a
+day or two. It was not the best season for tigers--the early spring is
+better--but they are always to be found in the forests of the Terai, the
+country along the base of the hills, north of Oude.
+
+When we reached the house it was quite dark, for we had ridden slowly.
+The light from the open door, falling across the verandah, showed us
+Miss Westonhaugh seated in a huge chair, and Isaacs standing by her side
+slightly bending, and holding his hat in his hand. They were still
+talking, but as we rode up to the lawn and shouted for the saices,
+Isaacs stood up and looked across towards us, and their voices ceased.
+It was evident that he had succeeded in thoroughly interesting her, for
+I thought--though it was some distance, and the light on them was not
+strong--that as he straightened himself and stopped speaking, she looked
+up to his face as if regretting that he did not go on. I dismounted with
+the rest and walked up to bid Miss Westonhaugh good-night.
+
+"You must come and dine to-morrow night," said Mr. Ghyrkins, "and we
+will arrange all about it. Sharp seven. To-morrow is Sunday, you know.
+Kildare, you must come too, if you mean business. Seven. We must look
+sharp and start, if we mean to come back here before the Viceroy goes."
+
+"Oh in that case," said Kildare, turning to me, "we can settle all about
+the polo match for Monday, can't we?"
+
+"Of course, very good of you to take the trouble."
+
+"Not a bit of it. Good-night." We bowed and went back to find our horses
+in the gloom. After some fumbling, for it was intensely dark after
+facing the light in the doorway of the bungalow, we got into the saddle
+and turned homeward through the trees.
+
+"Thank you, Griggs," said Isaacs. "May your feet never weary, and your
+shadow never be less."
+
+"Don't mention it, and thanks about the shadow. Only it is never likely
+to be less than at the present moment. How dark it is, to be sure!" I
+knew well enough what he was thanking me for. I lit a cheroot.
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "you are a pretty cool hand, upon my word."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why, indeed! Here you and Miss Westonhaugh have been calmly planning an
+extensive tiger-hunt, when you have promised to be in the neighbourhood
+of Keitung in three weeks, wherever that may be. I suppose it is in the
+opposite direction from here, for you will not find any tigers nearer
+than the Terai at this time of year."
+
+"I do not see the difficulty," he answered. "We can be in Oude in two
+days from here; shoot tigers for ten days, and be here again in two days
+more. That is just a fortnight. It will not take me a week to reach
+Keitung. I am much mistaken if I do not get there in three days. I shall
+lay a _dak_ by messengers before I go to Oude, and between a double set
+of coolies and lots of ponies wherever the roads are good enough, I
+shall be at the place of meeting soon enough, never fear."
+
+"Oh, very well; but I hardly think Ghyrkins will want to return under
+three weeks; and--I did not think you would want to leave the party." He
+had evidently planned the whole three weeks' business carefully. I did
+not continue the conversation. He was naturally absorbed in the
+arrangement of his numerous schemes--no easy matter, when affairs of
+magnitude have to be ordered to suit the exigencies of a _grande
+passion_. I shrank from intruding on his reflections, and I had quite
+enough to do in keeping my horse on his feet in the thick darkness.
+Suddenly he reared violently, and then stood still, quivering in every
+limb. Isaacs' horse plunged and snorted by my side, and cannoned heavily
+against me. Then all was quiet. I could see nothing. Presently a voice,
+low and musical, broke on the darkness, and I thought I could
+distinguish a tall figure on foot at Isaacs' knee. Whoever the man was
+he must be on the other side of my companion, but I made out a head from
+which the voice proceeded.
+
+"Peace, Abdul Hafiz!" it said.
+
+"Aleikum Salaam, Ram Lal!" answered Isaacs. He must have recognised the
+man by his voice.
+
+"Abdul," continued the stranger, speaking Persian. "I have business with
+thee this night; thou art going home. If it is thy pleasure I will be
+with thee in two hours in thy dwelling."
+
+"Thy pleasure is my pleasure. Be it so." I thought the head disappeared.
+
+"Be it so," the voice echoed, growing faint, as if moving rapidly away
+from us. The horses, momentarily startled by the unexpected pedestrian,
+regained their equanimity. I confess the incident gave me a curiously
+unpleasant sensation. It was so very odd that a man on foot--a Persian,
+I judged, by his accent--should know of my companion's whereabouts, and
+that they should recognise each other by their voices. I recollected
+that our coming to Mr. Ghyrkins' bungalow was wholly unpremeditated, and
+I was sure Isaacs had spoken to none but our party--not even to his
+saice--since our meeting with the Westonhaughs on the Annandale road an
+hour and a half before.
+
+"I wonder what he wants," said my friend, apparently soliloquising.
+
+"He seems to know where to find you, at all events," I answered. "He
+must have second sight to know you had been to Carisbrooke."
+
+"He has. He is a very singular personage altogether. However, he has
+done me more than one service before now, and though I do not comprehend
+his method of arriving at conclusions, still less his mode of
+locomotion, I am always glad of his advice."
+
+"But what is he? Is he a Persian?--you called him by an Indian name, but
+that may be a disguise--is he a wise man from Iran?"
+
+"He is a very wise man, but not from Iran. No. He is a Brahmin by birth,
+a Buddhist by adopted religion, and he calls himself an 'adept' by
+profession, I suppose, if he can be said to have any. He comes and goes
+unexpectedly, with amazing rapidity. His visits are brief, but he always
+seems to be perfectly conversant with the matter in hand, whatever it
+be. He will come to-night and give me about twenty words of advice,
+which I may follow or may not, as my judgment dictates; and before I
+have answered or recovered from my surprise, he will have vanished,
+apparently into space; for if I ask my servants where he is gone they
+will stare at me as if I were crazy, until I show them that the room is
+empty, and accuse them of going to sleep instead of seeing who goes in
+and out of my apartment. He speaks more languages than I do, and better.
+He once told me he was educated in Edinburgh, and his perfect knowledge
+of European affairs and of European topics leads me to think he must
+have been there a long time. Have you ever looked into the higher phases
+of Buddhism? It is a very interesting study."
+
+"Yes, I have read something about it. Indeed I have read a good deal,
+and have thought more. The subject is full of interest, as you say. If I
+had been an Asiatic by birth, I am sure I should have sought to attain
+_moksha_, even if it required a lifetime to pass through all the degrees
+of initiation. There is something so rational about their theories,
+disclaiming, as they do, all supernatural power; and, at the same time,
+there is something so pure and high in their conception of life, in
+their ideas about the ideal, if you will allow me the expression, that I
+do not wonder Edwin Arnold has set our American transcendentalists and
+Unitarians and freethinkers speculating about it all, and wondering
+whether the East may not have had men as great as Emerson and Channing
+among its teachers." I paused. My greatest fault is that if any one
+starts me upon a subject I know anything about, I immediately become
+didactic. So I paused and reflected that Isaacs, being, as he himself
+declared, frequently in the society of an "adept" of a high class, was
+sure to know a great deal more than I.
+
+"I too," he said, "have been greatly struck, and sometimes almost
+converted, by the beauty of the higher Buddhist thoughts. As for their
+apparently supernatural powers and what they do with them, I care
+nothing about phenomena of that description. We live in a land where
+marvels are common enough. Who has ever explained the mango trick, or
+the basket trick, or the man who throws a rope up into the air and then
+climbs up it and takes the rope after him, disappearing into blue space?
+And yet you have seen those things--I have seen them, every one has seen
+them,--and the performers claim no supernatural agency or assistance. It
+is merely a difference of degree, whether you make a mango grow from the
+seed to the tree in half an hour, or whether you transport yourself ten
+thousand miles in as many seconds, passing through walls of brick and
+stone on your way, and astonishing some ordinary mortal by showing that
+you know all about his affairs. I see no essential difference between
+the two 'phenomena,' as the newspapers call them, since Madame Blavatsky
+has set them all by the ears in this country. It is just the difference
+in the amount of power brought to bear on the action. That is all. I
+have seen, in a workshop in Calcutta, a hammer that would crack an
+eggshell without crushing it, or bruise a lump of iron as big as your
+head into a flat cake. 'Phenomena' may amuse women and children, but the
+real beauty of the system lies in the promised attainment of happiness.
+Whether that state of supreme freedom from earthly care gives the
+fortunate initiate the power of projecting himself to the antipodes by a
+mere act of volition, or of condensing the astral fluid into articles of
+daily use, or of stimulating the vital forces of nature to an abnormal
+activity, is to me a matter of supreme indifference. I am tolerably
+happy in my own way as things are. I should not be a whit happier if I
+were able to go off after dinner and take a part in American politics
+for a few hours, returning to business here to-morrow morning."
+
+"That is an extreme case," I said. "No man in his senses ever connects
+the idea of happiness with American politics."
+
+"Of one thing I am sure, though." He paused as if choosing his words. "I
+am sure of this. If any unforeseen event, whether an act of folly of my
+own, or the hand of Allah, who is wise, should destroy the peace of mind
+I have enjoyed for ten years, with very trifling interruption,--if
+anything should occur to make me permanently unhappy, beyond the
+possibility of ordinary consolation,--I should seek comfort in the study
+of the pure doctrines of the higher Buddhists. The pursuit of a
+happiness, so immeasurably beyond all earthly considerations of bodily
+comfort or of physical enjoyment, can surely not be inconsistent with my
+religion--or with yours."
+
+"No indeed," said I. "But, considering that you are the strictest of
+Mohammedans, it seems to me you are wonderfully liberal. So you have
+seriously contemplated the possibility of your becoming one of the
+'brethren'--as they style themselves?"
+
+"It never struck me until to-day that anything might occur by which my
+life could be permanently disturbed. Something to-day has whispered to
+me that such an existence could not be permanent. I am sure that it
+cannot be. The issue must be either to an infinite happiness or to a
+still more infinite misery. I cannot tell which." His clear, evenly
+modulated voice trembled a little. We were in sight of the lights from
+the hotel.
+
+"I shall not dine with you to-night, Griggs. I will have something in my
+own rooms. Come in as soon as you have done--that is if you are free.
+There is no reason why you should not see Ram Lal the adept, since we
+think alike about his religion, or school, or philosophy--find a name
+for it while you are dining." And we separated for a time.
+
+It had been a long and exciting day to me. I felt no more inclined than
+he did for the din and racket and lights of the public dining-room. So I
+followed his example and had something in my own apartment. Then I
+settled myself to a hookah, resolved not to take advantage of Isaacs'
+invitation until near the time when he expected Ram Lal. I felt the need
+of an hour's solitude to collect my thoughts and to think over the
+events of the last twenty-four hours. I recognised that I was fast
+becoming very intimate with Isaacs, and I wanted to think about him and
+excogitate the problem of his life; but when I tried to revolve the
+situation logically, and deliver to myself a verdict, I found myself
+carried off at a tangent by the wonderful pictures that passed before my
+eyes. I could not detach the events from the individual. His face was
+ever before me, whether I thought of Miss Westonhaugh, or of the
+wretched old maharajah, or of Ram Lal the Buddhist. Isaacs was the
+central figure in every picture, always in the front, always calm and
+beautiful, always controlling the events around him. Then I entered on a
+series of trite reflections to soothe my baffled reason, as a man will
+who is used to understanding what goes on before him and suddenly finds
+himself at a loss. Of course, I said to myself, it is no wonder he
+controls things, or appears to. The circumstances in which I find this
+three days' acquaintance are emphatically those of his own making. He
+has always been a successful man, and he would not raise spirits that he
+could not keep well in hand. He knows perfectly well what he is about in
+making love to that beautiful creature, and is no doubt at this moment
+laughing in his sleeve at my simplicity in believing that he was really
+asking my advice. Pshaw! as if any advice could influence a man like
+that! Absurd.
+
+I sipped my coffee in disgust with myself. All the time, while trying to
+persuade myself that Isaacs was only a very successful schemer, neither
+better nor worse than other men, I was conscious of the face that would
+not be banished from my sight. I saw the beautiful boyish look in his
+deep dark eyes, the gentle curve of the mouth, the grand smooth
+architrave of the brows. No--I was a fool! I had never met a man like
+him, nor should again. How could Miss Westonhaugh save herself from
+loving such a perfect creature? I thought, too, of his generosity. He
+would surely keep his promise and deliver poor Shere Ali, hunted to
+death by English and Afghan foes, from all his troubles. Had he not the
+Maharajah of Baithopoor in his power? He might have exacted the full
+payment of the debt, principal and interest, and saved the Afghan chief
+into the bargain. But he feared lest the poor Mohammedans should suffer
+from the prince's extortion, and he forgave freely the interest,
+amounting now to a huge sum, and put off the payment of the bond itself
+to the maharajah's convenience. Did ever an Oriental forgive a debt
+before even to his own brother? Not in my experience.
+
+I rose and went down to Isaacs. I found him as on the previous evening,
+among his cushions with a manuscript book. He looked up smiling and
+motioned me to be seated, keeping his place on the page with one finger.
+He finished the verse before he spoke, and then laid the book down and
+leaned back.
+
+"So you have made up your mind that you would like to see Ram Lal. He
+will be here in a minute, unless he changes his mind and does not come
+after all."
+
+There was a sound of voices outside. Some one asked if Isaacs were in,
+and the servant answered. A tall figure in a gray _caftan_ and a plain
+white turban stood in the door.
+
+"I never change my mind," said the stranger, in excellent English,
+though with an accent peculiar to the Hindoo tongue when struggling with
+European languages. His voice was musical and high in pitch, though soft
+and sweet in tone. The quality of voice that can be heard at a great
+distance, with no apparent effort to the speaker. "I never change my
+mind. I am here. Is it well with you?"
+
+"It is well, Ram Lal. I thank you. Be seated, if you will stay with us a
+while. This is my friend Mr. Griggs, of whom you probably know. He
+thinks as I do on many points, and I was anxious that you should meet."
+
+While Isaacs was speaking, Ram Lal advanced into the room and stood a
+moment under the soft light, a gray figure, very tall, but not otherwise
+remarkable. He was all gray. The long _caftan_ wrapped round him, the
+turban which I had first thought white, the skin of his face, the
+pointed beard and long moustache, the heavy eyebrows--a study of grays
+against the barbaric splendour of the richly hung wall--a soft outline
+on which the yellow light dwelt lovingly, as if weary of being cast back
+and reflected from the glory of gold and the thousand facets of the
+priceless gems. Ram Lal looked toward me, and as I gazed into his eyes I
+saw that they too were gray--a very singular thing in the East--and that
+they were very far apart, giving his face a look of great dignity and
+fearless frankness. To judge by his features he seemed to be very thin,
+and his high shoulders were angular, though the long loose garment
+concealed the rest of his frame from view. I had plenty of time to note
+these details, for he stood a full minute in the middle of the room, as
+if deciding whether to remain or to go. Then he moved quietly to a divan
+and sat down cross-legged.
+
+"Abdul, you have done a good deed to-day, and I trust you will not
+change your mind before you have carried out your present intentions."
+
+"I never change my mind, Bam Lai," said Isaacs, smiling as he quoted his
+visitor's own words. I was startled at first. What good deed was the
+Buddhist referring to if not to the intended liberation of Shere Ali?
+How could he know of it? Then I reflected that this man was, according
+to Isaacs' declaration, an adept of the higher grades, a seer and a
+knower of men's hearts. I resolved not to be astonished at anything that
+occurred, only marvelling that it should have pleased this extraordinary
+man to make his entrance like an ordinary mortal, instead of through the
+floor or the ceiling.
+
+"Pardon me," answered Ram Lal, "if I venture to contradict you. You do
+change your mind sometimes. Who was it who lately scoffed at women,
+their immortality, their virtue, and their intellect? Will you tell me
+now, friend Abdul, that you have not changed your mind? Do you think of
+anything, sleeping or waking, but the one woman for whom you _have_
+changed your mind? Is not her picture ever before you, and the breath of
+her beauty upon your soul? Have you not met her in the spirit as well as
+in the flesh? Surely we shall hear no more of your doubts about women
+for some time to come. I congratulate you, as far as that goes, on your
+conversion. You have made a step towards a higher understanding of the
+world you live in."
+
+Isaacs did not seem in the least surprised at his visitor's intimate
+acquaintance with his affairs. He bowed his head in silence, acquiescing
+to what Bam Lai had said, and waited for him to proceed.
+
+"I have come," continued the Buddhist, "to give you some good
+advice--the best I have for you. You will probably not take it, for you
+are the most self-reliant man I know, though you have changed a little
+since you have been in love, witness your sudden intimacy with Mr.
+Griggs." He looked at me, and there was a faint approach to a smile in
+his gray eyes. "My advice to you is, do not let this projected
+tiger-hunt take place if you can prevent it. No good can come of it, and
+harm may. Now I have spoken because my mind would not be at rest if I
+did not warn you. Of course you will do as you please, only never forget
+that I pointed out to you the right course in time."
+
+"Thank you, Ram Lal, for your friendly concern in my behalf. I do not
+think I shall act as you suggest, but I am nevertheless grateful to you.
+There is one thing I want to ask you, and consult you about, however."
+
+"My friend, what is the use of my giving you advice that you will not
+follow? If I lived with you, and were your constant companion, you would
+ask me to advise you twenty times a day, and then you would go and do
+the diametric opposite of what I suggested. If I did not see in you
+something that I see in few other men, I would not be here. There are
+plenty of fools who have wit enough to take counsel of a wise man. There
+are few men of wit wise enough to be guided by their betters, as if they
+were only fools for the time. Yet because you are so wayward I will help
+you once or twice more, and then I will leave you to your own
+course--which you, in your blindness, will call your kismet, not seeing
+that your fate is continually in your own hands--more so at this moment
+than ever before. Ask, and I will answer."
+
+"Thanks, Ram Lal. It is this I would know. You are aware that I have
+undertaken a novel kind of bargain. The man you wot of is to be
+delivered to me near Keitung. I am anxious for the man's safety
+afterwards, and I would be glad of some hint about disposing of him. I
+must go alone, for I do not want any witness of what I am going to do,
+and as a mere matter of personal safety for myself and the man I am
+going to set free, I must decide on some plan of action when I meet the
+band of sowars who will escort him. They are capable of murdering us
+both if the maharajah instructs them to. As long as I am alive to bring
+the old man into disgrace with the British, the captive is safe; but it
+would be an easy matter for those fellows to dispose of us together, and
+there would be an end of the business."
+
+"Of course they could," replied Ram Lal, adding in an ironical tone "and
+if you insist upon putting your head down the tiger's throat, how do you
+expect me to prevent the brute from snapping it off? That would be a
+'phenomenon,' would it not? And only this evening you were saying that
+you despised 'phenomena.'"
+
+"I said that such things were indifferent to me. I did not say I
+despised them. But I think that this thing may be done without
+performing any miracles."
+
+"If it were not such a good action on your part I would have nothing to
+do with it. But since you mean to risk your neck for your own peculiar
+views of what is right, I will endeavour that you shall not break it. I
+will meet you a day's journey before you reach Keitung, somewhere on the
+road, and we will go together and do the business. But if I am to help
+you I will not promise not to perform some miracles, as you call them,
+though you know very well they are no such thing. Meanwhile, do as you
+please about the tiger-hunt; I shall say no more about it." He paused,
+and then, withdrawing one delicate hand from the folds of his _caftan_,
+he pointed to the wall behind Isaacs and me, and said, "What a very
+singular piece of workmanship is that yataghan!"
+
+We both naturally turned half round to look at the weapon he spoke of,
+which was the central piece in a trophy of jewelled sabres and Afghan
+knives.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, turning back to answer his guest, "it is a ----" He
+stopped, and I, who had not seen the weapon before, lost among so many,
+and was admiring its singular beauty, turned too; to my astonishment I
+saw that Isaacs was gazing into empty space. The divan where Ram Lal had
+been sitting an instant before, was vacant. He was gone.
+
+"That is rather sudden," I said.
+
+"More so than usual," was the reply. "Did you see him go? Did he go out
+by the door?"
+
+"Not I," I answered, "when I looked round at the wall he was placidly
+sitting on that divan pointing with one hand at the yataghan. Does he
+generally go so quickly?"
+
+"Yes, more or less. Now I will show you some pretty sport." He rose to
+his feet and went to the door. "Narain!" he cried. Narain, the bearer,
+who was squatting against the door-post outside, sprang up and stood
+before his master. "Narain, why did you not show that pundit the way
+downstairs? What do you mean? have you no manners?"
+
+Narain stood open mouthed. "What pundit, sahib?" he asked.
+
+"Why, the pundit who came a quarter of an hour ago, you donkey! He has
+just gone out, and you did not even get up and make a salaam, you
+impertinent vagabond!" Narain protested that no pundit, or sahib, or any
+one else, had passed the threshold since Ram Lal had entered. "Ha! you
+_budmash_. You lazy dog of a Hindoo! you have been asleep again, you
+swine, you son of a pig, you father of piglings! Is that the way you do
+your work in my service?" Isaacs was enjoying the joke in a quiet way
+immensely.
+
+"Sahib," said the trembling Narain, apparently forgetting the genealogy
+his master had thrust upon him, "Sahib, you are protector of the poor,
+you are my father and my mother, and my brother, and all my relations,"
+the common form of Hindoo supplication, "but, Sri Krishnaji! by the
+blessed Krishna, I have not slept a wink."
+
+"Then I suppose you mean me to believe that the pundit went through the
+ceiling, or is hidden under the cushions. Swear not by your false idols,
+slave; I shall not believe you for that, you dog of an unbeliever, you
+soor-be-iman, you swine without faith!"
+
+"Han, sahib, han!" cried Narain, seizing at the idea that the pundit had
+disappeared mysteriously through the walls. "Yes, sahib, the pundit is a
+great yogi, and has made the winds carry him off." The fellow thought
+this was a bright idea, not by any means beneath consideration. Isaacs
+appeared somewhat pacified.
+
+"What makes you think he is a yogi, dog?" he inquired in a milder tone.
+Narain had no answer ready, but stood looking rather stupidly through
+the door at the room whence the unearthly visitor had so suddenly
+disappeared. "Well," continued Isaacs, "you are more nearly right than
+you imagine. The pundit is a bigger yogi than any your idiotic religion
+can produce. Never mind, there is an eight anna bit for you, because I
+said you were asleep when you were not." Narain bent to the ground in
+thanks, as his master turned on his heel. "Not that he minds being told
+that he is a pig, in the least," said Isaacs. "I would not call a
+Mussulman so, but you can insult these Hindoos so much worse in other
+ways that I think the porcine simile is quite merciful by comparison."
+He sat down again among the cushions, and putting off his slippers,
+curled himself comfortably together for a chat.
+
+"What do you think of Ram Lal?" he asked, when Narain had brought
+hookahs and sherbet.
+
+"My dear fellow, I have hardly made up my mind what to think. I have not
+altogether recovered from my astonishment. I confess that there was
+nothing startling about his manner or his person. He behaved and talked
+like a well educated native, in utter contrast to the amazing things he
+said, and to his unprecedented mode of leave-taking. It would have
+seemed more natural--I would say, more fitting--if he had appeared in
+the classic dress of an astrologer, surrounded with zodiacs, and blue
+lights, and black cats. Why do you suppose he wants you to abandon the
+tiger-hunt?"
+
+"I cannot tell. Perhaps he thinks something may happen to me to prevent
+my keeping the other engagement. Perhaps he does not approve----" he
+stopped, as if not wanting to approach the subject of Ram Lal's
+disapprobation. "I intend, nevertheless, that the expedition come off,
+and I mean, moreover, to have a very good time, and to kill a tiger if I
+see one."
+
+"I thought he seemed immensely pleased at your conversion, as he calls
+it. He said that your newly acquired belief in woman was a step towards
+a better understanding of life."
+
+"Of the world, he said," answered-Isaacs, correcting me. "There is a
+great difference between the 'world' and 'life.' The one is a finite,
+the other an infinite expression. I believe, from what I have learned of
+Ram Lal, that the ultimate object of the adepts is happiness, only to be
+attained by wisdom, and I apprehend that by wisdom they mean a knowledge
+of the world in the broadest sense of the word. The world to them is a
+great repository of facts, physical and social, of which they propose to
+acquire a specific knowledge by transcendental methods. If that seems to
+you a contradiction of terms, I will try and express myself better. If
+you understand me, I am satisfied. Of course I use transcendental in the
+sense in which it is applied by Western mathematicians to a mode of
+reasoning which I very imperfectly comprehend, save that it consists in
+reaching finite results by an adroit use of the infinite."
+
+"Not a bad definition of transcendental analysis for a man who professes
+to know nothing about it," said I. "I would not accuse you of a
+contradiction of terms, either. I have often thought that what some
+people call the 'philosophy of the nineteenth century,' is nothing after
+all but the unconscious application of transcendental analysis to the
+everyday affairs of life. Consider the theories of Darwin, for instance.
+What are they but an elaborate application of the higher calculus? He
+differentiates men into protoplasms, and integrates protoplasms into
+monkeys, and shows the caudal appendage to be the independent variable,
+a small factor in man, a large factor in monkey. And has not the idea of
+successive development supplanted the early conception of spontaneous
+perfection? Take an illustration from India--the new system of
+competition, which the natives can never understand. Formerly the
+members of the Civil Service received their warrants by divine
+authority, so to speak. They were born perfect, as Aphrodite from the
+foam of the sea; they sprang armed and ready from the head of old John
+Company as Pallas Athene from the head of Zeus. Now all that is changed;
+they are selected from a great herd of candidates by methods of extreme
+exactness, and when they are chosen they represent the final result of
+infinite probabilities for and against their election. They are all
+exactly alike; they are a formula for taxation and the administration of
+justice, and so long as you do not attempt to use the formula for any
+other purpose, such, for instance, as political negotiation or the
+censorship of the public press, the equation will probably be amenable
+to solution."
+
+"As I told you," said Isaacs, "I know nothing, or next to nothing, of
+Western mathematics, but I have a general idea of the comparison you
+make. In Asia and in Asiatic minds, there prevails an idea that
+knowledge can be assimilated once and for all. That if you can obtain
+it, you immediately possess the knowledge of everything--the pass-key
+that shall unlock every door. That is the reason of the prolonged
+fasting and solitary meditation of the ascetics. They believe that by
+attenuating the bond between soul and body, the soul can be liberated
+and can temporarily identify itself with other objects, animate and
+inanimate, besides the especial body to which it belongs, acquiring thus
+a direct knowledge of those objects, and they believe that this direct
+knowledge remains. Western philosophers argue that the only acquaintance
+a man can have with bodies external to his mind is that which he
+acquires by the medium of his bodily senses--though these, are
+themselves external to his mind, in the truest sanse. The senses not
+being absolutely reliable, knowledge acquired by means of them is not
+absolutely reliable either. So the ultimate difference between the
+Asiatic saint and the European man of science is, that while the former
+believes all knowledge to be directly within the grasp of the soul,
+under certain conditions, the latter, on the other hand, denies that any
+knowledge can be absolute, being all obtained indirectly through a
+medium not absolutely reliable. The reasoning, by which the Western mind
+allows itself to act fearlessly on information which is not (according
+to its own verdict) necessarily accurate, depends on a clever use of the
+infinite in unconsciously calculating the probabilities of that
+accuracy--and this entirely falls in with what you said about the
+application of transcendental analysis to the affairs of everyday life."
+
+"I see you have entirely comprehended me," I said. "But as for the
+Asiatic mind--you seem to deny to it the use of the calculus of thought,
+and yet you denned adepts as attempting to acquire specific knowledge by
+general and transcendental methods. Here is a real contradiction."
+
+"No; I see no confusion, for I do not include the higher adepts in
+either class, since they have the wisdom to make use of the learning and
+of the methods of both. They seem to me to be endeavouring, roughly
+speaking, to combine the two. They believe absolute knowledge
+attainable, and they devote much time to the study of nature, in which
+pursuit they make use of highly analytical methods. They subdivide
+phenomena to an extent that would surprise and probably amuse a Western
+thinker. They count fourteen distinct colours in the rainbow, and
+invariably connect sound, even to the finest degrees, with shades of
+colour. I could name many other peculiarities of their mode of studying
+natural phenomena, which displays a much more minute subdivision and
+classification of results than you are accustomed to. But beside all
+this they consider that the senses of the normal man are susceptible of
+infinite refinement, and that upon a greater or less degree of acquired
+acuteness of perception the value of his results must depend. To attain
+this high degree of sensitiveness, necessary to the perception of very
+subtle phenomena, the adepts find it necessary to train their faculties,
+bodily and mental, by a life of rigid abstention from all pleasures or
+indulgences not indispensable in maintaining the relation between the
+physical and intellectual powers."
+
+"The common _fakir_ aims at the same thing," I remarked.
+
+"But he does not attain it. The common _fakir_ is an idiot. He may, by
+fasting and self-torture, of a kind no adept would approve, sharpen his
+senses till he can hear and see some sounds and sights inaudible and
+invisible to you and me. But his whole system lacks any intellectual
+basis: he regards knowledge as something instantaneously attainable when
+it comes at last; he believes he will have a vision, and that everything
+will be revealed to him. His devotion to his object is admirable, when
+he is a genuine ascetic and not, as is generally the case, a
+good-for-nothing who makes his piety pay for his subsistence; but it is
+devotion of a very low intellectual order. The true adept thinks the
+training of the mind in intellectual pursuits no less necessary than the
+moderate and reasonable mortification of the flesh, and higher Buddhism
+pays as much attention to the one as to the other."
+
+"Excuse me," said I, "if I make a digression. I think there are two
+classes of minds commonly to be found among thinkers all over the world.
+The one seek to attain to knowledge, the others strive to acquire it.
+There is a class of commonplace intellects who regard knowledge of all
+kinds in the light of a ladder; one ladder for each science, and the
+rungs of the ladders are the successive facts mastered by an effort and
+remembered in the order they have been passed. These persons think it is
+possible to attain to high eminence on one particular ladder, that is,
+in one particular science, without having been up any of the other
+ladders, that is, without a knowledge of other branches of seience. This
+is the mind of the plodder, the patient man who climbs, step by step, in
+his own unvarying round of thought; not seeing that it is but the wheel
+of a treadmill over which he is labouring, and that though every step
+may pass, and repass, beneath his toiling feet, he can never obtain a
+birdseye view of what he is doing, because his eyes are continually
+fixed on the step in front."
+
+"But," I continued, as Isaacs assented to my simile by a nod, "there is
+another class of minds also. There are persons who regard the whole
+imaginable and unimaginable knowledge of mankind, past, present, and
+future, as a boundless plain over which they hang suspended and can look
+down. Immediately beneath them there is a map spread out which
+represents, in the midst of the immense desert, the things they
+themselves know. It is a puzzle map, like those they make for children,
+where each piece fits into its appointed place, and will fit nowhere
+else; every piece of knowledge acquired fits into the space allotted to
+it, and when there is a piece, that is, a fact, wanting, it is still
+possible to define its extent and shape by the surrounding portions,
+though all the details of colour and design are lacking. These are the
+people who regard knowledge as a whole, harmonious, when every science
+and fragment of a science has its appointed station and is necessary to
+completeness of perfect knowledge. I hope I have made clear to you what
+I mean, though I am conscious of only sketching the outlines of a
+distinction which I believe to be fundamental."
+
+"Of course it is fundamental. Broadly, it is the difference between
+analytic and synthetic thought; between the subjective and the objective
+views; between the finite conception of a limited world and the infinite
+ideal of perfect wisdom. I understand you perfectly."
+
+"You puzzle me continually, Isaacs. Where did you learn to talk about
+'analytic' and 'synthetic,' and 'subjective' and 'objective,' and
+transcendental analysis, and so forth?" It seemed so consistent with his
+mind that he should understand the use of philosophical terms, that I
+had not realised how odd it was that a man of his purely Oriental
+education should know anything about the subject. His very broad
+application of the words 'analytic' and 'synthetic' to my pair of
+illustrations attracted my attention and prompted the question I had
+asked.
+
+"I read a good deal," he said simply. Then he added in a reflective
+tone, "I rather think I have a philosophical mind. The old man who
+taught me theology in Istamboul when I was a boy used to talk philosophy
+to me by the hour, though I do not believe he knew much about it. He was
+a plodder, and went up ladders in search of information, like the man
+you describe. But he was very patient and good to me; the peace of Allah
+be with him."
+
+It was late, and soon afterwards we parted for the night. The next day
+was Sunday, and I had a heap of unanswered letters to attend to, so we
+agreed to meet after tiffin and ride together before dining with Mr.
+Ghyrkins and the Westonhaughs.
+
+I went to my room and sat a while over a volume of Kant, which I always
+travel with--a sort of philosopher's stone on which to whet the mind's
+tools when they are dulled with boring into the geological strata of
+other people's ideas. I was too much occupied with the personality of
+the man I had been talking with to read long, and so I abandoned myself
+to a reverie, passing in review the events of the long day.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+The Sabbatarian tendency of the English mind at home and abroad is
+proverbial, and if they are well-behaved on Sunday in London they are
+models of virtue in Simla on the same day. Whether they labour and are
+well-fed and gouty in their island home, or suffer themselves to be
+boiled for gain in the tropical kettles of Ceylon and Singapore; whether
+they risk their lives in hunting for the north pole or the northwest
+passage, or endanger their safety in the pursuit of tigers in the Terai,
+they will have their Sunday, come rain, come shine. On the deck of the
+steamer in the Red Sea, in the cabin of the inbound Arctic explorer, in
+the crowded Swiss hotel, or the straggling Indian hill station, there is
+always a parson of some description, in a surplice of no description at
+all, who produces a Bible and a couple of well-thumbed sermons from the
+recesses of his trunk or his lunch basket, or his gun-case, and goes at
+the work of weekly redemption with a will. And, what is more, he is
+listened to, and for the time being--though on week days he is styled a
+bore by the old and a prig by the young--he becomes temporarily invested
+with a dignity not his own, with an authority he could not claim on any
+other day. It is the dignity of a people who with all their faults have
+the courage of their opinions, and it is the authority that they have
+been taught from their childhood to reverence, whenever their traditions
+give it the right to assert itself. Not otherwise. It is a fine trait of
+national character, though it is one which has brought upon the English
+much unmerited ridicule. One may differ from them in faith and in one's
+estimate of the real value of these services, which are often only saved
+from being irreverent in their performance by the perfect sincerity of
+parson and congregation. But no one who dispassionately judges them can
+deny that the custom inspires respect for English consistency and
+admiration for their supreme contempt of surroundings.
+
+I presume that the periodical manifestations of religious belief to
+which I refer are intimately and indissolubly connected with the staid
+and funereal solemnity which marks an Englishman's dress, conversation,
+and conduct on Sunday. He is a different being for the nonce, and must
+sustain the entire character of his dual existence, or it will fall to
+the ground and forsake him altogether. He cannot take his religion in
+the morning and enjoy himself the rest of the day. He must abstain from
+everything that could remind him that he has a mind at all, besides a
+soul. No amusement will he tolerate, no reading of even the most
+harmless fiction can he suffer, while he is in the weekly devotional
+trance.
+
+I cannot explain these things; they are race questions, problems for the
+ethnologist. Certain it is, however, that the partial decay of strict
+Sabbatarianism which seems to have set in during the last quarter of a
+century has not been attended by any notable development of power in
+English thought of that class. The first Republic tried the experiment
+of the decimal week, and it was a failure. The English who attempt to
+put off even a little of the quaint armour of righteousness, which they
+have been accustomed to buckle on every seventh day for so many
+generations, are not so successful in the attempt as to attract many to
+follow them. They are not graceful in their holiday gambols.
+
+Meditating somewhat on this wise I lay in my long chair by the open door
+that Sunday morning in September. It was a little warmer again and the
+sun shone pleasantly across the lawn on the great branches and bright
+leaves of the rhododendron. The house was very quiet. All the inmates
+were gone to the church on the mall, and the servants were basking in
+the last few days of warmth they would enjoy before their masters
+returned to the plains. The Hindoo servant hates the cold. He fears it
+as he fears cobras, fever, and freemasons. His ideal life is nothing to
+do, nothing to wear, and plenty to eat, with the thermometer at 135
+degrees in the verandah and 110 inside. Then he is happy. His body
+swells with much good rice and _dal_, and his heart with pride; he will
+wear as little as you will let him, and whether you will let him or not,
+he will do less work in a given time than any living description of
+servant. So they basked in rows in the sunshine, and did not even
+quarrel or tell yarns among themselves; it was quiet and warm and
+sleepy. I dozed lazily, dropped my book in my lap, struggled once, and
+then fairly fell asleep.
+
+I was roused by Kiramat Ali pulling at my foot, as natives will when
+they are afraid of the consequences of waking their master. When I
+opened my eyes he presented a card on a salver, and explained that the
+gentleman wanted to see me. I looked, and was rather surprised to see it
+was Kildare's card. "Lord Steepleton Kildare, 33d Lancers "--there was
+no word in pencil, or any message. I told Kiramat to show the sahib in,
+wondering why he should call on me. By Indian etiquette, if there was to
+be any calling, it was my duty to make the first visit. Before I had
+time to think more I heard the clanking of spurs and sabre on the
+verandah, and the young man walked in, clad in the full uniform of his
+regiment. I rose to greet him, and was struck by his soldierly bearing
+and straight figure, as I had been at our first meeting. He took off his
+bearskin --for he was in the fullest of full dress--and sat down.
+
+"I am so glad to find you at home," he said: "I feared you might have
+gone to church, like everybody else in this place."
+
+"No. I went early this morning. I belong to a different persuasion. I
+suppose you are on your way to Peterhof?"
+
+"Yes. There is some sort of official reception to somebody,--I forget
+who,--and we had notice to turn out. It is a detestable nuisance."
+
+"I should think so."
+
+"Mr. Griggs, I came to ask you about something. You heard of my proposal
+to get up a tiger-hunt? Mr. Ghyrkins was speaking of it."
+
+"Yes. He wanted us to go,--Mr. Isaacs and me,--and suggested leaving his
+niece, Miss Westonhaugh, with Lady Smith-Tompkins."
+
+"It would be so dull without a lady in the party. Nothing but tigers and
+shikarries and other native abominations to talk to. Do you not think
+so?"
+
+"Why, yes. I told Mr. Ghyrkins that all the little Smith-Tompkins
+children had the measles, and the house was not safe. If they have not
+had them, they will, I have no doubt. Heaven is just, and will not leave
+you to the conversational mercies of the entertaining tiger and the
+engaging shikarry."
+
+"By Jove, Mr. Griggs, that was a brilliant idea: and, as you say, they
+may all get the measles yet. The fact is, I have set my heart on this
+thing. Miss Westonhaugh said she had never seen a tiger, except in cages
+and that kind of thing, and so I made up my mind she should. Besides, it
+will be no end of a lark; just when nobody is thinking about tigers, you
+go off and kill a tremendous fellow, fifteen or sixteen feet long, and
+come back covered with glory and mosquito bites, and tell everybody that
+Miss Westonhaugh shot him herself with a pocket pistol. That will be
+glorious!"
+
+"I should like it very much too; and I really see no reason why it
+should not be done. Mr. Ghyrkins seemed in a very cheerful humour about
+tigers last night, and I have no doubt a little persuasion from you will
+bring him to a proper view of his obligations to Miss Westonhaugh." He
+looked pleased and bright and hopeful, thoroughly enthusiastic, as
+became his Irish blood. He evidently intended to have quite as "good" a
+"time" as Isaacs proposed to enjoy. I thought the spectacle of those
+rivals for the beautiful girl's favour would be extremely interesting.
+Lord Steepleton was doubtless a good shot and a brave man, and would
+risk anything to secure Miss Westonhaugh's approval; Isaacs, on the
+other hand, was the sort of man who is very much the same in danger as
+anywhere else.
+
+"That is what I came to ask you about. We shall all meet there at dinner
+this evening, and I wanted to secure as many allies as possible."
+
+"You may count on me, Lord Steepleton, at all events. There is nothing I
+should enjoy better than such a fortnight's holiday, in such good
+company."
+
+"All right," said Lord Steepleton, rising, "I must be off now to
+Peterhof. It is an organised movement on Mr. Ghyrkins this evening,
+then. Is it understood?" He took his bearskin from the table, and
+prepared to go, pulling his straps and belts into place, and dusting a
+particle of ash from his sleeve.
+
+"Perfectly," I answered. "We will drag him forth into the arena before
+three days are past." We shook hands, and he went out.
+
+I was glad he had come, though I had been waked from a pleasant nap to
+receive him. He was so perfectly gay, and natural, and healthy, that one
+could not help liking him. You felt at once that he was honest and would
+do the right thing in spite of any one, according to his light; that he
+would stand by a friend in danger, and face any odds in fight, with as
+much honest determination to play fair and win, as he would bring to a
+cricket match or a steeple-chase. His Irish blood gave him a somewhat
+less formal manner than belongs to the Englishman; more enthusiasm and
+less regard for "form," while his good heart and natural courtesy would
+lead him right in the long-run. He seemed all sunshine, with his bright
+blue eyes and great fair moustache and brown face; the closely fitting
+uniform showed off his erect figure and elastic gait, and the whole
+impression was fresh and exhilarating in the extreme. I was sorry he had
+gone. I would have liked to talk with him about boating and fishing and
+shooting; about athletics and horses and tandem-driving, and many things
+I used, to like years ago at college, before I began my wandering life.
+I watched him as he swung himself into the military saddle, and he
+threw up his hand in a parting salute as he rode away. Poor fellow! was
+he, too, going to be food for powder and Afghan knives in the avenging
+army on its way to Kabul? I went back to my books and remained reading
+until the afternoon sun slanted in through the open door, and falling
+across my book warned me it was time to keep my appointment with Isaacs.
+
+As we passed the church the people were coming out from the evening
+service, and I saw Kildare, once more in the garb of a civilian,
+standing near the door, apparently watching for some one to appear. I
+knew that, with his strict observance of Catholic rules--often depending
+more on pride of family than on religious conviction, in the house of
+Kildare--he would not have entered the English Church at such a time,
+and I was sure he was lying in wait for Miss Westonhaugh, probably
+intending to surprise her and join her on her homeward ride. The road
+winds down below the Church, so that for some minutes after passing the
+building you may get a glimpse of the mall above and of the people upon
+it--or at least of their heads--if they are moving near the edge of the
+path. I was unaccountably curious this evening, and I dropped a little
+behind Isaacs, craning my neck and turning back in the saddle as I
+watched the stream of heads and shoulders, strongly foreshortened
+against the blue sky above, moving ceaselessly along the parapet over my
+head. Before long I was rewarded; Miss Westonhaugh's fair hair and broad
+hat entered the field of my vision, and a moment later Lord Steepleton,
+who must have pushed through the crowd from the other side, appeared
+struggling after her. She turned quickly, and I saw no more, but I did
+not think she had changed colour.
+
+I began to be deeply interested in ascertaining whether she had any
+preference for one or the other of the two young men. Kildare's visit in
+the morning--though he had said very little--had given me a new
+impression of the man, and I felt that he was no contemptible rival. I
+saw from the little incident I had just witnessed that he neglected no
+opportunity of being with Miss Westonhaugh, and that he had the patience
+to wait and the boldness to find her in a crowd. I had seen very little
+of her myself; but I had been amply satisfied that Isaacs was capable of
+interesting her in a _tete-a-tete_ conversation. "The talker has the
+best chance, if he is bold enough," I said to myself; but I was not
+satisfied, and I resolved that if I could manage it Isaacs should have
+another chance that very evening after the dinner. Meanwhile I would
+involve Isaacs in a conversation on some one of those subjects that
+seemed to interest him most. He had not seen the couple on the mall, and
+was carelessly ambling along with his head in the air and one hand in
+the pocket of his short coat, the picture of unconcern.
+
+I was trying to make up my mind whether I would open fire upon the
+immortality of the soul, matrimony, or the differential calculus, when,
+as we passed from the narrow street into the road leading sound Jako,
+Isaacs spoke.
+
+"Look here, Griggs," said he, "there is something I want to impress upon
+your mind."
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"It is all very well for Ram Lal to give advice about things he
+understands. I have a very sincere regard for him, but I do not believe
+he was ever in my position. I have set my heart on this tiger-hunt. Miss
+Westonhaugh said the other day that she had never seen a tiger, and I
+then and there made up my mind that she should."
+
+I laughed. There seemed to be no essential difference of opinion between
+the Irishman and the Persian in regard to the pleasures of the chase.
+Miss Westonhaugh was evidently anxious to see tigers, and meant to do
+it, since she had expressed her wish to the two men most likely to
+procure her that innocent recreation. Lord Steepleton Kildare by his
+position, and Isaacs by his wealth, could, if they chose, get up such a
+tiger-hunt for her benefit as had never been seen. I thought she might
+have waited till the spring--but I had learned that she intended to
+return to England in April, and was to spend the early months of the
+year with her brother in Bombay.
+
+"You want to see Miss Westonhaugh, and Miss Westonhaugh wants to see
+tigers! My dear fellow, go in and win; I will back you."
+
+"Why do you laugh, Griggs?" asked Isaacs, who saw nothing particularly
+amusing in what he had said.
+
+"Oh, I laughed because another young gentleman expressed the same
+opinions to me, in identically the same words, this morning."
+
+"Mr. Westonhaugh?"
+
+"No. You know very well that Mr. Westonhaugh cares nothing about it, one
+way or the other. The little plan for 'amusing brother John' is a hoax.
+The thing cannot be done. You might as well try to amuse an undertaker
+as to make a man from Bombay laugh. The hollowness of life is ever upon
+them. No. It was Kildare; he called and said that Miss Westonhaugh had
+never seen a tiger, and he seemed anxious to impress upon me his
+determination that she should. Pshaw! what does Kildare care about
+brother John?"
+
+"Brother John, as you call him, is a better fellow than he looks. I owe
+a great deal to brother John." Isaacs' olive skin flushed a little, and
+he emphasised the epithet by which I had designated Mr. John Westonhaugh
+as if he were offended by it.
+
+"I mean nothing against Mr. Westonhaugh," said I half apologetically. "I
+remember when you met yesterday afternoon you said you had seen him in
+Bombay a long time ago."
+
+"Do you remember the story I told you of myself the other night?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"Westonhaugh was the young civil servant who paid my fine and gave me a
+rupee, when I was a ragged sailor from a Mocha craft, and could not
+speak a word of English. To that rupee I ultimately owe my entire
+fortune. I never forget a face, and I am sure it is he--do you
+understand me now? I owe to his kindness everything I possess in the
+world."
+
+"The unpardonable sin is ingratitude," I answered, "of which you will
+certainly not be accused. That is a very curious coincidence."
+
+"I think it is something more. A man has always at least one opportunity
+of repaying a debt, and, besm Illah! I will repay what I can of it. By
+the beard of the apostle, whose name is blessed, I am not ungrateful!"
+Isaacs was excited as he said this. He was no longer the calm Mr.
+Isaacs, he was Abdul Hafiz the Persian, fiery and enthusiastic.
+
+"You say well, my friend," he continued earnestly, "that the
+unpardonable sin is ingratitude. Doubtless, had the blessed prophet of
+Allah lived in our day, he would have spoken of the doom that hangs over
+the ungrateful. It is the curse of this age; for he who forgets or
+refuses to remember the kindness done to him by others sets himself
+apart, and worships his miserable self, and he makes an idol of himself,
+saying, 'I am of more importance than my fellows in the world, and it is
+meet and right that they should give and that I should receive.'
+Ingratitude is selfishness, and selfishness is the worship of oneself,
+the setting of oneself higher than man and goodness and God. And when
+man perishes and the angel Al Sijil, the recorder, rolls up his scroll,
+what is written therein is written; and Israfil shall call men to
+judgment, and the scrolls shall be unfolded, and he that has taken of
+others and not given in return, but has ungratefully forgotten and put
+away the remembrance of the kindness received, shall be counted among
+the unbelievers and the extortioners and the unjust, and shall broil in
+raging flames. By the hairs of the prophet's beard, whose name is
+blessed."
+
+I had not seen Isaacs so thoroughly roused before upon any subject. The
+flush had left his face and given place to a perfect paleness, and his
+eyes shone like coals of fire as he looked upward in pronouncing the
+last words. I said to myself that there was a strong element of
+religious exaltation in all Asiatics, and put his excitement down to
+this cause. His religion was a very beautiful and real thing to him,
+ever present in his life, and I mused on the future of the man, with his
+great endowments, his exquisite sensitiveness, and his high view of his
+obligations to his fellows. I am not a worshipper of heroes, but I felt
+that, for the first time in my life, I was intimate with a man who was
+ready to stand in the breach and to die for what he thought and believed
+to be right. After a pause of some minutes, during which we had ridden
+beyond the last straggling bungalows of the town, he spoke again,
+quietly, his temporary excitement having subsided.
+
+"I feel very strongly about these things," he said, and then stopped
+short.
+
+"I can see you do, and I honour you for it. I think you are the first
+grateful person I have ever met; a rare and unique bird in the earth."
+
+"Do not say that."
+
+"I do say it. There is very little of the philosophy of the nineteenth
+century about you, Isaacs. Your belief in the obligations of gratitude
+and in the general capacity of the human race for redemption, savours
+little of 'transcendental analysis.'"
+
+"You have too much of it," he answered seriously. "I do not think you
+see how much your cynicism involves. You would very likely, if you are
+the man I take you for, be very much offended if I accused you of not
+believing any particular dogma of your religion. And yet, with all your
+faith, you do not believe in God."
+
+"I cannot see how you get at that conclusion," I replied. "I must deny
+your hypothesis, at the risk of engaging you in an argument." I could
+not see what he was driving at.
+
+"How can you believe in God, and yet condemn the noblest of His works as
+altogether bad? You are not consistent."
+
+"What makes you think I am so cynical?" I inquired, harking back to gain
+time.
+
+"A little cloud, a little sultriness in the air, is all that betrays the
+coming _khemsin_, that by and by shall overwhelm and destroy man and
+beast in its sandy darkness. You have made one or two remarks lately
+that show little faith in human nature, and if you do not believe in
+human nature what is there left for you to believe in? You said a moment
+ago that I was the first grateful person you had ever met. Then the rest
+of humanity are all selfish, and worshippers of themselves, and
+altogether vile, since you yourself say, as I do, that ingratitude is
+the unpardonable sin; and God has made a world full of unpardonable
+sinners, and unless you include yourself in the exception you graciously
+make in my favour, no one but I shall be saved. And yet you say also
+with me that God is good. Do you deny that you are utterly
+inconsistent?"
+
+"I may make you some concession in a few minutes, but I am not going to
+yield to such logic. You have committed the fallacy of the undistributed
+middle term, if you care to know the proper name for it. I did not say
+that all men, saving you, were ungrateful. I said that, saving you, the
+persons I have met in my life have been ungrateful. You ought to
+distinguish."
+
+"All I can say is, then, that you have had a very unfortunate experience
+of life," retorted Isaacs warmly.
+
+"I have," said I, "but since you yield the technical point of logic, I
+will confess that I made the assertion hastily and overshot the mark. I
+do not remember, however, to have met any one who felt so strongly on
+the point as you do."
+
+"Now you speak like a rational being," said Isaacs, quite pacified.
+"Extraordinary feelings are the result of unusual circumstances. I was
+in such distress as rarely falls to the lot of an innocent man of fine
+temperament and good abilities. I am now in a position of such wealth
+and prosperity as still more seldom are given to a man of my age and
+antecedents. I remember that I obtained the first step on my road to
+fortune through the kindness of John Westonhaugh, though I could never
+learn his name, and I met him at last, as you saw, by an accident. I
+call that accident a favour, and an opportunity bestowed on me by Allah,
+and the meeting has roused in me those feelings of thankfulness which,
+for want of an object upon which to show them, have been put away out of
+sight as a thing sacred for many years. I am willing you should say
+that, were my present fortune less, my gratitude would be
+proportionately less felt--it is very likely--though the original gift
+remain the same, one rupee and no more. You are entitled to think of any
+man as grateful in proportion to the gift, so long as you allow the
+gratitude at all." He made this speech in a perfectly natural and
+unconcerned way, as if he were contemplating the case of another person.
+
+"Seriously, Isaacs, I would not do so for the world. I believe you were
+as grateful twelve years ago, when you were poor, as you are now that
+you are rich." Isaacs was silent, but a look of great gentleness crossed
+his face. There was at times something almost angelic in the perfect
+kindness of his eyes.
+
+"To return," I said at last, "to the subject from which we started, the
+tigers. If we are really going, we must leave here the day after
+to-morrow morning--indeed, why not to-morrow?"
+
+"No; to-morrow we are to play that game of polo, which I am looking
+forward to with pleasure. Besides, it will take the men three days to
+get the elephants together, and I only telegraphed this morning to the
+collector of the district to make the arrangements."
+
+"So you have already taken steps? Does Kildare know you have sent
+orders?"
+
+"Certainly. He came to me this morning at daybreak, and we determined to
+arrange everything and take uncle Ghyrkins for granted. You need not
+look astonished; Kildare and I are allies, and very good friends." What
+a true Oriental! How wise and far-sighted was the Persian, how bold and
+reckless the Irishman! It was odd, I thought, that Kildare had not
+mentioned the interview with Isaacs. Yet there was a certain rough
+delicacy--contradictory and impulsive--in his silence about this
+coalition with his rival. We rode along and discussed the plans for the
+expedition. All the men in the party, except Lord Steepleton, who had
+not been long in India, had killed tigers before. There would be enough
+of us, without asking any one else to join. The collector to whom Isaacs
+had telegraphed was an old acquaintance of his, and would probably go
+out for a few days with us. It all seemed easy enough and plain sailing.
+In the course of time we returned to our hotel, dressed, and made our
+way through the winding roads to Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' bungalow.
+
+We were met on the verandah by the old commissioner, who welcomed us
+warmly and praised our punctuality, for the clock was striking seven in
+the drawing-room, as we divested ourselves of our light top-coats. In
+the vestibule, Miss Westonhaugh and her brother came forward to greet
+us.
+
+"John," said the young lady, "you know I told you there was some one
+here whom you got out of trouble ever so many years ago in Bombay. Here
+he is. This is a new introduction. Mr. John Westonhaugh, Mr. Abdul
+Hafiz-ben-Isak, commonly known to his friends as Mr. Isaacs." Her face
+beamed with pleasure, and I thought with pride, as she led her brother
+to Isaacs, and her eyes rested long on the Persian with a look that, to
+me, argued something more than a mere interest. The two men clasped
+hands and stood for some seconds looking at each other in silence, but
+with very different expressions. Westonhaugh wore a look of utter
+amazement, though he certainly seemed pleased. The good heart that had
+prompted the good action twelve years before was still in the right
+place, above any petty considerations about nationality. His
+astonishment gradually changed to a smile of real greeting and pleasure,
+as he began to shake the hand he still held. I thought that even the
+faintest tinge of blood coloured his pale cheek.
+
+"God bless my soul," said he, "I remember you perfectly well now. But it
+is so unexpected; my sister reminded me of the story, which I had not
+forgotten, and now I look at you I remember you perfectly. I am so
+glad."
+
+As Isaacs answered, his voice trembled, and his face was very pale.
+There was a moisture in the brilliant eyes that told of genuine emotion.
+
+"Mr. Westonhaugh, I consider that I owe to you everything I have in the
+world. This is a greater pleasure than I thought was in store for me.
+Indeed I thank you again."
+
+His voice would not serve him. He stopped short and turned away to look
+for something in his coat.
+
+"Indeed," said Westonhaugh, "it was a very little thing I did for you."
+And presently the two men went together into the drawing-room,
+Westonhaugh asking all manner of questions, which Isaacs, who was
+himself again, began to answer. The rest of us remained in the vestibule
+to meet Lord Steepleton, who at that moment came up the steps. There
+were more greetings, and then the head _khitmatgar_ appeared and
+informed the "_Sahib log_, protectors of the poor, that their meat was
+ready." So we filed into the dining-room.
+
+Isaacs was placed at Miss Westonhaugh's right, and her brother sat on
+his other side. Ghyrkins was opposite his niece at the other end, and
+Kildare and I were together, facing Westonhaugh and Isaacs, a party of
+six. Of course Kildare sat beside the lady.
+
+The dinner opened very pleasantly. _I_ could see that Isaacs'
+undisguised gratitude and delight in having at last met the man who had
+helped him had strongly predisposed John Westonhaugh in his favour. Who
+is it that is not pleased at finding that some deed of kindness, done
+long ago with hardly a thought, has borne fruit and been remembered and
+treasured up by the receiver as the turning-point in his life? Is there
+any pleasure greater than that we enjoy through the happiness of
+others--in those rare cases where kindness is not misplaced? I had had
+time to reflect that Isaacs had most likely told a part of his story to
+Miss Westonhaugh on the previous afternoon as soon as he had recognised
+her brother. He might have told her before; I did not know how long he
+had known her, but it must have been some time. Presently she turned to
+him.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "some of us know something of your history. Why
+will you not tell us the rest now? My uncle has heard nothing of it, and
+I know Lord Steepleton is fond of novels."
+
+Isaacs hesitated long, but as every one pressed him in turn, he yielded
+at last. And he told it well. It was exactly the narrative he had given
+me, in every detail of fact, but the whole effect was different. I saw
+how true a mastery he had of the English language, for he knew his
+audience thoroughly, and by a little colour here and an altered
+expression there he made it graphic and striking, not without humour,
+and altogether free of a certain mystical tinge he had imparted to it
+when we were alone. He talked easily, with no more constraint than on
+other occasions, and his narrative was a small social success. I had not
+seen him in evening dress before, and I could not help thinking how much
+more thoroughly he looked the polished man of the world than the other
+men. Kildare never appeared to greater advantage than in the uniform and
+trappings of his profession. In a black coat and a white tie he looked
+like any other handsome young Englishman, utterly without individuality.
+But Isaacs, with his pale complexion and delicate high-bred features,
+bore himself like a noble of the old school. Westonhaugh beside him
+looked washed-out and deathly, Kildare was too coarsely healthy, and
+Ghyrkins and I, representing different types of extreme plainness,
+served as foils to all three.
+
+I watched Miss Westonhaugh while Isaacs was speaking. She had evidently
+heard the whole story, for her expression showed beforehand the emotion
+she expected to feel at each point. Her colour came and went softly, and
+her eyes brightened with a warm light beneath the dark brows that
+contrasted so strangely yet delightfully with the mass of flaxen-white
+hair. She wore something dark and soft, cut square at the neck, and a
+plain circlet of gold was her only ornament. She was a beautiful
+creature, certainly; one of those striking-looking women of whom
+something is always expected, until they drop quietly out of youth into
+middle age, and the world finds out that they are, after all, not
+heroines of romance, but merely plain, honest, good women; good wives
+and good mothers who love their homes and husbands well, though it has
+pleased nature in some strange freak to give them the form and feature
+of a Semiramis, a Cleopatra, or a Jeanne d'Arc.
+
+"Dear me, how very interesting!" exclaimed Mr. Ghyrkins, looking up from
+his hill mutton as Isaacs finished, and a little murmur of sympathetic
+applause went round the table.
+
+"I would give a great deal to have been through all that," said Lord
+Steepleton, slowly proceeding to sip a glass of claret.
+
+"Just think!" ejaculated John Westonhaugh. "And I was entertaining such
+a Sinbad unawares!" and he took another green pepper from the dish his
+servant handed him.
+
+"Upon my word, Isaacs," I said, "some one ought to make a novel of that
+story; it would sell like wildfire."
+
+"Why don't you do it yourself, Griggs?" he asked. "You are a pressman,
+and I am sure you are welcome to the whole thing."
+
+"I will," I answered.
+
+"Oh do, Mr. Griggs," said the young lady, "and make it wind up with a
+tiger-hunt. You could lay the scene in Australia or the Barbadoes, or
+some of those places, and put us all in--and kill us all off, if you
+like, you know. It would be such fun." Poor Miss Westonhaugh!
+
+"It is easy to see what you are thinking about most, Miss Westonhaugh,"
+said Lord Steepleton: "the tigers are uppermost in your mind; and
+therefore in mine also," he added gallantly.
+
+"Indeed, no--I was thinking about Mr. Isaacs." She blushed scarlet--the
+first time I had ever seen her really embarrassed. It was very natural
+that she should be thinking of Isaacs and the strange adventures he had
+just recounted; and if she had not cared about him she would not have
+changed colour. So I thought, at all events.
+
+"My dear, drink some water immediately, this curry is very hot--deuced
+hot, in fact," said Mr. Ghyrkins, in perfectly good faith.
+
+John Westonhaugh, who was busy breaking up biscuits and green peppers
+and "Bombay ducks" into his curry, looked up slowly at his sister and
+smiled.
+
+"Why, you are quite a griffin, Katharine," said he, "how they will laugh
+at you in Bombay!" I was amused; of course the remarks of her uncle and
+brother did not make the blush subside--on the contrary. Kildare was
+drinking more claret, to conceal his annoyance. Isaacs had a curious
+expression. There was a short silence, and for one instant he turned his
+eyes to Miss Westonhaugh. It was only a look, but it betrayed to me--who
+knew what he felt--infinite surprise, joy, and sympathy. His quick
+understanding had comprehended that he had scored his first victory over
+his rival.
+
+As her eyes met those of Isaacs, the colour left her cheeks as suddenly
+as it had come, leaving her face dead white. She drank a little water,
+and presently seemed at ease again. I was beginning to think she cared
+for him seriously.
+
+"And pray, John," she asked, "what may a griffin be? It is not a very
+pretty name to call a young lady, is it?"
+
+"Why, a griffin," put in Mr. Ghyrkins, "is the 'Mr. Verdant Green' of
+the Civil Service. A young civilian--or anybody else--who is just out
+from home is called a griffin. John calls you a griffin because you
+don't understand eating pepper. You don't find it as _chilly_ as he
+does! Ha! ha! ha!" and the old fellow laughed heartily, till he was red
+in the face, at his bleared old pun. Of course every one was amused or
+professed to be, for it was a diversion welcomed by the three men of us
+who had seen the young girl's embarrassment.
+
+"A griffin," said I, "is a thing of joy. Mr. Westonhaugh was a griffin
+when he gave Mr. Isaacs that historical rupee." I cast my little
+bombshell into the conversation, and placidly went on manipulating my
+rice.
+
+Isaacs was in too gay a humour to be offended, and he only said, turning
+to Miss Westonhaugh--
+
+"Mr. Griggs is a cynyic, you know. You must not believe anything he
+says."
+
+"If doing kind things makes one a griffin, I hope I may be one always,"
+said Miss Westonhaugh quickly, "and I trust my brother is as much a
+griffin as ever."
+
+"I am, I assure you," said he. "But Mr. Griggs is quite right, and shows
+a profound knowledge of Indian life. No one but a griffin of the
+greenest ever gave anybody a rupee in Bombay--or ever will now, I should
+think."
+
+"Oh, John, are you going to be cynical too?"
+
+"No, Katharine, I am not cynical at all. I do not think you are quite
+sure what a 'cynic' is."
+
+"Oh yes, I know quite well. Diogenes was a cynic, and Saint Jerome, and
+other people of that class."
+
+"A man who lives in a tub, and abuses Alexander the Great, and that sort
+of thing," remarked Kildare, who had not spoken for some time.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," said John Westonhaugh, "since you are the accused, pray
+define what you mean by a cynic, and then Mr. Isaacs, as the accuser,
+can have a chance too."
+
+"Very well, I will. A man is a cynic if he will do no good to any one
+because he believes every one past improvement. Most men who do good
+actions are also cynics, because they well know that they are doing more
+harm than good by their charity. Mr. Westonhaugh has the discrimination
+to appreciate this, and therefore he is not a cynic."
+
+"It is well you introduced the saving clause, Griggs," said Isaacs to me
+from across the table. "I am going to define you now; for I strongly
+suspect that you are the very ideal of a philosopher of that class. You
+are a man who believes in all that is good and beautiful in theory, but
+by too much indifference to good in small measures--for you want a thing
+perfect, or you want it not at all--you have abstracted yourself from
+perceiving it anywhere, except in the most brilliant examples of heroism
+that history affords. You set up in your imagination an ideal which you
+call the good man, and you are utterly dissatisfied with anything less
+perfect than perfection. The result is that, though you might do a good
+action from your philosophical longing to approach the ideal in your own
+person, you will not suffer yourself to believe that others are
+consciously or unconsciously striving to make themselves better also.
+And you do not believe that any one can be made a better man by any one
+else, by any exterior agency, by any good that you or others may do to
+him. What makes you what you are is the fact that you really cherish
+this beautiful ideal image of your worship and reverence, and love it;
+but for this, you would be the most insufferable man of my acquaintance,
+instead of being the most agreeable."
+
+Isaacs was gifted with a marvellous frankness of speech. He always said
+what he meant, with a supreme indifference to consequences; but he said
+it with such perfect honesty and evident appreciation of what was good,
+even when he most vehemently condemned what he did not like, that it was
+impossible to be annoyed. Every one laughed at his attack on me, and
+having satisfied my desire to observe Miss Westonhaugh, which had
+prompted my first remark about griffins, I thought it was time to turn
+the conversation to the projected hunt.
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, "I think that in spite of your Parthian shaft,
+your definition of a cynic is as complimentary to the school at large as
+to me in particular. Meanwhile, however," I added, turning to Mr.
+Ghyrkins, "I am inclined to believe with Lord Steepleton that the
+subject uppermost in the thoughts of most of us is the crusade against
+the tigers. What do you say? Shall we not all go as we are, a neat party
+of six?"
+
+"Well, well, Mr. Griggs, we shall see, you know. Now, if we are going at
+all, when do you mean to start?"
+
+"The sooner the better of course," broke in Kildare, and he launched
+into a host of reasons for going immediately, including the wildest
+statistics about the habits of tigers in winter. This was quite natural,
+however, as he was a thorough Irishman and had never seen a tiger in his
+life. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins vainly attempted to stem the torrent of his
+eloquence, but at last pinned him on some erratic statement about tigers
+moulting later in the year and their skins not being worth taking.
+Kildare would have asserted with equal equanimity that all tigers shed
+their teeth and their tails in December; he was evidently trying to
+rouse Mr. Ghyrkins into a discussion on the subject of tiger shooting in
+general, a purpose very easily accomplished. The old gentleman was soon
+goaded to madness by Kildare's wonderful opinions, and before long he
+vowed that the youngster had never seen a tiger,--not one in his whole
+life, sir,--and that it was high time he did, high time indeed, and he
+swore he should see one before he was a week older. Yes, sir, before he
+was a week older, "if I have to carry you among 'em like a baby in arms,
+sir, by gad, sir--I should think so!"
+
+This was all we wanted, and in another ten minutes we were drinking a
+bumper to the health of the whole tiger-hunt and of Miss Westonhaugh in
+particular. Isaacs joined with the rest, and though he only drank some
+sherbet, as I watched his bright eyes and pale cheek, I thought that
+never knight drank truer toast to his lady. Miss Westonhaugh rose and
+went out, leaving us to smoke for a while. The conversation was general,
+and turned on the chase, of course. In a few minutes Isaacs dropped his
+cigarette and went quietly out. I determined to detain the rest as long
+as possible, and I seconded Mr. Ghyrkins in passing the claret briskly
+round, telling all manner of stories of all nations and peoples--ancient
+tales that would not amuse a schoolboy in America, but which were a
+revelation of profound wit and brilliant humour to the unsophisticated
+British mind. By immense efforts--and I hate to exert myself in
+conversation--I succeeded in prolonging the session through a cigar and
+a half, but at last I was forced to submit to a move; and with a
+somewhat ancient remark from Mr. Ghyrkins, to the effect that all good
+things must come to an end, we returned to the drawing-room.
+
+Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh were looking over some English photographs,
+and she was enthusiastically praising the beauties of Gothic
+architecture, while Isaacs was making the most of his opportunity, and
+taking a good look at her as she bent over the album. After we came in,
+she made a little music at the tuneless piano--there never was a piano
+in India yet that had any tune in it--playing and singing a little, very
+prettily. She sang something about a body in the rye, and then something
+else about drinking only with the eyes, to which her brother sang a sort
+of second very nicely. I do not understand much about music, but I
+thought the allusion to Isaacs' temperance in only drinking with his
+eyes was rather pointed. He said, however, that he liked it even better
+with a second than when she sang it alone, so I argued that it was not
+the first time he had heard it.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs," said she, "you have often promised to sing something
+Persian for us. Will you not keep your word now?"
+
+"When we are among the tigers, Miss Westonhaugh, next week. Then I will
+try and borrow a lute and sing you something."
+
+It was late for an Indian dinner-party, so we took our departure soon
+afterwards, having agreed to meet the following afternoon at Annandale
+for the game of polo, in which Westonhaugh said he would also play. He
+and Isaacs made some appointment for the morning; they seemed to be very
+sympathetic to each other. Kildare mounted and rode homeward with us,
+though he had much farther to go than we. If he felt any annoyance at
+the small successes Isaacs had achieved during the evening, he was far
+too courteous a gentleman to show it; and so, as we groped our way
+through the trees by the starlight, chiefly occupied in keeping our
+horses on their legs, the snatches of conversation that were possible
+were pleasant, if not animated, and there was a cordial "Good-night" on
+both sides, as we left Kildare to pursue his way alone.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+It was nearly four o'clock in the afternoon when Isaacs and I emerged
+from the narrow road upon the polo ground. We were clad in the
+tight-fitting garments which are necessary for the game, and wrapped in
+light top-coats; as we came out on the green we saw a number of other
+men in similar costume standing about, and a great many native grooms
+leading ponies up and down. Miss Westonhaugh was there in her gray habit
+and broad hat, and by her side, on foot, Lord Steepleton Kildare was
+making the most of his time, as he waited for the rest of the players.
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was ambling about on his broad little horse, and
+John Westonhaugh stood with his hands in his pockets and a large
+Trichinopoli cheroot between his lips, apparently gazing into space.
+Several other men, more or less known to us and to each other, moved
+about or chatted disconnectedly, and one or two arrived after us. Some
+of them wore coloured jerseys that showed brightly over the open collars
+of their coats, others were in ordinary dress and had come to see the
+game. Farther off, at one side of the ground, one or two groups of
+ladies and their escorting cavaliers haunted at a short distance by
+their saices in many-coloured turbans and belts, or _cummer-bunds,_ as
+the sash is called in India, moved slowly about, glancing from time to
+time towards the place where the players and their ponies were preparing
+for the contest.
+
+Few games require so little preparation and so few preliminaries as
+polo, descended as it is from an age when more was thought of good
+horsemanship and quick eye than of any little refinements depending on
+an accurate knowledge of fixed rules. Any one who is a firstrate rider
+and is quick with his hands can learn to play polo. The stiffest of arms
+can be limbered and the most recalcitrant wrist taught to turn nimbly in
+its socket; but the essential condition is, that the player should know
+how to ride. This being established, there is no reason why anybody who
+likes should not play the game, if he will only use a certain amount of
+caution, and avoid braining the other players and injuring the ponies by
+too wild a use of his mallet. Presently it was found that all who were
+to play had arrived--eight of us all told. Kildare had arranged the
+sides and had brought the other men necessary to make the number
+complete, so we mounted and took up our positions on the ground. Kildare
+and Isaacs were together, and Westonhaugh and I on the other side, with
+two men I knew slightly. We won the charge, and Westonhaugh, who was a
+celebrated player, struck the ball off cleverly, and I followed him up
+with a rush as he raced after it. Isaacs, on the other side, swept along
+easily, and as the ball swerved on striking the ground bent far over
+till he looked as though he were out of the saddle and stopped it
+cleverly, while Kildare, who was close behind, got a good stroke in just
+in time, as Westonhaugh and I galloped down on him, and landed the ball
+far to the rear near our goal. As we wheeled quickly, I saw that one of
+the other two men on our side had stopped it and was beginning to
+"dribble" it along. This was very bad play, both Westonhaugh and I being
+so far forward, and it met its reward. Isaacs and Kildare raced down on
+him, but the latter soon pulled up on finding himself passed, and
+waited. Isaacs rushed upon the temporising player and got the ball away
+from him in no time; eluded the other man, and with a neat stroke sent
+the ball right between the poles. The game had hardly lasted three
+minutes, and a little sound of clapping was heard from where the
+spectators were standing, far off on one side. I could see Miss
+Westonhaugh plainly, as she cantered with her uncle to where the victors
+were standing together on the other side, patting their ponies and
+adjusting stirrup and saddle. Isaacs had his back turned, but wheeled
+round as he heard the sound of hoofs behind him and bowed low in his
+saddle to the fair girl, whose face, I could see even at that distance,
+was flushed with pleasure. They remained a few minutes in conversation,
+and then the two spectators rode away, and we took up our positions once
+more.
+
+The next game was a much longer one. It was the turn of the other party
+to hit off, for Kildare won the charge. There were encounters of all
+kinds; twice the ball was sent over the line, but outside the goal, by
+long sweeping blows from Isaacs, who ever hovered on the edge of the
+scrimmage, and, by his good riding, and the help of a splendid pony,
+often had a chance where another would have had none. At last it
+happened that I was chasing the ball back towards our goal, from one of
+his hits, and he was pursuing me. I had the advantage of a long start,
+and before he could reach me I got in a heavy "backhander" that sent the
+ball far away to one side, where, as good luck would have it,
+Westonhaugh was waiting. Quick as thought he carried it along, and in
+another minute we had scored a goal, amidst enthusiastic shouts from the
+spectators, who had been kept long in suspense by the protracted game.
+This time it was to our side that the young girl came, riding up to her
+brother to congratulate him on his success. I thought she had less
+colour as she came nearer, and though she smiled sweetly as she said,
+"It was splendidly played, John," there was not so much enthusiasm in
+her voice as the said John, who had really won the game with masterly
+neatness, might have expected. Then she sat quietly looking over the
+ground, while we dismounted from our ponies, breathless, and foaming,
+and lathery, from the hard-fought battle. The grooms ran up with
+blankets and handfuls of grass to give the poor beasts a rub, and
+covering them carefully after removing the saddles, led them away.
+
+The sun leaves Annandale early, and I put on a coat and lit a cigarette,
+while the saice saddled our second mounts. There are few prettier sights
+than an English game, of any kind, on a beautiful stretch of turf. The
+English live, and move and have their being out of doors. A
+cricket-match, tennis, a racecourse, or a game of polo, show them at
+their greatest advantage, whether as players or spectators. Their fresh
+complexions suit the green of the grass and of the trees as naturally as
+a bed of roses, or cyclamens, or any fresh and healthy flower will
+combine with the grass and the ferns in garden or glen. The glorious
+vitality that belongs to their race seems to blossom freshly in the
+contact with their mother earth, and the physical capacity for motion
+with which nature endows them makes them graceful and fascinating to
+watch, when in some free and untrammelled dress of white they are at
+their games, batting and bowling and galloping and running; they have
+the same natural grace then as a herd of deer or antelopes; they are
+beautiful animals in the full enjoyment of life and vigour, of health
+and strength; they are intensely alive. Something of this kind passed
+through my mind, in all probability, and, combined with the delightful
+sensation any strong man feels in the pause after great exertion,
+disposed me well towards my fellows and towards mankind at large.
+Besides we had won the last game.
+
+"You look pleased, Mr. Griggs," said Miss Westonhaugh, who had probably
+been watching me for a moment or two. "I did not know cynics were ever
+pleased."
+
+"I remember who it was that promised to crown the victors of this match,
+Miss Westonhaugh, and I cherish some hopes of being one of them. Would
+you mind very much?"
+
+"Mind? Oh dear no; you had better try. But if you stand there with your
+coat on, you will not have much chance. They are all mounted, and
+waiting for you."
+
+"Well, here goes," I said to myself, as I got into the saddle again. "I
+hope he may win, but he would find me out in a minute if I tried to play
+into his hands." We were only to play the best out of three goals, and
+the score was "one all." All eight of us had fresh mounts, and the
+experience of each other's play we had got in the preceding games made
+it likely that the game would be a long one. And so it turned out.
+
+From the first things went badly. John Westonhaugh's fresh pony was very
+wild, and he had to take him a breather half over the ground before he
+could take his place for the charge. When at last the first stroke was
+made, the ball went low along the ground, spinning and twisting to right
+and left. Both Kildare and Isaacs missed it and wheeled across to
+return, when a prolonged scrimmage ensued less than thirty yards from
+their goal. Every one played his best, and we wheeled and spun round in
+a way that reminded one of a cavalry skirmish. Strokes and back-strokes
+followed quickly, till at last I got the ball as it came rolling out
+between my horse's legs, and, hotly pursued, beyond the possibility of
+making a fair stroke, I moved away with it in front of me.
+
+Then began one of those interminable circular games that all polo
+players know so well, round and round the battlefield, riding close
+together, sometimes one succeeding in driving the ball a little, only to
+be foiled by the next man's ill-delivered back-stroke; racing, and
+pulling up short, and racing again, till horses and riders were in a
+perspiration and a state of madness not to be attained by any peaceful
+means. At last, as we were riding near our own goal, some one, I could
+not see who, struck the ball out into the open. Isaacs, who had just
+missed, and was ahead, rode for it like a madman, his club raised high
+for a back-stroke. He was hotly pressed by the man who had roused my
+wrath in the first game by his "dribbling" policy. He was a light weight
+and had kept his best horse for the last game, so that as Isaacs spun
+along at lightning speed the little man was very close to him, his club
+well back for a sweeping hit. He rode well, but was evidently not so old
+a hand in the game as the rest of us. They neared the ball rapidly and
+Isaacs swerved a little to the left in order to get it well under his
+right hand, thus throwing himself somewhat across the track of his
+pursuer. As the Persian struck with all his force downwards and
+backwards, his adversary, excited by the chase, beyond all judgment or
+reckoning of his chances, hit out wildly, as beginners will. The long
+elastic handle of his weapon struck Isaacs' horse on the flank and
+glanced upward, the head of the club striking Isaacs just above the back
+of the neck. We saw him throw up his arms, the club in his right hand
+hanging to his wrist by the strap. The infuriated little arab pony tore
+on, and in a moment more the iron grip of the rider's knees relaxed,
+Isaacs swayed heavily in the saddle and fell over on the near side, his
+left foot hanging in the stirrup and dragging him along some paces
+before the horse finally shook himself clear and scampered away across
+the turf. The whole catastrophe occurred in a moment; the man who had
+done the mischief threw away his club to reach the injured player the
+sooner, and as we thundered after him, my pony stumbled over the long
+handle, and falling, threw me heavily over his head. I escaped with a
+very slight kick from one of the other horses, and leaving my beast to
+take care of himself, ran as fast as I could to where Isaacs lay, now
+surrounded by the six players as they dismounted to help him. But there
+was some one there before them.
+
+The accident had occurred near the middle of the ground, and opposite
+the place where Miss Westonhaugh and her uncle had taken up their stand
+to watch the contest. With a shake of the reins and a blow of the hand
+that made the thoroughbred bound his length as he plunged into a gallop,
+the girl rode wildly to where Isaacs lay, and reining the animal back on
+his haunches, sprang to the ground and knelt quickly down, so that
+before the others had reached them she had propped up his head and was
+rubbing his hands in hers. There was no mistaking the impulse that
+prompted her. She had seen many an accident in the hunting-field, and
+knew well that when a man fell like that it was ten to one he was badly
+hurt.
+
+Isaacs was ghastly pale, and there was a little blood on Miss
+Westonhaugh's white gauntlet. Her face was whiter even than his, though
+not a quiver of mouth or eyelash betrayed emotion. The man who had done
+it knelt on the other side, rubbing one of the hands. Kildare and
+Westonhaugh galloped off at full speed, and presently returned bearing a
+brandy-flask and a smelling-bottle, and followed by a groom with some
+water in a native _lota_. I wanted to make him swallow some of the
+liquor, but Miss Westonhaugh took the flask from my hands.
+
+"He would not like it. He never drinks it, you know," she said in a
+quiet low voice, and pouring some of the contents on her handkerchief,
+moistened all his brows and face and hair with the powerful alcohol.
+
+"Loosen his belt! pull off his boots, some of you!" cried Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins, as he came up breathless. "Take off his belt--damn it, you
+know! Dear, dear!" and he got off his _tat_ with all the alacrity he
+could muster.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh never took her eyes from the face of the prostrate
+man--pressing the wet handkerchief to his brow, and moistening the palm
+of the hand she held with brandy. In a few minutes Isaacs breathed a
+long heavy breath, and opened his eyes.
+
+"What is the matter?" he said; then, recollecting himself and trying to
+move his head--"Oh! I have had a tumble. Give me some water to drink."
+There was a sigh of relief from every one present as he spoke, quite
+naturally, and I held the _lota_ to his lips. "What became of the ball?"
+he asked quickly, as he sat up. Then turning round, he saw the beautiful
+girl kneeling at his side. The blood rushed violently to his face, and
+his eyes, a moment ago dim with unconsciousness, flashed brightly.
+"What! Miss Westonhaugh--you?" he bounded to his feet, but would have
+fallen back if I had not caught him in my arms, for he was still dizzy
+from the heavy blow that had stunned him. The blood came and went in his
+cheeks, and he hung on my arm confused and embarrassed, looking on the
+ground.
+
+"I really owe you all manner of apologies--" he began.
+
+"Not a bit of it, my dear boy," broke in Ghyrkins, "my niece was nearest
+to you when you fell, and so she came up and did the right thing, like
+the brave girl she is." The old fellow helped her to rise as he said
+this, and he looked so pleased and proud of her that I was delighted
+with him. "And now," he went on, "we must see how much you are hurt--the
+deuce of a knock, you know, enough to kill you--and if you are not able
+to ride, why, we will carry you home, you know; the devil of a way off
+it is, too, confound it all." As he jerked out his sentences he was
+feeling the back of Isaacs' head, to ascertain, if he could, how much
+harm had been done. All this time the man who had done the mischief was
+standing by, looking very penitent, and muttering sentences of apology
+as he tried to perform any little office for his victim that came in his
+way. Isaacs stretched out his arm, while Ghyrkins was feeling and
+twisting his head, and taking the man's hand, held it a moment.
+
+"My dear sir," he said, "I am not in the least hurt, I assure you, and
+it was my fault for crossing you at such a moment. Please do not think
+anything more about it." He smiled kindly at the young fellow, who
+seemed very grateful, and who from that day on would have risked
+everything in the world for him. I heard behind me the voice of Kildare,
+soliloquising softly.
+
+"Faith," said he, "that fellow is a gentleman if I ever saw one. I am
+afraid I should not have let that infernal duffer off so easily.
+By-the-bye, Isaacs," he said aloud, coming up to us, "you know you won
+the game. Nobody stopped the ball after you hit it, and the saices say
+it ran right through the goal. So cheer up; you have got something for
+your pains and your tumble." It was quite true; the phlegmatic saices
+had watched the ball instead of the falling man. Miss Westonhaugh, who
+was really a sensible and self-possessed young woman, and had begun to
+be sure that the accident would have no serious results, expressed the
+most unbounded delight.
+
+"Thank you, Miss Westonhaugh," said Isaacs; "you have kept your promise;
+you have crowned the victor."
+
+"With brandy," I remarked, folding up a scarf which somebody had given
+me wherewith to tie a wet compress to the back of his head.
+
+"There is nothing the matter," said Ghyrkins; "no end of a bad bruise,
+that's all. He will be all right in the morning, and the skin is only a
+little broken."
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs, who could now stand quite firm again, "hold the
+wet handkerchief in place, and give me that scarf." I did as he
+directed, and he took the white woollen shawl, and in half a dozen turns
+wound it round his head in a turban, deftly and gracefully. It was
+wonderfully becoming to his Oriental features and dark eyes, and I could
+see that Miss Westonhaugh thought so. There was a murmur of approbation
+from the native grooms who were looking on, and who understood the
+thing.
+
+"You see I have done it before," he said, smiling. "And now give me my
+coat, and we will be getting home. Oh yes! I can ride quite well."
+
+"That man has no end of pluck in him," said John Westonhaugh to Kildare.
+
+"By Jove! yes," was the answer. "I have seen men at home make twice the
+fuss over a tumble in a ploughed field, when they were not even stunned.
+I would not have thought it."
+
+"He is not the man to make much fuss about anything of that kind."
+
+Isaacs stoutly refused any further assistance, and after walking up and
+down a few minutes, he said he had got his legs back, and demanded a
+cigarette. He lit it carefully, and mounted as if nothing had happened,
+and we moved homeward, followed by the spectators, many of whom, of
+course, were acquaintances, and who had ridden up more or less quickly
+to make polite inquiries about the accident. No one disputed with Isaacs
+the right to ride beside Miss Westonhaugh on the homeward road. He was
+the victor of the day, and of course was entitled to the best place. We
+were all straggling along, but without any great intervals between us,
+so that the two were not able to get away as they had done on Saturday
+evening, but they talked, and I heard Miss Westonhaugh laugh. Isaacs was
+determined to show that he appreciated his advantage, and though, for
+all I know, he might be suffering a good deal of pain, he talked gaily
+and sat his horse easily, rather a strange figure in his light-coloured
+English overcoat, surmounted by the large white turban he had made out
+of the shawl. As we came out on the mall at the top of the hill, Mr.
+Ghyrkins called a council of war.
+
+"Of course we shall have to put off the tiger-hunt."
+
+"I suppose so," muttered Kildare, disconsolately.
+
+"Why?" said Isaacs. "Not a bit of it. Head or no head, we will start
+to-morrow morning. I am well enough, never fear."
+
+"Nonsense, you know it's nonsense," said Ghyrkins, "you will be in bed
+all day with a raging headache. Horrid things, knocks on the back of the
+head."
+
+"Not I. My traps are all packed, and my servants have gone down to
+Kalka, and I am going to-morrow morning."
+
+"Well, of course, if you really think you can," etc. etc. So he was
+prevailed upon to promise that if he should be suffering in the morning
+he would send word in time to put off the party. "Besides," he added,
+"even if I could not go, that is no reason why you should not."
+
+"Stuff," said Ghyrkins.
+
+"Oh!" said Miss Westonhaugh, looking rather blank.
+
+"That would never do," said John.
+
+"Preposterous! we could not think of going without you," said Lord
+Steepleton Kildare loudly; he was beginning to like Isaacs in spite of
+himself. And so we parted.
+
+"I shall not dine to-night, Griggs," said Isaacs, as we paused before
+his door. "Come in for a moment: you can help me." We entered the richly
+carpeted room, and he went to a curious old Japanese cabinet, and after
+opening various doors and divisions, showed a small iron safe. This he
+opened by some means known to himself, for he used no key, and he took
+out a small vessel of jade and brought it to the light. "Now," he said,
+"be good enough to warm this little jar in your hands while I go into
+the next room and get my boots and spurs and things off. But do not open
+it on any account--not on any account, until I come back," he added very
+emphatically.
+
+"All right, go ahead," said I, and began to warm the cold thing that
+felt like a piece of ice between my hands. He returned in a few minutes
+robed in loose garments from Kashmir, with the low Eastern slippers he
+generally wore indoors. He sat down among his cushions and leaned back,
+looking pale and tired; after ordering the lamps to be lit and the doors
+closed, he motioned me to sit down beside him.
+
+"I have had a bad shaking," he said, "and my head is a good deal
+bruised. But I mean to go to-morrow in spite of everything. In that
+little vial there is a powerful remedy unknown in your Western medicine.
+Now I want you to apply it, and to follow with the utmost exactness my
+instructions. If you fear you should forget what I tell you, write it
+down, for a mistake might be fatal to you, and would certainly be fatal
+to me."
+
+I took out an old letter and a pencil, not daring to trust my memory.
+
+"Put the vial in your bosom while you write: it must be near the
+temperature of the body. Now listen to me. In that silver box is wax.
+Tie first this piece of silk over your mouth, and then stop your
+nostrils carefully with the wax. Then open the vial quickly and pour a
+little of the contents into your hand. You must be quick, for it is very
+volatile. Rub that on the back of my head, keeping the vial closed. When
+your hand is dry, hold the vial open to my nostrils for two minutes by
+your watch. By that time, I shall be asleep. Put the vial in this pocket
+of my _caftan_; open all the doors and windows, and tell my servant to
+leave them so, but not to admit any one. Then you can leave me; I shall
+sleep very comfortably. Come back and wake me a little before midnight.
+You will wake me easily by lifting my head and pressing one of my hands.
+Remember, if you should forget to wake me, and I should still be asleep
+at one o'clock, I should never open my eyes again, and should be dead
+before morning. Do as I tell you, for friendship's sake, and when I wake
+I shall bathe and sleep naturally the rest of the night."
+
+I carefully fulfilled his instructions. Before I had finished rubbing
+his head he was drowsy, and when I took the vial from his nostrils he
+was sound asleep. I placed the precious thing where he had told me, and
+arranged his limbs on the cushions. Then I opened everything, and
+leaving the servant in charge went my way to my rooms. On removing the
+silk and the wax which had protected me from the powerful drug, an
+indescribable odour which permeated my clothes ascended to my nostrils;
+aromatic, yet pungent and penetrating; I never smelt anything that it
+reminded me of, but I presume the compound contained something of the
+nature of an opiate. I took some books down to Isaacs' rooms and passed
+the evening there, unwilling to leave him to the care of an inquisitive
+servant, and five minutes before midnight I awoke him in the manner he
+had directed. He seemed to be sleeping lightly, for he was awake in a
+moment, and his first action was to replace the vial in the curious
+safe. He professed himself perfectly restored; and, indeed, on examining
+his bruise I found there was no swelling or inflammation. The odour of
+the medicament, which, as he had said, seemed to be very volatile, had
+almost entirely disappeared. He begged me to go to bed, saying that he
+would bathe and then do likewise, and I left him for the night;
+speculating on the nature of this secret and precious remedy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+The Himalayan _tonga_ is a thing of delight. It is easily described, for
+in principle it is the ancient Persian war-chariot, though the
+accommodation is so modified as to allow four persons to sit in it back
+to back; that is, three besides the driver. It is built for great
+strength, the wheels being enormously heavy, and the pole of the size of
+a mast. Harness the horses have none, save a single belt with a sort of
+lock at the top, which fits into the iron yoke through the pole, and can
+slide from it to the extremity; there is neither breeching nor trace nor
+collar, and the reins run from the heavy curb bit directly through loops
+on the yoke to the driver's hands. The latter, a wiry, long-bearded
+Mohammedan, is armed with a long whip attached to a short thick stock,
+and though he sits low, on the same level as the passenger beside him on
+the front seat, he guides his half broken horses with amazing dexterity
+round sharp curves and by giddy precipices, where neither parapet nor
+fencing give the startled mind even a momentary impression of security.
+The road from Simla to Kalka at the foot of the hills is so narrow that
+if two vehicles meet, the one has to draw up to the edge of the road,
+while the other passes on its way. In view of the frequent encounters,
+every tonga-driver is provided with a post horn of tremendous power and
+most discordant harmony; for the road is covered with bullock carts
+bearing provisions and stores to the hill station. Smaller loads, such
+as trunks and other luggage, are generally carried by coolies, who
+follow a shorter path, the carriage road being ninety-two miles from
+Umballa, the railroad station, to Simla, but a certain amount may be
+stowed away in the tonga, of which the capacity is considerable.
+
+In three of these vehicles our party of six began the descent on Tuesday
+morning, wrapped in linen "dusters" of various shades and shapes, and
+armed with countless varieties of smoking gear. The roughness of the
+road precludes all possibility of reading, and, after all, the rapid
+motion and the constant appearance of danger--which in reality does not
+exist--prevent any overpowering _ennui_ from assailing the dusty
+traveller. So we spun along all day, stopping once or twice for a little
+refreshment, and changing horses every five or six miles. Everybody was
+in capital spirits, and we changed seats often, thus obtaining some
+little variety. Isaacs, who to every one's astonishment, seemed not to
+feel any inconvenience from his accident, clung to his seat in Miss
+Westonhaugh's tonga, sitting in front with the driver, while she and her
+uncle or brother occupied the seat behind, which is far more
+comfortable. At last, however, he was obliged to give his place to
+Kildare, who had been very patient, but at last said it "really wasn't
+fair, you know," and so Isaacs courteously yielded. At last we reached
+Kalka, where the tongas are exchanged for _dak gharry_ or mail carriage,
+a thing in which you can sit up in the daytime and lie down at night,
+there being an extension under the driver's box calculated for the
+accommodation of the longest legs. When lying down in one of these
+vehicles the sensation is that of being in a hearse and playing a game
+of funeral. On this occasion, however, it was still early when we made
+the change, and we paired off, two and two, for the last part of the
+drive. By the well planned arrangements of Isaacs and Kildare, two
+carriages were in readiness for us on the express train, and though the
+difference in temperature was enormous between Simla and the plains,
+still steaming from the late rainy season, the travelling was made easy
+for us, and we settled ourselves for the journey, after dining at the
+little hotel; Miss Westonhaugh bidding us all a cheery "good-night" as
+she retired with her _ayah_ into the carriage prepared for her. I will
+not go into tedious details of the journey--we slept and woke and slept
+again, and smoked, and occasionally concocted iced drinks from our
+supplies, for in India the carriages are so large that the traveller
+generally provides himself with a generous basket of provisions and a
+travelling ice-chest full of bottles, and takes a trunk or two with him
+in his compartment. Suffice it to say that we arrived on the following
+day at Fyzabad in Oude, and that we were there met by guides and
+shikarries--the native huntsmen--who assured us that there were tigers
+about near the outlying station of Pegnugger, where the elephants,
+previously ordered, would all be in readiness for us on the following
+day. The journey from Fyzabad to Pegnugger was not a long one, and we
+set out in the cool of the evening, sending our servants along in that
+"happy-go-lucky" fashion which characterises Indian life. It has always
+been a mystery to me how native servants manage always to turn up at the
+right moment. You say to your man, "Go there and wait for me," and you
+arrive and find him waiting; though how he transferred himself thither,
+with his queer-looking bundle, and his lota, and cooking utensils, and
+your best teapot wrapped up in a newspaper and ready for use, and with
+all the other hundred and one things that a native servant contrives to
+carry about without breaking or losing one of them, is an unsolved
+puzzle. Yet there he is, clean and grinning as ever, and if he were not
+clean and grinning and provided with tea and cheroots, you would not
+keep him in your service a day, though you would be incapable of looking
+half so spotless and pleased under the same circumstances yourself.
+
+On the following day, therefore, we found ourselves at Pegnugger,
+surrounded by shikarries and provided with every instrument of the chase
+that the ingenuity of man and the foresight of Isaacs and Ghyrkins could
+provide. There were numbers of tents, sleeping tents, cooking tents, and
+servants' tents; guns and ammunition of every calibre likely to be
+useful; _kookries_, broad strong weapons not unlike the famous American
+bowie knives (which are all made in Sheffield, to the honour, glory, and
+gain, of British trade); there were huge packs of provisions edible and
+potable; baskets of utensils for the kitchen and the table, and piles of
+blankets and tenting gear for the camp. There was also the little
+collector of Pegnugger, whose small body housed a stout heart, for he
+had shot tigers on foot before now in company with a certain German
+doctor of undying sporting fame, whose big round spectacles seemed to
+direct his bullets with unerring precision. But the doctor was not here
+now, and so the sturdy Englishman condescended to accept a seat in the
+howdah, and to kill his game with somewhat less risk than usual.
+
+This first day was occupied in transferring our party, now swelled by
+countless beaters and numerous huntsmen, not to mention all the retinue
+of servants necessary for an Indian camp, to the neighbourhood of the
+battlefield. There is not much conversation on these occasions, for the
+party is apt to become scattered, and there is a general tone of
+expectancy in the air, the old hands conversing more with the natives
+who know the district than with each other, and the young ones either
+wondering how many tigers they will kill, or listening open mouthed to
+the tales of adventure reeled off by the yard by the old bearded
+shikarry, who has slain the king of the jungle with a _kookrie_ in hand
+to hand struggle when he was young, and bears the scars of the deadly
+encounter on his brown chest to this day. Old Ghyrkins, who was
+evidently in his element, rode about on a little _tat_, questioning
+beaters and shikarries, and coming back every now and then to bawl up
+some piece of information to the little collector, who had established
+himself on one of the elephants and looked down over the edge of the
+howdah, the great pith hat on his head making him look like an immense
+mushroom with a very thin stem sprouting suddenly from the back of the
+huge beast. He smiled pleasantly at the old sportsman from his
+elevation, and seemed to know all about it. It so chanced that when he
+received Isaacs' telegrams he had been planning a little excursion on
+his own account, and had been sending out scouts and beaters for some
+days to ascertain where the game lay. This, of course, was so much clear
+gain to us, and the little man was delighted at the opportune
+coincidence which enabled him, by the unlimited money supplied, to join
+in such a hunt as he had not seen since the time when the Prince of
+Wales disported himself among the royal game, three years before. As for
+Miss Westonhaugh, she was in the gayest of spirits, as she sat with her
+brother on an elephant's back, while Isaacs, who loved the saddle,
+circled round her and kept up a fire of little compliments and pretty
+speeches, to which she was fast becoming inured. Kildare and I followed
+them closely on another elephant, discoursing seriously about the hunt,
+and occasionally shouting some question to John Westonhaugh, ahead,
+about sport in the south.
+
+Before evening we had arrived at our first camping ground, near a small
+village on the outskirts of the jungle, and the tents were pitched on a
+little elevation covered with grass, now green and waving. The men had
+mowed a patch clear, and were busy with the pegs and all the
+paraphernalia of a canvas house, and we strolled about, some of us
+directing the operations, others offering a sacrifice of cooling liquids
+and tobacco to the setting sun. Miss Westonhaugh had heard about living
+in tents ever since she came to India, and had often longed to sleep in
+one of those temporary chambers that are set up anywhere in the
+"compound" of an English bungalow for the accommodation of the bachelor
+guests whom the house itself is too small to hold; now she was enchanted
+at the prospect of a whole fortnight under canvas, and watched with rapt
+interest the driving of the pegs, the raising of the poles, and the
+careful furnishing of her dwelling. There was a carpet, and armchairs,
+and tables, and even a small bookcase with a few favourite volumes. To
+us in civilised life it seems a great deal of trouble to transport a
+lunch basket and a novel to some shady glen to enjoy a day's rest in the
+open air, and we would almost rather starve than take the trouble to
+carry provisions. In India you speak the word, and as by magic there
+arises in the wilderness a little village of tents, furnished with every
+necessary luxury--and the luxuries necessary to our degenerate age are
+many--a kitchen tent is raised, and a skilled dark-skinned artist
+provides you in an hour with a dinner such as you could eat in no hotel.
+The treasures of the huge portable ice-chest reveal cooling wines and
+soda water to the thirsty soul, and if you are going very far beyond the
+reach of the large towns, a small ice-machine is kept at work day and
+night to increase the supply while you sleep, and to maintain it while
+you wake. In the _connat_ or verandah of the tent, long chairs await you
+after your meal, and as you smoke the fragrant cigarette and watch the
+stars coming out, you feel as comfortable as though you had been dining
+in your own spacious bungalow in Mudnugger.
+
+It was not long before all was ready, and having made many ablutions and
+a little toilet, we assembled round the dinner table in the eating tent,
+the same party that had dined at Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' house on Sunday
+night, with the addition of the little collector of Pegnugger, whose
+stories of his outlying district were full of humour and anecdote. The
+talk bending in the direction of adventure, Kildare, who had been lately
+in South Africa with his regiment, told some tales of Zulus and assegais
+and Boers in the Hibernian style of hyperbole. The Irish blood never
+comes out so strongly as when a story is to be told, and no amount of
+English education and Oxford accent will suppress the tendency. The
+brogue is gone, but the love of the marvellous is there still. Isaacs
+related the experience of "a man he knew," who had been pulled off his
+elephant, howdah and all, and had killed the tiger with a revolver at
+half arm's length.
+
+"Ah yes," said the little collector, who had not caught the names of all
+the party when introduced, "I read about it at the time; I remember it
+very well. It happened in Purneah two years ago. The gentleman was a Mr.
+Isaacs of Delhi. Queer name too--remember perfectly." There was a roar
+of laughter at this, in which the collector joined vociferously on being
+informed that the man with the "queer name" was his neighbour at table.
+
+"You see what you get for your modesty," cried old Ghyrkins, laughing to
+convulsions.
+
+"And is it really true, Mr. Isaacs?" asked Miss Westonhaugh, looking
+admiringly across at the young man, who seemed rather annoyed.
+
+And so the conversation went round and all were merry, and some were
+sleepy after dinner, and we sat in long chairs under the awning or
+_connat_. There was no moon yet, but the stars shone out as they shine
+nowhere save in India, and the evening breeze played pleasantly through
+the ropes after the long hot day. Miss Westonhaugh assured everybody for
+the hundredth time that day that she rather liked the smell of cigars,
+and so we smoked and chatted a little, and presently there was a jerk
+and a sputtering sneeze from Mr. Ghyrkins, who, being weary with the
+march and the heat and the good dinner, and on the borders of sleep, had
+put the wrong end of his cigar in his mouth with destructive results.
+Then he threw it away with a small volley of harmless expletives, and
+swore he would go to bed, as he could not stand our dulness any longer;
+but he merely shifted his position a little, and was soon snoring
+merrily.
+
+"What a pity it is we have no piano, Katharine," said John Westonhaugh,
+who was fond of music. "Could you not sing something without any
+accompaniment?"
+
+"Oh no. Mr. Isaacs," she said, turning her voice to where she could see
+the light of his cigarette and the faint outline of his chair in the
+starlight, "here we are in the camp. Now where is the 'lute' you
+promised to produce for us? I think the time has come at last for you to
+keep your promise."
+
+"Well," said he, "I believe there really is an old guitar or something
+of the kind among my traps somewhere. But it might wake Mr. Ghyrkins,
+who, I understand from his tones, is asleep."
+
+Various opinions were expressed to the effect that Mr. Ghyrkins was not
+so easily disturbed, and a voice like Kildare's was heard to mumble that
+"it would not hurt him if he was," a sentence no one attempted to
+construe. So the faithful Narain was summoned, and instructed to bring
+the instrument if he could find it. I was rather surprised at Isaacs'
+readiness to sing; but in the first place I had never heard him, and
+besides I did not make allowance for the Oriental courtesy of his
+character, which would not refuse anything, or make any show of refusal
+in order to be pressed. Narain returned with a very modern-looking
+guitar-case, and, opening the box, presented his master with the
+instrument, which, as Isaacs took it to the light in the door of the
+tent to see if it had travelled safely, appeared to be a perfectly new
+German guitar. I suspected him of having purchased it at the little
+music shop at Simla, for the especial amusement of our party.
+
+"I thought it was a lute you played on," said Miss Westonhaugh, "a real,
+lovely, ancient Assyrian lute, or something of that kind."
+
+"Oh, a plain guitar is infinitely better and less troublesome," said
+Isaacs as he returned to his seat in the dark and began to tune the
+strings softly. "It takes so long to tune one of those old things, and
+then nothing will make them stand. Now this one, you see,--or rather you
+cannot see,--has an ingenious contrivance of screws by which you may
+tune it in a moment." While he was speaking he was altering the pitch of
+the strings, and presently he added, "There, it is done now," and two or
+three sounding chords fell on the still air. "Now what shall I sing? I
+await your commands."
+
+"Something soft, and sweet, and gentle."
+
+"A love-song?" asked he quietly.
+
+"Well yes--a love-song if you like. Why not?" said she.
+
+"No reason in the world that I can think of," I remarked. Whereat Lord
+Steepleton Kildare threw his cigar away, and began lighting another a
+moment after, as if he had discarded his weed by mistake.
+
+Isaacs struck a few chords softly, and then began a sort of running
+accompaniment. His voice, which seemed to me to be very high, was
+wonderfully smooth and round, and produced the impression of being much
+more powerful than he cared to show. He sang without the least effort,
+and yet there was none of that effeminate character that I have noticed
+in European male singers when producing high notes very softly. I do not
+understand music, but I am sure I never heard an opera tenor with a
+voice of such quality. The words of his song were Persian, and the pure
+accents of his native tongue seemed well suited to the half passionate,
+half plaintive air he had chosen. I afterwards found a translation of
+the sonnet by an English officer, which I here give, though it conveys
+little idea of the music of the original verse.
+
+    Last night, my eyes being closed in sleep, but my good fortune awake,
+    The whole night, the livelong night, the image of my beloved one was the
+    companion of my soul.
+    The sweetness of her melodious voice still remains vibrating on my soul;
+    Heavens! how did the sugared words fall from her sweeter lips;
+    Alas! all that she said to me in that dream has escaped from my memory,
+    Although it was my care till break of day to repeat over and over her
+    sweet words.
+    The day, unless illuminated by her beauty, is, to my eyes, of nocturnal
+    darkness.
+    Happy day that first I gazed upon that lovely face!
+    May the eyes of Jami long be blessed with pleasing visions, since they
+    presented to his view last night
+    The object, on whose account he passed his waking life in
+    expectation.[1]
+
+His beautiful voice ceased, and with infinite skill he wove a few
+strains of the melody into the final chords he played when he had
+finished singing. It was all so entirely novel, so unlike any music most
+of us had ever heard, and it was so undeniably good, that every one
+applauded and said something to the singer in turn, expressing the
+greatest admiration and appreciation. Miss Westonhaugh was the last to
+speak.
+
+"It is perfectly lovely," she said. "I wish I could understand the
+words--are they as sweet as the music?"
+
+"Sweeter," he answered, and he gave an offhand translation of two or
+three verses.
+
+"Beautiful indeed," she said; "and now sing me another, please." There
+was no resisting such an appeal, with the personal pronoun in the
+singular number. He moved a little nearer, and emphatically sang to her,
+and to no one else. A song of the same character as the first, but, I
+thought, more passionate and less dreamy, as his great sweet voice
+swelled and softened and rose again in burning vibrations and waves of
+sound. She did not ask a translation this time, but some one else did,
+after the applause had subsided.
+
+"I cannot translate these things," said Isaacs, "so as to do them
+justice, or give you any idea of the strength and vitality of the
+Persian verses. Perhaps Griggs, who understands Persian very well and is
+a literary man, may do it for you. I would rather not try." I professed
+my entire inability to comply with the request, and to turn the
+conversation asked him where he had learned to play the guitar so well.
+
+"Oh," he answered, "in Istamboul, years ago. Everybody plays in
+Istamboul--and most people sing love-songs. Besides it is so easy," and
+he ran scales up and down the strings with marvellous rapidity to
+illustrate what he said.
+
+"And do you never sing English songs, Mr. Isaacs?" asked the collector
+of Pegnugger, who was enchanted, not having heard a note of music for
+months.
+
+"Oh, sometimes," he answered. "I think I could sing 'Drink to me only
+with thine eyes'--do you know it?" He began to play the melody on the
+guitar while he spoke.
+
+"Rather--I should think so!" Kildare was heard to say. He was beginning
+to think the concert had lasted long enough.
+
+"Oh, do sing it, Mr. Isaacs," said the young girl, "and my brother and I
+will join in. It will be so pretty!"
+
+It certainly sounded very sweetly as he gave the melody in his clear,
+high tones, and Miss Westonhaugh and John sang with him. Having heard it
+several thousand times myself, I was beginning to recognise the tune
+well enough to enjoy it a good deal.
+
+"That is very nice," said Kildare, who was sorry he had made an
+impatient remark before, and wanted to atone.
+
+"Eh? what? how's that?" said Mr. Ghyrkins just waking up. "Oh! of
+course. My niece sings charmingly. Quite an artist, you know." And he
+struggled out of his chair and said it was high time we all went to bed
+if we meant to shoot straight in the morning. The magistrate of
+Pegnugger concurred in the opinion, and we reluctantly separated for the
+night to our respective quarters, Isaacs and I occupying a tent
+together, which he had caused to be sent on from Delhi, as being
+especially adapted to his comfort.
+
+On the following day at dawn we were roused by the sound of
+preparations, and before we were dressed the voices of Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins and the collector were heard in the camp, stirring up the
+sleepy servants and ordering us to be waked. The two old sportsmen felt
+it their duty to be first on such an occasion as this, and in the calm
+security that they would do everything that was right, Isaacs and I
+discussed our tea and fruit--the _chota haziri_ or "little breakfast"
+usually taken in India on waking--sitting in the door of our tent, while
+Kiramat Ali and Narain and Mahmoud and the rest of the servants were
+giving a final rub to the weapons of the chase, and making all the
+little preparations for a long day. And we sat looking out and sipping
+our tea.
+
+In the cool of the dawn Miss Westonhaugh came tripping across the wet
+grass to where her uncle was giving his final directions about the
+furnishing of his howdah for the day; a lovely apparition of freshness
+in the gray morning, all dressed in dark blue, a light pith
+helmet-shaped hat pressing the rebellious white-gold hair almost out of
+sight. She walked so easily it seemed as if her dainty little feet had
+wings, as Hermes' of old, to ease the ground of their feather weight. A
+broad belt hung across her shoulder with little rows of cartridges set
+all along, and at the end hung a very business-like revolver case of
+brown leather and of goodly length. No toy miniature pistol would she
+carry, but a full-sized, heavy "six-shooter," that might really be of
+use at close quarters. She stood some minutes talking with Mr. Ghyrkins,
+not noticing us in the shadow of the tent some thirty yards away; Isaacs
+and I watched her intently--with very different feelings, possibly, but
+yet intensely admiring the fair creature, so strong and pliant, and yet
+so erect and straight. She turned half round towards us, and I saw there
+were flowers in the front of her dress. I wondered where they had come
+from; they were roses--of all flowers in the world to be blooming in the
+desert. Perhaps she had brought them carefully from Fyzabad, but that
+was improbable; or from Pegnugger--yes, there would be roses in the
+collector's garden there. Isaacs rose to his feet.
+
+"Oh, come along, Griggs. You have had quite enough tea!"
+
+"Go ahead; I will be with you in a moment." But a sudden thought struck
+me, and I went with him, bareheaded, to greet Miss Westonhaugh. She
+smiled brightly as she held out her hand.
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Isaacs. Thank you so much for the roses. How _did_
+you do it? They are _too_ lovely!" So it was just as I thought. Isaacs
+had probably despatched a man back to Pegnugger in the night.
+
+"Very easy I assure you. I am so glad you like them. They are not very
+fresh after all though, I see," he added depreciatingly, as men do when
+they give flowers to people they care about. I never heard a man find
+fault with flowers he gave out of a sense of duty. It is perhaps that
+the woman best loved of all things in the world has for him a sweetness
+and a beauty that kills the coarser hues of the rose, and outvies the
+fragrance of the double violets.
+
+"Oh no!" she said, emphasising the negative vigorously. "I think they
+are perfectly beautiful, but I want you to tell me where you got them."
+I began talking to Ghyrkins, who was intent on the arrangement of his
+guns which was going on under his eyes, but I heard the answer, though
+Isaacs spoke in a low voice.
+
+"You must not say that, Miss Westonhaugh. You yourself are the most
+perfect and beautiful thing God ever made." By a superhuman effort I
+succeeded in keeping my eyes fixed on Ghyrkins, probably with a stony,
+unconscious stare, for he presently asked what I was looking at. I do
+not think Isaacs cared whether I heard him or not, knowing that I
+sympathised, but Mr. Ghyrkins was another matter. The Persian had made
+progress, for there was no trace of annoyance in Miss Westonhaugh's
+answer, though she entirely overlooked her companion's pretty speech.
+
+"Seriously, Mr. Isaacs, if you mean to have one of them for your badge
+to-day, you must tell me how you got them." I turned slowly round. She
+was holding a single rose in her fingers, and looking from it to him, as
+if to see if it would match his olive skin and his Karkee shooting-coat.
+He could not resist the bribe.
+
+"If you really want to know I will tell you, but it is a profound
+secret," he said, smiling. "Griggs, swear!"
+
+I raised my hand and murmured something about the graves of my
+ancestors.
+
+"Well," he continued, "yesterday morning at the collector's house I saw
+a garden; in the garden there were roses, carefully tended, for it is
+late. I took the gardener apart and said, 'My friend, behold, here is
+silver for thee, both rupees and pais. And if thou wilt pick the best of
+thy roses and deliver them to the swift runner whom I will send to thee
+at supper time when the stars are coming out, I will give thee as much
+as thou shalt earn in a month with thy English master. But if thou wilt
+not do it, or if thou failest to do it, having promised, I will cause
+the grave of thy father to be defiled with the slaughter of swine, and,
+moreover, I will return and beat thee with a thick stick!' The fellow
+was a Mussulman, and there was a merry twinkle in his eye as he took the
+money and swore a great oath. I left a running man at Pegnugger with a
+basket, and that is how you got the roses. Don't tell the collector,
+that is all."
+
+We all laughed, and Miss Westonhaugh gave the rose to Isaacs, who
+touched it to his lips, under pretence of smelling it, and put it in his
+buttonhole. Kildare came up at this moment and created a diversion; then
+the collector joined us and scattered us right and left, saying it was
+high time we were in the howdahs and on the way. So we buckled on our
+belts, and those who wore hats put them on, and those who preferred
+turbans bent while their bearers wound them on, and then we moved off to
+where the elephants were waiting and got into our places, and the
+_mahouts_ urged the huge beasts from their knees to their feet, and we
+went swinging off to the forest. The pad elephants, who serve as beaters
+and move between the howdah animals, joined us, and presently we went
+splashing through the reedy patches of fern, and crashing through the
+branches, towards the heart of the jungle.
+
+Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, whose long experience had made him as cool when
+after tigers as when reading the _Pioneer_ in his shady bungalow at
+Simla, had taken Miss Westonhaugh with him in his howdah, and as an
+additional precaution for her safety, the little collector of Pegnugger,
+who was a dead shot, only allowed two pad elephants to move between
+himself and Ghyrkins. As there were thirty-seven animals in all, the
+rest of the party were much scattered. I thought there were too many
+elephants for our six howdahs, but it turned out that I was mistaken,
+for we had capital sport. The magistrate of Pegnugger, who knew the
+country thoroughly, was made the despot of the day. His orders were
+obeyed unquestioningly and unconditionally, and we halted in long line
+or marched onwards, forcing a passage through every obstacle, at his
+word. We might have been out a couple of hours, watching every patch of
+jungle and blade of long rank grass for a sight of the striped skin,
+writhing through the reeds, that we so longed to see, when the quick,
+short crack of a rifle away to the right brought us to a halt, and every
+one drew a long breath and turned, gun in hand, in the direction whence
+the sound had come. It was Kildare; he had met his first tiger, and the
+first also of the hunt. He had put up the animal not five paces in front
+of him, stealing along in the cool grass and hoping to escape between
+the elephants, in the cunning way they often do. He had fired a snap
+shot too quickly, inflicting a wound in the flank which only served to
+rouse the tiger to madness. With a leap that seemed to raise its body
+perpendicularly from the ground, the gorgeous creature flew into the air
+and settled right on the head of Kildare's elephant, while the terrified
+_mahout_ wound himself round the howdah. It would have been a trying
+position for the oldest sportsman, but to be brought into such terrific
+encounter at arm's length, almost, at one's very first experience of the
+chase, was a terrible test of nerve. Those who were near said that in
+that awful moment Kildare never changed colour. The elephant plunged
+wildly in his efforts to shake off the beast from his head, but Kildare
+had seized his second gun the moment he had discharged the first, and
+aiming for one second only, as the tossing head and neck of the tusker
+brought the gigantic cat opposite him, fired again. The fearful claws,
+driven deep and sure into the thick hide of the poor elephant, relaxed
+their hold, the beautiful lithe limbs straightened by their own
+perpendicular weight, and the first prize of the day dropped to the
+ground like lead, dead, shot through the head.
+
+A great yell of triumph arose all along the line, and the little
+_mahout_ crept cautiously back from his lurking-place behind the howdah
+to see if the coast were clear. Kildare had behaved splendidly, and
+shouts of congratulation reached his ears from all sides. Miss
+Westonhaugh waved her handkerchief in token of approbation, every one
+applauded, and far away to the left Isaacs, who was in the last howdah,
+clapped his hands vigorously, and sent his high clear voice ringing like
+a trumpet down the line.
+
+"Well done, Kildare! well done, indeed!" and his rival's praise was not
+the least grateful to Lord Steepleton on that day. Meanwhile the
+shikarries gathered around the fallen beast. It proved to be a young
+tigress some eight feet long, and the clean bright coat showed that she
+was no man-eater. So the pad elephant came alongside, to use a nautical
+phrase not inappropriate, and kneeling down received its burden
+willingly, well knowing that the slain beauty was one of his deadly
+foes. The _mahout_ pronounced the elephant on which Kildare was mounted
+able to proceed, and only a few huge drops of blood marked where the
+tigress had kept her hold. We moved on again, beating the jungle,
+wheeling and doubling the long line, wherever it seemed likely that some
+striped monster might have eluded us. Marching and counter-marching
+through the heat of the day, we picked up another-prize in the
+afternoon. It was a large old tiger, nine feet six as he lay; he fell an
+easy prey to the gun of the little collector of Pegnugger, who sent a
+bullet through his heart at the first shot, and smiled rather
+contemptuously as he removed the empty shell of the cartridge from his
+gun. He would rather have had Kildare's chance in the morning.
+
+After all, two tigers in a day was not bad sport for the time of year. I
+knew Isaacs would be disappointed at not having had a shot, where his
+rival in a certain quarter had had so good an opportunity for displaying
+skill and courage; and I confessed to myself that I preferred a small
+party, say, a dozen elephants and three howdahs, to this tremendous and
+expensive _battue_. I had a shot-gun with me, and consoled myself by
+shooting a peacock or two as we rolled and swayed homewards. We had
+determined to keep to the same camp for a day or two, as we could enter
+the forest from another point on the morrow, and might even beat some of
+the same ground again with success.
+
+It was past five when we got down to the tents and descended from our
+howdahs, glad to stretch our stiffened limbs in a brisk walk. The dead
+tigers were hauled into the middle of the camp, and the servants ran
+together to see the result of the _sahib log's_ day out. We retired to
+dress and refresh ourselves for dinner.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+In Isaacs' tent I was pulling off my turban, all shapeless and crumpled
+by the long day, while Isaacs stood disconsolately looking at the clean
+guns and unbroken rows of cartridges which Narain deposited on the
+table. The sun was very low, and shone horizontally through the raised
+door of the tent on my friend's rather gloomy face. At that moment
+something intercepted the sunshine, and a dark shadow fell across the
+floor. I looked, and saw a native standing on the threshold, salaaming
+and waiting to be spoken to. He was not one of our men, but a common
+ryot, clad simply in a _dhoti_ or waist-cloth, and a rather dirty
+turban.
+
+"Kya chahte ho?"--"What do you want?" asked Isaacs impatiently. He was
+not in a good humour by any means. "Wilt thou deprive thy betters of the
+sunlight thou enjoyest thyself?"
+
+"The sahib's face is like the sun and the moon," replied the man
+deprecatingly. "But if the great lord will listen I will tell him what
+shall rejoice his heart."
+
+"Speak, unbeliever," said Isaacs.
+
+"Protector of the poor! you are my father and my mother! but I know
+where there lieth a great tiger, an eater of men, hard-hearted, that
+delighteth in blood."
+
+"Dog," answered Isaacs, calmly removing his coat, "the tiger you speak
+of was seen by you many moons since; what do you come to me with idle
+tales for?" Isaacs was familiar with the native trick of palming off old
+tigers on the unwary stranger, in the hope of a reward.
+
+"Sahib, I am no liar. I saw the tiger, who is the king of the forest,
+this morning." Isaacs' manner relaxed a little, and he sat down and
+lighted the eternal cigarette. "Slave," he said meditatively, "if it is
+as you say, I will kill the tiger, but if it is not as you say, I will
+kill you, and cause your body to be buried with the carcass of an ox,
+and your soul shall not live." The man did not seem much moved by the
+threat. He moved nearer, and salaamed again.
+
+"It is near to the dwelling of the sahib, who is my father," said the
+man, speaking low. "The day before yesterday he destroyed a man from the
+village. He has eaten five men in the last moon. I have seen him enter
+his lair, and he will surely return before the dawn; and the sahib shall
+strike him by his lightning; and the sahib will not refuse me the ears
+of the man-eater, that I may make a _jaedu_, a charm against sudden
+death?"
+
+"Hound! if thou speakest the truth, and I kill the tiger, the monarch of
+game, I will make thee a rich man; but thou shalt not have his ears. I
+desire the _jaedu_ for myself. I have spoken; wait thou here my
+pleasure." The ryot bent low to the earth, and then squatted by the
+tent-door to wait, in the patient way that a Hindoo can, for Isaacs to
+go and eat his dinner. As the latter came out ten minutes later, he
+paused and addressed the man once more. "Speak not to any man of thy
+tiger while I am gone, or I will cut off thine ears with a pork knife."
+And we passed on.
+
+The sun was now set and hovering in the afterglow, the new moon was
+following lazily down. I stopped a moment to look at her, and was
+surprised by Miss Westonhaugh's voice close behind me.
+
+"Are you wishing by the new moon, Mr. Griggs?" she asked.
+
+"Yes," said I, "I was. And what were you wishing, Miss Westonhaugh, if I
+may ask?" Isaacs came up, and paused beside us. The beautiful girl stood
+quite still, looking to westward, a red glow on the white-gold masses of
+her hair.
+
+"Did you say you were wishing for something, Miss Westonhaugh?" he
+asked. "Perhaps I can get it for you. More flowers, perhaps? They are
+very easily got."
+
+"No--that is, not especially. I was wishing--well, that a tiger-hunt
+might last for ever; and I want a pair of tiger's ears. My old _ayah_
+says they keep off evil spirits and sickness; and all sorts of things."
+
+"I know; it is a curious idea. I suppose both those beasts there have
+lost theirs already. These fellows cut them off in no time."
+
+"Yes. I have looked. So I suppose I must wait till to-morrow. But
+promise me, Mr. Isaacs, if you shoot one to-morrow, let me have the
+ears!"
+
+"I will promise that readily enough. I would promise anything you--" The
+last part of the sentence was lost to me, as I moved away and left them.
+
+At dinner, of course, every one talked of the day's sport, and
+compliments of all kinds were showered on Lord Steepleton, who looked
+very much pleased, and drank a good deal of wine. Ghyrkins and the
+little magistrate expressed their opinion that he would make a famous
+tiger-killer one of these days, when he had learned to wait. Every one
+was hungry and rather tired, and after a somewhat silent cigar, we
+parted for the night, Miss Westonhaugh rising first. Isaacs went to his
+quarters, and I remained alone in a long chair, by the deserted
+dining-tent. Kiramat Ali brought me a fresh hookah, and I lay quietly
+smoking and thinking of all kinds of things--things of all kinds,
+tigers, golden hair, more tigers, Isaacs, Shere Ali, Baithop--, what was
+his name--Baithop--p--. I fell asleep.
+
+Some one touched my hand, waking me suddenly. I sprang to my feet and
+seized the man by the throat, before I recognised in the starlight that
+it was Isaacs.
+
+"You are not a nice person to rouse," remarked he in a low voice, as I
+relaxed my grasp. "You will have fever if you sleep out-of-doors at this
+time of year. Now look here; it is past midnight, and I am going out a
+little way." I noticed that he had a _kookrie_ knife at his waist, and
+that his cartridge-belt was on his chest.
+
+"I will go with you," said I, guessing his intention. "I will be ready
+in a moment," and I began to move towards the tent.
+
+"No. I must go alone, and do this thing single-handed. I have a
+particular reason. I only wanted to warn you I was gone, in case you
+missed me. I shall take that ryot fellow with me to show me the way."
+
+"Give him a gun," I suggested.
+
+"He could not use one if I did. He has your _kookrie_ in case of
+accidents."
+
+"Oh, very well! do not let me interfere with any innocent and childlike
+pastime you may propose for your evening hours. I will attend to your
+funeral in the morning. Good-night."
+
+"Good-night; I shall be back before you are up." And he walked quickly
+off to where the ryot was waiting and holding his guns. He had the sense
+to take two. I was angry at the perverse temerity of the man. Why could
+he not have an elephant out and go like a sensible thinking being,
+instead of sneaking out with one miserable peasant to lie all night
+among the reeds, in as great danger from cobras as from the beast he
+meant to kill? And all for a girl --an English girl--a creature all fair
+hair and eyes, with no more intelligence than a sheep! Was it not she
+who sent him out to his death in the jungle, that her miserable caprice
+for a pair of tiger's ears might be immediately satisfied? If a woman
+ever loved me, Paul Griggs,--thank heaven no woman ever did,--would I go
+out into bogs and desert places and risk my precious skin to find her a
+pair of cat's ears? Not I;--wait a moment, though. If I were in his
+place, if Miss Westonhaugh loved _me_--I laughed at the conceit. But
+supposing she did. Just for the sake of argument, I would allow it. I
+think that I would risk something after all. What a glorious thing it
+would be to be loved by a woman, once, wholly and for ever. To meet the
+creature I described to him the other night, waiting for me to come into
+her life, and to be to her all I could be to the woman I should love.
+But she has never come; never will, now; still, there is a sort of rest
+to me in thinking of rest. Hearth, home, wife, children; the worn old
+staff resting in the corner, never to wander again. What a strange thing
+it is that men should have all these, and more, and yet never see that
+they have the simple elements of earthly happiness, if they would but
+use them. And we, outcasts and wanderers, children of sin and darkness,
+in whose hands one commandment seems hardly less fragile than another,
+would give anything--had we anything to give--for the happiness of a
+home, to call our own. How strange it is that what I said to Isaacs
+should be true. "Do not marry unless you must depend on each other for
+daily bread, or unless you are rich enough to live apart." Yes, it is
+true, in ninetynine cases out of a hundred. But then, I should add a
+saving clause, "and unless you are quite sure that you love each other."
+Ay, there is the _pons asinorum,_ the bridge whereon young asses and old
+fools come to such terrible grief. They are perfectly sure they love
+eternally; they will indignantly scorn the suggestions of prudence; love
+any other woman? never, while I live, answers the happy and
+unsophisticated youth. Be sorry I did it? Do you think I am a schoolboy
+in my first passion? demands the aged bridegroom. And so they marry, and
+in a year or two the enthusiastic young man runs away with some other
+enthusiastic man's wife, and the octogenarian spouse finds himself
+constituted into a pot of honey for his wife's swarming relations to
+settle on, like flies. But a man in strong middle prime of age, like me,
+knows his own mind; and--yes, on the whole I was unjust to Isaacs and to
+Miss Westonhaugh. If a woman loved me, she should have all the tiger's
+ears she wanted. "Still, I hope he will get back safely," I added, in
+afterthought to my reverie, as I turned into bed and ordered Kiramat Ali
+to wake me half an hour before dawn.
+
+I was restless, sleeping a little and dreaming much. At last I struck a
+light and looked at my watch. Four o'clock. It would not be dawn for
+more than an hour; I knew Isaacs had made for the place where the tiger
+passed his days, certain that he would return near daybreak, according
+to all common probability. He need not have gone so early, I thought.
+However, it might be a long way off. I lay still for a while, but it
+seemed very hot and close under the canvas. I got up and threw a
+_caftan_ round me, drew a chair into the _connat_ and sat, or rather
+lay, down in the cool morning breeze. Then I dozed again until Kiramat
+Ali woke me by pulling at my foot. He said it would be dawn in half an
+hour. I had passed a bad night, and went out, as I was, to walk on the
+grass. There was Miss Westonhaugh's tent away off at the other end. She
+was sleeping calmly enough, never doubting that at that very moment the
+man who loved her was risking his life for her pleasure--her slightest
+whim. She would be wide awake if she knew it, staring out into the
+darkness and listening for the crack of his rifle. A faint light
+appeared behind the dining-tent, over the distant trees, like the light
+of London seen from twenty or thirty miles' distance in the country, a
+faint, suggestive, murky grayness in the sky, making the stars look
+dimmer.
+
+The sound of a shot rang true and clear through the chill air; not far
+off I thought. I held my breath, listening for a second report, but none
+came. So it was over. Either he had killed the tiger with his first
+bullet, or the tiger had killed him before he could fire a second. I was
+intensely excited. If he were safe I wished him to have the glory of
+coming home quite alone. There was nothing for it but to wait, so I went
+into my tent and took a bath--a very simple operation where the bathing
+consists in pouring a huge jar of water over one's head. Tents in India
+have always a small side tent with a ditch dug to drain off the water
+from the copious ablutions of the inmate. I emerged into the room
+feeling better. It was now quite light, and I proceeded to dress
+leisurely to spin out the time. As I was drawing on my boots, Isaacs
+sauntered in quietly and laid his gun on the table. He was pale, and his
+Karkee clothes were covered with mud and leaves and bits of creeper, but
+his movements showed he was not hurt in any way; he hardly seemed tired.
+
+"Well?" I said anxiously.
+
+"Very well, thank you. Here they are," and he produced from the pocket
+of his coat the _spolia opima_ in the shape of a pair of ears, that
+looked very large to me. There was a little blood on them and on his
+hands as he handed the precious trophies to me for inspection. We stood
+by the open door, and while I was turning over the ears curiously in my
+hands, he looked down at his clothes.
+
+"I think I will take a bath," he said; "I must have been in a dirty
+place."
+
+"My dear fellow," I said, taking his hand, "this is absurd. I mean all
+this affected calmness. I was angry at your going in that way, to risk
+your head in a tiger's mouth; but I am sincerely glad to see you back
+alive. I congratulate you most heartily."
+
+"Thank you, old man," he said, his pale face brightening a little. "I am
+very glad myself. Do you know I have a superstition that I must fulfil
+every wish of--like that--even half expressed, to the very letter?"
+
+"The 'superstition,' as you call it, is worthy of the bravest knight
+that ever laid lance in rest. Don't part with superstitions like that.
+They are noble and generous things."
+
+"Perhaps," he answered, "but I really am very superstitious," he added,
+as he turned into the bathing _connat_. Soon I heard him splashing among
+the water jars.
+
+"By-the-bye, Griggs," he called out through the canvas, "I forgot to
+tell you. They are bringing that beast home on an elephant. It was much
+nearer than we supposed. They will be here in twenty minutes." A
+tremendous splashing interrupted him. "You can go and attend to that
+funeral you were talking about last night," he added, and his voice was
+again drowned in the swish and souse of the water. "He was rather
+large--over ten feet--I should say. Measure him as soon as he--" another
+cascade completed the sentence. I went out, taking the measuring tape
+from the table.
+
+In a few minutes the procession appeared. Two or three matutinal
+shikarries had gone out and come back, followed by the elephant, for
+which Isaacs had sent the ryot at full speed the moment he was sure the
+beast was dead. And so they came up the little hill behind the
+dining-tent. The great tusker moved evenly along, bearing on the pad an
+enormous yellow carcass, at which the little _mahout_ glanced
+occasionally over his shoulder. Astride of the dead king sat the ryot,
+who had directed Isaacs, crooning a strange psalm of victory in his
+outlandish northern dialect, and occasionally clapping his hands over
+his head with an expression of the most intense satisfaction I have ever
+seen on a human face. The little band came to the middle of the camp
+where the other tigers, now cut up and skinned elsewhere, had been
+deposited the night before, and as the elephant knelt down, the
+shikarries pulled the whole load over, pad, tiger, ryot and all, the
+latter skipping nimbly aside. There he lay, the great beast that had
+taken so many lives. We stretched him out and measured him--eleven feet
+from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, all but an inch--as a
+little more straightening fills the measure, eleven feet exactly.
+
+Meanwhile, the servant and shikarries collected, and the noise of the
+exploit went abroad. The sun was just rising when Mr. Ghyrkins put his
+head out of his tent and wanted to know "what the deuce all this
+_tamaesha_ was about."
+
+"Oh, nothing especial," I called out. "Isaacs has killed an eleven foot
+man-eater in the night. That is all."
+
+"Well I'm damned," said Mr. Ghyrkins briefly, and to the point, as he
+stared from his tent at the great carcass, which lay stretched out for
+all to see, the elephant having departed.
+
+"Clear off those fellows and let me have a look at him, can't you?" he
+called out, gathering the tent curtains round his neck; and there he
+stood, his jolly red face and dishevelled gray hair looking as if they
+had no body attached at all.
+
+I went back to our quarters. Isaacs was putting the ears, which he had
+carefully cleansed from blood, into a silver box of beautiful
+workmanship, which Narain had extracted from his master's numerous
+traps.
+
+"Take that box to Miss Westonhaugh's tent," he said, giving it to the
+servant, "with a greeting from me--with 'much peace.'" The man went out.
+
+"She will send the box back," said I. "Such is the Englishwoman. She
+will take a pair of tiger's ears that nearly cost you your life, and she
+would rather die than accept the bit of silver in which you enclose
+them, without the 'permission of her uncle.'"
+
+"I do not care," he said, "so long as she keeps the ears. But unless I
+am much mistaken, she will keep the box too. She is not like other
+Englishwomen in the least."
+
+I was not sure of that. We had some tea in the door of our tent, and
+Isaacs seemed hungry and thirsty, as well he might be. Now that he was
+refreshed by bathing and the offices of the camp barber, he looked much
+as usual, save that the extreme paleness I had noticed when he came in
+had given place to a faint flush beneath the olive, probably due to his
+excitement, the danger being past. As we sat there, the rest of the
+party, who had slept rather later than usual after their fatigues of the
+previous day, came out one by one and stood around the dead tiger,
+wondering at the tale told by the delighted ryot, who squatted at the
+beast's head to relate the adventure to all comers. We could see the
+group from where we sat, in the shadow of the _connat_, and the
+different expressions of the men as they came out. The little collector
+of Pegnugger measured and measured again; Mr. Ghyrkins stood with his
+hands in his coat pockets and his legs apart, then going to the other
+side he took up the same position again. Lord Steepleton Kildare
+sauntered round and twirled his big moustache, saying nothing the while,
+but looking rather serious. John Westonhaugh, who seemed to be the
+artistic genius of the party, sent for a chair and made his servant hold
+an umbrella over him while he sketched the animal in his notebook, and
+presently his sister came out, a big bunch of roses in her belt, and a
+broad hat half hiding her face, and looked at the tiger and then round
+the party quickly, searching for Isaacs. In her hand she held a little
+package wrapped in white tissue paper. I strolled up to the group,
+leaving Isaacs in his tent. I thought I might as well play innocence.
+
+"Of course," I remarked, "those fellows have bagged his ears as usual."
+
+"They never omit that," said Ghyrkins.
+
+"Oh no, uncle," broke in Miss Westonhaugh, "he gave them to me!"
+
+"Who?" asked Ghyrkins, opening his little eyes wide.
+
+"Mr. Isaacs. Did not he kill the tiger? He sent me the ears in a little
+silver box. Here it is--the box, I mean. I am going to give it back to
+him, of course."
+
+"How did Mr. Isaacs know you wanted them?" asked her uncle, getting red
+in the face.
+
+"Why, we were talking about them last night before dinner, and he
+promised that if he shot a tiger to-day he would give me the ears." Mr.
+Ghyrkins was redder and redder in the morning sun. There was a storm of
+some kind brewing. We were collected together on the other side of the
+dead tiger and exchanged all kinds of spontaneous civilities and
+remarks, not wishing to witness Mr. Ghyrkins' wrath, nor to go away too
+suddenly. I heard the conversation, however, for the old gentleman made
+no pretence of lowering his voice.
+
+"And do you mean to say you let him go off like that? He must have been
+out all night. That beast of a nigger says so. On foot, too. I say on
+foot! Do you know what you are talking about? Eh? Shooting tigers on
+foot? What? Eh? Might have been killed as easily as not! And then what
+would you have said? Eh? What? Upon my soul! You girls from home have no
+more hearts than a parcel of old Juggernauts!" Ghyrkins was now furious.
+We edged away towards the dining-tent, making a great talk about the
+terrible heat of the sun in the morning. I caught the beginning of Miss
+Westonhaugh's answer. She had hardly appreciated the situation yet, and
+probably thought her uncle was joking, but she spoke very coldly, being
+properly annoyed at his talking in such a way.
+
+"You cannot suppose for a moment that I meant him to go," I heard her
+say, and something else followed in a lower tone. We then went into the
+dining-tent.
+
+"Now look here, Katharine," Mr. Ghyrkins' irate voice rang across the
+open space, "if any young woman asked me----" John Westonhaugh had risen
+from his chair and apparently interrupted his uncle. Miss Westonhaugh
+walked slowly to her tent, while her male relations remained talking. I
+thought Isaacs had shown some foresight in not taking part in the
+morning discussion. The two men went into their tents together and the
+dead tiger lay alone in the grass, the sun rising higher and higher,
+pouring down his burning rays on man and beast and green thing. And soon
+the shikarries came with a small elephant and dragged the carcass away
+to be skinned and cut up. Kildare and the collector said they would go
+and shoot some small game for dinner. Isaacs, I supposed, was sleeping,
+and I was alone in the dining-tent. I shouted for Kiramat Ali and sent
+for books, paper, and pens, and a hookah, resolved to have a quiet
+morning to myself, since it was clear we were not going out to-day. I
+saw Ghyrkins' servant enter his tent with bottles and ice, and I
+suspected the old fellow was going to cool his wrath with a "peg," and
+would be asleep most of the morning. John would take a peg too, but he
+would not sleep in consequence, being of Bombay, iron-headed and
+spirit-proof. So I read on and wrote, and was happy, for I like the heat
+of the noon-day and the buzzing of the flies, and the smell of the
+parched grass, being southern born.
+
+About twelve o'clock, when I was beginning to think I had done enough
+work for one day, I saw Miss Westonhaugh's native maid come out of her
+mistress's tent and survey the landscape, shading her eyes with her
+hand. She was dressed, of course, in spotless white drapery, and there
+were heavy anklets on her feet and bangles of silver on her wrist. She
+seemed satisfied by her inspection and went in again, returning
+presently with Miss Westonhaugh and a large package of work and novels
+and letter-writing materials. They came straight to where I was sitting
+under the airy tent where we dined, and Miss Westonhaugh established
+herself at one side of the table at the end of which I was writing.
+
+"It is so hot in my tent," she said almost apologetically, and began to
+unroll some worsted work.
+
+"Yes, it is quite unbearable," I answered politely, though I had not
+thought much about the temperature. There was a long silence, and I
+collected my papers in a bundle and leaned back in my chair. I did not
+know what to say, nor was anything expected of me. I looked occasionally
+at the young girl, who had laid her hat on the table, allowing the rich
+coils of dazzling hair to assert their independence. Her dark eyes were
+bent over her work as her fingers deftly pushed the needle in and out of
+the brown linen she worked on.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," she began at last without looking up, "did you know Mr.
+Isaacs was going out last night to kill that horrid thing?" I had
+expected the question for some time.
+
+"Yes; he told me about midnight, when he started."
+
+"Then why did you let him go?" she asked, looking suddenly at me, and
+knitting her dark eyebrows rather fiercely.
+
+"I do not think I could have prevented him. I do not think anybody could
+prevent him from doing anything he had made up his mind to. I nearly
+quarrelled with him, as it was."
+
+"I am sure I could have stopped him, if I had been you," she said
+innocently.
+
+"I have not the least doubt that you could. Unfortunately, however, you
+were not available at the time, or I would have suggested it to you."
+
+"I wish I had known," she went on, plunging deeper and deeper. "I would
+not have had him go for--for anything."
+
+"Oh! Well, I suppose not. But, seriously, Miss Westonhaugh, are you not
+flattered that a man should be willing and ready to risk life and limb
+in satisfying your lightest fancy?"
+
+"Flattered?" she looked at me with much astonishment and some anger. I
+was sure the look was genuine and not assumed.
+
+"At all events the tiger's ears will always be a charming reminiscence,
+a token of esteem that any one might be proud of."
+
+"I am not proud of them in the least, though I shall always keep them as
+a warning not to wish for such things. I hope that the next time Mr.
+Isaacs is going to do a foolish thing you will have the common sense to
+prevent him." She returned to her starting-point; but I saw no use in
+prolonging the skirmish, and turned the talk upon other things. And soon
+John Westonhaugh joined us, and found in me a sympathetic talker and
+listener, as we both cared a great deal more for books than for tigers,
+though not averse to a stray shot now and then.
+
+In this kind of life the week passed, shooting to-day and staying in
+camp to-morrow. We shifted our ground several times, working along the
+borders of the forest and crashing through the jungle after tiger with
+varying success. In the evenings, when not tired with the day's work, we
+sat together, and Isaacs sang, and at last even prevailed upon Miss
+Westonhaugh to let him accompany her with his guitar, in which he proved
+very successful. They were constantly together, and Ghyrkins was heard
+to say that Isaacs was "a very fine fellow, and it was a pity he wasn't
+English," to which Kildare assented somewhat mournfully, allowing that
+it was quite true. His chance was gone, and he knew it, and bore it like
+a gentleman, though he still made use of every opportunity he had to
+make himself acceptable to Miss Westonhaugh. The girl liked his manly
+ways, and was always grateful for any little attention from him that
+attracted her notice, but it was evident that all her interest ceased
+there. She liked him in the same way she liked her brother, but rather
+less, if anything. She hardly knew, for she had seen so little of John
+since she was a small child. I suppose Isaacs must have talked to her
+about me, for she treated me with a certain consideration, and often
+referred questions to me, on which I thought she might as well have
+consulted some one else. For my part, I served the lovers in every way I
+could think of. I would have done anything for Isaacs then as now, and I
+liked her for the honest good feeling she had shown about him,
+especially in the matter of the tiger's ears, for which she could not
+forgive herself--though in truth she had been innocent enough. And they
+were really lovers, those two. Any one might have seen it, and but for
+the wondrous fascination Isaacs exercised over every one who came near
+him, and the circumstances of his spotless name and reputation for
+integrity in the large transactions in which he was frequently known to
+be engaged, it is certain that Mr. Ghyrkins would have looked askance at
+the whole affair, and very likely would have broken up the party.
+
+In the course of time we became a little _blase_ about tigers, till on
+the eighth day from the beginning of the hunt, which was a Thursday, I
+remember, an incident occurred which left a lasting impression on the
+mind of every one who witnessed it. It was a very hot morning, the
+hottest day we had had, and we had just crossed a _nullah_ in the
+forest, full from the recent rains, wherein the elephants lingered
+lovingly to splash the water over their heated sides, drowning the
+swarms of mosquitoes from which they suffer such torments, in spite of
+their thick skins. The collector called a halt on the opposite side; our
+line of march had become somewhat disordered by the passage, and
+numerous tracks in the pasty black mud showed that the _nullah_ was a
+favourite resort of tigers--though at this time of day they might be a
+long distance off. I had come next to the collector after we emerged
+from the stream, the pad elephants having lingered longer in the water,
+and Mr. Ghyrkins with Miss Westonhaugh was three or four places beyond
+me. It was shady and cool under the thick trees, and the light was not
+good. The collector bent over his howdah, looking at some tracks.
+
+"Those tracks look suspiciously fresh, Mr. Griggs," said the collector,
+scrutinising the holes, not yet filled by the oozing back water of the
+_nullah_. "Don't you think so?"
+
+"Indeed, yes. I do not understand it at all," I replied. At the
+collector's call a couple of beaters came forward and stooped down to
+examine the trail. One of them, a good-looking young _gowala_, or
+cowherd, followed along the footprints, examining each to be sure he was
+not going on a false spoor; he moved slowly, scrutinising each hole, as
+the traces grew shallower on the rising ground, approaching a bit of
+small jungle. My sight followed the probable course of the track ahead
+of him and something caught my eyes, which are remarkably good, even at
+a great distance. The object was brown and hairy; a dark brown, not the
+kind of colour one expects to see in the jungle in September. I looked
+closely, and was satisfied that it must be part of an animal; still more
+clearly I saw it, and no doubt remained in my mind; it was the head of a
+bullock or a heifer. I shouted to the man to be careful, to stop and let
+the elephants plough through the undergrowth, as only elephants can. But
+he did not understand my Hindustani, which was of the civilised _Urdu_
+kind learnt in the North-West Provinces. The man went quickly along, and
+I tried to make the collector comprehend what I saw. But the pad
+elephants were coming out of the water and forcing themselves between
+our beasts, and he hardly caught what I said in the confusion. The track
+led away to my left, nearly opposite to the elephant bearing Mr.
+Ghyrkins and his niece. The little Pegnugger man was on my right. The
+native held on, moving more and more rapidly as he found himself
+following a single track. I shouted to him--to Ghyrkins--to everybody,
+but they could not make the doomed man understand what I saw--the
+freshly slain head of the tiger's last victim. There was little doubt
+that the king himself was near by--probably in that suspicious-looking
+bit of green jungle, slimy green too, as green is, that grows in sticky
+chocolate-coloured mud. The young fellow was courageous, and ignorant of
+the immediate danger, and, above all, he was on the look out for
+bucksheesh. He reached the reeds and unclean vegetables that grew thick
+and foul together in the little patch. He put one foot into the bush.
+
+A great fiery yellow and black head rose cautiously above the level of
+the green and paused a moment, glaring. The wretched man, transfixed
+with terror, stood stock still, expecting death. Then he moved, as if to
+throw himself on one side, and at the same instant the tiger made a dash
+at his naked body, such a dash as a great relentless cat makes at a
+gold-fish trying to slide away from its grip. The tiger struck the man a
+heavy blow on the right shoulder, felling him like a log, and coming
+down to a standing position over his prey, with one paw on the native's
+right arm. Probably the parade of elephants and bright coloured howdahs,
+and the shouts of the beaters and shikarries, distracted his attention
+for a moment. He stood whirling his tail to right and left, with half
+dropped jaw and flaming eyes, half pressing, half grabbing the fleshy
+arm of the senseless man beneath him--impatient, alarmed, and horrible.
+
+"Pack!!! Pi-i-i-i-ing ..." went the crack and the sing of the merry
+rifle, and the scene changed.
+
+With a yell like a soul in everlasting torment the great beast whirled
+himself into the air ten feet at least, and fell dead beside his victim,
+shot through breast and breastbone and heart. A dead silence fell on the
+spectators. Then I looked, and saw Miss Westonhaugh holding out a second
+gun to Mr. Ghyrkins, while he, seeing that the first had done its work,
+leaned forward, his broad face pale with the extremity of his horror for
+the man's danger, and his hands gripping at the empty rifle.
+
+"You've done it this time," cried the collector from the right. "Take
+six to four the man's dead!"
+
+"Done," called Kildare from the other end. I was the nearest to the
+scene, after Ghyrkins. I dropped over the edge of the howdah and made
+for the spot, running. I think I reflected as I ran that it was rather
+low for men to bet on the poor fellow's life in that way. Tigers are
+often very deceptive and always die hard, and I am a cautious person, so
+when I was near I pulled out my long army six-shooter, and, going
+within arm's length, quietly put a bullet through the beast's eye as a
+matter of safety. When he was cut up, however, the ball from the rifle
+of Mr. Ghyrkins was found in his heart; the old fellow was a dead shot
+still. I went up and examined the prostrate man. He was lying on his
+face, and so I picked him up and propped his head against the dead
+tiger. He was still breathing, but a very little examination proved that
+his right collar-bone and the bone of his upper arm were broken. A
+little brandy revived him, and he immediately began to scream with pain.
+I was soon joined by the collector, who with characteristic promptitude
+had torn and hewed some broad slats of bamboo from his howdah, and with
+a little pulling and wrenching, and the help of my long, tough
+turban-cloth, a real native pugree, we set and bound the arm as best we
+could, giving the poor fellow brandy all the while. The collar-bone we
+left to its own devices; an injury there takes care of itself.
+
+An elephant came up and received the dead tiger, and the man was carried
+off and placed in my howdah. The other animals with their riders had
+gathered near the scene, and every one had something to say to Ghyrkins,
+who by his brilliant shot and the life he had saved, had maintained his
+reputation, and come off the hero of the whole campaign. Miss
+Westonhaugh was speechless with horror at the whole thing, and seemed to
+cling to her uncle, as if fearing something of the same kind might
+happen to her at any moment. Isaacs, as usual the last on the line of
+beating, came up and called out his congratulations.
+
+"After saving a life so well, Mr. Ghyrkins, you will not grudge me the
+poor honour of risking one, will you?"
+
+"Not I, my boy!" answered the delighted old sportsman, "only if that
+mangy old man-eater had got you down the other day, I should not have
+been there to pot him!"
+
+"Great shot, sir! I envy you," said Kildare.
+
+"Splendid shot. A hundred yards at least," said John Westonhaugh
+meditatively, but in a loud voice.
+
+So we swung away toward the camp, though it was early. Ghyrkins
+chuckled, and the man with the broken bones groaned. But between the
+different members of the party he would be a rich man before he was
+well. I amused myself with my favourite sport of potting peacocks with
+bullets; it is very good practice. Isaacs had told me that morning when
+we started that he would leave us the next day to meet Shere Ali near
+Keitung. We reached camp about three o'clock, in the heat of the
+afternoon. The injured beater was put in a servant's tent to be sent off
+to Pegnugger in a litter in the cool of the night. There was a doctor
+there who would take care of him under the collector's written orders.
+
+The camp was in a shady place, quite unlike the spot where we had first
+pitched our tents. There was a little grove of mango-trees, rather
+stunted, as they are in the north, and away at one corner of the
+plantation was a well with a small temple where a Brahmin, related to
+all the best families in the neighbouring village, dwelt and collected
+the gifts bestowed on him and his simple shrine by the superstitious,
+devout, or worldly pilgrims who yearly and monthly visited him in search
+of counsel, spiritual or social. The men had mowed the grass smooth
+under the trees, and the shade was not so close as to make it damp. Some
+ryots had been called in to dig a ditch and raised a rough _chapudra_ or
+terrace, some fifteen feet in diameter, opposite the dining-tent, on
+which elevation we could sit, even late at night, in reasonable security
+from cobras and other evil beasts. It was a pleasant place in the
+afternoon, and pleasanter still at night. As I turned into our tent
+after we got back, I thought I would go and sit there when I had bathed,
+and send for a hookah and a novel, and go to sleep.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+I observed that Isaacs was very quick about his toilet, and when I came
+out and ascended the terrace, followed by Kiramat Ali with books and
+tobacco, I glanced lazily over the quiet scene, settling myself in my
+chair, and fully expecting to see my friend somewhere among the trees,
+not unaccompanied by some one else. I was not mistaken. Turning my eyes
+towards the corner of the grove where the old Brahmin had his shrine, I
+saw the two well-known figures of Isaacs and Miss Westonhaugh sauntering
+towards the well. Having satisfied the expectations of my curiosity, I
+turned over the volume of philosophy, well thumbed and hard used as a
+priest's breviary, and I inhaled long draughts of tobacco, debating
+whether I should read, or meditate, or dream. Deciding in favour of the
+more mechanical form of intellectuality, I fixed on a page that looked
+inviting, and followed the lines, from left to right, lazily at first,
+then with increased interest, and finally in that absorbed effort of
+continued comprehension which constitutes real study. Page after page,
+syllogism after syllogism, conclusion after conclusion, I followed for
+the hundredth time in the book I love well--the book of him that would
+destroy the religion I believe, but whose brilliant failure is one of
+the grandest efforts of the purely human mind. I finished a chapter and,
+in thought still, but conscious again of life, I looked up. They were
+still down there by the well, those two, but while I looked the old
+priest, bent and white, came out of the little temple where he had been
+sprinkling his image of Vishnu, and dropped his aged limbs from one step
+to the other painfully, steadying his uncertain descent with a stick. He
+went to the beautiful couple seated on the edge of the well, built of
+mud and sun-dried bricks, and he seemed to speak to Isaacs, I watched,
+and became interested in the question whether Isaacs would give him a
+two-anna bit or a copper, and whether I could distinguish with the naked
+eye at that distance between the silver and the baser metal. Curious,
+thought I, how odd little trifles will absorb the attention. The
+interview which was to lead to the expected act of charity seemed to be
+lasting a long time.
+
+Suddenly Isaacs turned and called to me; his high, distinct tones
+seeming to gather volume from the hollow of the well. He was calling me
+to join them. I rose, rather reluctantly, from my books and moved
+through the trees to where they were.
+
+"Griggs," Isaacs called out before I had reached him, "here is an old
+fellow who knows something. I really believe he is something of a yogi."
+
+"What ridiculous nonsense," I said impatiently, "who ever heard of a
+yogi living in a temple and feeding on the fat of the land in the way
+all these men do? Is that all you wanted?" Miss Westonhaugh, peering
+down into the depths of the well, laughed gaily.
+
+"I told you so! Never try to make Mr. Griggs swallow that kind of thing.
+Besides, he is a 'cynic' you know."
+
+"As far as personal appearance goes, Miss Westonhaugh, I think your
+friend the Brahmin there stands more chance of being taken for a
+philosopher of that school. He really does not look particularly well
+fed, in spite of the riches I thought he possessed." He was a
+strange-looking old man, with a white beard and a small badly-rolled
+pugree. His black eyes were filmy and disagreeable to look at. I
+addressed him in Hindustani, and told him what Isaacs said, that he
+thought he was a yogi. The old fellow did not look at me, nor did the
+bleared eyes give any sign of intelligence. Nevertheless he answered my
+question.
+
+"Of what avail that I do wonders for you who believe not?" he asked, and
+his voice sounded cracked and far off.
+
+"It will avail thee several coins, friend," I answered, "both rupees and
+pais. Reflect that there may be bucksheesh in store for thee, and do a
+miracle."
+
+"I will not do wonders for bucksheesh," said the priest, and began to
+hobble away. Isaacs stepped lightly to his side and whispered something
+in his ear. The ancient Brahmin turned.
+
+"Then I will do a wonder for you, but I want no bucksheesh. I will do it
+for the lady with white hair, whose face resembles Chunder." He looked
+long and fixedly at Miss Westonhaugh. "Let the _sahib log_ come with me
+a stone's throw from the well, and let one sahib call his servant and
+bid him draw water that he may wash his hands. And I will do this
+wonder; the man shall not draw any water, though he had the strength of
+Siva, until I say the word." So we moved away under the trees, and I
+shouted for Kiramat Ali, who came running down, and I told him to send a
+_bhisti_, a water-carrier, with his leathern bucket. Then we waited.
+Presently the man came, with bucket and rope.
+
+"Draw water, that I may wash my hands," said I.
+
+"Achha, sahib," and he strode to the well and lowered his pail by the
+rope. The priest looked intently at him as he shook the rope to turn the
+bucket over and let it fill; then he began to pull. The bucket seemed to
+be caught. He jerked, and then bent his whole weight back, drawing the
+rope across the edge of the brickwork. The thing was immovable. He
+seemed astonished and looked down into the well, thinking the pail was
+caught in a stone. I could not resist the temptation to go down and
+inspect the thing. No. The bucket was full and lying in the middle of
+the round sheet of water at the bottom of the well. The man tugged,
+while the Brahmin never took his eyes, now bright and fiery, off him. I
+went back to where they all stood. The thing had lasted five minutes.
+Then the priest's lips moved silently.
+
+Instantly the strain was released and the stout water-carrier fell
+headlong backwards on the grass, his heels in the air, jerking the
+bucket right over the edge of the well. He bounded to his feet and ran
+up the grove, shouting "Bhut, Bhut," "devils, devils," at the top of his
+voice. His obstinacy had lasted so long as the bucket would not move,
+but then his terror got the better of him and he fled.
+
+"Did you ever see anything of that kind before, Miss Westonhaugh?" I
+inquired.
+
+"No indeed; have you? How is it done?"
+
+"I have seen similar things done, but not often. There are not many of
+them that know how. But I cannot tell you the process any more than I
+can explain the mango trick, which belongs, distantly, to the same class
+of phenomena."
+
+The Brahmin, whose eyes were again dim and filmy, turned to Isaacs.
+
+"I have done a wonder for you. I will also tell you a saying. You have
+done wrong in not taking the advice of your friend. You should not have
+come forth to kill the king of game, nor have brought the white-haired
+lady into the tiger's jaws. I have spoken. Peace be with you." And he
+moved away.
+
+"And with you peace, friend," answered Isaacs mechanically, but as I
+looked at him he turned white to the very lips.
+
+Miss Westonhaugh did not understand the language, and Isaacs would have
+been the last person to translate such a speech as the Brahmin had made.
+We turned and strolled up the hill, and presently I bethought me of some
+errand, and left them together under the trees. They were so happy and
+so beautiful together, the fair lily from the English dale and the deep
+red rose of Persian Gulistan. The sun slanted low through the trees and
+sank in rose-coloured haze, and the moon, now just at the half, began to
+shine out softly through the mangoes, and still the lovers walked,
+pacing slowly to and fro near the well. No wonder they dallied long; it
+was their last evening together, and I doubted not that Isaacs was
+telling her of his sudden departure, necessary for reasons which I knew
+he would not explain to her or to any one else.
+
+At last we all assembled in the dining-tent. Mr. Currie Ghyrkins was
+among the first, and his niece was the last to enter the room. He was
+glorious that evening, his kindly red face beamed on every one, and he
+carried himself like a victorious general at a ladies' tea-party. He had
+reason to be happy, and his jerky good spirits were needed to
+counterbalance the deep melancholy that seemed to have settled upon his
+niece. The colour was gone from her cheeks, and her dark eyes, heavily
+fringed by the black brows and lashes, shone out strangely; the contrast
+between the white flaxen hair, drawn back in simple massive waves like a
+Greek statue, and the broad level eyes as dark as night, was almost
+startling this evening in the singularity of its beauty. She sat like a
+queenly marble at the end of the table, not silent, by any means, but so
+evidently out of spirits that John Westonhaugh, who did not know that
+Isaacs was going in the morning, and would not have supposed that his
+sister could care so much, if he had known, remarked upon her
+depression.
+
+"What is the matter, Katharine?" he asked kindly. "Have you a headache
+this evening?" She was just then staring rather blankly into space.
+
+"Oh no," she said, trying to smile. "I was thinking."
+
+"Ah," said Mr. Ghyrkins merrily, "that is why you look so unlike
+yourself, my dear!" And he laughed at his rough little joke.
+
+"Do I?" asked the girl absently.
+
+But Ghyrkins was not to be repressed, and as Kildare and the Pegnugger
+man were gay and wide awake, the dinner was not as dull as might have
+been expected. When it was over, Isaacs announced his intention of
+leaving early the next morning. Very urgent business recalled him
+suddenly, he explained. A messenger had arrived just before dinner. He
+must leave without fail in the morning. Miss Westonbaugh of course was
+forewarned; but the others were not. Lord Steepleton Kildare, in the act
+of lighting a cheroot, dropped the vesuvian incontinently, and stood
+staring at Isaacs with an indescribable expression of empty wonder in
+his face, while the match sputtered and smouldered and died away in the
+grass by the door. John Westonhaugh, who liked Isaacs sincerely, and had
+probably contemplated the possibility of the latter marrying Katharine,
+looked sorry at first, and then a half angry expression crossed his
+face, which softened instantly again. Currie Ghyrkins swore loudly that
+it was out of the question--that it would break up the party--that he
+would not hear of it, and so on.
+
+"I must go," said Isaacs quietly. "It is a very serious matter. I am
+sorry--more sorry than I can tell you; but I must."
+
+"But you cannot, you know. Damn it, sir, you are the life of the party,
+you know! Come, come, this will never do!"
+
+"My dear sir," said Isaacs, addressing Ghyrkins, "if, when you were
+about to fire this morning to save that poor devil's life, I had begged
+you not to shoot, would you have complied?"
+
+"Why, of course not," ejaculated Ghyrkins angrily.
+
+"Well, neither can I comply, though I would give anything to stay with
+you all."
+
+"But nobody's life depends on your going away to-morrow morning. What do
+you mean? The deuce and all, you know, I don't understand you a bit."
+
+"I cannot tell you, Mr. Ghyrkins; but something depends on my going,
+which is of as great importance to the person concerned as life itself.
+Believe me," he said, going near to the old gentleman and laying a hand
+on his arm, "I do not go willingly."
+
+"Well, I hope not, I am sure," said Ghyrkins gruffly, though yielding.
+"If you will, you will, and there's no holding you; but we are all very
+sorry. That's all. Mahmoud! bring fire, you lazy pigling, that I may
+smoke." And he threw himself into a chair, the very creaking of the cane
+wicker expressing annoyance and dissatisfaction.
+
+So there was an end of it, and Isaacs strode off through the moonlight
+to his quarters, to make some arrangement, I supposed. But he did not
+come back. Miss Westonhaugh retired also to her tent, and no one was
+surprised to see her go. Kildare rose presently and asked if I would not
+stroll to the well, or anywhere, it was such a jolly night. I went with
+him, and arm in arm we walked slowly down. The young moon was bright
+among the mango-trees, striking the shining leaves, that reflected a
+strange greenish light. We moved leisurely, and spoke little. I
+understood Kildare's silence well enough, and I had nothing to say. The
+ground was smooth and even, for the men had cut the grass close, and the
+little humped cow that belonged to the old Brahmin cropped all she could
+get at.
+
+We skirted round the edge of the grove, intending to go back to the
+tents another way. Suddenly I saw something in front that arrested my
+attention. Two figures, some thirty yards away. They stood quite still,
+turned from us. A man and a woman between the trees, an opening in the
+leaves just letting a ray of moonlight slip through on them. His arm
+around her, the tall lissome figure of her bent, and her head resting on
+his shoulder. I have good eyes and was not mistaken, but I trusted
+Kildare had not seen. A quick twitch of his arm, hanging carelessly
+through mine, told me the mischief was done before I could turn his
+attention. By a common instinct we wheeled to the left, and passing into
+the open strolled back in the direction whence we had come. I did not
+look at Kildare, but after a minute he began to talk about the moonlight
+and tigers, and whether tigers were ever shot by moonlight, and
+altogether was rather incoherent; but I took up the question, and we
+talked bravely till we got back to the dining-tent, where we sat down
+again, secretly wishing we had not gone for a stroll after all. In a few
+minutes Isaacs came from his tent, which he must have entered from the
+other side. He was perfectly at his ease, and at once began talking
+about the disagreeable journey he had before him. Then, after a time, we
+broke up, and he said good-bye to every one in turn, and Ghyrkins told
+John to call his sister, if she were still visible, for "Mr. Isaacs
+wanted to say good-bye." So she came and took his hand, and made a
+simple speech about "meeting again before long," as she stood with her
+uncle; and my friend and I went away to our tent.
+
+We sat long in the _connat_. Isaacs did not seem to want rest, and I
+certainly did not. For the first half hour he was engaged in giving
+directions to the faithful Narain, who moved about noiselessly among the
+portmanteaus and gun-cases and boots which strewed the floor. At last
+all was settled for the start before dawn, and he turned to me.
+
+"We shall meet again in Simla, Griggs, of course?"
+
+"I hope so. Of course we shall, unless you are killed by those fellows
+at Keitung. I would not trust them."
+
+"I do not trust them in the least, but I have an all-powerful ally in
+Ram Lal. Did you not think it very singular that the Brahmin should know
+all about Ram Lal's warning? and that he should have the same opinion?"
+
+"We live in a country where nothing should astonish us, as I remember
+saying to you a fortnight ago, when we first met," I answered. "That the
+Brahmin possesses some knowledge of _yog-vidya_ is more clearly shown by
+his speech about Ram Lal than by that ridiculous trick with my
+water-carrier."
+
+"You are not easily astonished, Griggs. But I agree with you as to that.
+I am still at a loss to understand why I should not have come or let the
+others come. I was startled at the Brahmin."
+
+"I saw you were; you were as white as a sheet, and yet you turned up
+your nose at Ram Lal when he told you not to come."
+
+"The Brahmin said something more than Ram Lal. He said I should not have
+brought the white-haired lady into the tiger's jaws. I saw that the
+first warning had been on her account, and I suppose the impression of
+possible danger for her frightened me."
+
+"It would not have frightened you three weeks ago about any woman," I
+said. "It appears to me that your ideas in certain quarters have
+undergone some little change. You are as different from the Isaacs I
+knew at first as Philip drunk was different from Philip sober. Such is
+human nature--scoffing at women the one day, and risking life and soul
+for their whims the next."
+
+"I hate your reflections about the human kind, Griggs, and I do not like
+your way of looking at women. You hate women so!"
+
+"No. You like my descriptions of the 'ideal creatures I rave about' much
+better, it seems. Upon my soul, friend, if you want a criterion of
+yourself, take this conversation. A fortnight ago to-day--or to-morrow,
+will it be?--I was lecturing you about the way to regard women; begging
+you to consider that they had souls and were capable of loving, as well
+as of being loved. And here you are accusing me of hating the whole sex,
+and without the slightest provocation on my part, either. Here is Birnam
+wood coming to Dunsinane with a vengeance!"
+
+"Oh, I don't deny it. I don't pretend to argue about it. I have changed
+a good deal in the last month." He pensively crossed one leg over the
+other as he lay back on the long chair and pulled at his slipper. "I
+suppose I have--changed a good deal."
+
+"No wonder. I presume your views of immortality, the future state of the
+fair sex, and the application of transcendental analysis to matrimony,
+all changed about the same time?"
+
+"Don't be unreasonable," he answered. "It all dates from that evening
+when I had that singular fit and the vision I related to you. I have
+never been the same man since; and I am glad of it. I now believe women
+to be much more adorable than you painted them, and not half enough
+adored." Suddenly he dropped the extremely English manner which he
+generally affected in the idiom and construction of his speech, and
+dropped back into something more like his own language. "The star that
+was over my life is over it no longer. I have no life-star any longer.
+The jewel of the southern sky withdraws his light, paling before the
+white gold from the northern land. The gold that shall be mine through
+all the cycles of the sun, the gold that neither man nor monarch shall
+take from me. What have I to do with stars in heaven? Is not my star
+come down to earth to abide with me through life? And when life is over
+and the scroll is full, shall not my star bear me hence, beyond the
+fiery foot-bridge, beyond the paradise of my people and its senseless
+sensuality of houris and strong wine? Beyond the very memory of limited
+and bounded life, to that life eternal where there is neither limit, nor
+bound, nor sorrow? Shall our two souls not unite and be one soul to roam
+through the countless circles of revolving outer space? Not through
+years, or for times, or for ages--but for ever? The light of life is
+woman, the love of life is the love of woman; the light that pales not,
+the life that cannot die, the love that can know not any ending; _my_
+light, _my_ life, and _my_ love!" His whole soul was in his voice, and
+his whole heart; the twining white fingers, the half-closed eyes, and
+the passionate quivering tone, told all he had left unsaid. It was
+surely a high and a noble thing that he felt, worthy of the man in his
+beauty of mind and body. He loved an ideal, revealed to him, as he
+thought, in the shape of the fair English girl; he worshipped his ideal
+through her, without a thought that he could be mistaken. Happy man!
+Perhaps he had a better chance of going through life without any cruel
+revelation of his mistake than falls to the lot of most lovers, for she
+was surpassingly beautiful, and most good and true hearted. But are not
+people always mistaken who think to find the perfect comprehended in the
+imperfect, the infinite enchained and made tangible in the finite? Bah!
+The same old story, the same old vicious circle, the everlastingly
+recurring mathematical view of things that cannot be treated
+mathematically; the fruitless attempt to measure the harmonious circle
+of the soul by the angular square of the book. What poor things our
+minds are, after all. We have but one way of thinking derived from what
+we know, and we incontinently apply it to things of which we can know
+nothing, and then we quarrel with the result, which is a mere _reductio
+ad absurdum_, showing how utterly false and meagre are our hypotheses,
+premisses, and so-called axioms. Confucius, who began his system with
+the startling axiom that "man is good," arrived at much more really
+serviceable conclusions than Schopenhauer and all the pessimists put
+together. Meanwhile, Isaacs was in love, and, I supposed, expected me to
+say something appreciative.
+
+"My dear friend," I began, "it is a rare pleasure to hear any one talk
+like that; it refreshes a man's belief in human nature, and enthusiasm,
+and all kinds of things. I talked like that some time ago because you
+would not. I think you are a most satisfactory convert."
+
+"I am indeed a convert. I would not have believed it possible, and now I
+cannot believe that I ever thought differently. I suppose it is the way
+with all converts--in religion as well--and with all people who are
+taken up by a fair-winged genius from an arid desert and set down in a
+garden of roses." He could not long confine himself to ordinary
+language. "And yet the hot sand of the desert, and the cool of the
+night, and the occasional patch of miserable, languishing green, with
+the little kindly spring in the camel-trodden oasis, seemed all so
+delightful in the past life that one was quite content, never suspecting
+the existence of better things. But now--I could almost laugh to think
+of it. I stand in the midst of the garden that is filled with all things
+fair, and the tree of life is beside me, blossoming straight and broad
+with the flowers that wither not, and the fruit that is good to the
+parched lips and the thirsty spirit. And the garden is for us to dwell
+in now, and the eternity of the heavenly spheres is ours hereafter." He
+was all on fire again. I kept silence for some time; and his hands
+unfolded, and he raised them and clasped them under his head, and drew a
+deep long breath, as if to taste the new life that was in him.
+
+"Forgive my bringing you down to earth again," I said after a while,
+"but have you made all necessary arrangements? Is there anything I can
+do, after you are gone? Anything to be said to these good people, if
+they question me about your sudden departure?"
+
+"Yes. I was forgetting. If you will be so kind, I wish you would see the
+expedition out, and take charge of the expenses. There are some bags of
+rupees somewhere among my traps. Narain knows. I shall not take him with
+me--or, no; on second thoughts I will hand you over the money, and take
+him to Simla. Then, about the other thing. Do not tell any one where I
+have gone, unless it be Miss Westonhaugh, and use your own discretion
+about her. We shall all be in Simla in ten days, and I do not want this
+thing known, as you may imagine. I do not think there is anything else,
+thanks." He paused, as if thinking. "Yes, there is one more
+consideration. If anything out of the way should occur in this
+transaction with Baithopoor, I should want your assistance, if you will
+give it. Would you mind?"
+
+"Of course not. Anything----"
+
+"In that case, if Ram Lal thinks you are wanted, he will send a swift
+messenger to you with a letter signed by me, in the Persian
+_shikast_--which you read.--Will you come by the way he will direct you,
+if I send? He will answer for your safety."
+
+"I will come," I said, though I thought it was rather rash of me, who am
+a cautious man, to trust my life in the hands of a shadowy person like
+Ram Lal, who seemed to come and go in strange ways, and was in
+communication with suspicious old Brahmin jugglers. But I trusted Isaacs
+better than his adept friend.
+
+"I suppose," I said, vaguely hoping there might yet be a possibility of
+detaining him, "that there is no way of doing this business so that you
+could remain here."
+
+"No, friend Griggs. If there were any other way, I would not go now. I
+would not go to-day, of all days in the year--of all days in my life.
+There is no other way, by the grave of my father, on whom be the peace
+of Allah." So we went to bed.
+
+At four o'clock Narain waked us, and in twenty minutes Isaacs was on
+horseback. I had ordered a _tat_ to be in readiness for me, thinking I
+would ride with him an hour or two in the cool of the morning. So we
+passed along by the quiet tents, Narain disappearing in the manner
+peculiar to Hindoo servants, to be found at the end of the day's march,
+smiling as ever. The young moon had set some time before, but the stars
+were bright, though it was dark under the trees.
+
+Twenty yards beyond the last tent, a dark figure swept suddenly out from
+the blackness and laid a hand on Isaacs' rein. He halted and bent over,
+and I heard some whispering. It only lasted a moment, and the figure
+shot away again. I was sure I heard something like a kiss, in the gloom,
+and there was a most undeniable smell of roses in the air. I held my
+peace, though I was astonished. I could not have believed her capable of
+it. Lying in wait in the dusk of the morning to give her lover a kiss
+and a rose and a parting word. She must have taken me for his servant in
+the dark.
+
+"Griggs," said Isaacs as we parted some six or seven miles farther
+on,--"an odd thing happened this morning. I have left something more in
+your keeping than money."
+
+"I know. Trust me. Good-bye," and he cantered off.
+
+I confess I was very dejected and low-spirited when I came back into
+camp. My acquaintance with Isaacs, so suddenly grown into intimacy, had
+become a part of my life. I felt a sort of devotion to him that I had
+never felt for any man in my life before. I would rather have gone with
+him to Keitung, for a presentiment told me there was trouble in the
+wind. He had not talked to me about the Baithopoor intrigue, for
+everything was as much settled beforehand as it was possible to settle
+anything. There was nothing to be said, for all that was to come was
+action; but I knew Isaacs distrusted the maharajah, and that without Ram
+Lal's assistance--of whatever nature that might prove to be--he would
+not have ventured to go alone to such a tryst.
+
+When I returned the camp was all alive, for it was nearly seven o'clock.
+Kildare and the collector, my servant said, had gone off on _tats_ to
+shoot some small game. Mr. Ghyrkins was occupied with the shikarries in
+the stretching and dressing of the skin he had won the previous day.
+Neither Miss Westonhaugh nor her brother had been seen. So I dressed and
+rested myself and had some tea, and sat wondering what the camp would be
+like without Isaacs, who, to me and to one other person, was
+emphatically, as Ghyrkins had said the night before, the life of the
+party. The weather was not so warm as on the previous day, and I was
+debating whether I should not try and induce the younger men to go and
+stick a pig--the shikarry said there were plenty in some place he knew
+of--or whether I should settle myself in the dining-tent for a long day
+with my books, when the arrival of a mounted messenger with some letters
+from the distant post-office decided me in favour of the more peaceful
+disposition of my time. So I glanced at the papers, and assured myself
+that the English were going deeper and deeper into the mire of
+difficulties and reckless expenditure that characterised their campaign
+in Afghanistan in the autumn of 1879; and when I had assured myself,
+furthermore, by the perusal of a request for the remittance of twenty
+pounds, that my nephew, the only relation, male or female, that I have
+in the world, had not come to the untimely death he so richly deserved,
+I fell to considering what book I should read. And from one thing to
+another, I found myself established about ten o'clock at the table in
+the dining-tent, with Miss Westonhaugh at one side, worsted work,
+writing materials and all, just as she had been at the same table a week
+or so before. At her request I had continued my writing when she came
+in. I was finishing off a column of a bloodthirsty article for the
+_Howler_; it probably would come near enough to the mark, for in India
+you may print a leader anywhere within a month of its being written, and
+if it was hot enough to begin with, it will still answer the purpose.
+Journalism is not so rapid in its requirements as in New York, but, on
+the other hand, it is more lucrative.
+
+"Mr. Griggs, are you _very_ busy?"
+
+"Oh dear, no--nothing to speak of," I went on writing--the
+unprecedented--folly--the--blatant--charlatanism----
+
+"Mr. Griggs, do you understand these things?"
+
+----Lord Beaconsfield's--"I think so, Miss Westonhaugh"--Afghan
+policy----There, I thought,
+
+I think that would rouse Mr. Currie Ghyrkins, if he ever saw it, which I
+trust he never will. I had done, and I folded the numbered sheets in an
+oblong bundle.
+
+"I beg your pardon, Miss Westonhaugh; I was just finishing a sentence. I
+am quite at your service."
+
+"Oh no! I see you are too busy."
+
+"Not in the least, I assure you. Is it that tangled skein? Let me help
+you."
+
+"Oh thank you. It is so tiresome, and I am not in the least inclined to
+be industrious."
+
+I took the wool and set to work. It was very easy, after all; I pulled
+the loops through, and back again and through from the other side, and I
+found the ends, and began to wind it up on a piece of paper. It is
+singular, though, how the unaided wool can tie itself into every kind of
+a knot--reef, carrick bend, bowline, bowline in a bight, not to mention
+a variety of hitches and indescribable perversions of entanglement. I
+was getting on very well, though. I looked up at her face, pale and
+weary with a sleepless night, but beautiful--ah yes--beautiful beyond
+compare. She smiled faintly.
+
+"You are very clever with your fingers. Where did you learn it? Have you
+a sister who makes you wind her wool for her at home?"
+
+"No. I have no sister. I went to sea once upon a time."
+
+"Were you ever in the navy, Mr. Griggs?"
+
+"Oh no. I went before the mast."
+
+"But you would not learn to unravel wool before the mast. I suppose your
+mother taught you when you were small--if you ever were small."
+
+"I never had a mother that I can remember--I learned to do all those
+things at sea."
+
+"Forgive me," she said, guessing she had struck some tender chord in my
+existence. "What an odd life you must have had."
+
+"Perhaps. I never had any relations that I can remember, except a
+brother, much older than I. He died years ago, and his son is my only
+living relation. I was born in Italy."
+
+"But when did you learn so many things? You seem to know every language
+under the sun."
+
+"I had a good education when I got ashore. Some one was very kind to me,
+and I had learned Latin and Greek in the common school in Rome before I
+ran away to sea."
+
+I answered her questions reluctantly. I did not want to talk about my
+history, especially to a girl like her. I suppose she saw my
+disinclination, for as I handed her the card with the wool neatly wound
+on it, she thanked me and presently changed the subject, or at least
+shifted the ground.
+
+"There is something so free about the life of an adventurer--I mean a
+man who wanders about doing brave things. If I were a man I would be an
+adventurer like you."
+
+"Not half so much of an adventurer, as you call it, as our friend who
+went off this morning."
+
+It was the first mention of Isaacs since his departure. I had said the
+thing inadvertently, for I would not have done anything to increase her
+trouble for the world. She leaned back, dropping her hands with her work
+in her lap, and stared straight out through the doorway, as pale as
+death--pale as only fair-skinned people are when they are ill, or hurt.
+She sat quite still. I wondered if she were ill, or if it were only
+Isaacs' going that had wrought this change in her brilliant looks.
+"Would you like me to read something to you, Miss Westonhaugh? Here is a
+comparatively new book--_The Light of Asia_, by Mr. Edwin Arnold. It is
+a poem about India. Would it give you any pleasure?" She guessed the
+kind intention, and a little shadow of a smile passed over her lips.
+
+"You are so kind, Mr. Griggs. Please, you are so very kind."
+
+I began to read, and read on and on through the exquisite rise and fall
+of the stanzas, through the beautiful clear high thoughts which seem to
+come as a breath and a breeze from an unattainable heaven, from the
+Nirvana we all hope for in our inmost hearts, whatever our confession of
+faith. And the poor girl was soothed, and touched and lulled by the
+music of thought and the sigh of verse that is in the poem; and the
+morning passed. I suppose the quiet and the poetry wrought up in her the
+feeling of confidence she felt in me, as being her lover's friend, for
+after I had paused a minute or two, seeing some one coming toward the
+tent, she said quite simply--
+
+"Where is he gone?"
+
+"He is gone to do a very noble deed. He is gone to save the life of a
+man he never saw." A bright light came into her face, and all the
+chilled heart's blood, driven from her cheeks by the weariness of her
+first parting, rushed joyously back, and for one moment there dwelt on
+her features the glory and bloom of the love and happiness that had been
+hers all day yesterday, that would be hers again--when? Poor Miss
+Westonhaugh, it seemed so long to wait.
+
+The day passed somehow, but the dinner was dismal. Miss Westonhaugh was
+evidently far from well, and I could not conceive that the pain of a
+temporary parting should make so sudden a change in one so perfectly
+strong and healthy--even were her nature ever so sensitive. Kildare and
+the Pegnugger magistrate tried to keep up the spirits of the party, but
+John Westonhaugh was anxious about his sister, and even old Mr. Currie
+Ghyrkins was beginning to fancy there must be something wrong. We sat
+smoking outside, and the young girl refused to leave us, though John
+begged her to. As we sat, it may have been half an hour after dinner, a
+messenger came galloping up in hot haste, and leaping to the ground
+asked for "Gurregis Sahib," with the usual native pronunciation of my
+euphonious name. Being informed, he salaamed low and handed me a letter,
+which I took to the light. It was in _shikast_ Persian, and signed
+"Abdul Hafiz-ben-Isak." "Ram Lal," he said, "has met me unexpectedly,
+and sends you this by his own means, which are swift as the flight of
+the eagle. It is indispensable that you meet us below Keitung, towards
+Sultanpoor, on the afternoon of the day when the moon is full. Travel by
+Julinder and Sultanpoor; you will easily overtake me, since I go by
+Simla. For friendship's sake, for love's sake, come. It is life and
+death. Give the money to the Irishman. Peace be with you."
+
+I sighed a sigh of the most undetermined description. Was I glad to
+rejoin my friend? or was I pained to leave the woman he loved in her
+present condition? I hardly knew.
+
+"I think we had all better go back to Simla," said John, when I
+explained that the most urgent business called me away at dawn.
+
+"There will be none of us left soon," said Ghyrkins quite quietly and
+mournfully.
+
+I found means to let Miss Westonhaugh understand where I was going. I
+gave Kildare the money in charge.
+
+In the dark of the morning, as I cleared the tents, the same shadow I
+had seen before shot out and laid a hand on my rein. I halted on the
+same spot where Isaacs had drawn rein twenty-four hours before.
+
+"Give him this from me. God be with you!" She was gone in a moment,
+leaving a small package in my right hand. I thrust it in my bosom and
+rode away.
+
+"How she loves him," I thought, wondering greatly.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+It was not an agreeable journey I had undertaken. In order to reach the
+inaccessible spot, chosen by Isaacs for the scene of Shere Ali's
+liberation, in time to be of any use, it was necessary that I should
+travel by a more direct and arduous route than that taken by my friend.
+He had returned to Simla, and by his carefully made arrangements would
+be able to reach Keitung, or the spot near it, where the transaction was
+to take place, by constant changes of horses where riding was possible,
+and by a strong body of dooly-bearers wherever the path should prove too
+steep for four-footed beasts of burden. I, on the other hand, must leave
+the road at Julinder, a place I had never visited, and must trust to my
+own unaided wits and a plentiful supply of rupees to carry me over at
+least two hundred miles of country I did not know--difficult certainly,
+and perhaps impracticable for riding. The prospect was not a pleasant
+one, but I was convinced that in a matter of this importance a man of
+Isaacs' wit and wealth would have made at least some preliminary
+arrangements for me, since he probably knew the country well enough
+himself. I had but six days at the outside to reach my destination.
+
+I had resolved to take one servant, Kiramat Ali, with me as far as
+Julinder, whence I would send him back to Simla with what slender
+luggage we carried, for I meant to ride as light as possible, with no
+encumbrance to delay me when once I left the line of the railway. I
+might have ridden five miles with Kiramat Ali behind me on a sturdy
+_tat_, when I was surprised by the appearance of an unknown saice in
+plain white clothes, holding a pair of strong young ponies by the halter
+and salaaming low.
+
+"Pundit Ram Lal sends your highness his peace, and bids you ride without
+sparing. The _dak_ is laid to the fire-carriages."
+
+The saddles were changed in a moment, Kiramat Ali and I assisting in the
+operation. It was clear that Ram Lal's messengers were swift, for even
+if he had met Isaacs when the latter reached the railroad, no ordinary
+horse could have returned with the message at the time I had received
+it. Still less would any ordinary Hindus be capable of laying a _dak_,
+or post route of relays, over a hundred miles long in twelve hours. Once
+prepared, it was a mere matter of physical endurance in the rider to
+cover the ground, for the relays were stationed every five or six miles.
+It was well known that Lord Steepleton Kildare had lately ridden from
+Simla to Umballa one night and back the next day, ninety-two miles each
+way, with constant change of cattle. What puzzled me was the rapidity
+with which the necessary dispositions had been made. On the whole, I was
+reassured. If Ram Lal had been able to prepare my way at such short
+notice here, with two more days at his disposal he would doubtless
+succeed in laying me a _dak_ most of the way from Julinder to Keitung. I
+will not dwell upon the details of the journey. I reached the railroad
+and prepared for forty-eight hours of jolting and jostling and broken
+sleep. It is true that railway travelling is nowhere so luxurious as in
+India, where a carriage has but two compartments, each holding as a rule
+only two persons, though four can be accommodated by means of hanging
+berths. Each compartment has a spacious bathroom attached, where you may
+bathe as often as you please, and there are various contrivances for
+ventilating and cooling the air. Nevertheless the heat is sometimes
+unbearable, and a journey from Bombay to Calcutta direct during the warm
+months is a severe trial to the strongest constitution. On this occasion
+I had about forty-eight hours to travel, and I was resolved to get all
+the rest in that time that the jolting made possible; for I knew that
+once in the saddle again it might be days before I got a night's sleep.
+And so we rumbled along, through the vast fields of sugar-cane, now
+mostly tied in huge sheaves upright, through boundless stretches of
+richly-cultivated soil, intersected with the regularity of a chess-board
+by the rivulets and channels of a laborious irrigation. Here and there
+stood the high frames made by planting four bamboos in a square and
+wickering the top, whereon the ryots sit when the crops are ripening, to
+watch against thieves and cattle, and to drive away the birds of the
+air. On we spun, past Meerut and Mozuffernugger, past Umballa and
+Loodhiana, till we reached our station of Julinder at dawn. Descending
+from the train, I was about to begin making inquiries about my next
+move, when I was accosted by a tall and well-dressed Mussulman, in a
+plain cloth _caftan_ and a white turban, but exquisitely clean and fresh
+looking, as it seemed to me, for my eyes were smarting with dust and
+wearied with the perpetual shaking of the train.
+
+The courteous native soon explained that he was Isaacs' agent in
+Julinder, and that a _tar ki khaber_, a telegram in short, had warned
+him to be on the lookout for me. I was greatly relieved, for it was
+evident that every arrangement had been made for my comfort, so far as
+comfort was possible. Isaacs had asked my assistance, but he had taken
+every precaution against all superfluous bodily inconvenience to me, and
+I felt sure that from this point I should move quickly and easily
+through every difficulty. And so it proved. The Mussulman took me to his
+house, where there was a spacious apartment, occupied by Isaacs when he
+passed that way. Every luxury was prepared for the enjoyment of the
+bath, and a breakfast of no mean taste was served me in my own room.
+Then my host entered and explained that he had been directed to make
+certain arrangements for my journey. He had laid a _dak_ nearly a
+hundred miles ahead, and had been ordered to tell me that similar steps
+had been taken beyond that point as far as my ultimate destination, of
+which, however, he was ignorant. My servant, he said, must stay with him
+and return to Simla with my traps.
+
+So an hour later I mounted for my long ride, provided with a revolver
+and some rupees in a bag, in case of need. The country, my entertainer
+informed me, was considered perfectly safe, unless I feared the _tap_,
+the bad kind of fever which infests all the country at the base of the
+hills. I was not afraid of this. My experience is that some people are
+predisposed to fever, and will generally be attacked by it in their
+first year in India, whether they are much exposed to it or not, while
+others seem naturally proof against any amount of malaria, and though
+they sleep out of doors through the whole rainy season, and tramp about
+the jungles in the autumn, will never catch the least ague, though they
+may have all other kinds of ills to contend with.
+
+On and on, galloping along the heavy roads, sometimes over no road at
+all, only a broad green track, where the fresh grass that had sprung up
+after the rains was not yet killed by the trampling of the bullocks and
+the grinding jolt of the heavy cart. At intervals of seven or eight
+miles I found a saice with a fresh pony picketed and grazing at the end
+of the long rope. The saice was generally squatting near by, with his
+bag of food and his three-sided kitchen of stones, blackened with the
+fire from his last meal, beside him; sometimes in the act of cooking his
+chowpatties, sometimes eating them, according to the time of day.
+Several times I stopped to drink some water where it seemed to be good,
+and I ate a little chocolate from my supply, well knowing the
+miraculous, sustaining powers of the simple little block of "Menier,"
+which, with its six small tablets, will not only sustain life, but will
+supply vigour and energy, for as much as two days, with no other food.
+On and on, through the day and the night, past sleeping villages, where
+the jackals howled around the open doors of the huts; and across vast
+fields of late crops, over hills thickly grown with trees, past the
+broad bend of the Sutlej river, and over the plateau toward Sultanpoor,
+the cultivation growing scantier and the villages rarer all the while,
+as the vast masses of the Himalayas defined themselves more and more
+distinctly in the moonlight. Horses of all kinds under me, lean and fat,
+short and high, roman-nosed and goose-necked, broken and unbroken; away
+and away, shifting saddle and bridle and saddle-bag as I left each tired
+mount behind me. Once I passed a stream, and pulling off my boots to
+cool my feet, the temptation way too strong, so I hastily threw off my
+clothes and plunged in and had a short refreshing bath. Then on, with,
+the galloping even triplet of the house's hoofs beneath me, as they came
+down in quick succession, as if the earth were a muffled drum and we
+were beating an untiring _rataplan_ on her breast.
+
+I must have ridden a hundred and thirty miles before dawn, and the pace
+was beginning to tell, even on my strong frame. True, to a man used to
+the saddle, the effort of riding is reduced to a minimum when every hour
+or two gives him a fresh horse. There is then no heed for the welfare of
+the animal necessary; he has but his seven or eight miles to gallop, and
+then his work is done; there are none of those thousand little cares and
+sympathetic shiftings and adjustings of weight and seat to be thought
+of, which must constantly engage the attention of a man who means to
+ride the same horse a hundred miles, or even fifty or forty. Conscious
+that a fresh mount awaits him, he sits back lazily and never eases his
+weight for a moment; before he has gone thirty miles he will kick his
+feet out of the stirrups about once in twenty minutes, and if he has for
+the moment a quiet old stager who does not mind tricks, he will probably
+fetch one leg over and go a few miles sitting sideways. He will go to
+sleep once or twice, and wake up apparently in the very act to
+fall--though I believe that a man will sleep at a full gallop and never
+loosen his knees until the moment of waking startles him. Nevertheless,
+and notwithstanding Lord Steepleton Kildare and his ride to Umballa and
+back in twenty-four hours, when a man, be he ever so strong, has ridden
+over a hundred miles, he feels inclined for a rest, and a walk, and a
+little sleep.
+
+Once more an emissary of Ram Lal strode to my side as I rolled off the
+saddle into the cool grass at sunrise in a very impracticable-looking
+country. The road had been steeper and less defined during the last two
+hours of the ride, and as I crossed one leg high over the other lying on
+my back in the grass, the morning light caught my spur, and there was
+blood on it, bright and red. I had certainly come as fast as I could; if
+I should be too late, it would not be my fault. The agent, whoever he
+might be, was a striking-looking fellow in a dirty brown cloth _caftan_
+and an enormous sash wound round his middle. A pointed cap with some
+tawdry gold lace on it covered his head, and greasy black love-locks
+writhed filthily over his high cheek bones and into his scanty tangled
+beard; a suspicious hilt bound with brass wire reared its snake-like
+head from the folds of his belt, and his legs, terminating in
+thick-soled native shoes, reminded one of a tarantula in boots. He
+salaamed awkwardly with a tortuous grin, and addressed me with the
+northern salutation, "May your feet never be weary with the march."
+Having been twenty-four hours in the saddle, my feet were not that
+portion of my body most wearied, but I replied to the effect that I
+trusted the shadow of the greasy gentleman might not diminish a
+hairsbreadth in the next ten thousand years. We then proceeded to
+business, and I observed that the man spoke a very broken and hardly
+intelligible Hindustani. I tried him in Persian, but it was of no avail.
+He spoke Persian, he said, but it was not of the kind that any human
+being could understand; so we returned to the first language, and I
+concluded that he was a wandering kabuli.
+
+As an introduction of himself he mentioned Isaacs, calling him Abdul
+Hafiz Sahib, and he seemed to know him personally. Abdul, he said, was
+not far off as distances go in the Himalayas. He thought I should find
+him the day after to-morrow, _mungkul_. He said I should not be able to
+ride much farther, as the pass beyond Sultanpoor was utterly
+impracticable for horses; coolies, however, awaited me with a dooly, one
+of those low litters slung on a bamboo, in which you may travel swiftly
+and without effort, but to the destruction of the digestive organs. He
+said also that he would accompany me the next stage as far as the
+doolies, and I thought he showed some curiosity to know whither I was
+going; but he was a wise man in his generation, and knowing his orders,
+did not press me overmuch with questions. I remarked in a mild way that
+the saddle was the throne of the warrior, and that the air of the black
+mountains was the breath of freedom; but I added that the voice of the
+empty stomach was as the roar of the king of the forest. Whereupon the
+man replied that the forest was mine and the game therein, whereof I was
+lord, as I probably was of the rest of the world, since I was his father
+and mother and most of his relations; but that, perceiving that I was
+occupied with the cares of a mighty empire, he had ventured to slay with
+his own hand a kid and some birds, which, if I would condescend to
+partake of them, he would proceed to cook. I replied that the light of
+my countenance would shine upon my faithful servant to the extent of
+several coins, both rupees and pais, but that the peculiar customs of my
+caste forbid me to touch food cooked by any one but myself. I would,
+however, in consideration of his exertions and his guileless heart,
+invite the true follower of the prophet, whose name is blessed, to
+partake with me of the food which I should presently prepare. Whereat he
+was greatly delighted, and fetched the meat, which he had stowed away in
+a kind of horse-cloth, for safety against ants.
+
+I am not a bad cook at a pinch, and so we sat down and made a
+cooking-place with stones, and built a fire, and let the flame die down
+into coals, and I dressed the meat as best I could, and flavoured it
+with gunpowder and pepper, and we were merry. The man was thenceforth
+mine, and I knew I could trust him; a bivouac in the Himalayas, when one
+is alone and far from any kind of assistance, is not the spot to indulge
+in any prejudice about colour. I did not think much about it as I
+hungrily gnawed the meat and divided the birds with my pocket-knife.
+
+The lower Himalayas are at first extremely disappointing. The scenery is
+enormous but not grand, and at first hardly seems large. The lower parts
+are at first sight a series of gently undulating hills and wooded dells;
+in some places it looks as if one might almost hunt the country. It is
+long before you realise that it is all on a gigantic scale; that the
+quickset hedges are belts of rhododendrons of full growth, the
+water-jumps rivers, and the stone walls mountain-ridges; that to hunt a
+country like that you would have to ride a horse at least two hundred
+feet high. You cannot see at first, or even for some time, that the
+gentle-looking hill is a mountain of five or six thousand feet; in Simla
+you will not believe you are three thousand feet above the level of the
+Rhigi Kulm in Switzerland. Persons who are familiar with the aspect of
+the Rocky Mountains are aware of the singular lack of dignity in those
+enormous elevations. They are merely big, without any superior beauty,
+until you come to the favoured spots of nature's art, where some great
+contrast throws out into appalling relief the gulf between the high and
+the low. It is so in the Himalayas.
+
+You may travel for hours and days amidst vast forests and hills without
+the slightest sensation of pleasure or sense of admiration for the
+scene, till suddenly your path leads you out on to the dizzy brink of an
+awful precipice--a sheer fall, so exaggerated in horror that your most
+stirring memories of Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, and the hideous _arete_
+of the Pitz Bernina, sink into vague insignificance. The gulf that
+divides you from the distant mountain seems like a huge bite taken
+bodily out of the world by some voracious god; far away rise snow peaks
+such as were not dreamt of in your Swiss tour; the bottomless valley at
+your feet is misty and gloomy with blackness, streaked with mist, while
+the peaks above shoot gladly to the sun and catch his broadside rays
+like majestic white standards. Between you, as you stand leaning
+cautiously against the hill behind you, and the wonderful background far
+away in front, floats a strange vision, scarcely moving, but yet not
+still. A great golden shield sails steadily in vast circles, sending
+back the sunlight in every tint of burnished glow. The golden eagle of
+the Himalayas hangs in mid-air, a sheet of polished metal to the eye,
+pausing sometimes in the full blaze of reflection, as ages ago the sun
+and the moon stood still in the valley of Ajalon; too magnificent for
+description, as he is too dazzling to look at. The whole scene, if no
+greater name can be given to it, is on a scale so Titanic in its massive
+length and breadth and depth, that you stand utterly trembling and weak
+and foolish as you look for the first time. You have never seen such
+masses of the world before.
+
+It was in such a spot as this that, nearly at noon on the appointed day,
+my dooly-bearers set me down and warned me I was at my journey's end. I
+stepped out and stood on the narrow way, pausing to look and to enjoy
+all that I saw. I had been in other parts of the lower Himalayas before,
+and the first sensations I had experienced had given way to those of a
+contemplative admiration. No longer awed or overpowered or oppressed by
+the sense of physical insignificance in my own person, I could endure to
+look on the stupendous panorama before me, and could even analyse what I
+felt. But before long my pardonable reverie was disturbed by a
+well-known voice. The clear tones rang like a trumpet along the
+mountain-side in a glad shout of welcome. I turned and saw Isaacs coming
+quickly towards me, bounding along the edge of the precipice as if his
+life had been passed in tending goats and robbing eagles' nests. I, too,
+moved on to meet him, and in a moment we clasped hands in unfeigned
+delight at being again together. What was Ghyrkins or his party to me?
+Here was the man I sought; the one man on earth who seemed worth having
+for a friend. And yet it was but three weeks since we first met, and I
+am not enthusiastic by temperament.
+
+"What news, friend Griggs?"
+
+"She greets you and sends you this," I said, taking from my bosom the
+parcel she had thrust into my hand as I left in the dark. His face fell
+suddenly. It was the silver box he had given her; was it possible she
+had taken so much trouble to return it? He turned it over mournfully.
+
+"You had better open it. There is probably something in it."
+
+I never saw a more complete change in a man's face during a single
+second than came over Isaacs' in that moment. He had not thought of
+opening it, in his first disappointment at finding it returned. He
+turned back the lid. Bound with a bit of narrow ribbon and pressed down
+carefully, he found a heavy lock of gold-white hair, so fair that it
+made everything around it seem dark--the grass, our clothes, and even
+the white streamer that hung down from Isaacs' turban. It seemed to shed
+a bright light, even in the broad noon-day, as it lay there in the
+curiously wrought box--just as the body of some martyred saint found
+jealously concealed in the dark corner of an ancient crypt, and broken
+in upon by unsuspecting masons delving a king's grave, might throw up in
+their dusky faces a dazzling halo of soft radiance--the glory of the
+saint hovering lovingly by the body wherein the soul's sufferings were
+perfected.
+
+The moment Isaacs realised what it was, he turned away, his face all
+gladness, and moved on a few steps with bent head, evidently
+contemplating his new treasure. Then he snapped the spring, and putting
+the casket in his vest turned round to me.
+
+"Thank you, Griggs; how are they all?"
+
+"It was worth a two-hundred mile ride to see your face when you opened
+that box. They are pretty well. I left them swearing that the party was
+broken up, and that they would all go back to Simla."
+
+"The sooner the better. We shall be there in three days from here, by
+the help of Ram Lal's wonderful post."
+
+"Between you I managed to get here quite well. How did you do it? I
+never missed a relay all the way from Julinder."
+
+"Oh, it is very easy," answered Isaacs. "You could have a _dak_ to the
+moon from India if you would pay for it; or any other thing in heaven or
+earth or hell that you might fancy. Money, that is all. But, my dear
+fellow, you have lost flesh sensibly since we parted. You take your
+travelling hard."
+
+"Where is Ram Lal?" I asked, curious to learn something of our movements
+for the night.
+
+"Oh, I don't know. He is probably somewhere about the place charming
+cobras or arresting avalanches, or indulging in some of those playful
+freaks he says he learned in Edinburgh. We have had a great good time
+the last two days. He has not disappeared, or swallowed himself even
+once, or delivered himself of any fearful and mysterious prophecies. We
+have been talking transcendentalism. He knows as much about 'functional
+gamma' and 'All X is Y' and the rainbow, and so on, as you do yourself.
+I recommend him. I think he would be a charming companion for you. There
+he is now, with his pockets full of snakes and evil beasts. I wanted him
+to catch a golden eagle this morning, and tame it for Miss Westonhaugh,
+but he said it would eat the jackal and probably the servants, so I have
+given it up for the present." Isaacs was evidently in a capital humour.
+Ram Lal approached us.
+
+I saw at a glance that Ram Lal the Buddhist, when on his beats in the
+civilisation of Simla, was one person. Ram Lal, the cultured votary of
+science, among the hills and the beasts and the specimens that he loved,
+was a very different man. He was as gray as ever, it is true, but better
+defined, the outlines sharper, the features more Dantesque and easier to
+discern in the broad light of the sun. He did not look now as if he
+could sit down and cross his legs and fade away into thin air, like the
+Cheshire cat. He looked more solid and fleshly, his voice was fuller,
+and sounded close to me as he spoke, without a shadow of the curious
+distant ring I had noticed before.
+
+"Ah!" he said in English, "Mr. Griggs, at last! Well, you are in plenty
+of time. The gentleman who is not easily astonished. That is just as
+well, too. I like people with quiet nerves. I see by your appearance
+that you are hungry, Mr. Griggs. Abdul Hafiz, why should we not dine? It
+is much better to get that infliction of the flesh over before this
+evening."
+
+"By all means. Come along. But first send those dooly-bearers about
+their business. They can wait till to-morrow over there on the other
+side. They always carry food, and there is any amount of fuel."
+
+Just beyond the shoulder of the hill, sheltered from the north by the
+projecting boulders, was a small tent, carefully pitched and adjusted to
+stand the storms if any should come. Thither we all three bent our steps
+and sat down by the fire, for it was chilly, even cold, in the passes in
+September. Food was brought out by Isaacs, and we ate together as if no
+countless ages of different nationalities separated us. Ram Lal was
+perfectly natural and easy in his manners, and affable in what he said.
+Until the meal was finished no reference was made to the strange
+business that brought us from different points of the compass to the
+Himalayan heights. Then, at last, Ram Lal spoke; his meal had been the
+most frugal of the three, and he had soon eaten his fill, but he
+employed himself in rolling cigarettes, which he did with marvellous
+skill, until we two had satisfied our younger and healthier appetites.
+
+"Abdul Hafiz," he said, his gray face bent over his colourless hands as
+he twisted the papers, "shall we not tell Mr. Griggs what is to be done?
+Afterward he can lie in the tent and sleep until evening, for he is
+weary and needs to recruit his strength."
+
+"So be it, Ram Lal," answered Isaacs.
+
+"Very well. The position is this, Mr. Griggs. Neither Mr. Isaacs nor I
+trust those men that we are to meet, and therefore, as we are afraid of
+being killed unawares, we thought we would send for you to protect us."
+He smiled pleasantly as he saw the blank expression in my face.
+
+"Certainly, and you shall hear how it is to be done. The place is not
+far from here in the valley below. The band are already nearing the
+spot, and at midnight we will go down and meet them. The meeting will
+be, of course, like all formal rendezvous for the delivery of prisoners.
+The captain of the band will come forward accompanied by his charge, and
+perhaps by a sowar. We three will stand together, side by side, and
+await their coming. Now the plot is this. They have determined if
+possible to murder both Shere Ali and Isaacs then and there together.
+They have not counted on us, but they probably expect that our friend
+will arrive guarded by a troop of horse. The maharajah's men will try
+and sneak up close to where we stand, and at a signal, which the leader,
+in conversation with Isaacs, will give by laying his hand on his
+shoulder, the men will rush in and cut Shere Ali to pieces, and Isaacs
+too if the captain cannot do it alone. Now look here, Mr. Griggs. What
+we want you to do is this. Your friend--my friend--wants no miracles, so
+that you have got to do by strength what might be done by stratagem,
+though not so quickly. When you see the leader lay his hand on Isaacs'
+shoulder, seize him by the throat and mind his other arm, which will be
+armed. Prevent him from injuring Isaacs, and I will attend to the rest,
+who will doubtless require my whole attention."
+
+"But," I objected, "supposing that this captain turned out to be
+stronger or more active than I. What then?"
+
+"Never fear," said Isaacs, smiling. "There aren't any."
+
+"No," continued Ram Lal, "never disturb yourself about that, but just
+knock your man down and be done with it. I will guarantee you can do it
+well enough, and if he gives you trouble I may be able to help you."
+
+"All right; give me some cigarettes;" and before I had smoked one I was
+asleep.
+
+When I awoke the sun was down, but there was a great light over
+everything. The full moon had just risen above the hills to eastward and
+bathed every object in silver sheen. The far peaks, covered with snow,
+caught the reflection and sent the beams floating across the deep dark
+valleys between. The big boulder, against which the tent was pitched,
+caught it too, and seemed changed from rough stone to precious metal; it
+was on the tent-pegs and the ropes, it was upon Isaacs' lithe figure, as
+he tightened his sash round his waist and looked to his pocket-book for
+the agreement. It made Ram Lal, the gray and colourless, look like a
+silver statue, and it made the smouldering flame of the watch-fire
+utterly dim and faint. It was a wonderful moon. I looked at my watch; it
+was eight o'clock.
+
+"Yes," said Isaacs, "you were tired and have slept long. It is time to
+be off. There is some whiskey in that flask. I don't take those things,
+but Ram Lal says you had better have some, as you might get fever." So I
+did. Then we started, leaving everything in the tent, of which we pegged
+down the flap. There were no natives about, the dooly-bearers having
+retired to the other side of the valley, and the jackals would find
+nothing to attract them, as we had thrown the remainder of our meal over
+the edge. As for weapons, I had a good revolver and a thick stick;
+Isaacs had a revolver and a vicious-looking Turkish knife; and Ram Lal
+had nothing at all, as far as I could see, except a long light staff.
+
+The effect of the moonlight was wild in the extreme, as we descended the
+side of the mountain by paths which were very far from smooth or easy.
+Every now and then, as we neared the valley, we turned the corner of
+some ridge and got a fair view of the plain. Then a step farther, and we
+were in the dark again, behind boulders and picking our way over loose
+stones, or struggling with the wretched foothold afforded by a surface
+of light gravel, inclined to the horizontal at an angle of forty-five
+degrees. Then, with a scramble, a jump, and a little swearing in a great
+many languages--I think we counted that we spoke twenty-seven between
+us--we were on firm soil again, and swinging along over the bit of easy
+level path. It would have been out of the question to go in doolies, and
+no pony could keep a foothold for five minutes on the uncertain ground.
+
+At last, as we emerged into the bright moonlight on a little platform of
+rock at an angle of the path, we paused. Ram Lal, who seemed to know the
+way, was in front, and held up his hand to silence us; Isaacs and I
+kneeled down and looked over the brink. Some two hundred feet below, on
+a broad strip of green bordering the steep cliffs, was picketed a small
+body of horse. We could see the men squatting about in their small
+compact turbans and their shining accoutrements; the horses tethered at
+various distances on the sward, cropping so vigorously that even at that
+height we could hear the dull sound as they rhythmically munched the
+grass. We could see in the middle of the little camp a man seated on a
+rug and wrapped in a heavy garment of some kind, quietly smoking a
+common hubble-bubble. Beside him stood another who reflected more
+moonlight than the rest, and who was therefore, by his trappings, the
+captain of the band. The seated smoker could be no other than Shere Ali.
+
+Cautiously we descended the remaining windings of the steep path,
+turning whenever we had a chance, to look down on the horsemen and their
+prisoner below, till at last we emerged in the valley a quarter of a
+mile or so beyond where they were stationed. Here on the level of the
+plain we stopped a moment, and Ram Lal renewed his instructions to me.
+
+"If the captain," he said, "lays his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, seize him
+and throw him. If you cannot get him down kill him--any way you
+can--shoot him under the arm with your pistol. It is a matter of life
+and death."
+
+"All right." And we walked boldly along the broad strip of sward. The
+moon was now almost immediately overhead, for it was midnight, or near
+it. I confess the scene awed me, the giant masses of the mountains above
+us, the vast distances of mysterious blue air, through which the
+snow-peaks shone out with a strange look that was not natural. The swish
+of the quickly flowing stream at the edge of the plot we were walking
+over sounded hollow and unearthly; the velvety whirr of the great
+mountain bats as they circled near us, stirred from the branches as we
+passed out, was disagreeable and heavy to hear. The moon shone brighter
+and brighter.
+
+We were perhaps thirty yards from the little camp, in which there might
+be fifty men all told. Isaacs stood still and sung out a greeting.
+
+"Peace to you, men of Baithopoor!" he shouted. It was the preconcerted
+form of address. Instantly the captain turned and looked toward us. Then
+he gave some orders in a low voice, and taking his prisoner by the hand
+assisted him to rise. There was a scurrying to and fro in the camp. The
+men seemed to be collecting, and moving to the edge of the bivouac. Some
+began to saddle the horses. The moon was so intensely bright that their
+movements were as plain to us as though it had been broad daylight.
+
+Two figures came striding toward us--the captain and Shere Ali. As I
+looked at them, curiously enough, as may be imagined, I noticed that the
+captain was the taller man by two or three inches, but Shere Ali's broad
+chest and slightly-bowed legs produced an impression of enormous
+strength. He looked the fierce-hearted, hard-handed warrior, from head
+to heel; though in accordance with Isaacs' treaty he had been well taken
+care of and was dressed in the finest stuffs, his beard carefully
+clipped and his Indian turban rolled with great neatness round his dark
+and prominent brows.
+
+The first thing for the captain was to satisfy himself as far as
+possible that we had no troops in ambush up there in the jungle on the
+base of the mountain. He had probably sent scouts out before, and was
+pretty sure there was no one there. To gain time, he made a great show
+of reading the agreement through from beginning to end, comparing it all
+the while with a copy he held. While this was going on, and I had put
+myself as near as possible to the captain, Isaacs and Shere Ali were in
+earnest conversation in the Persian tongue. Shere Ali told Abdul that
+the captain's perusal of the contract must be a mere empty show, since
+the man did not know a word of the language. Isaacs, on hearing that the
+captain could not understand, immediately warned Shere Ali of the
+intended attempt to murder them both, of which Ram Lal, his friend, had
+heard, and I could see the old soldier's eye flash and his hand feel for
+his weapon, where there was none, at the mere mention of a fight. The
+captain began to talk to Isaacs, and I edged as near as I could to be
+ready for my grip. Still it did not come. He talked on, very civilly, in
+intelligible Hindustani. What was the matter with the moon?
+
+A few minutes before it had seemed as if there would be neither cloud
+nor mist in such a sky; and now a light filmy wreath was rising and
+darkening the splendour of the wonderful night. I looked across at Ram
+Lal. He was standing with one hand on his hip, and leaning with the
+other on his staff, and he was gazing up at the moon with as much
+interest as he ever displayed about anything. At that moment the captain
+handed Isaacs a prepared receipt for signature, to the effect that the
+prisoner had been duly delivered to his new owner. The light was growing
+dimmer, and Isaacs could hardly see to read the characters before he
+signed. He raised the scroll to his eyes and turned half round to see it
+better. At that moment the tall captain stretched forth his arm and laid
+his hand on Isaacs' shoulder, raising his other arm at the same time to
+his men, who had crept nearer and nearer to our group while the endless
+talking was going on. I was perfectly prepared, and the instant the
+soldier's hand touched Isaacs I had the man in my grip, catching his
+upraised arm in one hand and his throat with the other. The struggle did
+not last long, but it was furious in its agony. The tough Punjabi
+writhed and twisted like a cat in my grasp, his eyes gleaming like
+living coals, springing back and forward in his vain and furious efforts
+to reach my feet and trip me. But it was no use. I had his throat and
+one arm well in hand, and could hold him so that he could not reach me
+with the other. My fingers sank deeper and deeper in his neck as we
+swayed backwards and sideways tugging and hugging, breast to breast,
+till at last, with a fearful strain and wrench of every muscle in our
+two bodies, his arm went back with a jerk, broken like a pipe-stem, and
+his frame collapsing and bending backwards, fell heavily to the ground
+beneath me.
+
+The whole strength of me was at work in the struggle, but I could get a
+glimpse of the others as we whirled and swayed about.
+
+Like the heavy pall of virgin white that is laid on the body of a pure
+maiden; of velvet, soft and sweet but heavy and impenetrable as death,
+relentless, awful, appalling the soul, and freezing the marrow in the
+bones, it came near the earth. The figure of the gray old man grew
+mystically to gigantic and unearthly size, his vast old hands stretched
+forth their skinny palms to receive the great curtain as it descended
+between the moonlight and the sleeping earth. His eyes were as stars,
+his hoary head rose majestically to an incalculable height; still the
+thick, all-wrapping mist came down, falling on horse and rider and
+wrestler and robber and Amir; hiding all, covering all, folding all, in
+its soft samite arms, till not a man's own hand was visible to him a
+span's length from his face.
+
+I could feel the heaving chest of the captain beneath my knee; I could
+feel the twitching of the broken arm tortured under the pressure of my
+left hand; but I could see neither face nor arm nor breast, nor even my
+own fingers. Only above me, as I stared up, seemed to tower the
+supernatural proportions of Ram Lal, a white apparition visible through
+the opaque whiteness that hid everything else from view. It was only a
+moment. A hand was on my shoulder, Isaacs' voice was in my ear, speaking
+to Shere Ali. Ram Lal drew me away.
+
+"Be quick," he said; "take my hand, I will lead you to the light." We
+ran along the soft grass, following the sound of each other's feet,
+swiftly. A moment more and we were in the pass; the mist was lighter,
+and we could see our way. We rushed up the stony path fast and sure,
+till we reached the clear bright moonlight, blazing forth in silver
+splendour again. Far down below the velvet pall of mist lay thick and
+heavy, hiding the camp and its horses and men from our sight.
+
+"Friend," said Isaacs, "you are as free as I. Praise Allah, and let us
+depart in peace."
+
+The savage old warrior grasped the outstretched hand of the Persian and
+yelled aloud--
+
+"Illallaho-ho-ho-ho!" His throat was as brass.
+
+"La illah ill-allah!" repeated Isaacs in tones as of a hundred clarions,
+echoing by tree and mountain and river, down the valley.
+
+"Thank God!" I said to Ram Lal.
+
+"Call Him as you please, friend Griggs," answered the pundit.
+
+It was daylight when we reached the tent at the top of the pass.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+"Abdul Hafiz," said Ram Lal, as we sat round the fire we had made,
+preparing food, "if it is thy pleasure I will conduct thy friend to a
+place of safety and set his feet in the paths that lead to pleasant
+places. For thou art weary and wilt take thy rest until noon, but I am
+not weary and the limbs of the Afghan are as iron." He spoke in Persian,
+so that Shere Ali could understand what he said. The latter looked
+uneasy at first, but soon perceived that his best chance of safety lay
+in immediately leaving the neighbourhood, which was unpleasantly near
+Simla on the one side and the frontiers of Baithopoor on the other.
+
+"I thank thee, Ram Lal," replied Isaacs, "and I gladly accept thy offer.
+Whither wilt thou conduct our friend the Amir?"
+
+"I will lead him by a sure road into Thibet, and my brethren shall take
+care of him, and presently he shall journey safely northwards into the
+Tartar country, and thence to the Russ people, where the followers of
+your prophet are many, and if thou wilt give him the letters thou hast
+written, which he may present to the principal moolahs, he shall
+prosper. And as for money, if thou hast gold, give him of it, and if
+not, give him silver; and if thou hast none, take no thought, for the
+freedom of the spirit is better than the obesity of the body."
+
+"Bishmillah! Thou speakest with the tongue of wisdom, old man," said
+Shere Ali; "nevertheless a few rupees--"
+
+"Fear nothing," broke in Isaacs. "I have for thee a store of a few
+rupees in silver, and there are two hundred gold mohurs in this bag.
+They are scarce in Hind and pass not as money, but the value of them
+whither thou goest shall buy thee food many days. Take also this
+diamond, which if thou be in want thou shalt sell and be rich."
+
+Shere Ali, who had been suspicious of treachery, or at least was afraid
+to believe himself really free, was convinced by this generosity. The
+great rough warrior, the brave patriot who had shut the gates of Kabul
+in the face of Sir Neville Chamberlain, and who had faced every danger
+and defeat, rather than tamely suffer the advance of the all-devouring
+English into his dominions, was proud and unbending still, through all
+his captivity and poverty and trouble, and weariness of soul and
+suffering of body; he could bear his calamities like a man, the
+unrelenting chief of an unrelenting race. But when Isaacs stretched
+forth his hand and freed him, and bestowed upon him, moreover, a goodly
+stock of cash, and bid him go in peace, his gratitude got the better of
+him, and he fairly broke down. The big tears coursed down over his rough
+cheeks, and his face sank between his hands, which trembled violently
+for a moment. Then his habitual calm of outward manner returned.
+
+"Allah requite thee, my brother," he said, "I can never hope to."
+
+"I have done nothing," said Isaacs. "Shall believers languish and perish
+in the hands of swine without faith? Verily it is Allah's doing, whose
+name is great and powerful. He will not suffer the followers of His
+prophet to be devoured of jackals and unclean beasts. Masallah! There is
+no God but God."
+
+Therefore, when they had eaten some food, Ram Lal and Shere Ali
+departed, journeying north-east towards Thibet, and Isaacs and I
+remained sleeping in the tent until past noon. Then we arose and went
+our way, having packed up the little canvas house and the utensils and
+the pole into a neat bundle which we carried by turns along the steep
+rough paths, until we found the dooly-bearers squatting round the embers
+after their mid-day meal. As we journeyed we talked of the events of the
+night. It seemed to me that the whole thing might have been managed very
+much more simply. Isaacs did things in his own way, however, and, after
+all, he generally had a good reason for his actions.
+
+"I think not," he said in reply to my question. "While you were throwing
+that ruffian, who would have overmatched me in an instant, Shere Ali and
+I disposed of the sowars who ran up at the captain's signal. Shere Ali
+says he killed one of them with his hands, and my little knife here
+seems to have done some damage." He produced the vicious-looking dagger,
+stained above the hilt with dark blood, which he began to scrape off
+with a bit of stick.
+
+"My dear fellow," I objected, "I am delighted to have served you, and I
+see that since Shere Ali could not be warned of the signal, I was the
+only person there who could tackle that Punjabi man; yet I am completely
+at a loss to explain why, if Ram Lal can command the forces of nature to
+the extent of calling down a thick mist under the cover of which we
+might escape, he could not have calmly destroyed the whole band by
+lightning, or indigestion, or some simple and efficacious means, so that
+we need not have risked our lives in supplementing what he only half
+did."
+
+"There are plenty of answers to that question," Isaacs answered. "In the
+first place, how do you know that Ram Lal could do anything more than
+discover the preconcerted signal and bring down that fog? He pretends to
+no supernatural power; he only asserts that he understands the workings
+of nature better than you do. How do you know that the fog was his doing
+at all? Your excited imagination, developed suddenly by the tussle with
+the captain, which undoubtedly sent the blood to your head, made you
+think you saw Ram Lal's figure magnified beyond human proportion. If
+there had been no mist at all, we should most likely have got away
+unhurt all the same. Those fellows would not fight after their leader
+was down. Again, I like to let Ram Lal feel that I am able to do
+something for myself, and that I have other friends as powerful. He aims
+at obtaining too much ascendency over me. I do not like it."
+
+"Oh--if you look at it in that light, I have nothing to say. It has been
+a very pleasant and interesting excursion to me, and I am rather glad I
+only broke that fellow's arm instead of killing him, as you and Shere
+Ali did your sowars."
+
+"I don't know whether I killed him. I suppose I did. Poor fellow.
+However, he would certainly have killed me."
+
+"Of course. No use crying over spilt milk," I answered.
+
+So we got into the doolies and swung away. As we neared Simla my
+friend's spirits rose, and he chanted wild Persian and Arabic
+love-songs, and kept up a fire of conversation all day and all night,
+singing and talking alternately.
+
+"Griggs," he said, as we approached the end of our journey, "did you
+have occasion to tell Miss Westonhaugh where I had gone?"
+
+"Yes. She asked me, and I answered that you had gone to save a man's
+life. She looked very much pleased, I thought, but just then somebody
+came up, and we did not talk any more about it. I got your message the
+evening of the day you left."
+
+"She looked pleased?"
+
+"Very much. I remember the colour came into her cheeks."
+
+"Was she so pale, then?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"Why, yes. You remember how she looked the night before you left? She
+was even paler the next day, but when I said you had gone to do a good
+deed, the light came into her face for a moment."
+
+"Do you think she was ill, Griggs?"
+
+"She did not look well, but of course she was anxious about you, and a
+good deal cut up about your going."
+
+"No; but did you really think she was ill?" he insisted.
+
+"Oh no, nothing but your going."
+
+His spirits were gone again, and he said very little more that day. As
+we were ascending the last hills, some eight or nine hours from Simla,
+the moon rose majestically behind us. It must have been ten o'clock, for
+she could not have been seen above the notch in the mountains to
+eastward until she had been risen an hour at least.
+
+"I wonder where they are now, those two," said Isaacs.
+
+"Shere Ali and Ram Lal?"
+
+"Yes. They are probably across the borders into Thibet, watching the
+moon rise from the door of some Buddhist monastery. I am glad I am not
+there."
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "I would really like to know why you took so much
+trouble about Shere Ali. It seems to me you might have procured his
+liberation in some simpler way, if it was merely an act of charity that
+you contemplated."
+
+"Call it anything you like. I had read about the poor man until my
+imagination was wrought up, and I could not bear to think of a man so
+brave and patriotic and at the same time a true believer, lying in the
+clutches of that old beast of a maharajah. And as for the method of my
+procedure, do you realise the complete secrecy of the whole affair? Do
+you see that no one but you and I and the Baithopoor people know
+anything of the transaction? Do you suppose that I should be tolerated a
+day in the country if the matter were known? Above all, what do you
+imagine Mr. Currie Ghyrkins would think of me if he knew I had been
+liberating and enriching the worst foe of his little god, Lord
+Beaconsfield?"
+
+There was truth in what he said. By no arrangement could the liberation
+of Shere Ali have been effected with such secrecy and despatch as by the
+simple plan of going ourselves. And now we toiled up the last hills,
+vainly attempting to keep our horses in a canter; long before the relay
+was reached they had relapsed into a dogged jog-trot.
+
+So we reached Simla at sunrise, and crawled wearily up the steps of the
+hotel to our rooms, tired with the cramp of dooly and saddle for so many
+days, and longing for the luxury of the bath, the civilised meal, and
+the arm-chair. Of course I did not suppose Isaacs would go to bed. He
+expected that the Westonhaughs would have returned by this time, and he
+would doubtless go to them as soon as he had breakfasted. So we
+separated to dress and be shaved--my beard was a week old at least--and
+to make ourselves as comfortable as we deserved to be after our manifold
+exertions. We had been three days and a half from Keitung to Simla.
+
+At my door stood the faithful Kiramat Ali, salaaming and making a
+pretence of putting dust on his head according to his ideas of
+respectful greeting. On the table lay letters; one of these, a note, lay
+in a prominent position. I took it instinctively, though I did not know
+the hand. It was from Mr. Currie Ghyrkins.
+
+
+     _Saturday morning_.
+
+     MY DEAR MR. GRIGGS--If you have returned to
+     Simla, I should be glad to see you for half an hour on
+     a matter of urgent importance. I would come to you
+     if I could. My niece, Miss Westonhaugh, is, I am
+     sorry to say, dangerously ill.--Sincerely yours,
+
+     A. CURRIE GHYRKINS.
+
+
+It was dated two days before, for to-day was Monday. I made every
+possible haste in my toilet and ordered a horse. I wondered whether
+Isaacs had received a similar missive. What could be the matter? What
+might not have happened in those two days since the note was written? I
+felt sure that the illness had begun before I left them in the Terai,
+hastened probably by the pain she had felt at Isaacs' departure; there
+is nothing like a little mental worry to hasten an illness, if it is to
+come at all. Poor Miss Westonhaugh! So, after all her gaiety and all the
+enjoyment she had from the tiger-hunt on which she had set her heart,
+she had come back to be ill in Simla. Well, the air was fresh enough
+now--almost cold, in fact. She would soon be well. Still, it was a great
+pity. We might have had such a gay week before breaking up.
+
+I was dressed, and I went down the steps, passing Isaacs' open door. He
+was calmly reading a newspaper and having a morning smoke, until it
+should be time to go out. Clearly he had not heard anything of Miss
+Westonhaugh's illness. I resolved I would say nothing until I knew the
+worst, so I merely put my head in and said I should be back in an hour
+to breakfast with him, and passed on. Once on horseback, I galloped as
+hard as I could, scattering chuprassies and children and marketers to
+right and left in the bazaar. It was not long before I left my horse at
+the corner of Mr. Currie Ghyrkins' lawn, and walking to the verandah,
+which looked suspiciously neat and unused, inquired for the master of
+the house. I was shown into his bedroom, for it was still very early and
+he was dressing.
+
+I noticed a considerable change in the old gentleman's manner and
+appearance in the last ten days. His bright red colour was nearly faded,
+his eyes had grown larger and less bright, he had lost flesh, and his
+tone was subdued in the extreme. He came from his dressing-glass to
+greet me with a ghost of the old smile on his face, and his hand
+stretched eagerly out.
+
+"My dear Mr. Griggs, I am sincerely glad to see you."
+
+"I have not been in Simla two hours," I answered, "and I found your
+note. How is Miss Westonhaugh? I am so sorry to----"
+
+"Don't talk about her, Griggs. I am afraid she's g--g--goin' to die." He
+nearly broke down, but he struggled bravely. I was terribly shocked,
+though a moment's reflection told me that so strong and healthy a person
+would not die so easily. I expressed my sympathy as best I could.
+
+"What is it? What is the illness?" I asked when he was quieter.
+
+"Jungle fever, my dear fellow, jungle fever; caught in that beastly
+tiger-hunt. Oh! I wish I had never taken her. I wish we had never gone.
+Why wasn't I firm? Damn it all, sir, why wasn't I firm, eh?" In his
+anger at himself something of the former jerky energy of the man showed
+itself. Then it faded away into the jaded sorrowful look that was on his
+face when I came in. He sat down with his elbows on his knees and his
+hands in his scanty gray hair, his suspenders hanging down at his
+sides--the picture of misery. I tried to console him, but I confess I
+felt very much like breaking down myself. I did not see what I could do,
+except break the bad news to Isaacs.
+
+"Mr. Griggs," he said at last, "she has been asking for you all the
+time, and the doctor thought if you came she had best see you, as it
+might quiet her. Understand?" I understood better than he thought.
+
+People who are dangerously ill have no morning and no evening. Their
+hours are eternally the same, save for the alternation of suffering and
+rest. The nurse and the doctor are their sun and moon, relieving each
+other in the watches of day and night. As they are worse--as they draw
+nearer to eternity, they are less and less governed by ideas of time. A
+dying person will receive a visit at midnight or at mid-day with no
+thought but to see the face of friend--or foe--once more. So I was not
+surprised to find that Miss Westonhaugh would see me; in an interval of
+the fever she had been moved to a chair in her room, and her brother was
+with her. I might go in--indeed she sent a very urgent message imploring
+that I would go. I went.
+
+The morning sun was beating brightly on the shutters, and the room
+looked cheerful as I entered. John Westonhaugh, paler than death, came
+quickly to the door and grasped my hand.
+
+On a long cane-chair by the window, carefully covered from the possible
+danger of any insidious draught, with a mass of soft white wraps and
+shawls, lay Katharine Westonhaugh--the transparant phantasm of her
+brilliant self. The rich masses of pale hair were luxuriously nestled
+around her shoulders and the blazing eyes flamed, lambently, under the
+black brows--but that was all. Colour, beside the gold hair and the
+black eyes, there was hardly any. The strong clean-cut outline of the
+features was there, but absolutely startling in emaciation, so that
+there seemed to be no flesh at all; the pale lips scarcely closed over
+the straight white teeth. A wonderful and a fearful sight to see, that
+stately edifice of queenly strength and beauty thus laid low and
+pillaged and stript of all colour save purple and white--the hues of
+mourning--the purple lips and the white cheek. I have seen many people
+die, and the moment I looked at Katharine Westonhaugh I felt that the
+hand of death was already closed over her, gripped round, never to
+relax. John led me to her side, and a faint smile showed she was glad to
+see me. I knelt reverently down, as one would kneel beside one already
+dead. She spoke first, clearly and easily, as it seemed. People who are
+ill from fever seldom lose the faculty of speech.
+
+"I am so glad you are come. There are many things I want you to do."
+
+"Yes, Miss Westonhaugh. I will do everything."
+
+"Is he come back?" she asked--then, as I looked at her brother, she
+added, "John knows, he is very glad."
+
+"Yes, we came back this morning together; I came here at once."
+
+"Thank you--it was kind. Did you give him the box?"
+
+"Yes--he does not know you are ill. He means to come at eleven."
+
+"Tell him to come now. _Now_--do you understand?" Then she added in a
+low tone, for my ear only, "I don't think they know it; I am dying. I
+shall be dead before to-night. Don't tell him that. Make him come now.
+John knows. Now go. I am tired. No--wait! Did he save the man's life?"
+
+"Yes; the man is safe and free in Thibet."
+
+"That was nobly done. Now go. You have always been kind to me, and you
+love him. When you see me again I shall be gone." Her voice was
+perceptibly weaker, though still clearly audible. "When I am gone, put
+some flowers on me for friendship's sake. You have always been so kind.
+Good-bye, dear Mr. Griggs. Good-bye. God keep you." I moved quickly to
+the door, fearing lest the piteous sight should make a coward of me. It
+was so ineffably pathetic--this lovely creature, just tasting of the cup
+of life and love and dying so.
+
+"Bring him here at once, Griggs, please. I know all about it. It may
+save her." John Westonhaugh clasped my hand in his again, and pushed me
+out to speed me on my errand. I tore along the crooked paths and the
+winding road, up through the bazaar, past the church and the narrow
+causeway beyond to the hotel. I found him still smoking and reading the
+paper.
+
+"Well?" said he cheerfully, for the morning sun had dispelled the doubts
+of the night.
+
+"My dear friend," I said, "Miss Westonhaugh wants to see you
+immediately."
+
+"How? What? Of course; I will go at once, but how did you know?"
+
+"Wait a minute, Isaacs; she is not well at all--in fact, she is quite
+ill."
+
+"What's the matter--for God's sake--Why, Griggs, man, how white you
+are--O my God, my God--she is dead!" I seized him quickly in my arms or
+he would have thrown himself on the ground.
+
+"No," I said, "she is not dead. But, my dear boy, she is dying. I do not
+believe she will live till this evening. Therefore get to horse and ride
+there quickly, before it is too late."
+
+Isaacs was a brave man, and of surpassing strength to endure. After the
+first passionate outburst, his manner never changed as he mechanically
+ordered his horse and pulled on his boots. He was pale naturally, and
+great purple rings seemed to come out beneath his eyes--as if he had
+received a blow--from the intensity of his suppressed emotion. Once only
+he spoke before he mounted.
+
+"What is it?" he asked.
+
+"Jungle fever," I answered. He groaned. "Shall I go with you?" asked I,
+thinking it might be as well. He shook his head, and was off in a
+moment.
+
+I turned to my rooms and threw myself on my bed. Poor fellow; was there
+ever a more piteous case? Oh the cruel misery of feeling that nothing
+could save her! And he--he who would give life and wealth and fortune
+and power to give her back a shade of colour--as much as would tinge a
+rose-leaf, even a very little rose-leaf--and could not. Poor fellow!
+What would he do to-night--to-morrow. I could see him kneeling by her
+side and weeping hot tears over the wasted hands. I could almost hear
+his smothered sob--his last words of speeding to the parting soul--the
+picture grew intensely in my thoughts. How beautiful she would look when
+she was dead!
+
+I started as the thought came into my mind. How superficial was my
+acquaintance with her, poor girl,--how little was she a part of my life,
+since I could really so heartlessly think of her beauty when her breath
+should be gone! Of course, though, it was natural enough, why should I
+feel any personal pang for her? It was odd that I should even expect
+to--I, who never felt a "personal pang" of regret for the death of any
+human creature, excepting poor dear old Lucia, who brought me up, and
+sent me to school, and gave me roast chestnuts when I knew my lessons,
+in the streets of Rome, thirty years ago. When she died, I was there;
+poor old soul, how fond she was of me! And I of her! I remember the
+tears I shed, though I was a bearded man even then. How long is that?
+Since she died, it must be ten years.
+
+My thoughts wandered about among all sorts of _bric-a-brac_ memories.
+Presently something brought me back to the present. Why must this fair
+girl from the north die miserably here in India? Ah yes! the eternal
+why. Why did we go at such a season into the forests of the Terai? it
+was madness; we knew it was, and Ram Lal knew it too. Hence his warning.
+O Ram Lal, you are a wise old man, with your gray beard and you mists of
+wet white velvet and your dark sayings! Ram Lal, will you riddle me,
+also, my weird that I must dree?
+
+A cold draught passed over my head, and I turned on my couch to see
+whence it came. I started bolt upright, and my hair stood on end with
+sudden terror. I had uttered the name of Ram Lal aloud in my reverie,
+and there he sat on a chair by the door, as gray as ever, with his long
+staff leaning from his feet across his breast and shoulder. He looked at
+me quietly.
+
+"I come opportunely, Mr. Griggs, it seems. _Lupus in fabula._ I hear my
+name pronounced as I enter the door. This is flattering to a man of my
+modest pretensions to social popularity. You would like me to tell you
+your fortune? Well, I am not a fortune-teller."
+
+"Never mind my fortune. Will Miss Westonhaugh recover?"
+
+"No. She will die at sundown."
+
+"How do you know, since you say you are no prophet?"
+
+"Because I am a doctor of medicine. M.D. of Edinburgh."
+
+"Why can you not save her then? A man who is a Scotch doctor, and who
+possesses the power of performing such practical jokes on nature as you
+exhibited the other night, might do something. However, I suppose I am
+not talking to you at all. You are in Thibet with Shere Ali. This is
+your astral body, and if I were near enough, I could poke my fingers
+right through you, as you sit there, telling me you are an Edinburgh
+doctor, forsooth."
+
+"Quite right, Mr. Griggs. At the present moment my body is quietly
+asleep in a lamastery in Thibet, and this is my astral shape, which,
+from force of habit, I begin to like almost as well. But to be
+serious----"
+
+"I think it is very serious, your going about in this casual manner."
+
+"To be serious. I warned Isaacs that he should not allow the tiger-hunt
+to come off. He would not heed my warning. It is too late now. I am not
+omnipotent."
+
+"Of course not. Still, you might be of some use if you went there. While
+there is life there is hope."
+
+"Proverbs," said Earn Lai scornfully, "are the wisdom of wise men
+prepared in portable doses for the foolish; and the saying you quote is
+one of them. There is life yet, but there is no hope."
+
+"Well, I am afraid you are right. I saw her this morning--I suppose I
+shall never see her again, not alive, at least. She looked nearly dead
+then. Poor girl; poor Isaacs, left behind!"
+
+"You may well say that, Mr. Griggs," said the adept. "On the whole,
+perhaps he is to be less pitied than she; who knows? Perhaps we should
+pity neither, but rather envy both."
+
+"Why? Either you are talking the tritest of cant, or you are indulging
+in more of your dark sayings, to be interpreted, _post facto_, entirely
+to your own satisfaction, and to every one else's disgust." I was
+impatient with the man. If he had such extraordinary powers as were
+ascribed to him--I never heard him assert that he possessed any; if he
+could prophesy, he might as well do so to some purpose. Why could he not
+speak plainly? He could not impose on me, who was ready to give him
+credit for what he really could do, while finding fault with the way he
+did it.
+
+"I understand what passes in your mind, friend Griggs," he said, not in
+the least disconcerted at my attack. "You want me to speak plainly to
+you, because you think you are a plain-spoken, clear-headed man of
+science yourself. Very well, I will. I think you might yourself become a
+brother some day, if you would. But you will not now, neither will in
+the future. Yet you understand some little distant inkling of the
+science. When you ask your scornful questions of me, you know perfectly
+well that you are putting an inquiry which you yourself can answer as
+well as I. I am not omnipotent. I have very little more power than you.
+Given certain conditions and I can produce certain results, palpable,
+visible, and appreciable to all; but my power, as you know, is itself
+merely the knowledge of the laws of nature, which Western scientists, in
+their wisdom, ignore. I can replenish the oil in the lamp, and while
+there is wick the lamp shall burn--ay, even for hundreds of years. But
+give me a lamp wherein the wick is consumed, and I shall waste my oil;
+for it will not burn unless there be the fibre to carry it. So also is
+the body of man. While there is the flame of vitality and the essence of
+life in his nerves and finer tissues, I will put blood in his veins, and
+if he meet with no accident he may live to see hundreds of generations
+pass by him. But where there is no vitality and no essence of life in a
+man, he must die; for though I fill his veins with blood, and cause his
+heart to beat for a time, there is no spark in him--no fire, no nervous
+strength. So is Miss Westonhaugh now--dead while yet breathing, and
+sighing her sweet farewells to her lover."
+
+"I know. I understand you very well. But do not deny that you might have
+saved her. Why did you not?" Ram Lal smiled a strange smile, which I
+should have described as self-satisfied, had it not been so gentle and
+kind.
+
+"Ah yes!" he said, with something like a sigh, though there was no
+sorrow or regret in it. "Yes, Griggs, I might have saved her life. I
+would certainly have saved her--well, if he had not persuaded her to go
+down into that steaming country at this time of year, since it was my
+advice to remain here. But it is no use talking about it."
+
+"I think you might have conveyed your meaning to him a little more
+clearly. He had no idea that you meant danger to her."
+
+"No, very likely not. It is not my business to mould men's destinies for
+them. If I give them advice that is good, it is quite enough. It is like
+a man playing cards: if he does not seize his chance it does not return.
+Besides, it is much better for him that she should die."
+
+"Your moral reflections are insufferable. Can you not find some one else
+to whom you may confide your secret joy of my friend's misfortunes?"
+
+"Calm yourself. I say it is better for her, better for him, better for
+both. Remember what you said to him yourself about the difference
+between pleasure and happiness. They shall be one yet, their happiness
+shall not be less eternal because their pleasure in this life has been
+brief. Can you not conceive of immortal peace and joy without the
+satisfaction of earthly lust?"
+
+"I would not call such a beautiful union as theirs might have been by
+such a name. For myself, I confess to a very real desire for pleasure
+first and happiness afterwards."
+
+"I know you better than you think, Mr. Griggs. You are merely
+argumentative, rarely sceptical. If I had begun by denying what I
+instead asserted, you would by this time have been arguing as strongly
+on my side as you now are on yours. You are often very near degenerating
+into a common sophist."
+
+"Very likely, it was a charming profession. Meanwhile, by going to the
+very opposite extreme from sophistry, I mean by a more than Quixotic
+veneration for an abstract dogma you hold to be true, and by your
+determination to make people die for it, you are causing fearful misery
+of body, untold agony of soul, to a woman and a man whom you should have
+every reason to like. Go to, Ram Lal, adept, magician, enthusiast, and
+prophet, you are mistaken, like all your kind!"
+
+"No, I am not mistaken, time will show. Moreover, I would have you
+remark that the lady in question is not suffering at all, and that the
+'untold agony of soul' you attribute to Isaacs is a wholesome medicine
+for one with such a soul as his. And now I am going, for you are not the
+sort of person with whom I can enjoy talking very long. You are violent
+and argumentative, though you are sometimes amusing. I am rarely
+violent, and I never argue: life is too short. And yet I have more time
+for it than you, seeing my life will be indefinitely longer than yours.
+Good-bye, for the present; and believe me, those two will be happier
+far, and far more blessed, in a few short years hence, than ever you or
+I shall be in all the unreckonable cycles of this or any future world."
+Ram Lal sighed as he uttered the last words, and he was gone; yet the
+musical cadence of the deep-drawn breath of a profound sorrow, vibrated
+whisperingly through the room where I lay. Poor Ram Lal, he must have
+had some disappointment in his youth, which, with all his wisdom and
+superiority over the common earth, still left a sore place in his heart.
+
+I was not inclined to move. I knew where Isaacs was, where he would
+remain to the bitter end, and I would not go out into the world that
+day, while he was kneeling in the chamber of death. He might come back
+at any time. How long would it last? God in his mercy grant it might be
+soon and quickly over, without suffering. Oh! but those strong people
+die so deathly hard. I have seen a man--No, I was sure of that. She
+would not suffer any more now.
+
+I lay thinking. Would Isaacs send for me when he returned, or would he
+face his grief alone for a night before he spoke? The latter, I thought;
+I hoped so too. How little sympathy there must be for any one, even the
+dearest, in our souls and hearts, when it is so hard to look forward to
+speaking half-a-dozen words of comfort to some poor wretch of a friend
+who has lost everything in the wide world that is dear to him. We would
+rather give him all we possess outright than attempt to console him for
+the loss. And yet--what is there in life more sweet than to be consoled
+and comforted, and to have the true sympathy of some one, even a little
+near to us, when we ourselves are suffering. The people we do not want
+shower cards of condolence on us, and carriage-loads of flowers on the
+poor dead thing; the ones who could be of some help to the tortured soul
+are afraid to speak; the very delicacy of kind-heartedness in them,
+which makes us wish they would come, makes them stay away.
+
+I hope Isaacs will not send for me, poor fellow.
+
+If he does, what shall I say? God help me.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+The hours came and went, and though worn out with the exertions of the
+past days, and with the emotions of the morning, I lay in my rooms,
+unable to sleep even for a moment. I went down once or twice to Isaacs'
+rooms to know whether he had returned, but he had not, nor had any one
+heard from him. At last the evening shadows crept stealthily up,
+darkening first one room, then another, until there was not light enough
+to read by. Then I dropped my book and went out to breathe the cold air
+on the verandah. Wearily the hours went by, and still there was no sign
+of my friend.
+
+Towards eleven o'clock the moon, now waning, once more rose above the
+hills and shed her light across the lawn, splendid still, but with the
+first tinge of melancholy that clouds her departing glory. Exhausted
+nature asserted herself, and chilled to the bone I went to bed, and, at
+last, to sleep.
+
+I slept peacefully at first, but soon the events that had come over my
+life began to weave themselves in wild disharmony through my restful
+visions, and the events that were to come cast their lengthening shadows
+before them. The world of past, present, and future thoughts, came into
+my soul, distorted, without perspective, nothing to help me to discern
+the good from the evil, the suffering gone and long-forgotten from the
+pain in store. The triumph of discrepancy over waking reason, the
+fancied victories of the sleep-dulled intellect over the outrageous
+discord of the wakeful imagination. I passed a most miserable night. It
+seemed rest to wake, until I was awake, and then it seemed rest to sleep
+again, until my eyes were closed. At last it came, no dream this time;
+Isaacs stood by my bed-side in the gray of the morning, himself grayer
+than the soft neutral-tinted dawn. It was a terrible moment to me,
+though I had expected it since yesterday. I felt like the condemned
+criminal in France, who does not know the day or hour of his death. The
+first intimation is when the executioner at daybreak enters his cell and
+bids him come forth to die, sometimes in less than sixty seconds from
+his waking.[2]
+
+How gray he looked, and how infinitely tried. I rose swiftly and took
+his hands, which were deadly cold, and led him to the outer room. I
+could not say anything, for I did not know how such a terribly sudden
+blow would affect him; he was so unlike any one else. Why is it so hard
+to comfort the afflicted? Why should the most charitable duty it is ever
+given us to perform be, without exception, the hardest of tasks?
+
+I am sure most people feel as I do. It is far less painful to suffer
+wounds and sickness in one's own body than to stand by and see the cold
+clean knife go through skin and flesh and cartilage; it is surely easier
+to suffer disease than to smooth daily and hourly the bed and pillows of
+some poor tormented wretch, calling on God and man to end his misery.
+There is a hidden instinct--of a low and cowardly kind, but human
+nevertheless--which bids us turn away from spectacles of agony whether
+harrowing or repulsive, until the good angel comes and whispers that we
+must trample on such coarse impulse and do our duty. "Show pity," said
+the wise old Frenchman, "do anything to alleviate distress, but avoid
+actually feeling either compassion or sympathy. They can lead to no
+good." That was only his way of making to himself an excuse for doing a
+good action, for Larochefoucauld was a man who really possessed every
+virtue that he disclaimed for himself and denied in others.
+
+I felt much of this as I led Isaacs to the outer room, not knowing what
+form his sorrow might take, but feeling in my own person a grief as
+poignant, perhaps, for the moment, as his own. I had known he would
+come, that was all, though I had hoped he would not, and I knew that I
+must do my best to send him away a little less sorrowful than he had
+come. I was not prepared for the extreme calm of voice and manner that
+marked his first words, coming with measured rhythm and even cadence
+from his pale lips.
+
+"It is all over, my friend," he said.
+
+"It has but begun," said the solemn tones of Ram Lal, the Buddhist, from
+the door. He entered and approached us.
+
+"Friend Isaacs," he continued, "I am not here to mock at your grief or
+to weary your strained heartstrings with such petty condolence as
+well-nigh drove Ayoub of old to impatience. But I love you, my brother,
+and I have somewhat to say to you in your trouble, some advice to give
+you in your distress. You are suffering greatly, past the power of
+reason to alleviate, for you no longer know yourself, nor are aware what
+you really think. But I will show to you three pictures of yourself that
+shall rouse you to what you are, to what you were, and to what you shall
+be.
+
+"I found you, not many years ago, a very young man, most exceptionally
+placed in regard to the world. You were even then rich, though not so
+rich as you now are. You were beautiful and full of vigour, but you have
+now upon you the glow of a higher beauty, the overflowing promise of a
+more glorious life. You were happy because you thought you were, but
+such happiness as you had proceeded from without rather than from
+within. You were a materially thinking man. Your thoughts were of the
+flesh, and your delights--harmless it is true--were in the things that
+were under your eyes--wealth, power, book knowledge, and perhaps woman,
+if you can call the creatures you believed in women.
+
+"You gathered wealth in great heaps, and your precious stones in
+storehouses. You laid your hand upon the diamond of the river and upon
+the pearl of the sea, and they abode with you, as the light of the sun
+and the moon. And you said, 'Behold it is my star, which is the lord of
+the dog-heat in summer, and it is my kismet.' You also took to yourself
+wives of rare qualities, having both golden and raven black hair, whose
+skin was as fine silk, and their breath as the freshness of the dawning,
+and their eyes as jewels. Then said you, rejoicing in your heart, that
+you were happy; and so you dwelt in peace and plenty, and waxed glad.
+
+"Therefore you accomplished your first destiny, and you drank of the cup
+that was filled to overflowing. And if it had been the law of nature
+that from pleasure man should derive permanent lasting peace, you had
+been happy so long as you lived. But, though you have the faultless life
+of the body to enjoy all things of the earth, even as other men, though
+in another degree, you have within you something more. There is in your
+breast a heart beating--an organ so wonderful in its sensitiveness, so
+perfect in its consciousness of good, that the least throb and thrill of
+pleasure that it feels is worth years and ages of mere sensual life
+enjoyment. The body having tasted of all happiness whereof it is
+capable, and having found that it is good, is saturated with its own
+ease and enjoys less keenly. But the heart is the border-land between
+body and soul. The heart can love and the body can love, but the body
+can only love itself; the heart is the wellspring of the lore that goes
+beyond self. Therefore your heart awoke.
+
+"Shall I tell you of the first early stirrings of your love? Think you,
+because I am gray and loveless, that I have never known youth and
+gladness of heart? Ah, I know, better than you can think. It is not
+sudden, really, the blossoming out of the tree of life. The small leaves
+grow larger and stronger though still closely folded in the bud, until
+the bright warmth of the spring makes them burst into bloom. The little
+lark in the nest among the grass grows beneath the mother's wing and
+idly moves, now and then, unconscious of the cloud-cleaving gift of
+flight, until all at once, in the fair dawning, there wells up in his
+tiny breast the mighty sense of power to rise.
+
+"The human heart is like the budded folded leaves, and like the untaught
+lark. The quiet sleep before the day of blooming is, while it lasts, a
+state of happiness. But it is not comparable with the breathing joy of
+the leaf that feels and sees the wonderful life around it, whispering
+divine answers to the wooing breeze. The humble nest where it has first
+seen light is for many days a happy home to the tender songster, soon
+left behind, when the first wing-strokes waft the small body upwards to
+the sky, and forgotten as the first glad trill and quaver of the
+new-found voice roll out the prelude to the glorious life-long hymn of
+praise. The heart of man--your heart, my dear friend--gave a great leap
+from earth to sky, when first it felt the magic of the other life. The
+grosser scales of material vision fell away from your inner sight on the
+day when you met, and knew you had met, the woman you were to love.
+
+"I found you again, a different man, a far happier man, though you would
+hardly allow that. A sweet uncertainty of the future half-tinged your
+joy with a shadow of sadness, which you had not known before: but love
+sadness is only the shading and gentle pencilling in love's wondrous
+picture, whereby the whole light of the painting is made clearer and
+stronger. A new world opened out before you in endless vistas of untold
+and undreamed bliss. You looked back at your former self, so careless
+and sunny, so consciously happy in the strong sense of life and power,
+and you wondered how you could have been even contented through so many
+years. The good and evil deeds of your past life lost colour and
+perspective, and fell back into a dull, flat background, against which
+the ineffable vision of beautiful and immortal womanhood stood forth in
+transcendent glory. The eternal womanly element of the great universe
+beckoned you on, as it did Doctor Faustus of old. You had hitherto
+accepted woman and ignored womanhood, as so many of the followers of the
+prophet have always done. Henceforth there was to be a change, entire,
+complete, and enduring. No doubts now, or careless scepticism; no cant
+about women having no souls and no individual being; you had made a
+great step to a better understanding of the world you live in. Filled
+with a new life, you went on your way rejoicing and longing to do great
+deeds for her who had come into your destiny. From dawn to sunset, and
+from evening to dawn, one picture ever was before you leading you on.
+You were ready to run any risk for a smile and a blush of pleasure, you
+were willing to sacrifice anything and everything for her praise. And
+when, down there among the mango-trees in the Terai, your lips first
+touched hers and your arm pressed her to your side, the joy that was
+yours was as the joy of the immortals."
+
+Ram Lal paused, and Isaacs, who had been sitting by the table, stony and
+dry-eyed, hid his face in his hands, clutching with his white fingers
+among his bright black hair--all that seemed left to him of life, so
+dead and ashy was his face. He remained thus without looking up, as the
+old man continued.
+
+"Think not, dear friend and brother, that I have come here to dwell
+needlessly on your grief, to rouse again the keen agonies that have so
+lately burned through and through you to the quick. I love you well, and
+would but trace the past in order to paint the future. All that you felt
+and knew in those short days of perfect love on earth was good and true
+and noble, and shall not be forgotten hereafter. But last night closed
+the second of your three destinies--as true love always must close on
+earth--in bitter grief and sorrow because the one is gone before. Rather
+should you rejoice, Abdul Hafiz, that she is gone in virgin whiteness,
+whither ere long you shall follow and be with her till time shall chase
+the crumbling world out over the broad quicksands of eternity, and
+nought shall survive of all this but the pure and the constant and the
+faithful to death. There is before you a third, destiny, great and
+awful, but grand beyond power of telling. Body and heart have had their
+full cup of happiness, have enjoyed to the full what has been set in
+their way to enjoy. To the full you have enjoyed wealth and success and
+the sensuality of a refined and artistic luxury; to the full, as only a
+few rarely-gifted men can, you have enjoyed the purest and highest love
+that earth can give. Think not that all ends here. The greatest of
+destinies is but begun, and it is the destiny of the soul. Two days ago
+if I had told you there was something higher in you than the loving
+heart, you would not have believed me; now you do. It is the ethereal
+portion of the heart, that which longs to be loosed from the body and
+floating upwards to rejoin its other half.
+
+"Your love has been of the best kind that falls to the lot of man. Not a
+single shadow of doubting fell between you. It has been sweet if it has
+seemed short--but it has really lasted a long time, as long as some
+people's lives. You are many years older than you were when it began,
+for a month or two ago--or whenever it was that your heart first
+awoke--you were entirely immersed in the material view of things that
+belonged naturally enough to your position and mode of life. Now you
+have passed the critical border-land wherein love wanders, himself not
+knowing whither he shall lead his followers, whether back to the thick
+green pasture and heavy-scented groves of sensual existence or forward
+to free wind-swept heights of spiritual blessedness, where those who are
+true until they die walk forth into truth everlasting. Yours is the
+faith and the truth that abide always, yours henceforward shall be the
+perfect union of souls, yours the ethereal range of the outer firmament.
+Take my hand, brother, in yours, and seek with me the path to those
+heights--to that pinnacle of paradise where you shall meet once more the
+spirit elected to yours."
+
+Ram Lal stood beside Isaacs, whose face was still hidden, and laid his
+hand with tender gentleness on the weary head. The old man looked kindly
+down as he touched the thick black hair, and then raised his eyes and
+looked out through the door at the brightening landscape over which the
+morning sun was shedding warmth and beauty once more.
+
+"Brother," he continued, "come forth with me. You have suffered too much
+to mix again with the world, even if you wished it. Come forth, and your
+soul shall live for ever. Your grief shall be turned to joy, and the
+sinking heart shall be lifted to heights untried. As now the sun
+steadily rises in his unerring course, following the pale footsteps of
+the fleet dawning, and fulfilling her half spoken promises a
+million-fold in his goodness; as now the all-muffling heaviness of the
+sad dark night is forgotten in the gladness of day--so shall your brief
+time of darkness and dull distress perish and vanish swiftly at the
+first glimpses of the heavenly day on which follows no creeping night
+nor shadow of earthly care. I come not to bid you forget; I come to bid
+you remember. Remember all that is past, treasure it in the secret
+storehouse of the soul where the few flowers culled from life's abundant
+thorn are laid in their fragrance and garnered up. Remember also the
+future. Think that your time is short, and that the labour shall be
+sweet; so that in a few quick years you shall reap a harvest of
+unearthly blooming. Fear not to tread boldly in the tracks of those who
+have climbed before you, and who have attained and have conquered. What
+can anything earthly ever be to you? What can you ever care again for
+gold, or gem, or horse, or slave? Do with those things as it may seem
+good in your eyes, but leave them behind. The weight of the money-bags
+is a weariness and soreness to the feet that toil to overtake eternity.
+The flesh itself is weariness to the spirit, and soon leaves it to wing
+its flight untrammelled and untiring. Come, I will give you of my poor
+strength what shall carry your uncertain steps over the first great
+difficulties, or at least over so many as you have not yet surmounted.
+Be bold, aspiring, fearless, and firm of purpose. What guerdon can man
+or Heaven offer, higher than eternal communion with the bright spirit
+that waits and watches for your coming? With her--you said it while she
+lived--was your life, your light, and your love; it is true tenfold now,
+for with her is life eternal, light ethereal, and love spiritual. Come,
+brother, come with me!"
+
+Slowly Isaacs raised his head from his hands and gazed long on the old
+man. And while he gazed it was as if his pale face were transparent and
+the whiteness of the burning spirit, dazzling to see, came and went
+quickly and came again as flashes in the northern sky. Slowly he rose to
+his feet, and laying his hand in the Buddhist's, spoke at last.
+
+"Brother, I come," he said. "Show me the way."
+
+"Right gladly will I be thy guide, Abdul," Ram Lal gave answer. "Right
+willingly will I go with thee whither thou wouldest. Never was teacher
+sought by more worthy pupil; never did man embrace the pure life of the
+brethren with more single heart or truer purpose. The way shall be short
+that leads thee upward, the stones that are therein shall be as wings to
+lift thy feet instead of stumbling-blocks for thy destruction. The
+hidden forces of nature shall lend thee strength, and her secrets
+wisdom; the deep sweet springs of the eternal water shall refresh thee
+and the food of the angels shall be thine. Thy sorrows shall turn from
+bitter into sweet, and from the stings of thy past agonies shall grow up
+the golden flowers of thy future crown. Thou shalt not tire in the way,
+nor crave rest by the wayside."
+
+"Friend, tell me what I shall do that I may attain all this."
+
+"Be faithful to her who has preceded you, and learn of us, who know it,
+wherein consists true happiness. You need but little help, dear friend.
+Banish only from your thoughts the human suggestion that what you love
+most is lost, gone irrevocably. Rejoice, and mourn not, that she has
+entered in already where all your striving is to follow. Be glad because
+she looks on those sights and hears those sounds which are too bright
+and strong yet for your eyes and ears. Some of these unspeakable things
+you shall perceive with your perishable body; but the more perfect and
+glorious remain hidden to our mortal senses, be they ever so keen and
+exquisite. Believe me, you shall reach that state before I do. My poor
+soul is still bound to earth by some slender bonds of pleasure and
+contemptible pain, fine indeed as threads of gossamer, and soon, I
+trust, to be shaken off for ever. Yet am I bound and not utterly free.
+You, my brother, have been wrenched suddenly from the life of the body
+to the life of the soul. In you the vile desire to live for living's
+sake will soon be dead, if it is not dead already. Your soul, drawn
+strongly upward to other spheres, is well nigh loosed from love of life
+and fear of death. If at this moment you could lie down and die, you
+would meet your end joyfully. Very subtle are the fast-vanishing links
+between you and the world; very thin and impalpable the faint shadows
+that mar to your vision those transcendent hues of heavenly glory you
+shall so soon behold. Look forward, look upward, look onward--never once
+look back, and your waiting shall not be long, nor her watching many
+days. She stands before you, beckoning and praying that you tarry not.
+See that you do her bidding faithfully, as being near the blessed end,
+and fearful of losing even one moment in the attainment of what you
+seek."
+
+"Fear not, Ram Lal. My determination shall not fail me, nor my courage
+waver, until all is reached."
+
+The light of another world was on the beautiful brow and features as he
+looked full at his future teacher. What strange powers these adept
+brethren have! What marvellous magnetism over the souls of lesser
+men--whereby they turn sorrow into gladness, and defeat into triumph by
+mere words. I myself, bound by thought and word and deed to the lesser
+life, was not unmoved by the glorious promises that flowed with glowing
+eloquence from the lips of that gray old man in the early morning. They
+moved toward the door. Ram Lal spoke as he turned away.
+
+"We leave you, friend Griggs, but we will return this evening and bid
+you farewell." So I was left alone. Another comforter had taken my
+place; one knowing human nature better, and well versed in the learning
+of the spirit. One of that small band of high priests who in all ages
+and nations and religions and societies have been the mediators between
+time and eternity, to cheer and comfort the broken-hearted, to rebuke
+him who would lose his own soul, to speed the awakening spirit in its
+heavenward flight.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+As I sat in my room that night the door opened and they were with me,
+standing hand in hand.
+
+"My friend," said Isaacs, "I have come to bid you farewell. You will
+never see me again. I am here once more to thank you, from the bottom of
+my heart, for your friendship and kind offices, for the strength of your
+arm in the hour of need, and for the gold of your words in time of
+uncertainty."
+
+"Isaacs," I said, "I know little of the journey you are undertaking, and
+I cannot go with you. This I know, that you are very near to a life I
+cannot hope for; and I pray God that you may speed quickly to the
+desired end, that you may attain that happiness which your brave soul
+and honest heart so well deserve. Once more, then, I offer you my
+fullest service, if there is anything that I still can do."
+
+"There is nothing," he answered, "though if there were I know you would
+do it gladly and entirely. I have bestowed all my worldly possessions on
+the one man besides yourself to whom I owe a debt of gratitude--John
+Westonhaugh. Had I known you less well, I would have made you a sharer
+in my forsaken wealth. Only this I beg of you. Take this gem and keep it
+always for my sake. No--do not look at it in that way. Do not consider
+its value. It is to recall one who will often think of you, for you have
+been a great deal to me in this month."
+
+"I would I might have been more," I said, and it was all I could say,
+for my voice failed me.
+
+"Think of me," he continued, and the bright light shone through his face
+in the dusk, "think of me, not as you see me now, or as I was this
+morning, bowed beneath a great sorrow, but as looking forward to a
+happiness that transcends this mortal joy that I have lost, even as the
+glory of things celestial transcends the glory of the terrestrial. Think
+of me, not as mourning the departed day, but as watching longingly for
+the first faint dawn of the day eternal. Above all, think of me not as
+alone but as wedded for all ages to her who has gone before me."
+
+Ram Lal laid his hand on my arm and looked long into my eyes.
+
+"Farewell for the present, my chance acquaintance," he said, "and
+remember that in me you have a friend. The day may come when you too
+will be in dire distress, beyond the skill of mere solitude and books to
+soothe. Farewell, and may all good things be with you."
+
+Isaacs laid his two hands on my shoulders, and once more I met the
+wondrous lustre of his eyes, now veiled but not darkened with the last
+look of his tender friendship.
+
+"Good-bye, my dear Griggs. You have been the instructor and the genius
+of my love. Learn yourself the lessons you can teach others so well. Be
+yourself what you would have made me."
+
+One last loving look--one more pressure of the reluctant fingers, and
+those two went out, hand in hand, under the clear stars, and I saw them
+no more.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+Footnote 1: Sir Gore Ousely, _Notices of the Persian Poets_.
+
+Footnote 2: A fact, as is well known.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Mr. Isaacs, by F. Marion Crawford
+
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