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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Adventures of Kathlyn, by Harold MacGrath
+
+
+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: The Adventures of Kathlyn
+
+
+Author: Harold MacGrath
+
+
+
+Release Date: December 27, 2005  [eBook #17402]
+[Last updated: December 20, 2020]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF KATHLYN***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Al Haines
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 17402-h.htm or 17402-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/4/0/17402/17402-h/17402-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/7/4/0/17402/17402-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ADVENTURES OF KATHLYN
+
+by
+
+HAROLD MACGRATH
+
+Author of The Man on the Box, The Goose Girl, Half a Rogue, etc.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Frontispiece: It will be a hard trek.]
+
+
+
+
+Indianapolis
+The Bobbs-Merrill Company
+Publishers
+Copyright 1914
+Harold MacGrath
+
+
+
+
+TO W. N. SELIG
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+     I  THE GOLDEN GIRL
+    II  THE UNWELCOME THRONE
+   III  THE TWO ORDEALS
+    IV  HOW TIME MOVES
+     V  THE COURT OF THE LION
+    VI  THE TEMPLE
+   VII  QUICKSANDS
+  VIII  THE SLAVE MART
+    IX  THE COLONEL IN CHAINS
+     X  WAITING
+    XI  THE WHITE ELEPHANT
+   XII  THE PLAN OF RAMABAI
+  XIII  LOVE
+   XIV  THE VEILED CANDIDATES
+    XV  THE SEVEN LEOPARDS
+   XVI  THE RED WOLF
+  XVII  LORD OF THE WORLD
+ XVIII  PATIENCE
+   XIX  MAGIC
+    XX  BATTLE, BATTLE, BATTLE
+   XXI  THE WHITE GODDESS
+  XXII  BEHIND THE CURTAINS
+ XXIII  REMORSE
+  XXIV  THE INVINCIBLE WILL
+   XXV  ON THE SLOOP
+  XXVI  THE THIRD BAR
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+   It will be a hard trek (Frontispiece)
+
+   Where did you get this medal?
+
+   Ahmed salaamed deeply.
+
+   So they comforted each other.
+
+   You'll know how to soothe him.
+
+   My arm pains me badly.
+
+   And thus Umballa found them.
+
+   Kathyln turned the tide.
+
+
+
+
+THE ADVENTURES OF KATHLYN
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE GOLDEN GIRL
+
+Under a canopied platform stood a young girl, modeling in clay.  The
+glare of the California sunshine, filtering through the canvas, became
+mellowed, warm and golden.  Above the girl's head--yellow like the
+stalk of wheat--there hovered a kind of aureola, as if there had risen
+above it a haze of impalpable gold dust.
+
+A poet I know might have cried out that here ended his quest of the
+Golden Girl.  Straight she stood at this moment, lovely of face,
+rounded of form, with an indescribable suggestion of latent physical
+power or magnetism.  On her temples there were little daubs of clay,
+caused doubtless by impatient fingers sweeping back occasional wind
+blown locks of hair.  There was even a daub on the side of her handsome
+sensitive nose.
+
+Her hand, still filled with clay, dropped to her side, and a tableau
+endured for a minute or two, suggesting a remote period, a Persian
+idyl, mayhap.  With a smile on her lips she stared at the living model.
+The chatoyant eyes of the leopard stared back, a flicker of
+restlessness in their brilliant yellow deeps.  The tip of the tail
+twitched.
+
+"You beautiful thing!" she said.
+
+She began kneading the clay again, and with deft fingers added bits
+here and there to the creature which had grown up under her strong
+supple fingers.
+
+"Kathlyn!  Oh, Kit!"
+
+The sculptress paused, the pucker left her brow, and she turned, her
+face beaming, for her sister Winnie was the apple of her eye, and she
+brooded over her as the mother would have done had the mother lived.
+For Winnie, dark as Kathlyn was light, was as careless and aimless as
+thistledown in the wind.
+
+A collie leaped upon the platform and began pawing Kathlyn, and shortly
+after the younger sister followed.  Neither of the girls noted the
+stiffening mustaches of the leopard.  The animal rose, and his nostrils
+palpitated.  He hated the dog with a hatred not unmixed with fear.
+Treachery is in the marrow of all cats.  To breed them in captivity
+does not matter.  Sooner or later they will strike.  Never before had
+the leopard been so close to his enemy, free of the leash.
+
+"Kit, it is just wonderful.  However can you do it?  Some day we'll
+make dad take us to Paris, where you can exhibit them."
+
+A snarl from the leopard, answered by a growl from the collie, brought
+Kathlyn's head about.  The cat leaped, but toward Winnie, not the
+collie.  With a cry of terror Winnie turned and ran in the direction of
+the bungalow.  Kathlyn, seizing the leash, followed like the wind,
+hampered though she was by the apron.  The cat loped after the fleeing
+girl, gaining at each bound.  The yelping of the collie brought forth
+from various points low rumbling sounds, which presently developed into
+roars.
+
+Winnie turned sharply around the corner of the bungalow toward the
+empty animal cages, to attract her father and at the same time rouse
+some of the keepers.  Seeing the door of an empty cage open, and that
+it was approached by a broad runway, she flew to it, entered and
+slammed the door and held it.  The cat, now hot with the lust to kill,
+threw himself against the bars, snarling and spitting.
+
+Kathlyn called out to him sharply, and fearlessly approached him.  She
+began talking in a monotone.  His ears went flat against his head, but
+he submitted to her touch because invariably it soothed him, and
+because he sensed some undefinable power whenever his gaze met hers.
+She snapped the leash on his collar just as her father came running up,
+pale and disturbed.  He ran to the door and opened it.
+
+"Winnie, you poor little kitten," he said, taking her in his arms, "how
+many times have I told you never to take that dog about when Kit's
+leopard is off the leash?"
+
+"I didn't think," she sobbed.
+
+"No.  Kit here and I must always do your thinking for you.  Ahmed!"
+
+"Yes, Sahib," answered the head keeper.
+
+"See if you can stop that racket over there.  Sadie may lose her litter
+if it keeps up."
+
+The lean brown Mohammedan trotted away in obedience to his orders.  He
+knew how to stop captive lions from roaring.  He knew how to send
+terror to their hearts.  As he ran he began to hiss softly.
+
+Colonel Hare, with his arm about Winnie, walked toward the bungalow.
+
+"Lock your pet up, Kit," he called over his shoulder, "and come in to
+tea."
+
+Kathlyn spoke soothingly to the leopard, scratched his head behind the
+ears, and shortly a low satisfied rumble stirred his throat, and his
+tail no longer slashed about.  She led him to his own cage, never
+ceasing to talk, locked the door, then turned and walked thoughtfully
+toward the bungalow.
+
+She was wondering what this gift was that put awe into the eyes of the
+native keepers on her father's wild animal farm and temporary peace in
+the hearts of the savage beasts.  She realized that she possessed it,
+but it was beyond analysis.  Often some wild-eyed keeper would burst in
+upon her.  Some newly captive lion or tiger was killing itself from
+mere passion, and wouldn't the Mem-sahib come at once and talk to it?
+There was a kind of pity in her heart for these poor wild things, and
+perhaps they perceived this pity, which was fearless.
+
+"She gets a little from me, I suppose," Colonel Hare had once answered
+to a query, "for I've always had a way with four footed things.  But I
+think Ahmed is right.  Kathlyn is heaven born.  I've seen the night
+when Brocken would be tame beside the pandemonium round-about.  Yet
+half an hour after Kit starts the rounds everything quiets down.  The
+gods are in it."
+
+The living-room of the bungalow was large and comfortable.  The walls
+were adorned with the heads of wild beasts and their great furry hides
+shared honors with the Persian rugs on the floor.  Hare was a man who
+would pack up at a moment's notice and go to the far ends of the world
+to find a perfect black panther, a cheetah with a litter, or a great
+horned rhinoceros.  He was tall and broad, and amazingly active, for
+all that his hair and mustache were almost white.  For thirty years or
+more he had gone about the hazardous enterprise of supplying zoological
+gardens and circuses with wild beasts.  He was known from Hamburg to
+Singapore, from Mombassa to Rio Janeiro.  The Numidian lion, the Rajput
+tiger, and the Malayan panther had cause to fear Hare Sahib.  He was
+even now preparing to return to Ceylon for an elephant hunt.
+
+The two daughters went over to the tea tabouret, where a matronly maid
+was busying with the service.  The fragrant odor of tea permeated the
+room.  Hare paused at his desk.  Lines suddenly appeared on his bronzed
+face.  He gazed for a space at the calendar.  The day was the fifteenth
+of July.  Should he go back there, or should he give up the expedition?
+He might never return.  India and the border countries!  What a land,
+full of beauty and romance and terror and squalor, at once barbaric and
+civilized!  He loved it and hated it, and sometimes feared it, he who
+had faced on foot many a wounded tiger.
+
+He shrugged, reached into the desk for a box of Jaipur brass enamel and
+took from it a medal attached to a ribbon.  The golden disk was
+encrusted with uncut rubies and emeralds.
+
+"Girls," he called.  "Come here a moment.  Martha, that will be all,"
+with a nod toward the door.  "I never showed you this before."
+
+"Goodness gracious!" cried Winnie, reaching out her hand.
+
+"Why, it looks like a decoration, father," said Kathlyn.  "What lovely
+stones!  It would make a beautiful pendant."
+
+"Vanity, vanity, all is vanity," said the colonel, smiling down into
+their charming faces.  "Do you love your old dad?"
+
+"Love you!" they exclaimed in unison, indignantly, too, since the
+question was an imputation of the fact.
+
+"Would you be lonesome if I took the Big Trek?" whimsically.
+
+"Father!"
+
+"Dad!"
+
+They pressed about him, as vines about an oak.
+
+"Hang it, I swear that this shall be the last hunt.  I'm rich.  We'll
+get rid of all these brutes and spend the rest of the years seeing the
+show places.  I'm a bit tired myself of jungle fodder.  We'll go to
+Paris, and Berlin, and Rome, and Vienna.  And you, Kit, shall go and
+tell Rodin that you've inherited the spirit of Gerome.  And you,
+Winnie, shall make a stab at grand opera."
+
+Winnie gurgled her delight, but her sister searched her father's eyes.
+She did not quite like the way he said those words.  His voice lacked
+its usual heartiness and spontaneity.
+
+"Where did you get this medal, father?" she asked.
+
+[Illustration: Where did you get this medal?]
+
+"That's what I started out to tell you."
+
+"Were you afraid we might wish to wear it or have it made over?"
+laughed Winnie, who never went below the surface of things.
+
+"No.  The truth is, I had almost forgotten it.  But the preparations
+for India recalled it to mind.  It represents a royal title conferred
+on me by the king of Allaha.  You have never been to India, Kit.
+Allaha is the name we hunters give that border kingdom.  Some day
+England will gobble it up; only waiting for a good excuse."
+
+"What big thing did you do?" demanded Kathlyn, her eyes still filled
+with scrutiny.
+
+"What makes you think it was big?" jestingly.
+
+"Because," she answered seriously, "you never do anything but big
+things.  As the lion is among beasts, you are among men."
+
+"Good lord!"  The colonel reached embarrassedly for his pipe, lighted
+it, puffed a few minutes, then laid it down.  "India is full of strange
+tongues and strange kingdoms and principalities.  Most of them are
+dominated by the British Raj, some are only protected, while others do
+about as they please.  This state"--touching the order--"does about as
+it did since the days of the first white rover who touched the shores
+of Hind.  It is small, but that signifies nothing; for you can brew a
+mighty poison in a small pot.  Well, I happened to save the old king's
+life."
+
+"I knew it would be something like that," said Kathlyn.  "Go on.  Tell
+it all."
+
+The colonel had recourse to his pipe again.  He smoked on till the coal
+was dead.  The girls waited patiently.  They knew that his silence
+meant that he was only marshaling the events in their chronological
+order.
+
+"The king was a kindly old chap, simple, yet shrewd, and with that
+slumbrous oriental way of accomplishing his ends, despite all
+obstacles.  Underneath this apparent simplicity I discovered a grim
+sardonic humor.  Trust the Oriental for always having that packed away
+under his bewildering diplomacy.  He was all alone in the world.  He
+was one of those rare eastern potentates who wasn't hampered by
+parasitical relatives.  By George, the old boy could have given his
+kingdom, lock, stock and barrel, to the British government, and no one
+could say him nay.  There was a good deal of rumor the last time I was
+there that when he died England would step in actually.  The old boy
+gave me leave to come and go as I pleased, to hunt where and how I
+would.  I had a mighty fine collection.  There are tigers and leopards
+and bears and fat old pythons, forty feet long.  Of course, it isn't
+the tiger country that Central India is, but the brutes you find are
+bigger.  I have about sixty beasts there now, and that's mainly why I'm
+going back.  Want to clean it up and ship 'em to Hamburg, where I've a
+large standing order.  I'm going first to Ceylon, for some elephants."
+
+The colonel knocked the ash from his pipe.  "The old boy used to do
+some trapping himself, and whenever he'd catch a fine specimen he'd
+turn it over to me.  He had a hunting lodge not far from my quarters.
+One day Ahmed came to me with a message saying that the king commanded
+my presence at the lodge, where his slaves had trapped a fine leopard.
+Yes, my dears, slaves.  There is even a slave mart at the capital this
+day.  A barbaric fairy-land, with its good genii and its bad djinns."
+
+"_The Arabian Nights_," murmured Winnie, snuggling close to Kathlyn.
+
+"The Oriental loves pomp," went on the colonel.  "He can't give you a
+chupatty----"
+
+"What's that?" asked Winnie.
+
+"Something like hardtack.  Well, he can't give you that without
+ceremonial.  When I arrived at the lodge with Ahmed the old boy--he had
+the complexion of a prima donna--the old boy sat on his portable
+throne, glittering with orders.  Standing beside him was a chap we
+called Umballa.  He had been a street rat.  A bit of impudence had
+caught the king's fancy, and he brought up the boy, clothed, fed him,
+and sent him away down to Umballa to school.  When the boy returned he
+talked Umballa morning, noon and night, till the soldiers began to call
+him that, and from them it passed on to the natives, all of whom
+disliked the upstart.  Hanged if I can recall his real name.  He was
+ugly and handsome at the same time; suave, patient, courteous; yet
+somehow or other I sensed the real man below--the Tartar blood.  I took
+a dislike to him, first off.  It's the animal sense.  You've got it,
+Kit.  Behind the king sat the Council of Three--three wise old ducks I
+wouldn't trust with an old umbrella."
+
+Winnie laughed.
+
+"While we were salaaming and genuflecting and using grandiloquent
+phrases the bally leopard got loose, somehow.  Maybe some one let him
+loose; I don't know.  Anyhow, he made for the king, who was too
+thunderstruck to dodge.  The rest of 'em took to their heels, you may
+lay odds on that.  Now, I had an honest liking for the king.  Seeing
+the brute make for him, I dashed forward.  You see, at ceremonials
+you're not permitted to carry arms.  It had to be with my hands.  The
+leopard knocked the old boy flat and began to maul him.  I kicked the
+brute in the face, swept the king's turban off his head and flung it
+about the head of the leopard.  Somehow or other I got him down.  Some
+of the frightened natives came up, and with the help of Ahmed we got
+the brute tied up securely.  When the king came around he silently
+shook hands with me and smiled peculiarly at Umballa, who now came
+running up."
+
+"And that's how you got those poor hands!" exclaimed Kathlyn, kissing
+the scars which stood out white against the tan.
+
+"That's how," raising the hands and putting them on Kathlyn's head in a
+kind of benediction.
+
+"Is that all?" asked Winnie breathlessly.
+
+"Isn't that enough?" he retorted.  "Well, what is it, Martha?  Dinner?
+Well, if I haven't cheated you girls out of your tea!"
+
+"Tea!" sniffed Winnie disdainfully.  "Do you know, dad, you're awfully
+mean to Kit and me.  If you'd take the trouble you could be more
+interesting than any book I ever read."
+
+"He doesn't believe his stories would interest vain young ladies," said
+Kathlyn gravely.
+
+Her father eyed her sharply.  Of what was she thinking?  In those calm
+unwavering eyes of hers he saw a question, and he feared in his soul
+she might voice it.  He could evade the questions of the volatile
+Winnie, but there was no getting by Kathlyn with evasions.  Frowning,
+he replaced the order in the box, which he put away in a drawer.  It
+was all arrant nonsense, anyhow; nothing could possibly happen; if
+there did, he would feel certain that he no longer dwelt in a real
+workaday world.  The idle whim of a sardonic old man; nothing more than
+that.
+
+"Father, is the king dead?"
+
+"Dead!  What makes you ask that, Kit?"
+
+"The past tense; you said he was, not is."
+
+"Yes, he's dead, and the news came this morning.  Hence, the yarn."
+
+"Will there be any danger in returning?"
+
+"My girl, whenever I pack my luggage there is danger.  A cartridge may
+stick; a man may stumble; a man you rely on may fail you.  As for that,
+there's always danger.  It's the penalty of being alive."
+
+On the way to the dining-room Kathlyn thought deeply.  Why had her
+father asked them if they loved him?  Why did he speak of the Big Trek?
+There was something more than this glittering medal, something more
+than this simple tale of bravery.  What?  Well, if he declined to take
+her into his confidence he must have good reason.
+
+After dinner that night the colonel went the rounds, as was his habit
+nightly.  By and by he returned to the bungalow, but did not enter.  He
+filled his cutty and walked to and fro in the moonlight, with his head
+bent and his hands clasped behind his back.  There was a restlessness
+in his stride not unlike that of the captive beasts in the cages near
+by.  Occasionally he paused at the clink clink of the elephant irons or
+at the "whuff" as the uneasy pachyderm poured dust on his head.
+
+Bah!  It was madness.  A parchment in Hindustani, given jestingly or
+ironically by a humorous old chap in orders and white linen and
+rhinoceros sandals. . . .  A throne!  Pshaw!  It was bally nonsense.
+As if a white man could rule over a brown one by the choice of the
+latter!  And yet, that man Umballa's face, when he had shown the king
+the portraits of his two lovely daughters!  He would send Ahmed.  Ahmed
+knew the business as well as he did.  He would send his abdication to
+the council, giving them the right to choose his successor.  He himself
+would remain home with the girls.  Then he gazed up at the moon and
+smiled grimly.
+
+"Hukum hai!" he murmured in Hindustani.  "It is the orders.  I've
+simply got to go.  When I recall those rubies and emeralds and
+pearls. . . .  Well, it's not cupidity for myself.  It's for the girls.
+Besides; there's the call, the adventure.  I've simply got to go.  I
+can't escape it.  I must be always on the go . . . since she died."
+
+A few days later he stood again before the desk in the living-room.  He
+was dressed for travel.  He sat down and penned a note.  From the box
+which contained the order he extracted a large envelope heavily sealed.
+This he balanced in his hand for a moment, frowned, laughed, and swore
+softly.  He would abdicate, but at a snug profit.  Why not? . . .  He
+was an old fool.  Into a still larger envelope he put the sealed
+envelope and his own note, then wrote upon it.  He was blotting it as
+his daughters entered.
+
+"Come here, my pretty cubs."  He held out the envelope.  "I want you,
+Kit, to open this on December thirty-first, at midnight.  Girls like
+mysteries, and if you opened it any time but midnight it wouldn't be
+mysterious.  Indeed, I shall probably have you both on the arms of my
+chair when you open it."
+
+"Is it about the medal?" demanded Winnie.
+
+"By George, Kit, the child is beginning to reason out things," he
+jested.
+
+Winnie laughed, and so did Kathlyn, but she did so because occultly she
+felt that her father expected her to laugh.  She was positively uncanny
+sometimes in her perspicacity.
+
+"On December thirty-first, at midnight," she repeated.  "All right,
+father.  You must write to us at least once every fortnight."
+
+"I'll cable from Singapore, from Ceylon, and write a long letter from
+Allaha.  Come on.  We must be off.  Ahmed is waiting."
+
+Some hours later the two girls saw the Pacific Mail steamer move with
+cold and insolent majesty out toward the Golden Gate.  Kathlyn proved
+rather uncommunicative on the way home.  December thirty-first kept
+running through her mind.  It held a portent of evil.  She knew
+something of the Orient, though she had never visited India.  Had her
+father made an implacable enemy?  Was he going into some unknown,
+unseen danger?  December thirty-first, at midnight.  Could she hold her
+curiosity in check that long?
+
+Many of the days that followed dragged, many flew--the first for
+Kathlyn, the last for Winnie, who now had a beau, a young newspaper man
+from San Francisco.  He came out regularly every Saturday and returned
+at night.  Winnie became, if anything, more flighty than ever.  Her
+father never had young men about.  The men he generally gathered round
+his board were old hunters or sailors.  Kathlyn watched this budding
+romance amusedly.  The young man was very nice.  But her thoughts were
+always and eternally with her father.
+
+During the last week in December there arrived at the Palace Hotel in
+San Francisco an East Indian, tall, well formed, rather handsome.
+Except for his brown turban he would have passed unnoticed.  For Hindus
+and Japanese and Chinamen and what-nots from the southern seas were
+every-day affairs.  The brown turban, however, and an enormous emerald
+on one of his fingers, produced an effect quite gratifying to him.
+Vanity in the Oriental is never conspicuous for its absence.  The
+reporters gave him scant attention, though, for this was at a time when
+the Gaikwar of Baroda was unknown.
+
+The stranger, after two or three days of idling, casually asked the way
+to the wild animal farm of his old friend, Colonel Hare.  It was easy
+enough to find.  At the village inn he was treated with tolerant
+contempt.  These brown fellows were forever coming and going, to and
+fro, from the colonel's.
+
+At five o'clock in the afternoon of the thirty-first day of December,
+this East Indian peered cautiously into the French window of the Hare
+bungalow.  The picture he saw there sent a thrill into his heart.  She
+was as fair and beautiful as an houri of Sa'adi.  She sat at a desk,
+holding a long white envelope in her hand.  By and by she put it away,
+and he was particular to note the drawer in which she placed it.  That
+the dark-haired girl at the tea tabouret was equally charming did not
+stir the watcher.  Dark-haired women were plentiful in his native land.
+Yonder was the girl of the photograph, the likeness of which had fired
+his heart for many a day.  With the patience of the Oriental he stood
+in the shadow and waited.  Sooner or later they would leave the room,
+and sooner or later, with the deftness of his breed, he would enter.
+The leopard he had heard about was nowhere to be seen.
+
+"Winnie," said Kathlyn, "I dread it."
+
+Winnie set down the teacup; her eyes were brimming.
+
+"What can it all mean?  Not a line from father since Colombo, five
+months gone."
+
+"Do you think----"
+
+"No, no!" replied Kathlyn hastily.  "Father sometimes forgets.  He may
+be hunting miles from telegraph wires and railroads; it is only that he
+should forget us so long.  Who knows?  He may have dropped down into
+Borneo.  He wanted some pythons, so I heard him say."
+
+The elder sister did not care to instil into the heart of her charge
+the fear which was in her own.
+
+"Who knows but there may be good news in the envelope?  Dad's always
+doing something like that.  New Year's!"
+
+The collie, released from the kitchen, came bounding in.  In his
+exuberance he knocked over a cloisonne vase.  Both girls were glad to
+welcome this diversion.  They rose simultaneously and gave chase.  The
+dog headed for the outdoor studio, where they caught him and made
+believe they were punishing him.
+
+Quietly the watcher entered through the window, alert and tense.  He
+flew to the desk, found the envelope, steamed it open at the kettle,
+extracted the sealed envelope and Colonel Hare's note.  He smiled as he
+read the letter and changed his plans completely.  He would not play
+messenger; he would use a lure instead.  With his ear strained for
+sounds, he wrote and substituted a note.  This houri of Sa'adi would
+not pause to note the difference in writing; the vitalness of the
+subject would enchain her thoughts.  It was all accomplished in the
+space of a few minutes.  Smiling, he passed out into the fast settling
+twilight.
+
+They were shipping a lion to San Francisco, and the roaring and
+confusion were all very satisfactory to the trespasser.
+
+Midnight.  From afar came the mellow notes of the bells in the ancient
+Spanish mission.  The old year was dead, the new year was born,
+carrying with it the unchanging sound of happiness and misery, of
+promises made and promises broken, of good and evil.
+
+"The packet!" cried Winnie.
+
+Kathlyn recognized in that call that Winnie was only a child.  All the
+responsibility lay upon her shoulders.  She ripped the cover from the
+packet and read the note.
+
+
+"Kathlyn: If not heard from I'm held captive in Allaha.  Sealed
+document can save me.  Bring it yourself to Allaha by first steamer.
+
+"Father."
+
+
+"I knew it," said Kathlyn calmly.  The fear in her heart had, as the
+brown man had anticipated, blinded her to the fact that this was not
+her father's characteristic blunt scrawl.
+
+"Oh, Kit, Kit!"
+
+"Hush, Winnie!  I must go, and go alone.  Where's the evening paper?
+Ah, there it is.  Let me see what boat leaves San Francisco to-morrow.
+The _Empress of India_, six a. m.  I must make that.  Now, you're your
+father's daughter, too, Winnie.  You must stay behind and be brave and
+wait.  I shall come back.  I shall find father, if I have to rouse all
+India.  Now, to pack."
+
+When they arrived at the station the passenger train had just drawn
+out.  For a while Kathlyn felt beaten.  She would be compelled to wait
+another week.  It was disheartening.
+
+"Why not try the freight, then?" cried Winnie.
+
+"You little angel!  I never thought of that!"
+
+But the crew would not hear of it.  It was absolutely against the
+company's rules.  Kathlyn could have cried.
+
+"It isn't money, miss, it's the rules," said the conductor kindly.  "I
+can't do it."
+
+Kathlyn turned in despair toward the station.  It was then she saw the
+boxed lion on the platform.  She returned to the conductor of the
+freight.
+
+"Why isn't that lion shipped?"
+
+"We can't carry a lion without an attendant, miss.  You ought to know
+that."
+
+"Very well," replied Kathlyn.  She smiled at the conductor confidently.
+"I'll travel as the lion's attendant.  You certainly can not object to
+that."
+
+"I guess you've got me," admitted the conductor.  "But where the
+dickens will we put the cat?  Every car is closed and locked, and there
+is not an empty."
+
+"You can easily get the lion in the caboose.  I'll see that he doesn't
+bother any one."
+
+"Lions in the caboose is a new one on me.  Well, you know your dad's
+business better than I do.  Look alive, boys, and get that angora
+aboard.  This is Miss Hare herself, and she'll take charge."
+
+"Kit, Kit!"
+
+"Winnie!"
+
+"Oh, I'll be brave.  I've just got to be.  But I've never been left
+alone before."
+
+The two girls embraced, and Winnie went sobbing back to the maid who
+waited on the platform.
+
+What happened in that particular caboose has long since been newspaper
+history.  The crew will go on telling it till it becomes as fabulous as
+one of Sindbad's yarns.  How the lion escaped, how the fearless young
+woman captured it alone, unaided, may be found in the files of all
+metropolitan newspapers.  Of the brown man who was found hiding in the
+coat closet of the caboose nothing was said.  But the sight of him
+dismayed Kathlyn as no lion could have done.  Any-dark skinned person
+was now a subtle menace.  And when, later, she saw peering into the
+port-hole of her stateroom, dismay became terror.
+
+Who was this man?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE UNWELCOME THRONE
+
+Kathlyn sensed great loneliness when, about a month later, she arrived
+at the basin in Calcutta.  A thousand or more natives were bathing
+ceremoniously in the ghat--men, women and children.  It was early morn,
+and they were making solemn genuflections toward the bright sun.  The
+water-front swarmed with brown bodies, and great wheeled carts drawn by
+sad-eyed bullocks threaded slowly through the maze.  The many white
+turbans, stirring hither and thither, reminded her of a field of white
+poppies in a breeze.  India!  There it lay, ready for her eager feet.
+Always had she dreamed about it, and romanced over it, and sought it on
+the wings of her spirit.  Yonder it lay, ancient as China, enchanting
+as storied Persia.
+
+If only she were on pleasure bent!  If only she knew some one in this
+great teeming city!  She knew no one; she carried no letters of
+introduction, no letters of credit, nothing but the gold and notes the
+paymaster at the farm had hastily turned over to her.  Only by constant
+application to maps and guide books had she managed to arrange the
+short cut to the far kingdom.  She had been warned that it was a wild
+and turbulent place, out of the beaten path, beyond the reach of iron
+rails.  Three long sea voyages: across the Pacific (which wasn't), down
+the bitter Yellow Sea, up the blue Bay of Bengal, with many a sea
+change and many a strange picture.  What though her heart ached, it was
+impossible that her young eyes should not absorb all she saw and marvel
+over it.  India!
+
+The strange elusive Hindu had disappeared after Hongkong.  That was a
+weight off her soul.  She was now assured that her imagination had
+beguiled her.  How should he know anything about her?  What was more
+natural than that he should wish to hurry back to his native state?
+She was not the only one in a hurry.  And there were Hindus of all
+castes on all three ships.  By now she had almost forgot him.
+
+There was one bright recollection to break the unending loneliness.
+Coming down from Hongkong to Singapore she had met at the captain's
+table a young man by the name of Bruce.  He was a quiet, rather
+untalkative man, lean and sinewy, sun and wind bitten.  Kathlyn had as
+yet had no sentimental affairs.  Absorbed in her work, her father and
+the care of Winnie, such young men as she had met had scarcely
+interested her.  She had only tolerated contempt for idlers, and these
+young men had belonged to that category.  Bruce caught her interest in
+the very fact that he had but little to say and said that crisply and
+well.  There was something authoritative in the shape of his mouth and
+the steadiness of his eye, though before her he never exercised this
+power.  A dozen times she had been on the point of taking him into her
+confidence, but the irony of fate had always firmly closed her lips.
+
+And now, waiting for the ship to warp into its pier, she realized what
+a fatal mistake her reticence had been.  A friend of her father!
+
+Bruce had left the Lloyder before dinner (at Singapore), and as
+Kathlyn's British-India coaster did not leave till morning she had
+elected to remain over night on the German boat.
+
+As Bruce disappeared among the disembarking passengers and climbed into
+a rickshaw she turned to the captain, who stood beside her.
+
+"Do you know Mr. Bruce?"
+
+"Very well," said the German.  "Didn't he tell you who he is?  No?
+_Ach_!  Why, Mr. Bruce is a great hunter.  He has shot everything,
+written books, climbed the Himalayas.  Only last year he brought me the
+sack of a musk deer, and that is the most dangerous of all sports.  He
+collects animals."
+
+Then Kathlyn knew.  The name had been vaguely familiar, but the young
+man's reticence had given her no opportunity to dig into her
+recollection.  Bruce!  How many times her father had spoken of him!
+What a fool she had been!  Bruce knew the country she was going to,
+perhaps as well as her father; and he could have simplified her journey
+to the last word.  Well, what was done could not be recalled and done
+over.
+
+"My father is a great hunter, too," she said simply, eying wistfully
+the road taken by Bruce into town.
+
+"What?  _Herr Gott_!  Are you Colonel Hare's daughter?" exclaimed the
+captain.
+
+"Yes."
+
+He seized her by the shoulders.  "Why did you not tell me?  Why,
+Colonel Hare and I have smoked many a Burma cheroot together on these
+waters.  _Herr Gott_!  And you never said anything!  What a woman for a
+man to marry!" he laughed.  "You have sat at my table for five days,
+and only now I find that you are Hare's daughter!  And you have a
+sister.  _Ach_, yes!  He was always taking out some photographs in the
+smoke-room and showing them to us old chaps."
+
+Tears filled Kathlyn's eyes.  In an Indian prison, out of the
+jurisdiction of the British Raj, and with her two small hands and
+woman's mind she must free him!  Always the mysterious packet lay close
+to her heart, never for a moment was it beyond the reach of her hand.
+Her father's freedom!
+
+The rusty metal sides of the ship scraped against the pier and the
+gangplank was lowered; and presently the tourists flocked down with
+variant emotions, to be besieged by fruit sellers, water carriers,
+cabmen, blind beggars, and maimed, naked little children with curious,
+insolent black eyes, women with infants straddling their hips, stolid
+Chinamen; a riot of color and a bewildering babel of tongues.
+
+Kathlyn found a presentable carriage, and with her luggage pressing
+about her feet directed the driver to the Great Eastern Hotel.
+
+Her white sola-topee (sun helmet) had scarcely disappeared in the crowd
+when the Hindu of the freight caboose emerged from the steerage, no
+longer in bedraggled linen trousers and ragged turban, but dressed like
+a native fop.  He was in no hurry.  Leisurely he followed Kathlyn to
+the hotel, then proceeded to the railway station.  He had need no
+longer to watch and worry.  There was nothing left now but to greet her
+upon her arrival, this golden houri from the verses of Sa'adi.  The two
+weeks of durance vile among the low castes in the steerage should be
+amply repaid.  In six days he would be beyond the hand of the meddling
+British Raj, in his own country.  Sport!  What was more beautiful to
+watch than cat play?  He was the cat, the tiger cat.  And what would
+the Colonel Sahib say when he felt the claws?  Beautiful, beautiful,
+like a pattern woven in an Agra rug.
+
+Kathlyn began her journey at once.  Now that she was on land, moving
+toward her father, all her vigor returned.  She felt strangely alive,
+exhilarated.  She knew that she was not going to be afraid of anything
+hereafter.  To enter the strange country without having her purpose
+known would be the main difficulty.  Where was Ahmed all this time?
+Doubtless in a cell like his master.
+
+Three days later she stood at the frontier, and her servant set about
+arguing and bargaining with the mahouts to engage elephants for the
+three days' march through jungles and mountainous divides to the
+capital.  Three elephants were necessary.  There were two howdah
+elephants and one pack elephant, who was always lagging behind.
+Through long aisles of magnificent trees they passed, across hot
+blistering deserts, dotted here and there by shrubs and stunted trees,
+in and out of gloomy defiles of flinty rock, over sluggish and swiftly
+flowing streams.  The days were hot, but the nights were bitter cold.
+Sometimes a blue miasmic haze settled down, and the dry raspy hides of
+the elephants grew damp and they fretted at their chains.
+
+Rao, the khidmutgar Kathlyn had hired in Calcutta, proved invaluable.
+Without him she would never have succeeded in entering the strange
+country; for these wild-eyed Mohammedan mahouts (and it is pertinent to
+note that only Mohammedans are ever made mahouts, it being against the
+tenets of Hinduism to kill or ride anything that kills) scowled at her
+evilly.  They would have made way with her for an anna-piece.  Rao was
+a Mohammedan himself, so they listened and obeyed.
+
+All this the first day and night out.  On the following morning a
+leopard crossed the trail.  Kathlyn seized her rifle and broke its
+spine.  The jabbering of the mahouts would have amused her at any other
+time.
+
+"Good, Mem-sahib," whispered Rao.  "You have put fear into their
+devils' hearts.  Good!  Chup!" he called.  "Stop your noise."
+
+After that they gave Kathlyn's dog tent plenty of room.
+
+One day, in the heart of a natural clearing, she saw a tree.  Its
+blossoms and leaves were as scarlet as the seeds of a pomegranate.
+
+"Oh, how beautiful!  What is it, Rao?"
+
+"The flame of the jungle, Mem-sahib.  It is good luck to see it on a
+journey."
+
+About the tree darted gay parrakeets and fat green parrots.  The green
+plumage of the birds against the brilliant scarlet of the tree was
+indescribably beautiful.  Everywhere was life, everywhere was color.
+Once, as the natives seated themselves of the evening round their dung
+fire while Kathlyn busied with the tea over a wood fire, a tiger roared
+near by.  The elephants trumpeted and the mahouts rose in terror.
+Kathlyn ran for her rifle, but the trumpeting of the elephants was
+sufficient to send the striped cat to other hunting-grounds.  Wild ape
+and pig abounded, and occasionally a caha wriggled out of the sun into
+the brittle grasses.  Very few beasts or reptiles are aggressive; it is
+only when they feel cornered that they turn.  Even the black panther,
+the most savage of all cats, will rarely offer battle except when
+attacked.
+
+Meantime the man who had followed Kathlyn arrived at the city.
+
+Five hours later Kathlyn stepped out of her howdah, gave Rao the money
+for the mahouts and looked about.  This was the gate to the capital.
+How many times had her father passed through it?  Her jaw set and her
+eyes flashed.  Whatever dangers beset her she was determined to meet
+them with courage and patience.
+
+"Rao, you had better return to Calcutta.  What I have to do must be
+done alone."
+
+"Very good.  But I shall remain here till the Mem-sahib returns."  Rao
+salaamed.
+
+"And if I should not return?" affected by this strange loyalty.
+
+"Then I shall seek Bruce Sahib, who has a camp twenty miles east."
+
+"Bruce?  But he is in Singapore!"--a quickening of her pulses.
+
+"Who can say where Bruce Sahib is?  He is like a shadow, there to-day,
+here to-morrow.  I have been his servant, Mem-sahib, and that is how I
+am to-day yours.  I received a telegram to call at your hotel and apply
+to you for service.  Very good.  I shall wait.  The mahout here will
+take you directly to Hare Sahib's bungalow.  You will find your
+father's servants there, and all will be well.  A week, then.  If you
+do not send for me I seek Bruce Sahib, and we shall return with many.
+Some will speak English at the bungalow."
+
+"Thank you, Rao.  I shall not forget."
+
+"Neither will Bruce Sahib," mysteriously.  Rao salaamed.
+
+Kathlyn got into the howdah and passed through the gates.  Bruce Sahib,
+the quiet man whose hand had reached out over seas thus strangely to
+reassure her!  A hardness came into her throat and she swallowed
+desperately.  She was only twenty-four.  Except for herself there might
+not be a white person in all this sprawling, rugged principality.  From
+time to time the new mahout turned and smiled at her curiously, but she
+was too absorbed to note his attentions.
+
+Durga Ram, called lightly Umballa, went directly to the palace, where
+he knew the Council of Three solemnly awaited his arrival.  He dashed
+up the imposing flight of marble steps, exultant.  He had fulfilled his
+promise; the golden daughter of Hare Sahib was but a few miles away.
+The soldiers, guarding the entrance, presented their arms respectfully;
+but instantly after Umballa disappeared the expression on their faces
+was not pleasing.
+
+Umballa hurried along through the deep corridor, supported by
+exquisitely carved marble columns.  Beauty in stone was in evidence
+everywhere and magnificent brass lamps hung from the ceiling.  There
+was a shrine topped by an idol in black marble, incrusted with
+sapphires and turquoises.  Durga Ram, who shall be called Umballa,
+nodded slightly as he passed it.  Force of habit, since in his heart
+there was only one religion--self.
+
+He stopped at a door guarded by a single soldier, who saluted but spat
+as soon as Umballa had passed into the throne room.  The throne itself
+was vacant.  The Council of Three rose at the approach of Umballa.
+
+"She is here," he said haughtily.
+
+The council salaamed.
+
+Umballa stroked his chin as he gazed at the huge candles flickering at
+each side of the throne.  He sniffed the Tibetan incense, and shrugged.
+It was written.  "Go," he said, "to Hare Sahib's bungalow and await me.
+I shall be there presently.  There is plenty of time.  And remember our
+four heads depend upon the next few hours.  The soldiers are on the
+verge of mutiny, and only success can pacify them."
+
+He turned without ceremony and left them.  With oriental philosophy
+they accepted the situation.  They had sought to overturn him, and he
+held them in the hollow of his hand.  During the weeks of his absence
+in America his spies had hung about them like bees about honey.  They
+were the fowlers snared.
+
+Umballa proceeded along the corridor to a flight of stairs leading
+beneath the palace floor.  Here the soldiers were agreeable enough;
+they had reason to be.  Umballa gave them new minted rupees for their
+work, many rupees.  For they knew secrets.  Before the door of a
+dungeon Umballa paused and listened.  There was no sound.  He returned
+upstairs and sought a chamber near the harem.  This he entered, and
+stood with folded arms near the door.
+
+"Ah, Colonel Sahib!"
+
+"Umballa?"  Colonel Hare, bearded, unkempt, tried to stand erect and
+face his enemy.  "You black scoundrel!"
+
+"Durga Ram, Sahib.  Words, words; the patter of rain on stone roofs.
+Our king lives no more, alas!"
+
+"You lie!"
+
+"He is dead.  Dying, he left you this throne--you, a white man, knowing
+it was a legacy of terror and confusion.  You knew.  Why did you
+return?  Ah, pearls and sapphires and emeralds!  What?  I offer you
+this throne upon conditions."
+
+"And those conditions I have refused."
+
+"You have, yes, but now----"  Umballa smiled.  Then he suddenly blazed
+forth: "Think you a white man shall sit upon this throne while I live?
+It is mine.  I was his heir."
+
+"Then why didn't you save him from the leopard?  I'll tell you why.
+You expected to inherit on the spot, and I spoiled the game.  Is that
+not true?"
+
+"And what if I admit it?" truculently.
+
+"Umballa, or Durga Ram, if you wish, listen.  Take the throne.  What's
+to hinder you?  You want it.  Take it and let me begone."
+
+"Yes, I want it; and by all the gods of Hind I'll have it--but safely.
+Ah!  It would be fine to proclaim myself when mutiny and rebellion
+stalk about.  Am I a pig to play a game like that?  Tch!  Tch!"  He
+clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth in derision.  "No; I
+need a buckler till all this roily water subsides and clears."
+
+"And then, some fine night, Hare Sahib's throat?  I am not afraid of
+death, Umballa.  I have faced it too many times.  Make an end of me at
+once or leave me to rot here, my answer will always be the same.  I
+will not become a dishonorable tool.  You have offered me freedom and
+jewels.  No; I repeat, I will free all slaves, abolish the harems, the
+buying and selling of flesh; I will make a man of every poor devil of a
+coolie who carries stones from your quarries."
+
+Umballa laughed.  "Then remain here like a dog while I put your golden
+daughter on the throne and become what the British Raj calls prince
+consort.  She'll rebel, I know; but I have a way."  He stepped outside
+and closed the door.
+
+"Umballa?"
+
+"Well?"
+
+"Kit, my daughter?  Good God, what is she doing here when I warned
+her?"  Hare tugged furiously at his chains.  "Durga Ram, you have
+beaten me.  State your terms and I will accept them to the
+letter. . . .  Kit, my beautiful Kit, in this hellhole!"
+
+"Ah, but I don't want you to accept now.  I was merely amusing myself."
+The door shut and the bolt shot home.
+
+Hare fell upon his knees.  "My head, my head!  Dear God, save me my
+reason!"
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+The moment Kathlyn arrived at the animal cages of her father she called
+for Ahmed.
+
+"My father?"
+
+"Ah, Mem-sahib, they say he is dead.  I know not.  One night--the
+second after we arrived--he was summoned to the palace.  He never came
+back."
+
+"They have killed him!"
+
+"Perhaps.  They watch me, too; but I act simple.  We wait and see."
+
+Kathlyn rushed across the ground intervening between the animal cages
+and the bungalow.  There was no one in sight.  She ran up the
+steps . . . to be greeted inside by the suave Umballa.
+
+"You?" her hand flying to her bosom.
+
+"I, Miss Hare."  He salaamed, with a sweeping gesture of his hands.
+
+Sadly the wretch told her the tale; the will of the king, his death and
+the subsequent death of her father in his, Durga Ram's, arms.  Yonder
+urn contained his ashes.  For the first time in her young life Kathlyn
+fainted.  She had been living on her nerves for weeks, and at the sight
+of that urn something snapped.  Daintily Umballa plucked forth the
+packet and waited.  At length she opened her eyes.
+
+"You are a queen, Miss Hare."
+
+"You are mad!"
+
+"Nay; it was the madness of the king.  But mad kings often make laws
+which must be obeyed.  You will accuse me of perfidy when I tell you
+all.  The note which brought you here was written by me and substituted
+for this."
+
+Duly Kathlyn read:
+
+
+"Kathlyn--if not heard from, I'm held captive in Allaha.  The royal
+title given to me by the king made me and my descendants direct heirs
+to the throne.  Do not come to Allaha yourself.  Destroy sealed
+document herewith.
+
+"Father."
+
+
+The Council of Three entered noiselessly from the adjoining room.  At
+the four dark, inscrutable faces the bewildered girl stared, her limbs
+numb with terror.  Gravely the council told her she must come with them
+to the palace.
+
+"It is impossible!" she murmured.  "You are all mad.  I am a white
+woman.  I can not rule over an alien race whose tongue I can not speak,
+whose habits I know nothing of.  It is impossible.  Since my father is
+dead, I must return to my home."
+
+"No," said Umballa.
+
+"I refuse to stir!"  She was all afire of a sudden: the base trickery
+which had brought her here!  She was very lovely to the picturesque
+savage who stood at her elbow.
+
+As he looked down at her, in his troubled soul Umballa knew that it was
+not the throne so much as it was this beautiful bird of paradise which
+he wished to cage.
+
+"Be brave," he said, "like your father.  I do not wish to use force,
+but you must go.  It is useless to struggle.  Come."
+
+She hung back for a moment; then, realizing her utter helplessness, she
+signified that she was ready to go.  She needed time to collect her
+stunned and disordered thoughts.
+
+Before going to the palace they conducted her to the royal crypt.  The
+urn containing her father's ashes was deposited in a niche.  Many other
+niches contained urns, and Umballa explained to her that these held the
+ashes of many rulers.  Tears welled into Kathlyn's eyes, but they were
+of a hysterical character.
+
+"A good sign," mused Umballa, who thought he knew something of women,
+like all men beset with vanity.  Oddly enough, he had forgot all about
+the incident of the lion in the freight caboose.  All women are felines
+to a certain extent.  This golden-haired woman had claws, and the day
+was coming when he would feel them drag over his heart.
+
+From the crypt they proceeded to the palace zenana (harem), which
+surrounded a court of exceeding beauty.  Three ladies of the harem were
+sitting in the portico, attended by slaves.  All were curiously
+interested at the sight of a woman with white skin, tinted like the
+lotus.  Umballa came to a halt before a latticed door.
+
+"Here your majesty must remain till the day of your coronation."
+
+"How did my father die?"
+
+"He was assassinated on the palace steps by a Mohammedan fanatic.  As I
+told you, he died in my arms."
+
+"His note signified that he feared imprisonment.  How came he on the
+palace steps?"
+
+"He was not a prisoner.  He came and went as he pleased in the city."
+He bowed and left her.
+
+Alone in her chamber, the dullness of her mind diminished and finally
+cleared away like a fog in a wind.  Her dear, kind, blue-eyed father
+was dead, and she was virtually a prisoner, and Winnie was all alone.
+A queen!  They were mad, or she was in the midst of some hideous
+nightmare.  Mad, mad, mad!  She began to laugh, and it was not a
+pleasant sound.  A queen, she, Kathlyn Hare!  Her father was dead, she
+was a queen, and Winnie was all alone.  A gale of laughter brought to
+the marble lattice many wondering eyes.  The white cockatoo shrilled
+his displeasure.  Those outside the lattice saw this marvelous
+white-skinned woman, with hair like the gold threads in Chinese
+brocades, suddenly throw herself upon a pile of cushions, and they saw
+her shoulders rock and heave, but heard no sound of wailing.
+
+After a while she fell asleep, a kind of dreamless stupor.  When she
+awoke it was twilight in the court.  The doves were cooing and
+fluttering in the cornices and the cockatoo was preening his lemon
+colored topknot.  At first Kathlyn had not the least idea where she
+was, but the light beyond the lattice, the flitting shadows, and the
+tinkle of a stringed instrument assured her that she was awake,
+terribly awake.
+
+She sat perfectly still, slowly gathering her strength, mental and
+physical.  She was not her father's daughter for nothing.  She was to
+fight in some strange warfare, instinctively she felt this; but from
+what direction, in what shape, only God knew.  Yet she must prepare for
+it; that was the vital thing; she must marshal her forces, feminine and
+only defensive, and watch.
+
+Rao!  Her hands clutched the pillows.  In five days' time he would be
+off to seek John Bruce; and there would be white men there, and they
+would come to her though a thousand legions of these brown men stood
+between.  She would play for time; she must pretend docility and meet
+quiet guile with guile.  She could get no word to her faithful
+khidmutgar; none here, even if open to bribery, could be made to
+understand.  Only Umballa and the council spoke English or understood
+it.  She had ten days' grace; within that time she hoped to find some
+loophole.
+
+Slave girls entered noiselessly.  The hanging lamps were lighted.  A
+tabouret was set before her.  There were quail and roast kid, fruits
+and fragrant tea.  She was not hungry, but she ate.
+
+Within a dozen yards of her sat her father, stolidly munching his
+chupatties, because he knew that now he must live.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+One of the chief characteristics of the East Indian is extravagance.
+To outvie one another in celebrations of births, weddings, deaths and
+coronations they beggar themselves.  In this the Oriental and the
+Occidental have one thing in common.  This principality was small, but
+there was a deal of wealth in it because of its emerald mines and
+turquoise pits.  The durbar brought out princes and princelings from
+east, south and west, and even three or four wild-eyed ameers from the
+north.  The British government at Calcutta heard vaguely about this
+fete, but gave it scant attention for the simple fact that it had not
+been invited to attend.  Still, it watched the performance covertly.
+Usually durbars took months of preparation; this one had been called
+into existence within ten days.
+
+Elephants and camels and bullocks; palanquins, gharries, tongas; cloth
+of gold and cloth of jewels; color, confusion, maddening noises, and
+more color.  There was very little semblance of order; a rajah preceded
+a princeling, and so on down.  The wailing of reeds and the muttering
+of kettle drums; music, languorous, haunting, elusive, low minor chords
+seemingly struck at random, intermingling a droning chant; a thousand
+streams of incense, crossing and recrossing; and fireworks at night,
+fireworks which had come all the way across China by caravan--these
+things Kathlyn saw and heard from her lattice.
+
+The populace viewed all these manifestations quietly.  They were
+perfectly willing to wait.  If this white queen proved kind they would
+go about their affairs, leaving her in peace; but they were determined
+that she should be no puppet in the hands of Umballa, whom they hated
+for his cruelty and money leeching ways.  Oh, everything was ripe in
+the state for murder and loot--and the reaching, holding hand of the
+British Raj.
+
+As Kathlyn advanced to the canopied dais upon which she was to be
+crowned, a hand filled with flowers reached out.  She turned to see
+Ahmed.
+
+"Bruce Sahib," she whispered.
+
+Ahmed salaamed deeply as she passed on.  The impression that she was
+dreaming again seized her.  This could not possibly be real.  Her feet
+did not seem to touch the carpets; she did not seem to breathe; she
+floated.  It was only when the crown was placed upon her head that she
+realized the reality and the finality of the proceedings.
+
+[Illustration: Ahmed salaamed deeply.]
+
+"Be wise," whispered Umballa coldly.  "If you take off that crown now,
+neither your gods nor mine could save you from that mob down yonder.
+Be advised.  Rise!"
+
+She obeyed.  She wanted to cry out to that sea of bronze faces: "People
+I do not want to be your queen.  Let me go!"  They would not
+understand.  Where was Rao?  Where was Bruce?  What of the hope that
+now flickered and died in her heart, like a guttering candle light?
+There was a small dagger hidden in the folds of her white robe; she
+could always use that.  She heard Umballa speaking in the native
+tongue.  A great shouting followed.  The populace surged.
+
+"What have you said to them?" she demanded.
+
+"That her majesty had chosen Durga Ram to be her consort and to him now
+forthwith she will be wed."  He salaamed.
+
+So the mask was off!  "Marry you?  Oh, no!  Mate with you, a black?"
+
+"Black?" he cried, as if a whiplash had struck him across the face.
+
+"Yes, black of skin and black of heart.  I have submitted to the farce
+of this durbar, but that is as far as my patience will go.  God will
+guard me."
+
+"God?" mockingly.
+
+"Yes, my God and the God of my fathers!"
+
+To the mutable faces below she looked the Queen at that instant.  They
+saw the attitude, but could not interpret it.
+
+"So be it.  There are other things besides marriage."
+
+"Yes," she replied proudly; "there is death."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE TWO ORDEALS
+
+Umballa was not a coward; he was only ruthless and predatory after the
+manner of his kind.  A thrill of admiration tingled his spine.  The
+women of his race were chattels, lazy and inert, without fire, merely
+drudges or playthings.  Here was one worth conquering, a white flame to
+be controlled.  To bend her without breaking her, that must be his
+method of procedure.  The skin under her chin was as white as the heart
+of a mangosteen, and the longing to sweep her into his arms was almost
+irresistible.
+
+A high priest spoke to Kathlyn.
+
+"What does he say?" she asked.
+
+"That you must marry me."
+
+"Tell him that I refuse!"
+
+Umballa shrugged and repeated her words.  Here the Council of Three
+interposed, warning Kathlyn that she must submit to the law as it read.
+There was no appeal from it.
+
+"Then I shall appeal to the British Raj."
+
+"How?" asked Umballa urbanely.
+
+Swiftly she stepped to the front of the platform and extended her arms.
+It was an appeal.  She pointed to Umballa and shook her head.  Her arms
+went out again.  A low murmur rippled over the pressing crowd; it grew
+in volume; and a frown of doubt flitted over Umballa's brow.  The
+soldiers were swaying restlessly.  Kathlyn saw this sign and was quick
+to seize upon its possibilities.  She renewed her gesture toward them.
+It seemed that she must burst forth in their maddening tongue: "I
+appeal to the chivalry of Allaha! . . .  Soldiers, you now wear my
+uniform!  Liberate me!"  But her tongue was mute; yet her eyes, her
+face, her arms spoke eloquently enough to the turbulent soldiers.
+Besides, they welcomed the opportunity to show the populace how strong
+they were and how little they feared Umballa.  At a nod from their
+leader they came romping up the steps to this dais and surrounded
+Kathlyn.  A roar came from the populace; an elephant trumpeted; the
+pariah dogs barked.
+
+Umballa stepped back, his hand on his jeweled sword.  He was quite
+unprepared for any such flagrant mutiny--mutiny from his angle of
+vision, though in law the troopers had only responded to the desire of
+their queen.  He turned questioningly to the council and the priests.
+He himself could move no further.  His confreres appreciated the danger
+in which their power stood.  They announced that it was decreed to give
+the queen a respite of seven days in which to yield.  It would at least
+hold the bold troopers on the leash till they could be brought to see
+the affair in its true light by the way of largess in rupees.  Umballa
+consented because he was at the bottom of the sack.  A priest read from
+a scroll the law, explaining that no woman might rule unmarried.
+Because the young queen was not conversant with the laws of the state
+she would be given seven days.  Thus the durbar ended.
+
+With a diplomacy which would have graced a better man Umballa directed
+the troopers to escort Kathlyn to her chamber in the zenana.  He had in
+mind seven days.  Many things could be accomplished in that space of
+time.
+
+"For the present," he said, smiling at Kathlyn, "the God of your
+fathers has proven strongest.  But to-morrow! . . .  Ah, to-morrow!
+There will be seven days.  Think, then, deeply and wisely.  Your
+khidmutgar Rao is a prisoner.  It will be weeks ere your presence is
+known here.  You are helpless as a bird in the net.  Struggle if you
+will; you will only bruise your wings.  The British Raj?  The British
+Raj does not want a great border war, and I can bring down ten thousand
+wild hillmen outlaws between whom and the British Raj there is a blood
+feud; ten thousand from a land where there is never peace, only truce.
+In seven days.  Salaam, heaven born!"
+
+She returned his ironical gaze calmly over the shoulder of a trooper.
+
+"Wait," she said.  "I wish you to understand the enormity of your
+crime."
+
+"Crime?" with elevated eyebrows.
+
+"Yes.  You have abducted me."
+
+"No.  You came of your own free will."
+
+"The white men of my race will not pause to argue over any such
+subtlety.  Marry you?  I do not like your color."
+
+A dull red settled under Umballa's skin.
+
+"I merely wish to warn you," she went on, "that my blood will be upon
+your head.  And woe to you if it is.  There are white men who will not
+await the coming of the British Raj."
+
+"Ah, yes; some brave hardy American; Bruce Sahib, for instance.  Alas,
+he is in the Straits Settlements!  Seven days."
+
+"I am not afraid to die."
+
+"But there are many kinds of death," and with this sinister reflection
+he stepped aside.
+
+The multitude, seeing Kathlyn coming down from the dais, still
+surrounded by her cordon of troopers, began reluctantly to disperse.
+"Bread and the circus!"--the mobs will cry it down the ages; they will
+always pause to witness bloodshed, from a safe distance, you may be
+sure.  There was a deal of rioting in the bazaars that night, and many
+a measure of bhang and toddy kept the fires burning.  Oriental politics
+is like the winds of the equinox: it blows from all directions.
+
+The natives were taxed upon every conceivable subject, not dissimilar
+to the old days in Urdu, where a man paid so much for the privilege of
+squeezing the man under him.  Mutiny was afoot, rebellion, but it had
+not yet found a head.  The natives wanted a change, something to gossip
+about during the hot lazy afternoons, over their hookas and coffee.  To
+them reform meant change only, not the alleviation of some of their
+heavy burdens.  The talk of freeing slaves was but talk; slaves were
+lucrative investments; a man would be a fool to free them.  An old man,
+with a skin white like this new queen's and hair like spun wool,
+dressed in a long black cloak and a broad brimmed hat, had started the
+agitation of liberating the slaves.  More than that, he carried no idol
+of his God, never bathed in the ghats, or took flowers to the temples,
+and seemed always silently communing with the simple iron cross
+suspended from his neck.  But he had died during the last visitation of
+the plague.
+
+They had wearied of their tolerant king, who had died mysteriously;
+they were now wearied of the council and Umballa; in other words, they
+knew not what they wanted, being People.
+
+Who was this fair-skinned woman who stood so straight before Umballa's
+eye?  Whence had she come?  To be ruled by a woman who appeared to be
+tongue-tied!  Well, there were worse things than a woman who could not
+talk.  Thus they gabbled in the bazaars, round braziers and dung fires.
+And some talked of the murder.  The proud Ramabai had been haled to
+prison; his banker's gold had not saved him.  Oh, this street rat
+Umballa generally got what he wanted.  Ramabai's wife was one of the
+beauties of Hind.
+
+Through the narrow, evil smelling streets of the bazaars a man hurried
+that night, glancing behind frequently to see if by any mischance some
+one followed.  He stopped at the house of Lal Singh, the shoemaker,
+whom he found drowsing over his water pipe.
+
+"Is it well?" said the newcomer, intoning.
+
+"It is well," answered Lal Singh, dropping the mouthpiece of his pipe.
+He had spoken mechanically.  When he saw who his visitor was his eyes
+brightened.  "Ahmed?"
+
+"Hush!" with a gesture toward the ceiling.
+
+"She is out merrymaking, like the rest of her kind.  The old saying: if
+a man waits, the woman comes to him.  I am alone.  There is news?"
+
+"There is a journey.  Across Hind to Simla."
+
+"The hour has arrived?"
+
+"At least the excuse.  Give these to one in authority with the British
+Raj, whose bread we eat."  Ahmed slid across the table a very small
+scroll.  "The Mem-sahib is my master's daughter.  She must be spirited
+away to safety."
+
+"Ah!"  Lal Singh rubbed his fat hands.  "So the time nears when we
+shall wring the vulture's neck?   Ai, it is good!  Umballa, the toad,
+who swells and swells as the days go by.  Siva has guarded him well.
+The king picks him out of the gutter for a pretty bit of impudence,
+sends him afar to Umballa, where he learns to speak English, where he
+learns to wear shoes that button and stiff linen bands round the neck.
+He has gone on, gone on!  The higher up, the harder the fall."
+
+"The cellar?"
+
+"There are pistols and guns and ammunition and strange little wires by
+which I make magic fires."
+
+"Batteries?"
+
+"One never knows what may be needed.  You have the key?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Hare Sahib's daughter.  And Hare Sahib?" with twinkling eyes.
+
+"In some dungeon, mayhap.  There all avenues seemed closed up."
+
+"Umballa needs money," said Lal Singh, thoughtfully.  "But he will not
+find it," in afterthought.
+
+"To-morrow?"
+
+"At dawn."
+
+These two men were spiders in that great web of secret service that the
+British Raj weaves up and down and across Hind, to Persia and
+Afghanistan, to the borders of the Bear.
+
+Even as Lal Singh picked up his mouthpiece again and Ahmed sallied
+forth into the bazaars Umballa had brought to him in the armory that
+company of soldiers who had shown such open mutiny, not against the
+state but against him.
+
+Gravely he questioned the captain.
+
+"Pay our wages, then, heaven born," said the captain, with veiled
+insolence.  "Pay us, for we have seen not so much as betel money since
+the last big rains."
+
+"Money," mused Umballa, marking down this gallant captain for death
+when the time came.
+
+"Ai, money; bright rupees, or, better still, yellow British gold.  Pay
+us!"
+
+"Let us be frank with each other," said Umballa, smiling to cover the
+fire in his eyes.
+
+"That is what we desire," replied the captain with a knowing look at
+his silent troopers.
+
+"I must buy you."
+
+The captain salaamed.
+
+"But after I have bought you?" ironically.
+
+"Heaven born; our blood is yours to spill where and when you will."
+
+From under the teak table Umballa drew forth two heavy bags of silver
+coin.  These he emptied upon the table dramatically; white shining
+metal, sparkling as the candle flames wavered.  Umballa arranged the
+coin in stacks, one of them triple in size.
+
+"Yours, Captain," said Umballa, indicating the large stack.
+
+The captain pocketed it, and one by one his troopers passed and helped
+themselves and fell back along the wall in military alignment,
+bright-eyed and watchful.
+
+"Thanks, heaven born!"
+
+The captain and his troopers filed out.  Umballa fingered the empty
+bags, his brow wrinkled.  Cut off a cobra's head and it could only
+wriggle until sunset.  Umballa gave the vanishing captain two weeks.
+Then he should vanish indeed.
+
+The next morning while the council and Umballa were in session relative
+as to what should be done with Kathlyn in the event of her refusal to
+bend, two soldiers entered, bringing with them a beautiful native young
+woman, one Pundita, wife of Ramabai, found in murder.
+
+Umballa wiped his betel stained lips and salaamed mockingly.  Not so
+long ago he had been attentive to this young woman--after her marriage.
+She had sent him about his business with burning ears and a hot cheek,
+made so by the contact of her strong young hand.  Revenge, great or
+small, was always sweet to Umballa.
+
+To the slave girl who attended Pundita he said: "Go summon the queen.
+It is for her to decide what shall be done with this woman."
+
+Through the veil Pundita's black eyes sparkled with hatred.
+
+When Kathlyn came in it was at once explained to her that the woman's
+husband had been taken for murder; by law his wife became the queen's
+property, to dispose of as she willed.  The veil was plucked from
+Pundita's face.  She was ordered to salaam in submission to her queen.
+Pundita salaamed, but stoutly refused to kneel.  They proceeded to
+force her roughly, when Kathlyn intervened.
+
+"Tell her she is free," said Kathlyn.
+
+"Free?" came from the amazed Pundita's lips.
+
+"You speak English?" cried Kathlyn excitedly.
+
+"Yea, Majesty."
+
+Kathlyn could have embraced her for the very joy of the knowledge.  A
+woman who could talk English, who could understand, who perhaps could
+help!  Yes, yes; the God of her fathers was good.
+
+Umballa smiled.  All this was exactly what he had reason to expect.
+Seven days of authority; it would amuse him to watch her.
+
+"Tell me your story," urged Kathlyn kindly.  "Be not afraid of these
+men.  I shall make you my lady in waiting . . . so long as I am queen,"
+with a searching glance at Umballa's face.  She learned nothing from
+the half smile there.
+
+Pundita's narrative was rather long but not uninteresting.  She had
+learned English from the old white priest who had died during the last
+plague.  She was of high caste; and far back in the days of the Great
+Mogul in Delhi her forebears had ruled here; but strife and rebellion
+had driven them forth.  In order that her immediate forebear might
+return to their native state and dwell in peace they had waived all
+possible rights of accession.  They had found her husband standing over
+a dead man in the bazaars.  He was innocent.
+
+Umballa smoothed his chin.  Pundita had not told her queen how he,
+Umballa, had made the accusation, after having been refused money by
+Ramabai.  He secretly admired the diplomacy of the young woman.  He did
+not at this moment care to push his enmity too far.  As a matter of
+fact, he no longer cared about her; at least, not since his arrival at
+the Hare wild animal farm in California.
+
+"Where is this man Ramabai confined?" demanded Kathlyn.
+
+"In the murderers' pit in the elephant arena."
+
+"Send and bring him here.  I am certain that he is innocent."
+
+So they brought in Ramabai in chains.  Behind him came a Nautch girl,
+at whom Umballa gazed puzzledly.  What part had she in this affair?  He
+soon found out.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked.
+
+"I am Lalla Ghori, and I live over the shoemaker, Lal Singh, in the
+Kashmir Gate bazaar.  I dance."
+
+"And why are you here?"
+
+"I saw the murder.  Ramabai is innocent.  He came upon the scene only
+after the murderer had fled.  They were fighting about me," naively.
+"I was afraid to tell till now."
+
+"Knock off those chains," said Kathlyn.  Of Pundita she asked: "Does
+he, too, speak English?"
+
+"Yes, heaven born."
+
+"Then for the present he shall become my bodyguard.  You shall both
+remain here in the palace."
+
+"Ah, Your Majesty!" interposed Umballa.  Pundita he did not mind, but
+he objected to Ramabai, secretly knowing him to be a revolutionist,
+extremely popular with the people and the near-by ryots (farmers), to
+whom he loaned money upon reasonable terms.
+
+"If I am queen, I will it," said Kathlyn firmly.  "If I am only a
+prisoner, end the farce at once."
+
+"Your majesty's word is law," and Umballa bowed, hiding as best he
+could his irritation.
+
+The next afternoon he began to enact the subtle plans he had formed
+regarding Kathlyn.  He brought her certain documents and petitions to
+sign and went over them carefully with her.  Once, as she returned a
+document, he caught her hand and kissed it.  She withdrew it roughly,
+flaming with anger.  He spread his hands apologetically.  He was on
+fire for her, but he possessed admirable control.  He had the right to
+come and go; as regent he could enter the zenana without being
+accompanied by the council.  But, thereafter, when he arrived with the
+day's business she contrived to have Pundita near and Ramabai within
+call.  On the sixth day he cast all discretion to the winds and seized
+her violently in his arms.  And, though she defended her lips, her
+cheeks and neck were defiled.  She stepped back; the hidden dagger
+flashed.
+
+"A step nearer," she cried, low voiced, "and I will strike."
+
+Umballa recoiled.  This was no longer Sa'adi's houri but the young
+woman who had mastered the lion in the railway train.  Rage supplanted
+the passion in his heart.  Since she would not bend, she should break.
+As her arm sank he sprang forward like a cat and seized her wrist.  He
+was not gentle.  The dagger tinkled as it struck the marble floor.  He
+stooped for it.
+
+"Since you will not bend, break!" he said, and left the chamber, cold
+with fury.
+
+Kathlyn sank weakly upon her pillows as Pundita ran to her side.
+
+"What shall I do, Pundita?"
+
+"God knows, Mem-sahib!"
+
+"Are you a Christian?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+And so they comforted each other.
+
+[Illustration: So they comforted each other.]
+
+There was a garden in the palace grounds, lovely indeed.  A fountain
+tinkled and fat carp swam about in the fluted marble basin.  There were
+trellises of flowers, too.  Persian roses, despite the fact that it was
+still winter.  It was called the garden of brides.
+
+Kathlyn, attended by Pundita, awaited there the coming of Umballa and
+the council.  Her heart ached with bitterness and she could not think
+clearly.  The impression that all this was some dreadful nightmare
+recurred to her vividly.  What terrors awaited her she knew not nor
+could conceive.  Marry that smiling demon?--for something occult told
+her that he was a demon.  No; she was ready to die . . .  And but a
+little while ago she had been working happily in the outdoor studio;
+the pet leopard sprawled at her feet; from the bungalow she heard the
+nightingale voice of Winnie, soaring in some aria of Verdi's; her
+father was dozing on the veranda.  Out of that, into this!  It was
+incredible.  From time to time she brushed her forehead, bewildered.
+
+In this mood, bordering on the hysterical (which is sometimes but a
+step to supreme courage), Durga Ram, so-called Umballa, and the council
+found her.  The face of the former was cold, his eyes steady and
+expressionless.
+
+"Has your majesty decided?" asked the eldest of the council.
+
+"Yes," quietly.
+
+"And your decision is?"
+
+"No, absolutely and finally.  There is no reason why I should obey any
+of your laws; but there is a good reason why all of you shall some day
+be punished for this outrage."
+
+"Outrage!  To be made queen of Allaha?"  The spokesman for the council
+stamped his foot in wrath.
+
+"Think!" said Umballa.
+
+"I have thought.  Let us have no more of this cat-and-mouse play.  I
+refuse to marry you.  I'd much prefer any beggar in the street.  There
+is nothing more to be said."
+
+"There are worse things than marriage."
+
+"What manner of indignities have you arranged for me?"  Her voice was
+firm, but the veins in her throat beat so hardily that they stifled her.
+
+Said the spokesman of the council: "We have found a precedent.  We find
+that one hundred and ninety years ago a like case confused the council
+of that day.  They finally agreed that she must submit to two ordeals
+with wild beasts of the jungle.  If she survived she was to be
+permitted to rule without hindrance.  It would be a matter for the gods
+to decide."
+
+"Are you really human beings?" asked Kathlyn, her lips dry.  "Can you
+possibly commit such a dreadful crime against one who has never harmed
+you, who asks for nothing but the freedom to leave this country?"
+
+Pundita secretly caught Kathlyn's hand and pressed it.
+
+"Once more!" said Umballa, his compassion touched for the first time.
+But he had gone too far; for the safety of his own head he must go on.
+
+"I am ready!"
+
+The four men salaamed gravely.  They turned, the flowing yellow robes
+of the council fluttering in the wind, the sun lighting with green and
+red fires the hilt of Umballa's sword.  Not one of them but would have
+emptied his private coffers to undo what he had done.  It was too late.
+Already a priest had announced the ordeals to the swarming populace.
+You feed a tiger to pacify him; you give a populace a spectacle.
+
+That night Umballa did not rest particularly well.  But he became
+determined upon one thing: no actual harm should befall Kathlyn.  He
+would have a marksman hidden near by in both ordeals.  What a woman!
+She was a queen, and he knew that he would go through all the hells of
+Hind to call her his.  Long ere this he would have looted the treasure
+chests and swept her up on his racing elephant had he dared.  Sa'adi's
+houri!
+
+A thousand times he heard it through the night:
+
+"I am ready!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+HOW TIME MOVES
+
+Meantime Lal Singh was hurrying on a racing camel toward the railway,
+toward Simla, more than a thousand miles away.  He was happy.  Here was
+the long delayed opportunity for the hand of the British Raj: a captive
+white woman.  What better excuse was needed?  There would be armed Sikhs
+and Gurhas and Tommies near Rawal Pindi.  Ai! how time moved, how fate
+twisted!  How the finest built castle in schemes came clattering down!
+At the very moment when he had secretly worked upon the king to throw
+himself into the protecting arms of the British Raj--assassinated!  The
+council?  Umballa?  Some outsider, made mad by oppression?  The egg of
+Brahma was strangely hatched--this curious old world!
+
+Ahmed remained hidden in the bazaars, to await the ordeals.  Nothing
+should harm his mistress; he was ready now and at all times to lay down
+his life for her; in this the British Raj came second.  He had sent a
+courier to Bruce Sahib's bungalow, but the man had returned to report
+that it was still unoccupied.
+
+And while he bit his nails in futile wrath and smoked till his tongue
+grew bitter, some miles away there was much confusion in the jungle by
+the water.  Tents were being set up, native bearers and coolies were
+running to and fro, building fires, carrying water, hobbling the pack
+elephants.  Wandering in and out of this animated scene was a young man,
+clean shaven, deeply tanned, with blue eyes which were direct, small
+pupiled, yet kindly.  Presently he called to one of the head men.
+
+"Ali, you might send three or four men on to the bungalow to clean up
+things.  We shall make it tomorrow.  It's but two hours' ride, but
+there's no hurry; and besides there's a herd of elephants behind us
+somewhere.  They've come up far for this time of year."
+
+"Any news worth while?"
+
+"Yes, Sahib."
+
+Ali made a gesture; it signified a great many things.
+
+"Bruce Sahib will not believe."
+
+"Believe what?" said Bruce, emptying his pipe against his heel.
+
+"There is a white queen in the city."
+
+"What?  What bally nonsense is this?"
+
+"It is only what I've been told, Sahib.  Hare Sahib is dead."
+
+Bruce let his pipe slip through his fingers.  "Hare?  Good lord!"
+
+"Yes, Sahib.  But that is not all.  It seems the king went mad after we
+went to Africa.  You remember how Hare Sahib saved him from the leopard?
+Well, he made Hare Sahib his heir.  He had that right; the law of the
+childless king has always read so in Allaha.  The white queen is Hare
+Sahib's daughter."
+
+Bruce leaned against a tent pole.  "Am I dreaming or are you?" he gasped.
+
+"It is what they tell me, Sahib.  I know it not as a fact."
+
+"The king dead, Hare dead, and his daughter on the throne!  How did she
+get here?  And what the devil is a chap to do?"  Bruce stooped and
+recovered his pipe and swore softly.  "Ali, if this is true, then it's
+some devil work; and I'll wager my shooting eye that that sleek scoundrel
+Umballa, as they call him, is at the bottom of it.  A white woman, good
+old Hare's daughter.  I'll look into this.  It's the nineteenth century,
+Ali, and white women are not made rulers over the brown, not of their own
+free will.  Find out all you can and report to me," and Bruce dismissed
+his servant and fell to pacing before his tent.
+
+The native who had spread this astounding news in Bruce's camp was
+already hastening back to the city, some fourteen miles away.  He had
+been a bheestee (water carrier) to the house of Ramabai up to the young
+banker's incarceration.  To him, then, he carried the news that a white
+hunter had arrived outside the city--"Bruce Sahib has returned!"
+
+Ramabai lost no time in taking this news to Kathlyn.
+
+"Ramabai, I have saved your life; save mine.  Go at once to him and tell
+him that I am a prisoner but am called a queen; tell him I am Colonel
+Hare's daughter, she who traveled with him on the same ship from Hongkong
+to Singapore.  Go!  Tell him all, the death of my father and Umballa's
+treachery.  Hasten!"
+
+Bruce was eating his simple evening meal when Ramabai arrived.
+
+"Bruce Sahib?"
+
+"Yes.  Your face is familiar."
+
+"You have been twice to my bank.  I am Ramabai."
+
+"I remember.  But what are you doing here?"
+
+"I have come for aid, Sahib, aid for a young woman, white like yourself."
+
+"Then it is true?  Go ahead and let me have all the facts.  She is Hare
+Sahib's daughter; Ali told me that.  Precious rigmarole of some sort.
+The facts!"
+
+"She is also the young lady who traveled in the same boat from Hongkong
+to Singapore."  Ramabai paused to see the effect of this information.
+
+Bruce lowered his fork slowly.  The din about him dwindled away into
+nothing.  He was again leaning over the rail, watching the
+phosphorescence trail away, a shoulder barely touching his: one of the
+few women who had ever stirred him after the first glance.  In God's
+name, why hadn't she said something?  Why hadn't she told him she was
+Colonel Hare's daughter?  How was he to know?  (For Hare, queerly enough,
+had never shown his young friend the photographs of his daughters.)
+Perhaps he had been at fault; he, too, had scarcely stirred from his
+shell.  And where was that scoundrel Rao?
+
+"I shall enter the city as soon as I can settle my bungalow.  This rather
+knocks me out."
+
+"No, Sahib; don't wait: come back with me!"  Quickly he outlined the
+desperate straits in which Kathlyn stood.  "To-morrow may be too late."
+
+"Ali!" called Bruce, rising.
+
+"Yes, Sahib."
+
+"The Pasha.  No questions.  Give him water.  Use the hunting howdah.
+Both guns and plenty of cartridges.  That's all."  The young man ran into
+his sleeping tent and presently came forth with a pair of ugly looking
+Colts; for this was before the days of the convenient automatics.  "All
+aboard, Ramabai!"  Bruce laughed; the sound was as hard and metallic as
+the click of the cartridge belt as he slung it round his waist; but it
+was music to Ramabai's ears.  "Trust me.  There shan't be any ordeals;
+not so you would notice it. . . .  Great God!  A white woman, one of my
+kind! . . .  All right, Ali; quick work.  Thanks!"
+
+"There will be many pitfalls, Sahib," said Ramabai.
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"I have some influence with the populace, but Umballa has the army, paid
+for.  The priests and the council are back of him.  And, after all, the
+priests are most to be feared.  They can always sway the people through
+fear."
+
+Bruce laughed again.  "Either Kathlyn Hare will be free to-morrow or
+Umballa and the council meat for the jackals . . . or I shall be," he
+added, in afterthought.  "Now, do not speak till I speak.  I wish to
+think, for I've got to act quickly; I can't make any mistakes when I get
+there."
+
+Far away a brown figure in clout and drab turban watched the young man.
+When he saw the elephant with the hunting howdah he knew that he had the
+information for which his master had detailed him to follow, night and
+day, the young banker Ramabai.  The white hunter was coming hot-foot to
+the city.  He turned and ran.  Running was his business; he was as
+tireless as a camel and could run twenty and thirty miles at a stretch.
+The soles of his feet were as tough as elephant's hide.  Thus he reached
+the city an hour before Bruce and Ramabai.
+
+When Bruce and the native banker arrived at the gate coolies stood about
+with torches.  Suddenly beyond the gate half a regiment drew up.  The
+officer in charge raised his hand warningly.
+
+"The white hunter is Bruce Sahib?"
+
+"Yes."  Bruce spoke the dialects with passable fluency.
+
+"Good.  The Sahib will be pleased to dismount."
+
+"I am on my way to the palace."
+
+"That is impossible, Sahib."  At a sign from the officer the troopers
+extended their guns at half aim.  It was a necessary precaution.  These
+white sahibs were generally a mad people and were quick to shoot.
+"Please dismount, Sahib.  It is the orders."
+
+Bruce's mahout, who was a Rajput Mohammedan, turned his head to learn
+what his master had to say.  Bruce, pale under his tan, nodded.  The
+mahout reached down with his silver tipped goad and touched the elephant
+on the knee.  The big brute slowly and ponderously kneeled.  Bruce
+stepped out of the howdah, followed by Ramabai, who saw that in some
+unaccountable manner they had been betrayed.  He was sick at heart.
+
+Two troopers stepped forward and took possession of the rifles which were
+slung on each side of the howdah.  Bruce accepted the situation
+philosophically; argument or protest was futile.  Next they took away his
+cartridge belt.  He trembled for a moment with apprehension, but the
+troopers did not search him further; and he thanked God for the wisdom
+which had made him strap his revolvers under his armpits.
+
+"What now?" he demanded.
+
+"The Sahib will be given his guns and ammunition the hour he starts back
+to camp."
+
+"And in the meantime?"
+
+"The Sahib is free to come and go about the city so long as he does not
+approach the palace.  If he is found in the vicinity of the zenana he
+will be arrested and imprisoned."
+
+"This is all very high-handed."
+
+"Sahib, there is no British Raj here.  The orders of the regent and the
+council are final.  Submit."
+
+"Very well."
+
+"Ramabai!"
+
+Ramabai stepped forward.  By a kind of clairvoyance he saw what was
+coming.
+
+"Ramabai, the orders are that you shall retire to your house and remain
+there till further orders."
+
+"I am the queen's body-guard."
+
+"Ai!  Well said!  But I do not take my orders from the queen--yet.  Obey.
+The Sahib may accompany you if he wishes; there are no orders against
+that.  The Sahib's elephant will be lodged in the royal stables; the
+mahout will see that he is fed and watered."
+
+"We have been betrayed," said Ramabai.  "I know not how."
+
+"You were followed.  A moment," said Bruce, turning to the officer.  "I
+have a servant by the name of Rao.  I believe he acted as bearer to the
+young lady at the palace.  What has become of him?"
+
+The officer smiled and shook his head.
+
+"Rao is a prisoner, then," thought the young man.  "That black scoundrel
+Umballa is at least thorough."  Aloud he said: "We shall go at once to
+your house, Ramabai."
+
+And all through the night they planned and planned, but not knowing where
+the first ordeal was to take place, nor the hour, they found themselves
+going round in a circle, getting nowhere.  To a man of action like Bruce
+it was maddening.  He walked out of the house into the garden and back
+again at least a dozen times, always to find Ramabai with his head held
+despairingly in his hands.  Another time Bruce opened the door to the
+street; two troopers squatted on each side of the threshold.  Umballa was
+in earnest.  The rear gate was also guarded.  How to get Ramabai out,
+that was the problem.
+
+He slept a little before dawn, and was aroused by voices below.  He
+listened.
+
+"I am Jawahir Lal, the water carrier.  Each day at dawn I water the
+garden of Ramabai to pay a debt."
+
+Bruce looked toward Ramabai, who slept the sleep of the profoundly
+wearied.  A bheestee, perhaps a messenger.
+
+"Go around to the rear gate, which can be opened," said the trooper.
+
+Bruce went to the window overlooking the garden.  He saw the water
+carrier enter through the bamboo gate, heard the water slosh about
+jerkily as the bheestee emptied his goatskin.  He watched the man
+curiously; saw him drop the skin and tiptoe toward the house, glance to
+right and left alertly.  Then he disappeared.  Presently at the head of
+the stairs Bruce heard a whisper--"Ramabai!"
+
+"Who is it?" Bruce whispered in the dialect.
+
+"Ahmed."
+
+Ahmed.  Who was Ahmed?
+
+Bruce shook Ramabai.  "Ahmed is here.  Who is he?" he asked softly.
+
+"Ahmed?" drowsily.  Then, wide awake enough: "Ahmed?  He was Hare Sahib's
+head animal man.  Where is he?"
+
+"Hush!  Not so loud.  Come up, Ahmed; I am Bruce.  Let us speak in
+English."
+
+"Good!"  Ahmed came into the chamber.  "To see Bruce Sahib is good.
+To-morrow my master's daughter is to be carried into the jungle.  The
+Mem-sahib is to be tied inside a tiger trap, bait for the cat.  That is
+the first ordeal."
+
+"Shaitan!" murmured Ramabai.
+
+"Go on, Ahmed."
+
+"The cage will be set near the old peepul tree, not far from the south
+gate.  Now, you, Sahib, and you, Ramabai, must hide somewhere near.  It
+is the law that if she escapes the ordeal from unexpected sources she is
+free, at least till the second ordeal.  I know not what that is at
+present or when it is to take place.  The troops will be there, and the
+populace, the council, the priest and Umballa.  I shall have two swift
+camels near the clump of bamboo.  I may not be there, but some one will.
+She must be hurried off before the confusion dies away.  Must, Sahib.
+There must be no second ordeal."
+
+"But how am I to get out of here?" asked Ramabai.  "Guards all about, and
+doubtless bidden to shoot if I stir!"
+
+"Tch!  Tch!" clicked Ahmed.  He unwound his dirty turban and slipped out
+of the ragged shirtlike frock.  "These and the water skin below.  A
+bheestee entered, a bheestee goes out.  What is simpler than that?  It is
+not light enough for the soldiers to notice.  There is food and water
+here.  Trust me to elude those bhang-guzzlers outside.  Am I a ryot, a
+farmer, to twist naught but bullocks' tails?"
+
+"Ahmed," said Bruce, holding out his hand, "you're a man."
+
+"Thanks, Sahib," dryly.  "But hasten!  At dawn to-morrow, or late
+to-night, Ramabai returns with a full water skin.  The Mem-sahib must at
+least stand the ordeal of terror, for she is guarded too well.  Yet, if
+they were not going to bind her, I should not worry.  She has animal
+magic in her eye, in her voice.  I have seen wild beasts grow still when
+she spoke.  Who knows?  Now, I sleep."
+
+Bruce and Ramabai had no difficulty in passing the guards.  The white
+hunter was free to come and go, and the sleepy soldiers saw the water
+skin which Ramabai threw carelessly over his head.  They sat down against
+the wall again and replenished the dung fire.  Bruce and Ramabai wisely
+made a wide detour to the peepul tree, which they climbed, disturbing the
+apes and the parrakeets.
+
+Somewhere near eight o'clock they heard the creaking of wheels and a
+murmur of voices.  Shortly into their range of vision drew a pair of
+bullocks, pulling a tiger trap toward the clearing.  This cage was of
+stout wood with iron bars.  The rear of the cage was solid; the front had
+a falling door.  The whole structure rested upon low wheels, and there
+was a drop platform which rested upon the ground.  An iron ring was
+attached to the rear wall, and to this was generally tied a kid, the
+bleating of which lured the tiger for which the trap was laid.  The
+moment the brute touched the bait the falling door slid down, imprisoning
+the prowler.
+
+When Bruce saw this damnable thing he understood, and he shook with
+horror and voiceless rage.  He caught Ramabai by the arm so savagely that
+a low cry came from the brown man's lips.
+
+"Patience, Sahib!" he warned.  "Without you what will the Mem-sahib do?
+They will tie her in that and liberate a tiger.  The rest lies with you,
+Sahib."
+
+"Ramabai, as God hears me, some one shall pay for this! . . .  The
+nineteenth century, and I am wide awake!  I may not be able to kill the
+brute with these revolvers, but I'll stop him, even if I have to use my
+bare hands. . . .  Kathlyn Hare!"
+
+"Hush!" again warned Ramabai, hugging his perch.
+
+Later by half an hour Bruce witnessed a spectacle such as few white men,
+happily for their reason, are permitted to see.  Kathlyn, in her royal
+robes (for ordeals of this character were ceremonials), a necklace of
+wonderful emeralds about her throat, stepped from her palanquin and stood
+waiting.  From other vehicles and conveyances stepped Umballa, the
+council and the yellow robed priests.  Troops also appeared, and behind
+them the eager expectant populace.  They were to be amused.  There were
+many of them, however, who hoped that a miracle would happen.
+
+"Ramabai," whispered Bruce, "she is as beautiful as a dream.  If I had
+only known!  Well, there's going to be a miracle.  See how straight she
+stands; not a sign of fear in her face.  There's a woman . . . a woman
+for me!" he added under his breath.
+
+He saw the bejeweled turban of Umballa bend toward the girl, and it was
+hard to resist taking a pot at the man.  Kathlyn shook her head.
+Thereupon she was led to the trap, her hands bound and the rope round her
+waist attached securely to the ring.
+
+Ah, they talked about it that night in the surging bazaars, in the
+palace, wherever two persons came together: how the white hunter had
+appeared from nowhere, rushed toward the trap as the tiger approached,
+entered and dropped the door, blazed away at the beast, who turned tail
+and limped off into the jungle.  Ai!  It was a sight for eyes.  They
+could laugh behind Umballa's back, the gutter born, the iron heeled
+upstart; they could riddle (confidentially) the council with rude jests.
+The law was the law; and none, not even the priests in their shaven polls
+and yellow robes, might slip beyond the law as it read.  The first ordeal
+was over.  Nor, as the law read, could they lay hands upon this brave
+young man.  Ai! it was good.  Umballa must look elsewhere for his chief
+wife; the Mem-sahib would not adorn his zenana.  It was more than good,
+for now there would be a second ordeal; more amusement, perhaps another
+miracle.  True, they had taken away the pistols of the white Sahib, but
+he had his hands.
+
+"Thank you," Kathlyn had said.  "Somehow I knew you would come."  And
+what she had seen in his eyes had made her tremble visibly for the first
+time that day.
+
+She was conducted back to the palace.  The populace howled and cheered
+about her palanquin to the very gates.  Not in many a big rain had they
+had such excitement.
+
+The fury in Umballa's heart might have disquieted Bruce had he known of
+its existence.
+
+Kathlyn, arriving in her chamber, flung herself down upon her cushions
+and lay there like one dead, nor would she be comforted by the worshiping
+Pundita.  Bruce had saved her this time, but it was not possible that he
+could repeat the feat.
+
+Having convinced Umballa and the council that she would not marry her
+persecutor, the council announced to the populace that on the next fete
+day the queen would confront the lions in the elephant arena.  What could
+one man do against such odds?  Lions brought from the far Nubian deserts,
+fierce, untamable.
+
+That night there was  a conference between Bruce, Ahmed and Ramabai.
+
+"They have taken my guns away, and God knows I can't do the impossible.
+Where the devil were your camels, Ahmed?"
+
+"Umballa has his spies, Ramabai," said Ahmed, smiling, as he got into his
+bheestee rags, which Ramabai had surrendered willingly enough: "Ramabai,
+thou conspirator, what about the powder mines you and your friends hid
+when the late king signified that he was inclined toward British
+protectorate?  Eh?  What about the republic thou hadst dreams of?  Poor
+fool!  It is in our blood to be ruled by kings, oppressed; we should not
+know what to do with absolute freedom.  There!  Fear not.  Why should I
+betray thee?  The mines.  The arena is of wood."
+
+"But there will be many of my friends there," said the bewildered
+Ramabai.  Who was this strange man who seemed to know everything?
+
+"Put the mines in the center of the arena.  What we want is merely terror
+and confusion.  Pouf!  Bang!  There's your miracle.  And a little one
+under the royal pavilion.  And Umballa and the council sleep in Shaitan's
+arms.  Welcome, my lambs!"  And Ahmed laughed noiselessly.
+
+"By the lord!" gasped Bruce.  "But the fuses?  No, no, Ahmed; it can not
+be done."
+
+"In the house of my friend Lal Singh there is a cellar full of strange
+magic--magic with copper wires that spit blue fires.  Eh, Sahib?  You and
+I know; we have traveled."
+
+"Batteries, here, in this wilderness?"
+
+"Even so.  To you, Ramabai, the powder; to me, the spitting wires; to
+you, Bruce Sahib, patience.  Umballa shall yet wear raw the soles of his
+feet in the treadmill.  He shall grind the poor man's corn.  I know what
+I know.  Now I must be off.  I shall return to-morrow night and you,
+Ramabai, shall gather together your fellow conspirators (who would blow
+up the palace!) and bring the mines to the arena."
+
+And while Kathlyn gazed through the marble lattice at the bright stars
+another gazed at the sunny heavens in a far country, a sprite of a girl
+with dark tearful eyes.  Father gone, sister gone; silence.
+
+But a few yards away from Kathlyn a man plucked at his chains, praying to
+God that he might not lose his reason.  With the finished cruelty of the
+East, Umballa had not visited Colonel Hare again.  There is nothing like
+suspense to squeeze hope and courage from the heart of man.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+On the night before the ordeal men moved cautiously about the elephant
+arena.  It was only after much persuasion and argument could Bruce hold
+the men.  At the testing of Lal Singh's wires and batteries they had
+started to fly.  This was devil's fire.
+
+At the end of the arena, in a box which Bruce was to occupy, by order of
+the council (where they proposed to keep an eye upon Umballa and to wring
+his heart), the key to the wires was laid.  This box was directly over a
+wooden canopy where the mahouts loafed between fights.  Back of this
+canopy was a door which led outside.  Through this Bruce proposed to lead
+Kathlyn during the confusion created by the explosion.  They had carried
+off the keeper (who was also guardian of the arena), and the key to this
+door reposed in Bruce's pocket.
+
+On the day of the ordeal only the bedridden remained at home.  The
+temples, the palaces, the bazaars, all were deserted as thoroughly as if
+the black wings of the plague had swept through the city.  Even the crows
+and the kites were there, the one chattering; the other soaring high
+above.
+
+Ramabai was forced to sit with the council, much to his terror.  After
+much pleading the council was prevailed upon to permit him to sit with
+Bruce.  A cordon of soldiers was accordingly detailed to surround Bruce's
+box at the rear.
+
+When Kathlyn arrived she was placed under the canopy: another bit of
+kindly attention on the part of Umballa to twist the white man's heart.
+But nothing could have happened more to the satisfaction of Bruce.
+
+"Kathlyn Hare," he called out softly in Spanish, "do you hear and
+understand me?"
+
+"Yes," she replied in the same tongue.  "Do nothing desperate.  Don't
+throw away your life.  I have a sister in America.  Will you tell her?"
+
+"Listen.  Under no circumstances leave the canopy.  The lions come from
+the other side.  We are not only going to rescue but save you.  Attend me
+carefully.  Behind you is a door.  There will be an explosion in the
+center of the arena.  There was to be another under our friend Umballa,
+but the battery was old.  Press over toward that door.  I have the key."
+
+"Ah, Mr. Bruce!"
+
+"Kathlyn, my name is John."
+
+"The lions, the lions!" howled the populace.
+
+It seemed to Bruce that he had been suddenly flung back into antiquity
+and that Nero sat yonder, squinting through his polished emerald.  The
+great, tawny African brutes blinked and turned their shaggy heads this
+way and that, uneasily.  Kathlyn stood very still.  How, how could they
+save her?  At length the lions espied her, attracted by the white of her
+robe.  One bounded forward, growling.  The others immediately started in
+pursuit.
+
+Suddenly the center of the arena opened and a tremendous roar followed.
+A low wail of terror ran round the arena.  Surely this Mem-sahib had all
+the gods with her.  A great crevice had opened up between Kathlyn and the
+lions, one of which lay dead.  Then came the rush toward the exits, a mad
+frantic rush.  Not even Umballa, who knew that not the gods, but man had
+contrived this havoc, not even Umballa waited, but fled, beating down all
+those who blocked his path.
+
+Bruce and Ramabai dropped over the railing to Kathlyn's side.  But the
+key upon which their escape depended would not unlock the door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE COURT OF THE LION
+
+When Bruce dropped down into the arena to Kathlyn's side he had never
+given a thought to the possibility of the key not being the right one.
+Trapped!--and Ahmed but a few yards away with a zenana gharry, ready to
+convey them to the camp, freedom!  It took the heart out of him for a
+moment.  The confusion all about, the pall of dust, the roaring of the
+frightened lions which had escaped destruction, the shrill cries of the
+panic-stricken populace, who now looked upon the white Mem-sahib as the
+daughter of Shaitan, these dulled his inventive faculties for the
+nonce.  Here was the confusion, properly planned, and he could not make
+use of it.  Possibly, when no further explosion shook the air, the mob
+and the soldiers would return out of curiosity.  And then, good-by!
+
+But the sight of a lion emerging from the murk, the wrong side of the
+crevice, roused him thoroughly.
+
+"Save yourself!" said Kathlyn in despair: "there is no possible way of
+saving me.  I have never in all my life injured any one, and yet God
+makes me go through all this. . . .  I am mad, you are, the whole world
+is! . . .  Run!"
+
+Bruce laughed; it was that kind of laughter with which men enter
+battle.  He drew Lal Singh's revolvers and thrust one into her hand.
+
+"Shoot at the keyhole.  Leave the lion to me.  With the pandemonium no
+one will note the shots, or if they do, will think that more explosions
+are on the way.  I'll get you out of this nightmare; that's what I was
+born for."
+
+"Nightmare!"
+
+"There, now!"--as Kathlyn leaned dizzily against one of the supports.
+
+"I've gone through a good deal," she said.  Without more ado she
+pressed the muzzle of the revolver into the keyhole and fired.  She
+heard a shot behind her, another and another; but she kept on firing
+into and about the keyhole till the revolver was empty.
+
+A firm hand drew her aside.
+
+"The lion?"
+
+"Gone to sleep.  Let me have a whack at that door."
+
+"Where's Ramabai?"
+
+"Went back over the wall.  Probably to warn Ahmed; maybe gone directly
+off toward camp.  Anyhow, he has faith in me."
+
+"And, oh! so have I, so have I!"
+
+Bruce bore his weight savagely against the door, once, twice, thrice;
+and pitched forward on his knees, outside.  He was up instantly.  He
+caught Kathlyn by the hand and hurried her along; and all she could
+think of was Winnie romping toward the canopied studio, her father half
+asleep on the veranda and the leopard cat sprawled on the divan!
+
+"Sahib!  Huzoor!" a voice called.  "This way!"
+
+"Ahmed!  Ahmed!" cried Kathlyn.
+
+"Yes, heaven born; but hurry, hurry!  Umballa will return to search as
+soon as he can get the better of his legs.  Siva take that battery that
+was worn out!  Heaven born, you are now a queen in fact. . . ."
+
+"I want to go home, Ahmed, home!"
+
+"Here's the gharry.  Here, Sahib!"  He held out a handful of cartridges
+toward Bruce.  "These fit Lal Singh's pistols.  Hurry, hurry!"
+
+Bruce helped Kathlyn into the vehicle and jumped in beside her, and
+Ahmed struck the horse.  The gharry was a rickety old contrivance,
+every hinge creaking like some lost soul; but Ahmed had reasoned that
+the more dilapidated the vehicle, the less conspicuous it would be.  He
+urged the horse.  He wanted the flying mob to think that he was flying,
+too, which, indeed, he was.  The gharry rolled and careened like a dory
+in a squall.  A dozen times Bruce and Kathlyn were flung together, and
+quite unconsciously she caught hold of his lean, strong brown hand.  It
+would not be true to say that he was unconscious of the act.
+
+Presently they entered the paved streets of the bazaars, and the going
+improved.  Kathlyn leaned back.
+
+"I am Kathlyn Hare, and this is the year . . ."
+
+"Come now, Miss Kathlyn, no thinking; leave the whole business to me,
+the worry and the planning.  If we can reach my elephants, all right;
+we'll be in Delhi within seven days.  The rest of the going will be as
+simple as falling off a log."
+
+That Yankee phrase did more to rehabilitate her than all his assurances.
+
+From time to time Bruce stole a glance through the curtained window.
+Stragglers were hastening along close to the walls, and there were
+soldiers who had forgot to bring their guns from the elephant arena.
+Once he heard the clatter of hoofs.  A horseman ran alongside the
+gharry, slowed up, peered down and shrugged.  Kathlyn shrank toward
+Bruce.  The rider proceeded on his way.  Ahmed recognized him as the
+ambassador from the neighboring principality, ruled by a Kumor, who was
+in turn ruled by the British Raj.  Kathlyn could not shut out the leer
+on his face.
+
+By midafternoon the gharry reached Bruce's camp.  Ramabai and Pundita
+greeted Kathlyn with delight.  All their troubles were over.  They had
+but to mount the elephants and ride away.
+
+"Ahmed," urged Kathlyn, "leave the gharry and come with us."
+
+"No, Mem-sahib,"--Ahmed gazed at her strangely--"I have work to do,
+much work.  Allah guard you!"  He struck the horse with his bamboo
+stick and careened away.
+
+"Let us be off!" cried Bruce.  "We have sixty miles to put between us
+and freedom in fact.  We can not make the railway.  Ali, pack!  Go to
+the bungalow and remain there.  You will be questioned.  Tell the
+truth.  There is not an elephant in the royal stables that can beat
+Rajah.  All aboard!  No stops!"--smiling as he helped Kathlyn into the
+howdah.  "We shall be forced to ride all night."
+
+The elephants started forward, that ridden by Bruce and Kathlyn in the
+lead, Ramabai and Pundita following a few yards in the rear.
+
+"Mr. Bruce, I am sure Ahmed has some information regarding father.  I
+don't know what.  Who knows?  They may have lied to me.  He may be
+alive, alive!"
+
+"I'll return and find out, once I've got you safe.  I don't blame you
+for thinking all this a nightmare.  God knows it is nightmarish.  Do
+you know, I've been thinking it over.  It appears to me that the king
+latterly took a dislike to his protege, Umballa, and turned this little
+trick to make him unhappy.  I dare say he thought your father wise
+enough to remain away.  Umballa hangs between wind and water; he can go
+neither forward nor backward.  But poor Ramabai back there will lose
+his gold for this."
+
+"Ramabai has always been very kindly to the poor, and the poor man
+generally defends his benefactor when the night-time comes.  To Umballa
+I was only a means to the end.  If he declared himself king, that would
+open up the volcano upon which he stands; but as my prince consort,
+that would leave him fairly secure."
+
+"Only a means," mused Bruce inwardly, stealing a glance at her sad yet
+lovely profile.  Umballa was a man, for all his color; he was human;
+and to see this girl it was only human to want her.  "Your father was
+one of the best friends I had.  But, oddly enough, I never saw a
+photograph of you.  He might have been afraid we young chaps . . ."  He
+paused embarrassedly.  "If only you had taken me into your confidence
+on board the _Yorck_!"
+
+"Ah, but did you offer me the chance?" she returned.
+
+"I never realized till now that a chap might be too close lipped
+sometimes.  Well, here we are, in flight together!"
+
+That night for the first time in many hours Kathlyn closed her eyes
+with a sense of security.  True, it was not the most comfortable place
+to sleep in, the howdah; there were ceaseless rollings from side to
+side, intermingled with spine racking bumps forward, as the elephant
+occasionally hastened his stride.  Kathlyn succeeded in stealing from
+the god of sleep only cat naps.  Often the cold would awaken her, and
+she would find that Bruce had been bracing her by extending his arm
+across the howdah and gripping the rail.
+
+"You mustn't do that," she protested feebly.  "You will be dead in the
+morning."
+
+"You might fall out."
+
+"Then I shan't go to sleep again till the journey ends.  You have been
+so good and kind to me!"
+
+"Nonsense!"
+
+They came out into the scrub jungle, and the moonlight lay magically
+over all things.  Sometimes a shadow crossed the whitened sands;
+scurried, rather; and quietly Bruce would tell her what the animals
+were--jackals, with an occasional prowling red wolf.  They were not
+disturbed by any of the cat family.  But there was one interval of
+suspense.  Bruce spied in the distance a small herd of wild elephants.
+So did Rajah, who raised his trunk and trumpeted into the night.  The
+mahout, fully awake to the danger, beat the old rascal mightily with
+his goad.  Yet that would have failed to hold Rajah.  Bruce averted the
+danger by shooting his revolvers into the air.  The wild elephants
+stampeded, and Rajah, disgruntled, was brought to the compass.
+
+"Strange thing about a gunshot," said Bruce.  "They may never have
+heard one before; but instinct tells them quickly of the menace.  Years
+ago at home, when I used to fish for bass, during the closed season I'd
+see thousands of duck and geese and deer.  Yet a single gunshot when
+the season opened and you never could get within a mile of them."
+
+"That is true.  I have fished and hunted with father."
+
+"Surely!  I keep forgetting that it's ten to one you know more about
+game than I do."
+
+Silence fell upon them again.  On, on, without pausing.  Bruce was
+getting sleepy himself, so he began munching biscuits.  Lighter and
+lighter grew the east; the moon dimmed, and by and by everything grew
+gray and the chill in the air seemed sharpest yet.
+
+They were both awake.
+
+Sunup they stopped by a stream.  Bruce dismounted without having the
+elephant kneel and went to the water to fill his canteen.  The hunter
+in him became interested in the tracks along the banks.  A tiger, a
+leopard, some apes, and a herd of antelopes had been down to drink
+during the night.  Even as he looked a huge gray ape came bounding out,
+head-on toward Rajah, who despised these foolish beasts.  Perhaps the
+old elephant missed Ali, perhaps he was still somewhat upset by his
+failure to join his wild brothers the night before; at any rate,
+without warning, he set off with that shuffling gait which sometimes
+carried him as swiftly as a horse.  An elephant never trots nor really
+runs according to our conception of the terms; he shuffles, scarcely
+lifting his feet off the ground.
+
+The mahout yelled and belabored the elephant on the skull.  Rajah did
+not mind this beating at all.  Whatever his idea was, he evidently
+proposed to see it fulfilled.
+
+Cunningly he dashed under some branches, sweeping the mahout off his
+neck.  The branches, with a crash as of musketry, struck the howdah,
+but it held, thanks to the stoutness of the belly bands and the care
+with which they had been adjusted round the huge barrel.
+
+Bruce stood up, appalled.  For a time he was incapable of movement.
+Short as the time was, it was enough to give Rajah such headway as he
+needed.  He disappeared from sight.  Bruce saw the futility of shooting
+at the beast.  The only thing he could do was to mount up beside
+Ramabai and Pundita and give chase; and this he did in short order,
+dragging up the bruised and shaken mahout with him.  The pursuing
+elephant, with this extra handicap, never brought Rajah into sight.
+But the trail was clear, and they followed.
+
+Surely that poor girl was marked for misfortune.  In all the six years
+Bruce had possessed Rajah he had never exhibited anything but docility.
+The elephant was not running amuck, though he might eventually work
+himself into that blind ungovernable rage.  Off like that, without the
+slightest warning!  If Kathlyn could only keep him clear of the trees,
+for the old rogue would do his best to scrape off the irksome howdah.
+
+Kathlyn heard the shouts from behind, but she could not understand
+whether these were warnings or advice.  Could they overtake her before
+she was flung off?  She tried to recall the "elephant talk" Ahmed had
+taught her in the old days at the farm, but just now she was too dazed.
+At the end of an hour all sounds from the rear ceased; no more pistol
+shots to encourage her with the knowledge that friends were near.
+Rajah must have outstripped them two or three miles.
+
+At length she came into a small clearing amid the tall jungle grass, a
+dead and brittle last year's growth.  She saw two natives in the act of
+kicking out a dung fire.  Rajah headed directly toward them, the fire
+evidently being in the line of path he had chosen.  This rare and
+unexpected freedom, this opportunity to go whither he listed, was as
+the giant fern he used to eat in the days when he was free and wild in
+Ceylon.
+
+Kathlyn called out to the men, but they turned and fled in terror.  To
+them Rajah was amuck.  The elephant passed the fire so closely that the
+wind of his passing stirred the fire into life again; and this time it
+crept toward the highly inflammable grass.  A few hundred yards beyond
+Kathlyn turned to see the flames leaping along the grass.  Rajah,
+getting a whiff of the acrid smoke, quickened his stride.  The fire
+followed with amazing rapidity and stopped only when it reached the bed
+of a trickling stream, no doubt a torrent during the big rains.  A
+great pall of smoke blotted out everything in the rear; blotted out
+hope, for Bruce could never pick up the trail now.
+
+Kathlyn's eyes were feverishly dry and bright.  It was only a matter of
+time when the howdah would slip down the brute's side.  She prayed that
+she might die instantly.  Strange fancies flitted through her mind,
+disordered by all these days of suspense and terror. . . .
+
+And suddenly the jungle came to an end, and a long plowed field opened
+into view.  Beyond this field rose a ruined wall, broken by a crumbling
+gate, and lounging in the gateway were soldiers.  Near by were two
+elephants employed in piling logs.
+
+Rajah, perforce, slackened his gait.  The soldiers became animated.
+Immediately the two mahouts charged their brutes toward Rajah, who
+stopped.  He had had his sport.  He swayed to and fro.  One of the
+mahouts reached forward and clouted Rajah on the knee.  He slowly
+kneeled.  The soldiers ran forward to help Kathlyn out of the howdah.
+At the sight of her skin their astonishment was great.
+
+She was very weak and faint, and the increasing babel of tongues was
+like little triphammers beating upon her aching head.  One of the
+soldiers gave her a drink of water.  He held his canteen high, so that
+the water trickled into her mouth; no lips but his own must touch the
+nozzle, otherwise, being a Brahmin, he would be denied.  Natives
+instantly flocked about, jabbering in wonder.  Some of the bolder
+touched her bare arms.  The soldiers drove them back angrily.  Through
+the press a horseman pushed forward.  The rider stared at the strange
+captive, started and uttered an astonished cry.
+
+"The white queen of Allaha, whom mine own eyes saw crowned at the
+durbar there!" he murmured.  "By the shroud of the prophet what can
+this mean?  Stop!" he called to the soldiers.  Kathlyn looked up dully.
+"Convey her to his highness the Kumor!"  The prince should decide what
+should be done with her.
+
+The Kumor was big and lazy and sensual.  He gazed upon Kathlyn with
+eyes which sparkled evilly, like a cat's.
+
+"Who is this woman?" he demanded.
+
+"Highness, she is the white queen of Allaha, but who may say that she
+is here?" with a smile as evil as his master's.
+
+"But how came she here?"
+
+The horseman briefly recounted the events as he had seen them in the
+capital of Allaha.
+
+"Who are you, maiden?" the Kumor asked in English, for, like all
+potentates, little or great, in India, he spoke English.  It presented
+the delectable pastime of conspiring in two languages; for, from Bombay
+to Calcutta, from Peshawar to Madras, India seethes, conspires and
+takes an occasional pot shot at some poor devil of a commissioner whose
+only desire is to have them combine religion and sanitation.
+
+"I am an American.  Please take me to the English commissioner."
+Somehow instinct told her that she might not expect succor from this
+man with the pearls about his gross neck.
+
+"I regret that his excellency the commissioner has gone to Bombay.
+Besides, I do not know that you tell the truth.  Still, I can offer you
+what pearls and emeralds you may find to your liking."
+
+"Your Highness, there are those whose coming shortly will cause you
+much annoyance if you refuse to give me proper aid.  There is no
+possible way for you to cover up my appearance here.  Send me to the
+commissioner's bungalow, where I may await the coming of my friends."
+
+"Indeed!"  The Kumor saw here a conflict not altogether to his liking.
+He was lazy, and there was the damnable, unrelenting hand of the
+British Raj looming in the distance.  He shrugged.  "Achmet, call the
+captain of the guard and have him convey this runaway queen to Allaha.
+Surely, I may not meddle with the affairs of a friendly state."  With a
+wave of his fat bejeweled hand he appeared to dismiss the matter from
+his mind.
+
+Kathlyn was led away.  The human mind can stand only so many shocks.
+
+Outside the palace courtyard stood Rajah, the howdah securely attached
+once more, Kathlyn was bidden to mount.  A water bottle and some cakes
+were placed in the howdah beside her.  Then a drunken mahout mounted
+behind Rajah's ears.  The elephant did not like the feel of the man's
+legs, and he began to sway ominously.  Nevertheless, he permitted the
+mahout to direct him to one of the city gates, the soldiers trooping
+alongside.
+
+It appeared that there was a much shorter route to Allaha.  Time being
+essential, Bruce had had to make for the frontier blindly, as it were.
+The regular highway was a moderately decent road which led along the
+banks of one of those streams which eventually join the sacred Jumna.
+This, of course, was also sacred.  Many Hindus were bathing in the
+ghats.  They passed by these and presently came upon a funeral pyre.
+
+Sometimes one sleeps with one's eyes open, and thus it was with
+Kathlyn.  Out of that funeral pyre her feverish thoughts builded a
+frightful dream.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+The drunken mahout slid off Rajah; the soldiers turned aside.  Hired
+female mourners were kneeling about, wailing and beating their breasts,
+while behind them stood the high caste widow, her face as tragic as
+Dido's at the pyre of Aeneas.  Suddenly she threw her arms high over
+her head.
+
+"I am suttee!"
+
+Suttee!  It was against the law of the British Raj.  The soldiers began
+arguing with the widow, but only half heartedly.  It was a pious rite,
+worthy of the high caste Hindu's wife.  Better death on the pyre than a
+future like that of a pariah dog.  For a wife who preferred to live
+after her husband was gone was a social outcast, permitted not to wed
+again, to exist only as a drudge, a menial, the scum and contempt of
+all who had known her in her days of prosperity.
+
+The widow, having drunk from a cup which contained opium, climbed to
+the top of the pyre where her husband lay, swathed in white.  She gazed
+about wildly, and her courage and resolve took wings.  She stumbled
+down.  A low hissing ran about.
+
+"Make the white woman suttee in her place!" cried the drunken mahout.
+
+The cry was taken up by the spectators.  Kathlyn felt herself dragged
+from the elephant, bound and finally laid beside the swathed figure.
+There could be no horror in the wide world like it.  Smoke began to
+curl up from the underbrush.  It choked and stifled her.  Sparks rose
+and dropped upon her arms and face.  And through the smoke and flame
+came Rajah.  He lifted her with his powerful trunk and carried her off,
+for hours and hours, back into the trackless jungle. . . .
+
+Kathlyn found herself, all at once, sitting against the roots of an
+aged banyan tree.  A few yards away an ape sat on his haunches and eyed
+her curiously.  A little farther off Rajah browsed in a clump of weeds,
+the howdah at a rakish angle, like the cocked hat of a bully.  Kathlyn
+stared at her hands.  There were no burns there; she passed a hand over
+her face; there was no smart or sting.  A dream; she had dreamed it; a
+fantasy due to her light-headed state of mind.  A dream!  She cried and
+laughed, and the ape jibbered at her uneasily.
+
+In reality, Rajah, freed of his unwelcome mahout, had legged it down
+the road without so much as trumpeting his farewell, and the soldiers
+had not been able to stop him.
+
+How she had managed to get down would always remain a mystery to her.
+Food and water, food and water; in her present state she must have both
+or die.  Let them send her back to Allaha; she was beaten; she was
+without the will to resist further.  All she wanted was food and water
+and sleep, sleep.  After that they might do what they pleased with her.
+
+For the first time since the extraordinary flight from Allaha Kathlyn
+recollected the "elephant talk" which Ahmed had taught her.  She rose
+wearily and walked toward Rajah, who cocked his ears at the sound of
+her approach.  She talked to him for a space in monotone.  She held out
+her hands; the dry raspy trunk curled out toward them.  Rajah was
+evidently willing to meet her half-way.  She ordered him to kneel.
+Without even pausing to think it over Rajah bent his calloused knees,
+and gratefully Kathlyn crawled back into the howdah.  Food and water:
+these appeared at hand as if by magic.  So she ate and drank.  If she
+could hold Rajah to a walk the howdah would last at least till she came
+to some village.
+
+Later, in the moonshine, she espied the ruined portico of a temple.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE TEMPLE
+
+In the blue of night the temple looked as though it had been sculptured
+out of mist.  Here and there the heavy dews, touched by the moon
+lances, flung back flames of sapphire, cold and sharp.  To Kathlyn the
+temple was of marvelous beauty.  She urged Rajah toward the crumbling
+portico.
+
+It was a temple in ruins, like many in Hind.  Broken pillars,
+exquisitely carved, lay about, and some of the tall windows of marble
+lace were punctured, as if the fist of some angry god had beaten
+through.  Under the decayed portico stood an iron brazier.  Near this
+reposed a cracked stone sarcophagus: an unusual sight in this part of
+the world.  It was without its lid.  But one god now brooded
+hereabouts--Silence.  Not a sound anywhere, not even from the near-by
+trees.  She saw a noiseless lizard slide jerkily across a patch of
+moonshine and dissolve into the purple shadow beyond.
+
+What was this temple?  What gods had been worshiped here?  And why was
+it deserted?  She had heard her father tell of the ruined city of
+Chitor.  Plague? . . .  Kathlyn shuddered.  Sometimes villages, to the
+last soul in them, were brushed from existence and known no more to
+man.  And this might be one of them.  Yet indications of a village were
+nowhere to be seen.  It was merely a temple, perhaps miles from the
+nearest village, deserted save by prowling wild beasts, the winds, the
+sunshine and the moonshine.  She looked far and wide for any signs of
+human habitation.
+
+She commanded Rajah to kneel.  So held by the enchanting picture was
+Kathlyn that the elephant's renewed restlessness (and he had reason, as
+will be seen) passed unobserved by her.  He came to his knees, however,
+and she got out of the howdah.  Her legs trembled for a space, for her
+nerves were in a pitiable condition.  Suddenly Rajah's ears went
+forward, he rose, and his trunk curled angrily.  With a whuff he
+wheeled and shuffled off toward the jungle out of which he had so
+recently emerged.
+
+"Halt!" cried Kathlyn.  What had he heard?  What had he seen?  "Halt!"
+But even as she called the tall grass closed in behind the elephant.
+What water and food she had disappeared with him.
+
+She paused by the brazier, catching hold of it for support.  She
+laughed hysterically: it was so funny; it was all so out of joint with
+real things, with every-day life as she had known it.  Weird laughter
+returned to mock her astonished ears, a sinister echo.  And then she
+laughed at the echo, being in the grip of a species of madness.  In the
+purple caverns of the temple she suddenly became conscious of another
+presence.  A flash as of moonlight striking two chrysoberyls took the
+madness out of her mind.  This forsaken temple was the haunt of a
+leopard or a tiger.
+
+She was lost.  That magnetism which ordinarily was hers was at its
+nadir.  She hesitated for a second, then climbed into the empty
+sarcophagus, crouching low.  Strangely enough, as she did so a calm
+fell upon her; all the terrors of her position dropped away from her as
+mists from the mountain peaks.  She had, however, got into the
+hiding-place none too soon.
+
+She heard the familiar pad-pad, the whiff-whiff of a big cat.
+Immediately into the moonlight came an African lion, as out of place
+here as Kathlyn herself; his tail slashed, there was a long black
+streak from his mane to his tail where the hair had risen.  Kathlyn
+crouched even lower.  The lion trotted round the sarcophagus, sniffing.
+Presently he lifted his head and roared.  The echoes played battledore
+and shuttlecock with the sound.  The lion roared again, this time at
+the insulting echoes.  For a few minutes the noise was deafening.  A
+rumble as of distant thunder, and the storm died away.
+
+By and by she peered out cautiously.  She saw the lion crossing the
+open space between the temple and the jungle.  She saw him pause, bend
+his head, then lope away in the direction taken by Rajah.
+
+To Kathlyn it seemed that she had no longer anything to do with the
+body of Kathlyn Hare.  The soul of another had stepped into this
+wearied flesh of hers and now directed its physical manifestations,
+while her own spirit stood gratefully and passively aloof.  Nothing
+could happen now; the world had grown still and calm.  The spirit drew
+the sleeves of the robe snugly about her arms and laid Kathlyn's head
+upon them and drew her down into a profound slumber.
+
+Half a mile to the north of the ruined temple there lay, all
+unsuspected by Kathlyn, a village--a village belonging solely to the
+poor, mostly ryots or tillers of the soil.  The poor in Asia know but
+two periods of time--for rarely do they possess such a thing as a watch
+or a clock--sunset and sunrise.  Perhaps the man of the family may sit
+a while at dusk on his mud door-sill, with his bubbling water pipe (if
+he has one), and watch the stars slowly swing across the arch.  A pinch
+of very bad tobacco is slowly consumed; then he enters the hunt
+[Transcriber's note: hut?], flings himself upon his matting (perhaps a
+cotton rug, more likely a bundle of woven water reeds) and sleeps.  No
+one wakes him; habit rouses him at dawn.  He scrubs his teeth with a
+fibrous stick.  It is a part of his religious belief to keep his teeth
+clean.  The East Indian (Hindu or Mohammedan) has the whitest, soundest
+teeth in the world if the betel-nut is but temperately used.
+
+Beyond this village lay a ruined city, now inhabited by cobras and
+slinking jackals.
+
+Dawn.  A few dung fires smoldered.  From the doorway of one of the mud
+huts came a lean man, his naked torso streaked with wet ashes, his
+matted hair hanging in knots and tangles on his emaciated shoulders.
+His aspect was exceedingly filthy; he was a holy man, which in this mad
+country signifies physical debasement, patience and fortitude such as
+would have adorned any other use.  A human lamprey, sticking himself
+always at the thin and meager board of the poor, a vile parasite, but
+holy!
+
+The holy man directed his steps to the narrow beaten pathway which led
+to the temple, where, every morning, he performed certain rites which
+the poor benighted ryots believed would some day restore the ruined
+city and the prosperity which attends fat harvests.  The holy man had
+solemnly declared that it would take no less than ten years to bring
+about this miracle.  And the villagers fell down with their foreheads
+in the dust.  He was a Brahmin; the caste string hung about his neck;
+he was indeed holy, he who could have dwelt on the fat of the land, in
+maharajahs' courts.  The least that can be said is that he performed
+his duties scrupulously.
+
+So, then, the red rim of the March sun shouldered up above the rolling
+jungle as he came into the beaten clay court which fronted the temple.
+The lion stalked only at night, rarely appearing in the daytime.  Once
+a month he was given a bullock, for he kept tiger and leopard away, and
+the villagers dwelt in peace.  The lion had escaped from Allaha, where
+the species were kept as an additional sport.  Since he had taken up
+his abode in the temple there had been fewer thefts from the cattle
+sheds.
+
+The holy man was about to assume his squatting posture in the center of
+the court, as usual, when from out of the sarcophagus rose languidly a
+form, shrouded in white.  The form stretched its lovely arms, white as
+alabaster, and presently the hands rubbed a pair of sleepy eyes.  Then
+the form sat down within the sarcophagus, laid its arms on the rim, and
+wearily hid its face in them.
+
+The watcher was the most dumfounded holy man in all India.  For the
+first time in his hypocritical life he found faith in himself, in his
+puerile rites.  He had conjured up yonder spirit, unaided, alone.  He
+rose, turned, and never a holy man ran faster.  When he arrived,
+panting and voiceless, at the village well, where natives were coming
+and going with water in goatskins and jars and copper vessels, he fell
+upon his face, rose to his knees, and poured hands full of dust upon
+his head.
+
+"Ai, ai!" he called.  "It is almost done, my children.  The first sign
+has come from the gods.  I have brought you in human form the ancient
+priestess!"  And he really believed he had.  "O my children, my little
+ones, my kids!  I have brought her who will now attend to the sacred
+fires; for these alone will restore the city as of old, the fat corn,
+the plentitude of fruit.  Since the coming of the lion two rains ago
+the leopard and the striped one have forsaken their lairs.  One bullock
+a month is better than fire, together with the kids and the children.
+Ai!"  More dust.
+
+Naturally the villagers set down their water skins and jars and copper
+vessels and flocked about this exceptional holy man.  They wanted to
+believe him, but for years nothing had happened but the advent of the
+lion, whence no one exactly knew, though the holy man had not been
+backward in claiming it was due to his nearness to the god Vishnu.
+
+They followed him eagerly to the temple.  What they beheld transfixed
+them.  A woman with skin like the petals of the lotus and hair like
+corn sat in the sacred sarcophagus and braided her hair, gazing the
+while toward the bright sun.
+
+The intake of many breaths produced a sound.  Kathlyn turned instantly
+toward this sound, for a moment expecting the return of the lion.
+Immediately holy man and villagers threw themselves upon the ground,
+striking their foreheads against the damp clay.  The alien spirit still
+ruled the substance; Kathlyn eyed them in mild astonishment, not at all
+alarmed.
+
+"Ai!" shrilled the holy man, springing to his feet.  "Ai!  She is our
+ancient priestess, rising from her tomb of centuries!  Ai, ai!  O thou
+unholy children, to doubt my word!  Behold!  Henceforth she shall share
+the temple with the lion, and later she will give us prosperity, and my
+name shall ever be in your households."
+
+Having secured a priestess, he was now determined that he should not
+lose her.  The future was roseate indeed, and when he took his next
+pilgrimage to holy Benares they would bestrew his pathway with lotus
+flowers.
+
+"Wood to start the sacred fires!" he commanded.
+
+The villagers flew to obey his orders.  He was indeed a holy man.  Not
+in the memory of the oldest had a miracle such as this happened.  Upon
+their return with wood and embers the holy man built the fire, handing
+a lighted torch to Kathlyn and signifying for her to touch the tinder.
+The spirit in Kathlyn told her that these people meant her no immediate
+harm, so she stepped out of the sarcophagus and applied the torch.  The
+moment the flames began to crackle the villagers prostrated themselves
+again and the holy man besmeared his bony chest with more ashes.
+
+A second holy man appeared upon the scene, wanting in breath.  His jaw
+dropped and his eyes started to leave their sockets.  Knowing his ilk
+so thoroughly well, he flung himself down before the brazier and beat
+his forehead upon the ground; not in any chastened spirit, but because
+he had overslept that morning.  This glory might have been his!  Ai, ai!
+
+Later the two conferred.  During the day they should guard the
+priestess, because, having taken human form, she might some day tire of
+this particular temple.  At night she would be well guarded by the lion.
+
+Several awestricken women came forward with bowls of cooked rice and
+fruits and a new copper drinking vessel.  These they reverently placed
+at Kathlyn's feet.
+
+Gradually the spirit which had comforted Kathlyn withdrew, and at
+length Kathlyn became keenly alive.  It entered her mind clearly that
+these poor foolish people really believed her a celestial being, and so
+long as they laid no hand upon her she was not alarmed.  She had
+recently passed through too many terrors to be disturbed by a bit of
+kindness, even if stirred into being by a religious fanaticism.
+
+Kathlyn ate.
+
+By pairs the villagers departed, and soon none remained save her
+self-appointed guardians, the two holy men.  Kathlyn felt a desire to
+explore this wonderful temple.  She discovered what must have been the
+inner shrine.  The chamber was filled with idols; here and there a bit
+of gold leaf, centuries old, glistened upon the bronze, the clay, the
+wood.  The caste mark on the largest idol's head was a polished ruby,
+overlooked doubtless during the loot.  She swept the dust from the
+jewel with the tip of her finger, and the dull fire sent a shiver of
+delight over her.  She was still a woman.
+
+As she wandered farther in her foot touched something and she looked
+down.  It was a bone; in fact, the floor was strewn with bones.  She
+quickly discerned, much to her relief, that none of these bones was
+human.  This was, or had been, the den of the lion.  There was an acrid
+unpleasant odor, so she hurried back to the brazier.  Vaguely she
+comprehended that she must keep the fire replenished from time to time
+in order to pacify the two holy men.  At night it would fend off any
+approach of the lion.
+
+Where was Bruce?  Would he ever find her?  That philosophy which she
+had inherited from her father, that quiet acceptance of the inevitable,
+was the one thing which carried her through her trials sanely.  An
+ordinary woman would have died from mere exhaustion.
+
+Bruce, indeed!  At that very moment he was rushing out of the Kumor's
+presence, wild to be off toward the road to Allaha, since Kathlyn had
+not been seen upon it.  He found where Rajah had veered off into the
+jungle again, and followed the trail tirelessly.  But it was to be his
+misfortune always to arrive too late.
+
+To Kathlyn the day passed with nothing more than the curiosity of the
+natives to disturb her.  They brought her cotton blankets which she
+arranged in the sarcophagus.  There were worse beds in the world than
+this; at least it shielded her from the bitter night wind.
+
+She ate again at sundown and builded high the sacred fire and tried to
+plan some manner of escape; for she did not propose to be a
+demi-goddess any longer than was necessary.  From Pundita she had
+learned many words and a few phrases in Hindustani, and she ventured to
+speak them to the holy men, who seemed quite delighted.  They could
+understand her, but she on her part could make little or nothing of
+their jabbering.  Nevertheless, she pretended.
+
+Finally the holy men departed, after having indicated the sacred fire
+and the wood beside it.  This fire pleased Kathlyn mightily.  While it
+burned brightly the lion would not prowl in her immediate vicinity.
+She wondered where this huge cat had come from, since she knew her
+natural history well enough to know that African lions did not inhabit
+this part of the globe.  Doubtless it had escaped from some private
+menagerie.
+
+The fire, then, giving her confidence, she did not get into the
+sarcophagus, but wandered about, building in her fancy the temple as it
+had stood in its prime.  The ceilings had been magnificently carved, no
+two subjects alike; and the walls were of marble and jasper and
+porphyry.  A magic continent this Asia in its heyday.  When her
+forefathers had been rude barbarians, sailing the north seas or
+sacrificing in Druidical rites, there had been art and culture here
+such as has never been surpassed.  India, of splendid pageants, of
+brave warriors and gallant kings!  Alas, how the mighty had fallen!
+About her, penury, meanness, hypocrisy, uncleanliness, thievery and
+unbridled passions. . . .  What was that?  Her heart missed a beat.
+That pad-pad; that sniffling noise!
+
+She whirled about, knocking over an idol.  It came down with a crash
+and, being of clay, lay in shards at her feet.  (Unfortunately it was
+the holy of holies in this temple.)  How she gained the shelter of the
+sarcophagus she never knew, but gain it she did, and cowered down
+within.  She could hear the beast trotting round and round, sniffling
+and rumbling in his throat.  Then the roaring of the preceding night
+was repeated.  The old fellow evidently could not find those other
+lions who roared back at him so valiantly.  Evidently fire had no
+terrors for him.  For an hour or more he patrolled the portico, and all
+this time Kathlyn did not stir, hardly daring to breathe for fear he
+might undertake to peer into the sarcophagus.
+
+Silence.  A low roar from the inner shrine told her that for the
+present she was safe.  To-morrow she must fly, whither did not matter.
+Toward four o'clock she fell into a doze and was finally awakened by
+the sound of voices raised in anger.
+
+Poor sheep!  They had discovered the shattered idol.  It did not matter
+at all that the return of their ancient goddess was to bring back
+prosperity.  She had broken their favorite idol.  Damnation would come
+in a devil's wind that night.
+
+The holy man who had missed the chance of claiming the miraculous
+appearance of Kathlyn as a work of his own now saw an opportunity to
+rehabilitate himself in the eyes of those who had made his holiness a
+comfortable existence.  With a piece of the idol in his hand, he roused
+Kathlyn and shook the clay before her face, jabbering violently.
+Kathlyn understood readily enough.  She had unwittingly committed a
+sacrilege.
+
+The natives gathered about and menaced her.  Kathlyn rose, standing in
+the sarcophagus, and extended her hands for silence.  She was
+frightened, but it would never do to let them see it.  What Hindustani
+she knew would in this case be of no manner of use.  But we human
+beings can, by facial expression and gesture, make known our messages
+with understandable clearness.  From her gestures, then, the holy men
+gathered that she could recreate the god.  She pointed toward the sun
+and counted on her fingers.
+
+The premier holy man, satisfied that he understood Kathlyn's gestures,
+turned to the justly angered villagers and explained that with his aid
+their priestess would, in five suns, recreate Vishnu in all his beauty.
+Instantly the villagers prostrated themselves.
+
+"Poor things!" murmured Kathlyn.
+
+The holy men sent the natives away, for it was not meet that they
+should witness magic in the making.  They then squatted in the clay
+court and curiously waited for her to begin.  There was a well in the
+inner shrine.  To this she went with caution.  The lion was evidently
+foraging in the jungle.  Kathlyn filled the copper vessel with water
+and returned.  Next, she gathered up what pieces of the idol she could
+find and pieced them together.  Here was her model.  She then
+approached one of the fakirs and signified that she had need of his
+knife.  He demurred at first, but at length consented to part with it.
+She dug up a square piece of clay.  In fine, she felt more like the
+Kathlyn of old than she had since completing the leopard in her outdoor
+studio.  It occupied her thoughts, at least part of them, for she
+realized that mayhap her life depended upon her skill in reproducing
+the hideous idol.
+
+As the two old hypocrites saw the clay take form and shape and the
+mocking face gradually appear, they were assured that Kathlyn was
+indeed the ancient priestess; and deep down in their souls they
+experienced something of the awe they had often inspired in the poor
+trusting ryot.
+
+Kathlyn had talent bordering on genius.  The idol was an exact replica
+of the original one; more, there was a subtle beauty now where before
+there had been a frank repulsiveness.  It satisfied the holy men, and
+the unveiling was greeted by the villagers with such joy that Kathlyn
+forgave them and could have wept over them.  She had made a god for
+them, and they fell down and worshiped it.
+
+Five more days passed.  On the afternoon of the fifth day Kathlyn was
+feeding the fire.  The holy men sat in the court at their devotions,
+which consisted in merely remaining motionless.  Kathlyn returned from
+the fire to see them rise and flee in terror.  She in turn fled, for
+the lion stood between her and the sarcophagus!  The lion paused,
+lashing his tail.  The many recent commotions within and without the
+temple had finally roused his ire.  He hesitated between the holy men
+and Kathlyn, and finally concluded that she in the fluttering robes
+would be the most desirable.
+
+There was no particular hurry; besides, he was not hungry.  The cat in
+him wanted to play.  He loped after Kathlyn easily.  At any time he
+chose a few swift bounds would bring him to her side.
+
+Beyond the temple lay the same stream by which, miles away, Kathlyn had
+seen the funeral pyre and about which she had so weird a fantasy.  If
+this stream was deep there was a chance for life.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+QUICKSANDS
+
+When Kathlyn came to the river she swerved toward the broadest part of
+it.  Twice she stumbled over boulders, but rose pluckily and, bruised
+and breathless, plunged into the water.  It was swift running and
+shoulder deep, and she was forced to swim strongly to gain the opposite
+shore.  She dragged herself up to the bank and, once there, looked
+back.  What she saw rather astonished her.  She could not solve the
+riddle at first.  The lion seemed to be struggling with some invisible
+opponent.  He stood knee deep in the sands, tugging and pulling.  He
+began to roar.  Even as Kathlyn gazed she saw his chest touch the sand
+and his swelling flanks sink lower.  Fascinated, she could not withdraw
+her gaze.  How his mighty shoulders heaved and pulled!  But down, down,
+lower and lower, till nothing but the great maned head remained in
+view.  Then that was drawn down; the sand filled the animal's mouth and
+stopped his roaring; lower, lower . . .
+
+Quicksands!  The spot where he had disappeared stirred and glistened
+and shuddered, and then the eternal blankness of sand.
+
+She was not, then, to die?  Should she return to the temple?  Would
+they not demand of her the restoration of the lion?  She must go on,
+whither she knew not.  She regretted the peace of the temple in the
+daytime.  She could see the dome from where she stood.  Like Ishmael,
+she must go on, forever and forever on.  Was God watching over her?
+Was it His hand which stayed the onslaught of the beast and defeated
+the baser schemes of men?  Was there to be a haven at the end?  She
+smiled wanly.  What more was to beset her path she knew not, nor cared
+just then, since there was to be a haven at the end.
+
+Perhaps prescience brought to her mind's eye a picture; she saw her
+father, and Bruce, and Winnie, and her sweetheart, and they seemed to
+be toasting her from the end of a long table, under the blue California
+sky.  This vision renewed her strength.  She proceeded onward.
+
+She must have followed the river at least a mile when she espied a raft
+moored to a clump of trees.  Here she saw a way of saving her weary
+limbs many a rugged mile.  She forded the stream, freed the raft, and
+poled out into the middle of the stream.
+
+It happened that the Mohammedan hunters who owned the raft were at this
+moment swinging along toward the temple.  On the shoulders of two
+rested a pole from which dangled the lifeless body of a newly killed
+leopard.  They were bringing it in as a gift to the head man of the
+village, who was a thoroughgoing Mohammedan, and who held in contempt
+Hinduism and all its amazing ramifications.
+
+The white priestess was indeed a puzzle; for, while the handful of
+Mohammedans in the village were fanatical in their belief in the true
+prophet and his Koran, and put little faith in miracles and still less
+in holy men who performed them, the advent of the white priestess
+deeply mystified them.  There was no getting around this: she was
+there; with their own eyes they saw her.  There might be something in
+Hinduism after all.
+
+When the hunters arrived at the portico of the temple they found two
+greatly terrified holy men, shrilling their "Ai!  Ai!" in lamentation
+and beating their foreheads against the earth.
+
+"Holy men, what is wrong?" asked one of the hunters, respectfully.
+
+"The lion has killed our priestess; the sacred fires must die again!
+Ai!  Ai!"
+
+"Where is the lion?"
+
+"They fled toward the river, and there he has doubtless destroyed her,
+for in evil, Siva, represented by the lion, is more powerful than
+Vishnu, reincarnated in our priestess.  Ai!  Ai!  She is dead and we
+are undone!"
+
+"Come!" said the chief huntsman.  "Let us run to the river and see what
+these queer gods are doing.  We'll present the skin of Siva to our
+master!"  He laughed.
+
+The leopard carriers deposited their burden and all started off at a
+dog-trot.  They had always been eager regarding this lion.  In the
+temple he was inviolable; but at large, that was a different matter.
+
+Arriving at the river brink, they saw the foot-prints of the lion on
+the wet sand which ran down to the water.  To leap from this spot to
+the water was not possible for any beast of the jungle.  Yet the lion
+had vanished completely, as though he had been given wings.  They stood
+about in awe till one of the older hunters knelt, reached out, and dug
+his hand into the innocent looking sand.  Instantly he leaped to his
+feet and jumped back.
+
+"The sucking sand!" he cried.  "To the raft!"
+
+They skirted the dangerous quicksands and dashed along the banks to
+discover that their raft was gone.  Vishnu, then, as reincarnated,
+required solid transportation, after the manner of human beings?  They
+became angry.  A raft was a raft, substantial, necessary; and there was
+no reason why a god who had ten thousand temples for his own should
+stoop to rob a poor man of his wherewithal to travel in safety.
+
+"The mugger!" exclaimed one, "let the high priestess beware of the
+mugger, for he is strong enough to tip over the raft!"
+
+Nearly every village which lies close to a stream has its family
+crocodile.  He is very sacred and thrives comfortably upon suicides and
+the dead, which are often cast into the river to be purified.  The
+Hindus are a suicidal race; the reverse of the occidental conception,
+suicide is a quick and glorious route to Heaven.
+
+The current of the stream carried Kathlyn along at a fair pace; all she
+had to do was to pole away from the numerous sand-bars and such
+boulders as lifted their rugged heads above the water.
+
+Round a bend the river widened and grew correspondingly sluggish.  She
+sounded with her pole.  Something hideous beyond words arose--a fat,
+aged, crafty crocodile.  His corrugated snout was thrust quickly over
+the edge of the raft.  She struck at him wildly with the pole, and in a
+fury he rushed the raft, upsetting Kathlyn.
+
+The crocodile sank and for a moment lost sight of Kathlyn, who waded
+frantically to the bank, up which she scrambled.  She turned in time to
+see the crocodile's tearful [Transcriber's note: fearful?] eyes staring
+up at her from the water's edge.  He presently slid back into his slimy
+bed; a few yellow bubbles, and he was gone.
+
+Kathlyn's heart became suddenly and unaccountably swollen with rage;
+she became primordial; she wanted to hurt, maim, kill.  Childishly she
+stooped and picked up heavy stones which she hurled into the water.
+The instinct to live flamed so strongly in her that the crust of
+civilization fell away like mist before the sun, and for a long time
+the pure savage (which lies dormant in us all) ruled her.  She would
+live, live, live; she would live to forget this oriental inferno
+through which she was passing.
+
+She ran toward the jungle, all unconscious of the stone she still held
+in her hand.  She lost all sense of time and compass; and so ran in a
+half circle, coming out at the river again.
+
+The Indian twilight was rising in the east when she found herself again
+looking out upon the water, the stone still clutched tightly.  She
+gazed at the river, then at the stone, and again at the river.  The
+stone dropped with a thud at her feet.  The savage in her had not
+abated in the least; only her body was terribly worn and wearied and
+the robe, muddied and torn, enveloped her like a veil of ice.  Above
+her the lonely yellow sky; below her the sickly river; all about her
+silence which held a thousand menaces.  Which way should she go?  Where
+could she possibly find shelter for the night?
+
+The chill roused her finally and she swung her arms to renew the
+circulation.  Near by she saw a tree, in the crotch of which reposed a
+platform, and upon this platform sat a shrine.  A few withered flowers
+hung about the gross neck of the idol, and withered flowers lay
+scattered at the base of the tree.  There was also a bundle of dry
+rushes which some devotee had forgotten.  At least, yonder platform
+would afford safety through the night.  So, with the last bit of
+strength at her command, she gathered up the rushes and climbed to the
+platform, arranging her bed behind the idol.  She covered her shoulders
+with the rushes and drew her knees up to her chin.  She had forgotten
+her father, Bruce, the happy days in a far country; she had but a
+single thought, to sleep.  What the want of sleep could not perform
+exhaustion could; and presently she lay still.
+
+Thus, she neither saw nor heard the pious pilgrims who were on their
+way to Allaha to pray in that temple known to offer protection against
+wild beasts.  Fortunately, they did not observe her.
+
+The pilgrim is always a pilgrim in India; it becomes, one might say, a
+fascinating kind of sport.  To most of them, short pilgrimages are as
+tame as rabbits would be to the hunter of lions.  They will walk from
+Bombay to Benares, from Madras to Llassa, begging and bragging all the
+way.  Eventually they become semi-holy, distinguished citizens in a
+clutter of mud huts.
+
+They deposited some corn and fruit at the foot of the tree and
+departed, leaving Kathlyn in peace.  But later, when the moon poured
+its white, cold radiance over her face it awakened her, and it took her
+some time to realize where she was.
+
+Below, belly deep in the river, stood several water buffaloes, their
+sweeping horns glistening like old ivory in the moonshine.  Presently a
+leopard stole down to the brink and lapped the water greedily, from
+time to time throwing a hasty, apprehensive glance over his sleek
+shoulders.  The buffaloes never stirred; where they were it was safe.
+Across the river a bulky shadow moved into the light, and a fat, brown
+bear took his tithe of the water.  The leopard snarled and slunk off.
+The bear washed his face, possibly sticky with purloined wild honey,
+and betook himself back to his lair.
+
+Kathlyn suddenly became aware of the fact that she was a spectator to a
+scene such as few human beings are permitted to see: truce water, where
+the wild beasts do not kill one another.  She grew so interested that
+she forgot her own plight.  The tree stood only a few feet from the
+water, so she saw everything distinctly.
+
+Later, when his majesty the tiger made his appearance dramatically, the
+buffaloes simply moved closer together, presenting a formidable
+frontage of horns.
+
+Never had Kathlyn seen such an enormous beast.  From his great padded
+paws to his sloping shoulders he stood easily four feet in height, and
+his stripes were almost as broad as her hand.  He drank, doubtless
+eying the buffaloes speculatively; some other time.  Then he, too, sat
+on his haunches and washed his face, but with infinite gracefulness.
+It occurred to the watcher that, familiar as she was with the habits of
+wild beasts, never had she witnessed a tiger or a lion enact this
+domestic scene.  Either they were always pacing their cages, gazing far
+over the heads of those who watched them, or they slept.  Even when
+they finished a meal of raw meat they merely licked their chops; there
+was no toilet.
+
+Here, however, was an elaborate toilet.  The great cat licked his paws,
+drew them across his face; then licked his beautiful sides, purring;
+for the night was so still and the beast was so near that she could see
+him quite plainly.  He stretched himself, took another drink, and
+trotted off to the jungle.
+
+Then came a herd of elephants, for each species seemed to have an
+appointed time.  The buffaloes emerged and filed away into the dark.
+The elephants plunged into the water, squealing, making sport,
+squirting water over their backs, and rolling, head under; and they
+buffeted one another amiably, and there was a baby who seemed to get in
+everybody's way and the grown-ups treated him shabbily.  By and by
+they, too, trooped off.  Then came wild pigs and furtive antelopes and
+foolish, chattering apes.
+
+At last the truce water became deserted and Kathlyn lay down again,
+only to be surprised by a huge ape who stuck his head up over the edge
+of the platform.  The surprise was mutual.  Kathlyn pushed the idol
+toward him.  The splash of it in the water scared off the unwelcome
+guest, and then Kathlyn lay down and slept.
+
+A day or so later Bruce arrived at the temple.  Day after day he had
+hung to the trail, picking it up here and losing it there.  He found
+Rajah, the elephant, the howdah gone, and only the ornamental headpiece
+discovered to Bruce that he had found his rogue.  Rajah was docile
+enough; he had been domesticated so long that his freedom rather irked
+him.
+
+Bruce elicited from the mourning holy men the amazing adventure in all
+its details.  Kathlyn had disappeared in the jungle and not even the
+tried hunters could find her.  She was lost.  Bruce, though in his
+heart of hearts he believed her dead, took up the trail again.  But
+many weary weeks were to pass ere he learned that she lived.
+
+He shook his fist toward Allaha.  "Oh, Durga Ram, one of these fine
+days you and I shall square accounts!"
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Kathlyn had just completed herself a dress of grass.  Three years
+before she had learned the trick from the natives in Hawaii.  The many
+days of hardship had made her thinner, but never had she been so hardy,
+so clear eyed, so quick and lithe in her actions.  She had lived
+precariously, stealing her food at dusk from the tents of the ryots;
+raw vegetables, plantains, mangoes.  Sometimes she recited verses in
+order that she might break the oppressive silence which always
+surrounded her.
+
+She kept carefully out of the way of all human beings, so she had lost
+all hope of succor from the brown people, who had become so hateful to
+her as the scavengers of the jungle.  There was something to admire in
+the tiger, the leopard, the wild elephant; but she placed all natives
+(perhaps wrongly) in a class with the unclean jackals and hyenas.
+
+Tanned deeply by wind and sun, Kathlyn was darker than many a native
+woman.  Often she thought of Bruce, but hope of his finding her had
+long since died within her.  Every night when she climbed to her
+platform she vowed she would start south the next morning; south,
+toward the land where there were white people; but each morning found
+her hesitant.
+
+Behind her tree there was a clearing, then a jumble of thickly growing
+trees; beyond those was another clearing, upon which stood a deserted
+elephant stockade.  The grass had grown rank in it for want of use.
+She was in the act of putting on grass sandals when she saw, to her
+dismay, the approach of men and elephants.  Two elephants were ridden
+by mahouts.  Two other elephants were being jostled toward the
+stockade, evidently new captives.  They proceeded passively, however,
+for elephants submit to captivity with less real trouble than any other
+wild beast.  Kathlyn crouched low in the grass and waited till the men
+and elephants entered the stockade; then she ran quickly toward her
+haven, the platform in the tree.  She never went very far from this,
+save in search of food.  She had also recovered the idol and set it
+back in its place.  It was not, fortunately, a much frequented spot.
+It was for the benefit of the occasional pilgrim, the ryots having
+shrines more conveniently situated.
+
+She nestled down among her rushes and waited.  She could not see the
+stockade from where she now was, but she could hear shouts from the
+mahouts.
+
+Recently she had discovered a leopard's lair near the stockade and was
+very careful to avoid it, much as she wanted to seize the pretty cubs
+and run away with them.  By this time she knew the habits, fears, and
+hatreds of these people of the jungle, and she scrupulously attended
+her affairs as they attended theirs.  Sometimes the great striped tiger
+prowled about the base of the tree, sharpened his claws on the bark,
+but he never attempted to ascend to the platform.  Perhaps he realized
+the uselessness of investigation, since the platform made it impossible
+for him to see what was up there.  But always now, to and from the
+truce water, he paused, looked up, circled the tree, and went away
+mystified.
+
+Only the grass eating beasts came down to water that night, and Kathlyn
+understood by this that the men and the elephants were still in the
+stockade.
+
+The following morning she went down to the stream to bathe; at the same
+time the parent leopards came for drink.  They had not cared to seek
+their lair during the night on account of the fires; and, worrying over
+their cubs, they were not in the most agreeable mood.
+
+Kathlyn saw their approach in time to reach her platform.  They snarled
+about the tree, and the male climbed up as far as the platform.
+Kathlyn reached over with a stout club and clouted the brute on his
+tender nose.
+
+A shot broke the silence and a bullet spat angrily against the tree
+trunk.  Two cats fled.  Immediately there came a squealing and
+trumpeting from the stockade.
+
+This is what had happened: The chief mahout had discovered the cubs and
+had taken them into the stockade just as another hunter had espied the
+parent leopards.  The rifle shot had frightened one of the wild
+elephants.  With a mighty plunge he had broken the chain which held him
+prisoner to the decoy elephant and pushed through the rotten stockade,
+heading straight for the river.
+
+Kathlyn saw his bulk as it crashed straight through the brush.  He
+shuffled directly toward her tree.  The ground about was of clay,
+merging into sand as it sloped toward the river.  The frantic runaway
+slipped, crushed against the tree trunk, recovered himself, and went
+splashing into the water.
+
+Kathlyn was flung headlong and only the water saved her from severe
+bodily harm.  When she recovered her senses she was surrounded by a
+group of very much astonished Mohammedans.
+
+They jabbered and gesticulated to one another and she was conducted to
+the stockade.  She understood but two words--"Allaha" and "slave."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE SLAVE MART
+
+Having decided upon the fate of Kathlyn, the natives set about
+recapturing the wild elephant.  It took the best part of the morning.
+When this was accomplished the journey to Allaha was begun.  But for
+the days of peace and quiet of the wilderness and the consequent
+hardness of her flesh, Kathlyn would have suffered greatly.  Half the
+time she was compelled to walk.  There was no howdah, and it was a
+difficult feat to sit back of the mahout.  The rough skin of the
+elephant had the same effect upon the calves of her legs that sandpaper
+would have had.  Sometimes she stumbled and fell, and was rudely jerked
+to her feet.  Only the day before they arrived was she relieved in any
+way: she was given a litter, and in this manner she entered the hateful
+city.
+
+In giving her the litter the chief mahout had been inspired by no
+expressions of pity; simply they desired her to appear fresh and
+attractive when they carried her into the slave mart.
+
+In fitful dreams all that had happened came back to her--the story her
+father had told about saving the old king's life, and the grim,
+ironical gratitude in making Colonel Hare his heir--as if such things
+could be!  And then her own journey to Allaha; the nightmarish durbar,
+during which she had been crowned; the escape from the ordeals with
+John Bruce; the terrors of the temple of the sun; the flight from there
+. . .  John Bruce!  She could still see the fire in his eyes; she could
+still feel the touch of his gentle yet tireless hand.  Would she ever
+see him again?
+
+On the way to the mart they passed under the shadow of the grim prison
+walls of the palace.  The elephants veered off here into a side street,
+toward the huge square where horses and cattle and elephants were
+bought and sold.  The litter, in charge of the chief mahout, proceeded
+to the slave mart.  Kathlyn glanced at the wall, wondering.  Was her
+father alive?  Was he in some bleak cell behind that crumbling masonry?
+Did he know that she was here?  Or was he really dead?  Ah, perhaps it
+were better that death should have taken him--better that than having
+his living heart wrung by the tale of his daughter's unspeakable
+miseries.
+
+Even as she sent a last lingering look at the prison the prisoner
+within, his head buried in his thin wasted hands, beheld her in a
+vision--but in a happy, joyous vision, busying about the living room of
+the bungalow.
+
+And far away a younger man beheld a vision as very tenderly he gazed at
+Kathlyn's discarded robe and resumed his determined quest.  Often,
+standing beside his evening fires, he would ask the silence, "Kathlyn,
+where are you?"  Even then he was riding fast toward Allaha.
+
+A slave mart is a rare thing these days, but at the time these scenes
+were being enacted there existed many of them here and there across the
+face of the globe.  Men buy and sell men and women these
+times--enlightened, so they say--but they do it by legal contract or
+from vile hiding places.
+
+Allaha had been a famous mart in its prime.  It had drawn the agents of
+princes from all over India.  Persia, Beloochistan, Afghanistan, and
+even southern Russia had been rifled of their beauties to adorn the
+zenanas of the slothful Hindu princes.
+
+The slave mart in the capital town of Allaha stood in the center of the
+bazaars, a great square platform with a roof, but open on all four
+sides.  Here the slaves were exhibited, the poor things intended for
+dalliance and those who were to struggle and sweat and die under the
+overseer's lash.
+
+Every fortnight a day was set aside for the business of the mart.
+Owners and prospective buyers met, chewed betel-nut, smoked their
+hookas, sipped coffee and tea, and exchanged the tattle of the hour.
+It was as much an amusement as a business; indeed, it was the oriental
+idea of a club, and much the same things were discussed.  Thus, Appaji
+bought a beautiful girl at the last barter and Roya found a male who
+was a good juggler, and only night before last they had traded.  The
+bazaars were not what they used to be.  Dewan Ali had sold his wife to
+a Punjab opium merchant.  Aunut Singh's daughter had run away with the
+son of a bheestee.  All white people ate pig.  And no one read the
+slokas, or moral, stanzas, any more.  Yes, the English would come some
+day, when there would be enough money to warrant it.
+
+All about there were barkers, and fruit sellers, and bangle wallas (for
+slave girls should have rings of rupee silver about their ankles and
+wrists), and solemn Brahmins, and men who painted red and ocher caste
+marks on one's forehead, and ash covered fakirs with withered hands,
+Nautch girls, girls from the bazaars, peripatetic jewelers, kites, and
+red-headed vultures--this being a proper place for them.
+
+The chief mahout purchased for Kathlyn a beautiful saree, or veil,
+which partially concealed her face and hair.
+
+"Chalu!" he said, touching Kathlyn's shoulder, whenever she lagged, for
+they had dispensed with the litter, "Go on!"
+
+She understood.  Outwardly she appeared passive enough, but her soul
+was on fire and her eyes as brilliant as those of the circling,
+whooping kites, watching that moment which was to offer some loophole.
+On through the noisy bazaars, the object of many a curious remark,
+sometimes insulted by the painted women at the windows, sometimes
+jested at by the idlers around the merchants' booths.  Vaguely she
+wondered if some one of her ancestors had not been terribly wicked and
+that she was paying the penalty.
+
+It seemed to her, however, that a film of steel had grown over her
+nerves; nothing startled her; she sensed only the watchfulness she had
+often noted in the captives at the farm.
+
+At length they came out into the busy mart.  The old mahout
+congratulated himself upon the docility of his find.  It would stiffen
+the bidding to announce that she was gentle.  He even went so far as to
+pat her on the shoulder.  The steel film did not cover all her nerves,
+so it would seem; the patted shoulder was vulnerable.  She winced, for
+she read clearly enough what was in the mind back of that touch.
+
+She had made her plans.  To the man who purchased her she would assume
+a meekness of spirit in order to lull his watchfulness.  To the man who
+purchased her . . .  Kathlyn Hare!  She laughed.  The old man behind
+her nodded approvingly, hearing the sound but not sensing its import.
+Ah, when the moment came, when the fool who bought her started to lead
+her home, she would beguile him and at the first sign of carelessness
+she would trust to her heels.  She knew that she was going to run as
+never a woman ran before; back to the beasts of the jungle, who at
+least made no effort to molest her so long as she kept out of their way.
+
+Wild and beautiful she was as the old mahout turned her over to a
+professional seller.
+
+"Circassian!"
+
+"From the north!"
+
+"A bride from the desert!"
+
+"A yellow-hair!"
+
+"A daughter of the north seas!"
+
+The old mahout squatted close by and rubbed his hands.  He would be a
+rich man that night; bags of rupees; a well thatched house to cover his
+gray hairs till that day they placed him on the pyre at the burning
+ghat.  The gods were good.
+
+Durga Ram, known familiarly as Umballa, at this hour came forth into
+the sunshine, brooding.  He was not in a happy frame of mind.  Many
+things lay heavy upon his soul; but among these things there was not
+one named remorse.  To have brought about all these failures this
+thought irked him most.  Here was a crown almost within reach of his
+greedy fingers, the water to Tantalus.  To have underestimated this
+yellow haired young woman, he who knew women so well--there lay the
+bitter sting.  He had been too impetuous; he should have waited till
+all her fears had been allayed.  That spawn of Siva, the military, was
+insolent again, and rupees to cross their palms were scarce.  Whither
+had she blown?  Was she dead?  Was she alive?
+
+The white hunter had not returned to his camp yet, but the sly Ahmed
+was there.  The perpetual gloom on the face of the latter was
+reassuring to Umballa.  Ahmed's master had not found her.  To wring the
+white man's heart was something.  He dared not put him out of the way;
+too many knew.
+
+And the council was beginning to grow uneasy.  How long could he hold
+them in leash?
+
+What a woman!  As magnificent as the daughter of Firoz, shah of Delhi.
+Fear she knew not.  At one moment he loved her with his whole soul, at
+another he hated her, longed to get her into his hands again, to wreak
+his vengeance upon her for the humiliation she had by wit and courage
+heaped upon him.  "I am ready!"  He could hear it yet.  When they had
+led her away to the ordeals--"I am ready!"  A woman, and not afraid to
+die!
+
+Money!  How to get it!  He could not plunge his hand into the treasury;
+there were too many about, too many tongues.  But Colonel Hare knew
+where the silver basket lay hidden, heaped with gold and precious
+stones; and torture could not wring the hiding-place from him.  May he
+be damned to the nethermost hell!  Let him, Durga Ram, but bury his
+lean hands in that treasure, and Daraka swallow Allaha and all its
+kings!  Rubies and pearls and emeralds, and a far country to idle in,
+to be feted in, to be fawned upon for his riches!
+
+And Ramabai and his wife, Pundita, let them beware; let them remain
+wisely in their house and meddle not with affairs of state.
+
+"A thousand rupees!"
+
+Umballa looked up with a start.  Unconsciously he had wandered into the
+slave mart.  He shrugged and would have passed on but for the strange,
+unusual figure standing on the platform.  A golden haired woman with
+neck and arms like Chinese bronze and dressed in a skirt of grass!  He
+paused.
+
+"Two thousand rupees!"
+
+"What!" jeered the professional seller.  "For an houri from paradise?
+O ye of weak hearts, what is this I hear?  Two thousand rupees?--for an
+houri fit to dwell in the zenana of heaven!"
+
+A keen-eyed Mohammedan edged closer to the platform.  He stared and
+sucked in his breath.  He found himself pulled two ways.  He had no
+money, but he had knowledge.
+
+"Who sells this maiden?" he asked.
+
+"Mohammed Ghori."
+
+"Which is he?"
+
+"He squats there."
+
+The Mohammedan stopped and touched the old mahout on the shoulder.
+
+"Call off this sale, and my master will make you rich."
+
+The old sinner gingerly felt of the speaker's cotton garb.  "Ah!  'My
+master' must be rich to dress thee in cotton.  Where is your gold?
+Bid," satirically.
+
+"Two thousand rupees!" shouted the professional seller.
+
+"I have no gold, but my master will give 10,000 rupees for yonder maid.
+Quick!  Old fool, be quick!"
+
+"Begone, thou beggar!"
+
+And the old man spat.
+
+"Mem-sahib," the Mohammedan called out in English, "do not look toward
+me, or all will be lost.  I am Ali, Bruce Sahib's chief mahout; and we
+have believed you dead!  Take care!  I go to inform Ahmed.  Bruce Sahib
+has not returned."
+
+Kathlyn, when she heard that voice, shut her eyes.
+
+Umballa had drawn closer.  There was something about this half veiled
+slave that stirred his recollection.  Where had he seen that graceful
+poise?  The clearness of the skin, though dark; the roundness of the
+throat and arms. . . .
+
+"Three thousand rupees!"
+
+The old mahout purred and smoothed his palms together.  Three thousand
+rupees, a rajah's ransom!  He would own his elephant; his wife should
+ride in a gilded palanquin, and his children should wear shoes.  Three
+thousand rupees!  He folded his arms and walked gently to and fro.
+
+"Five thousand rupees!" said Umballa, impelled by he knew not what to
+make this bid.
+
+A ripple of surprise ran over the crowd.  The regent, the powerful
+Durga Ram, was bidding in person for his zenana.
+
+Kathlyn's nerves tingled with life again, and the sudden bounding of
+her heart stifled her.  Umballa!  She was surely lost.  Sooner or later
+he would recognize her.
+
+The mahout stood up, delighted.  He was indeed fortunate.  He salaamed.
+
+"Huzoor, she is gentle," he said.
+
+The high-caste who had bid 3,000 rupees salaamed also.
+
+"Highness, she is yours," he said.  "I can not bid against my regent."
+
+It was the custom to mark a purchased slave with the caste of her
+purchaser.  Umballa, still not recognizing her, waved her aside toward
+the Brahmin caste markers, one of whom daubed her forehead with a
+yellow triangle.  Her blue eyes pierced the curious brown ones.
+
+"The sahib at the river," she whispered in broken Hindustani.  "Many
+rupees.  Bring him to the house of Durga Ram."  This in case Ali failed.
+
+The Brahmin's eyes twinkled.  Her Hindustani was execrable, but "sahib"
+and "river" were plain to his understanding.  There was but one sahib
+by the river, and he was the white hunter who had rescued the vanished
+queen from the ordeals.  He nodded almost imperceptibly.  Inwardly he
+smiled.  He was not above giving the haughty upstart a Thuggee's twist.
+He spoke to his neighbor quietly, assigned to him his bowls and
+brushes, rose, and made off.
+
+"Follow me," said Umballa to the happy mahout.  Presently he would have
+his bags of silver, bright and twinkling.
+
+Fate overtook Ali, who in his mad race to Hare's camp fell and badly
+sprained his ankle.  Moaning, less from the pain than from the
+attendant helplessness, he was carried into the hut of a kindly ryot
+and there ministered to.
+
+The Brahmin, however, filled with greed and a sly humor, reached his
+destination in safety.  Naturally cunning, double tongued, sly,
+ingratiating, after the manner of all Brahmins, who will sink to any
+base level in order to attain their equivocal ends his actions were
+unhampered by any sense of treachery toward Umballa.  A Thuggee's twist
+to the schemes of the street rat Umballa, who wore the Brahmin string,
+to which he had no right!  The Brahmin chuckled as he paused at the
+edge of Bruce's camp.  A fat purse lay yonder.  He approached, his
+outward demeanor a mixture of pride and humility.
+
+Bruce had returned but half an hour before, mind weary, bone tired.  He
+sat with his head in his hands, his elbows propped upon his knees.  His
+young heart was heavy.  He had searched the bewildering jungle as one
+might search a plot of grass before one's door, blade by blade.  A
+hundred times he had found traces of her; a hundred times he had called
+out her name, only to be mocked and gibbered at by apes.  She had
+vanished like a perfume, like a cloud shadow in the wind.
+
+His soul was bitter; for he had built many dreams, and always this fair
+haired girl had ridden upon them.  So straight she stood, so calm in
+the eyes, mannered with that gentleness, known of the brave. . . .
+Gone, and skilled as he was in jungle lore, he could not find her.
+
+"Sahib, a Brahmin desires audience."
+
+"Ask him what he wants."
+
+"It is for the sahib's ear alone."
+
+"Ah!  Bring him to me quickly."
+
+The Brahmin approached, salaamed.
+
+"What do you wish?" Bruce asked curtly.
+
+"A thousand rupees, Huzoor!" blandly.
+
+"And what have you that is worth that many rupees?" irritably.
+
+The Brahmin salaamed again.  "Huzoor, a slave this day was purchased by
+Durga Ram, Umballa, so-called.  She has skin the color of old tusks,
+and eyes like turquoise, and lips like the flame of the jungle, and
+hair like the sands of Ganges, mother of rivers."
+
+Bruce was upon his feet, alive, eager.  He caught the Brahmin by the
+arm.
+
+"Is this woman white?" harshly.
+
+"Huzoor, the women of Allaha are always dark of hair."
+
+"And was sold as a slave?"
+
+"To Durga Ram, the king without a crown, Huzoor.  It is worth a
+thousand rupees," smiling.
+
+"Tell me," said Bruce, stilling the tremor in his voice, "tell me, did
+she follow him without a struggle?"
+
+"Yes.  But would a struggle have done any good?"
+
+Bruce took out his wallet and counted out a thousand rupees in Bank of
+India notes.  "Now, listen.  Umballa must not know that I know.  On
+your head, remember."
+
+"Huzzor, the word of a Brahmin."
+
+"Ah, yes; but I have lived long here.  Where is Ali?" cried Bruce,
+turning to one of his men.
+
+"He went into the city this morning, Sahib, and has not returned."
+
+"Come," said Bruce to the waiting Brahmin, "We'll return together."  He
+now felt no excitement at all; it was as if he had been immersed in ice
+water.  It was Kathlyn, not the least doubt of it, bought and sold in
+the slave mart.  Misery, degradation . . . then he smiled.  He knew
+Kathlyn Hare.  If he did not come to her aid quickly she would be dead.
+
+Now, when Umballa took her into his house, Kathlyn was determined to
+reveal her identity.  She had passed through the ordeals; she was, in
+law, a queen, with life and death in her hands.
+
+"Do not touch me!" she cried slowly in English.
+
+Umballa stepped back.
+
+"I am Kathlyn Hare, and if all the world is not made up of lies and
+wickedness, I am the queen you yourself made.  I can speak a few words,
+enough to make myself known to the populace.  I will make a bargain
+with you.  I will give you five times five thousand rupees if you will
+deliver me safely in Peshawer.  On my part, I promise to say nothing,
+nothing."
+
+Umballa raised both his hands in astonishment.  He knew now why that
+form had stirred his recollection.
+
+"You!"  He laughed and clapped his hands to summon his servants.
+Kathlyn, realizing that it was useless to attempt to move this man,
+turned and started to run, but he intercepted her.  "My queen, my bride
+that was to be, the golden houri!  Five times five thousand rupees
+would not purchase a hair of your head."
+
+"I am your queen!"  But she said it without heart.
+
+"What!  Do you believe that?  Having passed the ordeals you nullified
+the effect by running away.  You will be whatever I choose!  Oh, it
+will be legally done.  You shall go with me to the council, and the
+four of us shall decide.  Ah, you would not be my wife!"
+
+"You shall die, Durga Ram," she replied, "and it will be the death of a
+pariah dog."
+
+"Ah!  Still that spirit which I loved.  Why, did I not buy you without
+knowing who you were?  Are you not mine?  At this very moment I could
+place you in my zenana and who would ever know?  And soon you would not
+want any one to know."
+
+"Are you without mercy?"
+
+"Mercy?  I know not the word.  But I have an ambition which surpasses
+all other things.  My wife you shall be, or worse.  But legally, always
+legally!"  He laughed again and swiftly caught her in his arms.  She
+struggled like a tigress, but without avail.  He covered her face and
+neck with kisses, then thrust her aside.  "Poor little fool!  If you
+had whined and whimpered I should have let you go long since.  But
+there burns within you a spirit I must conquer, and conquer I will!"
+
+Kathlyn stood panting against a pillar.  Had she held a weapon in her
+hand she would have killed him without compunction, as one crushes a
+poisonous viper.
+
+"Legally!  Why, all the crimes in Hind are done under that word.  It is
+the shibboleth of the British Raj.  Legally!  Come!"
+
+"I will not stir!"
+
+"Then be carried," he replied, beckoning his servants.
+
+"No, no!"
+
+"Ah!  Well, then, we'll ride together in the palanquin."
+
+To struggle would reward her with nothing but shame and humiliation; so
+she bent her head to the inevitable.  A passionate longing to be
+revenged upon this man began to consume her.  She wanted the feel of
+his brown throat in her fingers; wanted to beat him down to his knees,
+to twist and crush him.  But she was a woman and she had not the
+strength of a man.
+
+"Behold!" cried Umballa later, as he entered the presence of the
+council, "behold a slave of mine!" He pushed Kathlyn forward.  "This
+day I bought her for five thousand rupees."
+
+The council stirred nervously.
+
+"Do you not recognize her?" exultantly.
+
+The council whispered to one another.
+
+"Legally she is mine, though she has been a queen.  But by running away
+she has forfeited her rights to the law of the ordeals.  Am I not
+right?"
+
+The council nodded gravely.  They had not yet wholly recovered from
+their bewilderment.
+
+"On the other hand, her identity must remain a secret till I have
+developed my plans," continued Umballa.
+
+"You are all courting a terrible reprisal," said Kathlyn.  "I beg of
+you to kill me at once; do not prolong my torture, my misery.  I have
+harmed none of you, but you have grievously harmed me.  One even now
+seeks aid of the British Raj; and there are many soldiers."
+
+The threat was ill timed.
+
+The head of the council said to Umballa: "It would be wise to lock her
+up for the present.  We all face a great complication."
+
+"A very wise counsel," agreed Umballa, knowing that he had but to say
+the word to destroy them all.  "And she shall have company.  I would
+not have her lonely.  Come, majesty; deign to follow your humble
+servant."  Umballa salaamed.
+
+Kathlyn was led to a cell in the palace prison, whose walls she had but
+a little while ago viewed in passing, and thrust inside.  A single
+window admitted a faint light.  Umballa remained by the door, chuckling
+softly.  Presently, her eyes becoming accustomed to the dark, Kathlyn
+discovered a man chained to a pillar.  The man suddenly leaned forward.
+
+"Kit, my Kit!"
+
+"Father!"
+
+She caught him to her breast in her strong young arms, crooned to him,
+and kissed his matted head.  And they stood that way for a long time.
+
+At this very moment there appeared before the council a wild eyed,
+disheveled young man.  How he had passed the palace guard none of them
+knew.
+
+"A white woman was brought into this room forcibly a few minutes ago.
+I demand her!  And by the God of my father I will cut out the heart of
+every one of you if you deny me!  She is white; she is of my race!"
+
+"There is no white woman here, Bruce Sahib."
+
+"You lie!" thundered the young man.
+
+Two guards came in quickly.
+
+"I say you lie!  She was seen to enter here!"
+
+"This man is mad!  Besides, it is sacrilege for him to enter our
+presence in this manner," cried one of the council.  "Seize him!"
+
+A fierce struggle between the guards and Bruce followed; but his race
+to the city and the attendant excitement had weakened him.  He was
+carried away, still fighting manfully.
+
+In the meantime Umballa concluded that the reunion had lasted long
+enough.  He caught Kathlyn roughly by the shoulder and pulled her away.
+
+"Behold, Colonel Sahib!  Mine!  I bought her this day in the slave
+mart.  Legally mine!  Now will you tell me where that silver basket
+lies hidden, with its gold and game?"
+
+"Father, do not tell him!" warned Kathlyn.  "So long as we do not tell
+him he does not put us out of the way!"
+
+"Kit!"
+
+"Dad, poor dad!"
+
+"Little fool!" said Umballa.
+
+Kathlyn struggled to reach her father again, but could not.  Umballa
+folded his arms tightly about her and attempted to kiss her.  This time
+her strength was superhuman.  She freed her hands and beat him in the
+face, tore his garments, dragged off his turban.  The struggle brought
+them within the radius of the colonel's reach.  The prisoner caught his
+enemy by the throat, laughing insanely.
+
+"Now, you black dog, die!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE COLONEL IN CHAINS
+
+The colonel and Umballa swayed back and forth.  Umballa sank to his
+knees and then fought madly to rise but the hands at his throat were
+the hands of a madman, steel, resistless.  The colonel's chains clinked
+sharply.  Lower and lower went Umballa's head; he saw death peering
+into the cell.  His cry rattled in his throat.
+
+Not a sound from Kathlyn.  She watched the battle, unfeeling as marble.
+Let the wretch die; let him feel the fear of death; let him suffer as
+he had made others suffer.  What new complications might follow
+Umballa's death did not alarm her.  How could she be any worse off than
+she was?  He had polluted her cheeks with his kisses.  He had tortured
+and shamed her as few white women have been.  Mercy?  He had said that
+day that he knew not the word.
+
+"Ah, you dog!  Haven't I prayed God for days for this chance?  You
+black caha!  Die!"
+
+But Umballa was not to die at that moment or in that fashion.
+
+That nervous energy which had infused the colonel with the strength of
+a lion went out like a spark, and as quickly.  Umballa rolled from his
+paralyzed fingers and lay on the floor, gasping and sobbing.  Hare fell
+back against the pillar, groaning.  The cessation of dynamic nerve
+force filled him with racking pains and a pitiable weakness.  But for
+the pillar he would have hung by his chains.
+
+Kathlyn, with continued apathy, stared down at her enemy.  He was not
+dead.  He would kill them both now.  Why, she asked with sudden
+passion, why this misery?  What had she done in her young life to merit
+it?  Under-fed, dressed in grass, harassed by men and wild beasts--why?
+
+Umballa edged out of danger and sat up, feeling tenderly of his throat.
+Next he picked up his turban and crawled to the open door.  He pulled
+himself up and stood there, weakly.  But there was venom enough in his
+eyes.  The tableau lasted a minute or two; then slowly he closed the
+door, bolted it, and departed.
+
+This ominous silence awoke the old terror in Kathlyn's heart far more
+than oral threats would have done.  There would be reprisal, something
+finished in cruelty.
+
+"My dear, my dear!"  She ran over to her father and flung her arms
+about him, supporting him and mothering him.  An hour passed.
+
+"All in, Kit, all in; haven't the strength of a cat.  Ah, great God; if
+that strength had but lasted a moment longer.  Well, he's still alive.
+But, O, my Kit, my golden Kit, to see you here is to be tortured like
+the damned.  And it is all my fault, all mine!"  The man who had once
+been so strong sobbed hysterically.
+
+"Hush, hush!"
+
+"There were rare and wonderful jewels of which I alone knew the hiding
+place.  But God knows that it was not greed; I wanted them for you and
+Winnie . . .  I knew you were here.  Trust that black devil to announce
+the fact to me . . .  God! what I haven't suffered in the way of
+suspense!  Kit, Kit, what has he done to you?"
+
+Briefly she recounted her adventures, and when she had done he bowed
+his head upon her bare shoulder and wept as only strong men, made weak,
+weep.
+
+To Kathlyn it was terrible.  "Father, don't, don't!  You hurt me!  I
+can't stand it!"
+
+After a while he said: "What shall we do, Kit; what shall we do?"
+
+"I will marry him, father," she answered quietly.  "We can take our
+revenge afterward."
+
+"What!"
+
+"If it will save you."
+
+"Child, let me rot here.  What!  Would you trust him, knowing his false
+heart as you do?  The moment you married him would be my death warrant.
+No, no!  If you weaken now I shall curse you, curse you, my Kit!  There
+has been horror enough.  I can die."
+
+"Well, and so can I, father."
+
+Silence.  After a cockatoo shrilled; a laugh came faintly through the
+window, and later the tinkle of music.  Up above the world was going on
+the same as usual.  Trains were hurrying to and fro; the great ships
+were going down the sapphire seas; children were at play, and the world
+wide marts were busying with the daily affairs of men.
+
+"Jewels!" she murmured, gazing at the sky beyond the grilled window.
+Was there ever a precious stone that lay not in the shadow of blood and
+misery?  Poor, poor, foolish father!  As if jewels were in beauty a
+tithe of the misery they begot!
+
+"Ay, Kit, jewels; sapphires and rubies and emeralds, diamonds and
+pearls and moonstones.  And I wanted them for my pretty cubs!  Umballa
+knew that I would return for them and laid his plans.  But were they
+not mine?"
+
+"Yes, if you intended to rule these people; no, if you thought to take
+them away.  Do you not know that to Winnie and me a hair of your head
+is more precious than the Koh-i-noor?  We must put our heads together
+and plan some way to get out."
+
+She dropped her arms from his shoulders and walked about the cell,
+searching every stone.  Their only hope lay in the window, and that
+appeared impossible since she had no means of filing through her
+father's chains and the bars of the window.  She returned and sat down
+beside her father and rested her aching head on her knees, thinking,
+thinking.
+
+Bruce, struggling with the soldiers (and long since their fat flesh had
+been stung into such activity!) saw Umballa appear in the corridor.
+
+"Durga Ram," he cried, with a furious effort to free his arms.  "Durga
+Ram, you damnable scoundrel, it would be wise for you to kill me, here
+and now, for if I ever get free.  God help you!  O, I shan't kill you;
+that would be too merciful.  But I'll break your bones, one by one, and
+never more shall you stand and walk.  Do you hear me?  Where is Kathlyn
+Hare?  She is mine!"
+
+Umballa showed his teeth in what was an attempt to smile.  He still saw
+flashes of fire before his eyes, and it was yet difficult to breathe
+naturally.  Still, he could twist this white man's heart, play with him.
+
+"Take him away.  Put him outside the city gates and let him go."
+
+Bruce was greatly astonished at this sign of clemency.
+
+"But," added Umballa, crossing his lips with his tongue, "place him
+against a wall and shoot him if he is caught within the city.  He is
+mad, and therefore I am lenient.  There is no white woman in the palace
+or in the royal zenana.  Off with him!"
+
+"You lie, Durga Ram!  You found her in the slave mart to-day."
+
+Umballa shrugged and waved his hand.  He could have had Bruce shot at
+once, but it pleased him to dangle death before the eyes of his rival.
+He was no fool; he saw the trend of affairs.  This young white man
+loved Kathlyn Hare.  All the better, in view of what was to come.
+
+Bruce was conducted to the gate and rudely pushed outside.  He turned
+savagely, but a dozen black officers convinced him that this time he
+would meet death.  Ah, where was Ali, and Ahmed, and the man Lal Singh,
+who was to notify the English?  He found Ali at camp, the chief mahout
+having been conducted there in an improvised litter.  He recounted his
+experiences.
+
+"I was helpless, Sahib."
+
+"No more than I am, Ali.  But be of good cheer; Umballa and I shall
+meet soon, man to man."
+
+"Allah is Allah; there is no God but God."
+
+"And sometimes," said Bruce, moodily, "he watches over the innocent."
+
+"Ahmed is at Hare Sahib's camp."
+
+"Thanks, Ali; that's the best news I have heard yet.  Ahmed will find a
+way.  Take care of yourself.  I'm off!"
+
+When Umballa appeared before the council their astonishment knew no
+bounds.  The clay tinted skin, the shaking hands, the disheveled
+garments--what had happened to this schemer whom ill luck had made
+their master?
+
+He explained.  "I went too near our prisoner.  A flash of strength was
+enough.  They shall be flogged."
+
+"But the woman!"
+
+"Woman?  She is a tiger-cat, and tiger-cats must sometimes be flogged.
+It is my will.  Now I have news for you.  There is another sister,
+younger and weaker.  Our queen," and he salaamed ironically, "our queen
+did not know that her father lived, and there I made my first mistake."
+
+"But she will now submit to save him!"
+
+"Ah, would indeed that were the case.  But tiger-cats are always
+tiger-cats, and nothing will bend this maid; she must be broken,
+broken.  It is my will," with a flash of fire in his eyes.
+
+The council salaamed.  Umballa's will must of necessity be theirs, hate
+him darkly as they might.
+
+The bungalow of Colonel Hare was something on the order of an armed
+camp.  Native animal keepers, armed with rifles, patrolled the
+menagerie.  No one was to pass the cordon without explaining frank his
+business, whence he came, and whither he was bound.
+
+By the knees of one of the sentries a little native child was playing.
+From time to time the happy father would stoop and pat her head.
+
+Presently there was a stir about camp.  An elephant shuffled into the
+clearing.  He was halted, made to kneel, and Ahmed stepped out of the
+howdah.
+
+The little girl ran up to Ahmed joyfully and begged to be put into the
+howdah.  Smiling, Ahmed set her in the howdah, and the mahout bade the
+elephant to rise, but, interested in some orders by Ahmed, left the
+beast to his own devices.  The child called and the elephant walked off
+quietly.  So long as he remained within range of vision no one paid any
+attention to him.  Finally he passed under a tree near the cages and
+reached up for some leaves.  The child caught hold of a limb and
+gleefully crawled out upon it some distance beyond the elephant's
+reach.  Once there, she became frightened, not daring to crawl back.
+
+She prattled "elephant talk," but the old fellow could not reach her.
+The baboon in the near-by cage set up a chattering.  The child ordered
+the elephant to rise on his hind legs.  He placed his fore legs on the
+roof of the baboon's cage, which caved in, rather disturbing the
+elephant's calm.  He sank to the ground.
+
+The baboon leaped through the opening and made off to test this
+unexpected liberty.  He was friendly and tame, but freedom was just
+then paramount.
+
+The elephant remained under the trees, as if pondering, while the child
+began to cry loudly.  One of the natives saw her predicament and
+hastened away for assistance.
+
+Achmed was greatly alarmed over the loss of the baboon.  It was a camp
+pet of Colonel Hare's and ran free in camp whenever the colonel was
+there.  He had captured it when a mere baby in British East Africa.
+The troglodyte, with a strange reasoning yet untranslatable, loved the
+colonel devotedly and followed him about like a dog and with a scent
+far keener.  So Ahmed and some of the keepers set off in search of the
+colonel's pet.
+
+He went about the search with only half a heart.  Only a little while
+before he had received the news of what had happened in the slave mart
+that afternoon.  It seemed incredible.  To have her fall into Umballa's
+hands thus easily, when he and Bruce Sahib had searched the jungle far
+and wide!  Well, she was alive; praise Allah for that; and where there
+was life there was hope.
+
+Later Kathlyn was standing under the cell window gazing at the yellow
+sunset.  Two hours had gone, and no sign of Umballa yet.  She
+shuddered.  Had she been alone she would have hunted for something
+sharp and deadly.  But her father; not before him.  She must wait.  One
+thing was positive and absolute: Umballa should never embrace her; she
+was too strong and desperate.
+
+"Kit!"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"I have a sharp piece of metal in my pocket.  Could you . . .  My God,
+by my hand! . . . when he comes?"
+
+"Yes, father; I am not afraid to die, and death seems all that remains.
+I should bless you.  He will be a tiger now."
+
+"My child, God was good to give me a daughter like you."
+
+She turned to him this time and pressed him to her heart.
+
+"It grows dark suddenly," he said.
+
+Kathlyn glanced toward the window.
+
+"Why, it's a baboon!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Jock, Jock!" cried her father excitedly.
+
+The baboon chattered.
+
+"Kit, it's Jock I used to tell you about.  He is tame and follows me
+about like a dog.  Jock, poor Jock!"
+
+"Father, have you a pencil?"
+
+"A pencil?" blankly.
+
+"Yes, yes!  I can write a note and attach it to Jock.  It's a chance."
+
+"Good lord! and you're cool enough to think like that."  The colonel
+went through his pockets feverishly.  "Thank God, here's an old stub!
+But paper?"
+
+Kathlyn tore off a broad blade of grass from her dress and wrote
+carefully upon it.  If it fell into the hands of the natives they would
+not understand, If the baboon returned to camp . . .  It made her weak
+to realize how slender the chance was.  She took the tabouret and
+placed it beneath the window and stood upon it.
+
+"Jock, here, Jock!"
+
+The baboon gave her his paws.  Deftly she tied the blade of grass round
+his neck.  Then she struck her hands together violently.  The baboon
+vanished, frightened at this unexpected treatment.
+
+"He is gone."
+
+The colonel did not reply, but began to examine his chains minutely.
+
+"Kit, there's no getting me out of here without files.  If there is any
+rescue you go and return.  Promise."
+
+"I promise."
+
+Then they sat down to wait.
+
+And Ahmed in his search came to the river.  Some natives were swimming
+and sporting in the water.  Ahmed put a question.  Oh, yes, they had
+seen the strange-looking ape (for baboons did not habitate this part of
+the world); he had gone up one of the trees near by.  Colonel Hare had
+always used a peculiar whistle to bring Jock, and Ahmed resorted to
+this device.  Half an hour's perseverance rewarded him; and then he
+found the blade of grass.
+
+"Dungeon window by tree.  Kathlyn."
+
+That was sufficient for Ahmed.  He turned the baboon over to the care
+of one of his subordinates and hurried away to Bruce's camp, only to
+find that he had gone to the colonel's.  Away went Ahmed again,
+tireless.  He found Bruce pacing the bungalow frontage.
+
+"Ahmed."
+
+"Yes, Sahib.  Listen."  He told his tale quickly.
+
+"The guards at all the gates have orders to shoot me if they catch me
+within the walls of the city.  I must disguise myself in some way."
+
+"I'll find you an Arab burnoose, hooded, Sahib, and that will hide you.
+It will be dark by the time we reach the city, and we'll enter by one
+of the other gates.  That will allay suspicion.  First we must seek the
+house of Ramabai.  I need money for bribery."
+
+Bruce searched his wallet.  It was empty.  He had given all he had to
+the Brahmin.
+
+"You lead, Ahmed.  I'm dazed."
+
+In the city few knew anything about Ahmed, not even the keenest of
+Umballa's spies.  Umballa had his suspicions, but as yet he could prove
+nothing.  To the populace he was a harmless animal trainer who was only
+too glad not in any way to be implicated with his master.  So they let
+him alone.  Day by day he waited for the report from Lal Singh, but so
+far he had heard nothing except that the British Raj was very busy
+killing the followers of the Mahdi in the Soudan.  It was a subtle
+inference that for the present all aliens in Allaha must look out for
+themselves.
+
+"Sahib," he whispered, "I have learned something.  Day after day I have
+been waiting, hoping.  Colonel Sahib lives, but where I know not."
+
+"Lives!"
+
+"Ai!  In yonder prison where later we go.  He lives.  That is enough
+for his servant.  He is my father and my mother, and I would die for
+him and his.  Ah!  Here is the north gate.  Bend your head, Sahib, when
+we pass."
+
+They entered the city without mishap.  No one questioned them.  Indeed,
+they were but two in a dozen who passed in at the same time.  They
+threaded the narrow streets quickly, skirting the glow of many dung
+fires for fear that Bruce's leggings might be revealed under his
+burnoose.
+
+When at length they came to the house of Ramabai they did not seek to
+enter the front, but chose the gate in the rear of the garden.  The
+moon was up and the garden was almost as light as day.
+
+"Ramabai!" called Bruce in a whisper.
+
+The dreaming man seated at a table came out of his dream with a start.
+A servant ran to the gate.
+
+"Who calls?" demanded Ramabai, suspicious, as all conspirators ever are.
+
+"It is I, Bruce," was the reply in English, flinging aside his burnoose.
+
+"Bruce Sahib?  Open!" cried Ramabai.  "What do you here?  Have you
+found her?"
+
+Ramabai's wife, Pundita, came from the house.  She recognized Bruce
+immediately.
+
+"The Mem-sahib!  Have you found her?"
+
+"Just a moment.  Kathlyn Mem-sahib is in one of the palace dungeons.
+She must be liberated to-night.  We need money to bribe what sentries
+are about."  Bruce went on to relate the incident of the baboon.  "This
+proves that the note was written not more than three hours ago.  She
+will probably be held there till morning.  This time we'll place her
+far beyond the reach of Umballa."
+
+"Either my money or my life.  In a month from now . . ."
+
+"What?" asked Ahmed.
+
+"Ah, I must not tell."  Pundita stole close to Ramabai.
+
+Ahmed smiled.
+
+"We have elephants but a little way outside the city.  We have pulling
+chains.  Let us be off at once.  It is not necessary to enter the city,
+for this window, Ahmed says, is on the outside.  We can easily approach
+the wall in a roundabout way without being seen.  Have you money?"
+
+From his belt Ramabai produced some gold.
+
+"That will be sufficient.  To you, then, the bribing.  The men, should
+there be any, will hark to you.  Come!" concluded Bruce, impatient to
+be off.
+
+"And I?" timidly asked Pundita.
+
+"You will seek Hare Sahib's camp," said Ramabai.  "This is a good
+opportunity to get you away also."
+
+Ahmed nodded approvingly.
+
+Pundita kissed her husband; for these two loved each other, a
+circumstance almost unknown in this dark mysterious land of many gods.
+
+"Pundita, you will remain at the camp in readiness to receive us.  At
+dawn we shall leave for the frontier.  And when we return it will be
+with might and reprisal.  Umballa shall die the death of a dog."
+Ramabai clenched his hands.
+
+"But first," cooed Ahmed, "he shall wear out the soles of his pig's
+feet in the treadmill.  It is written.  I am a Mohammedan.  Yet
+sometimes these vile fakirs have the gift of seeing into the future.
+And me has seen . . ."  He paused.
+
+"Seen what?" demanded Bruce.
+
+"I must not put false hopes in your hearts.  But this I may say: Trials
+will come, bitter and heart burning: a storm, a whirlwind, a fire; but
+peace is after that.  But Allah uses us as his tools.  Let us haste!"
+
+"And I?" said Ramabai, sending a piercing glance at Ahmed.
+
+But Ahmed smiled and shook his head.  "Wait and see, Ramabai.  Some day
+they will call you the Fortunate.  Let us hurry.  My Mem-sahib waits."
+
+"What did this fakir see?" whispered Bruce as he donned his burnoose
+again.
+
+"Many wonderful things; but perhaps the fakir lied.  They all lie.  Yet
+. . . hurry!"
+
+The quartet passed out of the city unmolested.  Ramabai's house was
+supposed to be under strict surveillance; but the soldiers, due to
+largess, were junketing in the bazaars.  Shortly they came up to two
+elephants with howdahs.  They were the best mannered of the half dozen
+owned or rented by Colonel Hare.  Mahouts sat astride.  Rifles reposed
+in the side sheaths.  This was to be no light adventure.  There might
+be a small warfare.
+
+Pundita flung her arms around Ramabai, and he consoled her.  She was
+then led away to the colonel's camp.
+
+"Remember," Ramabai said at parting, "she saved both our lives.  We owe
+a debt."
+
+"Go, my Lord; and may all the gods--no, the Christian God--watch over
+you!"
+
+"Forward!" growled Ahmed.  First, though, he saw to it that the pulling
+chains were well wrapped in cotton blankets.  There must be no sound to
+warn others of their approach.
+
+"Ahmed," began Bruce.
+
+"Leave all things to me, Sahib," interrupted Ahmed, who assumed a
+strange authority at times that confused and puzzled Bruce.  "It is my
+Mem-sahib, and I am one of the fingers of the long arm of the British
+Raj.  And there are books in Calcutta in which my name is written high.
+No more!"
+
+Through the moon-frosted jungle the two elephants moved silently.  A
+drove of wild pigs scampered across the path, and the wild peacock
+hissed from the underbrush sleepily.  All silence again.  Several times
+Ahmed halted, straining his ears.  It seemed incredible to Bruce that
+the enormous beasts could move so soundlessly.  It was a part of their
+business; they were hunters of their kind.
+
+At length they came out into the open at the rear of the prison walls.
+Here Ramabai got down, and went in search of any sentries.  He returned
+almost at once with the good news that there was none.
+
+The marble walls shimmered like clusters of dull opals.  What misery
+had been known behind their crumbling beauty!
+
+Ahmed marked the tree and raised his hand as a sign.
+
+"Bruce Sahib!" he called.
+
+"Yes, Ahmed.  I'll risk it first."
+
+Bruce moved the elephant to the barred window.  His heart beat wildly.
+He leaned down from his howdah and strove to peer within.
+
+"Kathlyn Hare?" he whispered.
+
+"Who is it?"
+
+"Bruce."
+
+"Father, father!" Bruce heard her cry; "they have found us!"
+
+Ahmed heard the call; and he sighed as one who had Allah to thank.  God
+was great and Mahomet was His prophet.
+
+"Listen," said Bruce.  "We shall hook chains to the bars and pull them
+out, without noise if possible.  The moment they give . . . have you
+anything to stand on?"
+
+"Yes, a tabouret."
+
+"That will serve.  You stand on it, and I'll pull you up and through.
+Then your father."
+
+"Father is in chains."
+
+"Ahmed, he is in chains.  What in God's name shall we do?"
+
+"Return for me later," said Hare.  "Don't bother about me.  Get Kit
+away, and quickly.  Umballa may return at any moment.  To work, to
+work, Bruce, and God bless you!"
+
+They flew to the task.  Round the hooks Ahmed had wrapped cloths to
+ward against the clink of metal against metal.  The hooks were deftly
+engaged.  The chains grew taut.  So far there was but little noise.
+The elephants leaned against the chains; the bars bent and sprang
+suddenly from their ancient sockets.
+
+Kathlyn was free.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+WAITING
+
+Kathlyn flung herself into her father's arms.
+
+"Dad, dad!  To leave you alone!"
+
+"Kit, you are wasting time.  Be off.  Trust me; I wasn't meant to die
+in this dog's kennel, curse or no curse.  Kiss me and go!"
+
+"Curse?  What do you mean, father?"
+
+"Ahmed will tell you.  In God's name go, child!"
+
+"Come, Miss Kathlyn," Bruce called anxiously.
+
+Kathlyn then climbed up to the window, and Bruce lifted her into his
+howdah, bidding her to lie low.  How strong he was, she thought.  Ah,
+something had whispered to her day by day that he would come when she
+needed him.  Suddenly she felt her cheeks grow hot with shame.  She
+snuggled her bare legs under her grass dress.  Till this moment she had
+never given her appearance a single thought.  There had been things so
+much more vital.  But youth, and there is ever the way of a man with a
+maid.
+
+Now, Kathlyn did not love this quiet, resourceful young man, at least
+if she did she was not yet aware of it; but the touch of his hand and
+the sound of his voice sent a shiver over her that was not due to the
+chill of the night.  She heard him give his orders, low voiced.
+
+"Do not lift your head above the howdah rim, Miss Kathlyn, till we are
+in the jungle.  And don't worry about your father.  He's alive, and
+that's enough for Ahmed and me.  What a strange world it is, and how
+fate shuffles us about!  Forward!"
+
+The curse: what did her father mean by that?  It seemed to Kathlyn that
+hours passed before Bruce spoke again.
+
+"Now you may sit up.  What in the world have you got on?  Good heavens,
+grass!  You poor girl!"  He took off his coat and threw it across her
+shoulders, and was startled by the contact of her warm flesh.
+
+"I can not thank you in words," she said faintly.
+
+"Don't.  Pshaw, it was nothing.  I would have gone----"  He stopped
+embarrassedly.
+
+"Well?"  Perhaps it was coquetry which impelled the query; perhaps it
+was something deeper.
+
+He laughed.  "I was going to say that I would have gone into the depths
+of hell to serve you.  We'll be at your father's bungalow in a minute
+or so, and then the final stroke.  Umballa is not dependable.  He may
+or may not pay a visit to the cell to-night.  I can only pray that he
+will come down the moment I arrive."
+
+But he was not to meet Umballa that night.  Umballa had won his point
+in regard to having his prisoners flogged; but, Oriental that he was,
+he went about the matter leisurely.  He ate his supper, changed his
+clothes and dallied in the zenana for an hour.  The rascal had made a
+thorough study of the word "suspense"; he knew the exquisite torture of
+making one's victim wait.  For the time being his passion for Kathlyn
+had subsided.  He desired above all things just then revenge for the
+humiliating experience in the ceil; he wanted to put pain and terror
+into her heart.  Ah, she would be on her knees, begging, begging, and
+her father would struggle in vain at his shackles.  Spurned; so be it.
+She should have a taste of his hate, the black man's hate.  Two should
+hold her by the arms while the professional flogger seared the white
+soft back of her.  She would soon come to him begging.  He had been too
+kind.  The lash of the zenana, it should bite into her soft flesh.  He
+would break her spirit and her body together and fling her into his own
+zenana to let her gnaw her heart out in suspense.  She should be the
+least of his women, the drudge.
+
+First, however, the lash should bite the father till he dropped in his
+chains; thus she would be able to anticipate the pain and degradation.
+
+And always there would remain the little dark-haired sister.  She would
+marry him; she would do it to save her father and sister.  Then the
+filigree basket heaped with rubies and pearls and emeralds and
+sapphires!  As for the other, what cared he if he rotted?  It gave him
+the whip hand over the doddering council.  Master he would be; he would
+blot out all things which stood in his path.  A king, till he had
+gathered what fortune he needed.  Then let the jackals howl.
+
+Accompanied by torch bearers, servants and the professional flogger, he
+led the way to the cell and flung open the door triumphantly.  For a
+moment he could not believe his eyes.  She was gone, and through yonder
+window!  Hell of all hells of Hind!  She was gone, and he was robbed!
+
+"Out of your reach this time, you black devil!" cried the colonel.  "Go
+on.  Do what you please to me, I'm ready."
+
+Umballa ran to the tabouret and jumped upon it.  He saw the trampled
+grass.  Elephants.  And these doubtless had come from the colonel's
+camp.  He jumped off the tabouret and dashed to the door.
+
+"Follow me!" he cried.  "Later, Colonel Hare, later!" he threatened.
+
+The colonel remained silent.
+
+Up above, in the palace, Umballa summoned a dozen troopers and gave
+them explicit orders.  He was quite confident that Kathlyn would be
+carried at once to her father's bungalow, if only for a change of
+clothes.  It was a shrewd guess.
+
+As the iron door clanged upon the sill Colonel Hare leaned against the
+pillar and closed his eyes, praying silently.
+
+At the bungalow Pundita fell at Kathlyn's feet and kissed them.
+
+"Mem-sahib!" she cried brokenly.
+
+"Pundita!"  Kathlyn stooped and gathered her up in her arms.
+
+After that Ramabai would have died for her under any torture.
+
+"Now, Ahmed, what did my father mean when he said 'curse or no curse'?"
+
+"It's a long story, Mem-sahib," said Ahmed evasively.
+
+"Tell it."
+
+"It was in a temple in the south.  The Colonel Sahib took a sapphire
+from an idol's eye.  The guru, a very wise and ancient priest, demanded
+the return of it.  The Colonel Sahib, being a young man, refused.  The
+guru cursed him.  That is all."
+
+"No, Ahmed; there must be more.  Did not the guru curse my father's
+children and their children's children?"
+
+"Ah, Mem-sahib, what does the curse of a Hindu amount to?"
+
+"Perhaps it is stronger than we know," glancing down at her dress.
+
+Further discussion was interrupted by one of the armed keepers, who
+came rushing up with the news that armed soldiers were approaching.
+Bruce swore frankly.  This Umballa was supernaturally keen.  What to do
+now?
+
+"Quick!" cried Ahmed.  "Get the howdahs off the elephants."  It was
+done.  "Hobble them."  It was immediately accomplished.  "Into the
+bungalow, all of you.  Mem-sahib, follow me!"
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked Bruce.
+
+"Hide her where none will dare to look," answered Ahmed.
+
+He seized Kathlyn by the hand and urged her to run.  She had implicit
+faith in this old friend, who had once dandled her on his knees.  They
+disappeared behind the bungalow and ran toward the animal cages.  He
+stopped abruptly before one of the cages.
+
+"A leopard, but harmless.  You'll know how to soothe him if he becomes
+nervous.  Enter."
+
+[Illustration: You'll know how to soothe him.]
+
+Kathlyn obeyed.
+
+This cage was not a movable one, and had a cavity underneath.  The
+heavy teak flooring was not nailed.
+
+The soldiers arrived at the bungalow, boisterously threatening the
+arrest of the entire camp if Durga Ram's slave was not produced
+forthwith.
+
+"You are mistaken," said Bruce.  "There is no slave here.  Search."
+
+"You stand in extreme danger, Sahib.  You have meddled with what does
+not concern you," replied the captain, who had thrown his fortunes with
+Umballa, sensing that here was a man who was bound to win and would be
+liberal to those who stood by him during the struggle.
+
+"Search," repeated Bruce.
+
+The captain and his men ran about, but not without a certain system of
+thoroughness.  They examined the elephants, but were baffled there,
+owing to Ahmed's foresight.  They entered the native quarters, looked
+under the canvases into the empty cages, from cellar to roof in the
+bungalow, when suddenly the captain missed Ahmed.
+
+"Where is the Colonel Sahib's man?" he asked bruskly.
+
+"Possibly he is going the rounds of the animal cages," said Bruce,
+outwardly calm and shaking within.
+
+"And thou, Ramabai, beware!"
+
+"Of what, Captain?" coolly.
+
+"Thou, too, hast meddled; and meddlers burn their fingers."
+
+"I am innocent of any crime," said Ramabai.  "I am watched, I know; but
+there is still some justice in Allaha."
+
+"Bully for you!" said Bruce in English.
+
+The captain eyed him malevolently.
+
+"Search the animal cages," he ordered.
+
+Bruce, Ramabai and Pundita followed the captain.  He peered into the
+cages, one by one, and at length came to the leopard's cage.  And there
+was the crafty Ahmed, calmly stroking the leopard, which snarled
+suddenly.  Ahmed stood up with a fine imitation of surprise.  The
+captain, greatly mystified, turned about; he was partially convinced
+that he had had his work for nothing.  Still, he had his tongue.
+
+"Thou, Ramabai, hast broken thy parole.  Thou wert not to leave thy
+house.  It shall be reported."  Then he took a shot at Bruce: "And thou
+wilt enter the city on the pain of death."
+
+With this he ordered the soldiers right about and proceeded the way he
+had come.
+
+"Ahmed, where is she?" cried Bruce, who was as mystified as the captain.
+
+Smiling, Ahmed raised one of the broad teak boards, and the golden head
+of Kathlyn appeared.
+
+"Ahmed," said Bruce, delighted, "hereafter you shall be chief of this
+expedition.  Now, what next?"
+
+"Secure files and return for my master."
+
+"Wait," interposed Kathlyn, emerging.  "I have a plan.  It will be
+useless to return to-night.  He will be too well guarded.  Are you
+brave, Pundita?"
+
+"I would die for the Mem-sahib."
+
+"And I, too," added Ramabai.
+
+Ahmed and Bruce gazed at each other.
+
+"What is your plan, Mem-sahib?" asked Ahmed, replacing the board and
+helping Kathlyn out of the cage, the door of which he closed quickly,
+as the leopard was evincing a temper at all this nocturnal disturbance.
+
+"It is a trap for Umballa."
+
+"He is as wise as the cobra and as suspicious as the jackal," said
+Ahmed doubtfully.
+
+"Reason forbids that we return to-night.  Umballa will wait, knowing
+me.  Listen.  Pundita, you shall return to the city.  Two men will
+accompany you to the gate.  You will enter alone in the early morning."
+
+Pundita drew close to her husband.
+
+"You will seek Umballa and play traitor.  You will pretend to betray
+me."
+
+"No, no, Mem-sahib!"
+
+"Listen.  You will demand to see him alone.  You will say that you are
+jealous of me.  You will tell him that you are ready to lead him to my
+hiding-place."
+
+"No, Miss Kathlyn; that will not do at all," declared Bruce
+emphatically.
+
+To this Ahmed agreed with a slow shake of the head.
+
+"Let me finish," said Kathlyn.  "You will tell him, Pundita, that he
+must come alone.  He will promise, but by some sign or other he will
+signify to his men to follow.  Well, the guard may follow.  Once
+Umballa steps inside the bungalow we will seize and bind him.  His life
+will depend upon his writing a note to the council to liberate my
+father.  If he refuses, the leopard."
+
+"The leopard?"
+
+"Yes; why not?  A leopard was the basic cause of all this misery and
+treachery.  Let us give Umballa a taste of it.  Am I cruel?  Well, yes;
+all that was gentle and tender in me seems either to have vanished or
+hardened.  He has put terror into my heart; let me put it into his."
+
+"It is all impractical," demurred Bruce.
+
+"He will never follow Pundita," said Ahmed.
+
+"Then shall we all sit down and wait?" Kathlyn asked bitterly.  "At
+least let me try.  He will not harm Pundita, since it is I he wants."
+
+"She is right," averred Pundita.  "A woman can do more at this moment
+than a hundred men.  I will go, Mem-sahib; and, more, I will bring him
+back."
+
+"But if he should hold you as a hostage?" suggested the harried Ahmed.
+"What then?"
+
+"What will be will be," answered Pundita with oriental philosophy.
+
+"You shall go, Pundita," said Ramabai; "and Durga Ram shall choke
+between these two hands if he harms a hair of your head."
+
+"And now to bed," said Ahmed.
+
+Well for Kathlyn that she had not the gift of clairvoyance.  At the
+precise moment she put her head upon the pillow her father was writhing
+under the lash; but never a sound came from his lips.  Kit was free.
+Kit was free!
+
+"To-morrow and to-morrow's to-morrow you shall feel the lash," cried
+Umballa when he saw that his victim could stand no more.  "Once more,
+where is the filigree basket?"
+
+Feebly the colonel shook his head.
+
+"To-morrow, then!  Up till now you have known only neglect.  Now you
+shall feel the active hatred of the man you robbed and cheated.  Ah,
+rubies and pearls and emeralds; you will never see them."
+
+"Nor shall you!"
+
+"Wait and see.  There's another way of twisting the secret from you.
+Wait; have patience."  Umballa laughed.
+
+And this laughter rang in the colonel's ears long after the door had
+closed.  What new deviltry had he in mind?
+
+The next morning Kathlyn came into the living-room dressed, for the
+first time in weeks.  She felt strangely uncomfortable.  For so long a
+time her body had been free that the old familiar garments of
+civilization (are they civilized?) almost suffocated her.
+
+"You are not afraid, Pundita?"
+
+"No, Mem-sahib.  Ahmed will have me carried to within a few yards of
+the gate, and after that it will be easy to find Durga Ram.  Ah,
+Mem-sahib, if you but knew how I hate him!"
+
+After Pundita had departed Ahmed brought in the leopard.  Kathlyn
+petted it and crooned, and the magic timbre of her tones won over the
+spotted cat.  He purred.
+
+And now they must wait.  An hour flew past.  Kathlyn showed signs of
+restlessness, and this restlessness conveyed itself to the leopard, who
+began to switch his tail about.
+
+"Mem-sahib, you are losing your influence over the cat," warned Ahmed.
+"Go walk; go talk elephant; and you, Bruce Sahib, go with her.  I'll
+take care of the cat."
+
+So Bruce and Kathlyn went the rounds of the cages.  She was a veritable
+enigma to Bruce.  Tigers lost their tenseness and looked straight into
+her eyes.  A cheetah with cubs permitted her to touch the wabbly
+infants, whereas the keeper of this cage dared not go within a foot of
+it.  By the time she reached the elephants a dozen keepers were
+following her, their eyes wide with awe.  They had heard often of the
+Mem-sahib who calmed the wild ones, but they had not believed.  With
+the elephants she did about as she pleased.
+
+"Miss Kathlyn, I am growing a bit afraid of you," said Bruce.
+
+"And why?"
+
+"I've never seen animals act like that before.  What is it you do to
+them?"
+
+"Let them know that I am not afraid of them and that I am fond of them."
+
+"I am not afraid of them and am also fond of them.  Yet they spit at me
+whenever I approach."
+
+"Perhaps it is black art."  The shadow of a smile crossed her lips.
+Then the smile stiffened and she breathed deeply.  For the moment she
+had forgot her father, who stood chained to a pillar in a vile cell.
+She put her hand over her eyes and swayed.
+
+"What is it?" he cried in alarm.
+
+"Nothing.  I had almost forgot where I am."
+
+"I, too.  I am beginning to let Ahmed think for me.  Let us get back to
+the bungalow."
+
+He loved her.  And he feared her, too.  She was so unlike any young
+woman he had ever met that she confused his established ideas of the
+sex.  The cool blood of her disturbed him as much as anything.  Not a
+sign of that natural hysteria of woman, though she had been through
+enough to drive insane a dozen ordinary women.  He loved the fearless
+eye of her, the flat back, the deep chest, the spring with which she
+measured her strides.  Here at last was the true normal woman.  She was
+of the breed which produced heroes.
+
+He loved her, and yet was afraid of her.  A wall seemed to surround
+her, and nowhere could he discover any breach.  Vaguely he wondered how
+the Viking made love to the Viking's daughter.  By storm, or by guile?
+Yes, he was afraid of her; afraid of her because she could walk alone.
+He locked up his thoughts in his heart; for instinct advised him to say
+nothing now; this was no time for the declaration of love.
+
+"It is best," said Ahmed, "that we all remain inside the bungalow.
+Ramabai, have you any plan in case Pundita does not return?"
+
+Ramabai's breast swelled.  "Yes, Ahmed.  I have a thousand friends in
+yonder city, ready at my call.  Only, this is not the time.  Still, I
+can call to them, and by to-morrow there will not be a stone of the
+palace upon another.  Be not alarmed.  Pundita will return, but mayhap
+alone."
+
+So they waited.
+
+Now, Pundita, being a woman, was wise in the matter of lure.  She
+entered the city unquestioned.  She came to the palace steps just as
+Umballa was issuing forth.  She shivered a little--she could not help
+it; the man looked so gloomy and foreboding.  The scowl warned her to
+walk with extreme care.
+
+He stopped when he saw her and was surprised into according her the
+salute one gave to a woman of quality.
+
+"Ah!"
+
+"Durga Ram," she began, "I am seeking you."  Her voice trembled ever so
+little.
+
+"Indeed!  And why do you seek me, who am your enemy, and who always
+will be?"
+
+"A woman loves where she must, not where she wills."
+
+Umballa seemed to ponder over this truth.
+
+"And why have you sought me?"
+
+"A woman's reasons.  My husband and the Mem-sahib----"
+
+"You know, then, where she is?" quickly.
+
+"Aye, Durga Ram; I alone know where she is hiding."
+
+He sent a shrewd glance into her eyes.  Had she wavered, ill would have
+befallen her.
+
+"Tell me."
+
+"Follow."
+
+He laughed.  Near by stood two of the palace guards.  "All women are
+liars.  Why should I trust you?"
+
+"That is true.  Why indeed should you trust me?"  She turned and with
+bowed head started to walk away.
+
+"Wait!" he called to her, at the same time motioning to the guards to
+follow at a distance.
+
+"If I lead you to the Mem-sahib, it must be alone."
+
+"You say that you alone know where she is?"
+
+"I meant that I alone will lead you to her.  And you must decide
+quickly, Durga Ram, for even now they are preparing for night, and this
+time they will go far."
+
+"Lead on."
+
+"Send the guards back to the palace."
+
+Umballa made a sign with his hand, but another with his eyes.  The
+guards fell back to the palace steps, understanding perfectly that they
+and others were to follow unseen.  Umballa knew instinctively that this
+was a trap.  He would apparently walk into it unsuspectingly; but those
+who sprung the trap would find no rat, but a tiger.  And after the
+manner of hungry tigers, he licked his chops.  A trap; a child could
+have discerned it.  But having faith in his star he followed Pundita.
+Only once during the journey did he speak.
+
+"Pundita, remember, if you have lied you will be punished."
+
+"Durga Ram, I have not lied.  I have promised to lead you to her, and
+lead you to her I shall."
+
+"Durga Ram," he mused.  She did not give him his title of prince;
+indeed, she never had.  She was really the rightful heir to this crown;
+but her forbears had legally foresworn.  Ah! the Colonel Sahib's camp.
+Good!  He knew now that in Kathlyn's escape he had the man Ahmed to
+reckon with.  Presently.
+
+"She is there, Durga Ram."
+
+"And what more?" ironically.
+
+His coolness caused her some uneasiness.  Had he, by means unknown to
+her, signed to the guards to follow?
+
+Umballa entered the living-room of the bungalow.  It was apparently
+deserted.  He cast a quick glance about.  The curtains trembled
+suspiciously, and even as he noted it, Bruce, Ramabai and Ahmed sprang
+forth, carrying ropes.  Umballa made a dash for the door, but they were
+too quick for him.  Struggling, he was seized and bound; but all the
+while he was laughing inwardly.  Did they dream of trapping him in this
+childish fashion?  By now twenty or thirty of his paid men were drawing
+a cordon about the camp.  All of them should pay the full penalty for
+this act.  What mattered a few ropes?  He was rather puzzled as to the
+reason of their leaving his right arm free.
+
+Next, the curtains were thrown back, and Kathlyn stood revealed.  Near
+her a leopard strained impatiently on the leash.  Umballa eyed her
+wonderingly.  She was like the woman who had arrived weeks ago.  And
+yet to him she seemed less beautiful than when he paid five thousand
+rupees for her in the slave mart.  He waited.
+
+"Umballa, write an order for my father's release."
+
+"And if I refuse?" Umballa wanted to gain time.
+
+"You shall be liberated at the same time as this leopard.  You have had
+experience with leopards.  Do you not recall the one my father killed,
+saving the life of your benefactor?"
+
+"I will free him in exchange for yourself."
+
+"Write."
+
+She offered the pen to him.
+
+He shrugged and made no effort to take it.
+
+"Very well," said Kathlyn.  "Leave us."  Once alone she said: "Can you
+run as fast as this cat?"  She approached and began at the knots of the
+ropes.
+
+He saw by the thin determined line of her lips that she meant to do
+exactly as she threatened.  He concluded then to sign the paper.  His
+men would arrive before a messenger could reach the city.
+
+"I will sign," he said.  "For the present you have the best of me.  But
+what of the afterwards?"
+
+"We are going to hold you as hostage, Umballa.  When my father arrives
+we intend to escort you to the frontier and there leave you."
+
+"Give me the pen."  His men were drawing nearer and nearer.  He signed
+the order of release.  He knew that even if it reached the council it
+would not serve, lacking an essential.
+
+Kathlyn joyfully caught up the order and called to her friends.
+Ramabai smiled and shook his head.  It was not enough, he said.  He
+took the jeweled triangle from Umballa's turban.
+
+"Go, Ramabai," said Kathlyn, strangely tender all at once; "go bring my
+father back to me.  Rest assured that if aught happens to you, Umballa
+shall pay."
+
+"With his head," supplemented Bruce.  "Look not so eagerly toward the
+west, Umballa.  Your troopers will remain at the edge of the clearing.
+They have been informed that a single misstep on their part and their
+master dies."
+
+Umballa sat up stiffly in the chair.  They had beaten him by a point.
+The heat of his rage swept over him like fire, and he closed his eyes.
+
+Ramabai passed the guards, giving them additional warning to remain
+exactly where they were.  The captain shrugged; it was all in a day's
+work, women were always leading or driving men into hell.
+
+When Ramabai appeared before the council he did so proudly.  He
+salaamed as etiquette required, however, and extended the written order
+for Colonel Hare's release.  At first they refused to regard it as
+authentic.  Ramabai produced the jeweled triangle.
+
+"The prince has made this order imperative," he said.  "Colonel Hare
+will proceed in my custody."
+
+"Where is Durga Ram?"
+
+"At the bungalow of Colonel Hare, where he found the daughter."
+
+Ah, that cleared up everything.  Umballa had some definite plan in
+releasing Colonel Hare.  It would confuse the public, who had been
+given to understand that the hunter was dead; but they would claim that
+it was an affair of state, in nowise concerning the populace.  So
+Colonel Hare was brought up.  Ramabai instantly signaled him to smother
+his joy.  But it was not necessary for the colonel to pretend
+dejection.  He was so pitiably weak that he could scarcely stand and
+only vaguely understood that he was to follow this man Ramabai, whom he
+did not recognize.
+
+Ramabai, comprehending his plight, gave him the support of his arm, and
+together they left the palace.  So far all had gone smoothly.
+
+The council had no suspicions.  Twenty men had followed Durga Ram and
+without doubt they were at this moment with him.
+
+"Free!" breathed the colonel, as Ramabai beckoned to a public litter.
+
+"Hush!  You are supposed to be my prisoner.  Make no sign of
+jubilation."  Ramabai helped the broken man into the litter and bade
+the coolies to hurry.  "Elephants will be ready to start the moment we
+reach your camp.  This time I believe we can get away in safety."
+
+"And Umballa?"
+
+"Shall go with us as hostage."
+
+But Umballa did not go with them as hostage.  On the contrary, the
+moment they left him alone he quickly undid his bonds.  He tiptoed past
+the leopard which flew at him savagely, ripping the post from its
+socket and wrecking the banisters.  Umballa, unprepared for this
+stroke, leaped through the window, followed by the hampered leopard.
+It would have gone ill with Umballa even then had not some keepers
+rushed for the leopard.  In the ensuing confusion Umballa escaped.
+
+"He is gone!" cried Bruce.  "Ahmed, send a runner to warn Ramabai to
+head for my camp!  Quick!  Get the elephants ready!  Come, Kathlyn;
+come, Pundita!"  He hastened them toward the elephants.  "Umballa made
+his escape east; it will take him some minutes to veer round to his
+men.  Come!"
+
+They waited at Bruce's camp an hour.  A litter was seen swaying to and
+fro, with coolies on the run.  Ahmed ran forward and hailed it.  A
+moment later Kathlyn and her father were reunited.
+
+"In God's name, Bruce, let us get out of this damnable country; I am
+dying for want of light, air, food!"
+
+They lifted the colonel into a howdah and started south, urging the
+elephants at top speed.  No sooner had they left the river than some
+native boats landed at the broken camp, gleefully picking up things
+which had been left behind in the rush.
+
+"Our troubles are over, father."
+
+"Perhaps!  So long as I remain in India, there is that curse.  Ah, I
+once laughed at it; but not now."
+
+Umballa at length found his captain.
+
+"Follow me'" he cried in a fury.
+
+He led them back to the colonel's camp, but those he sought had flown.
+He reasoned quickly.  The trail led toward the camp of Bruce Sahib, and
+along this he led his men, arriving in time to find the native boatmen
+leaving for their boats.
+
+A hurried question or two elicited the direction taken by the
+fugitives.  Umballa commandeered the boats.  There was some protest,
+but Umballa threatened death to those who opposed him, and the
+frightened natives surrendered.  The soldiers piled into the boats and
+began poling down-stream rapidly.  A mile or two below there was a ford
+and to go south the pursued must cross it.
+
+Later, pursuer and pursued met, and a real warfare began, with a death
+toll on both sides.  Bruce and Ahmed kept the elephants going, but in
+the middle of the ford a bullet struck Kathlyn, and she tumbled
+headlong into the water.
+
+The curse had not yet lifted its evil hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+THE WHITE ELEPHANT
+
+It was the shock of the bullet rather than the seriousness of the wound
+that had toppled Kathlyn into the river.  In the confusion, the rattle
+of musketry, the yelling of the panic-stricken pack coolies who had
+fled helter-skelter for the jungle, the squealing of the elephants, she
+had forgot to crouch low in the howdah.  There had come a staggering
+blow, after which sky and earth careened for a moment and became black;
+then the chill of water and strangulation, and she found herself
+struggling in the deepest part of the ford, a strange deadness in one
+arm.  She had no distinct recollection of what took place; her one
+thought was to keep her head above water.
+
+Instantly the firing ceased; on one side because there were no more
+cartridges, on the other for fear of hitting the one person who had
+made this pursuit necessary.
+
+Kathlyn struggled between the elephant which carried Ramabai and
+Pundita and the boat or barge which held the eager Umballa and his
+soldiers.  The mahout, terrorized, had slid off and taken to his heels
+ingloriously.  Thus, Ramabai could do nothing to aid Kathlyn.  Nor
+could the elephant ridden by the colonel and Bruce be managed.
+
+Umballa was quick to see his advantage, and, laughing, he urged his men
+toward the helpless girl.  The colonel raised his rifle and aimed at
+Umballa, but there was no report, only a click which to the frantic
+man's ears sounded like the gates of hell closing in behind him.
+
+"Forward!" shouted Umballa.
+
+She was his again; he would have the pleasure of taking her from under
+the very eyes of her father and lover.  His star never faltered.
+
+Bruce stood up in the howdah, ready to dive; but the colonel restrained
+him.
+
+"Don't waste your life!  My God, we can't help her!  Not a bullet in
+either gun.  God's curse on all these worthless stones men call
+guns! . . .  There, he's got her!  Not a shell left!  Kit!  Kit!"  The
+colonel broke down and cried like a child.  As for Bruce, hot irons
+could not have wrung a tear from his eyes; but Kit, in the hands of
+that black devil again!
+
+"Colonel," said Bruce, "I'd going to get some cartridges."
+
+He realized then that Kathlyn's future depended upon him alone.  The
+colonel was a broken man.  So he struck the elephant, who lumbered
+ashore.  The moment Kathlyn was safe in the barge Umballa would
+probably give orders to resume firing.  He could do so now with
+impunity.
+
+The soldiers drew Kathlyn into the barge.  Umballa saw that she was
+wounded in the fleshy part of the arm.  Quickly he snatched off the
+turban of one of the soldiers, unwound it and began to bandage
+Kathlyn's arm.
+
+The man, for all his oriental craftiness, was still guileless enough to
+expect some sign of gratitude from her; but; as he touched her she
+shrank in loathing.  His anger flamed and he flung her roughly into a
+seat.
+
+"Suffer, then, little fool!"
+
+Meantime the colonel and Bruce dismounted and tried to stem the tide of
+fleeing coolies; but it was no more effective than blowing against the
+wind.  They found, however, an abandoned pack containing cartridge
+cases, and they filled their pockets, calling to Ramabai and Pundita to
+follow them along the river in pursuit of Umballa's barge, which was
+now being rapidly poled up-stream.  They might be able to pick off
+enough soldiers, sharpshooting, to make it impossible to man the barge.
+They were both dead shots, and the least they could do would be to put
+the fight on a basis of equality so far as numbers were concerned.
+
+The colonel forgot all about how weak he was.  The rage and despair in
+his heart had once more given him a fictitious strength.
+
+"The curse, the curse, always the curse!"
+
+"Don't you believe that, Colonel.  It is only misfortune.  Now I'm
+going to pot Umballa.  That will simplify everything.  Without a head
+the soldiers will be without a cause, and they'll desert Kathlyn as
+quickly as our coolies deserted us."
+
+"Where is Ahmed?"
+
+"Ahmed?  I had forgot all about him!  But we can't wait now.  He'll
+have to look out for himself.  Hark!"
+
+Squealing and trumpeting and thunderous crashing in the distance.
+
+"Wild elephants!" cried the colonel, the old impulse wheeling him
+round.  But the younger man caught hold of his arm significantly.
+
+The soldiers poled diligently, but against the stream, together with
+the clumsiness of the barge, they could not make headway with any
+degree of speed.  It was not long before Bruce could see them.  He
+raised his rifle and let go; and in the boat Umballa felt his turban
+stir mysteriously.  The report which instantly followed was enough to
+convince him that he in particular was being made a target.  He
+crouched behind Kathlyn, while two or three of the soldiers returned
+the shot, aiming at the clump of scrub from which a film of pale blue
+smoke issued.  They waited for another shot, but none came.
+
+The reason was this: the herd of wild elephants which Bruce and the
+colonel had heard came charging almost directly toward them, smashing
+young trees and trampling the tough underbrush.  Some of them made for
+the water directly in line with the passing boats.  Kathlyn, keenly
+alive to the fact that here was a chance, jumped overboard before
+Umballa could reach out a staying hand.
+
+To Kathlyn there was only death in the path of the elephants; to remain
+on the barge was to face eventually that which was worse than death.
+Her arm throbbed painfully, but in the desperate energy with which she
+determined to take the chance she used it.  Quite contrary to her
+expectations, her leap was the best thing she could have done.  Most of
+the barges were upset and the great beasts were blundering across the
+river between her and the barges.
+
+Bruce witnessed Kathlyn's brave attempt and dashed into the water after
+her.  It took him but a moment to bring her to land, where her father
+clasped her in his arms and broke down again.
+
+"Dad, dad!" she whispered.  "Don't you see our God is powerfulest?  I
+believed I was going to be trampled to death, and here I am, with you
+once more."
+
+They hurried back as fast as Kathlyn's weakness would permit to where
+they had left their own elephants, doubting that they should find them,
+considering that it was quite probable that they had joined their wild
+brethren.  But no; they were standing shoulder to shoulder, flapping
+their ears and curling their trunks.  So many years had they been
+trained to hunt elephants that they did not seem to know what to do
+without some one to guide them.
+
+Bruce ordered one of them to kneel, doubtfully; but the big fellow
+obeyed the command docilely, and the colonel and Bruce helped the
+exhausted girl into the howdah.  The colonel followed, while Bruce took
+upon his own shoulders the duties of mahout.  Pundita got into the
+other howdah and Ramabai imitated Bruce.  The elephants shuffled off,
+away from the river.  For the time being neither Bruce nor Ramabai gave
+mind to the compass.  To make pursuit impossible was the main business
+just then.
+
+Later Umballa, dulled and stupefied from his immersion, stood on the
+shore, with but nine of the twenty soldiers he had brought with him.
+Evidently, his star had faltered.  Very well; he would send for the
+other sister.  She was the Colonel Sahib's daughter, and young; she
+would be as wax in his hands.  A passion remained in Umballa's heart,
+but it was now the passion of revenge.
+
+When he had recovered sufficiently he gave orders to one of the
+soldiers to return to the city, to bring back at once servants,
+elephants and all that would be required for a long pursuit.  The
+messenger was also to make known these preparations to the council, who
+would undertake to forward the cable submitted to them.  All these
+things off his mind, Umballa sat down and shivered outwardly, while he
+boiled within.  He was implacable; he would blot out his enemy, kith
+and kin.  Colonel Hare should never dip his fingers into the filigree
+basket--never while he, Durga Ram, lived.
+
+Quite unknown, quite unsuspected by him, for all the activity of his
+spies, a volcano was beginning to grumble under his feet.  All tyrants,
+the petty and the great, have heard it: the muttering of the oppressed.
+
+Perhaps the fugitives had gone thirty miles when suddenly the jungle
+ended abruptly and a desert opened up before them.  Beyond stood a
+purple line of rugged hills.  Ramabai raised his hand, and the
+elephants came to a halt.
+
+"I believe I know where I am," said Ramabai.  "Somewhere between us and
+yonder hills is a walled city, belonging to Bala Khan, a Pathan who
+sometimes styles himself as a rajah.  He has a body of fierce fighting
+men; and he lives unmolested for two reasons: looting would not be
+worth while and his position is isolated and almost impregnable.  Now,
+if I am right, we shall find shelter there, for he was an old friend of
+my father's and I might call him a friend of mine, since I sell sheep
+for him occasionally."
+
+"Bala Khan?" mused Bruce, reminiscently.  "Isn't he the chap who has a
+sacred white elephant?"
+
+"It is the same," answered Ramabai.  "We can reach there before
+sundown.  It would be wise to hasten, however, as this desert and those
+hills are infested with lawless nomadic bands of masterless
+men--brigands, you call them.  They would cut the throat of a man for
+the sake of his clothes."
+
+"Let us go on," said the colonel.  "I don't care where.  I am dead for
+want of food and sleep."
+
+"And I, too," confessed Kathlyn; "My arm pains me badly."
+
+[Illustration: My arm pains me badly.]
+
+"My poor Kit!" murmured her father gloomily.  "And all this because I
+told you half a truth, because in play I tried to make a mystery out of
+a few plain facts.  I should have told you everything, warned you
+against following in case I failed to turn up."
+
+"I should have followed you just the same."
+
+"Shall I rebind the arm?" asked Bruce, turning.
+
+"No, thanks." She smiled down at him.  "This bandage will serve till we
+reach Bala Khan's."
+
+"By the way, Colonel, is there a pair of binoculars in the howdah?"
+
+"Yes.  Do you want them?"
+
+"No.  Just to be sure they were there.  We may have occasion to use
+them later, in case this place Ramabai is taking us to should turn out
+hostile.  I like to know what is going on ahead of me."
+
+"Poor Kit!" reiterated the colonel.
+
+"Never mind, dad; you meant it all for the best; and you must not let
+our present misfortunes convince you that that yogi or guru cast a
+spell of evil over you.  That is all nonsense."
+
+"My child, this is the Orient, Asia.  Things happen here that are
+outside the pale of logic.  Bruce, am I not right?"
+
+"I have seen many unbelievable things here in India," replied Bruce
+reluctantly.  "Think of yesterday and to-day, Miss Kathlyn."
+
+"Yes; but the curse of a priest who believes in different gods, who
+kotows before a painted idol!  I just simply can't believe anything so
+foolish.  Dad, put the thought out of your mind for my sake.  So long
+as we have the will to try we'll see California again before many
+weeks."
+
+"Do you feel like that?" curiously.
+
+"In my soul, dad, in my soul."  She stared dreamily toward the
+empurpling hills.  "I can't explain, but that's the way I feel.  Some
+day we shall be free again, reenter the life we have known and all this
+will resolve itself into an idle dream.  Ahmed has said it."
+
+"No, he is alive somewhere back there."
+
+Bruce turned to look at her again, but Kathlyn was still gazing at the
+hills without seeing them.
+
+"A white elephant," mused the colonel.  "Do you know it for a fact that
+this Bala Khan has a white elephant?" he called across to Ramabai.
+
+"I have never seen it Sahib.  It is what they say."
+
+"A pair of mottled ears is the nearest I ever came to seeing a white
+elephant, and I've hunted them for thirty years, here, in Ceylon, in
+Burma, in Africa.  There was once a tiger near Madras that hadn't any
+stripes.  The natives would not permit him to be killed because they
+held that, being unique, he was sacred.  A sacred white elephant!  Poor
+simple-minded fools!"  The colonel felt in his pockets, then dropped
+his hands dispiritedly.  How long since he had tasted tobacco?  "Bruce,
+have you got a cheroot in your pocket?  I think a smoke would brace me
+up."
+
+Bruce laughed and passed up a broken cigar, which the colonel lighted
+carefully.  The weariness seemed to go out of his face magically.
+
+"This Bala Khan should be Mohammedan," said Bruce.  "The Pathan
+despises the Hindu."
+
+"There are Hindus in yonder city; quite as many," said Ramabai, "as
+there are Mohammedans.  Even the Pathan expects that which he can not
+understand."
+
+"Isn't that the wall behind that sand-hill?  Let me have the glasses a
+moment.  Colonel. . . .  H'm!  The walled city, all right.  Some people
+moving about outside.  Dancers, I should say."
+
+"Professional," explained Ramabai.
+
+"Nothing religious, then?  By George!"
+
+"What is it?" asked the colonel.
+
+"Take a look.  There's an elephant being led into the city gates."
+
+The colonel peered eagerly through the glasses.
+
+"The sun is shining on him. . . .  No! he is . . . white!  A white
+elephant!  I'd give ten thousand this minute to own it.  There, it's
+entered the gate.  Well, well, well!  And I've lived to see it!  Poor
+old Barnum, to have carried around a tinted pachyderm!  He's white as
+any elephant flesh could be.  Those dancing chaps are going in, too.
+What caste would those dancers be, Ramabai?"
+
+"Pariahs, quite possibly; probably brigands."
+
+The rim of the sun was sinking rapidly as Bruce drew his elephant to a
+halt before the gate of the white walled city.  The guard ran out,
+barring the way.
+
+"I am Ramabai, a friend of Bala Khan.  I am come to pay him a visit.
+Direct me to his house or his palace."
+
+The authority in Ramabai's voice was sufficient for the guard, who gave
+the necessary directions.  The party continued on into town.  It was an
+odd place for a walled city.  There wasn't a tree about, not a sign of
+boscage, except some miles away where the hills began to slope upward.
+Bruce wondered what the inhabitants fed upon.  It was more like an
+Egyptian village than anything he had ever seen in India.  Bruce asked
+for his rifle, which he laid carelessly in the crook of his arm.  One
+never could tell.
+
+Presently they came upon a group in the center of which were the
+dancers at their vocations.  They ceased their mad whirlings at the
+sight of the two elephants.  There were nine of these men, fierce of
+eye and built muscularly.  No effeminate Hindus here, mused Bruce, who
+did not like the looks of them at all.  The surrounding natives stared
+with variant emotions.  Many of them had never seen a white man before.
+Their gaze centered upon the colonel.  Kathlyn was almost as dark as
+Pundita, and as for Bruce, only his European dress distinguished him
+from Ramabai, for there was scarcely a shade difference in color.  But
+the colonel, having been weeks in prison, was as pale as alabaster and
+his hair shone like threads of silver.
+
+On through the narrow streets, sometimes the sides of the elephants
+scraping against the mud and plaster of the buildings, and one could
+easily look into the second stories.  No one seemed hostile; only a
+natural curiosity was evinced by those standing in doorways or leaning
+out of windows.
+
+The house of Bala Khan was not exactly a palace, but it was of
+respectable size.  A high wall surrounded the compound.  There was a
+gateway, open at this moment.  A servant ran out and loudly demanded
+what was wanted.
+
+"Say to your master, Bala Khan, that Ramabai, son of Maaho Singh, his
+old friend, awaits with friendly greetings."
+
+"Kit," whispered Kathlyn's father, "this chap Ramabai wouldn't make a
+bad king.  And look!" excitedly.  "There's the sacred elephant, and if
+he isn't white, I'll eat my hat!"
+
+Kathlyn sighed gratefully.  That her father could be interested in
+anything was a good sign for the future.  A few days' rest and
+wholesome food would put him half-way on his legs.  Her own vitality
+was an inheritance from her father.  The male line of the family was
+well known for its recuperative powers.
+
+The servant ran back into the compound and spoke to a dignified man,
+who proved to be a high caste Brahmin, having in his charge the care of
+the white elephant.  He disappeared and returned soon with the Khan.
+The pleasant face, though proudly molded, together with the simplicity
+of his appearance, conveyed to Kathlyn the fact that here was a man to
+be trusted, at least for the present.  He greeted Ramabai cordially,
+struck his hands and ordered out the servants to take charge of what
+luggage there was and to lead away the elephants to be fed and watered.
+
+Courteously he asked Kathlyn how she had become injured and Ramabai
+acted as interpreter.  He then ushered them into his house, spread rugs
+and cushions for them to sit upon and mildly inquired what had brought
+the son of his old friend so far.
+
+Colonel Hare spoke several dialects fluently and briefly told (between
+sips of tea and bites of cakes which had been set out for the guests)
+his experiences in Allaha.
+
+"The rulers of Allaha," observed Bala Khan, "have always been half mad."
+
+Ramabai nodded in agreement.
+
+"You should never have gone back," went on Bala Khan, lighting a
+cigarette and eying Kathlyn with wonder and interest.  "Ah, that Durga
+Ram whom they call Umballa!  I have heard of him, but fortunately for
+him our paths have not crossed in any way."  He blew a cloud of smoke
+above his head.  "Well, he has shown wisdom in avoiding me.  In front
+of me, a desert; behind me, verdant hills and many sheep and cattle,
+well guarded.  I am too far away for them to bother.  Sometimes the
+desert thieves cause a flurry, but that is nothing.  It keeps the
+tulwar from growing rusty," patting the great knife at his side.
+
+Bala Khan was muscular; his lean hands denoted work; his clear eyes,
+the sun and the wind.  He was in height and building something after
+the pattern of the colonel.
+
+"And to force a crown on me!" said the colonel.
+
+"You could have given it to this Umballa."
+
+"That I would not do."
+
+"In each case you showed forethought.  The Durga Ram, when he had you
+where he wanted you----"  Bala Khan drew a finger suggestively across
+his throat.  "Ramabai, son of my friend, I will have many sheep for you
+this autumn.  What is it to me whether you Hindus eat beef or not?"  He
+laughed.
+
+"I am not a Hindu in that sense," returned Ramabai.  "I have but one
+God."
+
+"And Mahomet is His prophet," said the host piously.
+
+"Perhaps.  I am a Christian."
+
+Bruce stirred uneasily, but his alarm was without foundation.
+
+"A Christian," mused Bala Khan.  "Ah, well; have no fear of me.  There
+is no Mahdi in these hills.  There is but one road to Paradise and
+argument does not help us on the way."
+
+Lowly and quickly Pundita translated for Kathlyn so that she might miss
+none of the conversation.
+
+"The Colonel Sahib looks worn."
+
+"I am."
+
+"Now, in my travels I have been to Bombay, and there I dressed like you
+white people.  I have the complete.  Perhaps the Colonel Sahib would be
+pleased to see if he can wear it?  And also the use of my barber?"
+
+"Bala Khan," cried the colonel, "you are a prince indeed!  It will
+tonic me like medicine.  Thanks, thanks!"
+
+"It is well."
+
+"You have a wonderful elephant out there in the compound," said Bruce,
+who had remained a silent listener to all that had gone before.
+
+"Ah!  That is a curiosity.  He is worshiped by Hindus and reverenced by
+my own people.  I am his official custodian.  There is a saying among
+the people that ill will befall me should I lose, sell, or permit him
+to be stolen."
+
+"And many have offered to buy?" inquired the colonel.
+
+"Many."
+
+When the colonel appeared at supper, simple but substantial, he was a
+new man.  He stood up straight, though his back still smarted from the
+lash.  Kathlyn was delighted at the change.
+
+After the meal was over and coffee was drunk, the Khan conducted his
+guests to his armory, of which he was very proud.  Guns of all
+descriptions lined the walls.  Some of them Bruce would have liked to
+own, to decorate the walls of his own armory, thousands of miles away.
+
+The colonel whispered a forgotten prayer as, later, he laid down his
+weary aching limbs upon the rope bed.  Almost immediately he sank into
+slumber as deep and silent as the sea.
+
+Kathlyn and Bruce, however, went up to the hanging gardens and remained
+there till nine, marveling over the beauty of the night.  The Pathan
+city lay under their gaze with a likeness to one of those magic cities
+one reads about in the chronicles of Sindbad the Sailor.  But they
+spoke no word of love.  When alone with this remarkable young woman,
+Bruce found himself invariably tongue-tied.
+
+At the same hour, less than fifty miles away, Umballa stood before the
+opening of his elaborate tent, erected at sundown by the river's brink,
+and scowled at the moon.  He saw no beauty in the translucent sky, in
+the silvery paleness of the world below.  He wanted revenge, and the
+word hissed in his brain as a viper hisses in the dark of its cave.
+
+Dung fires twinkled and soldiers lounged about them, smoking and
+gossiping.  They had been given an earnest against their long
+delinquent wages; and they were in a happy frame of mind.  Their dead
+comrades were dead and mourning was for widows; but for them would be
+the pleasures of swift reprisals.  The fugitives had gone toward the
+desert, and in that bleak stretch of treeless land it would not be
+difficult to find them, once they started in pursuit.
+
+Midnight.
+
+In the compound the moonlight lay upon everything; upon the fat sides
+and back of the sacred white elephant, upon the three low caste
+keepers, now free of the vigilant eye of their Brahmin chief.  The
+gates were barred and closed; all inside the house of Bala Khan were
+asleep.  Far away a sentry dozed on his rifle, on the wall.  The three
+keepers whispered and chuckled among themselves.
+
+"Who will know?" said one.
+
+"The moon will not speak," said another.
+
+"Then, let us go and smoke."
+
+The three approached the elephant.  A bit of gymnastics and one of them
+was boosted to the back of the elephant to whom this episode was more
+or less familiar.  Another followed; the third was pulled up, and from
+the elephant's back they made the top of the wall and disappeared down
+into the street.  Here they paused cautiously, for two guards always
+patrolled the front of the compound during the night.  Presently the
+three truants stole away toward the bazaars which in this desert town
+occupied but a single street.  Down they went into a cellar way and the
+guru's curse stalked beside them.  For opium is the handmaiden of all
+curses.
+
+Perhaps twenty minutes later slight sounds came from the front of the
+compound wall.  A rifle barrel clattered upon the cobbles.  Then, over
+the wall, near the elephant, a head appeared, then a body.  This was
+repeated four times, and four light-footed nomads of the desert lowered
+themselves into the compound.  They ran quickly to the gate and
+noiselessly unbarred it.  Outside were five more desert nomads,
+gathered about the insensible bodies of the sentries.
+
+These nine men were the dancers who had entered the town in advance of
+Kathlyn.  For weeks they had lain in wait for this moment.  They had
+spied upon the three low caste keepers and upon learning of their
+nocturnal junkets into the opium den had cast the die this night.
+
+With the utmost caution they approached the sacred elephant, took off
+his chains and led him from the compound.  Immediately six of the
+marauders trotted far ahead toward the gate they knew to be the least
+guarded.  The sacred elephant, passing through the streets, attended by
+three men, aroused no suspicions in any straggler who saw.  So remote
+was the walled city, so seemingly impregnable, and so little interfered
+with that it was only human that its guardians should eventually grow
+careless.
+
+When the keepers, straggling under the fumes of the drug, returned near
+daybreak, first to find the gate open, second to find their sacred
+charge gone, they fled in terror; for it would be death, lingering and
+painful, for them to stay and explain how and why they had left their
+post.
+
+The wild and lawless brigands knew exactly what they were about.  There
+were several agents of European and American circuses after this white
+elephant, and as it could not be purchased there was no reason why it
+could not be stolen.
+
+When the Brahmin arrived at sunrise to find his vocation gone he set up
+a wailing which awakened the household.  The Khan was furious and
+ordered a general search.  He vowed death to the foul hands which had
+done this sacrilege!
+
+Kathlyn and the others were genuinely sorry when they heard the news.
+They were in the armory when the Khan announced what had taken place.
+
+Said he: "Come, you are all skilled hunters.  Find me my elephant and
+these guns and newer and surer ones shall protect you from Durga Ram,
+should he take it into his head to come this way."
+
+The colonel, Bruce and Ramabai set off at once.  After they had gone a
+camel rider entered the compound and sought audience with Bala Khan.
+Kathlyn and Pundita were in the compound at the time and the former was
+greatly interested in the saddlebags, attached to one of which was a
+binocular case.  Kathlyn could not resist the inclination to open this
+case.  It contained an exceptionally fine pair of glasses, such as were
+used in that day in the British army.  No doubt they were a part of
+some loot.
+
+Suddenly an idea came to her.  She asked permission (through Pundita)
+to ride the camel outside the town.  After some argument the servant in
+charge consented.
+
+Upon a knoll outside the city--a hillock of sand three or four hundred
+feet in height--Kathlyn tried the glasses.  From this promontory she
+had a range of something like fifteen to twenty miles.  Back and forth
+her gaze roved and suddenly paused.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+THE PLAN OF RAMABAI
+
+When Kathlyn returned to the compound it was with the news that she had
+discovered a group of men, some twelve or fifteen miles to the west.
+They had paused at what appeared to be a well, and with them was the
+sacred white elephant.  Bala Khan was for giving orders at once to set
+out with his racing camels to catch and crucify every mother's son of
+them on the city walls.  But Ramabai interposed.
+
+"As I came toward the compound I was given a message.  The man who gave
+it to me was gone before I could get a good look at his face.  These
+men who stole the sacred white elephant are brave and desperate.  At
+the first sign of pursuit they promise to kill the elephant."
+
+"And by the beard of the prophet," cried Bala Khan, his face purpling
+with passion, "these men of the desert keep their promises.  And so do
+I.  I promise later to nail each one of them to the walls to die
+hanging to nails!"
+
+"But just now," said Ramabai quietly, "the main thing is to rescue the
+elephant, and I have a plan."
+
+"Let me hear it."
+
+"From what you told me last night," went on Ramabai, "those nomads or
+brigands are opium fiends."
+
+Bala Khan nodded.
+
+"Bruce Sahib, here, and I will undertake to carry them doctored opium.
+I know something about the drug.  I believe that we saw the thieves
+last evening as we came through the streets.  My plan is this: we will
+take five racing camels, go north and turn, making the well from the
+west.  That will not look like pursuit."
+
+"But five camels?"  Bala Khan was curious.
+
+"Yes.  In order to allay the suspicions of the brigands, Kathlyn
+Mem-sahib and my wife must accompany us."
+
+The colonel objected, but Kathlyn overruled his objections.
+
+"But, Kit, they will recognize us.  They will not have forgot me.  They
+will know that we have come from the town, despite the fact that to all
+appearances we come from the West."
+
+Bruce also shook his head.  "It doesn't look good, Ramabai.  Why not we
+three men?"
+
+"They would be suspicious at once.  They would reason, if they saw
+Kathlyn Mem-sahib and my wife with us that we were harmless.  Will you
+trust me?"
+
+"Anywhere," said the colonel.  "But they will simply make us prisoners
+along with the elephant."
+
+"Ah, but the Colonel Sahib forgets the opium."  Ramabai laid his hand
+upon the colonel's arm.  "Let them make prisoners of us.  The very
+first thing they will do will be to search the saddle-bags.  They will
+find the opium.  In a quarter of an hour they will be as dead and we
+can return."
+
+"It is a good plan," said Bala Khan, when the conversation was fully
+translated to him.  "And once the elephant is back in the compound I'll
+send a dozen men back for the rogues.  Ah! they will play with me; they
+will steal into my town, overcome my guards, take the apple of my eye!
+Ramabai, thou art a friend indeed.  Haste and Allah fend for thee!
+Umballa may arrive with an army, but he shall not enter my gates."
+
+Guided by a servant, Bruce and Ramabai set off for the opium den.  The
+proprietor understood exactly what they desired.  There were times when
+men entered his place who were in need of a long sleep, having money
+tucked away in their fantastic cummerbunds.
+
+So, mounted upon five swift camels, the party started off on a wide
+circle.  Whether they caught the brigands at the well or on the way to
+their mountain homes was of no great importance.  Ramabai was quite
+certain that the result would be the same.  The colonel grumbled a good
+deal.  Supposing the rascals did not smoke; what then?
+
+"They will smoke," declared Ramabai confidently.  "The old rascal of
+whom we bought the opium has entertained them more than once.  They are
+too poor to own pipes.  Have patience, Colonel Sahib.  A good deal
+depends upon the success of our adventure this morning.  If I know
+anything about Umballa, he will shortly be on the march.  Bala Khan has
+given his word."
+
+Had it not been for liberal use of opium the night before, the brigands
+would not have tarried so long at the well; but they were terribly
+thirsty, a bit nerve shattered and craved for the drug.  The chief
+alone had fully recovered.  He cursed and raved at his men, kicked and
+beat them.  What!  After all these weeks of waiting, to let sleep stand
+between them and thousands of rupees!  Dogs!  Pigs!  Did they not
+recollect that Bala Khan had a way of nailing thieves outside the walls
+of his city?  Well, he for one would not wait.  He would mount the
+sacred white elephant and head toward the caves in the hills.  Let them
+who would decorate the walls of Bala Khan.  The threat of Bala Khan put
+life into the eight followers, and they were getting ready to move on,
+when one of them discovered a small caravan approaching from the west.
+
+Camels?  Ha!  Here was a chance of leaving Bala Khan's city far in the
+rear.  And there would be loot besides.  Those helmets were never worn
+by any save white men.  The chief scowled under his shading palm.
+Women!  Oh, this was going to be something worth while.
+
+When the caravan came within hailing distance the chief of the brigands
+stepped forward menacingly.  The new arrivals were informed that they
+were prisoners, and were bidden to dismount at once.
+
+"But we are on the way to the city of Bala Khan," remonstrated Ramabai.
+
+"Which you left this morning!" jeered the chief.
+
+"Dismount!"
+
+"But I am selling opium there!"
+
+"Opium!"
+
+"Where is it?  Give it to us!" cried one of the brigands.
+
+The chief thought quickly.  If his men would smoke they should suffer
+the penalty of being left at the well to await the arrival of the
+tender Bala Khan.  The white elephant was worth ten thousand rupees.
+He might not be obliged to share these bags of silver.  His men could
+not complain.  They had discharged him.  Let them have the pipes.  He
+himself would only pretend to smoke.
+
+But the first whiff of the fumes was too much for his will power.  He
+sucked in the smoke, down to the bottom of his very soul, and suddenly
+found peace.  The superdrug with which the poppy had been mixed was
+unknown to Ramabai, but he had often witnessed tests of its potency.
+It worked with the rapidity of viper venom.  Within ten minutes after
+the first inhalation the nine brigands sank back upon the sand, as
+nearly dead as any man might care to be.
+
+At once the elephant was liberated, and the party made off toward the
+town.  Colonel Hare, suspicious of everything these days, marveled over
+the simplicity of the trick and the smoothness with which it had been
+turned.  He began to have hope for the future.  Perhaps this time they
+were really going to escape from this land accursed.
+
+There was great powwowing and salaaming at the gate as the sacred white
+elephant loomed into sight.  The old Brahmin who had charge of him wept
+for joy.  He was still a personage, respected, salaamed to, despite the
+preponderance of Mohammedans.  His sacred elephant!
+
+Bala Khan was joyous.  Here was the sacred elephant once more in the
+compound, and not a piece out of his treasure chest.  He was in luck.
+In the midst of his self-congratulations came the alarming news that a
+large body of men were seen approaching across the desert from the
+direction of Allaha.  Bala Khan, his chiefs and his guests climbed to
+the top of the wall and beheld the spectacle in truth.  It required but
+a single look through the binoculars to discover to whom this host
+belonged.
+
+"Umballa!" said Ramabai,
+
+"Ah!  Durga Ram, to pay his respects."  Bala Khan rubbed his hands
+together.  It had been many moons since he had met a tulwar.
+
+The colonel examined his revolver coldly.  The moment that Umballa came
+within range the colonel intended to shoot.  This matter was going to
+be settled definitely, here and now.  So long as Umballa lived, a dread
+menace hung above Kathlyn's head.  So, then, Umballa must die.
+
+Bala Khan was for beginning the warfare at once, but Bruce argued him
+out of this idea.  Let them first learn what Umballa intended to do.
+There was no need of shedding blood needlessly.
+
+"You white people must always talk," grumbled the Khan, who was a
+fighting man, born of a race of fighters yet to bow the head to the
+yoke.  "It is better to kill and talk afterward.  I have given my word
+to protect you, and the word of Bala Khan is as sound as British gold."
+
+"For that," said Bruce, "thanks."
+
+"Keep your men from the walls," cried Kathlyn, "and bring me the white
+elephant.  I would deal with this man Umballa."
+
+Her request was granted.  So when Durga Ram and has soldiers arrived
+before the closed gates they beheld Kathlyn mounted on the white
+elephant alone.
+
+"What wish you here, Durga Ram?" she called down to the man on the
+richly caparisoned war elephant.
+
+"You!  Your father and those who have helped you to escape."
+
+"Indeed!  Well, then, come and take us."
+
+"I would speak with Bala Khan," imperiously.
+
+"You will deal with me alone," declared Kathlyn.
+
+Umballa reached for his rifle, but a loud murmur from the men stayed
+his impulse.
+
+"It is the sacred white elephant, Highness.  None dare fire at that,"
+his captain warned him.  "Those with him or upon him are in sanctity."
+
+"Tell Bala Khan," said Umballa, controlling his rage as best he could,
+"tell Bala Khan that I would be his friend, not his enemy."
+
+"Bala Khan," boomed a voice from the other side of the wall, "cares not
+for your friendship.  Whatever the Mem-sahib says is my word.  What!
+Does Allaha want war for the sake of gratifying Durga Ram's spite?
+Begone, and thank your evil gods that I am not already at your lying
+treacherous throat.  Take yourself off, Durga Ram.  The people of Bala
+Khan do not make war on women and old men.  The Mem-sahib and her
+friends are under my protection."
+
+"I will buy them!" shouted Umballa, recollecting the greed of Bala Khan.
+
+"My word is not for sale!" came back.
+
+Kathlyn understood by the expression on Umballa's countenance what was
+taking place.  She smiled down at her enemy.
+
+"So be it, Bala Khan," snarled Umballa, his rage no longer on the rein.
+"In one month's time I shall return, and of your city there will not be
+one stone upon another when I leave it!"
+
+"One month!" Ramabai laughed.
+
+"Why are you always smiling, Ramabai?" asked Bruce.
+
+"I have had a dream, Sahib," answered Ramabai, still smiling.  "Umballa
+will not return here."
+
+"You could tell me more than that."
+
+"I could, but will not," the smile giving way to sternness.
+
+"If only I knew what had become of Ahmed," said the colonel, when the
+last of Umballa's soldiers disappeared whence they had come, "I should
+feel content."
+
+"We shall find him, or he will find us, if he is alive," said Kathlyn.
+"Now let us make ready for the last journey.  One hundred miles to the
+west is the Arabian gulf.  It is a caravan port, and there will be
+sailing vessels and steamships."  She shook him by the shoulders
+joyously.  "Dad, we are going home, home!"
+
+"Kit, I want to see Winnie!"
+
+The word sent a twinge of pain through Bruce's heart.  Home!  Would he
+ever have a real one?  Was she to go out of his life at last?  Kathlyn
+Hare.
+
+"But you, Ramabai?" said Kathlyn.
+
+"I shall return to Allaha, I and Pundita," replied Ramabai.
+
+"It will be death!" objected Bruce and Kathlyn together.
+
+"I think not," and Ramabai permitted one of his mysterious smiles to
+stir his lips.
+
+"Ramabai!" whispered Pundita fearfully.
+
+"Yes.  After all, why should we wait?"
+
+"I?"
+
+"Even so!"
+
+"What is all this about?" inquired Kathlyn.
+
+"Allaha is weary of Umballa's iron heel, weary of a vacillating
+council.  And the time has arrived when the two must be abolished.  A
+thousand men await the turn of my hand.  And who has a better right to
+the throne of Allaha than Pundita, my wife?"
+
+"Good!" cried Kathlyn, her eyes sparkling.  "Good!  And if we can help
+you----"
+
+"Kit," interposed the colonel, "we can give Ramabai and Pundita only
+our good wishes.  Our way lies to the west, to the seaport and home."
+
+Ramabai bowed.
+
+And the party returned to the compound rather subdued.  This quiet
+young native banker would go far.
+
+"And if I am ever queen, will my beautiful Mem-sahib come back some day
+and visit me?"
+
+"That I promise, Pundita, though I have no love for Allaha."
+
+"We will go with you to the coast," said Ramabai, "and on our return to
+Allaha will see what has become of the faithful Ahmed."
+
+"For that my thanks," responded the colonel.  "Ahmed has been with me
+for many years, and has shared with me many hardships.  If he lives, he
+will be a marked man, so far as Umballa is concerned.  Aid him to come
+to me.  The loss of my camp and bungalow is nothing.  The fact that we
+are all alive to-day is enough for me.  But you, Bruce; will it hit you
+hard?"
+
+Bruce laughed easily.  "I am young.  Besides, it was a pastime for me,
+though I went at it in a business way."
+
+"I am glad of that.  There is nothing to regret in leaving this part of
+the world."  Yet the colonel sighed.
+
+And Kathlyn heard that sigh, and intuitively understood.  The filigree
+basket of gems.  Of such were the minds of men.
+
+But the colonel was taken ill that night, and it was a week before he
+left his bed, and another before he was considered strong enough to
+attempt the journey.  Bala Khan proved to be a fine host, for he loved
+men of deeds, and this white-haired old man was one of the right
+kidney.  He must be strong ere he took the long journey over the hot
+sands to the sea.
+
+A spy of Umballa's watched and waited to carry the news to his master,
+the day his master's enemies departed from the haven of Bala Khan's
+walled city.
+
+When the day came the Khan insisted that his guests should use his own
+camels and servants, and upon Ramabai's return the elephants would be
+turned over to him for his journey back to Allaha.  Thus, one bright
+morning, the caravan set forth for what was believed to be the last
+journey.
+
+And Umballa's spy hastened away.
+
+All day long they wound in and out, over and down the rolling mounds of
+sand, pausing only once, somewhere near four o'clock, when they
+dismounted for a space to enjoy a bite to eat and a cup of tea.  Then
+on again, through the night, making about sixty miles in all.  At dawn
+they came upon a well, and here they decided to rest till sunset.
+Beyond the well, some twenty-five miles, lay the low mountain range
+over which they must pass to the sea.  At the foot of these hills stood
+a small village, which they reached about ten o'clock that night.
+
+They found the village wide awake.  The pariah dogs were howling.  And
+on making inquiries it was learned that a tiger had been prowling about
+for three or four nights, and that they had set a trap cage for the
+brute.  The colonel and Bruce at once assumed charge.  The old zest
+returned with all its vigor and allurement.  Even Kathlyn and Pundita
+decided to join the expedition, though Pundita knew nothing of arms.
+
+Now, this village was the home of the nine brigands, and whenever they
+were about they dominated the villagers.  They were returning from a
+foraging expedition into the hills, and discovered the trap cage with
+the tiger inside.  Very good.  The tiger was no use to any but
+themselves, since they knew where to sell it.  They were in the act of
+pulling the brush away from the cage when they heard sounds of others
+approaching.  With the suspicion which was a part of their business
+they immediately ran to cover to see who it was.
+
+Instantly the chief of the brigands discovered that these new arrivals
+were none other than the white people who had given him and his men a
+superdrug and thereby mulcted them out of the sacred white elephant
+which was to have brought them a fortune.
+
+Unfortunately, the men of Kathlyn's party laid aside their weapons on
+approaching the cage to tear away the brush.  Eight brigands, at a sign
+from their chief, surrounded the investigators, who found themselves
+nicely caught.
+
+The natives fled incontinently.  So did Bala Khan's camel men.
+
+"Death if you move!" snarled the chief.  "Ah, you gave us bad opium,
+and we dropped like logs!  Swine!"  He raised his rifle threateningly.
+
+"Wait a minute," said Bruce coolly.  "What you want is money."
+
+"Ay, money!  Ten thousand rupees!"
+
+"It shall be given you if you let us go.  You will conduct us over the
+hills to the sea, and there the money will be given you."
+
+The chief laughed long and loudly.  "What!  Am I a goat to put my head
+inside the tiger's jaws?  Nay, I shall hold you here for ransom.  Let
+them bring gold.  Now, take hold," indicating the trap cage.  "We shall
+take this fine man eater along with us.  I am speaking to you, white
+men, and you, pig of a Hindu!  Chalu!  I will kill any one who falters.
+Opium!  Ah, yes!  You shall pay for my headache and the sickness of my
+comrades.  Chalu!  And your white woman; she shall give a ransom of her
+own!"
+
+The village jutted out into the desert after the fashion of a
+peninsula.  On the west of it lay another stretch of sand.  They
+followed the verdure till they reached the base of the rocky hills,
+which were barren of any vegetation; huge jumbles of granite the color
+of porphyry.  During the night they made about ten miles, and at dawn
+were smothered by one of those raging sand-storms, prevalent in this
+latitude.  They had to abandon the trap cage and seek shelter in a
+near-by cave.  Here they remained huddled together till the storm died
+away.
+
+"It has blown itself out," commented the chief.  Then he spoke to
+Ramabai.  "Who is this man?" with a nod toward the colonel.
+
+"He is an American."
+
+"He came for Allaha?"
+
+"Yes," said Ramabai unsuspiciously.
+
+"Ha!  Then that great prince did not lie."
+
+"What prince?" cried Ramabai, now alarmed.
+
+"The Prince Durga Ram.  Three fat bags of silver, he said, would he pay
+me for the white hunter with the white hair.  It is the will of Allah!"
+
+The colonel's head sank upon his knees.  Kathlyn patted his shoulder.
+
+"Father, I tell you mind not the mouthings of a vile guru.  We shall
+soon be free."
+
+"Kit, this time, if I return to Allaha, I shall die.  I feel it in my
+bones."
+
+"And I say no!"
+
+The chief turned to Ramabai.  "You and the woman with you shall this
+day seek two camels of the five you borrowed from Bala Khan.  You will
+journey at once to Allaha.  But do not waste your time in stopping to
+acquaint Bala Khan.  At the first sign of armed men each of those left
+shall die in yonder tiger cage."
+
+"We refuse!"
+
+"Then be the first to taste the tiger's fangs!"
+
+The chief called to his men to seize Ramabai and Pundita, when Kathlyn
+interfered.
+
+"Go, Ramabai; it is useless to fight against these men who mean all
+they say, and who are as cruel as the tiger himself."
+
+"It shall be as the Mem-sahib says," replied Ramabai resignedly.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+One morning Umballa entered the judgment hall of the palace, disturbed
+in mind.  Anonymous notes, bidding him not to persecute Ramabai and his
+wife further, on pain of death.  He had found these notes at the door
+of his zenana, in his stables, on his pillows.  In his heart he had
+sworn the death of Ramabai; but here was a phase upon which he had set
+no calculation.  Had there not been unrest abroad he would have scorned
+to pay any attention to these warnings; but this Ramabai--may he burn
+in hell!--was a power with the populace, with low and high castes
+alike, and for the first time, now that he gave the matter careful
+thought, his own future did not look particularly clear.  More than
+ever he must plan with circumspection.  He must trap Ramabai, openly,
+lawfully, in the matter of sedition.
+
+Imagine his astonishment when, a few minutes after his arrival, Ramabai
+and Pundita demanded audience, the one straight of back and proud of
+look, the other serene and tranquil!  Umballa felt a wave of bland
+[Transcriber's note: blind?] hatred surge over him, but he gave no
+sign.  Ramabai stated his case briefly.  Colonel Hare and his daughter
+were being held prisoners for ransom.  Three bags of silver--something
+like five thousand rupees--were demanded by the captors.
+
+The council looked toward Umballa, who nodded, having in mind the part
+of the good Samaritan, with reservations, to be sure.  Having trod the
+paths of the white man, he had acquired a certain adroitness in holding
+his people.  They had at best only the stability of chickens.  What at
+one moment was a terror was at another a feast.  For the present, then,
+he would pretend that he had forgot all about Ramabai's part in the
+various unsuccessful episodes.
+
+To the council and the gurus (or priests) he declared that he himself
+would undertake to assume the part of envoy; he himself would bring the
+legal king of Allaha back to his throne.  True, the daughter had been
+crowned, but she had forfeited her rights.  Thus he would return with
+Colonel Hare as soon as he could make the journey and return.
+
+"He is contemplating some treachery," said Ramabai to his wife.  "I
+must try to learn what it is."
+
+In his shop in the bazaars Lal Singh had resumed his awl.  He had, as a
+companion, a bent and shaky old man, whose voice, however, possessed a
+resonance which belied the wrinkles and palsied hands.
+
+"The rains," said Lal Singh, "are very late this year.  Leather will be
+poor."
+
+"Aye."
+
+All of which signified to Ahmed that the British Raj had too many
+affairs just then to give proper attention to the muddle in Allaha.
+
+"But there is this man Ramabai.  He runs deep."
+
+"So!"
+
+"He has been conspiring for months."
+
+"Then why does he not strike?"
+
+"He is wary.  He is wary; a good sign."  Lal Singh reached for his pipe
+and set the water bubbling.  "In a few weeks I believe all will be
+ready, even the British Raj."
+
+"Why will men be sheep?"
+
+Lal Singh shrugged.  "Only Allah knows.  But what about this guru's
+curse you say follows the Colonel Sahib?"
+
+"It is true.  I was there," said Ahmed.  "And here am I, with a price
+on my head!"
+
+"In the business we are in there will always be a price on our heads.
+And Umballa will bring back the Colonel Sahib.  What then?"
+
+"We know what we know, Lal Singh," and the face under the hood broke
+into a smile.
+
+Five days passed.  The chief of the brigands was growing restless.  He
+finally declared that unless the ransom was delivered that night he
+would rid himself of them all.  The tiger was starving.  In order to
+prove that he was not chattering idly he had the prisoners tied to the
+wheels of the cage.  It would at least amuse him to watch their growing
+terror.
+
+"Look!  Some one is coming!" cried Kathlyn.
+
+The chief saw the caravan at the same time, and he set up a shout of
+pleasure.  Three fat bags of silver rupees!
+
+Umballa, the good Samaritan, bargained with the chief.  He did not want
+all the prisoners, only one.  Three bags of silver would be forthcoming
+upon the promise that the young woman and the young man should be
+disposed of.
+
+"By the tiger?"
+
+Umballa shrugged.  To him it mattered not how.  The chief, weary of his
+vigil, agreed readily enough, and Umballa turned over the silver.
+
+"The guru, my Kit!  You see?  This is the end.  Well, I am tired.  A
+filigree basket of gems!"
+
+"So!" said Umballa, smiling at Kathlyn.  "You and your lover shall
+indeed be wed--by the striped one!  A sad tale I shall take back with
+me.  You were both dead when I arrived."
+
+Presently Bruce and Kathlyn were alone.  They could hear the brute in
+the cage, snarling and clawing at the wooden door.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+LOVE
+
+The golden sands, the purple cliffs, the translucent blue of the
+heavens, and the group of picturesque rascals jabbering and
+gesticulating and pressing about their chief, made a picture Kathlyn
+was never to forget.
+
+"Patience, my little ones!" said the chief, showing his white strong
+teeth in what was more of a snarl than a smile.  "There is plenty of
+time."
+
+Bruce leaned toward Kathlyn.
+
+"Stand perfectly still, just as you are.  I believe I can reach the
+knot back of your hands.  This squabbling is the very thing needed.
+They will not pay any attention to us for a few minutes, and if I can
+read signs they'll all be at one another's throats shortly."
+
+"But even if we get free what can we do?"
+
+Kathlyn was beginning to lose both faith and heart.  The sight of her
+father being led back to Allaha by Durga Ram, after all the misery to
+which he had been subjected, shook the courage which had held her up
+these long happy weeks.  For she realized that her father was still
+weak, and that any additional suffering would kill him.
+
+"You mustn't talk like that," said Bruce.  "You've been in tighter
+places than this.  If we can get free, leave the rest to me.  So long
+as one can see and hear and move, there's hope."
+
+"I'm becoming a coward.  Do what you can.  I promise to obey you in all
+things."
+
+Bruce bent as far as he could, and went desperately to work at the knot
+with his teeth.  Success or failure did not really matter; simply, he
+did not propose to die without making a mighty struggle to avoid death.
+The first knot became loose, then another.  Kathlyn stirred her hands
+cautiously.
+
+"Now!" he whispered.
+
+She twisted her hands two or three times and found them free.
+
+"Mine, now!" said Bruce.  "Hurry!"
+
+It was a simple matter for her to release Bruce.
+
+"God bless those rupees!" he murmured.  "There'll be a fine row in a
+minute.  Keep perfectly still, and when the moment comes follow me into
+the cave.  They have left their guns in there."
+
+"You are a brave and ready man, Mr. Bruce."
+
+"You called me John once."
+
+"Well, then, John," a ghost of a smile flitting across her lips.  Men
+were not generally sentimental in the face of death.
+
+"There are nine of us!" screamed one of the brigands.
+
+"And I claim one bag because without my help and brains you would have
+had nothing," roared the chief.  "Who warned you against the opium?
+Ha, pig!"
+
+The first blow was struck.  Instantly the chief drew his knife and
+lunged at the two nearest him.
+
+"Treachery!"
+
+"Ha!  Pigs!  Dogs!  Come, I'll show you who is master!"
+
+"Thief!"
+
+The remaining brigands closed in upon their leader and bore him upon
+his back.
+
+"To the tiger with him!"
+
+"Now!" cried Bruce.
+
+He flung the rope from his hands, caught Kathlyn by the arm, and
+running and stumbling, they gained the cave, either ignored or
+unobserved by the victorious brigands.
+
+They dragged the stunned leader to his feet and haled him to the cage,
+lashing him to a wheel.  Next, they seized the rope which operated the
+door and retired to the mouth of the cave.
+
+"Rob us, would he!"
+
+"Take the lion's share when we did all the work!"
+
+"Swine!"
+
+"I will give it all to you!" whined the whilom chief, mad with terror.
+
+"And knife us in the back when we sleep!  No, no!  You have kicked and
+cuffed us for the last time!"
+
+Bruce picked up one of the rifles and drew Kathlyn farther into the
+cave.
+
+"Get behind me and crouch low.  They'll come around to us presently."
+
+The rascals gave the rope a savage pull, and from where he stood Bruce
+could see the lean striped body of the furious tiger leap to freedom.
+
+"Keep your eyes shut.  It will not be a pleasant thing to look at," he
+warned the girl.
+
+But Kathlyn could not have closed her eyes if she had tried.  She saw
+the brute pause, turn and strike at the helpless man at the wheel, then
+lope off, doubtless having in mind to test his freedom before he fed.
+The remaining brigands rushed out and gathered up the bags of rupees.
+
+This was the opportunity for which Bruce had waited.
+
+"Come.  There may be some outlet to this cave.  Here is another rifle.
+Let us cut for it!  When thieves fall out; you know the old saying."
+
+They ran back several yards and discovered a kind of chasm leading
+diagonally upward.
+
+"Thank God!  We can get out of this after all.  Are you strong enough
+for a stiff climb?"
+
+"I've got to be--John!"
+
+"Trust me, Kathlyn," he replied simply.  He had but one life, but he
+determined then and there to make it equal or outlast the six lives
+which stood between him and liberty.
+
+The brigands, having succeeded in their mutiny, bethought themselves of
+their prisoners, only to find that they had vanished.  Familiar with
+the cave and its outlet, they started eagerly in pursuit.  They
+reasoned that if an old man was worth three bags of rupees, two young
+people might naturally be worth twice as much.  And besides, being
+tigers, they had tasted blood.
+
+A shout caused Bruce to turn.  Instantly he raised his rifle, and
+pulled the trigger.  The result was merely a snap.  The gun had not
+been loaded.  He snatched Kathlyn's rifle, but this, too, was useless.
+The brigands yelled exultantly and began to swarm up the ragged cliff.
+Bruce flung aside the gun and turned his attention to a boulder.
+Halfway up the chasm had a width which was little broader than the
+shoulders of an ordinary man.  He waited till he saw the wretches
+within a yard or so of this spot, then pushed this boulder.  It roared
+and crashed and bounded, and before it reached the narrow pathway Bruce
+had started a mate to it.  Then a third followed.  This caused a
+terrific slide of rocks and boulders, and the brigands turned for their
+lives.
+
+"That will be about all for the present," said Bruce, wiping his
+forehead.  "Now if we can make that village we shall be all right.
+Bala Khan's men will not leave with the camels till they learn whether
+we are dead or alive.  It will be a hard trek, Miss Kathlyn.  Ten miles
+over sand is worse than fifty over turf.  I don't think we'll see any
+more of those ruffians."
+
+"Kathlyn," she said.
+
+"Well--Kathlyn!"
+
+"Or, better still, at home they call me Kit."
+
+They smiled into each other's eyes, and no words were needed.  Thus
+quickly youth discards its burdens!
+
+That he did not take her into his arms at once proved the caliber of
+the man.  And Kathlyn respected him none the less for his control.  She
+knew now; and she was certain that her eyes had told him as frankly as
+any words would have done; and she fell into his stride, strangely
+embarrassed and not a little frightened.  The firm grasp of his hand as
+here and there he steadied her sent a thrill of exquisite pleasure
+through her.
+
+Love!  She laughed softly; and he stopped and eyed her in astonishment.
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Nothing," she answered.
+
+But she went on with the thought which had provoked her laughter.
+Love!  Danger all about, unseen, hidden; misery in the foreground, and
+perhaps death beyond; her father back in chains, to face she knew not
+what horrors, and yet she could pause by the wayside and think of love!
+
+"There was something," he insisted.  "That wasn't happy laughter.  What
+caused it?"
+
+"Some day I will tell you--if we live."
+
+"Live?"  Then he laughed.
+
+And she was not slow to recognize the Homeric quality of his laughter.
+
+"Kit, I am going to get you and your father out of all this, if but for
+one thing."
+
+"And what is that?" curious in her turn.
+
+"I'll tell you later."  And there the matter stood.
+
+The journey to the village proved frightfully exhausting.  The two were
+in a sorry plight when they reached the well.
+
+The camel men were overjoyed at the sight of them.  For hours they had
+waited in dread, contemplating flight which would take them anywhere
+but to Bala Khan, who rewarded cowardice in one fashion only.  For, but
+for their cowardly inactivity, their charges might by now be safe in
+the seaport toward which they had been journeying.  So they brought
+food for the two and begged that they would not be accused of cowardice
+to Bala Khan.
+
+"Poor devils!" said Bruce.  "Had they shown the least resistance those
+brigand chaps would have killed them off like rats."  He beckoned to
+the head man.  "Take us back to Bala Khan in the morning, and we
+promise that no harm shall befall you.  Now, find us a place to sleep."
+
+Nevertheless, it was hard work to keep that promise.  Bala Khan stormed
+and swore that death was too good for the watery hearts of his camel
+men.  They should be crucified on the wall.  Kathlyn's diplomacy alone
+averted the tragedy.  Finally, with a good deal of reluctance, Bala
+Khan gave his word.
+
+So Bruce and Kathlyn planned to return to Allaha, and it was the Khan
+himself who devised the method.  The two young people should stain
+their skins and don native dress.  He would give them two camels
+outright, only they would be obliged to make the journey without
+servants.
+
+"But if harm comes to you, and I hear of it, by the beard of the
+prophet, I'll throw into Allaha such a swarm of stinging bees that all
+Hind shall hear of it.  Now go, and may Allah watch over you, infidels
+though you be!"
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Umballa sent a messenger on before, for he loved the theatrical, which
+is innate in all Orientals.  He desired to enter the city to the
+shrilling of reeds and the booming of tom-toms; to impress upon this
+unruly populace that he, Durga Ram, was a man of his word, that when he
+set out to accomplish a thing it was as good as done.  His arrival was
+greeted with cheers, but there was an undertone of groans that was not
+pleasant to his keen ears.  Deep in his heart he cursed, for by these
+sounds he knew that only the froth was his, the froth and scum of the
+town.  The iron heel; so they would have it in preference to his
+friendship.  Oh, for some way to trap Ramabai, to hold him up in
+ridicule, to smash him down from his pedestal, known but as yet unseen!
+
+He wondered if he would find any more of those anonymous notes relating
+to the inviolable person of Ramabai.  Woe to him who laid them about,
+could he but put his hand upon him!  He, Durga Ram, held Allaha in the
+hollow of his hand, and this day he would prove it.
+
+So he put a rope about the waist of Colonel Hare, and led him through
+the streets, as the ancient Romans he had read about did to the
+vanquished.  He himself recognized the absurdity of all these things,
+but his safety lay in the fact that the populace at large were
+incapable of reasoning for themselves; they saw only that which was
+visible to the eye.
+
+On the palace steps he harangued the people, praising his deeds.  He
+alone had gone into the wilderness and faced death to ransom their
+lawful king.  Why these bonds?  The king had shirked his duty; he had
+betrayed his trust; but in order that the people should be no longer
+without a head, this man should become their prisoner king; he should
+be forced to sign laws for their betterment.  Without the royal
+signature the treasury could not be touched, and now the soldiers
+should be paid in full.
+
+From the soldiers about came wild huzzahs.
+
+Ahmed and Lal Singh, packed away in the heart of the crowd, exchanged
+gloomy looks.  Once the army was Umballa's, they readily understood
+what would follow: Umballa would acclaim himself, and the troops would
+back him.
+
+"We have a thousand guns and ten thousand rounds of ammunition,"
+murmured Lal Singh.
+
+"Perhaps we had best prevail upon Ramabai to strike at once.  But wait.
+The Colonel Sahib understands.  He knows that if he signs anything it
+will directly proved his death-warrant.  There is still an obstacle at
+Umballa's feet.  Listen!"
+
+Sadly Umballa recounted his adventure in full.  The daughter of the
+king and his friend, the American hunter, were dead.  He, Umballa, had
+arrived too late.
+
+The colonel, mad with rage, was about to give Umballa the lie publicly,
+when he saw a warning hand uplifted, and below that hand the face of
+Ahmed.  Ahmed shook his head.  The colonel's shoulders drooped.  In
+that sign he read danger.
+
+"They live," said Ahmed.  "That is enough for the present.  Let us
+begone to the house of Ramabai."
+
+"The Colonel Sahib is safe for the time being."
+
+"And will be so long as he refuses to open the treasury door to
+Umballa.  There is a great deal to smile about, Lal Singh.  Here is a
+treasury, guarded by seven leopards, savage as savage can be.  Only two
+keepers ever dare approach them, and these keepers refuse to cage the
+leopards without a formal order from the king or queen.  Superstition
+forbids Umballa to make way with the brutes.  The people, your people
+and mine, Lal Singh, believe that these leopards are sacred, and any
+who kills them commits sacrilege, and you know what that amounts to
+here.  So there he dodders; too cowardly to fly in the face of
+superstition.  He must torture and humiliate the Colonel Sahib and his
+daughter.  Ah, these white people!  They have heads and hearts of
+steel.  I know."
+
+"And Umballa has the heart of a flea-bitten pariah dog.  When the time
+comes he will grovel and squirm and whine."
+
+"He will," agreed Ahmed.  "His feet are even now itching for the
+treadmill."
+
+The colonel was taken to one of the palace chambers, given a tub and
+fresh clothing.  Outside in the corridors guards patrolled, and there
+were four who watched the window.  He was a king, but well guarded.
+Well, they had crowned him, but never should Umballa, through any
+signature of his, put his hand into the royal treasury.  Besides, this
+time he had seen pity and sympathy in the faces of many who had looked
+upon his entrance to the city.  The one ray of comfort lay in the
+knowledge that faithful Ahmed lived.
+
+He dared not think of Kathlyn.  He forced his mind to dwell upon his
+surroundings, his own state of misery.  Bruce was there, and Bruce was
+a man of action and resource.  He would give a good account of himself
+before those bronze devils in the desert made away with him.  He feared
+not for Kathlyn's death, only her future.  For they doubtless had lied
+to Umballa.  They would not kill Kathlyn so long as they believed she
+was worth a single rupee.
+
+Umballa came in, followed by four troopers, who stationed themselves on
+each side of the door.
+
+"Your Majesty----"
+
+"Wait!" thundered the colonel.  Suddenly he turned to the troopers.
+"Am I your king?"
+
+"Yes, Majesty!"
+
+The four men salaamed.
+
+"Then I order you to arrest this man Durga Ram for treason against the
+person of your king!"
+
+The troopers stared, dumfounded, first at the colonel, then at Umballa.
+
+"I command it!"
+
+Umballa laughed.  The troopers did not stir.
+
+"Ah," said the colonel.  "That is all I desire to know.  I am not a
+king.  I am merely a prisoner.  Therefore those papers which you bring
+me can not lawfully be signed by me."  The colonel turned his back to
+Umballa, sought the latticed window and peered forth.
+
+"There are ways," blazed forth Umballa.
+
+"Bah!  You black fool!" replied the colonel, wheeling.  "Have I not yet
+convinced you that all you can do is to kill me?  Don't waste your time
+in torturing me.  It will neither open my lips nor compel me to take a
+character brush in my hand.  If my daughter is dead, so be it.  At any
+rate, she is at present beyond your clutches.  You overreached
+yourself.  Had you brought her back it is quite possible I might have
+surrendered.  But I am alone now."
+
+"You refuse to tell where the filigree basket is hidden?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"You refuse to exercise your prerogative to open the doors of the
+treasury?"
+
+"I do."
+
+Umballa opened the door, motioning to the troopers to pass out.  He
+framed the threshold and curiously eyed this unbendable man.  Presently
+he would bend.  Umballa smiled.
+
+"Colonel Sahib, I am not yet at the end of my resources," and with this
+he went out, closing the door.
+
+That smile troubled the colonel.  What deviltry was the scoundrel up to
+now?  What could he possibly do?
+
+Later, as he paced wearily to and fro, he saw something white slip
+under the door.  He stooped and picked up a note, folded European
+fashion.  His heart thrilled as he read the stilted script:
+
+"Ahmed and I shall watch over you.  Be patient.  This time I am
+pretending to be your enemy, and you must act accordingly.  A messenger
+has arrived from Bala Khan.  Your daughter and Bruce Sahib are alive,
+and, more, on the way to Allaha in native guise.  Be of good cheer,
+Ramabai."'
+
+And Umballa, as he lifted his fruit dish at supper, espied another of
+those sinister warnings.  "Beware!"  This time he summoned his entire
+household and threatened death to each and all of them if they did not
+immediately disclose to him the person who had placed this note under
+the fruit dish.  They cringed and wept and wailed, but nothing could be
+got out of them.  He had several flogged on general principles.
+
+Kathlyn and Bruce returned to Allaha without mishap.  Neither animal
+nor vagabond molested them.  When they arrived they immediately found
+means to acquaint Ramabai, who with Pundita set out to meet them.
+
+In their picturesque disguises Kathlyn and Bruce made a handsome pair
+of high caste natives.  The blue eyes alone might have caused remarks,
+but this was a negligible danger, since color and costume detracted.
+Kathlyn's hair, however, was securely hidden, and must be kept so.  A
+bit of carelessness on her part, a sportive wind, and she would be
+lost.  She had been for dyeing her hair, but Bruce would not hear of
+this desecration.
+
+So they entered the lion's den, or, rather, the jackal's.
+
+At Ramabai's house Ahmed fell on his knees in thankfulness; not that
+his Mem-sahib was in Allaha, but that she was alive.
+
+During the evening meal Ramabai outlined his plot to circumvent
+Umballa.  He had heard from one of his faithful followers that Umballa
+intended to force the colonel into a native marriage; later, to dispose
+of the colonel and marry the queen himself.  Suttee had fallen in
+disuse in Allaha.  He, Ramabai, would now apparently side with Umballa
+as against Colonel Hare, who would understand perfectly.  As the
+colonel would refuse to marry, he, Ramabai, would suggest that the
+colonel be married by proxy.  However suspicious Umballa might be, he
+would not be able to find fault with this plan.  The betrothal would
+take place in about a fortnight.  The Mem-sahib would be chosen as
+consort out of all the assembled high caste ladies of the state.
+
+Ahmed threw up his hands in horror, but Lal Singh bade him be patient.
+What did the Mem-sahib say to this?  The Mem-sahib answered that she
+placed herself unreservedly in Ramabai's hands; that Umballa was a
+madman and must be treated as one.
+
+"Ramabai, why not strike now?" suggested Ahmed.
+
+"The promise Umballa has made to the soldiers has reunited them
+temporarily.  Have patience, Ahmed."  Lal Singh selected a leaf with
+betel-nut and began to chew with satisfaction.
+
+"Patience?" said Ahmed?  "Have I none?"
+
+So the call went forth for a bride throughout the principality, and was
+answered from the four points of the compass.
+
+Between the announcement and the fulfilment of these remarkable
+proceedings there arrived in the blazing city of Calcutta a young maid.
+Her face was very stern for one so youthful, and it was as fearless as
+it was stern.  Umballa's last card, had she but known the treachery
+which had lured her to this mystic shore.  The young maid was Winnie,
+come, as she supposed, at the urgent call of her father and sister, and
+particularly warned to confide in no one and to hide with the utmost
+secrecy her destination.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE VEILED CANDIDATES
+
+From the four ends of the principality they came, the veiled
+candidates; from the north, the east, the south and west.  They came in
+marvelous palanquins, in curtained howdahs, on camels, in splendid
+bullock carts.  Many a rupee resolved itself into new-bought finery,
+upon the vague chance of getting it back with compound interest.
+
+What was most unusual, they came without pedigree or dowry, this being
+Ramabai's idea; though, in truth, Umballa objected at first to the lack
+of dowry.  He had expected to inherit this dowry.  He gave way to
+Ramabai because he did not care to have Ramabai suspect what his inner
+thoughts were.  Let the fool Ramabai pick out his chestnuts for him.
+Umballa laughed in his voluminous sleeve.
+
+Some one of these matrimonially inclined houris the colonel would have
+to select; if he refused, then should Ramabai do the selecting.  More,
+he would marry the fortunate woman by proxy.  There was no possible
+loophole for the colonel.
+
+The populace was charmed, enchanted, as it always is over a new
+excitement.  Much as they individually despised Umballa, collectively
+they admired his ingenuity in devising fresh amusements.  Extra feast
+days came one after another.  The Oriental dislikes work; and any one
+who could invent means of avoiding it was worthy of gratitude.  So,
+then, the populace fell in with Umballa's scheme agreeably.  The bhang
+and betel and toddy sellers did a fine business during the festival of
+Rama.
+
+There was merrymaking in the streets, day and night.  The temples and
+mosques were filled to overflowing.  Musicians with reeds and tom-toms
+paraded the bazaars.  In nearly every square the Nautch girl danced, or
+the juggler plied his trade, or there was a mongoose-cobra fight (the
+cobra, of course, bereft of its fangs), and fakirs grew mango trees out
+of nothing.  There was a flurry in the slave mart, too.
+
+The troops swaggered about, overbearing.  They were soon to get their
+pay.  The gold and silver were rotting in the treasury.  Why leave it
+there, since gold and silver were minted to be spent?
+
+There were elephant fights in the reconstructed arena; tigers attacked
+wild boars, who fought with enormous razor-like tusks, as swift and
+deadly as any Malay kris.  The half forgotten ceremony of feeding the
+wild pig before sundown each day was given life again.  And drove after
+drove came in from the jungles for the grain, which was distributed
+from a platform.  And wild peacocks followed the pigs.  A wonderful
+sight it was to see several thousand pigs come trotting in, each drove
+headed by its fighting boar.  When the old fellows met there was
+carnage; squealing and grunting, they fought.  The peacocks shrilled
+and hopped from back to back for such grain as fell upon the bristly
+backs of the pigs.  Here and there a white peacock would be snared, or
+a boar whose tusks promised a battle royal with some leopard or tiger.
+
+And through all this turmoil and clamor Ahmed and Lal Singh moved,
+sounding the true sentiments of the people.  They did not want white
+kings or white queens; they desired to be ruled by their kind, who
+would not start innovations but would let affairs drift on as they had
+done for centuries.
+
+Nor was Bruce inactive.  Many a time Umballa had stood within an arm's
+length of death; but always Bruce had resisted the impulse.  It would
+be rank folly to upset Ramabai's plans, which were to culminate in
+Umballa's overthrow.
+
+But upon a certain hour Ramabai came to Bruce, much alarmed.  During
+his absence with Pundita at some palace affair his home had been
+entered, ransacked, and ten thousand rupees had been stolen.  His real
+fortune, however, was hidden securely.  The real trouble was that these
+ten thousand rupees would practically undo much of what had been
+accomplished.  He was certain that Umballa had instigated this theft,
+and that the money would be doled out to the soldiers.  For upon their
+dissatisfaction rested his future.
+
+"Take Bala Khan at his word," suggested Bruce, "and ask him for his
+five thousand hillmen."
+
+Ramabai smiled.  "And have Bala Khan constitute himself the king of
+Allaha!  No, Sahib; he is a good friend, but he is also a dangerous
+one.  We must have patience."
+
+"Patience!" exploded Bruce.
+
+"I have waited several years.  Do you not see that when I strike I must
+succeed?"
+
+"But these warnings to Umballa?"
+
+"He is not molesting me, is he?" returned Ramabai calmly.
+
+"Well, it is more than I could stand."
+
+"Ah, you white people waste so much life and money by acting upon your
+impulses!  Trust me; my way is best; and that is, for the present we
+must wait."
+
+"God knows," sighed Bruce, "but I am beginning to believe in the
+colonel's guru."
+
+"Who can say?  There are some in this land who possess mighty wills,
+who can make man sleep by looking into his eyes, who can override and
+destroy weaker minds.  I know; I have seen.  You have heard of
+suspended animation?  Well, I have seen examples of it; and so have my
+people.  Can you wonder at their easiness in being swayed this way and
+that?  But these men I refer to do not sit about in the bazaars with
+wooden bowls for coppers.  It is said, however, that all curses die
+with their makers.  It depends upon how old the Colonel Sahib's guru
+is.  I know priests who are more than a hundred years old, and wrinkled
+like the bride of Hathi, the god of elephants."
+
+"But a child could see through all this rigmarole."
+
+"Can Bruce Sahib?"  Again Ramabai smiled.  "My people are sometimes
+children in that they need constant amusement.  Have patience, my
+friend; for I understand.  Do I not love Pundita even as you love the
+Mem-sahib?"
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded Bruce roughly.
+
+"I have eyes."
+
+"Well, yes; it is true.  Behind you are your people; behind us,
+nothing.  That is why I am frantic.  Umballa, whenever he finds himself
+checkmated, digs up what he purports to be an unused law.  There is
+none to contest it.  I tell you, Ramabai, we must escape soon, or we
+never will.  You suggested this impossible marriage.  It is horrible."
+
+"But it lulls Umballa; and lulled, he becomes careless.  Beyond the
+north gate there are ever ready men and elephants.  And when the moment
+arrives, thither we shall fly, all of us.  But," mysteriously, "we may
+not have to fly.  When Umballa learns that the Colonel Sahib will
+refuse to sign the necessary treasury release the soldiers will
+understand that once again they have been trifled with."
+
+"We must wait.  But it's mighty hard."
+
+The garden of brides has already been described.  But on this day when
+the ten veiled candidates sat in waiting there was spring in the air;
+and there were roses climbing trellises, climbing over the marble
+walls, and the pomegranate blossoms set fire to it all.  At the gate
+stood Ramabai, dressed according to his station, and representing by
+proxy the king.  Presently a splendid palanquin arrived, and within it
+a tardy candidate.  She was laden with jewels, armlets, anklets and
+head ornaments; pearls and uncut sapphires and rubies.  Upon lifting
+her veil she revealed a beautiful high caste face.  Ramabai bade her
+pass on.  No sooner had she taken her place than still another
+palanquin was announced, and this last was drawn by fat sleek bullocks,
+all of a color.
+
+Ramabai held up his hand.  The bullock drivers stopped their charges,
+and from the palanquin emerged a veiled woman.  This was Kathlyn.
+
+The selected candidates were now all present.  As master of ceremonies,
+Ramabai conducted them into the palace, thence into the throne room
+gaily decorated for the occasion.  In a balcony directly above the
+canopy of the throne were musicians, playing the mournful harmonies so
+dear to the oriental heart.
+
+Upon the throne sat Colonel Hare, gorgeously attired, but cold and
+stern of visage, prepared to play his part in this unutterable
+buffoonery.  Near by stood Durga Ram, so-called Umballa, smiling.  It
+was going to be very simple; once yonder stubborn white fool was
+wedded, he should be made to disappear; and there should be another
+wedding in which he, Durga Ram, should take the part of the bridegroom.
+Then for the treasury, flight, and, later, ease abroad.  Let the
+filigree basket of gems stay where it was; there were millions in the
+treasury, the accumulated hoardings of many decades.
+
+The council and high priests also wore their state robes, and behind
+them were officers and other dignitaries.
+
+There was a stir as Ramabai entered with the veiled candidates.  The
+colonel in vain tried to hide his interest and anxiety.  Kathlyn was
+there, somewhere among these kotowing women; but there was nothing by
+which he could recognize her.  As the women spread about the throne,
+Ramabai signified to the musicians to cease.
+
+Silence.
+
+Then Ramabai brought candidate after candidate close to the colonel, so
+that he alone might see the face behind the veil.  At each uplifting of
+the veil the colonel shook his head.  A dark frown began to settle over
+Umballa's face.  If the colonel refused the last candidate for nuptial
+honors, he should die.  But as Ramabai lifted the veil of this last
+woman the colonel nodded sharply; and Kathlyn, for a brief space, gazed
+into her father's eyes.  The same thought occurred to both; what a
+horrible mockery it all was, and where would it lead finally?
+
+"Take care!" whispered Kathlyn as she saw her father's fingers move
+nervously with suppressed longing to reach out and touch her.
+
+The spectators of this little drama which was hidden from them evinced
+their approval by a murmuring which had something like applause in it.
+A queen was chosen!  A real queen at last had been chosen.  Ramabai had
+accomplished by diplomacy what yonder Durga Ram had failed to do by
+force.  But Umballa secretly smiled as he sensed this undercurrent.
+Presently they should see.
+
+The colonel extended his hand and drew Kathlyn up beside him; and now
+for a moment the whole affair trembled in the balance: Kathlyn felt
+herself possessed with a wild desire to laugh.
+
+The chain of gold, representing the betrothal, was now ordered brought
+from the treasury.
+
+The populace, outside the palace, having been acquainted with what was
+taking place, burst out into cheers.
+
+The treasure room, guarded by leopards in charge of incorruptible
+keepers, was now approached by Umballa and his captain of the guard.
+Umballa presented his order on the treasury.  The leopards were driven
+into their cages, and the magic door swung open.  The two gasped for
+breath; for Umballa had never before looked within.  Everywhere gold
+and gems; fabulous riches, enough to make a man ten times a king.
+
+"Highness," whispered the captain, "there is enough riches here to
+purchase the whole of Hind!"
+
+As he stared Umballa surrendered to a passing dream.  Presently he
+shook himself, sought the chain for which he had come, and reluctantly
+stepped out into the corridor again.  He would return soon to this
+door.  But for that fool of a white man who had saved the king from the
+leopard, he would have opened this door long since.  As he walked to
+the outer door he thought briefly of the beauty of Kathlyn.  She was
+dead, and dead likewise was his passion for her.
+
+Beyond the gate to the garden of brides Ahmed and Lal Singh waited with
+elephants.  From here they would make the north gate, transfer to new
+elephants, and leave Allaha and its evil schemes behind.  They created
+no suspicion.  There were many elephants about the palace this day.  In
+one of the howdahs sat Bruce, armed; in the other, Pundita, trembling
+with dread.  So many arms had Siva, that evil spawn, that Pundita would
+not believe all was well till they had crossed the frontier.
+
+"They will be coming soon, Sahib," said Ahmed.  Bruce wiped the sweat
+from his palms and nodded.
+
+Now, when Umballa and his captain of the guard departed with the
+betrothal chain they did not firmly close the outer door, which shut
+off the leopards from the main palace.  The leopards were immediately
+freed and began their prowling through the corridors, snarling and
+growling as they scented the air through which the two men had just
+passed.  One paused by the door, impatiently thrusting out a paw.
+
+The door gave.
+
+In the throne room the mockery of the betrothal was gone through, and
+then the calm Ramabai secretly signified that the hour for escape was
+at hand; for everywhere, now that the ceremony was done, vigilance
+would be lax.
+
+Immediately the high priest announced that the successful candidate
+would be conducted to the palace zenana and confined there till the
+final ceremonies were over.
+
+Umballa dreamed of what he had seen.
+
+To Ramabai was given the exalted honor of conducting the king and his
+betrothed to their respective quarters.  Once in the private passageway
+to the harem, or zenana, Ramabai threw caution to the winds.
+
+"We must go a roundabout way to the garden of brides, which will be
+deserted.  Outside the gate Bruce Sahib and Ahmed and Lal Singh await
+with elephants.  Once we can join them we are safe.  And in a month's
+time I shall return."
+
+Meantime one of the leopard keepers rushed frantically into the throne
+room, exclaiming that the seven guardian leopards were at large.  Even
+as he spoke one of the leopards appeared in the musicians' balcony.
+The panic which followed was not to be described.  A wild scramble
+ensued toward all exits.
+
+The fugitives entered the royal zenana.  Kathlyn proceeded at once to
+the exit which led to the garden of brides.  There she waited for her
+father and Ramabai, who had paused by the door of one of the zenana
+chambers.  Between them and Kathlyn lay the plunge.
+
+Ramabai addressed the lady of the zenana, telling her that if guards
+should come to state that Kathlyn was concealed in her own chamber.  To
+this the young woman readily agreed.
+
+Suddenly a leopard appeared behind the colonel and Ramabai.  Kathlyn,
+being first to discover the presence of the animal, cried out a warning.
+
+"Fly, Kit!  Save yourself!  I am accursed!" called the colonel.
+
+Ramabai and the young woman at the chamber door hurriedly drew the
+colonel into the chamber and shut the door.  The colonel struggled, but
+Ramabai held him tightly.
+
+"We are unarmed, Sahib," he said; "and the Mem-sahib never loses her
+head."
+
+"Ramabai, I tell you I shall die here.  It is useless to attempt to aid
+me.  I am accursed, accursed!  Kit, Kit!"
+
+The leopard stood undecided before the door which had closed in his
+face.  Then he discovered Kathlyn, fumbling at the wicker door at the
+far side of the swimming pool.  There was something upon which to wreak
+his temper; for all this unusual commotion and freedom had disturbed
+him greatly.  Kathlyn opened the wicker door, closing it behind her.
+Clear headed, as Ramabai had said, she recollected the palanquin which
+had been last to enter the garden of brides.  She ran into the garden,
+flew to the palanquin just as she heard the leopard crash through the
+flimsy wicker door.  She reached and entered the palanquin not a moment
+too soon.  She huddled down close to the door.  The leopard trotted
+round and round, snarling and sniffing.  Presently he was joined by
+another.  From afar she could hear shouting.  She readily understood.
+Through some carelessness the leopards of the treasury were at liberty,
+and that of her own and her father was in jeopardy.  Just without the
+garden of brides was Bruce and help, and she dared not move!
+
+Bruce, from his howdah, heard the noise in the palace; female shrieks,
+commands, a shot from a musket.  What in heaven's name had happened?
+Where was Kathlyn?  Why did she not appear?  He fingered his revolvers.
+But Ahmed signaled to him not to stir.  The knowledge of whatever had
+happened must be brought to them; on their lives they dared not go in
+search of it.
+
+"This comes from your damnable oriental way of doing things.  If I had
+had my way, Umballa would be dead and buried."
+
+"All in good time, Sahib."
+
+The elephants stirred restlessly, for they scented the cat whom they
+hated.
+
+Within the palanquin Kathlyn dared scarcely to breathe; for outside
+seven leopards prowled and sniffed and snarled!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE SEVEN LEOPARDS
+
+Crouched in the palanquin Kathlyn waited for the onslaught of the
+leopards.  Once she heard a tremendous scratching at the rear of her
+hiding-place; the palanquin tottered.  But the animal was not trying to
+get inside; he was merely sharpening his claws after the manner of his
+kind, claws which were sharp enough, heaven knew, since, regularly,
+once a month the keepers filed them to needle-points.
+
+An elephant trumpeted near by, and Kathlyn could have wept in despair.
+Outside the wall were friends, doubtless by this time joined by her
+father and Ramabai, and all wondering where she was.  She dared not
+call out for fear of attracting the leopards, whose movements she could
+hear constantly: the jar of their padded feet as they trotted under and
+about the palanquin, the sniff-sniff of their wet noses, an occasional
+yawning.
+
+By and by her curiosity could not be withstood, even though she might
+be courting death.  Cautiously and soundlessly she moved the curtain
+which faced the wall.  A mass of heavy vines ran from the ground to the
+top of this wall.  If only she could reach it; if only she dared try!
+Presently the keepers, armed with goads and ropes, would be
+forthcoming, and all hope of flight banished.  Umballa, upon close
+inspection, would recognize her despite her darkened skin and Indian
+dress.
+
+From the other window she peered.  There, in the path, were two
+leopards, boxing and frolicking in play.  As she watched, always
+interested in the gambols of such animals, she noticed that two other
+leopards left off prowling, approached, sat upon their haunches, and
+critically followed the friendly set-to.  Then the other three, seeking
+diversity, sauntered into view.  Kathlyn quickened with life and hope.
+The seven leopards were at least half a dozen yards away.  It was but a
+step to the vines sprawling over the wall.
+
+To think that all depended upon the handle of the palanquin door!  If
+it opened without noise there was a chance.  If it creaked she was
+lost; for she would fall into the hands of the keepers if not under the
+merciless paws of the cats.
+
+But the longer she hesitated the less time she would have.  Bravely,
+then, she tried her hand upon the door handle and slowly but firmly
+turned it.  There was no sound that she could hear.  She pressed it
+outward with a slow steady movement.  Fortunately the dress of the
+Hindu was short, somewhat above the ankles, and within her strong young
+body was free of those modern contrivances known as corsets and stays.
+
+She sprang out, dashed for the vines and drew herself up rapidly.  In
+unison the seven leopards whirled and flew at her.  But the half a
+dozen yards which they had first to cover to reach the wall saved her.
+Up, up, desperately, wildly, with a nervous energy which did far more
+for her than her natural strength.  The cats leaped and snarled at her
+heels.  She went on.  Beneath her the leopards tore at the vines and
+tried to follow, one succeeding in tearing her skirt with a desperate
+slash of his paw.  He lost his hold and tumbled back among his mates.
+
+But every minute the vines, sturdy as they were, threatened to come
+tumbling to the ground.
+
+Her long and lonely experiences in the jungle had taught her the need
+of climbing quickly yet lightly.  She flung herself across the top of
+the wall, exhausted.  For the time being, at least, she was safe.  She
+hung there for a few minutes till she had fully recovered her breath.
+Below the leopards were still leaping and striking futilely! and even
+in her terror she could not but admire their grace and beauty.  And,
+oddly, she recalled the pet at home.  Doubtless by this time he had
+fallen back into his savage state.
+
+When she dared risk it she gained a securer position on the wall and
+sat up, flinging her legs over the side of it.  She saw things in a bit
+of blur at first, her heart had been called upon so strenuously; but
+after a little objects resumed their real shapes, and she espied the
+two elephants.  She called, waving her hands.
+
+"It is Kathlyn!" cried Bruce.
+
+"Kit!" shouted the colonel, who shared the howdah with Bruce.  "Kit,
+hang on for a moment longer!  Ahmed, to the wall!"
+
+The colonel and Ramabai had left the zenana by one of the windows
+overlooking the passage which ran past the garden of brides.  They had
+had no trouble whatever in reaching the elephants.  But the subsequent
+waiting for Kathlyn had keyed them all up to the breaking point.  The
+pity of it was, they dared not stir, dared not start in search of her.
+Had it been leopards only, Bruce would have made short work of it; but
+it would have been rank folly to have gone in search of the girl.  If
+she had been made captive, she needed their freedom to gain her own.
+Besides, the council of both Ahmed and Lal Singh was for patience.
+
+Ahmed had the greatest faith in the world in Kathlyn's ability to take
+care of herself.  Think of what she had already gone through unscathed!
+Kathlyn Mem-sahib bore a charmed life, and all the wild beasts of the
+jungles of Hind could not harm her.  It was written.
+
+And then Bruce discovered her upon the wall.  It took but a moment to
+bring the elephant alongside; and Kathlyn dropped down into the howdah.
+
+"A narrow squeak, dad," was all she said.
+
+"Let us get on our way," said the colonel hoarsely.  "And remember,
+shoot to kill any man who attempts to stop us.  My Kit!" embracing
+Kathlyn.  "Perhaps the escape of the leopards is the luckiest thing
+that could have happened.  It will keep them all busy for an hour or
+more.  Since Umballa believes you to be dead, he will be concerned
+about my disappearance only.  And it will be some time ere they learn
+of my escape.  Forward, Ahmed!  This time . . ."
+
+"Don't, father!" interrupted Kathlyn.  "Perhaps we shall escape, but
+none of us is sure.  Let us merely hope.  I'm so tired!"
+
+Bruce reached over and pressed her hand reassuringly; and the colonel
+eyed him as from a new angle.
+
+"Good!" he murmured under his breath; "nothing better could happen.  He
+is a man, and a tried one, I know.  Good!  If once we get clear of this
+hell, I shall not stand in their way.  But Winnie, Winnie; what in
+God's name will that kitten be doing all these terrible weeks?  Will
+she try to find us?  The first telegraph office we reach I must cable
+her under no circumstances to stir from home.  Ahmed," he said aloud,
+"how far are we from the nearest telegraph station?"
+
+"Three days, Sahib."
+
+"Shall we be obliged to stop at the gate to change our mounts?"
+
+"No, Sahib; only to take supplies enough to last us."
+
+"Lose as little time as you can.  Now drop the curtains, Bruce."
+
+So through the streets they hurried, unmolested.  Those who saw the
+curtained howdah took it for granted that some unsuccessful candidate
+was returning to her home.
+
+It was well for Kathlyn that she had made up her mind to leap for the
+vines at the moment she did.  For the elephants had not left the first
+turn in the street when keepers and soldiers came running pell-mell
+into the street with ropes and ladders, prepared for the recapture of
+the treasury leopards, which, of course, were looked upon as sacred.
+
+At the ancient gate the fugitives paused for the supplies awaiting
+them.  Ahmed was not known to the guards there; that was good fortune.
+In the dialect he jested with them, winked and nodded toward the
+curtained howdah.  The guards laughed; they understood.  Some
+disappointed houri was returning whence she had come.  Ahmed took his
+time; he had no reason to hurry.  Nothing must pass which would arouse
+the suspicions of the guards; and haste always alarmed the Oriental.
+
+To the colonel, however, things appeared to lag unnecessarily.  He
+finally lost patience and swept back the curtain despite Bruce's
+restraining hand.  A native mahout, who had been loitering in town that
+day, recognized at once the royal turban which the colonel still wore.
+The colonel's face meant nothing; the turban, everything.  The mahout
+stood stock-still for a moment, not quite believing his eyes.  By this
+time, however, Ahmed was comfortably straddled back of his elephant's
+ears and was jogging along the road.
+
+"The king!" shouted the surprised mahout to the guards, who had not
+seen the man or the turban.
+
+"What king, fool?" returned the guards.
+
+"The white king who was betrothed this day!  Ai, ai!  I have seen the
+royal turban.  It is he!"
+
+The guards derided him.  So, finding no hope in them, he ran to his
+elephant, mounted and rode back into town.  Durga Ram would pay well
+for this news.
+
+"Father," said Kathlyn reproachfully, "that mahout recognized you.  I
+warned you not to move the curtain."
+
+Bruce shrugged.
+
+"But, Kit," returned her father, "Ahmed was so infernally slow!  He
+could spend time in chattering to the guards."
+
+Ahmed heard, but said nothing.
+
+"Never mind," interposed Bruce pacifically.  "At any rate we shall have
+the advantage of a couple of hours, and Umballa will not catch us with
+the elephants he has at hand.  By the time he starts his expedition we
+shall be thirty miles away.  Let us be cheerful!"
+
+"Kit," said her father, "I couldn't help it.  I can't think quickly any
+more.  I am like a man in a nightmare.  I've been down to hell, and I
+can't just yet realize that I am out of it.  I'm sorry!"
+
+"Poor dad!"  Kathlyn pressed him in her arms, while Bruce nodded
+enviously but approvingly.
+
+By and by they drew aside the curtains.  Kathlyn saw here and there
+objects which recalled her first journey along this highway.  If only
+she had known!
+
+"One thing is forecast," said Bruce.  "When Ramabai returns it will be
+to fight.  He will not be able to avoid it now.  I shouldn't mind going
+back with him.  Ahmed, what is this strange hold Umballa has over the
+actions of the Council of Three?  They always appear to be afraid of
+him."
+
+"Ah, Sahib," said Ahmed, resting his ankus or goad on the skull of his
+mount, "there is said to be another prisoner in the palace prison.  Lal
+Singh knows, I believe."
+
+"What's your idea?"
+
+"Sahib, when I put you all safe over the frontier I am coming back to
+Allaha to find out."  And that was all Ahmed would say regarding the
+subject.
+
+"I'll wager he knows," whispered Bruce.
+
+"But who can it be?  Another poor devil of a white man?  Yet how could
+a white man influence the actions of the council?"  The colonel spoke
+irritably.
+
+"Look!"--from Kathlyn; "there is one of those wonderful trees they call
+the flame of the jungle."  She called their attention to the tree
+merely to cause a diversion.  She wanted to keep her father's thoughts
+away from Allaha.
+
+So they journeyed on into the sunset, into twilight, into the bright
+starry night.
+
+Back in the city the panic was already being forgot as a thing of the
+past.  The leopards were back at their patrolling; the high officials
+and dignitaries, together with the unsuccessful candidates, had gone
+their several ways.  Umballa alone paced the halls, well satisfied with
+the events of the day, barring the disturbance caused by the escape of
+the leopards.
+
+His captain entered and saluted.
+
+"Highness, a mahout has news."
+
+"News?  Of what?"
+
+"He claims that he saw the king's turban in a howdah which passed the
+ancient gate about an hour gone."
+
+"That is not possible," replied Umballa.
+
+"I told him that the king was in his chamber."
+
+"So he is.  Wait!  I will go myself and see," all at once vaguely
+perturbed.  He was back in a very short time, furious.
+
+"It is true!  Woe to those who permitted him to escape!"
+
+"Highness, the escape of the leopards and the confusion which followed
+. . ."
+
+"By all the gods of Hind, and 'twas you who left the door open!  You
+opened it for me to pass out first.  Summon the council.  Off with you,
+and give this handful of silver to the only man who has sense enough to
+believe his eyes.  Hare Sahib is mine, and I will follow him into the
+very house of the British Raj!  Guards and elephants!  And the bride to
+be, what of her?  Look and see.  Nay, I will go with you."
+
+Umballa found an empty chamber; the future queen was gone.  More, he
+found one of the women of the zenana--his favorite--bound and gagged
+with handkerchiefs.  Quickly he freed her.
+
+"Highness, the bride's face was dark like my own, but her arms were as
+light as clotted cream!  And she spake the tongue of the white people."
+
+Kathlyn Hare!  She lived; she had escaped the brigands; she had fooled
+him!  And Ramabai had played with him as a cat plays with a wounded
+mouse.  Oh, they should see this time!
+
+Suddenly he laughed.  It echoed down the corridor, and one of the
+treasury leopards roared back at the sinister sound.
+
+"Highness!" timidly.
+
+"Enough!  I hold you blameless."  He rushed from the palace.
+
+Poor fools!  Let them believe that they had escaped.  There was still
+the little sister; in a short time now she would be inside the city
+walls.  The Colonel Sahib would return; indeed, yes.  There would be no
+further difficulty regarding the filigree basket of gold and gems.
+Still, he would pursue them, if only for the mere sport of it.  If he
+failed to catch them all he had to do was to sit down and wait for them
+to return of their own volition.
+
+Ramabai, however, was a menace; and Umballa wondered how he was going
+to lay hold of him.  While waiting for his elephants to be harnessed he
+summoned the council.  Ramabai's property must be confiscated and
+Ramabai put to death.  Here for the first time the council flatly
+refused to fall in with Umballa's plans.  And they gave very good
+reasons.  Yes, Ramabai was a menace, but till the soldiery was fully
+paid, to touch Ramabai would mean the bursting forth of the hidden fire
+and they would all be consumed.
+
+"Open the treasury door for me, then!"
+
+"We dare not.  The keepers understand.  They would loose the leopards,
+which we dare not shoot.  The law . . ."
+
+"What is the law to us?" demanded Umballa frankly.  "Let us make laws
+to suit our needs.  The white man does.  And we need money; we need one
+another," pointing a finger suggestively toward the floor.
+
+"Only when we have the troops," replied the council firmly.  "We have
+bent our heads to your will so far in everything, but we refuse to
+sacrifice these heads because of a personal spite against Ramabai, whom
+we frankly and wisely fear.  We dare not break into the treasury.  The
+keepers are unbribable; the priests are with them, and the people are
+with the priests.  Bring back the white man and his daughter.  If that
+is impossible, marry this second daughter and we will crown her; and
+then you may work your will upon Ramabai.  You have failed in all
+directions so far.  Succeed but once and we are ready to follow you."
+
+Umballa choked back the hot imperious words that crowded to his lips.
+These were plain unvarnished facts, and he must bow to the inevitable,
+however distasteful it might be.  For the present then, Ramabai should
+be permitted to go unharmed.  But Ramabai might die suddenly and
+accidentally in the recapture of the Colonel Sahib.  An accidental
+death would certainly extinguish any volcanic fires that smoldered
+under Allaha.  So, with this secret determination in mind, Umballa set
+forth.
+
+Ahmed, his mind busy with a thousand things, forgot the thousand and
+first, at that stage most important of all; and this was the short cut,
+a mere pathway through the jungle, but which lessened the journey by
+some thirty miles.  And this pathway Umballa chose.  The three hours'
+headway was thus pared down to minutes, and at the proper time Umballa
+would appear, not behind the pursued, but in the road in front of them.
+
+There was, to be sure, a bare possibility of the colonel and his party
+getting beyond the meeting of the path and the road, that is, if he
+kept going forward all through the night, which, by the way, was
+exactly what the astute Ahmed did.  But Kathlyn's curiosity the next
+morning neutralized the advantage gained.
+
+A group of masked dancers, peripatetic, was the cause.  Confident that
+they had outstripped pursuit, she saw no reason why she should not
+witness the dancing.
+
+How Umballa came upon them suddenly, like a thunderbolt, confiscating
+the elephants; how they fled to a near-by temple, bribed the dancers
+for masks and garments, fled still farther into the wooded hills, and
+hid there with small arms ready, needs but little telling.  Umballa
+returned to the city satisfied.  He had at least deprived them of their
+means of travel.  Sooner or later they would founder in the jungle,
+hear of the arrival of the younger daughter and return.
+
+Ahmed was grave.  Lal Singh had gone.  Now that the expedition had
+practically failed, his place was back in the shoe shop in the bazaars.
+Yes, Ahmed was grave.  He was also a trifle disheartened.  The fakir
+had said that there would be many disappointments, but that in the end
+. . .  He might be a liar like all the other Hindus.  Yet one part of
+his foretelling was correct: many disappointments.
+
+"Kit," said her father, "Ahmed warned you not to stop."
+
+"I am sorry."
+
+It was on the tip of her tongue to retort that his own carelessness was
+the basic cause of the pursuit; but she remembered in time what her
+father had been through.
+
+"There is a village not far," reminded Ahmed.  "They are a friendly
+people.  It is quite possible, with the money we have, to buy some
+horses, small but sturdy.  But there is one thing I do not understand,
+Sahib."
+
+"And what is that?" asked the colonel.
+
+"The readiness with which Umballa gave up the pursuit.  It's a long
+walk; let us be getting forward."
+
+Late that afternoon they were all mounted once more, on strong
+tractable ponies, with water and provisions.  And the spirits of all
+rose accordingly.  Even Ahmed became cheerful.
+
+"We'll make it, please God!" said the colonel.  "Give me a telegraph
+office.  That's all I need just now."
+
+"Two days, Sahib," said Ahmed, "we will reach the sea."
+
+They rode all through the night, stopping only at dawn for breakfast
+and a cat nap after.  Then forward again till they came upon a hunter's
+rest house, deserted.  Here they agreed to spend the night.  Beyond the
+rest house were half a dozen scattered mud huts, occupied by natives
+who pretended friendliness, lulling even the keen Ahmed into a sense of
+security.  But at dawn, when they awoke cheerfully to pick up the
+trail, they found their horses and provisions gone.
+
+The colonel, Bruce and Ahmed, still armed, never having permitted the
+rifles out of their keeping, set out grimly in pursuit of the thieves,
+while Kathlyn proceeded to forage on her own initiative.
+
+She came presently upon a magnificent ravine, half a mile in depth.
+There was a broad ledge some fifteen feet below.  It was evidently used
+as a goat path, for near at hand stood a shepherd's hut.  Stirred by
+the spirit of investigation, she made preparations for descent by
+attaching the rope she had brought along to a stout boulder.
+
+Panthers!
+
+They were coming up the pathway behind her.  It would be simple enough
+to descend; but how to get back to the rest house?  There was no time
+to plan; she must act at once.  She must drop down to the ledge and
+trust to her star.
+
+She called out loudly as she swung downward.  The shepherd came running
+out of his hut, dumfounded at what he saw.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE RED WOLF
+
+With the assistance of the shepherd Kathlyn went down the rope agilely
+and safely.  Once firmly on her feet, she turned to thank the wild-eyed
+hillman.  But her best Hindustani (and she was able to speak and
+understand quite a little by now) fell on ears which heard but did not
+sense what she said.  The man, mild and harmless enough, for all his
+wild eyes, shrank back, for no woman of his kind had ever looked like
+this.  Kathlyn, with a deal of foreboding, repeated the phrase, and
+asked the way back to the hunter's rest house.  He shook his head; he
+understood nothing.
+
+But there is one language which is universal the world over, and this
+is sign language.  Kathlyn quickly stooped and drew in the dust the
+shape of the rest house.  Then she pointed in the direction from whence
+she had come.  He smiled and nodded excitedly.  He understood now.
+Next, being unarmed, she felt the need of some sort of weapon.  So she
+drew the shape of a rifle in the dust, then produced four rupees, all
+she had.  The shepherd gurgled delightedly, ran into the hut, and
+returned with a rifle of modern make and a belt of cartridges.  With a
+gesture he signified that it was useless to him because he did not know
+how to use it.
+
+He took the rupees and Kathlyn took the rifle, vaguely wondering how it
+came into the possession of this poverty-stricken hillman.  Of one
+thing she was certain; it had become his either through violence of his
+own or of others.  She examined the breech and found a dead shell,
+which she cast out.  The rifle carried six cartridges, and she loaded
+skillfully, much to the astonishment of the hillman.  Then she swung
+the butt to her shoulder and fired up at the ledge where the panthers
+had last been seen.
+
+The hillman cried out in alarm and scuttled away to his hut.  When he
+peered forth again Kathlyn made a friendly gesture, and he approached
+timidly.  Once more she pointed to the dust, at the picture of the rest
+house; and then, by many stabs of his finger in the air, he succeeded
+in making the way back sufficiently clear to Kathlyn, who smiled,
+shouldered the rifle and strode confidently down the winding path; but
+also she was alert and watchful.
+
+There was not a bit of rust on the rifle, and the fact that one bullet
+had sped smoothly convinced her that the weapon was serviceable.  Some
+careful hunter had once possessed it, for it was abundantly oiled.  To
+whom had it belonged?  It was of German make; but that signified
+nothing.  It might have belonged to an Englishman, a Frenchman, or a
+Russian; more likely the latter, since this was one of the localities
+where they crossed and recrossed with their note-books to be utilized
+against that day when the Bear dropped down from the north and tackled
+the Lion.
+
+Kathlyn had to go down to the very bottom of the ravine.  She must
+follow the goat path, no matter where it wound, for this ultimately
+would lead her to the rest house.  As she started up the final incline,
+through the cedars and pines, she heard the bark of the wolf, the red
+wolf who hunted in packs of twenty or thirty, in reality far more
+menacing than a tiger or a panther, since no hunter could kill a whole
+pack.
+
+To this wolf, when hunting his kill, the tiger gave wide berth; the
+bear took to his cave, and all fleet-footed things of the jungles fled
+in panic.
+
+Kathlyn climbed as rapidly as she could.  She dared not mount a tree,
+for the red wolf would outwit her.  She must go on.  The bark, or yelp,
+had been a signal; but now there came to her ears the long howl.  She
+had heard it often in the great forests at home.  It was the call of
+the pack that there was to be a kill.  She might shoot half a dozen of
+them, and the living rend the dead, but the main pack would follow on
+and overtake her.
+
+She swung on upward, catching a sapling here, a limb there, pulling
+herself over hard bits of going.  Once she turned and fired a chance
+shot in the direction of the howling.  Far away came the roar of one of
+the mountain lions; and the pack of red wolves became suddenly and
+magically silent.  Kathlyn made good use of this interval.  But
+presently the pack raised its howl again, and she knew that the grim
+struggle was about to begin.
+
+She reached the door of the rest house just as the pack, a large one,
+came into view, heads down, tails streaming.  Pundita, who was at the
+fire preparing the noon meal, seized Kathlyn by the arm and hurried her
+into the house, barricading the door.  The wolves, arriving, flung
+themselves against it savagely.  But the door was stout, and only a
+battering-ram in human hands could have made it yield.
+
+Unfortunately, there was no knowing when the men-folk would return from
+their chase of the horses, nor how long the wolves would lay siege.
+The two women tried shooting, though Pundita was the veriest tyro,
+being more frightened at the weapon in her hands than at the howling
+animals outside.  They did little or no damage to the wolves, for the
+available cracks were not at sufficiently good angles.  An hour went
+by, Kathlyn could hear the wolves as they crowded against the door,
+sniffing the sill.
+
+The colonel, Bruce, Ramabai and Ahmed had found the horses half a dozen
+miles away; and they had thrashed the thieving natives soundly and
+instilled the right kind of fear in their breasts.  At rifle point they
+had forced the natives back to the rest house.  The crack of their
+rifles soon announced to Kathlyn that the dread of wolves was a thing
+of the past.  She wisely refrained from recounting her experiences.
+The men had worry enough.
+
+After a hasty meal the journey toward the sea-port began in earnest.
+Umballa's attack had thrown them far out of the regular track.  They
+were now compelled to make a wide detour.  Where the journey might have
+been made in three days, they would be lucky now if they reached the
+sea under five.  The men took turns in standing watch whenever they
+made camp, and Kathlyn nor Pundita had time for idleness.  They had
+learned their lessons; no more carelessness, nothing but the sharpest
+vigilance from now on.
+
+One day, as the pony caravan made a turn round a ragged promontory,
+they suddenly paused.  Perhaps twenty miles to the west lay the emerald
+tinted Persian Gulf.  The colonel slipped off his horse, dragged
+Kathlyn from hers, and began to execute a hornpipe.  He was like a boy.
+
+"The sea, Kit, the sea!  Home and Winnie; out of this devil's cauldron!
+You will come along with us, Bruce?"
+
+"I haven't anything else to do," Bruce smiled back.
+
+Then he gazed at Kathlyn, who found herself suddenly filled with
+strange embarrassment.  In times of danger sham and subterfuge have no
+place.  Heretofore she had met Bruce as a man, to whom a glance from
+her eyes had told her secret.  Now that the door to civilization lay
+but a few miles away, the old conventions dropped their obscuring
+mantles over her, and she felt ashamed.  And there was not a little
+doubt.  Perhaps she had mistaken the look in his eyes, back there in
+the desert, back in the first day when they had fled together from the
+ordeals.  And yet . . . !
+
+On his part, Bruce did not particularly welcome the sea.  There might
+be another man somewhere.  No woman so beautiful as Kathlyn could
+possibly be without suitors.  And when the journey down to the sea was
+resumed he became taciturn and moody, and Kathlyn's heart
+correspondingly heavy.
+
+The colonel was quite oblivious to this change.  He swung his legs free
+of the primitive stirrups and whistled the airs which had been popular
+in America at the time of his departure.
+
+There was no lightness in the expressions of Ramabai and Pundita.  They
+were about to lose these white people forever, and they had grown to
+love, nay, worship them.  More, they must return to face they knew not
+what.
+
+As for Ahmed, he displayed his orientalism by appearing unconcerned.
+He had made up his mind not to return to America with his master.
+There was much to do in Allaha, and the spirit of intrigue had laid
+firm hold of him.  He wanted to be near at hand when Ramabai struck his
+blow.  He would break the news to the Colonel Sahib before they sailed.
+
+It was four o'clock when the caravan entered the little seaport town.
+A few tramp steamers lay anchored in the offing.  A British flag
+drooped from the stem of one of them.  This meant Bombay; and Bombay,
+in turn, meant Suez, the Mediterranean and the broad Atlantic.
+
+The air was still and hot, for the Indian summer was now beginning to
+lay its burning hand upon this great peninsula.  The pale dust, the
+white stucco of the buildings, blinded the eyes.
+
+They proceeded at once to the single hotel, where they found plenty of
+accommodation.  Then the colonel hurried off to the cable office and
+wired Winnie.  Next he ascertained that the British ship Simla would
+weigh anchor the following evening for Bombay; that there they could
+pick up the _Delhi_, bound for England.  There was nothing further to
+do but wait for the answer to the colonel's cable to Winnie, which
+would arrive somewhere about noon of the next day.
+
+And that answer struck the hearts of all of them with the coldness of
+death.  Umballa had beaten them.  Winnie had sailed weeks ago for
+Allaha, in search of father and sister!
+
+Ahmed spat out his betel-nut and squared his shoulders.  Somehow he had
+rather expected something like this.  The reason for Umballa's
+half-hearted pursuit stood forth clearly.
+
+"Sahib, it is fate," he said.  "We must return at once to Allaha.
+Truly, the curse of that old guru sticks like the blood leeches of the
+Bengal swamps.  But as you have faith in your guru, I have faith in
+mine.  Not a hair of our heads shall be harmed."
+
+"I am a very miserable man, Ahmed!  God has forsaken me!"  The colonel
+spoke with stoic calm; he was more like the man Ahmed had formerly
+known.
+
+"No, Allah has not forsaken; he has forgot us for a time."  And Ahmed
+strode out to make the arrangements for the return.
+
+"Bruce," said the colonel, "it is time for you to leave us.  You are a
+man.  You have stood by us through thick and thin.  I can not ask you
+to share any of the dangers which now confront us, perhaps more
+sinister than any we have yet known."
+
+"Don't you want me?" asked Bruce quietly.
+
+Kathlyn had gone to her room to hide her tears.
+
+"Want you!  But no!"  The colonel wrung the young man's hand and turned
+to go back to Kathlyn.
+
+"Wait a moment, Colonel.  Supposing I wanted to go, what then?
+Supposing I should say to you what I dare not yet say to your daughter,
+that I love her better than anything else in all this wide world; that
+it will be happiness to follow wherever she goes . . . even unto death?"
+
+The colonel wheeled.  "Bruce, do you mean that?"
+
+"With all my heart, sir.  But please say nothing to Kathlyn till this
+affair ends, one way or the other.  She might be stirred by a sense of
+gratitude, and later regret it.  When we get out of this--and I rather
+believe in the prophecy of Ahmed's guru or fakir--then I'll speak.  I
+have always been rather a lonely man.  There's been no real good
+reason.  I have always desired to be loved for my own sake, and not for
+the money I have."
+
+"Money?" repeated the colonel.  Never had he in any way associated this
+healthy young hunter with money.  Did he not make a business of
+trapping and selling wild animals as he himself did?  "Money!  I did
+not know that you had any, Bruce."
+
+"I am the son of Roger Bruce."
+
+"What! the man who owned nearly all of Peru and half the railroads in
+South America?"
+
+"Yes.  You see, Colonel, we are something alike.  We never ask
+questions.  It would have been far better if we had.  Because I did not
+question Kathlyn when I first met her I feel half to blame for her
+misfortunes.  I should have told her all about Allaha and warned her to
+keep out of it.  I should have advised her to send native
+investigators, she to remain in Peshawur till she learned the truth.
+But the name Hare suggested nothing to me, not till after I had left
+her at Singapore.  So I shall go back with you.  But please let Kathlyn
+continue to think of me as a man who earns his own living."
+
+"God bless you, my boy!  You have put a new backbone in me.  It's hard
+not to have a white man to talk to, to plan with.  Ahmed expects that
+we shall be ready for the return in the morning.  He, however, intends
+to go back on a racing camel, to go straight to my bungalow, if it
+isn't destroyed by this time.  Perhaps Winnie has not arrived there
+yet.  I trust Ahmed."
+
+"So do I.  I have known him for a long time--that is, I thought I
+did--and during the last few weeks he has been a revelation.  Think of
+his being your head man all these years, and yet steadily working for
+his Raj, the British Raj."
+
+"They can keep secrets."
+
+"Well, we have this satisfaction: when Pundita rules it will be under
+the protecting hand of England.  Now let us try to look at the cheerful
+side of the business.  Think of what that girl has gone through with
+scarcely a scratch!  Can't you read something in that?  See how strong
+and self-reliant she has become under such misfortunes as would have
+driven mad any ordinary woman!  Can't you see light in all this?  I
+tell you, there is good and evil working for and against us, and that
+Ahmed's fakir will in the end prove stronger than your bally old guru.
+When I am out of the Orient I laugh at such things, but I can't laugh
+at them somehow when I'm in India."
+
+"Nor I."
+
+That night Kathlyn signified that she wished to go down to the beach
+beyond the harbor basin.  Bruce accompanied her.  Often he caught her
+staring out at the twinkling lights on board the Simla.  By and by they
+could hear the windlass creaking.  A volume of black smoke suddenly
+poured from the boat's slanting funnel.  The ship was putting out to
+sea.
+
+"Why do you risk your life for us?" she asked suddenly.
+
+"Adventure is meat and drink to me, Miss Hare."
+
+The prefix sounded strange and unfamiliar in her ears.  Formality.  She
+had been wrong, then; only comradeship and the masculine sense of
+responsibility.  Her heart was like lead.
+
+"It is very kind and brave of you, Mr. Bruce; but I will not have it."
+
+"Have what?" he asked, knowing full well what she meant.
+
+"This going back with us.  Why should you risk your life for people who
+are almost strangers?"
+
+"Strangers?"  He laughed softly.  "Has it never occurred to you that
+the people we grow up with are never really our friends; that real
+friendship comes only with maturity of the mind?  Why, the best man
+friend I have in this world is a young chap I met but three years ago.
+It is not the knowing of people that makes friendships.  It is the
+sharing of dangers, of bread, in the wilderness; of getting a glimpse
+of the soul which lies beneath the conventions of the social pact.
+Would you call me a stranger?"
+
+"Oh, no!" she cried swiftly.  "It is merely that I do not want you to
+risk your life any further for us.  Is there no way I can dissuade you?"
+
+"None that I can think of.  I am going back with you.  That's settled.
+Now let us talk of something else.  Don't you really want me to go?"
+
+"Ah, that isn't fair," looking out to sea again and following the
+lights aboard the Simla.
+
+It was mighty hard for him not to sweep her into his arms then and
+there.  But he would never be sure of her till she was free of this
+country, free of the sense of gratitude, free to weigh her sentiments
+carefully and unbiasedly.  He sat down abruptly on the wreck of an
+ancient hull embedded in the sand.  She sank down a little way from him.
+
+He began to tell her some of his past exploits: the Amazon, the
+Orinoco, the Andes, Tibet and China; of the strange flotsam and jetsam
+he had met in his travels.  But she sensed only the sound of his voice
+and the desire to reach out her hand and touch his.  Friendship!  Bread
+in the wilderness!
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Ahmed was lean and deceptive to the eye.  Like many Hindus, he appeared
+anemic; and yet the burdens the man could put on his back and carry
+almost indefinitely would have killed many a white man who boasted of
+his strength.  On half a loaf of black bread and a soldier's canteen of
+water he could travel for two days.  He could go without sleep for
+forty-eight hours, and when he slept he could sleep anywhere, on the
+moment.
+
+Filling his saddle-bags with three days' rations, two canteens of
+water, he set off on a hagin, or racing camel, for Allaha, three
+hundred miles inland as the crow flies.  It was his intention to ride
+straight down to the desert and across this to Colonel Hare's camp, if
+such a thing now existed.  A dromedary in good condition can make from
+sixty to eighty miles a day; and the beast Ahmed had engaged was of
+Arab blood.  In four days he expected to reach the camp.  If Winnie had
+not yet arrived, he would take the road, meet her, warn her of the
+dangers which she was about to face, and convey her to the sea-port.
+If it was too late, he would send the camel back with a trusted
+messenger to the colonel, to advise him.
+
+They watched him depart in a cloud of dust, and then played the most
+enervating game in existence--that of waiting; for they had decided to
+wait till they heard from Ahmed before they moved.
+
+Four nights later, when Ahmed arrived at the bungalow, he found
+conditions as usual.  For reasons best known to himself Umballa had not
+disturbed anything.  In fact, he had always had the coming of the
+younger sister in mind and left the bungalow and camp untouched, so as
+not to alarm her.
+
+She had not yet arrived.  So Ahmed flung himself down upon his cotton
+rug, telling the keepers not to disturb him; he would be able to wake
+himself when the time came.  But Ahmed had overrated his powers; he was
+getting along in years; and it was noon of the next day when a hand
+shook him by the shoulder and he awoke to witness the arrival of Winnie
+and her woman companion.
+
+For the first time in many years Ahmed cursed his prophet.  He that had
+had time to warn the child, had slept like the sloth of Ceylon!
+
+He went directly to the point.  He told her briefly what had happened.
+He had not the least doubt that Umballa was already aware of her
+arrival.  She must remain hidden in the go-down of the bungalow; her
+maid also.  That night, if Umballa or his men failed to appear, he
+would lead her off to safety.  But there was no hope of stealing away
+in the daytime.  In his heart, however, he entertained no hope; and
+like the good general he was, he despatched the messenger and camel to
+the sea.  The father and daughter were fated to return.
+
+Ahmed had reckoned shrewdly.  Umballa appeared later in the day and
+demanded the daughter of Colonel Hare.  Backed as he was by numerous
+soldiers, Ahmed resigned himself to the inevitable.  They found Winnie
+and her maid (whom later they sent to the frontier and abandoned) and
+took them to the palace.
+
+There was no weeping or wailing or struggling.  The dark proud face of
+the young girl gave forth no sign of the terror and utter loneliness of
+her position.  And Umballa realized that it was in the blood of these
+children to be brave and quiet.  There was no mercy in his heart.  He
+was power mad and gold mad, and his enemies lived because he could
+reach neither of his desires over their dead bodies.
+
+The rigmarole and mummery Winnie went through affected her exactly as
+it had affected her sister.  It was all a hideous nightmare, and at any
+moment she expected to wake up in her cozy corner at Edendale.
+
+In the bazaars they began to laugh at Umballa and his coronations, or
+durbars.  They began to jest at his futile efforts to crown some one
+through whom he could put his greedy hand into the treasury.  Still,
+they found plenty of amusement and excitement.  And so they filled the
+square in front of the platform when Umballa put the crown on Winnie's
+head.  How long would this queen last?
+
+And Kathlyn, her father and Bruce were forced to witness the event from
+behind the cordon of guards, dressed in native costume, their faces
+stained and their hearts swelling with impotent anger and despair.  For
+it was in such guise they had returned to Allaha.
+
+During a lull in the ceremonies a resonant voice from out the dense
+throne cried, "Give us a queen of our blood and race, thou black,
+gutter born dog!"
+
+Ramabai started at the sound of that voice, but caught himself before
+he looked in the direction from whence it rose.  It belonged to one Lal
+Singh.
+
+Umballa scowled, but gave no other sign that he heard.  But a guard
+dove into the crowd; uselessly, however.
+
+Kathlyn touched Ramabai's arm.
+
+"Oh, I must speak to her!"
+
+"Be careful, Mem-sahib!" he warned.
+
+But even as she spoke she stepped past him, toward her beloved sister,
+and offered the flowers she held.
+
+Winnie, not dreaming that this dark veiled creature was her sister,
+smelled the flowers and beheld a card which had writing on it--English!
+
+"Courage!  Father and I have a plan for your escape.  Kathlyn."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+LORD OF THE WORLD
+
+Umballa began to go about cheerfully.  He no longer doubted his star.
+Gutter born, was he?  A rat from the streets?  Very well; there were
+rats and rats, and some bit so deep that people died of it.  He
+sometimes doubted the advisability of permitting Colonel Hare's head
+man Ahmed to roam about; the rascal might in the end prove too sharp.
+Still it was not a bad idea to let Ahmed believe that he walked in
+security.  All Umballa wanted was the colonel, Kathlyn and the young
+hunter, Bruce.  It would be Ahmed, grown careless, who would eventually
+lead him or his spies to the hiding-place.
+
+That the trio were in the city Umballa did not doubt in the least, nor
+that they were already scheming to liberate the younger sister.  All
+his enemies where he could put his hand on them!
+
+Cheerful was the word.
+
+The crust of civilization was thin; the true savage was cracking out
+through it.  In the days of the Mutiny Umballa would have been the Nana
+Sahib's right hand.  He would have given the tragedy at Cawnpur an
+extra touch.
+
+Ten thousand rupees did not go far among soldiers whose arrears called
+for ten times that sum.  So he placed it where it promised to do the
+most good.  It was a capital idea, this of cutting Ramabai's throat
+with his own money.  The lawless element among the troops was his,
+Umballa's; at least his long enough for the purpose he had in mind.
+
+When the multitude round the platform dissolved and Winnie was led to
+her chamber in the zenana, Umballa treated himself to a beverage known
+as the king's peg--a trifle composed of brandy and champagne.  That he
+drank to stupefaction was God's method of protecting that night an
+innocent child--for Winnie was not much more than that.
+
+Alone, dazed and terrified, she dropped down upon the cushions and
+cried herself to sleep--exactly as Kathlyn had done.  In the morning
+she awoke to find tea and food.  She had heard no one enter or leave.
+Glancing curiously round her prison of marble and jasper and porphyry,
+she discovered a slip of white paper protruding through a square in the
+latticed window which opened out toward the garden of brides.
+
+Hope roused her into activity.  She ran to the window and snatched the
+paper eagerly.  It was from Kathlyn, darling Kit.  The risk with which
+it had been placed in the latticed window never occurred to Winnie.
+
+The note informed her that the woman doctor of the zenana had been
+sufficiently bribed to permit Kathlyn to make up like her and gain
+admittance to the zenana.  Winnie must complain of illness and ask for
+the doctor, but not before the morning of the following day.  So far as
+she, Kathlyn, could learn, Winnie would be left in peace till the
+festival of the car of Juggernaut.  Ill, she would not be forced to
+attend the ceremonies, the palace would be practically deserted, and
+then Kathlyn would appear.
+
+This news plucked up Winnie's spirits considerably.  Surely her father
+and Kit were brave and cunning enough to circumvent Umballa.  What a
+frightful country!  What a dreadful people!  She was miserable over the
+tortures her father had suffered, but nevertheless she held him
+culpable for not telling both her and Kit all and not half a truth.  A
+basket of gems!  She and Kit did not wish to be rich, only free and
+happy.  And now her own folly in coming would but add to the miseries
+of her loved ones.
+
+Ahmed had told her of the two ordeals, the black dungeon, the whipping;
+he had done so to convince her that she must be eternally on her guard,
+search carefully into any proposition laid before her, and play for
+time, time, for every minute she won meant a minute nearer her ultimate
+freedom.  She must promise to marry Umballa, but to set her own date.
+
+Unlike Kathlyn, who had Pundita to untangle the intricacies of the
+bastard Persian, Winnie had to depend wholly upon sign language; and
+the inmates of the zenana did not give her the respect and attention
+they had given to Kathlyn.  Kathlyn was a novelty; Winnie was not.
+Besides, one of them watched Winnie constantly, because the bearded
+scoundrel had attracted her fancy and because she hoped to enchain his.
+
+So the note from Kathlyn did not pass unnoticed, though Winnie believed
+that she was without espionage.
+
+Kathlyn, her father, Bruce, Ramabai and Pundita met at the colonel's
+bungalow, and with Ahmed's help they thrashed out the plan to rescue
+Winnie.  Alone, the little sister would not be able to find her way out
+of the garden of brides.  It was Kathlyn's idea to have Winnie pretend
+she needed air and sunshine and a walk in the garden after the doctor's
+visit.  The rescue would be attempted from the walls.
+
+Juggernaut, or Jagannath in Hindustani (meaning Lord of the World), was
+an idol so hideously done in wood that the Prince of Hell would have
+taken it to be the personification of a damned soul, could he have
+glimpsed it in the temple at Allaha.  The god's face was dark, his lips
+and mouth were horribly and significantly red; his eyes were polished
+emeralds, his arms were of gilt, his body was like that of a toad.  His
+temporal reign in Allaha was somewhere near four hundred years, and no
+doubt his emerald eyes had seen a crimson trail behind his car as many
+hundred times.
+
+He was married frequently.  Some poor, benighted, fanatical woman would
+pledge herself and would be considered with awe till she died.  But in
+these times no one flung himself under the car; nothing but the incense
+of crushed flowers now followed his wake.  His grin, however, was the
+same as of old.  Wood, paint, gilt and emeralds!  Well, we enlightened
+Europeans sometimes worship these very things, though we indignantly
+deny it.
+
+Outside the temple stood the car, fantastically carved, dull with
+rubbed gold leaf.  You could see the sockets where horrid knives had
+once glittered in the sunlight.  Xerxes no doubt founded his war
+chariots upon this idea.  The wheels, six in number, two in front and
+two on each side, were solid, broad and heavy, capable of smoothing out
+a corrugated winter road.  The superstructure was an ornate shrine,
+which contained the idol on its peregrinations to the river.
+
+About the car were the devotees, some holding the ropes, others
+watching the entrance to the temple.  Presently from the temple came
+the gurus or priests, bearing the idol.  With much reverence they
+placed the idol within the shrine, the pilgrims took hold firmly of the
+ropes and the car rattled and thundered on its way to the river.
+
+Of Juggernaut and his car more anon.
+
+The street outside the garden of brides was in reality no thoroughfare,
+though natives occasionally made use of it as a short cut into town.
+Therefore no one observed the entrance of an elephant, which stopped
+close to the wall, seemingly to melt into the drab of it.  On his back,
+however, the howdah was conspicuous.  Behind the curtains Kathlyn
+patiently waited.  She was about to turn away in despair when through
+the wicker gate she saw Winnie, attended by one of the zenana girls,
+enter the garden.  It seemed as if her will reached out to bring Winnie
+to the wall and to hold the other young woman where she was.
+
+But the two sat in the center of the garden, the thoughts of each far
+away.  The attendant felt no worry in bringing Winnie into the garden.
+A cry from her lips would bring a dozen guards and eunuchs from the
+palace.  And the white girl could not get out alone.  More than this,
+she gave Winnie liberty in order to trap her if possible.
+
+By and by the native girl pretended to feel drowsy in the heat of the
+sun, and her head fell forward a trifle.  It was then that Winnie heard
+a low whistle, an old familiar whistle such as she and Kit had used
+once upon a time in playing "I spy."  She sat up rigidly.  It was hard
+work not to cry out.  Over the wall the drab trunk of an elephant
+protruded, and something white fluttered into the garden.
+
+Winnie rose.  The head of the native girl came up instinctively; but as
+Winnie leisurely strolled toward the palace, the head sank again.
+Winnie turned and wandered along the walls, apparently examining the
+flowers and vines, but all the while moving nearer and nearer to the
+bit of white paper which the idle breeze stirred back and forth
+tentatively.  When she reached the spot she stooped and plucked some
+flowers, gathering up the paper as she did so.  And still in the
+stooping posture, she read the note, crumpled it and stuffed it into a
+hole in the wall.
+
+Poor child!  Every move had been watched as a cobra watches its prey.
+
+She was to pretend illness at once.  Plans had been changed.  She stood
+up, swayed slightly and staggered back to the seat.  In truth, she was
+pale enough, and her heart beat so fast that she was horribly dizzy.
+
+"A doctor!" she cried, forgetting that she would not be understood.
+
+The native girl stared at her.  She did not understand the words, but
+the signs were enough.  The young white woman looked ill; and Umballa
+would deal harshly with those who failed to stem the tide of any
+illness which might befall his captive.  There was a commotion behind
+the fretwork of the palace.  Three other girls came out, and Winnie was
+conducted back to the zenana.
+
+All this Kathlyn observed.  She bade the mahout go to the house of the
+zenana's doctor, where she donned the habiliments familiar to the
+guards and inmates of the zenana.
+
+Everything went forward without a hitch; so smoothly that had the
+object of her visit been other than Winnie, Kathlyn must have sensed
+something unusual.  She entered the palace and even led the way to
+Winnie's chamber--a fact which appeared natural enough to the women
+about, but which truly alarmed Umballa's spy, who immediately set off
+in search of the man.
+
+One thing assured her: the hands of the zenana's real physician were
+broad and muscular, while the hands she saw were slender and beautiful,
+brown though they were.  She had seen those hands before, during the
+episode of the leopards of the treasury.
+
+It was very hard for Kathlyn to curb the wild desire to crush Winnie in
+her arms, arms that truly ached for the feel of her.  Even as she
+fought this desire she could not but admire Winnie's superb acting.
+She and her father had misjudged this butterfly.  To have come all this
+way alone in search of them, unfamiliar with the customs and the
+language of the people!  How she had succeeded in getting here without
+mishap was in itself remarkable.
+
+She took Winnie's wrist in her hand and pressed it reassuringly, then
+puttered about in her medical bag.  Very softly she whispered:
+
+"I shall remain with you till dusk.  Give no sign whatever that you
+know me, for you will be watched.  To-night I will smuggle you out of
+the palace.  Take these, and soon pretend to be quieted."
+
+Winnie swallowed the bits of sugar and lay back.  Kathlyn signified
+that she wished to be alone with her patient.  Once alone with Winnie,
+she cast aside her veil.
+
+"Oh, Kit!"
+
+"Hush, baby!  We are going to get you safely away."
+
+"I am afraid."
+
+"So are we all; but we must not let any one see that we are.  Father
+and Ahmed are near by.  But oh, why did you attempt to find us?"
+
+"But you cabled me to come, weeks ago!"
+
+"I?  Never!"  And the mystery was no longer a mystery to Kathlyn.  The
+hand of Umballa lay bare.  Could they eventually win out against a man
+who seemed to miss no point in the game?  "You were deceived, Winnie.
+To think of it!  We had escaped, were ready to sail for home, when we
+learned that you had left for India.  It nearly broke our hearts."
+
+"What ever shall we do, Kit?"  Winnie flung her arms round her sister
+and drew her down.  "My Kit!"
+
+"We must be brave whatever happens."
+
+"And am I not your sister?" quietly.  "Do you believe in me so little?
+Why shouldn't I be brave?  But you've always treated me like a baby;
+you never tried to prove me."
+
+Kathlyn's arms wound themselves tightly about the slender form. . . .
+And thus Umballa found them.
+
+[Illustration: And thus Umballa found them.]
+
+"Very touching!" he said, standing with his back to the door.  "But
+nicely trapped!"  He laughed as Kathlyn sprang to her feet, as her hand
+sought the dagger at her side.  "Don't draw it," he said.  "I might
+hurt your arm in wrenching it away from you.  Poor little fool!  Back
+into the cage, like a homing pigeon!  Had I not known you all would
+return, think you I would have given up the chase so easily?  You would
+not bend, so then you must break.  The god Juggernaut yearns for a
+sacrifice to prove that we still love and worship him.  You spurned my
+love; now you shall know my hate.  You shall die, unpleasantly."
+
+Quickly as a cat springs he caught her hands and wrenched them toward
+him, dragging her toward the door.  Winnie sprang up from the cushions,
+her eyes ablaze with the fighting spirit.  Too soon the door closed in
+her face and she heard the bolt outside go slithering home.
+
+Said Umballa from the corridor: "To you, pretty kitten, I shall come
+later.  I need you for my wife.  When I return you will be all alone in
+the world, truly an orphan.  And do not make your eyes red needlessly."
+
+Winnie screamed, and Kathlyn fought with the fury of a netted tigress.
+For a few minutes Umballa had his hands full, but in the end he
+conquered.
+
+Outside the garden of brides three men waited in vain for the coming of
+Kathlyn and her sister.
+
+The god Juggernaut did not repose in his accustomed niche in the temple
+that night.  The car had to be pulled up and down a steep hill, and on
+the return, owing to the darkness, it was left at the top of the hill,
+safely propped to prevent its rolling down of its own accord.  When the
+moon rose Juggernaut's eyes gleamed like the striped cat's.  Long since
+he had seen a human sacrifice.  Perhaps the old days would return once
+more.  He was weary at heart riding over sickly flowers; he wanted
+flesh and bones and the music of the death-rattle.  His cousins, War
+and Pestilence, still took their tithes.  Why should he be denied?
+
+The whispering became a murmuring, and the murmuring grew into
+excitable chattering; and by ten o'clock that night all the bazaars
+knew that the ancient rites of Juggernaut were to be revived that
+night.  The bazaars had never heard of Nero, called Ahenobarbus, and
+being without companions, they missed the greatness of their august but
+hampered regent Umballa.
+
+Always the bazaars heard news before any other part of the city.  The
+white Mem-sahib was not dead, but had been recaptured while posing as
+the zenana physician in an attempt to rescue her sister, the new queen.
+Oh, the chief city of Allaha was in the matter of choice and unexpected
+amusements unrivaled in all Asia.
+
+Yes, Umballa was not unlike Nero--to keep the populace amused so they
+would temporarily forget their burdens.
+
+But why the sudden appearance of soldiers, who stood guard at every
+exit, compelling the inmates of the bazaars not to leave their houses?
+Ai, ai!  Why this secrecy, since they knew what was going to take
+place?  But the soldiers, ordinarily voluble, maintained grim silence,
+and even went so far as to extend the bayonet to all those who tried to
+leave the narrow streets.
+
+"An affair of state!" was all the natives could get in answer to their
+inquiries.  Men came flocking to the roofs.  But the moonshine made all
+things ghostly.  The car of the god Juggernaut was visible, but what
+lay in its path could not be seen.
+
+Umballa was not popular that night.  But this was a private affair.
+Well he knew the ingenuity and resources of his enemies at large.
+There would be no rescue this night.  Kathlyn Mem-sahib should die;
+this time he determined to put fear into the hearts of the others.
+
+Having drunk his king's peg, he was well fortified against any personal
+qualms.  The passion he had had for Kathlyn was dead, dead as he wanted
+her to be.
+
+Whom the gods destroy they first make mad; and Umballa was mad.
+
+The palanquin waited in vain outside the wall of the garden of
+brides--waited till a ripple of the news eddied about the conveyance in
+the shape of a greatly agitated Lal Singh.
+
+"He is really going to kill her!" he panted.  "He lured her to her
+sister's side, then captured her.  She is to be placed beneath the car
+of Juggernaut within an hour.  It is to be done secretly.  The people
+are guarded and held in the bazaars.  Ahmed, with an elephant and armed
+keepers, will be here shortly.  I have warned him.  Umballa runs amuck!"
+
+Suddenly they heard voices in the garden, first Umballa's, then
+Kathlyn's.  Sinister portents to the ears of the listeners, father and
+lover and loyal friends.  The former were for breaking into the garden
+then and there; but a glance through the wicket gate disclosed the fact
+that Umballa and Kathlyn were surrounded by fifteen or twenty soldiers.
+And they dared not fire at Umballa for fear of hitting Kathlyn.
+
+The palanquin was lastly carried out of sight.
+
+At the end of the passage or street nearest the town was a gate that
+was seldom closed.  Through this one had to pass to and from the city.
+Going through this gate, one could make the hill (where the car of
+Juggernaut stood) within fifteen minutes, while a detour round the
+walls of the ancient city would consume three-quarters of an hour.
+Umballa ordered the gates to be closed and stationed a guard there.
+The gates clanged behind him and Kathlyn.  This time he was guarding
+every entrance.  If his enemies were within they would naturally be
+weak in numbers; outside, they would find it extremely difficult to
+make an entrance.  More than this, he had sent a troop toward the
+colonel's camp.
+
+The gates had scarcely been closed when Ahmed, his elephant and his
+armed keepers came into view.  The men sent Pundita back to camp, and
+the actual warfare began.  They approached the gate, demanding to be
+allowed to pass.  The soldiers refused.  Instantly the keepers flung
+themselves furiously upon the soldiers.  The trooper who held the key
+threw it over the wall just before he was overpowered.  But Ahmed had
+come prepared.  From out the howdah he took a heavy leather pad, which
+he adjusted over the fore skull of the elephant, and gave a command.
+
+The skull of the elephant is thick.  Hunters will tell you that bullets
+glance off it as water from the back of a duck.  Thus, protected by the
+leather pad, the elephant becomes a formidable battering-ram, backed by
+tons of weight.  Only the solidity of stone may stay him.
+
+Ahmed's elephant shouldered through the gates grandly.  For all the
+resistance they offered that skull they might have been constructed of
+papier mache.
+
+Through the dust they hurried.  Whenever a curious native got in the
+way the butt of a rifle bestirred him out of it.
+
+Umballa had lashed Kathlyn to a sapling which was laid across the path
+of the car.  The man was mad, stark mad, this night.  Even the soldiers
+and the devotees surrounding the car were terrified.  One did not force
+sacrifices to Juggernaut.  One soldier had protested, and he lay at the
+bottom of the hill, his skull crushed.  The others, pulled one way by
+greed of money and love of life, stirred no hand.
+
+But Kathlyn Mem-sahib did not die under the broad wheels of the car of
+Juggernaut.  So interested in Umballa were his men that they forgot the
+vigilance required to conduct such a ceremony free of interruption.  A
+crackling of shots, a warning cry to drop their arms, the plunging of
+an elephant in the path of the car, which was already thundering down
+the hill, spoiled Umballa's classic.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+PATIENCE
+
+While Bruce and two of his men carried Kathlyn out of harm's way to the
+shelter of the underbrush, where he liberated her, Ahmed drove Umballa
+and his panic-stricken soldiers over the brow of the hill.  Umballa
+could be distinguished by his robes and turban, but in the moonlight
+Ahmed and his followers were all of a color, like cats in the dark.
+With mad joy in his heart Ahmed could not resist propelling the furious
+regent down-hill, using the butt of his rifle and pretending he did not
+know who it was he was treating with these indignities.  And Umballa
+could not tell who his assailant was because he was given no
+opportunity to turn.
+
+"Soor!" Ahmed shouted.  "Swine!  Take that, and that, and that!"
+
+Stumbling on, Umballa cried out in pain; but he did not ask for mercy.
+
+"Soor!  Tell your master, Durga Ram, how bites this gun butt as I shall
+tell mine the pleasure it gives me to administer it.  Swine!  Ha, you
+stumble!  Up with you!"
+
+Batter and bang!  Doubtless Ahmed would have prolonged this delightful
+entertainment to the very steps of the palace, but a full troop of
+soldiers appeared at the foot of the hill, and Ahmed saw that it was
+now his turn to take to his heels.
+
+"Swine!" with a parting blow which sent Umballa to his knees, "tell
+your master that if he harms the little Mem-sahib in the palace he
+shall die!  Let him remember the warnings that he has received, and let
+him not forget what a certain dungeon holds!"
+
+Umballa staggered to his feet, his sight blinded with tears of pain.
+He was sober enough now, and Ahmed's final words rang in his ears like
+a cluster of bells.  "What a certain dungeon holds!"  Stumbling down
+the hill, urged by Ahmed's blows, only one thought occupied his mind:
+to wreak his vengeance for these indignities upon an innocent girl.
+But now a new fear entered his craven soul, craven as all cruel souls
+are.  Some one knew!
+
+He fell into the arms of his troopers and they carried him to a litter,
+thence to the palace.  His back was covered with bruises, and but for
+the thickness of his cummerbund he must have died under the beating,
+which had been thorough and masterly.  "What a certain dungeon holds!"
+In his chamber Umballa called for his peg of brandy and champagne,
+which for some reason did not take hold as usual.  For the first time
+in his life Durga Ram, so-called Umballa, knew what agony was.  But did
+it cause him to think with pity of the agonies he had caused them?  Not
+in the least.
+
+When Ahmed rejoined his people Kathlyn was leaning against her father's
+shoulder, smiling wanly.
+
+"Where is Umballa?" cried Bruce, seizing Ahmed by the arm.
+
+"On the way to the palace!"  Ahmed laughed and told what he had
+accomplished.
+
+Bruce raised his hands in anger.
+
+"But, Sahib!" began Ahmed, not comprehending.
+
+"And, having him in your hands, you let him go!"
+
+Ahmed stood dumfounded.  His jaw sagged, his rifle slipped from his
+hands and fell with a clank at his feet.
+
+"You are right, Sahib.  I am an unthinking fool.  May Allah forgive me!"
+
+"We could have held him as hostage, and tomorrow morning we all could
+have left Allaha free, unhindered!  God forgive you, Ahmed, for not
+thinking!"
+
+"In the heat of battle, Sahib, one does not always think of the
+morrow."  But Ahmed's head fell and his chin touched his breast.  That
+he, Ahmed, of the secret service, should let spite overshadow
+forethought and to be called to account for it!  He was disgraced.
+
+"Never mind, Ahmed," said Kathlyn kindly.  "What is done is done.  We
+must find safety.  We shall have to hide in the jungle to-night.  And
+there is my sister.  You should have thought, Ahmed."
+
+"Umballa will not harm a hair of her head," replied Ahmed, lifting his
+head.
+
+"Your work has filled his heart with venom," declared Bruce hotly.
+
+"And my words, Sahib, have filled his veins with water," replied Ahmed,
+now smiling.
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded the colonel.
+
+"Ask Ramabai.  Perhaps he will tell you."
+
+"That," returned Ramabai, "is of less importance at this moment than
+the method to be used in liberating the daughter of Colonel Sahib.
+Listen.  The people are angry because they were not permitted to be
+present at the sacrifice to Juggernaut.  To pacify them Umballa will
+have to invent some amusement in the arena."
+
+"But how will that aid us?" interrupted the colonel.
+
+"Let us say, an exhibition of wild animals, with their trainers."
+
+"Trainers?"
+
+"Yes.  You, Colonel Sahib, and you, Kathlyn Mem-sahib, and you, Bruce
+Sahib, will without difficulty act the parts."
+
+"Good!" said Ahmed bitterly.  "The three of them will rush into the
+royal box, seize Winnie Mem-sahib, and carry her off from under the
+very noses of Umballa, the council and the soldiers!"
+
+"My friend Ahmed is bitter," replied Ramabai patiently.
+
+"Ai, ai!  I had Umballa in my hands and let him go!  Pardon me,
+Ramabai; I am indeed bitter."
+
+"But who will suggest this animal scheme to Umballa?" inquired Bruce.
+
+"I."  Ramabai salaamed.
+
+"You will walk into the lion's den?"
+
+"The jackal's," Ramabai corrected.
+
+"God help me!  If I only had a few men!" groaned the colonel, raising
+his hands to heaven.
+
+"You will be throwing away your life uselessly, Ramabai," said Kathlyn.
+
+"No.  Umballa and I will understand each other completely."
+
+"Ramabai," put in Ahmed, with his singular smile, "do you want a crown?"
+
+"For myself?  No, again.  For my wife?  That is a different matter."
+
+"And the man in the dungeon?" ironically.
+
+Ramabai suddenly faced the moon and stared long and silently at the
+brilliant planet.  In his mind there was conflict, war between right
+and ambition.  He seemed to have forgot those about him, waiting
+anxiously for him to speak.
+
+"Ramabai," said Ahmed craftily, "at a word from you a thousand armed
+men will spring into existence and within twelve hours set Pundita on
+yonder throne.  Why do you hesitate to give the sign?"
+
+Ramabai wheeled quickly.
+
+"Ahmed, silence!  I am yet an honorable man.  You know and I know how
+far I may go.  Trifle with me no more."
+
+Ahmed salaamed deeply.
+
+"Think not badly of me, Ramabai; but I am a man of action, and it galls
+me to wait."
+
+"Are you wholly unselfish?"
+
+It was Ahmed's turn to address mute inquiries to the moon.
+
+"What is all this palaver about?"  Bruce came in between the two men
+impatiently.
+
+"God knows!" murmured the colonel.  "One thing I know, if we stand here
+much longer we'll all spend the rest of the night in prison."
+
+There was wisdom in this.  They marched away at once, following the
+path of the elephant and the loyal keepers.  There was no pursuit.
+Soldiers with purses filled with promises are not overeager to face
+skilled marksmen.  The colonel and his followers, not being aware of
+this indecision, proposed camping in the first spot which afforded
+protection from the chill of night, not daring to make for the
+bungalow, certain that it was being watched.  In this they were wise,
+for a cordon of soldiers (with something besides promises in their
+purses) surrounded the camp on the chance that its owner might hazard a
+return.
+
+"Now, Ramabai, what is your plan?" asked the colonel, as he wrapped
+Kathlyn in the howdah blanket.  "We are to pose as animal trainers.
+Good.  What next?"
+
+"A trap and a tunnel."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+"There used to be one.  A part of it caved in four or five years ago.
+It can be reexcavated in a night.  The men who do that shall be my own.
+Your animals will be used.  To Kathlyn Mem-sahib your pet leopards will
+be as play fellows.  She has the eye, and the voice, and the touch.
+She shall be veiled to her eyes, with a bit of ocher on her forehead.
+Who will recognize her?"
+
+"The sight of you, Ramabai, will cause him to suspect."
+
+"That remains in the air.  There must be luck in it."
+
+"If Umballa can be lured to drink his pegs."  Then, with an impatient
+gesture Ahmed added: "Folly!  What!  Umballa and the council will not
+recognize the Colonel Sahib's hair, the Mem-sahib's golden head?"
+
+"In the go-down of Lal Singh, the cobbler, there are many things, even
+wigs and false beards," retorted Ramabai slyly.
+
+Ahmed started, then laughed.
+
+"You are right, Ramabai.  So then we have wigs and beards.  Go on."  He
+was sitting cross legged and rocking back and forth.
+
+"After the tricks are done Kathlyn Mem-sahib will throw aside her veil
+and stand revealed, to Umballa, to the council, to the populace."
+
+Bruce jumped to his feet.
+
+"Be patient, Bruce Sahib," reproved Ramabai.  "I am not yet done."
+
+Bruce sat down again, and Kathlyn stole a glance at his lean unhappy
+face.  How she longed to touch it, to smooth away the lines of care!
+The old camaraderie was gone; there seemed to be some invisible barrier
+between them now.
+
+"She will discover herself, then," proceeded Ramabai.  "Umballa will at
+once start to order her capture, when she shall stay him by crying that
+she is willing to face the arena lions.  Remember, there will be a trap
+and a tunnel."
+
+"And outside?" said Ahmed, still doubting.
+
+"There will be soldiers, my men.  But they will at that moment be
+elsewhere."
+
+"If you have soldiers, then, why not slip them into the palace and have
+them take the young Mem-sahib by force?"
+
+"My men are not permitted to enter the palace, Ahmed.  Umballa is
+afraid of them.  To go on.  Winnie Mem-sahib will stand up and exclaim
+that she will join her sister, to prove that she is no less brave."
+
+"But the lions!"--from Bruce.  From his point of view the plan was as
+absurd as it was impossible.
+
+Ramabai, however, knew his people and Bruce did not.
+
+"Always remember the trap and the tunnel, Bruce Sahib.  At the entrance
+of the lions the trap will fall.  Inside the tunnel will be the Colonel
+Sahib and Bruce Sahib.  Outside will be Ahmed and the brave men he had
+with him this night.  And all the road free to the gates!"
+
+"Ah, for those thousand men!" sighed Ahmed.  "I can not forget them."
+
+"Nor I the dungeon-keep," replied Ramabai.  "I must go my own way.  Of
+the right and wrong of it you are not concerned, Ahmed."
+
+"By the Lord!" exclaimed the colonel, getting up.  "I begin to
+understand.  He is alive, and they hold him there in a den, vile like
+mine was.  Alive!"
+
+Ramabai nodded, but Ahmed clapped his hands exultantly.
+
+"Umballa did not put him there.  It was the politics of the council;
+and this is the sword which Umballa holds over their heads.  And if I
+summoned my thousand men their zeal for me . . ."
+
+"Pardon, Ramabai!" cried Ahmed contritely.  "Pardon!"
+
+"Ah! finally you understand?"
+
+"Yes.  You are not only a good man but a great one.  If you gave the
+sign to your men there would be no one in yonder dungeon-keep alive!"
+
+"They know, and I could not stay the tempest once I loosed it.  There,
+that is all.  That is the battle I have fought and won."
+
+The colonel reached down and offered his hand.
+
+"Ramabai, you're a man."
+
+"Thanks, Sahib.  And I tell you this: I love my people.  I was born
+among them.  They are simple and easily led.  I wish to see them happy,
+but I can not step over the dead body of one who was kind to me.  And
+this I add: When you, my friends, are free, I will make him free also.
+Young men are my followers, and in the blood of the young there is much
+heat.  My plan may appear to you weak and absurd, but I know my people.
+Besides, it is our only chance."
+
+"Well, Ramabai, we will try your plan, though I do so half heartedly.
+So many times have we escaped, only to be brought back.  I am tired, in
+the heart, in the mind, in the body.  I want to lie down somewhere and
+sleep for days."
+
+Kathlyn reached out, touched his hand and patted it.  She knew.  The
+pain and terror in his heart were not born of his own miseries but of
+theirs, hers and Winnie's.
+
+"Why doesn't my brain snap?" she queried inwardly.  "Why doesn't the
+thread break?  Why can't I cry out and laugh and grow hysterical like
+other women?"
+
+"I shall take charge of everything," continued Ramabai.  "Your
+tribulations affect my own honor.  None of you must be seen, however;
+not even you, Ahmed.  I shall keep you informed.  Ahmed will instruct
+the keepers to obey me.  No harm will come to them, since no one can
+identify them as having been Umballa's assailants.  My wife will not be
+molested in any way for remaining at the bungalow."
+
+Without another word Ramabai curled himself up and went to sleep; and
+one by one the others followed his example.  Bruce was last to close
+his eyes.  He glanced moodily round, noted the guards patrolling the
+boundaries of their secluded camp, the mahout sleeping in the shadow of
+the elephant; and then he looked down at Kathlyn.  Only a bit of her
+forehead was exposed.  One brown shapely hand clutched the howdah
+blanket.  A patch of moonshine touched her temple.  Silently he stooped
+and laid a kiss upon the hand, then crept over to Ahmed and lay down
+with his back to the Mohammedan's.
+
+After a while the hand clutching the howdah blanket slid under and
+finally nestled beneath the owner's chin.
+
+But Winnie could not sleep.  Every sound brought her to an upright
+position; and to-night the palace seemed charged with mysterious
+noises.  The muttering of the cockatoo, the tinkle of the fountain as
+the water fell into the basin, the scrape and slither of sandals beyond
+the lattice partitions, the rattle of a gun butt somewhere in the outer
+corridors--these sounds she heard.  Once she thought she heard the
+sputter of rifle shots afar, but she was not sure.
+
+Kit, beautiful Kit!  Oh, they would not, could not let her die!  And
+she had come into this land with her mind aglow with fairy stories!
+
+One of the leopards in the treasury corridors roared, and Winnie
+crouched into her cushions.  What were they going to do to her?  For
+she understood perfectly that she was only a prisoner and that the
+crown meant nothing at all so far as authority was concerned.  She was
+indeed the veriest puppet.  What with Ahmed's disclosures and Kathlyn's
+advice she knew that she was nothing more than a helpless pawn in this
+oriental game of chess.  At any moment she might be removed from the
+board.
+
+She became tense again.  She heard the slip-slip of sandals In the
+corridor, a key turn in the lock.  The door opened, and in the dim
+light she saw Umballa.
+
+He stood by the door, silently contemplating her.  "What a certain
+dungeon holds!" still eddied through the current of his thoughts.
+Money, money!  He needed it; it was the only barrier between him and
+the end, which at last he began to see.  Money, baskets and bags of it,
+and he dared not go near.  May the fires of hell burn eternally in the
+bones of these greedy soldiers, his only hope!
+
+His body ached; liquid fire seemed to have taken the place of blood in
+his veins.  His back and shoulders were a mass of bruises.  Beaten with
+a gun butt, driven, harried, cursed--he, Durga Ram!  A gun butt in the
+hands of a low caste!  He had not only been beaten; he had been
+dishonored and defiled.  His eyes flashed and his fingers closed
+convulsively, but he was sober.  To take yonder white throat in his
+hands!  It was true; he dared not harm a hair of her head!
+
+"Your sister Kathlyn perished under the wheels of the car of
+Juggernaut."
+
+Winnie did not stir.  The aspect of the man fascinated her as the
+nearness of a cobra would have done.  Vipers not only crawl in this
+terrible land; they walk.  One stung with fangs and the other with
+words.
+
+"She is dead, and to-morrow your father dies."
+
+The disheveled appearance of the man did not in her eyes confirm this.
+Indeed, the longer she gazed at him the more strongly convinced she
+became that he was lying.  But wisely she maintained her silence.
+
+"Dead," he repeated.  "Within a week you shall be my wife.  You know.
+They have told you.  I want money, and by all the gods of Hind, yours
+shall be the hand to give it to me.  Marry me, and one week after I
+will give you means of leaving Allaha.  Will you marry me?"
+
+"Yes."  The word slipped over Winnie's lips faintly.  She recalled
+Ahmed's advice: to humor the man, to play for time; but she knew that
+if he touched her she must scream.
+
+"Keep that word.  Your father and sister are fools."
+
+Winnie trembled.  They were alive.  Kit and her father; this man had
+lied.  Alive!  Oh, she would not be afraid of any ordeal now.  They
+were alive, and more than that they were free.
+
+"I will keep my word when the time comes," she replied clearly.
+
+"They are calling me Durga Ram the Mad.  Beware, then, for madmen do
+mad things."
+
+The door opened and shut behind him, and she heard the key turn and the
+outside bolt click into its socket.
+
+They were alive and free, her loved ones!  She knelt upon the cushions,
+her eyes uplifted.
+
+Alone, with a torch in his shaking hand, Umballa went down into the
+prison, to the row of dungeons.  In the door of one was a sliding
+panel.  He pulled this back and peered within.  Something lay huddled
+in a corner.  He drew the panel back into its place, climbed the worn
+steps, extinguished the torch and proceeded to his own home, a gift of
+his former master, standing just outside the royal confines.  Once
+there, he had slaves anoint his bruised back and shoulders with
+unguents, ordered his peg, drank it and lay down to sleep.
+
+On the morrow he was somewhat daunted upon meeting Ramabai in the
+corridor leading to the throne room, where Winnie and the council were
+gathered.  He started to summon the guards, but the impassive face of
+his enemy and the menacing hand stayed the call.
+
+"You are a brave man, Ramabai, to enter the lion's den in this fashion.
+You shall never leave here alive."
+
+"Yes, Durga Ram.  I shall depart as I came, a free man."
+
+"You talk like that to me?" furiously.
+
+"Even so.  Shall I go out on the balcony and declare that I know what a
+certain dungeon holds?"
+
+Umballa's fury vanished, and sweat oozed from his palms.
+
+"You?"
+
+"Yes, I know.  A truce!  The people are muttering and murmuring against
+you because they were forbidden to attend your especial juggernaut.
+Best for both of us that they be quieted and amused."
+
+"Ramabai, you shall never wear the crown."
+
+"I do not want it."
+
+"Nor shall your wife."
+
+Ramabai did not speak.
+
+"You shall die first!"
+
+"War or peace?" asked Ramabai.
+
+"War."
+
+"So be it.  I shall proceed to strike the first blow."
+
+Ramabai turned and began to walk toward the window opening out upon the
+balcony; but Umballa bounded after him, realizing that Ramabai would do
+as he threatened, declare from the balcony what he knew.
+
+"Wait!  A truce for forty-eight hours."
+
+"Agreed.  I have a proposition to make before you and the council.  Let
+us go in."
+
+Before the council (startled as had Umballa been at Ramabai's
+appearance) he explained his plans for the pacification and amusement
+of the people.  Umballa tried to find flaws in it; but his brain,
+befuddled by numerous pegs and disappointments, saw nothing.  And when
+Ramabai produced his troupe of wild animal trainers not even Winnie
+recognized them.  But during the argument between Umballa and the
+council as to the date of the festivities Kathlyn raised the corner of
+her veil.  It was enough for Winnie.  In the last few days she had
+learned self-control; and there was scarcely a sign that she saw Kit
+and her father, and they had the courage to come here in their efforts
+to rescue her!
+
+It was finally arranged to give the exhibition the next day, and
+messengers were despatched forthwith to notify the city and the
+bazaars.  A dozen times Umballa eyed Ramabai's back, murder in his mind
+and fear in his heart.  Blind fool that he had been not to have seen
+this man in his true light and killed him!  Now, if he hired assassins,
+he could not trust them; his purse was again empty.
+
+Ramabai must have felt the gaze, for once he turned and caught the eye
+of Umballa, approached and whispered: "Durga Ram, wherever I go I am
+followed by watchers who would die for me.  Do not waste your money on
+hired assassins."
+
+As the so-called animal trainers were departing Kathlyn managed to drop
+at Winnie's feet a little ball of paper which the young sister
+maneuvered to secure without being observed.  She was advised to have
+no fear of the lions in the arena, to be ready to join Kathlyn in the
+arena when she signified the moment.  Winnie would have entered a den
+of tigers had Kathlyn so advised her.
+
+Matters came to pass as Ramabai had planned: the night work in the
+arena, the clearing of the tunnel, the making of the trap, the
+perfecting of all the details of escape.  Ahmed would be given charge
+of the exit, Lal Singh of the road, and Ali (Bruce's man) would arrange
+that outside the city there should be no barriers.  All because Ramabai
+thought more of his conscience than of his ambitions for Pundita.
+
+And when, late in the afternoon, the exhibition was over, Kathlyn
+stepped upon the trap, threw aside her veil and revealed herself to the
+spectators.  For all her darkened skin they recognized her, and a deep
+murmur ran round the arena.  Kathlyn, knowing how volatile the people
+were, extended her hands toward the royal box.  When the murmurs died
+away she spoke in Hindustani:
+
+"I will face the arena lions!"
+
+The murmurs rose again, gaining such volume that they became roars,
+which the disturbed beasts took up and augmented.
+
+Again Kathlyn made a sign for silence, and added: "Provided my sister
+stands at my side!"
+
+To this Umballa said no.  The multitude shouted defiance.  In the arena
+they were masters, even as the populace in the old days of Rome were
+masters of their emperors.
+
+Winnie, comprehending that this was her cue, stepped forward in the box
+and signified by gestures that she would join her sister.
+
+The roaring began again, but this time it had the quality of cheers.  A
+real spectacle!  To face the savage African lions unarmed!  A fine
+spectacle!
+
+Winnie was lowered from the box, and as her feet touched the ground she
+ran quickly to Kathlyn's side.
+
+"Winnie, I am standing on a trap.  When it sinks be not alarmed."
+
+"My Kit!" cried Winnie, squeezing her adored sister's hand.
+
+The arena was cleared, and the doors to the lions' dens were opened.
+The great maned African lions stood for a moment blinking in the
+sunshine.  One of them roared out his displeasure, and saw the two
+women.  Then all of them loped toward what they supposed were to be
+their victims.
+
+That night in the bazaars they said that Umballa was warring in the
+face of the gods.  The erstwhile white queen of the yellow hair was
+truly a great magician.  For did she not cause the earth to open up and
+swallow her sister and herself?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+MAGIC
+
+Through the tunnel, into the street, into the care of Ahmed and Lal
+Singh, then hurriedly to the house of Ramabai.  The fact that they had
+to proceed to Ramabai's was a severe blow to Bruce and the colonel.
+They had expected all to be mounted the instant they came from the
+tunnel, a swift unobstructed flight to the gate and freedom.  But Ahmed
+could not find his elephants.  Too late he learned that the mahouts he
+had secretly engaged had misunderstood his instructions and had
+stationed themselves near the main entrance to the arena!
+
+The cursing and railing against fate is a futile thing, never bearing
+fruit: so Ramabai suggested his house till transportation could be
+secured.  They perfectly understood that they could not remain in the
+house more than a few hours; for Umballa would surely send his men
+everywhere, and quite possibly first of all to Ramabai's.
+
+Still, Ramabai did not appear very much alarmed.  There were secret
+stairways in his house that not even Pundita knew; and at a pinch he
+had a plan by which he could turn away investigation.  Only in the
+direst need, though, did he intend to execute this plan.  He wanted his
+friends out of Allaha without the shedding of any blood.
+
+"Well," said Ahmed, angrily casting aside his disguise; "well, Ramabai,
+this is the crisis.  Will you strike?"
+
+Lal Singh's wrinkled face lighted up with eagerness.
+
+"We are ready, Ramabai," he said.
+
+"We?"  Ramabai paused in his pacing to gaze keenly into the eyes of
+this old conspirator.
+
+"Yes, we.  For I, Lal Singh, propose to take my stand at your right
+hand.  I have not been idle.  Everywhere your friends are evincing
+impatience.  Ah, I know.  You wish for a bloodless rebellion; but that
+can not be, not among our people.  You have said that in their zeal
+your followers, if they knew, would sweep the poor old king out of your
+path.  Listen.  Shall we put him back on the throne, to perform some
+other mad thing like this gift of his throne to the Colonel Sahib?"
+
+Ramabai, watched intently by the two conspirators for the British Raj
+and his white friends, paced back and forth, his hands behind his back,
+his head bent.  He was a Christian; he was not only a Christian, he was
+a Hindu, and the shedding of blood was doubly abhorrent to his mind.
+
+"I am being pulled by two horses," he said.
+
+"Act quickly," advised Ahmed; "one way or the other.  Umballa will
+throw his men round the whole city and there will not be a space large
+enough for a rat to crawl through.  And he will fight like a rat this
+time; mark me."
+
+Ramabai paused suddenly in front of his wife and smiled down at her.
+
+"Pundita, you are my legal queen.  It is for you to say what shall be
+done.  I had in mind a republic."
+
+Lal Singh cackled ironically.
+
+"Do not dream," said Ahmed.  "Common sense should tell you that there
+can be no republic in Allaha.  There must be an absolute ruler, nothing
+less.  Your Majesty, speak," he added, salaaming before Pundita.
+
+She looked wildly about the room, vainly striving to read the faces of
+her white friends; but their expressions were like stone images.  No
+help there, no guidance.
+
+"Is the life of a decrepit old man," asked Lal Singh, "worth the lives
+of these white people who love and respect you?"
+
+Pundita rose and placed her hands upon her husband's shoulders.
+
+"We owe them our lives.  Strike, Ramabai; but only if our need demands
+it."
+
+"Good!" said Lal Singh.  "I'm off for the bazaars for the night.  I
+will buy chupatties and pass them about, as they did in my father's
+time at Delhi, in the Great Mutiny."
+
+And he vanished.
+
+Have you ever witnessed the swarming of bees?  Have you ever heard the
+hum and buzz of them?  So looked and sounded the bazaars that night.
+At every intersection of streets and passages there were groups,
+buzzing and gesticulating.  In the gutters the cocoanut oil lamps
+flickered, throwing weird shadows upon the walls; and squatting about
+these lamps the fruit sellers and candy sellers and cobblers and
+tailors jabbered and droned.  Light women, with their painted faces,
+went abroad boldly.
+
+And there was but one word on all these tongues: Magic!
+
+Could any human being pass through what this white woman had?  No!  She
+was the reincarnation of some forgotten goddess.  They knew that, and
+Umballa would soon bring famine and plague and death among them.
+Whenever they uttered his name they spat to cleanse their mouths of the
+defilement.
+
+For the present the soldiers were his; and groups of them swaggered
+through the bazaars, chanting drunkenly and making speech with the
+light women and jostling honest men into the gutters.
+
+All these things Lal Singh saw and heard and made note of as he went
+from house to house among the chosen and told them to hold themselves
+in readiness, as the hour was near at hand.  Followed the clinking of
+gunlocks and the rattle of cartridges.  A thousand fierce youths, ready
+for anything, death or loot or the beauties of the zenanas.  For
+patriotism in Southern Asia depends largely upon what treasures one may
+wring from it.
+
+But how would they know the hour for the uprising?  A servant would
+call and ask for chupatties.  Good.  And the meeting-place?  Ramabai's
+garden.  It was well.  They would be ready.
+
+Flicker-flicker danced the lights; flicker-flicker went the tongues.
+And the peaceful oriental stars looked down serenely.
+
+Umballa remained in the palace, burning with the fires of murder.
+Messenger after messenger came to report that the fugitives were still
+at large.  Contrary to Ahmed's expectations, Umballa did not believe
+that his enemies would be foolhardy enough to seek refuge in the house
+of Ramabai.  The four roads leading out of the city were watched, the
+colonel's bungalow and even the ruins of Bruce's camp.  They were still
+in the city; but where?
+
+A king's peg, and another; and Umballa stormed, his heart filled with
+Dutch courage.
+
+Ramabai made his preparations in case the hunters entered the house.
+He opened a secret door which led into a large gallery, dim and dusty
+but still beautiful.  Ancient armor covered the walls; armor of the
+days when there existed in Delhi a peacock throne; armor inlaid with
+gold and silver and turquoise, and there were jewel-incrusted swords
+and daggers, a blazing helmet which one of Pundita's ancestors had worn
+when the Great Khan came thundering down from China.
+
+"Here," said Ramabai to the colonel, "you will be safe.  They might
+search for days without learning this room existed.  There will be no
+need to remain here now.  Time enough when my servant gives warning."
+
+They filed out of the gallery solemnly.  Kathlyn went into the garden,
+followed by Bruce.
+
+"Do you know," said Kathlyn, "the sight of all that armor, old and
+still magnificent, seemed to awaken the recollection of another age to
+me?"
+
+He wanted to take her in his arms, but he waited for her to continue
+the thought.
+
+"I wonder if, in the dim past, I was not an Amazon?"
+
+She stretched out her arms and suddenly he caught them and drew them
+down.
+
+"I love you, Kathlyn!"
+
+"No, no!"  She struggled back from him.  "Let us return to father and
+Winnie," she said.
+
+During this talk in the garden Umballa had not been inactive.  He
+ordered his captain of the guard to proceed at once to the house of
+Ramabai and learn if they were there, or had been.
+
+The captain salaamed and departed with his men.
+
+As Bruce and Kathlyn reached the door leading into the house they were
+met by Ramabai, whose face was grave.
+
+"Ah, Mem-sahib, you ought not to have come out here.  You might be
+seen."  The servant who had been watching the street burst in with the
+cry: "Soldiers!"
+
+The colonel, Winnie and Pundita appeared.  For a moment they believed
+that Ramabai was going to guide them to the secret gallery.  But
+suddenly he raised his head and stared boldly at the gate.  And by that
+sign Bruce and the colonel understood: Ramabai had taken up the dice to
+make his throw.  The two men put their hands on their revolvers and
+waited.
+
+Soon the captain and his men came rushing in, only to stop short at a
+sign from Ramabai.
+
+"Be with me on the morrow, and I promise out of my own chest will I pay
+you your arrears and earnest money for the future.  On the other hand,
+what will you gain by taking us prisoners to Umballa?"
+
+"My lord's word is known.  I myself will take charge of the affairs at
+the palace; and Umballa shall go to the burning ghats.  I will announce
+to him that I found you not."
+
+The captain and his men departed, while Ramabai and his friends
+reentered the house, to find the imperturbable Lal Singh decked out in
+his lawful finery.
+
+"All is ready," he announced.
+
+"Dawn," replied Ramabai.
+
+"The servant goes forth for the chupatties."
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Dawn.  The garden was filling with silent armed men.  With Ramabai, in
+the secret gallery, were the chiefs.  Ramabai indicated the blazing
+swords.
+
+"My friends, choose among these weapons.  The gems are nothing, but the
+steel is tried and true."
+
+Lal Singh selected the simplest, salaamed and slid the scabbard through
+his cummerbund.
+
+As for Kathlyn, she could not keep her eyes off the beautiful chain
+cuirass which had once upon a time been worn by one of Pundita's
+forebears, a warrior queen.
+
+"Beautiful, beautiful!" she exclaimed.  "Pundita, may I put it on?  And
+tell me the story of the warrior queen.  To be brave like that, to
+fight side by side with the man she loved!"  She put the cuirass on.
+
+The sky was yellow when the little army started off upon its desperate
+enterprise.  A guard was left behind for the women.
+
+Pundita solemnly gave each of the girls a dagger.  War!  Rebellion!
+Great clamor and shouting before the palace stairs!
+
+"Give us Umballa and the council!"
+
+Umballa heard the shouting, and at first did not understand; but soon
+the truth came to him.  The city was in revolt.  He summoned what
+servants he could trust and armed them.  And when the captain of the
+guard entered to seize Umballa he was himself overpowered.  The
+despatch with which this was accomplished stunned the soldiers, who
+knew not what to do without their leader.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+When Lal Singh staggered into the house of Ramabai holding his side in
+mortal agony, dying, Kathlyn felt the recurrence of that strange
+duality which she had first known in the Temple of the Lion.
+
+"We have failed," whispered Lal Singh.  "The palace soldiers betrayed
+us!  All are prisoners, shortly to be shot. . . .  The secret
+gallery . . .  Food and water there! . . .  Fly!"  And thus Lal Singh
+gave up his cobbler's booth.
+
+As in a dream Kathlyn ran from the house into the street.
+
+With the sun breaking in lances of light against the ancient chain
+armor, her golden hair flying behind her like a cloud, on, on, Kathlyn
+ran, never stumbling, never faltering, till she came out into the
+square before the palace.  Like an Amazon of old, she called to the
+scattering revolutionists, called, harangued, smothered them under her
+scorn and contempt, and finally roused them to frenzy.
+
+In her madness Kathlyn turned the tide; and when her father's arms
+closed round her she sank insensible upon his breast.
+
+[Illustration: Kathlyn turned the tide.]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+BATTLE, BATTLE, BATTLE
+
+"Kit, Kit!" cried Kathlyn's father when she came to her senses.  "My
+girl, my girl!"
+
+They left the palace immediately.
+
+The overthrow of Umballa seemed to be complete.  Everywhere the
+soldiers surrendered, for it was better to have food in the stomach
+than lead.
+
+When Kathlyn left the palace a thunder of cheers greeted her.  Kathlyn
+was forced to mount the durbar throne, much as she longed to be off.
+But Bruce anticipated her thought and despatched one of the
+revolutionists to the house of Ramabai.  Kathlyn held out her hands
+toward the excited populace, then turned to Ramabai expressively.
+Ramabai, calm and unruffled as ever, stepped forward and was about to
+address the people, when the disheveled captain of the guard, whom
+Umballa had sent to the arena lions, pushed his way to the foot of the
+platform.
+
+"The arena lions have escaped!"
+
+And there were a dozen lions in all, strong, cruel, and no doubt hungry!
+
+Panic.  Men who had been at one another's throat, bravely and hardily,
+turned and fled.  It was a foolish panic, senseless, but, like all
+panics, uncontrollable.  Those on the platform ran down the steps and
+at once were swallowed up by the pressing trampling crowd.
+
+Bruce and the colonel, believing that Kathlyn was behind them, fought
+their way to a clearing, determined to secure nets and take the lions
+alive.  When they turned Kathlyn was gone.  For a moment the two men
+stood as if paralyzed.  Then Bruce relieved the tension by smiling.  He
+laid his hand on the colonel's shoulder.
+
+"She has lost us; but that will not matter.  Ordinarily I should be
+wild with anxiety; but to-day Kathlyn may go where she will, and
+nothing but awe and reverence will follow her.  Besides, she has her
+revolver."
+
+At the same time Kathlyn was fighting vigorously to get free of the
+mob, Winnie was struggling with Pundita, striving to wrench the dagger
+from the grief-stricken wife's hand.
+
+"No, no, Pundita!"
+
+"Let me go!  My lord is dead, and I wish to follow!"
+
+As the latter's eyes opened wildly Winnie heard a pounding at the door.
+She flung open the door.
+
+"Pundita?" cried the man.
+
+Winnie caught him by the sleeve and dragged him into the chamber.
+
+"Highness," he cried, "he lives!"  And he recounted the startling
+events of the morning.
+
+"They live!" cried Pundita, and covered her face.
+
+To return to Kathlyn: by and by she was able to slip into a doorway,
+and the bawling rabble passed on down the narrow street.  The house was
+deserted, and the hallway and what had been a booth was filled with
+rubbish.  Kathlyn, as she leaned breathlessly against the door, felt it
+give.  And very glad she was of this knowledge a moment later, when two
+lions galloped into the street, their manes stiff, their tails arched.
+Doubtless, they were badly frightened.
+
+Kathlyn reached for the revolver she carried and fired at the animals,
+not expecting to hit one of them, but hoping that the noise of the
+firearm would swerve them into the passage across the way.  Instead,
+they came straight to where she stood.
+
+She stepped inside and slammed the door, holding it and feeling about
+in vain for lock or bolt.
+
+She then espied a ladder which gave to the roof top, and up this she
+climbed.  They could not possibly follow her up the ladder, and as she
+reached the top and it turned back at her pressure, she knew that for
+the present she had nothing to fear from the lions.
+
+Then, round the passage she saw a palanquin, carried by slaves.  She
+leaned far over.
+
+"Help!" she cried.  "Help!"
+
+The bearers paused abruptly, and the curtain of the palanquin was swept
+back.  The dark sinister visage of Umballa was revealed.
+
+Umballa left the palanquin, opened the door of the house, espied the
+rubbish in the hall; was in the act of mounting the first steps when
+one of the lions roared again.  Drunk as he was, filled with a
+drunkard's courage, Umballa started back.  The lions!  Out into the
+street he went.  He turned to the bearers and ordered them to fire the
+inflammables in the hall.  But they refused, for they recognized the
+chain armor.  Mad with rage Umballa struck at them, entered the hall
+again, and threw a lighted match into the rubbish.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+THE WHITE GODDESS
+
+The painted dancing girl in the house where Umballa had taken temporary
+refuge began to gather her trinkets, her amber and turquoise necklaces,
+bracelets and anklets.  These she placed in a brass enameled box and
+tucked it under her arm.  Next she shook the sodden Umballa by the
+sleeve.
+
+"Come!" she cried.
+
+"I would sleep," he muttered.
+
+She seized a bowl containing some flowers and cast the contents into
+his face.  "Fire, fire and death!" she shrilled at him.
+
+The douche brought the man out of his stupor.
+
+"Fire?" he repeated.
+
+"Come!"
+
+This time he followed her docilely, wiping his face on his sleeve.
+
+They heard a great shouting in the street, but did not tarry to learn
+what had caused it.
+
+One of Umballa's bearers, upon realizing what his master had done, had
+run down the street for aid.  He had had two objects in view--to save
+the white goddess and to buy his freedom.
+
+A few hundred yards away, in another street, the colonel, Bruce and
+Ahmed were dragging a net for the purpose of laying it for a lion at
+bay in a blind alley.  Into their presence rushed the wild-eyed bearer.
+
+"Save the white goddess!" he cried.
+
+Bruce seized him by the shoulder.  "What is that?"
+
+"The white goddess, Sahib!  She is on the roof of a burning house.
+Durga Ram, my master, set fire to it.  He is drunk and hiding in a
+house near by."
+
+"The man is mad," declared the colonel.  "Kit would not have lost her
+way this far.  He is lying.  He wants money."
+
+Ahmed spoke.  The bearer fell upon his knees.
+
+Three shots, at intervals!
+
+The colonel and Bruce stared into each other's eyes.
+
+"God in Heaven!" gasped the colonel; "those are revolver shots!"
+
+"Bring the net!" shouted Ahmed.  To the trembling bearer he said: "Lead
+us; we follow.  And if you have spoken the truth you shall not only
+have your freedom, but rupees for your old age."
+
+A lion's net is a heavy affair, but with the aid of the keepers the men
+ran as quickly and lightly as if burdenless.  Smoke.  There was a fire.
+The hearts of the white men beat painfully.  And the same thought
+occurred to both of them; they should have gone to Ramabai's house
+first, then turned their attention to the lions.  And Umballa was
+hiding in a house near by!
+
+Well for them that they entered the doomed quarter as they did.
+Kathlyn saw them, and the muzzle of the revolver which she was pressing
+to her heart lowered, the weapon itself slipping from her hand to the
+roof.  God was not going to let her die like this.
+
+"Spread out the net!" commanded Bruce.  "Kathlyn, can you hear me?" he
+shouted, cupping his hands before his mouth.  Faintly he heard her
+reply.  "When I give the word, jump.  Do not be afraid."
+
+Kathlyn stepped upon the parapet.  A great volume of smoke obscured her
+for a moment.  Out of the windows the vivid tongues of flame darted,
+flashing upward.  She summoned all her courage and waited for the call
+of the man she loved.  Inside a floor gave way with a crash and the
+collateral walls of the building swayed ominously.  A despairing roar
+accompanied the thunder of falling beams.  The lions had gone to their
+death.
+
+"Jump!"
+
+Without hesitation Kathlyn flung herself into space.  A murmur ran
+through the crowd which had, for the moment, forgot its own danger in
+the wonder of this spectacle.  The men holding the net threw themselves
+backward as Kathlyn struck the mesh.  Even then her body touched the
+street cobbles and she was bruised and shaken severely, but, oh, alive,
+alive!  There rose the great shouting which Umballa and the dancing
+girl had heard.
+
+Shortly after the house collapsed.  The fire spread to the houses on
+each side.
+
+Bruce seized the bearer by the arm.  "Now, the house which Umballa
+entered?"
+
+Eagerly enough the slave directed him.  For all the abuse and beatings
+the slave was to have his hour.  But they found the house empty, except
+for a chattering monkey and a screaming parrakeet, both attached to
+pedestal perches.  Bruce liberated them and returned to the colonel.
+
+"Gone!  Well, let him hide in the jungle, a prey to fear and hunger.
+At least we are rid of him.  But I shall die unhappy if in this life we
+two fail to meet again.  Kit!"
+
+"John!"  She withdrew from her father's arms and sought those of the
+man who loved her and whom she loved, as youth will and must.  "Let him
+go.  Why should we care?  Take me to my sister."
+
+Ahmed smiled as he and his men rolled the net.  This was as it should
+be.  For what man was a better mate for his golden-haired Mem-sahib?
+And then he thought of Lal Singh, and he choked a little.  For Lal
+Singh and he had spent many pleasant hours together.  They had worked
+together in play and in war, shared danger and bread and glory, all of
+which was written in the books of the British Raj in Calcutta.
+
+It was the will of Allah; there was but one God, and Mahomet was His
+prophet.  Then Ahmed dismissed Lal Singh and the past from his
+thoughts, after the philosophical manner of the Asiatic, and turned to
+the more vital affairs under hand.
+
+At Ramabai's house there was a happy reunion; and on her knees Pundita
+confessed to her lord how near she had been to Christian damnation.
+She had fallen from grace; she had reverted to the old customs of her
+race, to whom suicide was no sin, Ramabai took her in his arms and
+touched the forehead with his lips.
+
+"And now," said the colonel, "the king!"
+
+Ramabai's head sank.
+
+"What is the matter?  Is he dead?"
+
+"If I knew that," answered Ramabai, "I would rest content."
+
+"But you searched the royal prison?"
+
+"And found nothing, nothing!"
+
+"What do you believe?"
+
+"I believe that either the council or Umballa has forestalled us.  We
+shall visit the council at once, They are prisoners.  If they have had
+no hand in the disappearance of the king then we are facing a stone
+wall over which we can not leap.  For Umballa has fled, whither no one
+knows, and with him has gone the secret.  Come; we shall go at once to
+the palace prison."
+
+The council which had ruled so long in Allaha was very humble indeed.
+They had imprisoned the king because he had given many evidences of
+mental unbalance.  Perhaps unwisely they had proclaimed his death.
+Durga Ram had discovered what they had done and had held it over their
+heads like a sword blade.  That the king was not in his dungeon, why
+and wherefor, was beyond their knowledge.  They were in the power of
+Ramabai; let him work his will upon them.  They had told the truth.
+And Ramabai, much as he detested them, believed them.  But for the
+present it was required that they remain incarcerated till the king was
+found, dead or alive.
+
+In the palace soldiers and servants alike had already forgot Umballa.
+To them it was as if he had not existed.  All in a few hours.  There
+was, however, one man who did not forget.  Upon a certain day Umballa
+had carelessly saved his life, and to his benefactor he was now
+determined to devote that life.  This man was the majordomo, the chief
+servant in the king's household.  It was not that he loved Umballa;
+rather that he owed Umballa a debt and resolved to pay it.
+
+Two days later, when the fires were extinguished and the populace had
+settled back into its former habits, this majordomo betook himself to
+Umballa's house.  It was well guarded, and by men who had never been
+close to Umballa, but had always belonged to the dissatisfied section,
+the frankly and openly mutinous section.  No bribery was possible here;
+at least, nothing short of a fabulous sum of money would dislodge their
+loyalty to Ramabai, now the constitutional regent.  No one could leave
+the house or enter it without scrutiny and question.
+
+The servants and the women of the zenana remained undisturbed.  Ramabai
+would have it so.  Things had been put in order.  There had not been
+much damage done by the looters on the day of the revolt.  They had
+looked for treasure merely, and only an occasional bit of vandalism had
+marked their pathway.
+
+On the pain of death no soldier might enter the house.
+
+The majordomo was permitted to enter without question.  He passed the
+guards humbly.  But once inside, beyond observation, he became a
+different man.  For in Umballa's house, as in Ramabai's, there were
+secret chambers, and to-day the majordomo entered one of them--through
+a panel concealed behind a hanging Ispahan rug.
+
+On the night after the revolt, Umballa, sober and desperate, had slunk
+back disguised as a candy seller.  The house was not guarded then; so
+he had no difficulty in gaining admittance.  But he had to gain
+entrance through a window in the zenana.  He would not trust either his
+servants, his slaves, or his chief eunuch.  To the women of his own
+zenana he had always been carelessly kind, and women are least bribable
+of the two sexes.
+
+Umballa entered at once his secret chamber and food and water were
+brought, one of the women acting as bearer.  On the morning after the
+guards arrived, and Umballa knew not how long he might have to wait.
+Through one of the women he sent a verbal message to the majordomo with
+the result that each day he learned what was taking place in the
+palace.  So they hunted for the king.
+
+He was very well satisfied.  He had had his revenge; and more than
+this, he was confident when the time came he would also gain his
+liberty.  He had a ransom to pay: the king himself!
+
+Now then, Ramabai felt it incumbent on him to hold a banquet in the
+palace, there to state to his friends, native and white, just what he
+intended to do.  And on the night of this sober occasion he sat in the
+throne room before a desk littered with documents.  As he finished
+writing a note he summoned the majordomo.
+
+"Have this delivered at once to Hare Sahib, whom you will find at his
+bungalow outside the city.  Tell him also that he must be present
+to-night, he, his friend and his daughters.  It is of vital importance."
+
+Pundita, who was staring out of the window, turned and asked her lord
+what he was sending the Colonel Sahib that he could not give him at the
+banquet.
+
+"A surprise, an agreeable surprise."
+
+The majordomo cocked his ears; but Ramabai said nothing more.
+
+At the colonel's bungalow there was rejoicing.  Ramabai had written
+that, since the king could not be found he would head the provisional
+government as regent, search for and arrest Umballa, and at any time
+the Colonel Sahib signified would furnish him with a trusty escort to
+the railway, three days' journey away.  He added, however, that he
+hoped the Colonel Sahib would be good enough to remain till order was
+established.
+
+The majordomo contrived to tarry long enough to overhear as much of the
+conversation as needed for he understood English--and then returned to
+the city to carry the news to Umballa.  To him Umballa gave a white
+powder.
+
+"To-night, you say, Ramabai gives a banquet?"
+
+"Yes, Huzoor."
+
+"Well, put this in his cup and your obligation to me is paid."
+
+The majordomo stared a long time at that little packet of powder.  A
+cold sweat formed upon his brow under his turban.
+
+"Well?" said Umballa ironically.
+
+"Huzoor, it is murder!"
+
+Umballa shrugged and held out his hand for the packet.
+
+The majordomo swallowed a few times, and bowed his head.  "It shall be
+done, Huzoor.  My life is yours to do with as you please.  I have said
+it."
+
+"Begone, then, and bring me the news on the morrow that Ramabai is
+dead.  You alone know where the king is.  Should they near the hut in
+which I have hidden him, see that he is killed.  He is also useless."
+
+The majordomo departed with heavy heart.  Ramabai was an honest man;
+but Durga Ram had spoken.
+
+At the banquet, with its quail and pheasant, its fruits and flowers,
+its rare plates and its rarer goblets for the light wines high castes
+permitted themselves occasionally to drink, Ramabai toyed idly with his
+goblet and thoughtlessly pushed it toward Kathlyn, who sat at his right.
+
+Imbued with a sense of gratitude for Ramabai's patience and kindness
+and assistance through all her dreadful ordeals, Kathlyn sprang up
+suddenly, and without looking reached for what she supposed to be her
+own goblet, but inadvertently her hand came into contact with
+Ramabai's.  What she had in mind to say was never spoken.
+
+The majordomo stood appalled.  This wonderful white woman over whom the
+gods watched as they watched the winds and the rains, of whom he had
+not dared speak to Umballa.  She?  No!  He saw that he himself must
+die.  He seized the goblet ere it reached her lips, drank and flung it
+aside, empty.  He was as good as dead, for there were no antidotes for
+poisons Umballa gave.  Those seated about the table were too astonished
+to stir.  The majordomo put his hands to his eyes, reeled, steadied
+himself, and then Ramabai understood.
+
+"Poison!" he gasped, springing up and catching the majordomo by the
+shoulders.  "Poison, and it was meant for me!  Speak!"
+
+"Lord, I will tell all.  I am dying!"
+
+It was a strange tale of misplaced loyalty and gratitude, but it was
+peculiarly oriental.  And when they learned that Umballa was hidden in
+his own house and the king in a hut outside the city, they knew that
+God was just, whatever His prophet's name might be.  Before he died the
+majordomo explained the method of entering the secret chamber.
+
+The quail and pheasant, the fruits and wine remained untouched.  The
+hall became deserted almost immediately.  To the king, first; to the
+king!  Then Umballa should pay his debt.
+
+They found the poor king in the hut, in a pitiable condition.  He
+laughed and babbled and smiled and wept as they led him away.  But in
+the secret chamber which was to have held Umballa there was no living
+thing.
+
+For Umballa had, at the departure of the majordomo, conceived a plan
+for rehabilitation so wide in its ramifications, so powerful and
+whelming, that nothing could stay it; once it was set in motion.  The
+priests, the real rulers of Asia; the wise and patient gurus, who held
+the most compelling of all scepters, superstition!  Double fool that he
+had been, not to have thought of this before!  He knew that they hated
+Ramabai, who in religion was an outcast and a pariah, who worshiped but
+a single God whom none had ever seen, of whom no idol had been carved
+and set up in a temple.
+
+Superstition!
+
+Umballa threw off his robes and donned his candy seller's tatters, left
+the house without being questioned by the careless guard, and sought
+the chief temple.
+
+Superstition!
+
+To cow the populace, to bring the troops to the mark, with threats of
+curses, famine, plague, eternal damnation!  Superstition!  And this is
+why Ramabai and his followers found an empty chamber.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+BEHIND THE CURTAINS
+
+In the rear of the temple Umballa sought was a small chamber that was
+used by the priests, when they desired to rest or converse privately,
+which was often.  The burning temple lamps of brass emphasized the
+darkness of the room rather than dispelled it.  A shadow occasionally
+flickered through the amber haze--an exploring bat.  A dozen or more
+priests stood in one of the dim corners, from which their own especial
+idol winked at them with eyes like coals blown upon.  The Krishna of
+the Ruby Eyes, an idol known far and wide but seen by few.
+
+In the temple itself there was a handful of tardy worshipers.  The heat
+of the candles, the smell of the eternal lotus flower and smoking
+incense sticks made even the huge vault stifling.  Many of the idols
+were bejeweled or patched with beaten gold leaf, and many had been
+coveted by wandering white men, who, when their endeavor became known,
+disappeared mysteriously and were never more known in the haunts of men.
+
+A man in tatters appeared suddenly in the great arched doorway.  His
+turban came down almost to his eyes and a neckcloth covered his mouth.
+All that could be seen of him in the matter of countenance was a pair
+of brilliant eyes and a predatory nose.  He threw a quick piercing
+glance about, assured himself that such devotees as he saw were
+harmless, then strode boldly, if hurriedly, toward the rear chamber,
+which he entered without ado.  Instantly the indignant priests rushed
+toward him to expel him and give him a tongue-lashing for his
+impudence, when a hand was thrust out, and they beheld upon a finger a
+great green stone.  They stopped as suddenly as though they had met an
+invisible electric current.
+
+The curtain fell behind the man in tatters, and he remained motionless
+for a space.  A low murmuring among the priests ensued, and presently
+one of their number--the youngest--passed out and stationed himself
+before the curtain.  Not even a privileged dancing girl might enter now.
+
+The man in tatters stepped forward.  He became the center of the group;
+his gestures were quick, tense, authoritative.   At length priest
+turned to priest, and the wrinkled faces became more wrinkled still:
+smiles.
+
+"Highness," said the eldest, "we had thought of this, but you did not
+make us your confidant."
+
+"Till an hour gone it had not occurred to me.  Shall Ramabai, then,
+become your master, to set forth the propaganda of the infidel?"
+
+"No!"  The word was not spoken loudly, but sibilantly, with something
+resembling a hiss.  "No!"
+
+"And shall a king who has no mind, no will, no strength, resume his
+authority?  Perhaps to bring more white people into Allaha, perhaps to
+give Allaha eventually to the British Raj?"
+
+Again the negative.
+
+"But the method?"
+
+Umballa smiled.  "What brings the worshiper here with candles and
+flowers and incense?  Is it love or reverence or superstition?"
+
+The bald yellow heads nodded like porcelain mandarins.
+
+"Superstition," went on Umballa, "the sword which bends the knees of
+the layman, has and always will through the ages!"
+
+In the vault outside a bell tinkled, a gong boomed melodiously.
+
+"When I give the sign," continued the schemer, "declare the curse upon
+all those who do not bend.  A word from your lips, and Ramabai's troops
+vanish, reform and become yours and mine!"
+
+"While the king lives?" asked the chief priest curiously.
+
+"Ah!"  And Umballa smiled again.
+
+"But you, Durga Ram?"
+
+"There is Ramabai, a senile king, and I.  Which for your purposes will
+you choose?"
+
+There was a conference.  The priests drifted away from Umballa.  He did
+not stir.  His mien was proud and haughty, but for all that his knees
+shook and his heart thundered.  He understood that it was to be all or
+nothing, no middle course, no half methods.  He waited, wetting his
+cracked and swollen lips.  When the priests returned to him, their
+heads bent before him a little.  It represented a salaam, as much as
+they had ever given to the king himself.  A glow ran over Umballa.
+
+"Highness, we agree.  There will be terms."
+
+"I will agree to them without question."
+
+Life and power again; real power!  These doddering fools should serve
+him, thinking the while that they served themselves.
+
+"Half the treasury must be paid to the temple."
+
+"Agreed!"  Half for the temple and half for himself; and the
+abolishment of the seven leopards.  "With this stipulation: Ramabai is
+yours, but the white people are to be mine."
+
+The priests signified assent.
+
+And Umballa smiled in secret.  Ramabai would be dead on the morrow.
+
+"There remains the king," said the chief priest.
+
+Umballa shrugged.
+
+The chief priest stared soberly at the lamp above his head.  The king
+would be, then, Umballa's affair.
+
+"He is ill?"
+
+"He is moribund . . .  Silence!" warned Umballa.
+
+The curtains became violently agitated.  They heard the voice of the
+young priest outside raised in protest, to be answered by the shrill
+tones of a woman.
+
+"You are mad!"
+
+"And thou art a stupid fool!"
+
+Umballa's hand fell away from his dagger.
+
+"It is a woman," he said.  "Admit her."
+
+The curtains were thrust aside, and the painted dancing girl, who had
+saved Umballa from death or capture in the fire of his own contriving,
+rushed in.  Her black hair was studded with turquoise, a necklace of
+amber gleamed like gold around her neck, and on her arms and ankles a
+plentitude of silver bracelets and anklets.  With her back to the
+curtains, the young priest staring curiously over her shoulder, she
+presented a picturesque tableau.
+
+"Well!" said Umballa, who understood that she was here from no idle
+whim.
+
+"Highness, you must hide with me this night."
+
+"Indeed?"
+
+"Or die," coolly.
+
+Umballa sprang forward and seized her roughly.
+
+"What has happened?"
+
+"I was in the zenana, Highness, visiting my sister, whom you had
+transferred from the palace.  All at once we heard shouting and
+trampling of feet, and a moment later your house was overrun with men.
+They had found the king in the hut and had taken him to the palace.
+That they did not find you is because you came here."
+
+"Tell me all."
+
+"It seems that the majordomo gave the poison to Ramabai, but the white
+goddess . . ."
+
+"The white goddess!" cried Umballa, as if stung by a cobra's fang.
+
+"Ay, Highness.  She did not die on that roof.  Nothing can harm her.
+It is written."
+
+"And I was never told!"
+
+She lived, lived, and all the terrors he had evoked for her were as
+naught!  Umballa was not above superstition himself for all his
+European training.  Surely this girl of the white people was imbued
+with something more than mortal.  She lived!
+
+"Go on!" he said, his voice subdued as was his soul.
+
+"The white goddess by mistake took Ramabai's goblet and was about to
+drink when the majordomo seized the goblet and drained the poison
+himself.  He confessed everything, where the king was, where you were.
+They are again hunting through the city for you.  For the present you
+must hide with me."
+
+"The white woman must die," said Umballa in a voice like one being
+strangled.
+
+To this the priests agreed without hesitation.  This white woman whom
+the people were calling a goddess was a deadly menace to that scepter
+of theirs, superstition.
+
+"What has gone is a pact?"
+
+"A pact, Durga Ram," said the chief priest.  With Ramabai spreading
+Christianity, the abhorred creed which gave people liberty of person
+and thought, the future of his own religion stood in imminent danger.
+"A pact," he reflected.  "To you, Durga Ram, the throne; to us half the
+treasury and all the ancient rites of our creed restored."
+
+"I have said it."
+
+Umballa followed the dancing girl into the square before the temple.
+He turned and smiled ironically.  The bald fools!
+
+"Lead on, thou flower of the jasmine!" lightly.
+
+And the two of them disappeared into the night.
+
+But the priests smiled, too, for Durga Ram should always be more in
+their power than they in his.
+
+There was tremendous excitement in the city the next morning.  It
+seemed that the city would never be permitted to resume its old
+careless indolence.  Swift as the wind the news flew that the old king
+was alive, that he had been held prisoner all these months by Durga Ram
+and the now deposed council of three.  No more the old rut of dulness.
+Never had they known such fetes.  Since the arrival of the white
+goddess not a day had passed without some thrilling excitement, which
+had cost them nothing but shouts.
+
+So they deserted the bazaars and markets that morning to witness the
+most surprising spectacle of all: the king who was dead was not dead,
+but alive!
+
+He appeared before them in his rags.  For Ramabai, no mean politician,
+wished to impress upon the volatile populace the villainy of Umballa
+and the council, to gain wholly, without reservation, the sympathy of
+the people, the strongest staff a politician may lean upon.  Like a
+brave and honest man he had cast from his thoughts all hope of power.
+The king might be old, senile, decrepit, but he was none the less the
+king.  If he had moments of blankness of thought, there were other
+moments when the old man was keen enough; and keen enough he was to
+realize in these lucid intervals that Ramabai, among all his people,
+was loyalest.
+
+So, in the throne room, later, he gave the power to Ramabai to act in
+his stead till he had fully recovered from his terrible hardships.
+More than this, he declared that Pundita, the wife of Ramabai, should
+ultimately rule; for of a truth the principality was lawfully hers.  He
+would make his will at once, but in order that this should be legal he
+would have to destroy the previous will he had given to Colonel Hare,
+his friend.
+
+"Forgive me, my friend," he said.  "I acted unwisely in your case.  But
+I was angry with my people for their cowardice."
+
+"Your Majesty," replied the colonel, "the fault lay primarily with me.
+I should not have accepted it or returned.  I will tell you the truth.
+It was the filigree basket of gold and precious stones that brought me
+back."
+
+"So?  And all for nothing, since the hiding-place I gave you is not the
+true one.  But of that, more anon.  I want this wretch Durga Ram spread
+out on an ant hill . . ."
+
+And then, without apparent reason, he began to call for Lakshmi, the
+beautiful Lakshmi, the wife of his youth.  He ordered preparations for
+an elephant fight; rambled, talked as though he were but twenty; his
+eyes dim, his lips loose and pendulent.  And in this condition he might
+live ten or twenty years.  Ramabai was sore at heart.
+
+They had to wait two days till his mind cleared again.  His first
+question upon his return to his mental balance was directed to Kathlyn.
+Where was the document he had given to his friend Hare?  Kathlyn
+explained that Umballa had taken it from her.
+
+"But, Your Majesty," exclaimed the colonel rather impatiently, "what
+difference does it make?  Your return has nullified that document."
+
+"Not in case of my death.  And in Allaha the elder document is always
+the legal document, unless it is legally destroyed.  It is not well to
+antagonize the priests, who hold us firmly to this law.  I might make a
+will in favor of Pundita, but it would not legally hold in justice if
+all previous wills were not legally destroyed.  You must find this
+document."
+
+"Did you ever hear of a law to equal that?" asked Bruce of the colonel.
+
+"No, my boy, I never did.  It would mean a good deal of red tape for a
+man who changed his mind frequently.  He could not fool his relations;
+they would know.  The laws of the dark peoples have always amazed me,
+because if you dig deep enough into them you are likely to find common
+sense at the bottom.  We must search Umballa's house thoroughly.  I
+wish to see Ramabai and Pundita in the shadow of their rights.  Can't
+destroy a document offhand and make a new one without legally
+destroying the first.  Well, let us be getting back to the bungalow.
+We'll talk it over there."
+
+At the bungalow everything was systematically being prepared for the
+homeward journey.  The laughter and chatter of the two girls was music
+to their father's ears.  And sometimes he intercepted secret glances
+between Bruce and Kathlyn.  Youth, youth; youth and love!  Well, so it
+was.  He himself had been a youth, had loved and been beloved.  But he
+grew very lonely at the thought of Kathlyn eventually going into
+another home; and some young chap would soon come and claim Winnie, and
+he would have no one but Ahmed.  If only he had had a boy, to bring his
+bride to his father's roof!
+
+Pictures were taken down from the walls, the various wild animal heads,
+and were packed away in strong boxes.  And Ahmed went thither and yon,
+a hundred cares upon his shoulders.  He was busy because then he had no
+time to mourn Lal Singh.
+
+Bruce's camp was, of course, in utter ruin.  Not even the cooking
+utensils remained: and of his men there was left but Ali, whose leg
+still caused him to limp a little.  So Bruce was commanded by no less
+person than Kathlyn to be her father's guest till they departed for
+America.  Daily Winnie rode Rajah.  He was such a funny old pachyderm,
+a kind of clown among his brethren, but as gentle as a kitten.  Running
+away had not paid.  He was like the country boy who had gone to the big
+city; he never more could be satisfied with the farm.
+
+The baboon hung about the colonel's heels as a dog might have done;
+while Kathlyn had found a tiger cub for a plaything.  So for a while
+peace reigned at the camp.
+
+They found the much sought document in the secret chamber in Umballa's
+house (just as he intended they should); and the king had it legally
+destroyed and wrote a new will, wherein Pundita should have back that
+which the king's ancestors had taken from her--a throne.
+
+After that there was nothing for Colonel Hare to do but proceed to ship
+his animals to the railroad, thence to the ports where he could dispose
+of them.  Never should he enter this part of India again.  Life was too
+short.
+
+High and low they hunted Umballa, but without success.  He was hidden
+well.  They were, however, assured that he lingered in the city and was
+sinisterly alive.
+
+Day after day the king grew stronger mentally and physically.  Many of
+the reforms suggested by Ramabai were put into force.  Quiet at length
+really settled down upon the city.  They began to believe that Umballa
+had fled the city, and vigilance correspondingly relaxed.
+
+The king had a private chamber, the window of which overlooked the
+garden of brides.  There, with his sherbets and water pipe he resumed
+his old habit of inditing verse in pure Persian, for he was a scholar.
+He never entered the zenana or harem; but occasionally he sent for some
+of the women to play and dance before him.  And the woman who loved
+Umballa was among these.  One day she asked to take a journey into the
+bazaars to visit her sister.  Ordinarily such a request would have been
+denied.  But the king no longer cared what the women did, and the chief
+eunuch slept afternoons and nights, being only partly alive in the
+mornings.
+
+An hour later a palanquin was lowered directly beneath the king's
+window.  To his eye it looked exactly like the one which had departed.
+He went on writing, absorbed.  Had he looked closely, had he been the
+least suspicious . . . !
+
+This palanquin was the gift of Durga Ram, so-called Umballa.  It had
+been built especially for this long waited for occasion.  It was
+nothing more nor less than a cunning cage in which a tiger was huddled,
+in a vile temper.  The palanquin bearers, friends of the dancing girl,
+had overpowered the royal bearers and donned their costumes.  At this
+moment one of the bearers (Umballa himself, trusting no one!) crawled
+stealthily under the palanquin and touched the spring which liberated
+the tiger and opened the blind.  The furious beast sprang to the
+window.  The king was too astonished to move, to appreciate his danger.
+From yon harmless palanquin this striped fury!
+
+The tiger in his leap struck the lacquered desk, broke it and scattered
+the papers about the floor.
+
+Ramabai and his officers were just entering the corridor which led to
+the chamber when the tragedy occurred.  They heard the noise, the
+king's cries.  When they reached the door silence greeted them.
+
+The room was wrecked.  There was evidence of a short but terrific
+struggle.  The king lay dead upon the floor, the side of his head
+crushed in.  His turban and garments were in tatters.  But he had died
+like a king; for in the corner by the window lay the striped one, a
+jeweled dagger in his throat.
+
+Ramabai was first to discover the deserted palanquin, and proceeded to
+investigate.  It did not take him more than a minute to understand what
+had happened.  It was not an accident; it was cold-blooded murder, and
+back of it stood the infernal ingenuity of one man.
+
+Thus fate took Allaha by the hair again and shook her out of the
+pastoral quiet.  What would happen now?
+
+This!
+
+On the morning after the tragic death of the old king, those who went
+early to worship, to propitiate the gods to deal kindly with them
+during the day, were astounded to find the doors and gates of all the
+temples closed!  Nor was any priest visible in his usual haunts.  The
+people were stunned.  For there could be but one interpretation to this
+act on the part of the gurus: the gods had denied the people.  Why?
+Wherefore?  Twenty-four hours passed without their learning the cause;
+the priests desired to fill them with terror before they struck.
+
+Then came the distribution of pamphlets wherein it was decreed that the
+populace, the soldiery, all Allaha in fact, must bow to the will of the
+gods or go henceforth accursed.  The gods demanded the reinstatement as
+regent of Durga Ram; the deposing of Ramabai, the infidel; the fealty
+of the troops to Durga Ram.  Twenty-four hours were given the people to
+make their choice.
+
+Before the doors of all the temples the people gathered, wailing and
+pouring dust upon their heads, from Brahmin to pariah, from high caste
+matrons to light dancing girls.  And when the troops, company by
+company, began to kneel at the outer rim of these gatherings, Ramabai
+despatched a note to Colonel Hare, warning him to fly at once.  But the
+messenger tore up the note and flew to his favorite temple.
+Superstition thus won what honor, truth and generosity could not hold.
+
+Strange, how we Occidentals have stolen out from under the shadow of
+anathema.  Curse us, and we smile and shrug our shoulders; for a curse
+is but the mouthing of an angry man.  But to these brown and yellow and
+black people, from the steps of Lhassa to the tangled jungles of
+mid-Africa, the curse of fake gods is effective.  They are really a
+kindly people, generous, and often loyal unto death, simple and patient
+and hard-working; but let a priest raise his hand in anathema and at
+once they become mad, cruel and remorseless as the tiger.
+
+Allaha surrendered; and Umballa came forth.  All this happened so
+quickly that not even a rumor of it reached the colonel's bungalow till
+it was too late.  They were to have left on the morrow.  The king dead,
+only a few minor technicalities stood an the way of Ramabai and Pundita.
+
+Bruce and Kathlyn were fencing one with the other, after the manner of
+lovers, when Winnie, her eyes wide with fright, burst in upon them with
+the news that Umballa, at the head of many soldiers, was approaching.
+The lovers rushed to the front of the bungalow in time to witness the
+colonel trying to prevent the intrusion of a priest.
+
+"Patience, Sahib!" warned the priest.
+
+The colonel, upon seeing Umballa, made an attempt to draw his revolver,
+but the soldiers prevented him from carrying into execution his wild
+impulse.
+
+The priest explained what had happened.  The Colonel Sahib, his friend
+Bruce Sahib, and his youngest daughter would be permitted to depart in
+peace; but Kathlyn Mem-sahib must wed Durga Ram.
+
+When the dazed colonel produced the document which had been legally
+canceled, Umballa laughed and declared that he himself had forged that
+particular document, that the true one, which he held, was not legally
+destroyed.
+
+Burning with the thought of revenge, of reprisal, how could Durga Ram
+know that he thus dug his own pit?  Had he let them go he would have
+eventually been crowned, as surely as now his path led straight to the
+treadmill.
+
+Ahmed alone escaped, because Umballa had in his triumph forgot him!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+REMORSE
+
+There is an old saying in Rajput that woman and the four winds were
+born at the same time, of the same mother: blew hot, blew cold,
+balmily, or tempestuously, from all points at once.  Perhaps.
+
+In the zenana of the royal palace there was a woman, tall, lithe, with
+a skin of ivory and roses and eyes as brown as the husk of a water
+chestnut.  On her bare ankles were gem-incrusted anklets, on her arms
+bracelets of hammered gold, round her neck a rope of pearls and
+emeralds and rubies and sapphires.  And still she was not happy.
+
+From time to time her fingers strained at the roots of her glossy black
+hair and the whites of her great eyes glistened.  She bit her lips to
+keep back the sobs crowding in her throat.  She pressed her hands
+together so tightly that the little knuckles cracked.
+
+"Ai, ai!" she wailed softly.
+
+She paced the confines of her chamber with slow step, with fast step;
+or leaned against the wall, her face hidden in her arms; or pressed her
+hot cheeks against the cool marble of the lattice.
+
+Human nature is made up of contraries.  Why, when we have had the
+courage coolly to plan murder, or to aid or suggest it, why must we be
+troubled with remorse?  More than this, why must we battle against the
+silly impulse to tell the first we meet what we have done?  Remorse:
+what is it?
+
+Now, this woman of the zenana believed not in the God of your fathers
+and mine.  She was a pagan; her Heaven and hell were ruled by a
+thousand gods, and her temples were filled with their images.  Yet this
+thing, remorse, was stabbing her with its hot needles, till no torture
+devised by man could equal it.
+
+She was the poor foolish woman who loved Durga Ram; loved him as these
+wild Asiatic women love, from murder to the poisoned cup.  Loved him,
+and knew that he loved her not, but used her for his own selfish ends.
+There you have it.  Had he loved her, remorse never would have lifted
+its head or raised its voice.  And again, had not Umballa sought the
+white woman, this butterfly of the harem might have died of old age
+without unburdening her soul.  Remorse is the result of a crime
+committed uselessly.  Humanity is unchangeable, for all its variety of
+skins.
+
+And here was this woman, wanting to tell some one!
+
+Umballa had done a peculiar thing: he had not laid hand upon either
+Ramabai or Pundita.  When asked the reason for this generosity toward a
+man who but recently put a price on his head, Umballa smiled and
+explained that Ramabai was not only broken politically, but was a
+religious outcast.  It was happiness for such a person to die, so he
+preferred that Ramabai should live.
+
+Secretly, however, Ramabai's revolutionary friends were still back of
+him, though they pretended to bow to the yoke of the priests.
+
+So upon this day matters stood thus: the colonel, Kathlyn, Bruce and
+Winnie were prisoners again; Ahmed was in hiding, and Ramabai and his
+wife mocked by those who once had cheered them.  The ingratitude of
+kings is as nothing when compared to the ingratitude of a people.
+
+A most ridiculous country: to crown Kathlyn again (for the third time!)
+and then to lock her up!  Next to superstition as a barrier to progress
+there stands custom.  Everything one did must be done as some one else
+had done it; the initiative was still chained up in the temples, it
+belonged to the bald priests only.
+
+But Umballa had made two mistakes: he should have permitted the white
+people to leave the country and given a silken cord to the chief
+eunuch, to apply as directed.  There are no written laws among the dark
+peoples that forbid the disposal of that chattel known as a woman of
+the harem, or zenana.  There are certain customs that even the all
+powerful British Raj must ignore.
+
+The catafalque of the dead king rested upon the royal platform.  Two
+troopers stood below; otherwise the platform was deserted.  When
+Ramabai and Pundita arrived and mounted the platform to pay their last
+respects to a kindly man, the soldiers saluted gravely, even
+sorrowfully.  Ramabai, for his courage, his honesty and justice, was
+their man; but they no longer dared serve him, since it would be at the
+expense of their own lives.
+
+"My Lord!" whispered Pundita, pressing Ramabai's hand.  "Courage!"  For
+Pundita understood the man at her side.  Had he been honorless, she
+would this day be wearing a crown.
+
+"Pundita, they hissed us as we passed."
+
+"Not the soldiers, my Lord."
+
+"And this poor man!  Pundita, he was murdered, and I am powerless to
+avenge him.  It was Umballa; but what proof have I?  None, none!  Well,
+for me there is left but one thing; to leave Allaha for good.  We two
+shall go to some country where honor and kindness are not crimes but
+virtues."
+
+"My Lord, it is our new religion."
+
+"And shall we hold to it and go, or repudiate it and stay?"
+
+"I am my Lord's chattel; but I would despise him if he took the base
+course."
+
+"And so should I, flower of my heart!" Ramabai folded his arms and
+stared down moodily at the man who, had he lived, could have made
+Pundita his successor.  "Pundita, I have not yet dared tell you all;
+but here, in the presence of death, truth will out.  We can not leave.
+Confiscation of property and death face us at every gate.  No!  Umballa
+proposes to crush me gradually and make my life a hell.  No man who was
+my friend now dares receive me in his house.  Worship is denied us,
+unless we worship in secret.  There is one pathway open."  He paused.
+
+"And what is that, my Lord?"
+
+"To kneel in the temple and renounce our religion.  Do we that, and we
+are free to leave Allaha."
+
+Pundita smiled.  "My Lord is not capable of so vile an act."
+
+"No."
+
+And hand in hand they stood before the catafalque forgetting everything
+but the perfect understanding between them.
+
+"Ai, ai!"
+
+It was but a murmur; and the two turned to witness the approach of the
+woman of the zenana.  She flung herself down before the catafalque,
+passionately kissing the shroud.  She leaned back and beat her breast
+and wailed.  Ramabai was vastly puzzled over this demonstration.  That
+a handsome young woman should wail over the corpse of an old man who
+had never been anything to her might have an interpretation far removed
+from sorrow.  Always in sympathy, however, with those bowed with grief,
+Ramabai stooped and attempted to raise her.
+
+She shrank from his touch, looked up and for the first time seemed to
+be aware of his presence.  Like a bubble under water, that which had
+been striving for utterance came to the surface.  She snatched one of
+Ramabai's hands.
+
+"Ai, ai!  I am wretched.  Lord, wretched!  There is hot lead in my
+heart and poison in my brain!  I will confess, confess!"
+
+Ramabai and Pundita gazed at each other, astonished.
+
+"What is it?  What do you wish to confess?" cried Ramabai quickly.
+"Perhaps . . ."
+
+She clung to his hand.  "They will order my death by the silken cord.
+I am afraid.  Krishna fend for me!"
+
+"What do you know?"
+
+"His majesty was murdered!" she whispered.
+
+"I know that," replied Ramabai.  "But who murdered him?  Who built that
+cage in the palanquin?  Who put the tiger there?  Who beat and
+overpowered the real bearers and confiscated their turbans?  Speak,
+girl; and if you can prove these things, there will be no silken cord."
+
+"But who will believe a poor woman of the zenana?"
+
+"I will."
+
+"But you can not save men from the cord.  They have taken away your
+power."
+
+"And you shall give it back to me!"
+
+"I?"
+
+"Even so.  Come with me now, to the temple."
+
+"The temple?"
+
+"Aye; where all the soldiers are, the priests . . . and Durga Ram!"
+
+"Ai, ai!  Durga Ram; it was he!  And I helped him, thus: I secured
+permission to go into the bazaars.  There an assault took place under
+the command of Durga Ram, and my bearers were made prisoners.  Durga
+Ram, disguised as a bearer, himself freed the tiger which killed the
+king.  Yes!  To the temple!  She who confesses in the temple, her
+person is sacred.  It is the law, the law!  I had forgot!  To the
+temple, my Lord!"
+
+Before the high tribunal of priests, before the unhappy Kathlyn, before
+the astonished Umballa, appeared Ramabai and Pundita, between them the
+young woman of the zenana, now almost dead with terror.
+
+"Hold!" cried Ramabai when the soldiers started toward him to eject him
+from the temple.
+
+"What!" said Umballa; "will you recant?"
+
+"No, Durga Ram.  I stand here before you all, an accuser!  I know the
+law.  Will you, wise and venerable priests, you men of Allaha, you
+soldiers, serve a murderer?  Will you," with a wave of his hand toward
+the priests, "stand sponsor to the man who deliberately planned and
+executed the miserable death of our king?  Shall it fly to Benares,
+this news that Allaha permits itself to be ruled and bullied by a
+common murderer; a man without family, a liar and a cheat?  Durga Ram,
+who slew the king; you turned upon the hand that had fed and clothed
+you and raised you to power. . . .  Wait!  Let this woman speak!"
+
+A dramatic moment followed; a silence so tense that the fluttering
+wings of the doves in the high arches could be heard distinctly.
+Ramabai was a great politician.  He had struck not only wisely but
+swiftly before his public.  Had he come before the priests and Umballa
+alone, he would have died on the spot.  But there was no way of
+covering up this accusation, so bold, direct; it would have to be
+investigated.
+
+Upon her knees, her arms outstretched toward the scowling priests, the
+woman of the zenana tremblingly told her tale: how she had saved
+Umballa during the revolt; how she had secured him shelter with her
+sister, who was a dancer; how she had visited Umballa in his secret
+chamber; how he had confided to her his plans; how she had seen him
+with her own eyes become one of the fake bearers of the palanquin.
+
+"The woman lies because I spurned her!" roared Umballa.
+
+"Away with her!" cried the chief priest, inwardly cursing Umballa for
+having permitted this woman to live when she knew so much.  "Away with
+her!"
+
+"The law!" the woman wailed.  "The sanctity of the temple is mine!"
+
+"Hold!" said Kathlyn, standing up.  In her halting Hindustani she
+spoke: "I have something to say to you all.  This woman tells the
+truth.  Let her go unafraid.  You, grave priests, have thrown your lot
+with Umballa.  Listen.  Have you not learned by this time that I am not
+a weak woman, but a strong one?  You have harried me and injured me and
+wronged me and set tortures for me, but here I stand, unharmed.  This
+day I will have my revenge.  My servant Ahmed has departed for the
+walled city of Bala Khan.  He will return with Bala Khan and an army
+such as will flatten the city of Allaha to the ground, and crows and
+vultures and tigers and jackals shall make these temples their
+abiding-places, and men will forget Allaha as they now forget the
+mighty Chitor."  She swung round toward the priests.  "You have
+yourselves to thank.  At a word from me, Bala Khan enters or stops at
+the outer walls.  I have tried to escape you by what means I had at my
+command.  Now it shall be war!  War, famine, plague!"
+
+Her young voice rang out sharp and clear, sending terror to all
+cowardly hearts, not least among these being those beating in the
+breasts of the priests.
+
+"Now," speaking to the soldiers, "go liberate my father, my sister and
+my husband-to-be; and woe to any who disobey me!  For while I stand
+here I shall be a queen indeed!  Peace; or war, famine and the plague.
+Summon the executioner.  Arrest Durga Ram.  Strip him before my eyes of
+his every insignia of rank.  He is a murderer.  He shall go to the
+tread-mill, there to slave till death.  I have said it!"
+
+Far in the rear of the cowed assemblage, near the doors, stood Ahmed,
+in his old guise of bheestee, or water carrier.  When he heard that
+beloved voice he felt the blood rush into his throat.  Aye, they were
+right.  Who but a goddess would have had at such a time an inspiration
+so great?  But it gave him an idea, and he slipped away to complete it.
+Bala Khan should come in fact.
+
+So he did not see Umballa upon his knees, whining for mercy, making
+futile promises, begging for liberty.  The soldiers spat contemptuously
+as they seized him and dragged him off.
+
+The priests conferred hastily.  Bala Khan was a fierce Mohammedan, a
+ruthless soldier; his followers were without fear.  The men of Allaha
+might put up a good defense, but in the end they would be whelmed; and
+the gods of Hind would be cast out to make way for the prophet of
+Allah.  This young woman with the white skin had for the nonce beaten
+them.  Durga Ram had played the fool: between the two women, he had
+fallen.  They had given him power, and he had let it slip through his
+fingers for the sake of reprisal where it was not needed.  Let him go,
+then, to the treadmill; they were through with him.  He had played his
+game like a tyro.  They must placate this young woman whom the people
+believed was their queen, but who they knew was the plaything of
+politics and expediencies.
+
+The chief or high priest salaamed, and Kathlyn eyed him calmly, though
+her knees threatened to refuse support.
+
+"Majesty, we bow to your will.  Allaha can not hope to cope with Bala
+Khan's fierce hillmen.  All we ask is that you abide with us till you
+have legally selected your successor."
+
+"Who shall be Pundita," said Kathlyn resolutely.
+
+The chief priest salaamed again.  The movement cost him nothing.  Once
+Bala Khan was back in his city and this white woman out of the country,
+he would undertake to deal with Ramabai and Pundita.  He doubted Bala
+Khan would stir from his impregnable city on behalf of Ramabai.
+
+The frail woman who loved Umballa raised her hands in supplication.
+
+Kathlyn understood.  She shook her head.  Umballa should end his days
+in the treadmill; he should grind the people's corn.  Nothing should
+stir her from this determination.
+
+"Majesty, and what of me?" cried the unhappy woman, now filled with
+another kind of remorse.
+
+"You shall return to the zenana for the present."
+
+"Then I am not to die, Majesty?"
+
+"No."
+
+"And Bala Khan?" inquired the priest.
+
+"He shall stand prepared; that is all."
+
+The people, crowding in the temple and in the square before it,
+salaamed deeply as Kathlyn left and returned to the palace.  She was
+rather dizzy over the success of her inspiration.  A few days might
+pass without harm; but sooner or later they would discover that she had
+tricked them; and then, the end.  But before that hour arrived they
+would doubtless find some way of leaving the city secretly.
+
+That it would be many days ere Pundita wore the crown--trust the
+priests to spread the meshes of red tape!--Kathlyn was reasonably
+certain.
+
+"My girl," said the colonel, "you are a queen, if ever there was one.
+And that you should think of such a simple thing when we had all given
+up!  They would not have touched Umballa.  Kit, Kit, whatever will you
+do when you return to the humdrum life at home?"
+
+"Thank God on my knees, dad!" she said fervently.  "But we are not safe
+yet, by any means.  We must form our plans quickly.  We have perhaps
+three days' grace.  After that, woe to all of us who are found here.
+Ah, I am tired, tired!"
+
+"Kit," whispered Bruce, "I intend this night to seek Bala Khan!"
+
+"John!"
+
+"Yes.  What the deuce is Allaha to me?  Ramabai must fight it out
+alone.  But don't worry about me; I can take care of myself."
+
+"But I don't want you to go.  I need you."
+
+"It is your life, Kit, I am certain.  Everything depends upon their
+finding out that Bala Khan will strike if you call upon him.  At most,
+all he'll do will be to levy a tribute which Ramabai, once Pundita is
+on the throne, can very well pay.  Those priests are devils incarnate.
+They will leave no stone unturned to do you injury, after to-day's
+work.  You have humiliated and outplayed them."
+
+"It is best he should go, Kit," her father declared.  "We'll not tell
+Ramabai.  He has been a man all the way through; but we mustn't
+sacrifice our chances for the sake of a bit of sentiment.  John must
+seek Bala Khan's aid."
+
+Kathlyn became resigned to the inevitable.
+
+Umballa.  He tried to bribe the soldiers.  They laughed and taunted
+him.  He took his rings from his fingers and offered them.  The
+soldiers snatched them out of his palm and thrust him along the path
+which led to the mill.  In Allaha political malefactors and murderers
+were made to serve the state; not a bad law if it had always been a
+just one.  But many a poor devil had died at the wrist bar for no other
+reason than that he had offended some high official, disturbed the
+serenity of some priest.
+
+When the prisoners saw Umballa a shout went up.  There were some there
+who had Umballa to thank for their miseries.  They hailed him and
+jeered him and mocked him.
+
+"Here is the gutter rat!"
+
+"May his feet be tender!"
+
+"Robber of the poor, where is my home, my wife and children?"
+
+"May he rot in the grave with a pig!"
+
+"Hast ever been thirsty, Highness?"
+
+"Drink thy sweat, then!"
+
+"Give the 'heaven born' irons that are rusted!"
+
+The keepers enjoyed this raillery.  Umballa was going to afford them
+much amusement.  They forced him to the wrist bar, snapped the irons on
+his wrist, and shouted to the men to tread.  Ah, well they knew the
+game!  They trotted with gusto, forcing Umballa to keep pace with them,
+a frightful ordeal for a beginner.  Presently he slipped and fell, and
+hung by his wrists while his legs and thighs bumped cruelly.  The lash
+fell upon his shoulders, and he shrieked and grew limp.  He had fainted.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Among the late king's papers they found an envelope addressed to
+Kathlyn.  It was in grandiloquent English.  Brevity of speech is
+unknown to the East Indian.  Kathlyn read it with frowning eyes.  She
+gave it to her father to read; and it hurt her to note the way his eyes
+took fire at the contents of that letter.  The filigree basket of gold
+and gems; the trinkets for which he had risked his own life, Kathlyn's,
+then Winnie's.  In turn Bruce and Ramabai perused the letter; and to
+Ramabai came the inspiration.
+
+They would seek this treasure, but only he, Ramabai, and Pundita would
+return.  Here lay their way to freedom without calling upon Bala Khan
+for aid.  The matter, however, had to be submitted to the priests, and
+those wily men in yellow robes agreed.  They could very well promise
+Durga Ram his freedom again, pursue these treasure seekers and destroy
+them; that would be Durga Ram's ransom.
+
+The return to the palace was joyous this time; but in her heart of
+hearts Kathlyn was skeptical.  Till she trod the deck of a ship
+homeward bound she would always be doubting.
+
+Bruce did not have to seek Bala Khan.  The night of Kathlyn's defiance
+Ahmed had acquainted them with his errand.  He was now on his way to
+Bala Khan.  They need trouble themselves no longer regarding the future.
+
+"All goes well," said Ramabai; "for, to reach the hiding-place, we must
+pass the city of Balakhan.  I know where this cape is.  It is not
+large.  It juts off into the sea, the Persian Gulf, perhaps half a
+dozen miles.  At high tide it becomes an island.  None lives about
+except the simple fishermen.  Still, the journey is hazardous.  The
+truth is, it is a spot where there is much gun running; in fact, where
+we found our guns and ammunition.  I understand that there are great
+secret stores of explosives hidden there."
+
+"Any seaport near?" asked the colonel.
+
+"Perhaps seventy miles north is the very town we stopped at a few weeks
+ago."
+
+The colonel seized Kathlyn in his arms.  She played at gaiety for his
+sake, but her heart was heavy with foreboding.
+
+"And the filigree basket shall be divided between you and Pundita, Kit."
+
+"Give it all to her, father.  I have begun to hate what men call
+precious stones."
+
+"It shall be as you say; but we may all take a handful as a keepsake."
+
+Two days later the expedition was ready to start.  They intended to
+pick up Ahmed on the way.  There was nothing but the bungalow itself at
+the camp.
+
+Umballa was thereupon secretly taken from the treadmill.  He was given
+a camel and told what to do.  He flung a curse at the minarets and
+towers and domes looming mistily in the moonlight.  Ransom?  He would
+destroy them; aye, and take the treasure himself, since he knew where
+it now lay, this information having been obtained for him.  He would
+seek the world, choosing his habitation where he would.
+
+Day after day he followed, tireless, indomitable, as steadfast upon the
+trail as a jackal after a wounded antelope, never coming within range,
+skulking about the camp at night, dropping behind in the morning, not
+above picking up bits of food left by the treasure seekers.  Money and
+revenge; these would have kept him to the chase had he been dying.
+
+As for Bala Khan, he was at once glad and sorry to see his friends.
+Nothing would have pleased him more than to fall upon Allaha like the
+thunderbolt he was.  But he made Ramabai promise that if ever he had
+need of him to send.  And Ramabai promised, hoping that he could adjust
+and regulate his affairs without foreign assistance.  They went on,
+this time with Ahmed.
+
+Toward the end of the journey they would be compelled to cross a chasm
+on a rope and vine bridge.  Umballa, knowing this, circled and reached
+this bridge before they did.  He set about weakening the support, so
+that the weight of passengers could cause the structure to break and
+fall into the torrent below.  He could not otherwise reach the spot
+where the treasure lay waiting.
+
+The elephants would be forced to ford the rapids below the bridge.
+
+Kathlyn, who had by this time regained much of her old confidence and
+buoyancy, declared that she must be first to cross the bridge.  She
+gained the middle, when she felt a sickening sag.  She turned and
+shouted to the others to go back.  She made a desperate effort to reach
+the far end, but the bridge gave way, and she was hurled into the
+swirling rapids.  She was stunned for a moment; but the instinct to
+live was strong.  As she swung to and fro, whirled here, flung there,
+she managed to catch hold of a rock which projected above the flying
+foam.
+
+A mahout, seeing her danger, urged his elephant toward her and reached
+her just as she was about to let go.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+THE INVINCIBLE WILL
+
+"Those ropes were cut," declared Ahmed.
+
+"But who in the world could have cut them?" demanded the colonel.
+
+Ahmed shrugged.  "We may have been followed by thieves.  They could
+have got here before us, as we were forced to use the elephant trails.
+Let us keep our eyes about us, Sahib.  When one speaks of gold, the
+wind carries the word far.  And then . . ."  He paused, scowling.
+
+"And then what?"
+
+"I do not want the Mem-sahib to hear," Ahmed whispered.  "But who shall
+say that this is not the work of the gurus, who never forget, who never
+forgive, Sahib."
+
+"But they would not follow!"
+
+"Nay, but their servant would, on the fear of death.  I will watch at
+night hereafter."
+
+Ahmed searched thoroughly about the ledge from which the east side of
+the bridge had swung, but the barren rocks told him nothing.  Armed
+with his rifle, he plunged boldly back along the elephant trail, but
+returned without success.  Whoever was following them was an adept, as
+secret as a Thuggee.  All this worried Ahmed not a little.  He readily
+understood that the murderous attempt had not been directed against
+Kathlyn alone, but against all of them.  But for her eagerness and
+subsequent warning some of them would have been dead at this moment.
+
+"Sahib, it would be better to make camp on the other side of the ford.
+The Mem-sahib is weak from the shock and might collapse if we
+proceeded."
+
+"I leave everything to you, Ahmed.  But is there not some place farther
+below where the water does not run so fast?"
+
+"Ramabai will know."
+
+But Ramabai knew only the bridge.  They would have to investigate and
+explore the bank.  Half an hour's journey--rather a difficult
+one--brought them to still and shallow water.  Here they crossed and
+made camp beyond in a natural clearing.  They erected the small tent
+for Kathlyn, inside of which she changed her clothes, drank her tea and
+lay down to sleep.
+
+"What does Ahmed think?" asked Bruce anxiously.
+
+"That we are being followed by some assassins hired by our friends, the
+priests."
+
+"Colonel, let us make straight for the seaport and let this damnable
+bushel of trinkets stay where it is," urged Bruce, the lover.
+
+"That is not possible now," replied Ramabai.  "We can now reach there
+only by the seacoast itself, or return to the desert and journey over
+the old trail.  We must go on."
+
+The colonel smoked his pipe moodily.  He was pulled between necessity
+and desire.  He had come to Asia for this filigree basket, and he
+wanted it, with a passion which was almost miserly.  At one moment he
+silently vowed to cast the whole thing into the sea, and at the next
+his fingers would twitch and he would sigh.
+
+Sometimes it seemed to him that there was some invisible force working
+in him, drawing and drawing him against the dictates of his heart.  He
+had experienced this feeling back in California, and had fought against
+it for weeks, without avail.  And frequently now, when alone and
+undisturbed, he could see the old guru, shaking with the venom of his
+wrath, the blood dripping from his lacerated fingers, which he shook in
+the colonel's face flecking it with blood.  A curse.  It was so.  He
+must obey that invincible will; he must go on and on.
+
+His pipe slipped from his fingers and his head fell upon his knees; and
+thus Kathlyn found him.
+
+"Let him sleep, Mem-sahib," warned Ahmed from across the fire.  "He has
+been fighting the old guru."
+
+"What?" Kathlyn whispered back.  "Where?"
+
+Ahmed smiled grimly and pointed toward his forehead.
+
+"Is there really such evil, Ahmed?"
+
+"Evil begets evil, heaven born, just as good begets good.  The Colonel
+Sahib did wrong.  And who shall deny some of these gurus a supernatural
+power?  I have seen; I know."
+
+"But once you said that we should eventually escape, all of us."
+
+"And I still say it, Mem-sahib.  What is written is written,"
+phlegmatically.
+
+Wearily she turned toward her tent, but paused to touch the head of her
+sleeping father as she passed.  Her occidental mind would not and could
+not accept as possibilities these mysterious attributes of the oriental
+mind.  That a will could reach out and prearrange a man's misfortunes
+was to her mind incredible, for there were no precedents.  She never
+had witnessed a genuine case of hypnotism; those examples she had seen
+were miserable buffooneries, travesties, hoodwinking not even the
+newsboys in the upper gallery.  True, she had sometimes read of such
+things, but from the same angle with which she had read the Arabian
+Nights--fairy stories.
+
+Yet, here was her father, thoroughly convinced of the efficacy of the
+guru's curse; and here was Ahmed, complacently watching the effects,
+and not doubting in the least that his guru would in the end prove the
+stronger of the two.
+
+One of the elephants clanked his chains restlessly.  He may have heard
+the prowling of a cat.  Far beyond the fire, beyond the sentinel, she
+thought she saw a naked form flash out and back of a tree.  She stared
+intently at the tree for a time; but as she saw nothing more, she was
+convinced that her eyes had deceived her.  Besides her body seemed dead
+and her mind too heavy for thought.
+
+Umballa, having satisfied himself that the camp would not break till
+morning, slunk away into the shadows.  He had failed again; but his
+hate had made him strong.  He was naked except for a loin clout.  His
+beard and hair were matted, the latter hanging over his eyes.  His body
+was smeared with ashes.  Not even Ahmed would have recognized him a
+yard off.  He had something less than nine hours to reach the cape
+before they did; and it was necessary that he should have accomplices.
+The fishermen he knew to be of predatory habits, and the promise of
+gold would enmesh them.
+
+The half island which constituted the cape had the shape of a miniature
+volcano.  There was verdure at the base of its slope and trees lifted
+their heads here and there hardily.  It was a mile long and half a mile
+wide; and in the early morning it stood out like a huge sapphire
+against the rosy sea.  Between the land and the promontory there lay a
+stretch of glistening sand; there was half a mile of it.  Over this a
+flock of gulls were busy, as scavengers always are.  At high tide,
+yonder was an island in truth.
+
+Sometimes a British gunboat would drop down here suddenly; but it
+always wasted its time.  The fishermen knew nothing; nothing in the way
+of guns and powder ever was found; and yet the British Raj knew that
+somewhere about lay the things for which it so diligently and
+vigorously sought.
+
+On the beach fishermen were disembarking.  A sloop with a lateen sail
+lay at anchor in the rude harbor.  Some of the fishermen were repairing
+nets, and some were tinkering about their fishing boats.  Beyond the
+beach nestled a few huts.  Toward these other fishermen were making
+progress.
+
+The chief of the village--the head man--disembarked from this sloop.
+He was met by his wife and child, and the little one clambered about
+his legs in ecstasy.  Among the huts stood one more imposing than the
+others, and toward this the chief and his family wended their way.  In
+front of the hut stood an empty bullock cart.  Attached to one of the
+wheels was a frisking kid.  The little child paused to play with her
+pet.
+
+Absorbed in her pastime, she did not observe the approach of a gaunt
+being with matted hair and beard and ash-besmirched body.  Children are
+gifted with an instinct which leaves us as we grow older; the sensing
+of evil without seeing or understanding it.  The child suddenly gazed
+up, to meet a pair of eyes black and fierce as a kite's.  She rose
+screaming and fled toward the house.
+
+The holy man shrugged and waited.
+
+When the parents rushed out to learn what had frightened their little
+one they were solemnly confronted by Umballa.
+
+"I am hungry."
+
+The chief salaamed and ordered his wife to bring the holy man rice and
+milk.
+
+"Thou art an honest man?" said Umballa.
+
+"It is said," replied the chief gravely.
+
+"Thou art poor?"
+
+"That is with the gods I serve."
+
+"But thou art not without ambition?"
+
+"Who is?"  The chief's wonder grew.  What meant these peculiar
+sentences?
+
+"Wouldst put thy hand into gold as far as the wrist and take what thou
+couldst hold?"
+
+"Yee, holy one; for I am human.  Whither leads these questions?  What
+is it you would of me?"
+
+"There are some who need to be far away to see things.  Well, good man,
+there is a treasure under your feet," falling into the vernacular.
+
+The chief could not resist looking down at the ground, startled.
+
+"Nay," smiled Umballa, "not there.  Think; did not something unusual
+happen here five years ago?"
+
+The chief smoothed the tip of his nose.  "My father died and I became
+head man of the village."
+
+"Would you call that unusual?" ironically.
+
+"No.  Ha!" suddenly.  "Five years ago; yes, yes, I remember now.
+Soldiers, who made us lock ourselves in our huts, not to stir forth on
+the pain of death till ordered.  My father alone was permitted outside.
+He was compelled to row out to the island.  There he was blindfolded.
+Only two men accompanied him.  They carried something that was very
+heavy.  My father never knew what the strange shining basket held.
+Then the soldiers went away and we came out.  No one was allowed on the
+island till my father died."
+
+"Did he tell you what it was he helped bury yonder?"
+
+"No, holy one.  He was an honorable man.  Whatever the secret was, it
+passed with him.  We were not curious."
+
+"It was the private treasure of the king of Allaha, and the man was the
+king himself."
+
+The fisherman salaamed.
+
+"And I am sent, because I am holy, to recover this treasure, which was
+willed to the temple of Juggernaut."
+
+"And, holy one, I know not where it is hidden!"
+
+"I do.  What I want is the use of your sloop and men I can trust.  To
+you, as much gold as your hands can hold."
+
+"I will furnish you with men as honest as myself."
+
+"That will be sufficient; and you shall have your gold."
+
+The word of a holy man is never subjected to scrutiny in India.
+
+Umballa was in good humor.  Here he was, several hours ahead of his
+enemies.  He would have the filigree basket dug up and transferred to
+the sloop before the Colonel Sahib could reach the village.  And
+Umballa would have succeeded but for the fact that the wind fell
+unaccountably and they lost more than an hour in handling the sloop
+with oars.
+
+When the sloop left the primitive landing the chief returned to his hut
+and told his wife what had taken place, like the good husband he was.
+They would be rich.
+
+Suddenly the child set up a wailing.  Through the window she had seen a
+bold leopard trot over to the bullock cart and carry away the kid.  The
+chief at once summoned his remaining men, and they proceeded to set a
+trap for the prowler.  The cat had already killed one bullock and
+injured another.  They knew that the beast would not return for some
+hours, having gorged itself upon the kid.  But it was well to be
+prepared.
+
+Toward noon the other treasure seekers drew up within a quarter of a
+mile behind the village.  The men-folk thought it advisable to
+reconnoiter before entering the village.  One never could tell.  Winnie
+declared her intention of snoozing while they waited, and curled up in
+her rugs.  Kathlyn, however, could not resist the longing to look upon
+the sea again.  She could see the lovely blue water through the spaces
+between the trees.  Soon she would be flying over that water, flying
+for home, home!
+
+She went farther from the camp than she really intended, and came
+unexpectedly upon the leopard which stood guarding its cubs while they
+growled and tore at the dead kid.  Kathlyn realized that she was
+unarmed, and that the leopard was between her and the camp.  She could
+see the roofs of the village below her; so toward the huts she ran.
+The leopard stood still for a while, eying her doubtfully, then made up
+its mind to give chase.  She had tasted blood, but had not eaten.
+
+Meantime the little child had forgot her loss in her interest in the
+bullock cart with its grotesque lure; and she climbed into the cart
+just as Kathlyn appeared, followed by the excited leopard.  She saw the
+child and snatched her instinctively from the cart.  The leopard leaped
+into the cart at the rear, while Kathlyn ran toward the chief's hut,
+into which she staggered without the formality of announcing her advent.
+
+The father of the child had no need to question, though he marveled at
+the white skin and dress of this visitor, who had doubtless saved his
+child from death.  He flung the door shut and dropped the bar.  Next he
+sought his gun and fired through a crack in the door.  He missed; but
+the noise and smoke frightened the leopard away.
+
+And later, Bruce, wild with the anxiety over the disappearance of
+Kathlyn, came across the chief battling for his life.  He had gone
+forth to hunt the leopard, and the leopard had hunted him.  Bruce dared
+not fire, for fear of killing the man; so without hesitance or fear he
+caught the leopard by the back of the neck and by a hind leg and swung
+her into the sea.
+
+The chief was severely mauled, but he was able to get to his feet and
+walk.  The white woman had saved his child and the white man had saved
+him.  He would remember.
+
+Thus the leopard quite innocently served a purpose, for all her deadly
+intentions; the chief was filled with gratitude.
+
+When the colonel and the others came into view the former seized
+Kathlyn by the shoulders and shook her hysterically.
+
+"In God's name, Kit, don't you know any better than to wander off
+alone?  Do you want to drive me mad?"
+
+"Why, father, I wasn't afraid!"
+
+"Afraid?  Who said anything about your being afraid?  Didn't you know
+that we were being followed?  It is Umballa!  Ah! that gives you a
+start!"
+
+"Colonel!" said Bruce gently.
+
+"I know, Bruce, I sound harsh.  But you were tearing your hair, too."
+
+"Forgive me," cried Kathlyn, penitent, for she knew she had done wrong.
+"I did not think.  But Umballa?"
+
+"Yes, Umballa.  One of the keepers found a knife by that bridge, and
+Ramabai identified it as belonging to Umballa.  Whether he is alone or
+with many, I do not know; but this I do know: we must under no
+circumstances become separated again.  Now, I'm going to quiz the
+chief."
+
+But the chief said that no person described had passed or been seen.
+No one but a holy man had come that morning, and he had gone to the
+island in the sloop.
+
+"For what?"
+
+The chief smiled, but shook his head.
+
+"Was it not a basket of gold and precious stones?" demanded the colonel.
+
+The chief's eyes widened.  There were others who knew, then?  Bruce
+noticed his surprise.
+
+"Colonel, show the good chief the royal seal on your document."
+
+The colonel did so, and the chief salaamed when he saw the royal
+signature.  He was mightily bewildered, and gradually he was made to
+understand that he had been vilely tricked.
+
+"To the boats!" he shouted, as if suddenly awakening.  "We may be too
+late, Lords!  He said he was a holy man, and I believed."
+
+They all ran hastily down to the beach to seize what boats they could.
+Here they met a heartrending obstacle in the refusal of the owners.
+The chief, however, signified that it was his will; and, moreover, he
+commanded that the fishermen should handle the oars.  They would be
+paid.  That was different.  Why did not the white people say so at
+once?  They would go anywhere for money.  Not the most auspicious sign,
+thought Ramabai.  They got into the boats and pushed off.
+
+On the way to the island the colonel consulted the map, or diagram, he
+held in his hand.  It was not possible that Umballa knew the exact spot.
+
+A filigree basket of silver, filled with gold and gems!  The man became
+as eager and excited as a boy.  The instinct to hunt for treasure
+begins just outside the cradle and ends just inside the grave.
+
+To return to Umballa.  Upon landing, he asked at once if any knew where
+the cave was.  One man did know the way, but he refused to show it.
+There were spirits there, ruled by an evil god.
+
+"Take me there, you, and I will enter without harm.  Am I not holy?"
+
+That put rather a new face upon the situation.  If the holy man was
+willing to risk an encounter with the god, far be it that they should
+prevent him.  An ordinary seeker would not have found the entrance in a
+lifetime.  Umballa had not known exactly where the cave was, but he
+knew all that the cave contained.  When they came to it Umballa
+sniffed; the tang of sulphur became evident both in his nose and on his
+tongue.  He understood.  It was simply a small spring, a mineral, in
+which sulphur predominated.  He came out with some cupped in his hands.
+He drank and showed them that it was harmless.  Besides, he was a holy
+man, and his presence made ineffectual all evil spirits which might
+roam within the cave.
+
+Umballa, impatient as he was, had to depend upon patience.  By dint of
+inquiries he learned that wild Mohammedans had cast the spell upon the
+cave, set a curse upon its threshold.  Umballa tottered and destroyed
+this by reasoning that the curse of a Mohammedan could not affect a
+Hindu.  Finally, he offered each and all of them a fortune--and won.
+
+Torches were lighted and the cave entered.  There were many side
+passages; and within these the astute Umballa saw the true reason for
+the curse of the Mohammedans: guns and powder, hundreds and hundreds of
+pounds of black destruction!  A lower gallery--the mouth of which lay
+under a slab of rock--led to the pit wherein rested the filigree
+basket. . . .  For a time Umballa acted like a madman.  He sang,
+chanted, dug his hands into the gold and stones; choked, sobbed.  Here
+was true kingship; the private treasures of a dozen decades, all his
+for the taking.  He forgot his enemies and their nearness as the
+fortune revealed itself to him.
+
+As his men at length staggered out of the lower gallery with the basket
+slung upon an improvised litter he espied his enemies marching up the
+hill!  Back into the cave again.  Umballa cursed and bit his nails.  He
+was unarmed, as were his men, and he had not time to search among the
+smuggled arms to find his need.
+
+"Heaven born," spoke up the man who had known where the cave was,
+"there is an exit on the other side.  We can go through that without
+yonder people noticing us."
+
+"A fortune for each of you when you put this on the sloop!"
+
+Back through the cave they rushed, torches flaring.  Once a bearer
+stumbled over a powder can, and the torch holder all but sprawled over
+him.  Umballa's hair stood on end.  Fear impelled the men toward the
+exit.
+
+"There is powder enough here to blow up all of Hind!  Hasten!"
+
+At the mouth of the exit the men with the torches, finding no further
+need of them, carelessly flung them aside.
+
+"Fools!" roared Umballa; "you have destroyed us!"
+
+He fled.  The bearers followed with the burden.  Down the side of the
+promontory they slid.  Under a projecting ledge they paused, sweating
+with terror.  Suddenly the whole island rocked.  An explosion followed
+that was heard half a hundred miles away, where the gunboat of the
+British Raj patrolled the shores.  Rocks, trees, sand filled the air,
+and small fires broke out here and there.  The bulk of the damage,
+however, was done to the far side of the promontory, not where the
+frightened Umballa stood.  A twisted rifle barrel fell at his feet.
+
+"To the sloop!" he yelled.  "It is all over!"
+
+On the far side the other treasure seekers stood huddled together,
+scarce knowing which way to turn.  The miracle of it was that none of
+them was hurt.  Perhaps a quarter of an hour passed before their
+faculties awoke.
+
+"Look!" cried Kathlyn, pointing seaward.
+
+What she saw was Umballa, setting adrift the boats which had brought
+them from the mainland.
+
+Came a second explosion, far more furious than the first.  In the
+downward rush Kathlyn stumbled and fell, the debris falling all about
+her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+ON THE SLOOP
+
+Blinded by the dust, tripped by the rolling stones, Bruce turned to
+where he had seen Kathlyn fall.  The explosion--the last one--had
+opened up veins of strange gases, for the whole promontory appeared to
+be on fire.  He bent and caught up in his arms the precious burden,
+staggered down to the beach, and plunged into the water.  A small
+trickle of blood flowing down her forehead explained everything; a
+falling stone had struck her.
+
+"Kit, Kit!  I hope to God the treasure went up also."  He dashed the
+cold water into her face.
+
+The others were unhurt, though dazed, and for the nonce incapable of
+coherent thought or action.
+
+"The boats!"  Bruce laid Kathlyn down on the sand and signed to Winnie.
+"Tend to her.  I must take a chance at the boats.  We could cross the
+neck of sand at ebb, but Umballa will be far away before that time.
+Kit, Kit; my poor girl!"  He patted her wrists and called to her, and
+when finally her lips stirred he rose and waded out into the sea,
+followed by four hardy fishermen.  The freshening breeze, being from
+the southwest, aided the swimmers, for the boats did not drift out to
+sea, but in a northeasterly direction.  The sloop was squaring away for
+the mainland.
+
+Did Umballa have the treasure?  Bruce wondered, as at length his hand
+reached up and took hold of the gunwale of the boat he had picked out
+to bring down.  Would Umballa have possessed tenacity enough to hang on
+to it in face of all the devastation?  Bruce sighed as he drew himself
+up and crawled into the boat.  He knew that treasure had often made a
+hero out of a coward; and treasure at that moment meant life and
+liberty to Umballa.  On his return to the island he greeted the colonel
+somewhat roughly.  But for this accursed basket they would have been
+well out of Asia by this time.
+
+"Umballa has your basket, Colonel.  If he hasn't, then say good-by to
+it, for it can never be dug from under those tons and tons of
+rock. . . .  Here! where are those fishermen going?" he demanded.
+
+The men were in the act of pushing off with the boats, which they had
+only just brought back.
+
+Ramabai picked up his discarded rifle.
+
+"Stop!"
+
+"They are frightened," explained the chief.
+
+"Well, they can contain their fright till we are in safety," Ramabai
+declared.  "Warn them."
+
+"Hurry, everybody!  I feel it in my bones that that black devil has the
+treasure.  Get those men into the boats.  Here, pick up those oars.
+Get in, Kit; you, Winnie; come, everybody!"
+
+Kathlyn gazed sadly at her father.  Treasure, treasure; that first.
+She was beginning to hate the very sound of the word.  The colonel had
+been nervous, impatient and irritable ever since the document had been
+discovered.  Till recently Kathlyn had always believed her father to be
+perfect, but now she saw that he was human, he had his flawed spot.
+Treasure!  Before her or Winnie!  So be it.
+
+"Colonel," said Bruce, taking a chance throw, "we are less than a
+hundred miles from the seaport.  Suppose we let Umballa clear out and
+we ourselves head straight up the coast?  It is not fair to the women
+to put them to any further hardship."
+
+"Bruce, I have sworn to God that Umballa shall not have that treasure.
+Ramabai, do you understand what it will mean to you if he succeeds in
+reaching Allaha with that treasure, probably millions?  He will be able
+to buy every priest and soldier in Allaha and still have enough left
+for any extravagance that he may wish to plunge in."
+
+"Sahib," suggested Ramabai, "let us send the women to the seaport in
+care of Ahmed, while we men seek Umballa."
+
+"Good!"  Bruce struck his hands together.  "The very thing."
+
+"I refuse to be separated from father," declared Kathlyn.  "If he is
+determined to pursue Umballa back to Allaha, I must accompany him."
+
+"And I!" added Winnie.
+
+"Nothing more to be said," and Bruce signed to the boatmen to start.
+"If only this breeze had not come up!  We could have caught him before
+he made shore."
+
+Umballa paced the deck of the sloop, thinking and planning.  He saw his
+enemies leaving in the rescued boats.  Had he delayed them long enough?
+As matters stood, he could not carry away the treasure.  He must have
+help, an armed force of men he could trust.  On the mainland were Ahmed
+and the loyal keepers; behind were three men who wanted his life as he
+wanted theirs.  The only hope he had lay in the cupidity of the men on
+the sloop.  If they could be made to stand by him, there was a fair
+chance.  Once he was of a mind to heave the basket over the rail and
+trust to luck in finding it again.  But the thought tore at his heart.
+He simply could not do it.
+
+Perhaps he could start a revolt, or win over the chief of the village.
+He had known honest men to fall at the sight of much gold, to fight for
+it, to commit any crime for it--and, if need be, to die for it.  But
+the chief was with his enemies.  Finally he came to the conclusion that
+the only thing to be done was to carry the treasure directly to the
+chief's hut and there await him.  He would bribe the men with him
+sufficiently to close their mouths.  If Ahmed was on the shore, the
+game was up.  But he swept the mainland with his gaze and discovered no
+sign of him.
+
+As a matter of fact, Ahmed had arranged his elephants so that they
+could start at once up the coast to the seaport.  He was waiting on the
+native highway for the return of his master, quite confident that he
+would bring the bothersome trinkets with him.  He knew nothing of
+Umballa's exploit.  The appalling thunder of the explosions worried
+him.  He would wait for just so long; then he would go and see.
+
+Every village chief has his successor in hope.  This individual was one
+of those who had helped Umballa to carry the treasure from the cave; in
+fact, the man who had guided him to the cave itself.  He spoke to
+Umballa.  He said that he understood the holy one's plight; for to
+these yet simple minded village folk Umballa was still the holy one.
+Their religion was the same.
+
+"Holy one," he said, "we can best your enemies who follow."
+
+"How?" eagerly.
+
+"Yonder is the chief's bullock cart.  I myself will find the bullocks!"
+
+"What then?"
+
+"We shall be on the way south before the others land."
+
+"An extra handful of gold for you!  Get the oars out!  Let us hurry!"
+
+"More, holy one; these men will obey me."
+
+"They shall be well paid."
+
+Umballa had reached the point where he could not plan without
+treachery.  He proposed to carry the basket into the jungle somewhere,
+bury it and make way with every man who knew the secret; then, at the
+proper time, he would return for it with a brave caravan, his own men
+or those whose loyalty he could repurchase.
+
+The landing was made, the basket conveyed to the bullock cart, which
+was emptied of its bait and leopard trap; the bullocks were brought out
+and harnessed--all this activity before the fishing boats had covered
+half the distance.
+
+"I see light," murmured Umballa.
+
+He tried to act coolly, but when he spoke his voice cracked and the
+blood in his throat nigh suffocated him.
+
+"Sand, holy one!"
+
+"Well, what of sand?"
+
+"You can dig and cover up things in sand and no one can possibly tell.
+The sand tells nothing."
+
+They drove the bullocks forward mercilessly till they came to what
+Umballa considered a suitable spot.  A pit was dug, but not before
+Umballa had taken from the basket enough gold to set the men wild.
+They were his.  He smiled inwardly to think how easily they could have
+had all of it!  They were still honest.
+
+The sand was smoothed down over the basket.  It would not have been
+possible for the human eye to discover the spot within a perfect range.
+Umballa drove down a broken stick directly over where the basket lay.
+He had beaten them; they would find nothing.  Now to rid himself of
+these simple fools who trusted him.
+
+The man who longed to become the chief's successor was then played upon
+by Umballa; to set the two factions at each other's throats; a perfect
+elimination.  Umballa advised him to rouse his friends, declare that
+the white people had taken the gold away from the holy man, to whom it
+belonged as agent.
+
+Thus, in this peaceful fishermen's village began the old game of gold
+and politics, for the two are inseparable.  Umballa, in hiding, watched
+the contest gleefully.  He witnessed the rival approach his chief, saw
+the angry gestures exchanged, and knew that dissension had begun.  The
+men of the village clustered about.
+
+"Where have you hidden it?" demanded the chief.  "It belongs to the
+Sahib."
+
+"Hidden what?"
+
+"The treasure you and the false holy one took from the forbidden cave!"
+
+"False holy one?"
+
+"Ay, wretch!  He is Durga Ram, the man who murdered the king of Allaha."
+
+The mutineer laughed and waved his hand toward the smoking ruins of the
+promontory.
+
+"Look for it there," he said, "under mountains of rock and dirt and
+sand.  Look for it there!  And who is this white man who says the holy
+one is false?"
+
+"I say it, you scoundrel!" cried the colonel, advancing; but Bruce
+restrained him, seeing that the situation had taken an unpleasant and
+sinister trend.
+
+"Patience, Colonel; just a little diplomacy," he urged.
+
+"But the man lies!"
+
+"That may be, but just at present there seem to be more men standing
+back of him than back of our chief here.  We have no way of getting a
+warning to Ahmed.  Wait!"
+
+"Jackal," spoke the chief wrathfully, "thou liest!"
+
+"Ah! thou hast grown too fat with rule."
+
+"Ay!" cried the men back of the mutinous one.
+
+"Sahib," said the chief, without losing any of his natural dignity,
+"the man has betrayed me.  I see the lust of gold in their eyes.  Evil
+presage.  But you have saved the life of my child and mine, and I will
+throw my strength with you."
+
+"Father, can't you see?" asked Kathlyn.
+
+"See what?"
+
+"The inevitable.  It was in my heart all the way here that we should
+meet with disaster.  There is yet time to leave here peacefully."
+
+But her pleading fell upon the ears of a man who was treasure mad.  He
+would not listen to reason.  Ahmed could have told Kathlyn that the old
+guru stood back of her father, pushing, pushing.
+
+"He is mad," whispered Bruce, "but we can not leave him."
+
+"What would I do without you, John!"
+
+From down the beach the chief's little girl came toddling to the group
+of excited men.  She was clutching something in her hand.  Her father
+took her by the arm and pulled her back of him.  Kathlyn put her hand
+upon the child's head, protectingly.  The child gazed up shyly, opened
+her little hand . . . and disclosed a yellow sovereign!
+
+The argument between the chief and his mutinous followers went on.
+
+"John," said Kathlyn, "you speak the dialect.  I can understand only a
+word here and there.  But listen.  Tell the chief that all we desire is
+to be permitted to depart in peace later," she added significantly.
+
+"What's up?"
+
+"The child has a coin--a British sovereign--in her hand.  She knows
+where Umballa has secreted the treasure.  Since father can not be
+budged from his purpose, let us try deceit.  You speak to the chief
+while I explain to father."
+
+To the chief Bruce said: "The treasure is evidently lost.  So, after a
+short rest, we shall return to our caravan and depart.  We do not wish
+to be the cause of trouble between you and your people."
+
+"But, Sahib, they have the gold!"
+
+"The false holy one doubtless gave them that before the explosion."
+Bruce laid hold of his arm in a friendly fashion apparently, but in
+reality as a warning.  "All we want is a slight rest in your house.
+After that we shall proceed upon our journey."
+
+The mutineers could offer no reasonable objections to this and
+signified that it was all one to them so long as the white people
+departed.  They had caused enough damage by their appearance and it
+might be that it was through their agency that the promontory was all
+but destroyed.  The fish would be driven away for weeks.  And what
+would the fierce gun-runners say when they found out that their stores
+had gone up in flame and smoke?  Ai, ai!  What would they do but beat
+them and torture them for permitting any one to enter the cave?
+
+"When these men come," answered the chief, with a dry smile, "I will
+deal with them.  None of us has entered the cave.  They know me for a
+man of truth.  Perhaps you are right," he added to the mutineer.
+"There could not have been a treasure there and escape the sharp eyes
+of those Arabs.  Go back to your homes.  These white people shall be my
+guests till they have rested and are ready to depart."
+
+Reluctantly the men dispersed, and from his hiding-place Umballa saw
+another of his schemes fall into pieces.  There would be no fight, at
+least for the present.  The men, indeed, had hoped to come to actual
+warfare, but they could not force war on their chief without some good
+cause.  After all, the sooner the white people were out of the way the
+better for all concerned.
+
+Did the leader of this open mutiny have ulterior designs upon the
+treasure, upon the life of Umballa?  Perhaps.  At any rate, events so
+shaped themselves as to nullify whatever plans he had formed in his
+gold-dazzled brain.
+
+The colonel was tractable and fell in with Kathlyn's idea.  It would
+have been nothing short of foolhardiness openly to have antagonized the
+rebellious men.
+
+"You have a plan, Kit, but what is it?"
+
+"I dare not tell you here.  You are too excited.  But I believe I can
+lead you to where Umballa has buried the basket.  I feel that Umballa
+is watching every move we make.  And I dare say he hoped--and even
+instigated--this mutiny to end in disaster for us.  He is alone.  So
+much we can rely upon.  But if we try to meet him openly we shall lose.
+Patience for a little while.  There, they are leaving us.  They are
+grumbling, but I do not believe that means anything serious."
+
+"Now, then, white people," said the chief, "come to my house.  You are
+welcome there, now and always.  You have this day saved my life and
+that of my child.  I am grateful."
+
+Inside the hut Kathlyn drew the child toward her and gently pressed
+open the tightly clutched fingers.  She plucked the sovereign from the
+little pink palm and held it up.  The child's father seized it,
+wonderingly.
+
+"Gold!  They lied to me!  I knew it."
+
+"Yes," said Bruce.  "They did find the treasure.  They brought it here
+and buried it quickly.  And we believe your little girl knows where.
+Question her."
+
+It was not an easy matter.  The child was naturally shy, and the
+presence of all these white skinned people struck her usually babbling
+tongue with a species of paralysis.  But her father was patient, and
+word by word the secret was dragged out of her.  She told of the stolen
+bullock cart, of the digging in the sand, of the holy one.
+
+In some manner they must lure Umballa from his retreat.  It was finally
+agreed upon that they all return to the camp and steal back at once in
+a roundabout way.  They would come sufficiently armed.  Later, the
+chief could pretend to be walking with his child.
+
+So while Umballa stole forth from his hiding-place, reasonably certain
+that his enemies had gone, got together his mutineers and made
+arrangements with them to help him carry away the treasure that night,
+the rightful owners were directed to the broken stick in the damp sand.
+
+That night, when Umballa and his men arrived, a hole in the sand
+greeted them.  It was shaped like a mouth, opened in laughter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+THE THIRD BAR
+
+It was Ahmed's suggestion that they in turn should bury the filigree
+basket.  He reasoned that if they attempted to proceed with it they
+would be followed and sooner or later set upon by Umballa and the men
+he had won away from the village chief.  The poor fishermen were gold
+mad and at present not accountable for what they did or planned to do.
+He advanced that Umballa would have no difficulty in rousing them to
+the pitch of murder.  Umballa would have at his beck and call no less
+than twenty men, armed and ruthless.  Some seventy miles beyond was
+British territory and wherever there was British territory there were
+British soldiers.  With them they would return, leaving the women in
+safety behind.
+
+"The commissioner there will object," said the colonel.
+
+"No, Sahib," replied Ahmed.  "The Mem-sahib has every right in the
+world to this treasure.  You possess the documents to prove it, and
+nothing more would be necessary to the commissioner."
+
+"But, Ahmed," interposed Bruce, "we are none of us British subjects."
+
+"What difference will that make, Sahib?"
+
+"Quite enough.  England is not in the habit of protecting anybody but
+her own subjects.  We should probably be held up till everything was
+verified at Allaha; and the priests there would not hesitate to charge
+us with forgery and heaven knows what else.  Let us bury the basket, by
+all means, return for it and carry it away piecemeal.  To carry it away
+as it is, in bulk, would be courting suicide."
+
+Ahmed scratched his chin.  Trust a white man for logic.
+
+"And, besides," went on Bruce, "the news would go all over the Orient
+and the thugs would come like flies scenting honey.  No; this must be
+kept secret if we care to get away with it.  It can not be worth less
+than a million.  And I've known white men who would cut our throats for
+a handful of rupees."
+
+For the first time since the expedition started out the colonel became
+normal, a man of action, cool in the head, and foresighted.
+
+"Ahmed, spread out the men around the camp," he ordered briskly.
+"Instruct them to shoot over the head of any one who approaches; this
+the first time.  The second time, to kill.  Bruce has the right idea;
+so let us get busy.  Over there, where that boulder is.  The ground
+will be damp and soft under it, and when we roll it back there will be
+no sign of its having been disturbed.  I used to cache ammunition that
+way.  Give me that spade."
+
+It was good to Kathlyn's ears to hear her father talk like this.
+
+At a depth of three feet the basket was lowered, covered and the
+boulder rolled into place.  After that the colonel stooped and combed
+the turf where the boulder had temporarily rested.  He showed his
+woodcraft there.  It would take a keener eye than Umballa possessed to
+note any disturbance.  The safety of the treasure ultimately, however,
+depended upon the loyalty of the keepers under Ahmed.  They had been
+with the colonel for years; yet . . .  The colonel shrugged.  He had to
+trust them; that was all there was to the matter.
+
+A sentinel came rushing up--one of the keepers.
+
+"Something is stampeding the elephants!" he cried.
+
+Ahmed and the men with him rushed off.  In Ahmed's opinion, considering
+what lay before them, elephants were more important than colored stones
+and yellow metal.  Without the elephants they would indeed find
+themselves in sore straits.
+
+"Let us move away from here," advised Bruce, picking up the implements
+and shouldering them.  He walked several yards away, tossed shovel and
+pick into the bushes, tore at the turf and stamped on it, giving it
+every appearance of having been disturbed.  The colonel nodded
+approvingly.  It was a good point and he had overlooked it.
+
+They returned hastily to camp, which was about two hundred yards beyond
+the boulder.  Kathlyn entered her tent to change her clothes, ragged,
+soiled and burned.  The odor of wet burned cloth is never agreeable.
+And she needed dry shoes, even if there was but an hour or two before
+bedtime.
+
+Only one elephant had succeeded in bolting.  In some manner he had
+loosed his peg; but what had started him on the run they never learned.
+The other elephants were swaying uneasily; but their pegs were deep and
+their chains stout.  Ahmed and the keepers went after the truant on
+foot.
+
+The noise of the chase died away.  Bruce was lighting his pipe.  The
+colonel was examining by the firelight a few emeralds which he had
+taken from the basket.  Ramabai was pleasantly gazing at his wife.
+Kathlyn and Winnie were emerging from the tent, when a yell greeted
+their astonished ears.  The camp was surrounded.  From one side came
+Umballa, from the other came the mutineers.  Kathlyn and Winnie flew to
+their father's side.  In between came Umballa, with Bruce and Ramabai
+and Pundita effectually separated.  Umballa and his men closed in upon
+the colonel and his daughters.  Treasure and revenge!
+
+Bruce made a furious effort to join Kathlyn, but the numbers against
+him were too many.  It was all done so suddenly and effectually, and
+all due to their own carelessness.
+
+"Kit," said her father, "our only chance is to refuse to discover to
+Umballa where we have hidden the basket.  Winnie, if you open your lips
+it will be death--yours, Kit's, mine.  To have been careless like this!
+Oh, Kit, on my honor, if Umballa would undertake to convoy us to the
+seaport I'd gladly give him all the treasure and all the money I have
+of my own.  But we know him too well.  He will torture us all."
+
+"I have gone through much; I can go through more," calmly replied
+Kathlyn.  "But I shall never wear a precious stone again, if I live.  I
+abhor them!"
+
+"I am my father's daughter," said Winnie.
+
+"Put the howdahs on the two elephants," Umballa ordered.
+
+The men obeyed clumsily, being fishermen by occupation and mahouts by
+compulsion.
+
+Kathlyn tried in vain to see where they were taking Bruce and the
+others.  Some day, if she lived, she was going to devote a whole day to
+weeping, for she never had time to in this land.  The thought caused
+her to smile, despite her despair.
+
+When the elephants were properly saddled with the howdahs Umballa gave
+his attention to the prisoners.  He hailed them jovially.  They were
+old friends.  What could he do for them?
+
+"Conduct us to the seaport," said the colonel, "and on my word of honor
+I will tell you where we have hidden the treasure."
+
+"Ho!" jeered Umballa, arms akimbo, "I'd be a fool to put my head into
+such a trap.  I love you too well.  Yet I am not wholly without heart.
+Tell me where it lies and I will let you go."
+
+"Cut our throats at once, you beast, for none of us will tell you under
+any conditions save those I have named.  Men," the colonel continued,
+"this man is an ingrate, a thief and a murderer.  He has promised you
+much gold for your part in this.  But in the end he will cheat you and
+destroy you."
+
+Umballa laughed.  "They have already had their earnest.  Soon they will
+have more.  But talk with them--plead, urge, promise.  No more
+questions?  Well, then, listen.  Reveal to me the treasure and you may
+go free.  If you refuse I shall take you back to Allaha--not publicly,
+but secretly--there to inflict what punishments I see fit."
+
+"I have nothing more to say," replied the colonel.
+
+"No?  And thou, white goddess?"
+
+Kathlyn stared over his head, her face expressionless.  It stirred him
+more than outspoken contempt would have done.
+
+"And you, pretty one?" Umballa eyed Winnie speculatively.
+
+Winnie drew closer to her sister, that was all.
+
+"So be it.  Allaha it shall be, without a meddling Ramabai; back to the
+gurus who love you so!"  He dropped his banter.  "You call me a
+murderer.  I admit it.  I have killed the man who was always throwing
+his benefits into my face, who brought me up not as a companion but as
+a plaything.  He is dead.  I slew him.  After the first, what are two
+or three more crimes of this order?"  He snapped his fingers.  "I want
+that treasure, and you will tell me where it is before I am done with
+you.  You will tell me on your knees, gladly, gladly!  Now, men!  There
+is a long journey before us."
+
+The colonel, Kathlyn and Winnie were forced into one howdah, while
+Umballa mounted the other.  As for the quasi-mahouts, they were not
+particularly happy behind the ears of the elephants, who, with that
+keen appreciation of their herd, understood instinctively that they had
+to do with novices.  But for the promise of gold that dangled before
+their eyes, threats of violent death could not have forced them upon
+the elephants.
+
+They started east, and the jungle closed in behind them.
+
+As for Umballa, he cared not what became of the other prisoners.
+
+They were being held captive in one of the village huts.  The chief had
+pleaded in vain.  He was dishonored, for they had made him break his
+word to the white people.  So be it.  Sooner or later the glitter of
+gold would leave their eyes and they would come to him and beg for
+pardon.
+
+Moonlight.  The village slept.  Two fishermen sat before the hut
+confining the prisoners, on guard.  An elephant squealed in the
+distance.  Out of the shadow a sleek leopard, then another.  The guards
+jumped to their feet and scrambled away for dear life to the nearest
+hut, crying the alarm.  Bruce opened the door, which had no lock, and
+peered forth.  It was natural that the leopards should give their
+immediate attention to the two men in flight.  Bruce, realizing what
+had happened, called softly to Ramabai and Pundita; and the three of
+them stole out into the night, toward the camp.  Bruce did not expect
+to find any one there.  What he wanted was to arm himself and to
+examine the boulder.
+
+Meantime, Ahmed returned with the truant elephant to find nothing but
+disorder and evidence of a struggle.  A tent was overturned, the long
+grass trampled, and the colonel's sola-topee hat lay crumpled near
+Kathlyn's tent.
+
+"Ai, ai!" he wailed.  But, being a philosopher, his wailing was of
+short duration.  He ran to the boulder and examined it carefully.  It
+had not been touched.  That was well.  At least that meant that his
+Sahib and Mem-sahib lived.  Treasure!  He spat out a curse . . . and
+threw his rifle to his shoulder.  But his rage turned to joy as he
+discovered who the arrivals were.
+
+"Bruce Sahib!"
+
+"Yes, Ahmed.  Umballa got the best of us.  We were tricked by the
+truant elephant.  He has taken Kathlyn back toward Allaha."
+
+"And so shall we return!"
+
+Ahmed called his weary men.  His idea was to fill the elephant
+saddle-bags with gold and stones, leave it in trust with Bala Khan, who
+should in truth this time take his tulwar down from the wall.  He
+divided his men, one company to guard and the other to labor.  It took
+half an hour to push back the boulder and dig up the basket.  After
+this was done Bruce and Ramabai and Ahmed the indefatigable carried the
+gold and precious stones to the especially made saddle-bags.  All told,
+it took fully an hour to complete the work.
+
+With water and food, and well armed, they began the journey back to
+Allaha, a formidable cortege and in no tender mood.  They proceeded in
+forced marches, snatching what sleep they could during the preparation
+of the meals.
+
+Many a time the impulse came to Bruce to pluck the shining metal and
+sparkling stones from the saddle-bags and toss them out into the
+jungle, to be lost till the crack of doom.  There were also moments
+when he felt nothing but hatred toward the father of the girl he loved.
+For these trinkets Kathlyn had gone through tortures as frightful
+almost as those in the days of the Inquisition.  Upon one thing he and
+Ahmed had agreed, despite Ramabai's wild protest; they would leave the
+treasure with Bala Khan and follow his army to the walls of Allaha.  If
+harm befell any of their loved ones not one stone should remain upon
+another.  And Bruce declared that he would seek Umballa to the ends of
+the earth for the infinite pleasure of taking his black throat in his
+two hands and squeezing the life out of it.
+
+Eventually and without mishap they came to the walled city of the
+desert, Bala Khan's stronghold.  Bala Khan of necessity was always
+ready, always prepared.  Before night of the day of their arrival an
+army was gathered within the city.
+
+Ramabai sat in his howdah, sad and dispirited.
+
+"Bala Khan, we have been friends, and my father was your good friend."
+
+"It is true."
+
+"Will you do a favor for the son?"
+
+"Yes.  If the Colonel Sahib and his daughter live, ask what you will."
+
+Ramabai bowed.
+
+"I will set my camp five miles beyond your walls and wait.  When I see
+the Mem-sahib I will salaam, turn right about face, and go home.  Now,
+to you, Bruce Sahib: Leave not your treasure within my walls when I
+shall be absent, for I can not guarantee protection.  Leave it where it
+is and bring it with you.  Save myself, no one of my men knows what
+your saddle-bags contain.  Let us proceed upon our junket--or our war!"
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+Umballa reached the ancient gate of Allaha at the same time Bruce
+stopped before the walls of Bala Khan's city.  He determined to wring
+the secret from either the colonel or his daughter, return for the
+treasure and depart for Egypt down the Persian Gulf.
+
+He made a wide detour and came out at the rear of his house.  No one
+was in sight.  He dismounted and entered, found three or four of his
+whilom slaves, who, when he revealed his identity, felt the old terror
+and fear of the man.  His prisoners were brought in.  A slave took the
+elephants to the stables.  He wanted to run away and declare Umballa's
+presence, but fear was too strong.
+
+Ironically Umballa bade the fishermen to enter to eat and drink what
+they liked.  Later he found them in a drunken stupor in the kitchen.
+That was where they belonged.
+
+He ordered his prisoners to be brought into the Court of Death and left
+there.
+
+"You see?" said Umballa.  "Now, where have you hidden the treasure?"
+
+Kathlyn walked over to one of the cages and peered into it.  A sleek
+tiger trotted up to the bar; and purred and invited her to scratch his
+head.
+
+"I am not answered," said Umballa.
+
+A click resounded from the four sides, and a bar disappeared from each
+of the cages.
+
+"That will be all for the present," said Umballa.  "Food and water you
+will not require.  To-morrow morning another bar will be removed."
+
+And he left them.
+
+Early the next morning the town began to seethe in the squares.  Bala
+Khan's army lay encamped outside the city!
+
+When Bruce, Ramabai, Pundita and Ahmed halted their elephants before
+the temple they were greeted by the now terrified priests who begged to
+be informed what Bala Khan proposed to do.
+
+"Deliver to us the Mem-sahib."
+
+The priests swore by all their gods that they knew nothing of her.
+
+"Let us enter the temple," said Ramabai.  "Ahmed, bring the treasure
+and leave it in the care of the priests."  A few moments later Ramabai
+addressed the assemblage.  "Bala Khan is hostile, but only for the sake
+of his friends.  He lays down this law, however--obey it or disobey it.
+The Colonel Sahib and his daughters are to go free, to do what they
+please with the treasure.  Pundita, according to the will of the late
+king, shall be crowned."
+
+The high priest held up his hand for silence.  "We obey, on one
+condition--that the new queen shall in no manner interfere with her old
+religion nor attempt to force her new religion into the temple."
+
+To this Pundita agreed.
+
+"Ramabai, soldiers!  To the house of Umballa!  We shall find him
+there," cried Ahmed.
+
+Umballa squatted upon his cushions on the terrace.  The second bar had
+been removed.  The beasts were pressing their wet nozzles to the
+openings and growling deep challenges.
+
+"Once more, and for the last time, will you reveal the hiding-place of
+the treasure?"
+
+Not a word from the prisoners.
+
+"The third bar!"
+
+But it did not stir.
+
+"The third bar; remove it!"
+
+The slave who had charge of the mechanism which operated the bars
+refused to act.
+
+The events which followed were of breathless rapidity.  Ramabai and
+Umballa met upon the parapet in a struggle which promised death or the
+treadmill to the weaker.  At the same time Bruce opened the door to the
+Court of Death as the final bar dropped in the cage.  At the sight of
+him the colonel and his daughters rushed to the door.  Roughly he
+hurled them outside, slamming the iron door, upon which the infuriated
+tigers flung themselves.
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+The young newspaper man to whom Winnie was engaged and the grizzled
+Ahmed sat on the steps of the bungalow in California one pleasant
+afternoon.  The pipe was cold in the hand of the reporter and Ahmed's
+cigar was dead, which always happens when one recounts an exciting tale
+and another listens.  Among the flower beds beyond two young women
+wandered, followed by a young man in pongee, a Panama set carelessly
+upon his handsome head, his face brown, his build slender but round and
+muscular.
+
+"And that, Sahib, is the story," sighed Ahmed.
+
+"And Kathlyn gave the treasures to the poor of Allaha?  That was fine."
+
+"You have said."
+
+"They should have hanged this Umballa."
+
+"No, Sahib.  Death is grateful.  It is not a punishment; it is peace.
+But Durga Ram, called Umballa, will spend the remainder of his days in
+the treadmill, which is a concrete hell, not abstract."
+
+"Do you think England will ever step in?"
+
+"Perhaps.  But so long as Pundita rules justly, so long as her consort
+abets her, England will not move.  Perhaps, if one of them dies. . . .
+There! the maids are calling you.  And I will go and brew the Colonel
+Sahib's tea."
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF KATHLYN***
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