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diff --git a/40136-8.txt b/40136-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index bf12270..0000000 --- a/40136-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10688 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mercy of the Lord, by Flora Annie Steel - -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 Mercy of the Lord - -Author: Flora Annie Steel - -Release Date: July 3, 2012 [EBook #40136] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERCY OF THE LORD *** - - - - -Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books - - - - - - - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - - 1. Page scan source: - http://books.google.com/books?id=k6cOAAAAIAAJ - - 2. The letter "a" with macron is represented by [=a]. - - - - - The Mercy of the Lord - - - - - - - The Mercy of the Lord - - - - - By - - Flora Annie Steel - - Author of - - 'On the Face of the Waters,' 'A Sovereign Remedy,' etc. - - - - - - New York - - George H. Doran Company - - - - - - _Printed in England_ - - - - - -NEW YORK; GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY, 1914. - - - - - - - CONTENTS - - -THE MERCY OF THE LORD. - -SALT DUTY. - -THE WISDOM OF OUR LORD GANESH. - -THE SON OF A KING. - -THE BIRTH OF FIRE. - -THE GIFT OF BATTLE. - -THE VALUE OF A VOTE. - -SALT OF THE EARTH. - -AN APPRECIATED RUPEE. - -THE LAKE OF HIGH HOPE. - -RETAINING FEES. - -HIS CHANCE. - -THE FLATTERER FOR GAIN. - -A MAIDEN'S PRAYER. - -SILVER SPEECH AND GOLDEN SILENCE. - -THE FOOTSTEPS OF A DOG. - -THE FINDING OF PRIVATE FLANIGAN. - -REX ET IMP: - -THERE AROSE A MAN. - -DRY GOODS. - -THE REGENERATION OF DAISY BELL. - -A SONG WITHOUT WORDS. - -SEGREGATION. - -SLAVE OF THE COURT. - - - - - - - THE MERCY OF THE LORD - - - "God movesn--a--mystere'ras way - Iswon--derstuper--form." - -Craddock was polishing the brass of his safety valve and singing the -while at high pressure between set teeth: his choice of a ditty -determined by one of his transitory lapses into conventional -righteousness. The cause of which in the present instance being an -equally transient admiration for a good little Eurasian girl fresh from -her convent. - -As the sun--which shines equally on the just and the unjust--flamed on -his red face and glowed from his corn-coloured beard it seemed to -me--waiting in the comparative coolth of the pointsman's mud-oven -shelter till the one mail train of the day should appear and disappear, -leaving the ribbon of rail which spanned the desert world to its -horizon free for our passaging--that both he and his engine radiated -heat: that they gave out--as the burning bush or the flaming swords of -the paradise-protectors must have given out--a message of fiery warning -that suited the words he sang: - - - "Eplants 'isfootsteps--inthesea." - - -Craddock punctuated the rhythm with an appropriate stop of shrill steam -which ought to have startled me: but it did not, because my outward -senses had suddenly become slaves to my memory. The desert was a garden -full of cool fragrance which comes with the close of an Indian day, and -the only sound to be heard in it was a glad young voice repeating these -words: - - -"Oh! God of the Battle! Have mercy! Have mercy! Have mercy!" - - -"Bravo! young Bertram!" said someone--even those who scarcely -knew whether Bertram were his Christian or his surname called him -that--"Easy to see you're fresh from the Higher Standard." - -Young Bertram smiled down on us from the plinth of the marble steps -leading up to the marble summer house which stood in the centre of this -Garden-of-Dead-Kings. - -Posed there on his pedestal, holding orb-like in his raised right hand -the battered bronze cannon ball whose inscription--roughly lettered in -snaky spirals--he had just translated, young Bertram reminded me of the -young Apollo. - -"You bet," he answered, gaily. "But what does it mean, here on this -blessed ball? Who knows the story?--for there is one, of course." - -The company looked at me, partly because as a civilian such knowledge -was expected of me; mostly because I was responsible for the invasion -of this peaceful Eastern spot by a restless, curious horde of Westerns; -my only excuse for the desecration being, that as the most despicable -product of our Indian rule, a grass widower bound to entertain, I had -naturally clutched at the novelty of a picnic supper and dance some few -miles out of the station. - -Perhaps, had I seen the garden first, I might have relented, but I took -it on trust from my orderly, who assured me it held all things -necessary for my salvation, including a marble floor on which a drugget -could be stretched. - -It held much more. There was in it an atmosphere--not all orange -blossom and roses, though these drugged the senses--which to my mind -made a touch of tragedy lurk even in our laughter. - -Though, in sooth, we brought part of the tragedy with us: for a -frontier war was on, and all the men and half the women present, knew -that the route might come any moment. - -Some few--I, as chief district officer, the colonel and his -adjutant--were aware that it probably would come before morning: -but ours were not the sober faces. Our plans were laid; all things, -even the arrangements for the women and the children and the -unfit-for-service, were cut and dried: but the certainty that someone -must--as the phrase runs--take over documents, and the uncertainty as -to who the unlucky beggar would be, lent care to a young heart or two. - -Not, however, to young Bertram. As he stood questioning me with his -frank blue eyes, even the white garments he had donned (because, he -said, "It might be a beastly time before he wore decent togs again") -told the same tale as his glad voice--the tale of that boundless hope -which holds ever the greatest tragedy of life. - -"Who is that pretty boy?" said a low soft voice at my elbow. - -I did not answer the spoken question of the voice, but as I replied to -the unspoken question of many eyes I was conscious that of all the many -incongruous elements I had imported into that Eastern garden this -Western woman who had appraised young Bertram's beauty was the most -incongruous. It was not the Paris frock and hat, purchased on the way -out--she had only rejoined her husband the day before--which made her -so. It was the woman inside them. I knew the type so well, and my soul -rose in revolt that she should soil his youth with her approval. - -"I've no doubt there are stories," I replied; "but I don't happen to -know them. I'm as much a stranger here as you all are. So come! let us -look round till it's dark enough to dance." - -"Dark enough to sit out, he means," said someone to the Paris frock and -hat, whereat there was a laugh, but not so general and not half so -hearty as the one which greeted young Bertram's gravity as he replaced -the cannon ball on the plinth with the profound remark: - -"Something about a woman, you bet." - -"Do introduce me!" pleaded the Paris frock and hat as the lad came -down, bearing the brunt of chaff gallantly; but I pretended not to -hear, though I knew such diplomacy was vain with women of her -type--women whose refinement makes them shameless. - -Yes! she was a strange anomaly in that garden, though, Heaven -knows, it appealed frankly enough to the senses. So frankly that it -absorbed even such meretricious Western additions as cosy corners -and iced champagne--on tables laid for two--without encroaching a -hair's--breadth on the inviolable spiritual kingdom of the ivory orange -blossom, the silver jasmine stars, even the red hearts of the roses. - -They were lighting up the lines of the cressets about the dancing floor -when we began to reassemble, and as each star of light quivered into -being, the misty unreal radiance grew around the fretted marble of the -summer house until arch and pilaster seemed to lose solidity, and the -whole building, leaving its body behind in shining sleep, found freedom -ass a palace of dreams. - -And there, as a foreground to its mystical beauty, was young Bertram -dangling his long legs from the pedestal and nursing the battered old -bronze ball on his lap as if it had been a baby. - -"I've found out all about it," he said, cheerfully. "That chap"--he -pointed to a figure below him--"told me a splendid yarn, and if you -lite,"--he turned to me--"as they haven't done lighting up yet, and we -can't dance till they finish, he could tell it again. I could -translate, you know, for those who can't understand." - -The innocent pride made me smile, until the Paris frock said, "_I_ -shall be so grateful if you will, Mr. Bertram," in a tone of soft -friendliness which proclaimed her success and my failure. Both, -however, I recognised were inevitable when I remembered that she was -the wife of the lad's captain, a silent, bullet-headed Briton of whom -he chose to make a hero--as boys will of older men who are not worthy -to unlatch their shoes. - -The figure rose and salaamed. It was that of a professional snake -charmer, who had evidently come in hopes of being allowed to exhibit -his skill: for his flat basket of snakes, slung to a bambu yoke, lay -beside him. - -"And it _was_ about a woman, as I said," continued young Bertram, with -the same innocent pride. "She was of his tribe--the snaky tribe, and -so, of course, he knows about it all." - -I had my doubts--the man looked a cunning scoundrel--but there was an -awkward five minutes to fill up, so chairs and cushions were -requisitioned, and on them and the marble steps we circled round to -listen: the Paris dress, I noticed, choosing the latter, close to the -translator. - -He performed his task admirably, catching not only the meaning of the -words but the rhythm of the snake charmer's voice, and so quickly, too, -that the message for the East, and for the West, seemed one; yet it -seemed to come from neither of the speakers. - -"'Oh, God of the Battle! have mercy, have mercy, have mercy!' Such was -her prayer to the Bright One, and this is the tale of it: - -"Straight was her soul as the saraph who tempted Eve-mother, but -crooked her body as snakes that deal death in the darkness--crookt in -her childhood--crookt in the siege of the town by a spent shot which -struck her, asleep in her cradle (the ball that you nurse on your knee, -sahib--they found it beside her--her crushed limbs caressing the foe -that destroyed her). - -"She grew in this garden, a cripple, but fair still of face, and twice -cursed in such gifts of beauty all barren and bitter--so bitter she -veiled it away, hiding loveliness, hatefulness, both, from the eyes of -the others: a soul stricken sore ere the battle began, yet insatiate of -life, insatiate of blessing and cursing, insatiate of power. And, look -you! she gained it! Most strangely, for fluttering through thickets -like birds that are wounded and dragging herself like a snake to the -blossoms, she threaded the jasmine to necklets and pressed out the -roses to perfume, so giving to women uncrippled love-lures for the -fathers of sons. - -"Hid in the jasmine and screened by the trails of the roses, here, on -this spot stood her chamber of charm for the secret distilling of -_itr_, the silent repeating of ritual, the murmur of musical _mantras_. - -"And none dare to enter since Death lurked unseen in the thickets, and -serpents, her kinsmen, slid swift to the threshold to guard it, and -watched with still eyes her command. - -"'It was witchcraft,' they said, with a shudder, those fortunate women, -yet came in the dusk for her charms! - -"But she gave them not always, for years brought her wisdom. She learnt -the love lore of the flowers, the close starry heart of the jasmine, -the open red heart of the rose, told their dream of fair death through -the ripening of seed, and her voice would grow bitter with scorn.... - -"'Go! find your own lures for your lovers--I work for the seed--for the -harvest of men.' - -"High perched on the wall of the city the balcony women waxed wroth. It -was money to them till the cripple who fought them with flowers -prevailed in the battle for life to the world. - -"And Narghiza, the chief of them all, felt her youth on the wane.... - -"So, one night in the darkness, ere dawning, men crept to the garden -where only the women might enter. Men, heated by wine and by lust, -inflamed by the balcony lies--yea! the witch who wrought evil to -all--who had killed Gulanâr in her prime by a wasting--whose frown was -a curse, must be reckoned with, killed, and her devilish chamber -destroyed. - -"But the sound of the rustling leaves as the snakes slid soft in the -darkness made even the wine bibbers think, so that secret and soft as -the snakes in the thickets they crept back to safety; till there--in -the darkness, the fragrance of flowers, but one man remained, a man who -grew old! Beautiful, tired of the life he had squandered, and reckless, -yet angered because of the girl who had wasted to death--a girl he had -paid for. - -"'Cowards!' he said with a smile, and crept on in the dark. A rustle, -but not of a snake! In the leaves a faint glimmer of white, and a -voice--such a beautiful voice! - -"'In this garden of women what seek you, my lord?' - -"'I seek _you_, for your death.' But as swift as his hand with the -dagger, around him there rose in a shimmering shelter the wide-hooded -curves of the serpents, their still, watchful eyes giving out a cold -gleaming that shone like a halo about her. - -"'What harm have I done?' Such a beautiful voice! 'Come and see, if you -will.' - -"On his head fell the spent leaves of roses, the frail stars of jasmine -were hers as she dragged herself on, and he followed through darkness -and fragrance and flowers. The serpents lay thick on the threshold; she -stayed them with this: - -"'Wait, friends, till he touches me.' - -"Opened the door and said scornfully: - -"'There stands my charm.' - -"The dim light of the cresset showed emptiness save for yon ball with -its legend ('tis scratched, as you see, in the shape of a snake, -sahib). She read it aloud, and then turned to him: - -"'Yea! that is all! I appeal to the God of the Battle of Life, and I -call unto Him to have mercy, have mercy, have mercy--What mercy He -chooses----' - -"Her voice sank to silence. The cresset's dim light showed the folds of -her veiling to him, and to her showed his beauty of face as he knelt to -her crippledom. - -"'Mercy!'--his voice was a whisper--'have mercy--the charm lies -within--let me see it....' - -"His hand sought the folds of her veil and, responsive, the shelter of -snakes rose about her. - -"'Wait, friends, till he touches me!' - -"Swift, with quick fear in it, came the stern warning, and then there -was silence. - -"Oh! beautiful night with spent stars of the jasmine, spent leaves of -the roses, spent life nigh to death 'mid its darkness, its fragrance. - -"Oh! beautiful face, free of veiling with spent stars of eyes and spent -rose leaves of lips. - -"'My beloved!' - -"Like a sigh came the whisper, and slowly as stars in the evening their -eyes grew to brightness, and closer and closer their lips grew to -kisses. - -"'_Wait, friends, till he touches me_.' - -"That was her order, and swift to the second, the snakes struck between -them. - -"Oh, beautiful death by the kiss of a lover! Oh, merciful poison of -passion." - -The sing-song ceased, and, as if to take its place, the first notes of -the _Liebestraum_ waltz sounded from the rose and jasmine thicket in -which the band had been concealed. - -"That's a mercy of the Lord, anyhow," laughed some young Philistine. "I -thought they'd never stop, or the band begin!" - -In a moment the listening circle had changed into an eager hurrying of -couples towards the dancing floor. - -But young Bertram still sat on the pilaster nursing the old bronze -ball, his glad young face strangely sober. - -"I think this is our dance," said the Paris frock, in a voice of icy -allurement which positively rasped my nerves. - -Young Bertram sprang to the ground hastily. - -"I beg your pardon! By George, what's that?" - -He had upset one of the snake charmer's flat baskets, and there was a -general stampede as the occupants slid out. - -"Don't be alarmed," I cried, "they always have their fangs drawn, and -he will get them back in a moment." - -Even as I spoke the hollow quavering of the charmer's gourd flute -began, and three snakes stayed their flight to sit up on their tails -and sway drowsily to the rhythm. - -"There was a fourth one, wasn't there?" said young Bertram. "It slipped -our way, didn't it?" - -He spoke to the Paris frock, which had taken refuge on the opposite -pilaster, so that the whole expanse of the wide marble steps now lay -between them. - -"Huzoor, no!" interrupted the owner of the snakes, hastily, "there were -but three--there could only have been three--for see! my serpents obey -me." - -He was slipping the brutes back to prison again as he spoke, but I -noticed his eyes were restless. - -"Are you quite sure?" I asked. - -He gave me a furtive glance, then carelessly held up a loathsome -five-footer. "Cobras like these are very easily counted, Huzoor; -besides, as the Presence said, they are all fangless." - -The one whose jaws he as carelessly prized open certainly was, and I -should have dismissed doubt had not young Bertram at that moment taken -up the flute gourd, and with the gay remark, "Let me have a shot at -it," commenced--out of fastidiousness as to the mouthpiece, no -doubt--to blow into it upside down. - -I never saw fear better expressed in any face than on the snake -charmer's when he heard the indescribable sound which echoed out into -the garden. It grew green as without the least ceremony he snatched the -instrument away. - -"The Presence must not do that--the snakes do not like strangers." - -Young Bertram laughed, "Nor the noise, I expect! The beastly thing -makes a worse row wrong side up than right--doesn't it?" - -What the Paris frock replied I do not know, as they were already -hurrying up to make the most of the remaining dance. - -Not that there was any necessity for hurry to judge by the number of -times I saw his white raiment and her fancy frills floating round -together during the next hour or so. - -The Adjutant--a man I particularly disliked (possibly because he seemed -to me the antithesis of young Bertram)--remarked on it also when he -found me out seeking solitude in one of the latticed minarets. - -"Going it!" he said, cynically. "He won't be quite such a young fool -when he comes down from the hills." - -I turned on him in absolute dismay. "The hills? but surely you're going -on service?" - -The Adjutant shrugged his shoulders. "Someone has to take over, and -he'll soon console himself." - -I felt I could have kicked him, and was glad that the "Roast Beef" -called me to my duties as host. - -They had laid the supper table where we had listened to the snake -charmer's chant; somehow through all the laughter I seemed to hear that -refrain going on: "Oh! God of the Battle! have mercy! have mercy! have -mercy!" - -What mercy would she show him? None. And what chance would he have in -an atmosphere like that of Semoorie? None. Even the husband, whom -rumour said was bullet-headed to some purpose, would be away. - -We were very merry in spite, or perhaps because of, an insistent trend -of thought towards impending change, and I was just about to propose -the health of my guests with due discreet allusion to the still -doubtful future when it was settled by the appearance of a telegraph -peon. - -In the instant hush which followed, I observed irrelevantly that our -brief feasting had made a horrid mess of what not half an hour before -had seemed food for the gods! - -Then the Colonel looked up with a grim conscious smile which fitted ill -with the fragrant lantern-lit garden behind him. - -"The route has come, gentlemen, we start to-morrow at noon." - -He checked a quick start to their feet on the part of some of the -youngsters by addressing himself to me: - -"But as everything has been cut and dry for some days we needn't spoil -sport yet awhile. There's time for a dance or two." - -"In that case I'll go on," I replied, "and with greater will than -ever." - -Somehow it never struck me what was likely to happen, seeing that young -Bertram was junior subaltern and in addition the pride of his fellows, -until I heard the calls for "our speaker" to return thanks. He had been -sitting, of course, next to the Paris frock, and beside him had been -the Adjutant, looking, I had noticed, as if he thought he ought to be -in young Bertram's place. I wish to God he had been. - -They both rose at the same moment; the Adjutant to work, no -doubt--for, pushing his chair back, he left the table; young Bertram to -his task of responding. - -I saw at once that he knew his fate. I think he had that instant been -told of it by the Adjutant: and perhaps in a way it was wiser and -kinder to tell him before--so to speak--he gave himself away. - -He stood for an appreciable time as if dazed, then pulling himself -together, spoke steadily, if a trifle artificially. - -"Mr. Commissioner, Ladies, and Gentlemen! I thought a minute ago that I -was the last person to return thanks for our host's regrets and good -wishes. I know now that I am really the only person in the regiment who -could do it honestly; because I am the only person who can sympathise -with him thoroughly--who can, like he does, regret the regiment's -departure, and--and at the same time give it God-speed, while I--I----" - -He paused, and suddenly the strenuous effort after conventional -banalities left his young face free to show its grief--almost its -anger. - -"It's no use my trying to talk bosh," he broke out, and swept away by -realities: "As you know, I'd give everything not to say God-speed, but -I suppose I must." - -And then a sudden remembrance seemed to come to him, he turned in swift -impulse, his face alight, leapt to the pedestal behind him, and there -he was again with that blessed battered old ball in his raised right -hand. - -"And I don't think I can do it better than this does it. This----" his -voice had the notes of life's divine tragedy of hope in it--"fits us -all--fits everything!--And so," his eyes sought mine, "we thank you, -sir, for all and everything, and wish that the God of the Battle may -have mercy all round." - -For a second he stood there, almost triumphant, beautiful as a god, -below him the guttering candles and disorder of the supper table, above -him the stars of heaven: then, with a light laugh, he was calling for -the band to begin and heading the hurried return to the dancing floor. - -As he passed me, gallant and gay, I heard the Paris frock quote in a -consoling whisper, "They also serve who only stand and wait." - -The grateful admiration of his eyes told the delicacy of her art. I -realised this again when shortly after I had an opportunity for one -word of consolation also. - -"She said that, too," he replied, his voice trembling a little. "She's -been awfully good to me, you know--but so you all are--and I daresay it -is all right." - -I knew that to be impossible, but I resolved to do my level best to -protect him. - -Then my duties claimed me. Despite the Colonel's coolness, the party -began to drift away to preparations, their measure of responsibility -shown by the order of their going, until only a dozen or so of -lighthearted youngsters were left for another and yet another waltz, -the prime instigator of delay being, of course, young Bertram. - -I never saw the lad look better. An almost reckless vitality seemed to -radiate from and invade the still scented peace of the whole garden. - -I found myself trying to evade it by wandering off to the furthest, -stillest corner, where I could smoke in peace till called on finally to -say good-night--or good-morning--to my guests. - -I must have fallen asleep in one of the latticed minarets, and slept -long, for when I woke a grey radiance was in the sky that showed above -the scented orange trees. Dawn was breaking, the garden held no sound -save a faint rustle as of leaves. And not a sign remained of Western -intrusion. The swiftness of Indian service had taken away as it had -brought. As I made my way to where we had danced and supped, the -immediate past seemed a dream, and I strained my eyes into the starred -shadows of the jasmine thicket half expecting to see a white veil -creeping like a snake. - -What was that? I had no time to find fancy or fact--my eyes had caught -sight of something unmistakable at the foot of the marble pedestal. - -It was young Bertram. - -He was lying as if asleep, his cheek caressing the battered bronze ball -that he had encircled with his arms. - -His face turned up to the stars showed nothing but content. - - - * * * * * - - -He must have stayed on after the others had gone, probably to think -things out--the legend of appeal must have drawn him back to the very -spot where the snake charmer's basket had been upset--like it had to -me, the fragrant peace must have brought to his weariness sleep. - -For the rest. Had there really been a fourth snake? Was it true that -serpents always revenged themselves for wrong charming? Or were those -two faint blood spots on the rose leaves of young Bertram's lips .... - - - * * * * * - "An 'E' willmakeit--plain." - -Craddock's rolling baritone mingled with a shriek of steam welcoming a -swift speck on the horizon. - -With a roar and a rush it was on us, past us. - -"Ef that 'ymn 'ad bin wrote these times, sir," remarked Craddock -blandly, as he turned on steam, "the h'author might 'ave put in a -H'engin. There ain't anythin' more mysterious in its goin's on--except -per'aps wimmen. I'd ruther trust for grace to the mercy o' the Lord -than to them any day." - - - - - SALT DUTY - - - I - -"Lo! nigh on fifty years have passed since that dark night; just such a -night as this, O! Children-of-the-Master! and yet remembering the -sudden yell of death which rose upon the still air--just such an air as -this, hot and still.... Nay! fear not, Children-of-the-Master! since I, -Imân (the faithful one so named and natured), watch, as I watched -then ... and yet, I say, the hair upon my head which then grew thick and -now is bald, the down upon my skin which then was bloom and now is -stubble, starts up even as I started to my feet at that dread cry, and -catching Sonny-_baba_ in my arms fled to the safer shadows of the -garden. And the child slept...." - -The voice, declamatory yet monotonous, paused as if the speaker -listened. - -"It is always so with the Master-Children," it went on, tentatively, -"they sleep...." - -The second and longer pause which ensued allowed soft breathings to be -heard from the darkness, even, unmistakable, and when the voice -continued something of the vainglorious tone of the _raconteur_ had -been replaced by a note of resignation. - -"And wherefore not, my friends, seeing that as masters they know no -fear?" - -Wherefore, indeed? - -Imân Khân, whilom major-domo to many sahibs of high degree, now in his -old age factotum to the Eurasian widow and children of a conservancy -overseer, asked himself the question boldly. Yet the heart which beat -beneath the coarse white muslin coatee starched to crackle-point in the -effort to conceal the poorness of its quality, felt a vague -dissatisfaction. - -In God's truth the memory of the great Mutiny still sent his old blood -shivering through his veins, and some of the tribe of black-and-tan -boys who slept around him in the darkness were surely now old enough to -thrill, helplessly responsive, to the triumphal threnody of their race? - -Yet it was not so. The tale, on the contrary, was a sure -sleep-compeller; indeed, he was never able to reach his own particular -contribution to the sum total of heroism before sleep came--except in -his own dreams! _There_ he remembered, as he remembered so many things. -How to decorate a ham, for instance--though it was an abomination to -the Lord!--how to ice champagne--though that also was damnable!--when -to say "Not at home," or dismiss a guest by announcing the carriage-- -though these were foreign to him, soul and body. - -Out there, beyond the skimp verandah, amid the native cots set in the -dusky darkness in hopes of a breath of fresher air, old Imân's -imagination ran riot in etiquette. - -And yet the faint white glimmer of the Grand Trunk Road which showed -beyond the cots was not straighter, more unswerving than the -_khânsâman's_ creed as to the correct card to play in each and every -circumstance of domestic life. - -His present mistress, a worthy soul of the most doubtful Portuguese -descent, knew this to her cost. It was a relief, in fact, for her to -get away at times from his determination, for instance, to have what he -called "sikkens" for dinner. But then she did not divide her world into -the sheep who always had a savoury second course in their menu, and the -goats who did not. To him it was the crux of social position. - -So, an opportunity of escape having arisen in the mortal illness of a -distant relation, she had gone off for a weeks holiday full of tears -and determination, while away, to eat as much sweet stuff as she chose, -leaving Imân Khân in charge of the quaint little bastion of the -half-ruined caravanserai in which she was allowed free quarters in -addition to her pension. - -He was relieved also. He had, in truth, a profound contempt for her; -but as this was palpably the wrong game, he covered his disapproval -with an inflexible respect which allowed no deviation from duty on -either side. Yet it was a hard task to keep the household straight. -Sometimes even Imân's solid belief in custom as all-sufficing wavered, -and he half regretted having refused the offers of easier services made -him by rich natives anxious to ape the manner of the alien. But it was -only for a moment. The claims of the white blood he had served all his -life, as his forbears had before him, were paramount, and whatever his -faults, the late _E-stink Sahib_, conservancy overseer, had been -white--or nearly so! Did not his name prove it? Had not _Warm E-stink -Sahib_ (Warren Hastings) left a reputation behind him in India for all -time? Yea! he had been a real master. The name was without equal in the -land--save, perhaps, that which came from the great conqueror, -_Jullunder_ (Alexander). - -Undoubtedly, _E-stink Sahib_ had been white; so it was a pity the -children took so much after their mother; more and more so, indeed, -since the baby girl born after her father's death was the darkest of -the batch. It was as if the white blood had run out in consequence of -the constant calls upon it. For Elflida Norma, the eldest girl--they -all had fine names except the black baby, whom that incompetent widow -had called Lily--was.... - -Ah! what was not Elflida Norma? The old man, drowsing in the darkness -after a hard day of decorum, wandered off still more dreamily at the -thought of his darling. _She_ did not sleep out on the edge of the high -road. Her sixteen years demanded other things. Ah! so many things. Yet -the Incompetent one could perceive no difference between the claims of -the real Miss-_Sahiba_--that is, _E-stink Sahib's_ own daughter by a -previous wife--and those of the girl-brat she herself had brought to -him by a previous husband, and whom she had cheerfully married off to a -black man with a sahib's hat! For this was Imân Khân's contemptuous -classification of Xavier Castello, one of those unnecessarily dark -Eurasians who even in the middle of the night are never to be seen -without the huge pith hats, which they wear, apparently, as an effort -at race distinction. - -The Incompetent one was quite capable of carrying through a similar -marriage for the Miss-_Sahiba_. Horrible thought to Imân; all the more -horrible because he was powerless to provide a proper husband. He could -insist on savouries for dinner; he could say "the door is shut" to -undesirable young men; he could go so far in weddings as to provide a -_suffer_ (supper) and a wedding cake (here his wrinkles set into a -smile), but only God could produce the husband, especially here in this -mere black-man's town where sahibs lived not. Where sahibs did not even -seek a meal or a night's rest in these evil days when they were whisked -hither and thither by rail trains instead of going decently by road. - -Through the darkness his dim eyes sought the opposite bastion of the -serai. In the olden days any moment might have brought someone.... - -But those days were past. It would need a miracle now to bring a sahib -out of a post carriage to claim accommodation there. Yea! a real -heaven-sent car must come. - -Still, God was powerful. If he chose to send one, there might be a real -wedding--such a wedding as--there had been--when--he.... - -So, tired out, Imân was once more in his dreams decorating hams, icing -champagne, and giving himself away in the intricacies of sugar-piping. - -When he woke, it was with a sense that he had somehow neglected his -duty. But no! In the hot dry darkness there was silence and sleep. Even -Lily-_baba_ had her due share of Horatio Menelaus' bed. He rose, and -crept with noiseless bare feet to peep in through the screens of -Elflida Norma's tiny scrap of a room that was tacked on to the one -decent-sized circular apartment in the bastion, like a barnacle to a -limpet. One glance, even by the dim light of the cotton wick set in a -scum of oil floating on a tumbler of water, showed him that she was no -longer where an hour or two before he had left her safe. - -Without a pause he crept on across the room and looked through the door -at its opposite end, which gave on the arcaded square of the serai. - -All was still. Here and there among the ruined arches a twinkling light -told of some wayfarer late come, and from the shadows a mixed bubbling -of hookahs and camels could be heard drowsily. - -She was not there, however, as he had found her sometimes, listening to -a bard or wandering juggler; for she was not as the others, tame as -cows, but rather as the birds, wild and flighty. So he passed on, out -through the massive doorway, built by dead kings, and stood once more -on the white gleam of the road, listening. From far down it, nearer the -town, came the unmelodious hee-haw of a concertina played regardless of -its keys. - -"Hee, hee, haw! Haw, hee, hee!" - -His old ear knew the rhythm. That was the dance in which the -sahib-logue kicked and stamped and laughed. This was Julia Castello's -doing. There was a "nautch" among the black people with the sahib's -hats, and the Miss-_Sahiba_--his Miss-_Sahiba_--had been lured to it! - -Once more, without a pause, the instinct as to the right thing to do -coming to him with certainty, he turned aside to his cook-room, and, -lighting a hurricane lantern, began to rummage in a battered tin box, -which, bespattered still with such labels as "Wanted on the Voyage," -proclaimed itself a perquisite from some past services. - -So, ten minutes afterwards, a starched simulacrum of what had once been -a Chief Commissioner's butler (even to a tarnished silver badge in the -orthodox headgear shaped like a big pith quoit) appeared in the -verandah of Mrs. Castello's house, and, pointing with dignity to the -glimmer of a hurricane lantern in the dusty darkness by the gate, said, -as he produced a moth-eaten cashmere opera-cloak trimmed with moulting -swansdown: - -"As per previous order, the Miss-Sahiba's ayah hath appeared for her -mistress, with this slave as escort." - -Elflida Norma, a dancing incarnation of pure mischief, looked round -angrily on the burst of noisy laughter which followed, and the pausing -stamp of her foot was not warranted by the polka. - -"Why you laugh?" she cried, passionately. "He is my servant--he belongs -to our place." - -Then, turning to the deferential figure, her tone changed, and she drew -herself up to the full of her small height. - -"Nikul jao!" she said, superbly; which, being interpreted, is the -opprobrious form of "get you gone." - -The old man's instinct had told him aright. There, amid that company, -the girl in the white muslin she had surreptitiously pinned into the -semblance of a ball dress, her big blue eyes matching the tight string -of big blue beads about her slender throat, showed herself apart -absolutely, despite her dark hair and 'almost sallow complexion. - -"The Huzoor has forgotten the time," said Imân, imperturbably; -"it is just twelve o'clock, and _Sin-an-hella_ dances of this -description"--here he looked round at the squalid preparations for -supper with superlative scorn--"always close at midnight." - -There was something so almost appalling in the answering certainty of -his tone regarding Cinderellas, that even Mrs. Castello hesitated, -looking round helplessly at her guests. - -"In addition," added the old man, following up the impression, -"is not the night Saturday? and even in the great _Lat-Sahib's_ house, -where I have served, was there no nautch on Saturdays--excepting -_Sin-an-hellas_." - -He yielded the last point graciously, but the concession was even more -confounding to Mrs. Castello than his previous claim. Besides, old -Imân's darkling allusion to service with a Governor-General was a -well-known danger-signal to the whole Hastings family, including -Elflida Norma, who now hesitated palpably. - -"I t'ought you more wise," insinuated her partner, who had actually -laid aside his hat for the polka, "than to have such a worn-out poor -fellow to your place. Pay no heed to him, Miss 'Astin', and polk again -once more." - -Elflida drew herself away from his encircling arm haughtily. - -"No, thanks," she drawled, her small head, with its short curls in air. -"I am tired of polking--and he is a more better servant than your -people have in your place, anyhow." - -"But Elfie!" protested Mrs. Castello. - -The girl interrupted her step-sister with an odd expression in her big -blue eyes. - -"It will be Sunday, as he says, Julia; besides, the princess always -goes home first from a Cinderella, you know, because----" - -"Because why?" inquired Mrs. Castello, fretfully; "that will be some -bob-dash from the silly books she adores so much, Mr. Rosario." - -Elflida stood for a moment smiling sweetly, as it were appraising all -things she saw, from the greasy tablecloth on the supper table to old -Imân's starched purity; from the cocoanut oil on the head of one -admirer, to the tarnished silver sign of service on the head of the -other. - -"Because she was a princess, of course," she replied, demurely; and -straightway stooped her white shoulders for the yoke of cashmere and -swansdown with a dignity which froze even Mr. Rosario's remonstrance. - -"Thank you," she said, loftily in the verandah, when he suggested -escort; "but my ayah and my bearer are sufficient. Good-night." - -So down the pathway, inches deep in dust, she walked sedately towards -the glimmer of the lantern by the gate, followed deferentially by Imân. -But only so far; for once within the spider's web halo round the barred -light, she sprang forward with a laugh. The next instant all was dark. -Cimmerian darkness indeed to the old man as he struggled with the -moulting swansdown and moth-eaten cashmere she had flung over his head. - -"Miss-_Sahiba!_ Miss-_baba_! _norty_, _norty_ girl!" he cried after -her, desperately, in his double capacity of escort and ayah. Then he -consoled himself with the reflection that it was but a bare quarter of -a mile to the serai along a straight deserted high road. Even a real -Miss-Sahiba might go so far alone, unhurt; so, after pausing a moment -from force of habit to re-light the lantern, he ambled after his charge -as fast as his old legs could carry him. Suddenly he heard a noise such -as he had never heard before close behind him. A horrid, panting noise, -and then something between a bellow and a whistle. He turned, saw a red -eye glaring at him, and the next instant the infernal monster darted -past him, whirring, snorting. In pursuit, of course, of Elflida Norma! - -What tyranny was here! What defiance of custom! Saw anyone ever the -like?--on a decent metalled road--and only the ayah--God forgive him -the lie!--wanting to make all things in order? - -These confused, helpless thoughts ran swifter in the old man's mind -that his legs carried his body, as he followed in pursuit of the -monster. The lantern, swinging wildly, hindered such light as there -might have been without it, but he knew the Thing was ahead of him, by -the truly infernal smell it left behind it. - -And then from the darkness ahead came a curiously familiar cry, "Hut, -hut! (get out of the way). Oh, damn!" - -A crash followed; then silence. A few seconds afterwards he was gazing, -helplessly bewildered, at two figures who were looking at each other -wrathfully across the white streak of road. - -One he knew. It was Elflida Norma, her impromptu ball dress -metamorphosed by her race into loose white draperies out of which the -small dark head and slim throat, with its circlet of big blue beads, -rose as from clouds. The other, unknown, was that of a tall, fair young -man. - -"If you had only stood still," the latter was saying angrily, "I could -have managed, but you dodged about like--like----" His eyes had taken -her in by this time, and he paused in his simile. But hers had wandered -to the monster prone in the dust; and she stepped closer to it -curiously. - -"I suppose it is named a motor bicycle," she said, coolly. "I have not -seen one in our place before, only in picture books. I am glad." - -There were no regrets or apologies. And even Imân Khân, when he -recovered his breath, made no inquiries as to whether the young man had -hurt himself in getting out of the Miss-Sahiba's way He simply looked -at the wheels of the bicycle and then at its stalwart young rider. - -God had been kind and sent a husband in a miraculous car! - - - II - -Imân Khân sate in the early dawn, putting such polish as never before -was put on a pair of rather large size Oxford shoes. So far all had -gone well. His own vast experience, aided by the stranger's complete -ignorance of Indian ways, had sufficed for much; and Alexander -Alexander Sahib (all the twelve Imâns be praised for such a name!) was -now comfortably asleep in the bastion opposite the widow's quarters, -under the impression that the hastily produced whisky and soda, with a -"sand beef" (sandwich) in case hunger had come on the road, the simple -but clean bedding, and briefly, all the luxuries of a night's sleep -after a somewhat severe shaking, were due to the commercial instincts -of a good old chap in charge of the usual rest-house: that being -exactly what Imân had desired as a beginning. - -The sequel required thought, and, as he polished, his brain was full of -plans for the immediate future. One thing was certain, however, quite -certain. The husband God had sent in a car must not be allowed to ride -away on it before seeing more of the Miss-_Sahiba_. Arrangements must -be made, as they always had to be made in the best families. Generally -it began with a tennis party--but this, of course, was out of the -question--and perhaps the accident on the road might be taken as -an equivalent for that introduction. Then there were dances, and -"fools-food" (picnics). The one might be considered as taken also, the -others were out of season in the heats of May. There remained drives -and dinners. Both possible, but both required time; therefore time must -be had. The _chota-sahib_ must not ride away after breakfast, as he had -settled on doing, should he and the monster be found fit for the road. - -Now the _chota-sahib_ seemed none the worse for his fall, as Imân, in -his capacity of valet, had had opportunities of judging. The inference, -therefore, was obvious. It must be the monster who was incapable. - -Imân gave a finishing glisten to the shoes and placed them decorously -side by side, ready to be taken in when the appointed hour came for -shaving water. Then he went over and looked at the motor bicycle, which -was accommodated in the verandah. It did not pant or smell now as if it -were alive, but for all that it looked horribly healthy and strong. It -was evidently not a thing to be broken inadvertently by a casual push. -Then a thought struck him, and he ambled off to the old blacksmith, who -still lived in the serai arcade and boasted of his past trade of -mending springs, shoeing horses, and selling to travellers his own -manufactures in the way of wonderful soft iron pocket-knives with -endless blades and corkscrews warranted to draw themselves instead of -the corks! - -"Ari Bhai," said Imân mildly to this worthy, "thou art a prince of -workmen, truly; but come and see something beyond thy art in iron. -Bâpri bâp! I warrant thou couldst not even guess at its inner parts." - -Could he not? Tezoo, the smith, thought otherwise, and being clever as -well as voluble, hit with fair correctness on pivots, cog-wheels, and -such-like inevitables of all machinery, the result of the interview -being that Imân, armed with his kitchen chopper and a bundle of -skewers, had a subsequent _tête-à-tête_ with the monster, in which the -latter came off second best; so that when its owner, fortified by a -most magnificent breakfast (served in the verandah by reason of the -central room of that bastion having an absolutely unsafe roof), went to -overhaul his metal steed, he was fairly surprised. - -"It is a verra remarkable occurrence," he said softly to himself as his -deft hands busied themselves with nuts and screws (for he was a Scotch -engineer on his way to take up an appointment as superintendent in a -canal workshop), "most remarkable. And would be a fine example to the -old ministers thesis that accident is not chance. There's just a method -in it that is absolutely uncanny." - -In short, even with the smithy on the premises, of which the good old -chap in charge spoke consolingly, it was clear he could not start -before evening, if then. Not that it mattered so much, since he had -plenty of time in which to join his billet. - -Thus, as he smoked his pipe, the question came at last for which the -old matchmaker had been longing. - -"And who would the young lady be who smashed me up last night?" - -In his reply Imân dragged in _Warm E-stink Sahib Bahadur_ and a vast -amount of extraneous matter out of his own past experiences. Regarding -the present, however, he was distinctly selective without being -actually untruthful. The late _E-stink Sahib's_ widow and children, for -instance, being also at rest in the serai, were equally under his -charge. And this being so, since there was but one public room in which -dinner could possibly be served as it should be served--here Imân made -a digression regarding the rights of the sahib-logue at large and -_E-stink Sahib's_ family in particular--it was possible that the Huzoor -might meet his fellow-lodgers and the Miss-_Sahiba_ again. - -In fact, he--Imân--would find it more convenient if the meal were eaten -together and at the same time, and the mem--her absence being one of -the eliminated truths--would, he knew, fall in with any suggestion of -his; which statement again was absolutely true. - -Alec Alexander, lost in the intricacies of a piston-rod, acquiesced -mechanically, though in truth the likelihood of seeing such a -remarkably pretty face again was not without its usual unconscious -charm to a young man. - -This charm, however, became conscious half an hour afterwards, when -hard at work in the smithy, his coat off, his sleeves rolled up, -showing milk-white arms above his tanned wrists, he looked up from the -bit of glowing iron on the anvil and saw a large pair of blue eyes and -a large string of blue beads about an almost childish throat. - -It struck him that both were as blue as the sky inarching the wide -inarched square of the old serai. It struck him also that the eyes, -anyhow, had more in common with the sky than with the house made with -hands in which he stood, even though dead kings had built it. Yes! the -whole figure did not belong somehow to its environment; to the litter -of wasted forage, the ashes of dead fires, to the desertion and neglect -of a place which, having served its purpose of a night's lodging, has -been left behind on the road. It seemed worth more than that. - -"I gave you a nice toss, didn't I?" said Elflida Norma, breaking in on -his quasi-sentimental thought with a certain complacency. "If you had -got out of my way it would have been more better." - -"You mean if you hadn't got in mine," he replied, grimly. "But don't -let us quarrel about that now. The mischief's done so far as I am -concerned." - -The blue eyes narrowed in eager interest. - -"Have you broken things inside, too?" she asked, sympathy absent, pure -curiosity present in her tone. - -"No! I didn't," he said, shortly. "I'm not of the kind that breaks -easily." - -She considered him calmly from head to foot. "No-o-o," she admitted, -sparingly. "I suppose not--but your arms look veree brittle, like -china--I suppose that is from being so--being so chicken-white." - -"Perhaps," he said, still more shortly, and was relieved when Imân -(having from the cook-room, where he was feverishly feathering fowls in -preparation for the night's feast, detected Elflida's flagrant breach -of etiquette in having anything whatever to do with a coatless sahib) -hurried across to beguile his charge back to the paths of propriety by -reporting that Lily-_baba_ (to whom the girl was devoted) evinced a -determination to eat melons with her brothers, which he, Imân, was far -too busy to frustrate. - -"You need not make such pother about big dinner to-night," she said, -viciously, when, with the absolutely accommodating Lily in her arms, -she stood watching the far less interesting process of pounding -forcemeat on a curry stone; "for I heard him tell the smith that he -would go this evening if--well, if somebody kept his temper in boiling -oil. Such a queer idea--as if anybody could!" - -Old Imân's hands fell for an instant from the _munâdu_ (Maintenon) -cutlets he was preparing, for he understood the frail foundation on -which his chance of manufacturing a husband stood. Jullunder-sahib must -be making a spring, and if the oil in which it had to be -boiled---- But no! As cook, he knew something of the properties of hot -fat, and felt convinced that the spring would never be fried in time. - -So all that long hot day he toiled and slaved in company with an -anatomy of a man whom he had unearthed from the city. A man who had -also in his youth served the white blood, but had never risen beyond -the scullery. A man who called him "Great Artificer," and fanned him -and the charcoal fire indiscriminately according to their needs. - -And all that long hot day on the other side of the arcaded square work -went on also, so that the clang of metal on anvil or cook-room fire -rose in antagonism on the dusty sunshine which slept between them. -Dinner or no dinner? Spring or no spring? And the circling dark shadows -of the kites above in the blue sky were almost the only other signs of -life, for Elflida Norma had found sleep the easiest way of keeping -Lily-_baba_ from the melons, and the boys slept as they slept always. - -But as the sun set Imân knew that fate had decided in favour of the -dinner, for Jullunder-sahib came over from the smithy with empty hands, -and found hot water in his room, and the change of white raiment he -carried in his knapsack laid out decorously on the bed. - -He took the hint and dressed for dinner, even to the buttonhole of -jasmine which he found beside his hair-brush. - -Elflida Norma, under similar supervision, dressed also. In fact, -everything was dressed, including the flat tin lids of the saucepans -which Imân had impressed into doing duty as side-dishes. Surrounded by -castellated walls of rice paste, supporting cannon balls of alternate -spinach and cochinealed potatoes, they really looked very fine. So did -Imân himself, starched to inconceivable stiffness of deportment. So -even did the anatomy, who, promoted for once to the dining-room, -grinned at the young man and the girl, at the Great Artificer and all -his works, with his usual indiscrimination. - -And, in truth, each and all deserved grins. Yet Elflida Norma looked at -Alec Alexander, he at her, and both at the dinner table set out -marvellously with great trails of the common pumpkin vine looped with -the cheap silver tinsel every Indian bazaar provides, and felt a sudden -shyness of themselves, of each other, and the unwonted snowiness and -glitter. - -"Cler or wite?" said Imân, his old hands in difficulties with two soup -plates. There was a dead silence. - -"He means soup," faltered Elflida Norma desperately, wishing herself -with the boys who were being regaled with curry and rice in her room, -and thereinafter became dumb until the next course, when a sense of -duty made her supplement Imân's "fish-bar'l" with the explanation that -it was not really fish, which was not procurable, but another form of -fowl. - -So, in fact, were the side dishes which followed, and in which Imân had -so far surpassed his usual self that Elflida was perforce as helpless -as her companion for all save eating them solidly in due order. The old -man, however, was too much absorbed in the due handling of "bredsarse" -with the fowl, which was at last allowed to appear under the title of -"roschikken," too much discomforted by the subsidence of his favourite -"sikken," a cheese _soufflée_, to notice silence, or the lack of it, -until, just as--the worst strain over--he was perfunctorily apologising -for the impossibility of "Hice-puddeen," a fateful cry came from the -next room and Elflida started to her feet. - -"It's Lily," she began; but Imân frowned her into her seat again, and -turned to the anatomy superbly. "Go!" he said with dignity, "and bid -the ayah see to Lily-_baba_." - -The result, however, was unsatisfactory, and a certain obstinacy grew -to Elflida's small face, which finally blossomed into open rebellion -and a burst of confidence. - -"You see," she said, those blue eyes of hers almost blinking as she -narrowed them with earnestness, "she smells guavas, and they are more -her hobby than melons even." - -The young man smiled. - -"Who's Lily?" he asked; "your sister, I suppose." - -"My half-sister," she replied, solemnly. "But she will cry on, you see, -if she is not let to come to my place." - -"Then let her come--why not?" - -"It is an evil custom," began Imân, as the order was given. He knew no -graver blame than that even for a whole Decalogue in ruins; but Elflida -Norma stamped her foot as she had stamped it in the polka, so he had to -give in and thus avoid worse exposures. - -And, after all, the introduction of the dimpled brown child in a little -white night-shift, who leant shyly against Elflida's blue beads, seemed -to help the conversation. So much so that after coffee and cigarettes -had been served in the verandah, old Imân felt as if success must crown -his efforts--if only there were time! But how could there be time when -the possible husband had arranged, since the motor bicycle refused to -be mended with the appliances at his disposal, to have it conveyed by -country cart overnight to the nearest railway station, five miles off, -whither he must tramp it, he supposed? next morning, to catch the mail -train. - -It was when, pleasantly, yet still carelessly, Alec Alexander was -saying good-bye to the blue eyes and the blue beads, with the brown -baby cuddled up comfortably in the girl's slender arms, that Imân, with -a sinking heart, played his last card by saying that there was no need -for the Huzoor to tramp. The Miss-_Sahiba_ and Lily-_baba_ invariably -took a carriage airing before breakfast, and could quite easily drop -the Huzoor at the railway station. - -"Yes! I could drop you quite easily at that place. It would be more -better than the walk," assented Elflida Norma, with a Sphinx-like -smile. Her heart was beating faster than usual. She was beginning -to be amused with the tinsel glitter and the general pretence. -It was like playing a game. Still she slept soundly; and so -did the young engineer, and Lily-_baba_, and the boys gorged with -as-a-rule-prohibited native dainties. Even the smith slept, and the -anatomy had already reverted to reality, his transient dignity -vanishing into thin air. So that in that wide ruined serai, built by -dead kings, all were at rest save the Great Artificer, Imân, who sate -among the ruins of his dinner, satisfied, yet still conscious of -failure. Something was lacking, which once more only God could -create--only a miraculous car could bring. - -In truth, if any vehicle might from outward appearance claim miraculous -powers, it was the extraordinary sort of four-wheeled dogcart which, in -the cool morning air, appeared as Imân's last card. He had, indeed, not -wandered from the truth in telling Alec Alexander that carriages were -not to be hired in that sahib-forsaken spot, and it had been only with -extreme difficulty that he had raised these four wheels of varying -colours and a body painted with festoons of grapes, all tied together -with ropes. - -Still, it held the party. Imân, with Lily-_baba_ in his arms, on the -box by the driver, Elflida and the young engineer disposed on the back -seat. The horse, it is true, showed signs of never having been in -harness before, but this was not so evident to those behind, and Imân -held tight and set his teeth, knowing that success has sometimes to be -bought dearly. - -Still, it was with no small measure of relief when they were close on -their destination, and the beast settled down to the two hundred yards -of collar work leading up to the small station level with the high -embankment of the permanent way, that he turned round to peep at -progress on the back seat. - -Had anything happened? His heart sank at the cool, collected air with -which the possible husband took his ticket; but it rose again, when, -after saying good-bye to Lily-_baba_ and tipping the coachman, the -young man went off to the platform with Elflida, as if it were a matter -of course she should see him off. In truth, that is exactly what he did -feel concerning this distinctly pretty and rather jolly little girl -with a bad temper. - -And Elflida? Her world seemed to have had a fresh start in growth, it -held greater possibilities than before, that was all. - -So everything had been in vain, even Imân's sense of duty towards the -white blood he had served so long. - -"Good-bye!" He could not hear the words, but he saw the young hands -meet to unclasp again, as with a whistle the mail train rushed out from -behind a dense mango clump, and the Westinghouse brakes brought a -sudden grinding rattle to the quiet morning air. - -"All was over!" thought Imân sadly, as still sitting on the box with -Lily-_baba_, he watched. Surely it had not been his fault. He had done -all--only the cheese _soufflée_ had failed, and that happened sometimes -even in the house of Lât-Sahibs. Yet it was over. - -It was, indeed. Almost including the miraculous car, as deprived of its -driver, who was spending part of his tip in the sweet stall, the horse, -frightened at the train, reared, bounded forward, and then, finding its -progress barred in front by a railing, swerved on its track, and came -past the station again, heading for that downward incline with the -steep banks falling away on either side. - -Elflida grasped the position first, and with a cry of "Lily! Lily!" was -at the horse's head as it passed. The possible husband was not far -behind--just far enough to make the off rein as convenient to his -pursuing feet as the near one, to which she clung, half dragged, -helpless, half in wild determination to keep pace with the terrified -beast. - -"Let go!" he shouted. "He'll get you down, and then--let go, I say!" - -She did not answer. In truth, she had no breath for words. And, -besides, her mind was not clear enough to grasp his order, though it -grasped something else--namely, that relief from her dead weight on one -side must bring a swerve to the other. And that must not be till the -embankment was passed, or the man holding to the off rein must go -under. - -"Let go!" he shouted, again and again, as he, in his turn, grasped her -purpose; but he might as well have shouted to the dead. - - - * * * * * - - -"I believe--I hope--she has fainted," said Alec Alexander, with a catch -in his voice not all due to breathlessness, as, the runaway safe held -by other captors, he stooped over the girl who lay in the dust, her -hands still clenched over a broken rein. Then he lifted her tenderly -and carried her back to the station whence the mail train, careless of -such trivialities as miraculous cart, had departed. - -And if on his way he kissed the closed blue eyes and the blue beads -round the childish throat, who shall blame him? - - - * * * * * - - -Anyhow, the hot dry nights of May were not over before old Imân's voice -rose once more in declamation over the unforgettable story of the white -blood. - -But this time sleep did not come to the black-and-tan tribe gathered in -the light of the floating oil wick. For the boys were watching -something they had never seen before--the icing of a wedding cake. - -And so the long-deferred personal climax came at last. - -"The trouble being over, the masters were masters again, and I took -Sonny-_baba_ back to his people. And wherefore not? Seeing I had eaten -of their salt all my life and they of mine. Yea! even unto wedding -cakes. Look, my sons! That is done, and I, Imân, the faithful one by -name and nature made it." - - - * * * * * - - -There was but one flaw in the old man's content on the great day; for -he had managed to get a ham cheap for the "suffer," and Mrs. Hastings, -only too glad of greater freedom in the future, had consented to his -turning his attention to the education of the young couple and -Lily-_baba_, who was to live with them. That flaw was a slight -irregularity in what he was pleased to call a "too-liver-ot" on the -said cake. Not that it really mattered. The true lover's knot itself -was there, though the hands which fashioned it were not so young and -steady as they had been when they caught up Sonny-_baba_ and carried -him to the safe shadows. - -Yet, old as they were, those hands had forgotten no duty. _E-stink -Sahib's_ widow, absorbed with a friend in the recipe of a mango pickle -she meant to make on the morrow--a pickle full of forbidden turmeric -and mustard oil--had to be reminded of her _rôle_ as bride's mother -over and over again, but it was Imân who hung a horseshoe for luck on -the miraculous car--drawn this time by an old stager--Imân, who was -ready with rice, Imân, who finally ran after the departing lovers to -fling the old white shoe, in which Elflida had danced the hee-haw -polka, into their laps as they sate on the back seat, and then, -overbalancing himself in the final effort, to tumble into the dust, -where he remained blissfully uncertain as to praise or blame, murmuring -blandly, "What a custom is here!" - - - - - THE WISDOM OF OUR LORD GANESH - -"The wisdom of Sri Ganêsh--the wisdom of our Lord Ganêsh."[1] - - -Through and through my fever-drugged brain the words came, compelling, -insistent; forcing me away from reality, forcing me back into the past. -Yet I knew perfectly where I was; I remembered distinctly that having -felt unusually tired after rather a hot day's march I had pitched the -little _tente d'abri_--which was my home during a sketching tour in -Wales--rather closer to the main road than I generally did, and had -thereinafter promptly succumbed to an unmistakable go of fever and -ague, a half-forgotten legacy left behind by many years of Indian life. - -Yes, I could remember distinctly the bramble-and-nut-hidden quarry -hole, with its little inner sward of sweet sheep-bitten grass where I -had pitched the tent. I knew that if I were to call, someone of the -rumbling cart wheels, which came at intervals along the road, might -stop and seek for the caller; but I lay still. I was hard-happed round -and round with the curious content which comes as the chills and the -aches are passing into the fire flood of fever that thrills the -finger-tips and sets the brain fizzling like champagne. - - -"The wisdom of Sri Ganêsh--the wisdom of our Lord Ganêsh." - - -Why on earth should that haunt me here in Wales? on a piece, no doubt, -of Nat Gwynne's property. - -Nat Gwynne! Then I knew. It was because I had seen him in the distance -that day, driving a pair of grey ponies, tandem, with a pretty young -girl beside his coarse, heavy, good looks; heavier than they had been, -though, heaven knows! refinement had never stood much in his way. And -they were to be married to-morrow! Married to Gwynne of Garthgwynne! -Couldn't anyone tell her what she was doing? Couldn't anyone save her, -as the wisdom of Sri Ganêsh had saved that other one?... - -And then in a second I was gone. I was under the brassy blue -sky of India, and from the twisted tufts of marsh-grasses by the -elephant's feet came a native beater's lament--"As God sees me it is -invisible--what a tyranny is here." - -"Bid Ganêsh seek," said Nat Gwynne's voice, imperatively from the -howdah from which we were both shooting. He was in a Lancer regiment -cantooned in the native State where for many years I had been -consulting engineer. - -The _mahout_, seated on the big brute's neck, turned calmly. "It is -against the orders that Sri Ganêsh, King of Elephants and Lord of -Wisdom, should touch carrion even of the Huzoor's." - -I looked at my old friend Mahadeo with astonishment. He and I had been -out on Ganêsh, the Rajah's finest elephant, scores of times, and again -and again the cunning old rogue's inquisitive trunk had nosed out and -up a partridge or snipe which the coolies had failed to find. - -"He hath a scent like a bed of roses," old Mahadeo would say proudly, -"and as for wisdom! Doth he not hold the Huzoor even as his own -_mahout?_" - -Which delicate piece of flattery was true, for old Ganêsh, pad elephant -to the bankrupt young scoundrel of a Rajah, had taken a fancy to me, as -elephants do take fancies. - -So, seeing at a glance that something lay beneath the surface of the -bitter hatred in the dark face, and the wild, wicked rage of the white -one, I said, quickly. "Seek! my brother!" - -Ganêsh swayed forward, his trunk curling like a snake, his wicked -little eyes alert, a faint _frou-frou_ of a blowing sound seeming to -quiver the grasses; and there, grasped softly in the prehensile end was -a dead jack snipe! As he put it deferentially and politely into my -outstretched hand I seemed to catch a contemptuous flicker in his eye, -as who would say, "What an amount of fuss about such a very little -piece of pork," as the Jew said when a thunderstorm found him eating -sausage. - -But that it was _not_ a little piece of pork between those two, still -glaring at each other, was evident. - -Mahadeo's usually gentle face had taken on a stony stare that held in -it something of limitless power; while Nat Gwynne's anger was almost -obscured by sheer disgust at having to keep his hands off another man's -servant. - -"By God!" he cried. "It's lucky for you, you pig, that I'm not your -master--but--but I'll try to be--I'll buy this big brute when they sell -the bankrupt State up next month, and I'll buy you, curse you, and -I'll ..." - -"Do hold your tongue, Gwynne," I said to him in a low voice, for his -temper was notorious, and once he lost control over himself he would -often behave like a madman. As, indeed, he had every right to be, since -the record of the Gwynnes of Garthgwynne was a black one. - -Mahadeo, however, supplied the return to calm. - -"The Huzoor is _mast_," he said to me, rapidly in low contemptuous -Hindustani, turning the while to sit, immovable as ever, a mere head -and trunk of a man, all else being hidden by the elephant's great -shields of ears. "He is as the beasts that perish. And Ganêsh, too, -nears his time of power--" he pointed to the great head he bestrode -where, oozing apparently from a slight hollow in the skin a few drops -of ichor showed, half hardened into amber, "so let those who would harm -him--or _his friends_ beware!" - -But there was nothing of which to be beware thereinafter, for all -became peace. How hot the sun was! And the guns, too! Almost too hot to -hold. But how cool it was in the camp down in a mango-grove beside a -tank with great cane brakes stretching away into the stars under the -moonlight! And how peaceful! How one slept, and slept, and slept, -drowsed to dreamlessness by the great peace of the immovable shadows, -the greater peace of the light behind them.... - -Ye powers above! What was that? Even now, remembering it, all was as it -had seemed then. Shadow on light, light on shadow ... a curse, a -cry ... something young and slim fleeing, half in light, half in shadow! -Then a sudden trumpet, a rattle as of chained front feet, one little -sob.... - -How steadily the moonlight shone through the branches on that small -upturned face which was all Ganêsh's feet had spared. - -"Who? What?" I gasped, uncomprehending, staring stupidly at Mahadeo on -his knees beside the dead girl, at Gwynne, still dressed, the buttons -on his mess jacket glittering like diamonds, his face all working with -horror and dismay. But there was no room for anything but the old man's -voice, quiet, restrained: - -"She was my granddaughter, Huzoor. But a light thing. She must have -gone too near the King of Elephants, being as this slave said, near to -his time of power. What then? _It is the wisdom, of our Lord Ganêsh! -The wisdom of Sri Ganêsh!_" - -The sound of his voice died away softly, and the wind carried it -further, and further, and further.... - -Such an odd wind! Soft, warm, with a faint perfume in it, blowing on my -hands, my face. And behind it a familiar sighing sound with the echo of -a chuckle in it.... - -Was it possible? I started up, my brain in a whirl. Did I, or did I not -see in the moonbeam which stole through a chink in the tent flap, -something sinuous, that curved and bent caressingly? And beyond it, -where the flap divided, was or was that not a rough image of the -Elephant Headed God of Wisdom painted in hot ochres on an elephant's -fore front? I was out of the blankets in a second, flinging back the -tent flaps with a delirious laugh. Aye! It was true! Earth and air -alike seemed blocked by a huge mass of flesh that quivered all over -with delight. Come! this was something like a fever dream! To have an -Indian Rajah's pad elephant to ride on--to go whither you would for a -fresh breeze--to cool your brain. - -"_Baito_, Ganêsh! _Baito!_" I cried, giving the familiar order; but the -next instant my vaingloriousness ended in a shiver, almost of fear, as -the brute obeyed, sinking noiselessly and laying its trunk, curled -round to protect itself against injury, ready for me to mount. - -Scarcely knowing what I did I caught familiarly at the big drooping -ears, I felt the trunk beneath my feet tilted gingerly to aid me, and -there I was, my head reeling madly, in the old familiar place! - -But around me? Around me half Wales, bathed in broad moonlight, lay -peaceful; with, in the distance, a faint shimmer telling of the -sea--the far sea that still seemed to sound in my ears as if, indeed, I -lay upon its very shore listening to the break and burden of the waves -which came from far away--so very far away. - -I think the effort must have made me relapse into unconsciousness, for -the next thing I remember is finding myself propped up by pillows in -the howdah, and hearing a familiar voice break in upon the ceaseless -fall of the waves which filled my ears. - -And from the voice I gathered vaguely that it was not a dream at all. -This was indeed Ganêsh, who had been sold because of his great height -to an English showman, and this was no other than old Mahadeo, who -would not leave his charge, and had come over the black water, also, -where there was nothing good to be had save rum; rum that kept the cold -out on these chill September nights when Ganêsh had to do his marches -from town to town, since the sight of an elephant might frighten the -traffic by day. There was evidently some of that rum still in the old -man's voice as he chid Ganêsh glibly for having been restive and thrown -his unsteady _mahout_ on the road. But then had not the animal always -loved the Huzoor, even as his master? And must he not have nosed him -out as he passed, the Lord of Elephants having, as ever, a scent as of -rose gardens? Which was as well, since now the Huzoor would be able to -get a doctor-_sahib_ and medicine.... - -I tried to understand, but it was hard to get at anything with fever -raging in one's brain, while the rhythmic roll of the elephant's pace -as we lilted away over half Wales seemed to blend with the fall of -those waves from very far away. Once I remember asking how many couple -of snipe we had killed. After that Mahadeo furtively brought out a -bottle and gave me something fiery which seemed to do me good, though -he muttered to himself that he could but do his best--his was not the -wisdom of Sri Ganêsh. - -"You--you shouldn't say that to me, you--you old fool," I -murmured, weakly. "You should say it as you said to--to--to -Gwynne-_sahib_--Gwynne-_sahib_, who is going to be married -to-morrow--don't you know? Such a pretty girl--such a very pretty -girl--such a poor, pretty girl...." - -I don't know quite what I said; I am glad, indeed, not to be able to -remember, but I have a vague recollection of becoming a trifle maudlin, -and finally of pointing out, amid a cloud-like shadow of trees that lay -on the far horizon, the position--or thereabouts--of Garthgwynne, -whither the young bride was to be led the next evening. - -Now, in all this, as I recount it from a blurred, fever-stricken -memory, allowance must be made for illusion. I don't know if it really -happened, I can only vouch for my belief that I actually saw and did -these things. I think now, therefore, that I fell asleep, always with -that recurring fall of distant waves in my ear, until I woke suddenly -to a loud hilarious burst of half-drunken laughter. - -"Stop him! Hie! Gone away! Hello! Gwynne! Pity the bride! If you don't -go to bed there'll be no wedding day! Yoicks! Poor devil! wants to -escape the halter. Hie! You there! Best man! You're bound to bring him -up sober." - -We were in the deep shadow of the famous cedar trees, and one look at -the old house beyond the lawn was enough for recognition. Yes! it was -Plas Garthgwynne, favoured of picture postcards, favoured of wild, -wicked romance and legend. It was all blazing with lights, so, despite -the waning of the moon, I could see--clustering at the door and -dispersed over the gravel sweep--the mad rush of Gwynne of -Garthgwynne's last bachelor party as it tumbled tipsily in chase of a -reeling figure that came straight towards us across the lawn to lose -itself in the opposite shadows. - -And then a hard feminine voice dominated the uproar: - -"Leave him alone, you fools! The night air will sober him; and if it -doesn't, there's no hurry to carry on the breed." - -Something of brutal truth behind the brutal coarseness of the remark -fell like a wet blanket over the half-fuddled guests; some of them -picked themselves up moodily from the gravel, others found stability -from friends, and so they drifted in unsteadily, dominated once more by -that hard, feminine, unwomanly voice asserting that if he didn't crawl -back to burrow in a quarter-of-an-hour, she'd send the butler to look -for him. - -And thereinafter came quiet; while one by one the glittering windows of -the house sank to darkness. - -And yet it was not dark, after all, surely? Or was there a curious halo -of light emanating from old Mahadeo's head; a halo which distorted him -somehow, which piled his low turban into a high tiara, and made his -nose show long, so long--almost as long as the Elephant-Faced -God-of-Wisdom ... in the Indian shrines.... - -Ah! There he was!... - -Gwynne of Garthgwynne, standing on a bit of open beyond the -shadow--behind him a grey shimmer of mere set thick with water -lilies--his legs very wide apart, his watch in his hand--it had some -electric appliance about it, and the feeble light streaming upwards -showed his face full of hard, soul-revealing lines. What a face!--the -face of a devil let loose--set free from the fetters of conventional -life. - -"Two o'clock," he muttered. "Well! whats'h a--matter. Sh'upposin' am -drunk she'll have to put up--Gwynne Garthgwynne, d--mn her--my -wife--mother of Gwynne's-Garth ..." - -"Forward, Sri Ganêsh!" The order came soft but swift, and we were out -of the shadows. What was it out of the shadows, also--out of the Dim -Shadows which shroud Life in the Beginning and the End, which caught me -irresistibly, making me say sharply as one who has waited long, "Come -along, Gwynne! do--there's a good fellow." - -For an instant surprise seemed to struggle with satisfaction in his -drink-sodden brain. The tall, heavy figure swayed, lurched. I could see -its every detail, the very buttons on the mess jacket--worn doubtless -out of bravado this last evening of bachelorhood--shone, as they had -done that night years ago amid the shadow and shine of the mango-tôpe; -for a radiance seemed to have sprung from earth and sky in which -nothing could be hidden. - -Then suddenly came his old reckless, half-insane burst of laughter. -"Come," he echoed, drunkenly, "Why--why--shno't? Whatsh' larks--chursh, -fl'rs joll'--lit'--bride--no bridegroom!--joll'--good'--larks'h, eh! -Off to Phildelp'ia in the mornin'--see th'other one--joll'--lit' one. -_Bait_, you pig, Ganêsh! _Bait!_" - -It all passed like a flash of lightning. The elephant was down and up -again, and the last thing I remember was hearing Gwynne of -Garthgwynne's drunken voice say, "Hello! old Mahadeo, eh! Well! go it, -ol' man. Givs'h some of--wish-dom--Shri Ganêsh--eh--what?" - -When I roused again it was dawn; pale primrose dawn over a cloudless -sea. - -It was the strange wind that roused me, the soft, warm wind that passed -over my face and sought something else--and found it. Soft as a snake -the elephant's trunk found the drunken man's neck as he lay asleep, -half hanging out of the cushioned howdah, and closed on it. The sight -drove the blur from my mind, and in an instant I saw all things -clearly. - -We were on the very edge of a high cliff. Below us lay the scarce -dawn-lit waters of the calm sea. But between me and that tender distant -sky, what form was this with triple crown and wise stern human eyes -looking out of an animal's face? - -Wisdom itself! Wisdom come to judgment. - -There was a moment's pause. I clung to the howdah's side as if turned -to stone. I seemed to know what was coming--to realise the verdict -which that ultimate wisdom must give. Then in a clarion voice the words -came: - -"By the order of the Lord Ganêsh, kill." - -The softness, the tenderness of the snaky coil, so sensitive that the -finest thread in God's world can scarce escape it, changed suddenly to -iron. There was no cry, no struggle. Gwynne of Garthgwynne's body swung -high in air, then, flung from it with all leviathan's strength, fell, -and fell, and fell ... - - - * * * * * - - -When the roaring of the distant sea ceased in mine ears about a -fortnight afterwards, I found that the nine days' wonder of Gwynne of -Garthgwynne's disappearance on his wedding night had died down. He had -rushed out rollicking drunk--that all knew. He had not returned. The -butler sent out to seek for him had sought other seekers, but all in -vain. They were still dragging the mere for him, but the flood gates of -the river (of which it was a backwater) had been open that night, and -the body might have drifted out to sea. So there had been no wedding, -and a distant heir, barely related to the old stock, was ready to take -possession so soon as doubt was over. As for me, the early postman, -attracted by my moaning, had found me half-in and half-out of my blankets -in the _tente d'abri_ behind the bramble screen of the quarry. - -Was it then all a dream? Even if it were not ... - -Was it not the wisdom of our Lord Ganêsh? - -I decided, at last, to say nothing about that dream of a marvellous -moonlight ride on an elephant over half Wales. Twinges of conscience -assailed me at times, but they were laid to rest for ever about -Christmas-tide, when, going through a small town in the Midlands, I was -met, in passing a new cottage hospital on its environs, by a glad cry-- -"The very man I want! I've got a poor soul here who won't die. He ought -really to have been at peace two days ago--but he goes on and on. You -see, he's an Indian or something, and we can't speak the lingo--you -can, I expect?" - -I followed the doctor, with whom I had a slight acquaintance, into the -ward, with a foreboding at my heart. I knew it was old Mahadeo, and -that, indeed, he wanted me. And it was. He lay tucked up between clean -sheets on an English bed with two English hospital nurses fadding about -him, speechless, gasping, at the very point and spit of death, yet -waiting--waiting ... - -I knew what he wanted, and without a word, his dark eyes following me -in dim gladness, I threw back the clothes and got a firm grip of the -sheet at his head. He should at least die as a Hindu should die. "Now, -doctor!" I said, "if you'll take the feet we will let him find freedom -outside." - -A nurse started forward. "But the case is pneumonia--double -pneumonia----" - -The doctor hesitated; they always are in the hands of the nurses. - -"Look here, Jones," I cried, sharply. "This man doesn't want clinical -thermometers, and draw-sheets, and caps. He wants freedom. He wants to -die as his religion tells him he must die, on Mother Earth--aye--even -if her bosom is white with snow." - -And it was, for it was Christmas-tide. - -So we lifted him out, the doctor and I, and laid him down on Heaven's -white quilt. He just rolled over, face down, into the cool pillow. - -"_Râm-Râm--Sita-Râm_," I whispered, kneeling beside him to give the -last dying benediction of his race. Such a quaint one! Only the name of -what to it, is superman and superwoman. A last appeal to the higher -instincts of humanity. - -There was one little sob. I thought I heard the beginning of the old -refrain: - -"The wisdom of our Lord Ganêsh----" Then he had found freedom. - -"You seem to know their ways, sir," said a horsey-looking man who had -come in with us and who had evidently something to do with the show. -"So, if you could give us a 'elp with this pore fellar's beast, I'd be -obliged. Hasn't touched food this ten days--never since the old man -took worse, and a elephant, sir, is a dead loss to a show. The master -lef' 'im here with me, but I'm blowed if I can do nothing with him." - -I found Ganêsh happier than his master, for, no place being large -enough for him, he lay in the open; but they had stretched a tarpaulin -over him like a rick-cover, as a protection. - -A glance told me he was far gone, though he lay crouched, not prone; -his trunk--marvellous agent for good or ill--stretched out before him -beyond shelter into the snow. - -As I came up to him, I fancied I saw a flicker in his eyes, those eyes -so small, so full of wisdom. Then I laid in front of him the old man's -turban, ragged, worn, which I had begged of the prim nurses. In a -second the whole, huge, inert mass of flesh became instinct with life. -He rose to his feet with incredible swiftness, and softly encircling -the old ragged pugree, raised it gently and placed it in the master's -seat. For a moment I doubted what would come next; but the instinct -which is held in leviathan's small brain is great. He knew by some -mysterious art that the master was dead, that the human mind which had -been his guide was gone. - -He took one step forward, threw up his trunk, and the echoes of the -surrounding houses cracked with the roaring bellow of his trumpet as he -swayed sideways and fell dead. - -That was all the little smug provincial English town ever knew of the - - - "Wisdom of our Lord Ganêsh." - - - - - THE SON OF A KING - - - I - -"Barring my pay," he said, ruefully, "I haven't a coin in the world." -And for the moment, newly accepted lover as he was, his eyes actually -left hers and wandered away to the reddening yellow of the sunset with -a certain resentment at the limitations of his world. - -"Father has plenty!" she put in joyously. And for the moment her hand -actually touched his in a new-born sense of appropriation and right of -re-assurance which made her blush faintly. It also made his eyes return -to hers, whereat she blushed furiously, and then tried to cover her -confusion by a jest. "Well! he has. Hasn't he the best collection of -coins in India?" - -"He wouldn't part with one of them, though, for love or money. And I -doubt his parting with you--though I could pay a lot--in love." - -He had both her hands now, and the very newness of the position made -her fence with the emotion it aroused. - -"He parted with duplicates." - -"But you aren't one--there isn't anyone like you in the wide, wide -world. And I'm glad you're not. I don't want anyone else to be as lucky -as I am." - -She retreated still further from realities into jesting. "Then -he exchanges quite often, so, if you only set yourself to find -something----" She broke off, and her face lit up. "Oh, Jim! I have -such a delightful idea! You shall find the gold coin--you know the one -I mean--with the date that is to settle, or unsettle, half the history -of the world! Do you know, I really believe, if you helped him to -confound all those German wiseacres, that father would be quite willing -to exchange----" - -"His daughter for the ducat! Perhaps. But, unfortunately--and quite -between ourselves--I have my doubts about the existence of that coin. -Or if it does exist it is hopelessly hidden away for ever and ever and -aye, like that blessed old buried city of his that we have all been -hunting after this month past in the wilderness. I don't wish to be -disrespectful to your father, Queenie, but I believe he dreamt of -it--that is to say, if it didn't dream of him--one never knows which -comes first----" - -He paused, arrested in the egoism, the absolute individualism of love -by the mystery of the collective life which was part even of that love, -and once more his eyes wandered to the sun setting. - -The sky had darkened on the horizon as the dust haze shadowed into -purple, so that the distant edge of the low sand-hills, losing definite -outline, seemed almost level. Yet far and near, from the feet of the -lovers as they sat close together to that uncertain ending of their -visible world, not a straight line was to be seen. Everything showed in -curves--curves that told their unflinching tale of unseen circlings. -The wrinkled ripples left by the last wind upon the sea of sand around -them waved over the endless undulations of the desert, the sparse -tussocks of coarse grass fell in fountains from their own centres, the -stunted thorn-bushes were coiled and twisted on themselves like tangled -skeins without a clue, the faint tracks of the sand-rats and the -partridges wound snake-like in every direction, and even the footprints -which had brought the two lovers in their present resting-place held -the same hint of reference to unseen continuity, for, absorbed in -Love's new world, they had wandered on aimlessly unheeding of the old -one at their feet. - -The result stared them in the face, now, in a firm yet undecided trail -that was by far the most salient feature in the indefinite landscape. -Jim Forrester laughed as he directed her attention to it. - -"We seem to have gone round and round on our tracks; so the tents, and -your respected father and civilisation generally must be--well! exactly -where I would have sworn they were not. But that just bears out what I -was saying. For all we know the whole thing may be a peculiarly vicious -circle! The world may be going back when we think it is going forward, -and all the fine new things we think we find, may only he ourselves -again. You and I, and the buried city and the gold coin--everything -that we dream of, or that dreams of us, may only be part of the hidden -circle which belongs to the curve of a life which has no straight -lines--My God! take care--what the devil is that?" - -That, if anything, _was_ a straight line--straight as an arrow. And an -arrow it was, still vibrating in the soft sand at their very feet. Jim -Forrester stood up angrily and looked round for the archer who had -drawn his bow at such an unpleasantly close venture. But no one was -visible, so he stooped down and drew the arrow out of the sand. He had -seen its like, or almost its like, before in those wild central tracts -of sandy desert where the wandering tribes of goatherds still cling to -the weapons of a past age. His companion, however, had not, and she -bent to examine it curiously. The attitude made the fair coils of her -hair, which were plaited round her head, look more than ever like a -heavy gold crown. - -"It takes one back to another world altogether," she said, watching him -as he balanced it critically to appraise the perfection of its poise. -"To a world where it was made, perhaps--for it looks old, doesn't it! I -wonder who----" - -She paused, becoming conscious that someone was standing behind her. -Jim Forrester became conscious of the fact also, and showed it in such -an aggressive way that she exclaimed hastily: - -"Don't be angry with him, please. It must have been quite a chance--he -couldn't have known we were here." - -Even without the plea it would have been difficult for the young -Englishman to refuse the chance of explanation to the figure which had -appeared so unexpectedly. For, though in all outward accessories it was -only that of a wandering goatherd, there was a calm dignity about it -which claimed consideration. The fillet which bound the hair, -sun-ripened to a rich brown on its waves and curls, was only a knotted -bit of goats'-hair string, but the head it encircled had a youthful -buoyancy such as the Greek sculptors gave to the young Apollo, a -resemblance enhanced by the statuesque folds of the rough goats'-hair -blanketing which was sparsely draped over the bare, sinewy yet -fine-drawn frame. - -The face, however, was faintly aquiline, and the eyes, deep set between -prominent brow and cheek bone, had the mingled fire and softness which -in India so often redeems an otherwise commonplace countenance. - -"I was stalking bustard, Huzoor," said the goatherd frankly, with a -flash of very white teeth, "and being face down on the sand yonder -behind the grasses saw nothing till the Presences stood up, but a glint -of the sun on something." - -He spoke to the man, but his eyes were on the girl's golden crown of -hair. - -Jim Forrester suddenly broke the arrow across his knee and threw the -fragments from him into the sand ripples. - -"Hand me over the bow, too," he said, peremptorily, then paused. -"Hullo! Where the deuce did you get that--it is very old--the oldest -I've seen--with a looped string, too?" he added, handling it curiously. - -The goatherd smiled. "The Presence is welcome to keep it if he likes. I -can get plenty more in the old city." - -Once again, in speaking to the man, his eyes, askance, were on the -girl. - -She started. "In the old city," she echoed, "Jim! do you hear -that--then you know where the old city is?" - -The goatherd almost laughed. "Wherefore not, malika sahiba -(queen-lady). Have I not lived in it always?" - -"Lived in it! Then where is it?" - -He swept a bronze hand in a circle which clipped her and him and the -distant horizon. - -"Here, queen-lady." - -"Here," echoed Jim Forrester, incredulously; "but there are absolutely -no signs of a city here." - -"Plenty, Huzoor!" replied the goatherd, "if the Protector of the Poor -will only use his eyes. Look yonder, how the ground rises to meet the -curve of the sky; yonder, sahib, where the sunset red dyes deepest." - -The young Englishman looked and frowned, but the girl gave a quick -exclamation, and laid a hasty, surprised touch on her lover's arm. "He -is right, Jim," she said; "why didn't we notice it before? It stands -out quite clear--an even rise all round centring on the unseen sun. How -very curious! Ask him his name, Jim, and all that, so that father may -be able to get hold of him. Fancy if we find the buried city--it would -be as good almost as the gold coin, though somehow it makes me feel -creepy." She gave a faint shiver as she spoke. - -"The queen-lady should not remain in the wilderness when the sun has -set," came in swift warning from the goatherd; "there is a fever fiend -lurks in it and brings strange dreams." - -Something almost of familiarity and command in the liquid yet vibrant -voice made Jim Forrester frown again and say, shortly, "Yes; we must -get back; it grows quite cold." - -The girl looked half bewildered first to one and then to the other of -the two tall figures that stood between her and the fast-fading light, -against which she still saw clearly that faint swelling domed blue -shadow, as of some other world forcing its way through the crust of the -visible one. - -So she stood silent, vaguely disturbed while the few questions -necessary to identify the man who answered them were asked. - -She did not speak, indeed, until with faces set on the right path for -their camp and civilisation generally, they paused on the top of the -first sand-rippled wave to look back. The shadowy dome was still there, -swelling towards the vanished sun, and from its side the figure of the -young goatherd rose into the darkening dust haze. He was calling to his -flock, and the words of his old-time chant were clearly audible: - - - "O, seekers for Life's meat, - Your course is run! - Come home with weary feet, - Rest is so sweet. - What though one day be done?-- - Another has begun. - The flock, the fold are one, - Where long years meet!" - - -"I hope he told us his real name!" she said, suddenly. - - - II - -"My dear child, all your geese are swans--and so were your poor -mother's before you," said her father. And then his eyes grew dreamy, -perhaps over the intricacies of some new coins he was classifying; -though, in truth, the memory of the young wife who had left him alone -with a week-old baby in the days of his youth had somehow come harder -to him during the last few happier, more home-like years since his -daughter had returned to take her mother's place as mistress of the -house; for the girl was very like the dead woman. - -She had brought her father his afternoon cup of tea to the -office-tent, cleared for that brief recess of the cloud of clerks and -witnesses, who through the wide canvas-wings, set open to let in the -air, could be seen huddled in groups among the sparse shadows of the -stunted kikar trees amid which the camp was pitched. They could be -heard also, since in the limited leisure at their disposal they were -hubble-hubbling away at their hookahs conscientiously; the noise in its -rhythmic, intermittent insistency seemed like a distant snore from the -sleepy desert of sand that stretched away to the horizon on all sides. - -"Of course," he went on, "you could hardly be expected to know--though -really, my dear, you have all your mother's quickness of perception -regarding people and places--but the mere fact of that goatherd fellow -giving his name as Khesroo, and admitting he was low-caste, should have -made you doubt his assertion. I confess I had little hope, for such -knowledge as he professed to have is generally in the keeping of the -priesthood only." - -"But Jim was there--I mean Mr. Forrester," she began. Her father -coughed uneasily. - -"Because I call my personal assistant, whom I have known as a child, -Jim, that is no reason, my dear Queenie, why you should contract the -habit. I don't think your poor mother would have liked it. Besides, -though he is an able young man--very much so, indeed, and when he -grows older will make an excellent officer--Mr. Forrester--ahem!" -(he made a violent effort over the name) "has no genius for -antiquities. He utterly fails, for instance, to realise the -far-reaching importance--for it would, of course, alter the whole -chronology of the Grĉco-Bactrian era--of my contention concerning -what Hausmann and the German school generally venture to designate a -post-Vicramaditya. Yet some day, I feel sure, the gold coin of which -Kapala gives so exact a description in B.C. 200, with the date under -the legend and a double profile on the obverse, will turn up, and then -the point will be settled, even if I do not live to see it." - -He was fairly off on his hobby and had risen to pace the tent, his -hands behind his back. Many a time and oft she had listened to him -patiently, almost eagerly, for the story of India's golden age always -fired her imagination, but to-day she was thinking of other things--of -her engagement for one, which she must break to him sooner or later. So -she went up to him and tucked her arm into his coaxingly. - -"You may, father. It might be found any day. Do you know, I believe you -would give almost anything--even your daughter--for that ducat. -Wouldn't you?" - -Absolute jest as it was, her voice trembled over the trivial words, as -voices often do unconsciously when Fate means to turn them to her own -purposes. - -He smiled and patted her hand. "Undoubtedly, I would, my dear. But, -nice as you are, no one is likely to offer me that exchange. To begin -with, the coin, as a simple unique, would be worth a fortune, and then -there is the fame. Think of it! Half the philologists, most of the -historians, and all those German fellows routed on their own ground!" - -"Who knows?" she said, and then a frown dimmed the amusement in her -eyes. "Though I can't understand," she added, "why that man Khesroo -denied--as you say he did--having met Jim--I mean, us--yesterday. He -can't be the wrong man, can he?" - -"Mr. Forrester thinks he is not. But you can see for yourself," replied -her father, returning to his tea and his treasures, "for he is still -over in the orderlies' tent. They had such trouble hunting him out of -the jungles and persuading him to come here that they said they must -keep him overnight, anyhow, in case he was wanted." - -An hour or so afterwards, therefore, a yellow-legged constable escorted -the goatherd who had answered to the name of Khesroo into the verandah -of the Miss-Sahiba's drawing-room tent. It, also, was set wide to the -cool of the desert evening, and its easy-chairs and low, flower-decked -tables strewn with books and magazines struck a curiously dissonant -note from that sounded by the wilderness of sandy waste which on all -sides hemmed in the little square of white-winged camp with a certain -hungry emptiness. - -"He is the man, Jim," said the girl, in an undertone (for her father -had come over from office and was seated within, reading the daily -papers which the camel-post had just brought). "And yet--he looks -different somehow--and so ill, too." - -He did look ill, with the languid yet harassed air which follows on -malarial fever. The buoyancy of his carriage was replaced by an almost -dejected air. Yet it was unmistakably the goatherd they had met the -evening before, who, in obedience to a sign, squatted down midway, as -it were, between the culture inside the tent and the savagery without -it. - -"You look as if you had been having fever--have you?" asked the girl -abruptly, for her years of authority had made her knowledgeable in such -things. - -"The malika sahiba says right," replied Khesroo, indifferently. "I have -had it much--this long while back." - -"And you had it yesterday or the day before?" - -"It was yesterday. I was put past by it all day. And yet----" here a -vague perplexity came to the dulled yet anxious face as he looked first -at the girl, then apologetically at Jim Forrester. "What the Presence -said about meeting me is perhaps right after all. Yes! it is right. I -did see the Huzoor. I have remembered from the graciousness of the -queen-lady and the gold crown of her hair." - -The young Englishman frowned angrily. "You work miracles in memory, my -dear Queenie," he said, and there was quite an aggrieved tone in his -voice as he turned shortly on the speaker. "Why on earth didn't you -tell the truth before, then? And the old city? I suppose you remember -all about that, too?" - -"The old city," echoed Khesroo, doubtfully. "No, Huzoor! What should I -know about it beyond what all know--that there was a city, and that it -is lost? Such as I know only what the wise tell them----" he paused, -and even to his deprecation came a half-resigned self-assertion, -"And yet I had more chance than most, seeing that my mother was -twice-born." - -"She was, was she?" put in his hearer, and then looked round towards -his chief. "Do you hear that, sir? His mother was a Brahmani--that may -account for his profile, which you said this morning puzzled you in a -low-caste man." - -"I said it was Scythic in type, and so it is," was the answer, as the -speaker laid down his paper and came forward for further inspection. -"So your mother was twice-born," he continued, addressing the goatherd; -"a child-widow, I suppose?" - -Khesroo stretched his hand out, the fingers wide-spread in a dignified -assent, which suited him better than his former almost cringing -humility. - -"Huzoor, yes! Her people, however, did not find her till I was nigh -six; but after that, of course, I was alone." - -A hush fell on the group, for--to those three listeners who understood -them--the simple words told of a common enough tragedy in India; of a -life denied all natural outlet, of unworthy love, of outraged pride of -race followed by sure, if slow, revenge. - -"And your father--who was he?" - -Kresroo shook his head. "I had no one but my mother, Huzoor." - -There was another hush, on which the girl's voice rose clear with a -curious thrill in it. - -"And she was very beautiful, was she not?" - -"Her son is a good-looking fellow, at any rate," remarked Jim -Forrester, coolly, and moving away, he took up the newspaper, conscious -of a certain irritation, and began to read the latest report of -wireless telegraphy with the unsuspicious and unquestioning assent -which we of these latter days reserve for the marvels of matter only. - -Her father having gone back to his papers also, the girl and the -goatherd were left alone midway between civilisation and savagery. -Huddled in his coarse blanketing, his bare arms crossed over his bare -knees, there was nothing distinctive or unusual in Khesroo's figure, -behind which the background of shadowy desert was fast fading into -shadowy sky, except the haggardness of the aquiline face, the -hollowness of the dark eyes. These struck her, and she stretched out -her hand to feel his. - -"Have you fever now? No, you are quite cool." - -He shivered slightly at her touch, and his eyes, passing hers, seemed -to rest on the plaits of her hair. - -"No, Huzoor," he replied, "it is a thief fever--it is hard to catch." - -She smiled. "I think quinine will manage it." - -He shook his head. "Nothing catches that which robs us of life at its -own time. It will leave me none some day." He spoke unconcernedly, as -if the fact were beyond question. - -"Then why do you wear that amulet if it is of no use?" she said, -pointing to the little leathern bag, such as the wild tribes use for -the carrying of charms, which was tied round his arm. - -Khesroo shook his head again, but smiled this time, and the flash of -his white teeth must have removed any doubt of his identity, had such -doubt existed. - -"The queen-lady mistakes," he said. "It does not contain a charm. It is -my _photongrar_." - -"Your what?" she echoed, uncomprehending. - -"_Photongrar_. The picture, Huzoor, that the sun holds always of all -things it has ever seen in the world. It showed this to a memsahiba -long ago when I was little, and she showed it to my mother." - -"You mean your photograph?" - -"Huzoor, yes! Perhaps the queen-lady might care to see it, since it is -like my mother as she was--_before they found her!_" - -Perhaps it was the thought of what the poor woman must have been like -_after_ that finding which made the English girl feel a vague -oppression as she took the tight roll of paper that Khesroo unfolded -from a piece of red rag. - -"I was five, Huzoor," he said simply, "and my mother loved me much." - -Small wonder, was the girl's first thought as she looked at the sedate, -yet childish face, half-concealed by the high turban, which had -evidently been borrowed for the occasion, at the quaint dignity of the -childish figure huddled into finery too large for it, and holding a -flower in its hand as if it had been a sceptre. But as she looked, a -startled expression came over her face; she stood up and hurried to her -father, with appeal in her voice. - -"Oh, father! do look here! How very curious! This photograph of Khesroo -when he was a child--I think mother must have taken it, for I am almost -sure there is one like it in her diary--in the volume you gave me to -read the other day, because we were camping through the same country. -Stay! I'll fetch it----" - -She was back in a moment with an unclasped book in her hand, and -fluttered hastily through pages and sketches, almost to the end. - -"There!" she cried, suddenly, "I was sure of it!" - -Her father laid the one photograph beside the other, and Jim Forrester, -looking over his shoulder curiously, compared them also. They were -identical. But underneath the one pasted into the book a woman's hand -had written: - - - "_The Son of a King!_" - - -The title fitted the picture, and reminded the girl of something in -Khesroo which had struck her yesterday and which was absent to-day. She -turned over the page, but beyond it all was blank. Those words were the -last in the diary. - -"I think I remember something about it now, my dear," said her -father, taking his hand away from the book gently; "it may have been -the last she took, for I was camping round here as assistant just -before--before you were born. And she was always taking children and -giving pictures to the mothers; not that I remember that particular -one--you see it must be fifteen years ago--at least." - -"Nearer five-and-twenty, dear," she said, softly, and as she realised -the impotence of what the world counts as time to touch the smallest -thing that once has been, the utter irrelevance of days and weeks and -years in connection with a single thought, the photographs before her -grew dim to her eyes, the fine feminine writing with its verdict, "The -Son of a King," became invisible. - -So through her tears she saw only--blurred and indistinct--the -wondering face of Khesroo the goatherd. - -"Look!" she said, in sudden impulse. "The sun must have held two -pictures of you." - -He stared at the duplicate stupidly. "I did not steal it," he began, -uneasily. - -"Of course you didn't," she replied, smiling now. "It was my mother who -took the picture, and gave it to yours--she was the mem-sahiba you -spoke of--perhaps you remember her?" - -A look almost of relief came to the goatherd's haggard, anxious face. -"Yes! Perhaps your slave remembers, and that is why he thought he -recollected the graciousness of the queen-lady and the gold crown of -her hair. That will be it, and your slave did not lie to the Huzoor." -He looked apologetically towards the young Englishman; but the latter -had once more an aggrieved tone in his voice as he said shortly in -English: - -"Whether he did or did not doesn't much matter. There isn't anything to -be got out of him apparently, so perhaps you had better tell the -orderly to take him back to the tent and see that he takes the quinine -you send--as I suppose you will." - - - III - -"I meant to tell him yesterday, Jim," said the girl, in an undertone, -glancing with almost maternal solicitude at her father, who was writing -within, his grey, somewhat bald head shining out in the light of the -lamp by which he was working, against the intense shadowy darkness of -the tent walls, "but that disappointment about the lost city, wasn't, -so to say, propitious. And to-day there was that letter from Hausmann -about the coin somebody has discovered, which has quite upset him. Poor -father," she added, turning to her lover again, "it will be hard on -him. Did you notice how he said it was but fifteen years ..." - -She broke off and looked out into the night. The stars were showing -overhead through the fine fret of the kikar trees, though the horizon -still held a hint of the day that was dead. Against this paler -background she fancied she could see--itself a shadow, yet half hidden -by shadow--that curving dome as of a new world forcing its way through -the crust of the old, or an old one through the new. - -"It was odd about those photographs, wasn't it?" she said, -irrelevantly. "He must be five years older than I am." - -"His age is honoured by the comparison." - -"My dear Jim," she interrupted, opening her eyes, "this unfortunate -goatherd seems----" - -"I said he was fortunate, I think. But I admit hating things I don't -quite understand." - -"Then you must hate me--now don't be angry," she added: "I mean no -blame. I very often don't understand myself." - -"I know that--and that is why I want this business settled and -clear--you--you seem so far off sometimes." - -There was a passion in his voice; he stretched his hands out to her as -she stood apart, her filmy dinner dress looking ghostly and elusive -seen half in the dark, half by the feeble light from within the tent. - -She stretched out her hands also, but there was all the world between -his almost pathetic appeal and her almost amused repulse. - -"You must make haste and find the ducat, Jim. I feel sure that without -it--and especially in his present mood--father will never consent----" - -He certainly did not seem in a consenting frame of mind as he came out -to them with the offending letter from Hausmann in his hand. - -"I've answered it," he said, sternly, "but as the man is an ass, he -will most likely miss the point, which is, of course, Kapala's -description of this coin. He says distinctly that it has one profile -superimposed on another with the legend beneath, and the date below the -flower on the obverse. Really, child, I think I will get you to figure -it for me, since Hausmann seems unable to understand words." - -"You could use the handsome goatherd as a model, you know," remarked -Jim Forrester, vaguely surprised at his own irritation; "your father -said his features were Scythic." - -"Yes!" assented the numismatist, abstractedly, as he tried to re-read -part of the offending missive by the distant light of the lamp; "rather -an uncommon type in India, nowadays, though one sees it elsewhere. -Queenie has it partly--your mother had Russian blood in her, you know." - -"Perhaps that is why I feel so interested in Khesroo," said the girl, -looking coldly askance at her lover. - -"Oh, by the way," put in her father, breaking in on his own indignation -and the silence which ensued between those two who loved each other--a -silence which both felt to be at once incomprehensible yet inevitable, -intolerable yet in a way rascinating--"that reminds me. The orderlies -reported he was bad with fever to-night. Send him over some more -quinine." - -"I'll take it, if you like," said Jim Forrester, faintly penitent. - -She looked at the two men with disdainful tolerance. "I will see him -first. One never knows what these people call fever--it may be -pneumonia." - -She moved off as she spoke, into the night, meaning to cross over -towards the orderlies' tent, then paused to glance back at the -figure--which followed. "Are you coming, too?" she said, curtly. "I can -manage all right." - -"Of course I am coming!" replied Jim Forrester. "It is pitch dark, -to begin with, and I can at least help you to find your patient. I -think you had better keep outside the camp, so as to avoid the -tent-ropes--it isn't any longer, really." - -It was, if anything, shorter, but it brought them instantly into the -grip, as it were, of the desert, which crept hungrily upon the camp on -all sides; so that, ere they had gone five steps beyond the canvas -wings of the tent, they seemed as much alone, as far from conventional -twentieth-century life, as they had been two days before, when they -first sat together as betrothed lovers in the sunset of a world of -curves telling the tale of eternal, of unseen circlings. Even so much -of Life's secret was invisible now. All they saw was a darkness they -knew to be wilderness, a dim outline of themselves, close together, -hand in hand. For with the knowledge that they were alone--perhaps with -the memory of the wilderness--they had clasped hands instinctively, and -for the time the sense of stress and strain had passed. - -It returned again, however, with curious vividness, as, right in their -path, a shadow, dim as their own, showed suddenly. - -She knew who it was instinctively before it spoke. - -"I thought you had fever," she said. "Why are you here?" - -"I have been waiting the graciousness of the queen-lady," came the -reply, and the voice was buoyant with joyous vitality. "I have to tell -her my dreams--the fever always brings dreams, and I remember now! Yea! -I remember all things from the beginning. So, if she will come, I will -show her the lost city where we lived, and she will dream the dream -also." - -Dimly, in the darkness, she fancied she could see the shining of his -eyes, see his beckoning hand. What her lover saw was a movement of the -shadow towards the wilderness: what he felt was a faint increase in the -distance between his hand and hers which made him claim it again. - -"Queenie!" he cried, "what are you thinking of? You can't possibly go -now. The man is delirious with fever--surely you hear that in his -voice. You had better come back to the tent and let me send someone to -take him into shelter and look after him." - -For an instant no one spoke, and then it seemed almost a bodiless voice -from the desert which broke the silence, for in his desire to detain -her, Jim Forrester had drawn the girl back a pace or two, so that the -darkness lay deeper between their two shadows and that third one nearer -the wilderness. - -"Let the queen-lady decide for herself. If she comes, I will show her -all forgotten things--the golden crown that is not plaited hair, the -golden coin that was made for the lovers----" - -"Jim," she whispered, almost fiercely, "do you hear? It is the gold -coin--it is waiting to be found. I must go----" - -"This is pure folly," protested the young Englishman. "If anyone has to -go, I will, of course. But what hurry is there? Why not wait till -to-morrow--now, do be reasonable, Queenie, and consider----" - -She ceased trying to release her hand, and when she spoke again it was -in a natural tone. - -"Yes. I forgot that. Khesroo, I will come with you to-morrow. It will -be easier by daylight. Go back to the orderlies' tent now, and I will -send you over some more medicine, and when the fever has gone----" - -"The dreams will have gone, too," came the voice out of the night; but -it, also, was more natural, more like that of Khesroo the goatherd. "I -shall forget again, and then the gold coin that was struck for her and -her lover----" - -"For her and her lover," echoed the girl, softly. "Did you hear, Jim? I -must go and get it for you." - -"Long--long ago----" came the voice again. - -She echoed the words almost inaudibly this time, and Jim Forrester drew -her closer as he said sharply: "If anyone goes, I will; but I don't -see----" - -The voice interrupted him. "But the queen-lady sees. She is like her -mother; she sees pictures in the sun. Of course, the Huzoor can come; -but if the queen-lady really wants this thing--if she believes--if she -trusts----" - -"Let me go, Jim! let me go!" - -"You shall not," he cried, seizing her round the waist in swift -antagonism to some unseen influence, in sudden consciousness of -conflict. - -And so to both him and her in the darkness and stillness of the desert, -within a few steps only of quiet, comfortable, commonplace -civilisation, came like a whirlwind a perfect tumult of bewildering -emotions, and all the deathless forces which never slumber or sleep in -their work of moulding the soul of man, leapt from silence into speech. -Love, jealousy, hatred, resolve, high courage--all these seemed to -sweep through their every fibre of mind and body, leaving them -breathless, wondering, uncertain if they were awake or dreaming, if -they were real or mere shadows of a reality which Time cannot touch or -alter. For an instant only they were conscious of all this--but the -instant might have been an hour in its suggestion of infinite -experience. - -Then Time claimed them once more, time and trivialities and -commonsense, so that ten minutes afterwards, Jim Forrester, having made -his preparations for a tramp into the desert, was stooping to say -good-night to his betrothed and to assure her of his speedy return. The -moon would rise in half-an-hour, the distance to the place where they -had first met Khesroo could not be over three miles, he would be back -by midnight. - -Meanwhile, she could tell her father he had turned in, but if she chose -herself to sit up--well ... - -As their lips met lingeringly, a little breeze that had wandered from -the desert shifted a ripple or two on the sand-waves about their feet, -and died away like a sigh in the fine fret of the kikar trees above the -unseen tents. - - - IV - -It was an hour before dawn. - -The desert itself could scarcely have been stiller than the camp. In -the white moonlight the white tents looked like some shrouded city of -the dead, forgotten yet unburied; for, here and there, some out in the -moonlit open, other flecked with the fine shadow of the kikar trees, -lay corpse-like figures swathed in sheets, as if waiting for their -graves. There was no sound, no sign of life, not even where the -moonlight, slanting through the still, wide-set wings of the -drawing-room tent, showed the folds of a woman's dress, the daintiness -of a high-heeled shoe. - -The rest of the figure was in shadow, though the light, in its last -effort against the darkness of the tent, claimed the pages of the open -book which lay on the sleeping girl's lap, and turned one of them into -a silver framing for the photograph of a child. So vivid was the light -that even the fine feminine writing beneath it showed in the dead -woman's verdict: - - - "_The Son of a King!_" - - -For the girl had been pondering over the strange chance which had -brought her, in her turn, within the influence of this nameless -kingship when, as she waited for her lover's return, she had fallen -asleep in her chair. And yet, as she had sat there, thinking, watching, -she had felt very wide awake indeed. Not with anxiety, however; that -had passed. In fact, as she followed in her mind what had gone before -Jim Forrester's quite prosaic start to walk three or four miles into -the wilderness on a moonlight night to be shown the bearings of a -buried city and possibly to be given proof positive that there were -ruins beneath the sand, she had been in grave doubt as to what had -actually occurred. Had there been conflict? Had love and jealousy and -hatred and resolve risen up and claimed them all? Surely not. Why, -indeed, should it be so? Though, doubtless, in her, in her lover, in -the goatherd, there was something held, as it were, in common, yet -which had struggled to be individual, separate. - -And this had been most marked between the young Englishman and the -goatherd. Unaccountable as it was, she felt that in some mysterious -fundamental mind of hers these two were associated indissolubly--that -they stood towards her on the same plane. Nay, more! that it was the -consciousness of this which kept her calm, which overbore the -possibility of future danger, the memory of past conflict. What harm -could happen to the Son of a King or with the Son of a King? - -The phrase had been on her lips as she fell asleep. It was on them as -she awoke and stood up suddenly, the open book sliding soundless from -her lap into the soft sand. But the phrase brought no comfort with it -now. Had she been asleep for long! Had her lover returned? Was it past -midnight? - -The anxious questions surged up through the crust of calm before she -was half awake, and instinctively she was outside the tent in a moment -on her way towards her lover's, her rapid feet, shod in the dainty -high-heeled slippers, dimpling the shifting sand. - -The coming dawn had sent cloud heralds to the west, and an advanced -pursuivant, drifting across the moon, shadowed all things faintly and -seemed to increase the silence. - -She called softly; there was no reply, so she looked in. A glance told -her that her lover had not returned, and the light stealing in through -the uplifted screen showed her by the travelling-clock hung to the -tent-pole that it was already past three o'clock. - -Three! What had happened--and what was to be done? For an instant the -ordinary inrush of anxiety made her think of rousing the camp, of -sending out search-parties; but the next brought her a curious -conviction that in this case danger lay in seeking outside help: a -certainty that in this matter she must stand alone, that in this -crisis--whatever it was--there must be but three alone--if, indeed, -there were three--herself, her lover, and this nameless Son of a King. - -So, almost without a pause, the dimples left by her rapid feet were -curving towards the highest sand-wave within sight of the camp. Thence -she could watch the desert sea, and perhaps find him, even now, close -at hand. But once there, the next sand-wave attracted her as being a -better point of vantage, and so from wave to wave she flitted in her -white dress like some desert bird, leaving behind her a curved track of -dimples in the sliding sand, until a little wind, the herald blast of -the hurrying clouds overhead, crept low down over the world and swept -the dimples back into the old ripples. - -"Khesroo!" she called, suddenly, for a shadow seemed beside hers in -that empty wilderness; but there was no answer. - -"Jim!" she called again, uncertainly; but there was no reply. Yet she -was not frightened. She knew now, in that mysterious fundamental mind -of hers, that she alone was responsible, that she, and she only, could -solve the riddle. Khesroo had been right. If she wanted this thing, if -she had believed, if she had trusted, she would have gone before. And -now she must hurry, or it would be too late--wherefore or for what she -scarcely considered. - -"Khesroo!" she called once more, and this time there was a faint -inflection of fear in her voice; for was that figure Khesroo, the -goatherd, or was it her lover? Or was it neither; but someone only of -whom she had dreamt as the Son of a King? - -Should she go back? The wish struck her keenly, but she ignored it, and -went on. She must, she knew, have left the camp far behind her, and, if -she had kept the right direction, would soon be close on the spot where -that straight line of an arrow had startled her by its intrusion into -her dream of love. - -If she had kept it! And surely she had, for behind her the east was -faintly lightening with the dawn. Yonder, therefore, in the dark of the -heralding clouds which had huddled upon the western horizon must lie -the domed shadows of the buried city. - -"Khesroo!" she cried, instinctively, the very soul of her speaking, -"show it to me! For the sake of the woman who died, as women die for a -life of love, a love of life, show it to me!" - -And then, behind her, she heard a voice chanting, as Khesroo, the -goatherd, had chanted, the call of guidance for the wanderers in the -desert. Yet the words were different; for these were they: - - - "Seekers for sleep, arise! - Your rest is done. - Go forth with weary eyes - To find your prize - In vain, in vain! To none - Will slumber have begun - Till from the heart of one - Desire dies." - - -Listening, she turned to look, then realised that in her searching she -must once more have circled back on her own footsteps, for behind and -not before her, dark, clear, unmistakable, the domed shadow of the lost -city lay against the lightening east. And on its swelling side, as -Khesroo had stood before, he stood again. Was it the rising sun which -turned the fillet of knotted cord about his head to gold?--which dyed -the coarse blanketing to royal purple, and transformed the wearer into -the perfect kingliness of buoyant youth and beauty? She never knew. She -only felt that something stronger than herself caught her, held her, -clasped her, and yet drew her on, so that with hands outstretched she -ran towards it, crying between smiles and tears: - -"The Son of a King! The Son of a King!" - -The next instant she had tripped and fallen heavily on her face over a -tangled tuft of grass concealing an unusually deep descent of a desert -wave. As she picked herself up, confused, somewhat dazed, and paused to -free her eyes from the sand grains which clouded them, something almost -at her feet brought her back to realities, and she gave a quick -exclamation. For in the hollow beneath the wave, where he had evidently -sought shelter deliberately, Jim Forrester lay curled up comfortably, -fast asleep. At least, so it seemed, though Khesroo's quaint old bow -must surely make rather an uncomfortable pillow. - -She stooped over the sleeping man, and for an instant her face -whitened; she bent lower to listen to his breathing. And as she -listened a couple of startled sand-chaffs fled from a neighbouring -thorn bush, their chuckling cry echoing over the desert like an evil -laugh. - -But a minute afterwards, in answer to her touch, Jim Forrester was -staring at her trying to collect his sleep-scattered senses. - -"Hullo!" he said, slowly. "How on earth did I--Ah! I remember. That -brute of a goatherd played the garden ass and I lost him, so after -wandering about for hours, I turned in till daylight. But you--my -dearest dear----" - -He started to his feet as he realised her presence there, and held out -both his hands to her. - -As he did so, something dropped from them and lay glittering on the -sand at his feet. It was a gold coin. - -They looked at each other, amazed; then she stooped and picked it up. - -"A double profile," she said slowly, holding it so as to catch the -growing sunlight, "and the legend round"--she spelt it out from the -Greek lettering--"'Basileus Basileon.'" - -"And the date," he cried, "the date!" - -"Yes, the date is there," she replied, still more slowly turning to the -obverse, "the bird and the date--it is all right--but I was thinking of -the other----" - -"What other?" - -"Basileus Basileon--'the King of Kings,'" she said softly, and looked -out towards the sunrise. But the light had claimed the whole world and -sent all shadows flying. - -So happily, prosaically, they went home to breakfast. Yet there was one -thing which she never told anyone, perhaps because it might -have stood in the way of the popular explanation of the whole -affair--namely, that Khesroo had happened on the coin and must have put -it in Jim Forrester's hand after the latter fell asleep. So, not even -when her father proudly pointed out to admirers that the double profile -was that of a man and a woman, and that the latter, curiously enough, -might almost be a portrait of his married daughter, did she ever say -that when she found her husband asleep in the sand that morning, the -looped bowstring of Khesroo the goatherd's bow was loose about his -neck. - -But she often wonders if it would have been drawn tighter had she not -gone to seek for what she wanted. - - - - - THE BIRTH OF FIRE - - -The night was clear and silent. - -The light-pulse of the stars as they wheeled with slow certainty to -meet the dawn was the only visible movement in the whole expanse of -shadowed earth and sky. - -And the only sound audible was my own life breath as I sate beside the -glowing embers of the camp fire. - -Strictly speaking, however, there was no camp, for I, and the two -coolies who carried my breakfast, had missed our way in our detour -through the eternal sameness of faint curve and level in the wide -uplands, and finally, in despair of rejoining our tents, had bivouacked -as best we could on the shore of a small frozen lake; one of those -obstinate, rock-bound pools which, even when spring has set seal of -conquest on the world, refuse to melt, and so yield up their treasure -of sweet water to its renewed thirst for Life. - -My servants had forced this particular lakelet to philanthropy with -rude blows; wantonly rude it had seemed to me, as I watched the swift -shiver with which the stable unity of surface had split into forlorn -fragments of ice, each adrift at the mercy of that which they had held -prisoner for so long. - -The other necessary element, fire, my men had also commandeered by a -raid on the low juniper which crept like moss below the taller grasses -of the plain. - -The result had not been altogether satisfactory, for the pungent -smoke of the aromatic wood had--at least, so the sufferers averred, -though, at the time, I suspected a recourse for comfort to my -whisky-flask--produced unmistakable symptoms of intoxication in the -amateur cooks, who, after valiantly serving me up a réchauffé of -breakfast had succumbed to sleep. The mattress of creeping juniper on -which they lay like logs was springy enough to have hidden them from -sight even if the shadowed earth had not been so dark; for it was dark, -formless, void, as only an unbroken expanse of featureless plain can be -when the very sky grows velvet black because of the infinitely distant -brilliance of the stars. Indeed, the uniformity of indefinable shadow -was almost oppressive, although I knew right well the scene that lay -around me; for who that has once seen it can fail of seeing again with -the mind's eye the marvellous mosaic as of white marble and precious -jewels which covers the high upland stretches of the World's Roof, when -the winter snow retreats reluctantly, as if loth to leave the carpeting -of spring flowers which follow on its fleeing footsteps. - -I even remembered as I watched the embers that just behind them, -finding faint shelter from a solitary boulder, there grew a tiny azalea -I had never seen before; a fragile, leafless thing set sparsely with -sweet-scented flowers that were flecked rose on saffron like a sunset -sky. - -And the silence was oppressive also. I caught myself -listening--listening almost breathlessly--for a sound--for some sound! -But there was not even a whisper among the tall grasses. - -In sudden impulse I threw a fresh juniper branch upon the embers, and -the silence, the stillness ended as if by magic; for the green spines -spat and sputtered as they shrivelled, and sent out a dense cloud of -smoke to circle up endlessly into the darkness. - -A pungent smoke indeed! Involuntarily I drew back from it and covered -my eyes with my hand waiting until the smouldering should lighten into -flame. - -The waiting, however, prolonged itself strangely. No flicker of light -reached me, and I began to wonder dreamily what had happened; so -dreamily, indeed, that when at last I looked up, I did so reluctantly, -and with a curious sense of confusion. - -It was this, no doubt, which prevented surprise at finding that I was -no longer the solitary watcher of those dull embers. - -Opposite me, nearly hidden in the endless curlings of the juniper smoke -was a man crouching towards the fire as if he felt the cold of the high -uplands. Only his face, and the hands he held towards the heat, showed -clearly; the rest was lost in billowy clouds which, drifting upwards -behind him, obscured the very stars. - -I sate silent for a while, disinclined even for curiosity, and then, -rather to my own surprise, I spoke as I might have spoken to a familiar -friend. - -"You are cold, I'm afraid." - -To this day, I do not know in what language he replied--if, indeed! he -spoke at all. My only recollection is of the eloquence of liquid, -lustrous eyes, the confident certainty of comprehension which is the -child's ere it can speak articulately. - -"I am a Star-gazer; so the Fire draws me." - -"Why?" - -"Why? Surely all know it is the Star Fire which fell when She first -came to me--Hai-me! Hai-me! When She first came and laid her hand in -mine." - -The drifting billows parted, showing the stars above his head, then -closed again, blotting them out; blotting out all things, it seemed to -me, even my own self as I sate listening to the faint wail which rose -vaguely, filling the wide shadows. - -"Io! Io! Disturber of dreams, why didst thou come? Io! Io! Bringer of -dreams, why didst go? Lo! the Star fire was not thine though thou -earnest with the Fire of the Star." - -Through the pungent aroma of the burning branches, a faint breath of -perfume from the sunset-dyed azalea swept, mingling with it, and so -passing with it into the endless circling. - -The lustrous eyes drooped, losing their brilliance; but when they -looked up again only serene confident comprehension was there. - -"In forest days none of us were Star-gazers, for there was no Rim to -the world on which the following Footsteps could be seen. But when we -left the forest for the upland, with its milch kine and seed grains, we -learnt to look; for there was the Rim. And all things went to stand on -it and disappear among the Stars. - -"So, gazing, we saw that the Stars disappeared also; they, too, were -following the Footsteps. But they never came back as they went, like -other things. Their footsteps were faithful; so faithful that you could -foretell by them the ripening of the seed grains, the coming of milk to -the herds. - -"So gazing, we wondered. Here by this pool I watched, taking no need of -harvest or milk time; but I saw nothing but the following Footsteps and -the footsteps of the Stars. - -"Nothing, though I followed with mine eyes, wheeling as the Stars -wheeled to meet the dawn while the shadows and my kind, and all other -things, slept as they do now." - -They slept, indeed! The very smoke had ceased to circle. It hung in -motionless curves, soft, impenetrable, and I could see nothing now save -the lustrous eyes, and the dull glow of the fire. - -"So I gazed, until one night, as I stood following the footsteps of the -faithful Stars with mine eyes, the knowledge came to me, that as I -stood watching them, so Someone stood watching me and all things. -Someone who did not move. And I was glad, though I was afraid. - -"But that dawn, when I went down after our custom to gather the seed -grains with my kind, they looked at me askance as if I were a stranger. -Only Io, she of the beautiful young one that all cherished, paused as -she suckled it to follow me with curious wondering eyes." - -There was a pause, and through it came, soft as a sigh, that faint -wail: - -"Io! Io! Disturber of Dreams, why didst come? Io! Io! Bringer of -Dreams, why didst thou go?" - -"It was cold here, on the uplands, gazing; but the faithful Stars shone -quite near me. It seemed as if I could reach up and clasp them. And I -was faithful as they in the Footsteps; for I have driven a stake of -wood into the ground firm as the ground itself, and night after night, -as I watched the Stars wheel, I twirled the slender wand I held in my -hands upon it, following their faithful Footsteps so that the Someone -who watched might see me even as they were! - -"And I was happy, though I was afraid. - -"But one night, when the tall grasses were stiff and the low green -things were white with the cold, my fingers could scarce twirl the -wand, and the fear lest the Someone might grow angry with me came so -strong that suddenly I lifted my head and cried to It to be kind. - -"How the stars shone! My hands longed to leave the wand and reach them, -and in me there rose a great new joy, as if I had found myself. - -"But that Dawn, when I went after the custom to gather the grain with -my kind, they fled from me as if I had been an enemy. - -"Only Io, she of the beautiful young one, with her breasts full of -milk, left the cherished one athirst to follow my footsteps and hold -out a handful of the grain she had gathered for herself. - -"But I feared her and she feared me, so she left it lying on the -ground, and afterwards I went and ate it, for I was hungry. But the -touch of her hand that was on the grain touched my lips so that I felt -it even as I gazed. - -"Io! Io! Disturber of Dreams, why didst come? Io! Io! Why didst thou -go? The Star fire was not thine, though thou wast in the fire of the -Star!" - -Even the lustrous eyes were hidden from me now; I saw nothing but the -fading glow of the embers as I sate listening amid the uttermost peace -of all things to that soft almost voiceless wail. - -"The nights grew hot, and the tall grasses crackled in the drought, and -the low green things wilted to greyness. But I cared not, for I had -found myself, and I knew there was a Beginning and an End. And even -that touch on my lips did not disturb my dreams as, faithful as they, I -followed the faithful footsteps of the Stars. - -"Until one night--it was so hot that something in me seemed to -out-beat the beating of the Stars--a great Darkness that was not Night -came from the Rim and swallowed up all things. - -"I had seen it come before and had hidden my face from it like the rest -of my kin, but now my fear was too strong for hiding. Besides, who -could hide when Someone watched always? And why should I hide if I were -faithful--if I were as the Stars? - -"Thus a great joy mingled with my fear, until something in me cried out -with a great longing for something that was not in me, and something -that I had not, seemed to come to me until my wand twirled faster, as -if other hands were on it, and my lips, as I cried out that I was -faithful, felt the touch of other lips upon them. - -"So through the Darkness that hid the Stars while the hot wind howled -about me and flung hot earth grains in my face, I shouted to the Stars -to come down to me." - -The very fire had gone now, and I strained my eyes into the shadows, -seeing nothing but endless curves as of smoke. - -"And lo! One came! - -"Just where the wand whirled by my hot hasty hands touched the steady -stake of wood I saw a tiny star. - -"But, as I saw it, something came to me also, making me forget the -Star! - -"It was Io! - -"She had left her cherished one; with her breasts full of milk, she had -left the little drinker athirst; she had followed my footsteps through -the darkness to find me and lay her hand in mine. - -"Io! Io! Bringer of Dreams! Io! Io! Disturber of Dreams, thou didst -come! - -"And the touch of our hands and our lips together made us forget the -starshine which had come with it. - -"But the shine grew and grew, so that when we looked again it was not a -Star at all, but something new and strange. Something that crept among -the dry grasses and the wilted green things, something that leaped and -laughed amid the darkness, something that sent hot arms towards us, -till I caught her in mine and fled from it, leaving the wand and the -steady stake behind. - -"So we fled and fled, with the Fire which came from the Starshine -behind us always. Fled in the faithful footsteps of the Stars.... Fled -to find the Dawn!..." - - - * * * * * - - -There was silence; a long silence! And was that the Dawn, the gracious -Dawn! - -Something, surely, all rose flecked on saffron and suffused with Light -lay before my upturned eyes. - -It was an azalea blossom. But, as I rose to my feet from the springy -juniper where I had been lying, my head sheltered by the straggling -branches of the leafless bush, the dawn had come, indeed, on the far -rim of the wide plain. - -And between it and me, rising from the retreating snow and the -carpeting of spring flowers, was a white vapour which, lit by the rosy -sun rays behind it, showed like smoke from a prairie fire. - -But our fire was out. Only a heap of grey ashes remained, though the -sleep which had come from the juniper branches still held the sleeping -servants. - -It needed a rough awakening, as rough as that which had left the -prisoning ice at the mercy of the prisoned water, to rouse them and -make them stand yawning, stretching in the dawn, avowing that -_haschish_ itself could not bring wilder dreams than those which -had been theirs that night. But was it a dream? or does the man, -hand-in-hand with the woman, still fly from the Fire which came from -the Star-shine! - - - - - THE GIFT OF BATTLE - - -"Then you recommend them both," said the mild little Commissioner, -doubtfully; he was a vacillating man, by nature lawful prey to his -superiors. - -Tim O'Brien, C.I.E.--the uncoveted distinction had been, to his great -disgust, bestowed on him after a recent famine, in which his sheer -vitality had saved half a province, and earned him, rightfully, the -highest honour of the empire--removed his long Burmah cheroot from his -lips and smiled brilliantly. He was a thin brown man with a whimsical -face. - -"And what would I be doing with wan of them on the Bench and the other -in the dock? For it would be that way ere a week was past. It is very -kind of the L.G. to suggest putting either Sirdar Bikrama Singh or Khân -Buktiyar Khân on the Honorary Magistracy, but he doesn't grasp that -they are hereditary enemies and have been the same for eight hundred -years. Ever since the Pathans temporarily conquered the Rajputs, in the -year av' grace 1256! So you couldn't in conscience expect wan of them -not to commit a crime if the other was to be preferred before him. Ye -see, he'd just have to kill someone. But, if ye appoint them both, the -dacencies of Court procedure and the hair-splittin' formalities of the -local Bar will conduce to dignity--to say nothing of their own sense of -justice, which, I'll go bail, is stronger than it is in most people ye -could appoint. Equity's apt to go by the board if ye've too much legal -knowledge; and they have none of that last. But I'll give them a good -Clerk of the Court and guarantee they come to no harrm. Yes, sir, I -recommend them both--to sit _in banco_." - -When Tim O'Brien spoke, as he did in the last sentence, curtly and -without a trace of his usual rollicking Irish accent, his superior -officers invariably fell in with his views; it saved trouble. - -So, in due course, what answers to a J.P.'s commission at home (with no -small extra powers thrown in) was sent to Sirdar Bikrama Singh, Rajput -at his castle of Nagadrug (the Snake's Hole), and also to Khân Buktiyar -Khân at his fortress of Shakingarh (the Falcon's Nest). - -Both buildings had been for some centuries in a hopeless state of -dilapidation, as, from a worldly point of view, were their owners' -fortunes. But, just as the crumbling walls still commanded the wide -arid valley which lay between the rocky steeps of the sandhills on -which they stood, so the position of the two most ancient families of -Hindus and Mahomedans in the district still commanded the respect of -the whole sub-division. Of course, they were antagonistic. Had they not -been so always? But, in truth, the old story of how they came to be so -was such a very old story, that none knew the rights of it: not even -the two high-nosed, high-couraged old men, who, having in due time -succeeded to the headship of their respective families, had done as -their fathers had done; that is to say, glared at each other over their -barren fields, formulated every possible complaint they could against -their neighbour, and denied any good quality to him, his house, his -wife, his oxen, or his ass. - -Yet the two had one thing in common. They were both soldiers by race. -Their sons were even now with the colours of Empire, and in their own -youth both had served John Company, and afterwards, the Queen. This -bond, however, was not one of union, but rather of discord. For the one -had belonged to the crack Hindu and the other to the crack Mahomedan -corps of the Indian army, and their respective sons naturally followed -in their fathers' footsteps. Indeed, on occasions the pair of dear old -pantaloons would appear in the uniforms of a past day, hopelessly out -of date as regards buttons and tailoring, but still worn with the -distinctive cock of the turban and swagger of high boots that had -belonged of old days and still belonged to the "rigimint." - -Bikrama Singh was seated on the flat roof which had sheltered him and -his for centuries when he received the little slip of silk paper, so -beautifully engrossed, which appointed him to the Honorary Magistracy. -It was a barren honour, since he was not one of those--and there are -many--who make a stipend out of an unpaid post; but his thin old -fingers trembled a little and his eye lost the faintly blue film which -age draws between the Real and the Unreal. Whether his mind reverted at -once to his hereditary enemy--who was not mentioned in the -paper--is doubtful, but he felt it to be an honour in these miserable -days, when a moneylender had more chance of being elected to a district -council than a gentleman of parts to be chosen by the Sirkar. It was a -thousand times better than being "puffed by rabble votes to wisdom's -chair." - -"It is well," he said simply, but with a superior air, to his -womenfolk--the wife and daughters and grand-daughters and -daughters-in-law and their kind who filled up the wide old house. "I -shall do my duty and punish the evil doer; notably those who do evil to -my people and my land, since true justice begins at home." And he -curled his thin grey moustache to meet his short grey whiskers and -looked fierce as an old tiger. - -Over in Shakingarh also the commission met with approval. "It is well!" -said Buktiyar Khân, as he sate amongst his crowding womenfolk with a -poultice of leaves on his short beard to dye it purple. "I shall do my -duty and punish the evil doer; notably him who has done evil to my -people and my land, since that is the beginning of justice." And his -hawk's eye travelled almost unconsciously from his flat roof to that -other one far over the valley. - -Yet, when they met, a few days afterwards, duly attired in their -uniforms on the threshold of _Brine sahib's_ verandah, whither they had -repaired full of courteous acknowledgments to one whom they recognised -as being at the bottom of the appointment, a faint frown came to their -old faces. But _Brine sahib_ broke it to them gently, with the graceful -tact which gained him so much confidence. Government, recognising their -many and great excellencies, had found it impossible to do otherwise -than elevate them both to the Bench, where they would doubtless remain, -as they were now, the best representatives of Hindu and Mahomedan -feeling in the district. And then Tim O'Brien made a few remarks about -the King-Emperor and devoted service which sent both old hands out in -swift stiff salute. - -Doubtless it was a shock to find themselves equally honoured; but -regarding the "_in banco_," they both admitted instantly to themselves -that it was better to sit next a hereditary enemy than a stinking -scrivener or a mean moneylender. So Bikrama Singh twirled his grey -moustache and said, "It is well," and Buktiyar Khân twirled his purple -one and said the same thing. - -Thereinafter they began work. The women of both houses made the first -court day a regular festival, and sent the two old men from home -dressed and scented and decorated as if for a bridal. The purple of -Buktiyar's beard was positively regal, while the points of Bikrama's -thin trembling fingers were rosy as the dawn. - -They were fearsomely stately with each other, of course, but that only -added to the dignity of the Bench. An excellent Clerk of the Court had -been provided for them, and their first cases had been carefully chosen -by Tim O'Brien for their simplicity. - -Thus there had seemed no possibility of friction; yet the two new -judges returned to their womenkind vaguely dissatisfied, dimly uneasy. - -"The Mahomedan is no fool," remarked Bikrama Singh thoughtfully, "he -saw as quickly as I did that truth lay with the defendant, lies with -the plaintiff." - -"By God's truth," admitted Buktiyar Khân grudgingly, "the Hindu is not -such a blockhead as I deemed him. He saw as quickly as I did that lies -were with the plaintiff, truth with the defendant." - -It was almost intolerable; but it was true. The hereditary enemies had -agreed about something on God's earth. And as time went on this -unanimity of opinion became the most salient feature of the -newly-constituted court. They agreed about everything. Of different -race, different religion, something deeper in them than these surface -variations coincided. Their innate sense of justice, fostered by the -fact that they had both been brought up in the India of the past, that -they represented its laws, its morals, its maxims, made their judgments -identical. - -"We waste time, _babu-jee_," broke in old Bikrama Singh on the lengthy -peroration of a newly passed pleader, eager to air his eloquence. -"Words are idle when facts stare you in the face. 'Who knows is silent, -he who talks knows not,' as the proverb hath it. That is enough. We are -satisfied." "_Wâh Wâh_," assented Buktiyar Khân at once, acquiescent -and regretful. "Truly, pleader-jee! thou hast said that before. Why say -it again? If sugar kills, why try poison? We are satisfied, so that is -enough." - -It was more than enough for the local Bar. They went in a body to Tim -O'Brien and complained that they were not treated as lawyers should be -treated. - -As usual, _Brine sahib_ met them with sympathy; but it was the sympathy -of inaction. - -"I sincerely regret, gentlemen," he said softly, "that sufficient toime -is not allowed you to get all the words you have at command off your -stomachs--I beg pardon, your minds. But, ye see, the judgments of the -Bench are unfortunately quite sound; they'd be watertight against the -full forensic flood of the whole High Court Bar. So I don't see what -the divvle is to be done--do you?" - -They did not. In sober truth the sense of equity in the hereditary -enemies was too strong for the lawyers. The old men were honestly -fulfilled with the desire of punishing the evil doer and praising those -who did well. Such flimsy overlays as race and tribe and caste and -family and creed did not touch their agreement on all things necessary -to salvation. - -The fact was rather a pain and grief to them. It did not make them -treat each other with less stately dignity or cause them to be one whit -more friendly out of court. - -Sirdar Bikrama Singh went home to his womenfolk and railed as ever -against his neighbour, and Khân Buktiyar Khân, as he rolled his little -opium pill betwixt finger and thumb, would do the same thing. But in -their heart of hearts they knew that, since a judge must always be "an -ignorant man between two wise ones" (the plaintiff and defendant), it -must be some common ground in themselves which made their views -coincide. - -Meanwhile the fame of the collective wisdom grew amongst the litigants, -and indignation at its brevity increased amongst the lawyers. Tim -O'Brien, however, when the timid little Commissioner showed him a -numerously signed petition from the local Bar protesting against the -"strictly non-regulation curtailment of eloquence," only smiled -suavely. "They get at the rights of a case by congenital intuition, -sir. The High Court have upheld their judgments in the few appeals the -pleaders have cared to make; so I don't see what the div---- I mean, -sir, I don't see what is to be done--do you?" - -Once again there was no answer, and Tim O'Brien, as he dashed off here -and there to institute enquiries in obedience to the cipher telegrams -which came pouring in from Calcutta by day and by night, felt comfort -in knowing that one sub-division of his district at any rate was being -well administered. - -For they were troublous days for officers in charge. Someone somewhere -had been unwise enough to take the thumb-marks of a peripatetic -preacher who was suspected of being an anarchist. He was proved to be -an apostle of unrest; he was also unfortunately a man not only of -thumb-mark, but of mark. A professor, briefly, in some far-away -college. So the official who had ordered the indignity in the interests -of public order was degraded; and thereinafter, naturally, began a -campaign of would-be terrorism amongst the schoolboys and students of -the province which shattered the nerves of government. - -"By the Lord who made me," ejaculated Tim O'Brien angrily, as he flung -aside the last urgent _communiquée_ from headquarters, "one would think -from that bosh, we were in danger of losing India to-morrow. Can't they -see it's only schoolboy rot, sheer daredevil schoolboy mischief, like -throwing caps under a motor car and heads you win tails I lose, you're -over last. I'll tell you what it is, Smith,"--here he addressed his -assistant, a pale-faced boy not yet recovered from the strain of -examinations--"if I was worth my salt and had the courage of my -opinions, I'd have up those boys' masters and give 'em each thirty with -the cane for not keeping their pupils in order. That 'ud stop it. -Instead of that, I have to arrest a poor child of thirteen who threw a -badly made bomb, as harmless--it turned out--as a squib. However! my -pension stares me in the face. There isn't even a House of Lords left -to which I could appeal. So here goes for the innocent victim av' -education! Inspector! arrange the arrest, please!" - -Naturally, of course, as Tim O'Brien had known, every other schoolboy -in the district marched about singing patriotic songs and doing wanton -mischief to their hearts' content; thus there was quite a crop of minor -arrests. - -In fact, when the Bench of Hereditary Enemies held its next sitting it -was confronted with a lengthy police case against a gang of boys whose -ages varied from ten to thirteen. - -Bikrama Singh listened gravely to the details and twirled his grey -moustache. Buktiyar Khan also listened gravely and stroked his purple -beard. They listened very patiently, yet a vague impatience came to -their old faces. Then they looked in each other's eyes, and at last the -wisdom of their hearts found speech. - -"Where is the teacher of these children? Bring him hither that he may -show cause for himself." - -To be brief. That night the head master of the sub-divisional school -could neither sit down nor stand up comfortably. But the streets were -quiet; the boys peacefully in their beds. - -"Glory be to them," cried Tim O'Brien exultantly, when the news was -brought to him. "They've more spunk than I have--so now to get them out -of the scrape." - -He did his best, and that was a good deal, but the law and lies were -against him. The schoolmaster happened to be somebody's nephew by -marriage, and though there was ample evidence to prove that he had -misused his position as a Government servant, the utmost favour Tim -O'Brien could screw out of the Powers was permission for the offenders -to retire instead of being dismissed from the Honorary Magistracy. - -He broke this to the old men with his usual tact, applauding them -between the lines for their courage. To his surprise and relief they -accepted the position calmly. The better the subordinate, they said, -the less likely he was to be always in agreement with others. During -their three years' work, which, in truth, had been laborious, not one -of their decisions had been upset on appeal. How many judges could say -the same! And as for head master-_jee?_ Would _Brine sahib_, if he -could, remove those thirty stripes from the miscreant's back. "Ye have -me there, _sahiban_," Tim O'Brien replied, with conviction, "I would -not; an' that's God's truth." - -So the old men sent in their resignations, not altogether regretfully. -For one thing, the unanimity of their opinions had been disturbing; the -old antagonism seemed more natural. And there the matter should have -ended. Unfortunately for all, it did not. To be brief. Tim O'Brien was -asked one day, as District Officer, to sign a warrant for the arrest of -Sirdar Bikrama Singh and Khân Buktiyar Khân on a charge of assault and -battery against the head master-_jee_, who turned out to be sib to half -the local Bar. - -There is no reason to go into the legal points of the incident, or to -tell of the vain efforts of Tim O'Brien to save the whilom Bench from -this last affront. An epidemic of cases against magistrates had set in, -and late one evening the District Officer started to ride over and -break the news of the coming arrest to the Hereditary Enemies. - -Nagadrug stood on the nearest scarp of sand, so he went there first. He -found the old Sirdar, looking rather frail, engaged as usual in glaring -out over the arid fields to Shakingarh. - -But this time all Tim O'Brien's tact did not avail for calm. -Incredulous anger, half dazed indignation, took its place. It could not -be true. What! was he, Rajput of Rajput, to be dragged to court at the -bidding of a miserable hound whom he had whipped, and rightly whipped? -Had not _Brine sahib_ himself applauded the act? Had they not done -right?--the plural pronoun came out naturally. Was not a false _guree_ -God's basest creature? Did not the law say so: "He who teaches false -teaching, who kills his own soul and another, let him die." Why had -they not given the vile reptile an hundred stripes and so got rid of -him altogether. - -And now were they to have a degree (decree) against them! Shinjee! It -should never be, never! never! They would not have it! The old tongue -found no difficulty in thus claiming companionship in revolt, the old -heart knew it was certain of sympathy in the ancient enmity. - -Utterly sickened at a tragedy he could not prevent, the District -Officer went, tactfully as ever, to Shakingarh; only to meet with even -deeper indignation. Innocent though he knew himself to be, the -Englishman positively writhed under the contemptuous unsparing scorn of -the old Pathan. What! was the Sirkar not strong enough to protect -itself? Then let it pack up its bundle and get out of Hindustan. Let it -leave India and its problems to _his_ people--those northern folk who -had harried Bengal in the past, who, God willing, would harry it again. -Had _Brine sahib_ not heard the saying: "He who uses his public office -to betray the State commits a crime against himself, his country, and -his God." And had not the base hound betrayed the State? A thousand -times, yes! it was a pity they had not flogged him to death. - -The moon rose over the low sandhills before the District Officer, -bruised and broken by the verdict of past India on the present, rode -back to the sessions bungalow, where he meant to pass the night. For -with the dawn he would go up with the police officer and so soften the -arrest of the Hereditary Enemies so far as it could be softened. - -They would be let out on bail, of course, and, at the worst, a fine -more or less heavy would see them through. It was not so bad--not so -very bad. - -The District Officer tried to comfort himself with such reflections; in -his heart he knew they were futile; that nothing would soften the -degradation to those two old warriors. - -Nothing! unless it was the calm moonlight that lay over the arid valley -and turned the round old fortresses to dim mysterious palaces of light. - -Perhaps the peace of it sank into the wearied hot old eyes that looked -out from the ancestral roofs with a new feeling of comradeship, each -for each, dulling the hereditary hatred, yet bringing with it old -memories, old tales of past enmity. - -"Bring me my uniform, women!" said Bikrama Singh, suddenly. Half a -dozen weeping daughters and daughters-in-law and an old wife too blind -to see did as they were bid, and in a short time the old man stood -arrayed as for a bridal, his sword buckled tight to his bowed back. -"And the shield, women--the shield of my fathers that hangs in the -entry. I shall need it, too!" - -Over in Shakingarh, Buktiyar Khân, impelled likewise by those memories -of the past, that hatred of the present, had donned his uniform -likewise; and so the moonlight shone on cold steel and damascened gold -as, silently obeying some inward community of thought, the two old men -started silently alone, leaving all behind them, to seek for Peace in -their own way. - -Steadily over the arid fields, nearer and nearer to each other. The -fields had been cut and carried; the harvest was over; it was nigh time -to plough again for a fresh crop---- - -Of what? - -"The Peace of the Unknown be upon you, oh, mine enemy," said Bikrama -Singh, when at long last they stood face to face in the open. - -"And the Peace of the Most Mighty be on you, my foe," answered Buktiyar -Khân. - -So for a moment there was silence. Then the Rajput spoke, his old voice -full of fire, full of vibration. - -"In the old days to which we belong, oh, Mahomedan! did brave men wait -for Fate?" - -"They did not wait, oh, Hindu," came the answer. "When brave men found -sickness or dishonour before them: when there was no longer hope of -victory: when that which lay ahead was hateful, and they left sons to -carry on the race, did not the ancestors of my race claim of their -enemies the glorious gift of battle?" - -"They did so claim it, oh, Bikrama Singh! Dost claim it now!" - -The reply, quick, vibrant, rang through the moonlight; a veritable -challenge. - -"Yea, Pathan--robber! thief! I claim it now! _Jug-dân, Jug-dân_--the -Gift of Battle to the Death." - -"Take it, pig of an idolator! Jug-dân, Jug-dân--the Gift of Battle!" - -The still, hot air became full of faint chinkings, as buckles were -settled straight, scabbards thrown aside. Then there was an instance -silence as the two old warriors faced each other. - -"Art ready ... friend?" The question came softly. - -"Yea! I am ready ... friend!" The reply was almost a caress. - -So, with a quick clash of sword on sword, youth and health and strength -came back to the Hereditary Enemies. - - - * * * * * - - -It matters little if the combat ended in quarter of an hour, half an -hour, or an hour; whether Bikrama Singh or Buktiyar Khân got in the -first blow. The moon shone peacefully on the Gift of Battle. She still -hung a white shield on the grey skies of dawn when Tim O'Brien and the -police officer, coming to do their disagreeable duty, found the two old -men lying stone dead within swords' thrust of each other on the -stubble. - -"They are really an incomprehensible lot," said the police officer, -almost mournfully; "why the deuce should the two poor old buffers come -out and kill each other, as presumably they have----" - -Tim O'Brien smiled a grim smile. "You haven't heard, I suppose--why -should ye--of what they call the Gift of Battle! Well! I have. It's an -ould Rajput custom by which a man who feared he'd die in his bed or be -put to it any way by any other stupid inept limitations, could claim a -decent death from his nearest foe." - -"Well! they've done it. That's all, and small blame to them." - -"By God who made me, it's a protest with a vengeance. But the worst of -it is, the Government won't see it and I can't explain it. Cipher -telegrams won't run to it So ... peace be with you, friends!" - - - - - THE VALUE OF A VOTE - - A SKETCH FROM LIFE - - -He was an old man; a very old man. A Syyed--that is, a Mahomedan who -claims direct descent from the prophet--by trade a Yunani hakeem, or -physician according to the Grecian system, introduced to India, -doubtless, by Alexander the Great. He had a little sort of shop, close -to the principal gate of the city, where he was in touch with all those -who, with its ship the camel, went out, or came back from the desert -beyond, and with all strangers and sojourners in the land. So all day -and every day you might see wearied travellers resting on the hard -wooden platform set in a dark archway, of which his shop consisted, -drinking out of green glass tumblers some restorative sherbet of things -hot or things cold, things dry or things wet, while he showed dimly in -the background, a visionary outline of long grey beard and high white -turban. In this way he heard a good deal of what was going on both -inside and outside the city, and as he was of the old school of the -absolutely loyal outspoken Mahomedan, who, while he holds our rule to -be inferior to that of his own faith, emphatically believes it to be -superior to all others, I used often to pause in riding into or out of -the city for a chat with the old man; seldom without benefit to myself. -One morning--I remember it so well!--the _gram_ fields outside the city -were literally drenched with dew, making the fine tufts look like -diamond plumes, amongst which the wealth of tiny purple blue pea -blossom showed like a sowing of sapphires--I found him sitting with a -troubled look on his high, wrinkled forehead, peering through his horn -spectacles at a blue printed paper. - -A patient was snoring contentedly on the boards, with, tucked into the -hollow of his neck, a hard roly-poly bolster which made me ache to look -at. Nothing brings home to one the impossibility of any Western judging -what is, or is not pleasant or convenient to an Eastern more than the -ordinary rolling pin, two feet by six inches, stuffed hard with cotton -wool, which the latter habitually uses as a pillow. The sight of it -makes a Western neck feel stiff. - -I recognised the paper at once. We were then in the throes of "Local -Self Government," and a violent effort was being made to induce this -little far-away town, inhabited for the most part by Pathans (exiled -these centuries back from northern wilds to the Indian plain) to elect -a Municipal Committee. - -I had spent the better part of the day before in explaining to various -Rais'es or honourable gentlemen of the city, that no insult was -intended by asking them to put themselves up to auction as it were by -the votes of their fellow citizens, instead of being discreetly and as -ever nominated to the office of Councillor by the "hated alien." A few -had gravely and dutifully given in to this new and quite -incomprehensible fad of the constituted authorities, others had -hesitated, but one, a fiery old Khân Bahadur, who was a retired -risseldar from one of our crack native cavalry regiments, had sworn -with many oaths that never would he take office from, amongst others, -the perjured vote of Gunpat-Lal, pleader, who belonged to his ward, and -whose evil, eloquent tongue had deliberately diddled him out of -ancestral rights in a poppy field in the Huzoor's own court. No! He had -served the Sirkar with distinction, he had, with his own hands, nearly -killed an agitator he had found in the lines; nay, more! he had -absolutely sent his daughter to school to please the _sahib logue_; but -_this_ was too much. It had been all I could do to prevent the -hot-tempered old soldier from giving up the sword of honour with which -he had been presented on retirement, as a signal of final rupture with -the Government. - -So, as I say, I recognised the blue paper at once as one of many voting -papers which had been sent out for marking and return; for in these out -of the way places in those days, the secret ballot-box was not the best -blessing of the world, as it is now. And my old friend the hakeem was, -I knew, on the Aga Khân's ward. - -"What have you got to do with it?" I echoed, in reply to an anxious -question. "Why, put a mark against the Aga Khân's name and give it back -whence it came." - -He salaamed profoundly. "Huzoor! that was the settled determination of -this slave, thus combining new duties with old--which is the philosophy -of faithful life; but, being called in last night to an indigestion in -his house, which I combatted with burnt almonds, he told me that if I -so much as went near his honourable name with my stylus, I should cease -to be physician-in-ordinary to his household. And, father and son, we -have been physicians to the Aga Khân ever since our fathers followed -his fathers from Ghazni in that capacity with the Great Mahomed--on -whom be peace." - -"Then mark one of the other names--which you choose, and send it in," I -replied, taking no notice of the scandalous attempt at coercion on the -old Aga Khân's part. - -A still more profound salaam was the answer. "That also would have -occurred to me," came the suave old voice, "but that the Aga Khân said, -with oaths, that if I so much as made a chance blot on this cursed -paper against any of the names thereon, I should be cast for life from -his honourable company." - -I felt quite nettled. Her Majesty's lieges must not be intimidated in -this fashion. "Well! you must think of the person whom you consider -most fitted to fulfil all the many duties which will devolve on him, -and put down his name," I said, for in these days when we really wished -to get at the wishes of the people, we were not so strict about -nominations and proposings and secondings as we are now, "and I will -speak again to the Khân Bahadur and see if I cannot induce him to -stand." (I meant to do so by threats of exposure for using force to Her -Majesty's lieges!) - -As I rode off, my horse picking its way through the piles of melons, -the bags of corn, the jars of milk, the nets of pottery and all the -_olla podrida_ of trivial daily merchandise which finds pause for a few -minutes about an active gate at dawn time, the patient sat up straight -from his backboard and yawned, then asked for another violet drink. But -the hakeem was absorbed in the problem of voting. - -I happened that day to have business in the city in the evening also, -but I entered by another gate, so that the sun was nigh setting when, -on my homeward way, I saw my old friend the Yunani hakeem sitting with -his pile of little medicine bottles and tiny earthenware goglets of -pills and ointments beside him. - -He was pounding away at something in a minute jade mortar and looked no -longer disturbed, but weary utterly. - -"Have you settled that knotty point, hakeem sahib?" I asked. - -He gave a sigh of relief, but pounded away faster than ever. "I give -God thanks I have been led into the way of wisdom," he replied, "else -would I be harried, indeed! Never, within the memory of man, have so -many gentlemen of rank been sick as during this day. I am but now -compounding the 'Thirty-six-ingredient-drug' for one honourable house, -and have but just finished the 'Four-great-things' for another. 'Tis -anxiety about the elections, methinks, for they talk of nothing else. -Hardly had your Honour left this morning, than Gunpat-Lal sent to say -he had a belly-ache which his idolatrous miracle-monger could not -touch. I had it away in half an hour with cucumber and lemon juice. -Cold things to cold. And Lala-ji full of compliments and regrets that -the Aga Sahib would not be elected." A faintly worried air crept over -the high old face. - -"Did he ask you to give him your vote?" I enquired, with a sinking at -my heart. - -"Yea!" replied the Yunani hakeem cheerfully, "and offered me five -rupees for it." - -Ye Gods above! How soon political corruption seizes on the innocent, I -thought. - -"But others have offered more," continued the old man, with a certain -self-satisfaction. Then his face clouded. "Yonder pasty-faced -knock-kneed student, who calls himself 'Hedditerlile--jackdaw'" (Editor -Loyal Objector) "told me it was his by right, since he and his like were -Hindustan. But I told the lad God had ordained otherwise--for look you, -Huzoor, we Mussalmans came from the north many long years before the -_sahib-logue_ came from the west. So I let him talk, having, by God's -mercy, come to a decision." - -"What is that, hakeem-ji?" I asked, curious to know what had influenced -the old man. - -He salaamed quite simply. "The Huzoor bade me think who could best do -the work, so I decided to vote for him. He is noble, and he knows what -has to be done. He knows _santation_ and _inspekshon-conservance_. Also -_new-tense_, and _karl-ra-pre-kar-sons_, and"--he added, with the most -beautiful supplementary salaam of pure flattery--"all other noble arts -and philosophies." It quite gave me a pang to tell him that this scheme -of his would not work. That I was _ex officio_ president of the -Municipal Committee, and thus beyond the reach of voters. - -His face was illumined by a vast relief even amidst his perplexities. - -"That is as it should be," he said simply. "The Sirkar then, has not, -as they say, quite lost its head; the Huzoor retains it still. But what -am I to do?" - -I left him looking the picture of woe, absolutely unheeding of two -patient travellers who had been awaiting my departure with that calm -stolid disregard of the passing hour which brings with it to the -Western such a sense of personal grievance; whereas to the Eastern it -only emphasises his trust in Providence by proving the omnipotence of -Fate. - -Next morning, however, the whole aspect of affairs had been changed. -Hakeem-ji was alert, spry, surrounded by quite a congregation of -would-be patients, to whom he was giving out his _dicta_ with quite a -lordly air. - -There was no need to ask him if he had settled his vexed question. That -was apparent. I simply asked him what he had done about the paper. - -"Huzoor," he said again, with that lucid candour which--was so marked a -feature of the man himself, "the Lord mercifully directed me. Therefore -I ate it, and it hath done me much good." - -"Ate it?" I echoed. "You don't mean to say----" - -"Huzoor!" he interrupted cheerfully, "this is how it was. After your -Honour left, it was the time of evening prayer. So I went, after my -usual custom, to the House of God, to await the cry of the Muazzim and -prepare myself for the presence of the Most High by the necessary -ablutions. And as I sat squatted on the edge of the Pool of -Purification, my hands in the cool water, I felt as if naught could -cleanse me from that accursed paper that lay folded in my breast. So I -cried in my heart to the prophet that he should show me a way, and then -in one moment I saw where the error lay. I was arrogating to myself -decisions that should be left to the Almighty. So I did what I do ever -when life and death are at issue; when even the mighty skill of -medicine has to stand on one side and do nothing. - -"I took my stylus, and I wrote all over that paper the attributes -of the Most High--His mercy, His truth, His wisdom, His great -loving-kindness. And then, Huzoor, I crushed it into the form of a -bolus, covered it with silver foil, and swallowed it as a pill. - -"It hath done me much good. I am now free from anxiety. The decision of -all things rests with the Most Mighty." - - - - - THE SALT OF THE EARTH - - -"The Huzoor is the salt of the earth," said Hoshyari Mull, -submissively. He had been educated, he asserted, at a mission school: -thus the words of Scripture came handy to him. So also did a variety of -other things. - -"And you are the biggest scoundrel unhung. I know that, though I can't -find you out--yet," retorted the Boy, almost savagely. He was really a -Boy, a round-faced, fresh-coloured English Boy, though his years -numbered twenty-four, and he was a full-blown Salt Patrol on the Great -Customs Hedge, which, in the 'fifties and 'sixties, still stretched -between the river Indus, as it flows to the Arabian Sea, and the -Mahanuddi river that finds its way to the Bay of Bengal; in other -words, stretched for fifteen hundred miles across the vast continent of -India. It was a strange, weird barrier, this vast hedge of cactus and -thorny acacia, of prickly palms, and still more prickly agaves, that -thrust out their spiked swords boldly from a buckler of spine-set -thicket. It was fully fourteen feet high, and of its width one could -only guess, in passing through the break, every ten miles or so, where -some first-class road claimed a long passage-way through it. Here it -was that the Patrols had their bungalows, and it was at one of these -that the Boy lived. It was a very important post, because it was, so to -speak, the gateway between the South-West and the North-East; that is -to say, between Bombay and the Central Provinces, and Delhi, Oude, -Bengal. Then, lying as it did, right in the Rajputana Desert, with no -other roadway within twenty miles of it on either side, it needed a -sharp look out all along the line to prevent isolated attempts at -smuggling. But the Boy was quick at his work, and spent all his -youthful energy in preserving the intactness of his Customs Hedge. The -life, however, was as strange and weird as was the barrier. Absolute -loneliness, absolute isolation. For long months together not one word -of your mother-tongue. With luck, a weekly post. No books, no -newspapers, no civilisation of any kind. On the other hand there was -endless sport, unfailing interest for those who loved wild things. And -the Boy had never been one for books. Harrow had left him, one may say, -uncontaminated by them; examinations had passed him by; so, though both -his grandfathers had been high Indian officials, he had drifted -naturally into the Salt Department; the last refuge, not of the -incompetent, but the unlearned. There, to be a man was all that was -asked of you. Without manhood the salt had lost its savour; there was -no possibility of salting it with all the 'ologies in existence. - -Hoshyari Mull paused in his deft winding-on of the Huzoor's putties, to -say submissively, "The Salt of the Earth speaks truth." Whereat the Boy -laughed. - -He and Hoshyari were at once friends and enemies. The latter was chief -native supervisor, a man of about forty, above middle height, smooth -faced and lissome. There was nothing, the Boy soon found out, which he -could not do; which, in fact, he did not do. An excellent accountant, -he was also an excellent shot. If he knew, or said he knew, every -smuggler of salt between Attock and Cuttack, he also knew every bird -and beast and butterfly by name, and could tell you the habits of all -and sundry. He knew the history of Ancient India by heart, and could -pour forth legend and tale by the yard. He was a magnificent swordsman, -and could teach the Boy, who had learnt singlestick, many cuts and -thrusts. - -In short, he was all things to the Boy; without him, life in the Patrol -bungalow would, indeed, have lost its savour. And yet the Boy -mistrusted him, for no reason, except vaguely that he was too clever by -half. Hoshyari, for his part, regarded the Boy as he had regarded no -other master. He had been, as it were, _impresario_ of amusement to -several Huzoors of the ordinary type. This one was different. This one -was as the Angels of God. That is how Hoshyari put it to himself, and, -on the whole, it was a sufficiently comprehensive description, and led -to thoroughly wholesome treatment. Here was no necessity for _itr_ of -rose, no distilled waters of any description, save the dew of heaven, -as it gathered on the gram fields where the black buck lay, or hung -like a diamond on a cactus flower over which some rare butterfly -hovered. - -But there was no dew this hot May dawn, when Hoshyari Mull, with the -deftness of an expert, was putting the woollen bandages on the Huzoor's -long legs. It was not his work; but then half the things he did were -not that. "I thought you were a Brahman; but I don't believe you are -even a Hindu," the Boy had said scornfully to him one day, when, -foraging for breakfast in a village, Hoshyari had come back, -triumphantly, with half a dozen eggs in his high caste hand. Hoshyari -had smiled. "I am a Srimali Brahman, Huzoor," he had replied -tolerantly. "The Maharajah of Jaipur salaams to me. There are none here -in the wilderness able to say Hoshyari hath defiled himself." - -So he made no ado about this putting on of putties. They were, as he -had proved to the Boy, the best of all protection against snake bite. -With them on you might almost venture on trying to find a gap in the -Great Salt Hedge; without them it was madness; for is not the prickly -pear called in the vernaculars, _naga-pan_, or serpent shelter? And on -these hot May mornings, as well as at noontide, were there not along -the Customs line many pairs of watching, unwinking eyes lying in wait -for the unwary, beside those of the fourteen thousand humans who -patrolled its long length day and night? - -Truly there were. As they cantered along it, after passing through the -gateway, many a faint rustle among the colocynth apples at its base -told of death among the flowers. For the Hedge was at its blossom time. -Thorny salmon-coloured capers began it, with here and there a yellow -cactus bloom, or, perhaps, a rare red one, on whose stems the wild -cochineal insect lay like tiny spots of blood. Above it, a wilderness -of these same cactus flowers, big as a tea cup, primrose within, the -white stamens ranged sedately round the whiter star-pistil; then yellow -without, shading to purple. Above them the violet-scented puff-balls of -the thorny mimosa, with every now and again a great lance of aloe -blossom, brown and white, all set with flower bells. - -And above all, butterflies, dragon flies, moths, flitting in myriads. -"That is the gap, Huzoor, where the ill-begotten hound of a Poorbeah -managed to smuggle in a back-load of salt last week. He was going to -carry it all the way to Kashi (Benares) he said. As the Salt of the -Earth will see, it is now thoroughly mended," remarked Hoshyari, with a -debonair smile of superiority. - -The Boy frowned. There was too much, to his liking, of these petty -discoveries. That long line of Hedge had not been planted, was not kept -up, to prevent the smuggling of a poor back-load of salt. He looked at -Hoshyari with dissatisfaction in his face. - -"When are we going to find something worth finding out?" he asked -cavalierly. - -"If it is God's will, before long, Huzoor," was the reply, and there -was a curious undertone of certainty about it. "Look, my lord! yonder -are the buck. They are on the move already; we must hasten." - -They were off at a gallop, rifles crossed on the saddle bow, over the -hard white _putt_ ground that was interspersed by ribbed drifts of fine -white sand. Hoshyari sate his horse like an Englishman. Indeed, the -Boy, looking at him, used often to think that, barring his colour, he -seemed of kindred race; as, in truth, he was, since the Srimali Brahman -is Aryan of the Aryans. There was, in fact, only that vague distrust to -keep them apart; and that always vanished before sport. - -It was a hot day, they followed the buck far, then, the Boy having a -sudden headache from the sun, paused by Hoshyari's advice at some -wandering goatherd's thatch for a hearth-baked cake, a drink of milk, -and a rest till noon should have passed. - -A very hot day; and the Boy rested in the shade of _jund_ tree on a -string bed, and slept profoundly. - -When he woke, the shadows were lengthening, and Hoshyari, squatted on -the ground beside him, had a new look on his face; a look of anxiety -mingled with satisfaction. - -"Huzoor!" he said, "I have news for you! What I have always prophesied, -what I have always told you would happen if the Sirkar were not more -careful, has come to pass. The native troops in Meerut have mutinied; -they have gone to Delhi and murdered the _Sahib-logue_. I rode back -to the depôt while the Salt of the Earth slept, to see all was right, -and--and I heard it at the gate." - -"At the gate," echoed the Boy, still stupid with sleep. "Who brought -the news--has the post come in?" - -Hoshyari's face was a study. He must break this thing gently to the -Boy, who was a full-blown Salt Patrol, or he would see red, try to kill -and be killed. And that must not be; quite a pang at the very thought -shot through heart and brain, making him realise that this Boy of an -alien race had grown dear to him. - -"The post had not come in, Salt of the Earth," he said evasively. "Men -brought it from the South." - -"The South," echoed the Boy again, with a relieved yawn; "then it's a -lie. How could they know, if we didn't?" - -How? Hoshyari could have answered that question easily; he knew the -strange wordless rapidity with which news travels in India; in Delhi -to-day, in Peshawur to-morrow. A mystery that has passed undiscovered -with the coming of telegraphs and telephones that do it for pennies and -twopences. - -Yes! he knew, but his task was to prevent this Angel of God from -putting his life into the hands of men who, at best, were devils; as he -was, himself, at bottom. He knew that also. Most men with brains did. - -"It is not a lie, Huzoor," he said, simply. "These men are mutineers -themselves. They are going to join those at Delhi, murdering all the -Sahibs they can on the way." - -He had laid his plan while the Salt of the Earth slept, and watched the -effect of his words upon the Boy narrowly; hoping that even the defence -of a post might take second place before the duty of giving a warning-- -and that would mean being out of danger--for the time. - -The Boy's face blanched. He had been away to the nearest station, fifty -miles off, for a three days' holiday at Christmas, and the remembrance -of a laughing girl with blue eyes came back to him now with a rush. -Hoshyari saw his chance, and went on---- - -"The plans were laid for later on, Huzoor, so they are taken by -surprise themselves; yet it gives them advantage also, since everywhere -the Sahibs are taken by surprise also; if only they had been prepared -it might be different." - -The cunning told; the Boy's face hardened into thought. Fifty miles on, -along the road. He might do it. - -"When did they come in? I suppose they forced the guard," he added, his -voice almost breaking in its resentment. - -"About noon, Huzoor," came the wily tones. "They were wearied out." - -So much the better; they would not start, likely, till just before dawn -next day. If he could give warning. He rose and looked round for his -horse. - -Hoshyari rose also. "The Salt of the Earth cannot ride through the -gate," he said--the time for dissuasion had come now. "He will only be -killed in the attempt." - -The Boy rounded on him instantly. "Didn't I always tell you you were -the greatest scoundrel unhung? Now I've found you out, you skunk!" - -"Has this slave not always said the Huzoor was as the Salt of the -Earth," came the instant rapid reply. "My lord, listen! This is the -Hand of Fate. Wise men bow to it. You are here, safe, alone, none know -of you. Come with this slave and he will save you ..." - -"D--n you, you scoundrel," shouted the Boy blindly, and fumbled for the -stirrups. - -"Huzoor! that is useless!" came Hoshyari's voice, quiet now; all -entreaty gone. In its place almost command. "You cannot force the -barrier. Where we had one man, they have ten." - -"I will try," muttered the Boy, doggedly. "I can but try." - -"The Huzoor can do better," said Hoshyari. "He can come with me. I know -a way." - -Even in his excitement the full meaning of this came home to the Boy. - -"You know?" he echoed under his breath, "didn't I always say you were -the greatest scoundrel unhung?" - -"And the Huzoor is the Salt of the Earth," came the unfailing reply. - -The rapid Indian dusk was falling as they made their way on foot to a -village which, though almost exactly opposite the barrier, still lay -the orthodox half mile from the Hedge, within which, by rule of the -Salt Department, no building might be erected. The Boy was now in -native dress, for Hoshyari had utilised the interval of time in -arranging for the former's midnight ride of warning. - -In reporting on these arrangements, he had given scope to his -imagination as to their difficulty. In reality, he had only had to ride -up to the barrier, give the password, and enter, to be welcomed as one -of the party within. Whether he was at heart one of them, or whether, -all things considered, his cleverness had come to the conclusion that -it was best for his purpose to fall in with their mood for the time -being, is uncertain; but that purpose was clear, namely, to get the Boy -out of the danger zone if he could. So he raised no objection to the -looting of the Salt Patrol's bungalow--the little Salt Patrol who, -doubtless, had run away into the jungle in the hope of escape, being -but a mere boy--but the office must be let alone. There must be no -tampering with books and registers, since he, Hoshyari Mull, Srimali -Brahman, whose father--God rest him--had been Prime Minister to a -Prince, was accountable for them to the powers that be--be they John -Company or the Badshah. Therefore the doors must be locked and the keys -given to him. And that Kathyawar mare in the stable was his; so that -was an end of it. Whoever laid hands on the beast would rue the deed. -But all this was past: now he had to get the Boy through the Hedge, -incredible though it seemed. "The furthermost house in the village is -mine, Huzoor," said Hoshyari, gravely. "It is thence that, in disguise, -I penetrate the evil designs of the smugglers." - -The Boy ground his teeth, and was silent. He knew what he would say; -but this was not the time to say it; this was the time to warn his -countrymen. - -They found the tiny hamlet deserted; as all knew, half India fled -before the mutineers. - -"It is as well," remarked Hoshyari, hardily, "since they might talk, -though none know of the secret save this slave and Suchet Singh, the -waiting--house keeper." - -But as they came upon what was called the waiting-house, since here -salt that arrived without proper papers, or that failed to pay the -toll, was held up, they found Suchet Singh the Sikh lying dead at his -post. The Boy ground his teeth again. So would he be lying but for his -desire not only to die, but to do. - -"Look sharp, will you," he said, roughly, to his companion, "we lose -time. The moon will be up ere long." - -Hoshyari led the way across a yard; an ordinary village house yard with -a row of three or four native corn granaries standing against one wall. -These are huge basketwork erections, each taller than a man, in shape -not unlike a big pickle bottle, fixed to the ground and carefully -plastered over with mud and cow dung. - -"They are all full," said Hoshyari, with a curious smile, as he passed -one; and, sure enough, as he lifted the little sliding door at the -bottom, a tiny moraine of wheat fell forward in the half light. But the -next instant, with a dexterous twist of his hand, the whole _kothe_ -slid round as on a pivot, disclosing a round well-like hole. - -"We shall need a light," said Hoshyari in a matter-of-fact tone, and -produced a tinder box and a candle from a niche at his feet. - -Once again the Boy ground his teeth. So this was the way, was it? and -all the time this biggest scoundrel that ever went unhung was -discovering miserable back-loads of smuggling! Words had failed him -long since; now thought failed him also; he plodded on, his head bent, -down the narrow subterranean passage that scarcely showed in the -flickering candle light. - -But here, surely, there was less gloom and more room. He stood upright -and glanced above him. A star showed through a tangle of branches. - -"We are under the Great Hedge, Huzoor," said Hoshyari, deferentially, -in answer to his look. "The passage needed air, and we also required to -have a store closer at hand." He held up the light, and it fell faintly -on rows on rows of sacks of salt ranged round a central space. "It is -quite light here in the daytime, Huzoor," he went on cheerfully. -"Sometimes the sun actually shines in; and the snakes do not fall down -now that we have put a net across the opening." - -So this was one of the things concealed in the great width of the -Hedge. Who would have dreamt of it? Who _could_ have dreamt it? -Something of the comicality of the whole affair was beginning to filter -into the Boy's brain; he caught himself wondering where the passage -ended--under his bed, maybe! - -It was almost as bad. "We are there, Huzoor," said Hoshyari, mounting -some steep steps, and then swung a panel blocking the passage -backwards. It had shelves on it, and books. He heard the turning of a -key, he followed his leader, and the next minute stood in the growing -light which presages a rising moon, inside the office room, looking -stupidly at what lay behind him; only a cupboard in the mud wall where -the ledgers were kept. - -Dazed as he was, he yet realised partly how it was done. The wall must -be thicker than it seemed--twice, three times, perhaps four times as -thick--but who would have dreamed! And for the rest? He looked at -Hoshyari defiantly--the latter answered in words. - -"It was quite easy, Huzoor," he replied, lightly. "We could always -replace salt that was taken from the Government storehouse next door -with salt from our storehouse yonder. And that paid nothing." - -The Boy gave a little gasp. But there was no time for that sort of -thing now. The Kathyawar mare was waiting, the moon would be up in ten -minutes or so, and he must be beyond sight of the chattering devils he -could hear outside before them; but perhaps--yes! perhaps he might be -able to come back--to come back and give these fellows their deserts. - -"I'll pay you out yet--you're the greatest scoundrel unhung," he said, -thickly, as Hoshyari held the stirrup for him. - -"And the Huzoor is the Salt of the Earth," came the urbane reply. - -After that there was silence on the far side of the office for five -minutes--for ten minutes. Then, faint and far, only to be heard of an -anxious listener, came the sound of a horse's hoofs as it was let into -its stride. - -The Huzoor had got through the picket, and if he only remembered -instructions, might be considered safe for those fifty miles across -country. Hoshyari drew a breath of relief, shut the door, and lay down -placidly to sleep, feeling he had done his best. It is true he had sent -the Angel of God on a wild goose chase; for, briefly, the mutineers had -gone on straight that morning, only leaving a strong guard at the gate -to keep it until the second body of rebels should come in next day. - -So by this time, doubtless, the fate of Englishmen--aye, and every -Englishwoman, too, on the route to Delhi must have been settled. But -the ride would keep the Salt of the Earth out of danger, since it -prevented him from doing rash things; which otherwise he was sure to -have done; for what was the use of losing one's life in fighting two to -a hundred; still less if it were only one. And these things were on the -knees of the Gods. No! there was no use, especially when the store -ammunition was in the hands of the enemy and you had expended your -pouch full on black buck. The Huzoor was best away. With luck he would -only find the cold ashes of outbreak. The hurricane of revolt would -have spent itself, for, after all, it was only the soldiers who would -mutiny. The rabble in the towns might follow suit; but there was safety -yet in the country. - -So he fell asleep. - -When he woke it was broad daylight. Daylight? Why, it must be nigh on -noon. He stepped to the door and looked through the panes. Aye! the -sentry in the verandah was eating his bread. And the other detachment -had come in. The courtyard was crowded with men. So much the better, -for they would only rest during the heat of the day, and go on at -sundown. Thus there would be peace before the Salt of the Earth could -possibly return--if he did return; but once away from his post he -would, most likely, and wisely, make for security to the north. - -Meanwhile, it was time for him to think of himself. There was gold in -the safe yonder, and it would be folly to leave it to new masters who -had no more right to it than he. He went over to it, set the iron door -open and began to gather together what he found. - -The room was very still, but on the one side came the clamour of the -newly-arrived rebels. He gave one last glance at them through the -closed door, then slipped into the verandah on the other side. Then he -paused before a dusty swaying figure that, throwing up its arms as it -saw him, came at him like a wild beast. It was a time for calm--with -those men in the courtyard, a time of calm for both! - -He stood back a step and said, quietly, "So you have returned--Salt of -the Earth." - -The Boy seemed for an instant dazed, then a loud, reckless laugh rang -out, "Come back! Yes! I've come back to kill you, you d--d scoundrel. -I've come back as I said I'd come." - -"I saved the Huzoor's life," interrupted Hoshyari, quietly, "and I'll -save it again, if he will not speak so loud; the sentry will hear, and -then----" - -"Let him hear--I'll have time to kill you first," went on the Boy, -blindly; for all that he lowered his voice; the instinct of belief in -Hoshyari's wisdom was strong. - -"The Huzoor would not have time," whispered the latter, blandly. "I am -no fool at wrestling, as he knows; and he knows also that I tried to -save him." - -There was a sudden unexpected appeal in the tone which surprised even -the man himself. He could have cried over this Angel of God who refused -to be saved. - -The Boy looked at him with dry hot eyes; there were no tears there--he -had seen too many horrors for that. And he had ridden all night, all -day, till the Kathyawar mare had dropped with him; then he had stumbled -on as best he might, intent on revenge. And now the sight of Hoshyari -was as the sight of a friend's face: it brought back the memory of so -many jolly times they had had together. And what he said was true: the -man had tried to save him. - -He had to bolster up his anger. "It--it's the other thing you've got to -answer for, you--you thief." - -Hoshyari's eyes gleamed. "Don't call me that again, Huzoor. I am no -thief. I was only--cleverer than other folk." - -"I'll call you it ten times over if I choose. Thief! mean, miserable, -petty thief." - -There was something more savage in the whispered quarrel than if the -two had been shouting at each other, and Hoshyari's gasp of rage fell -on absolute silence, as, breathing hard, they looked at each other. - -Then the Boy passed his hand wearily over his forehead. "No!" he said. -"I can't--you're right--I can't kill you like a dog--we must fight it -out--there are foils or swords somewhere--foils with the buttons -off--where are they?" - -His dependence on the elder man showed in his helplessness; he asked as -a child might have asked. - -There was almost a sob in his throat, but the voice which answered was -firm. - -"They are on the wall, Huzoor; but we cannot fight here; the sentry -would hear, and----" - -"D--n the sentry," said the Boy again, helplessly. "What can we do?" - -Hoshyari thought for a moment. "There is light enough in the storehouse -under the Great Hedge----" he began. - -The Boy leapt up, fire in his eyes. "By God in heaven, it shall be -there--and, mind you, it's to the death, you cursed smuggler." - -"To the death, Salt of the Earth." A minute later the false back to the -record cupboard swung to its lock with a click, and the office was -empty. - - - * * * * * - - -The cactus flowers bloomed and faded; the violet-scented mimosa -puff-balls fell in gold showers on the green lobes, the aloe bells -withered in silence, the waiting, watching eyes waited and watched in -vain. If the snakes, as they slid over the netting-covered round hole -in the thickness of the great Salt Hedge, had looked down into the -widening sunlit circle below them, what would they have seen? - -Who knows, since Suchet Singh the Sikh lay dead at his post. - - - - - AN APPRECIATED RUPEE - - -She was a poor Mahomedan widow, and lived in an unconceivable sort of -burrow under the tall winding stair of a big tenement house, which in -its turn was hidden away in a long, winding, sunless alley. The stair -centred round a sort of shaft, barred at each storey by iron gratings, -narrow enough to admit of refuse being thrown down--the shaft being, -briefly, the rubbish shoot of the building, so that old Maimuna--who -seldom left her seclusion till the evening--had, in passing to and fro, -to step over quite a pile of radish parings, cauliflower stalks, fluff, -rags--a whole day's sweepings and leavings of the folk higher up in the -world than she. - -And even when she reached the odd-shaped cell of a place, whose only -furniture consisted of a rickety bed with string--halt in two of its -emaciated legs, a low stool and a spinning wheel, she was not free from -her neighbours' off-scourings; for down the wall beside the low -latticed window, where, perforce, she had to set her spinning wheel, -crept a slimy black streak of sewage from above, which smelt horribly, -on its way to join the open drain in the middle of the alley. Yet here -Maimuna Begam, Patha-ni from Kasur, had lived for fifteen years of -childless widowhood; lived far away from her home and people, too poor -to rejoin them, too ignorant to hold her own among strangers. For she -had been that most intolerable of interlopers--the wife of a man's old -age. Not a suitable wife bringing a dower into the family; but one who, -as a widow, might--unless the other heirs took active measures to -prevent it--claim her portion of one-sixth for life. A wife, too, -without a pretence of any position save that of the strictest -seclusion; a seclusion so untouched by modern latitude as to be in -itself second-rate. Without good looks also, and married simply and -solely because old Jehan Latif had fancied some quail curry which he -had eaten when business called him to Kasur, and, as the best way of -securing repetition of the delicacy, had married the compounder and -carried her back to Lucknow; where, to tell truth, he found more -attractions in the cook than he had anticipated when he paid a -good round sum for his middle-aged bride. For Maimuna was a good -woman--kindly, gentle, pious--who had lived discreetly in her father's -house, and helped to cook quail curry for that somewhat dissolute old -swashbuckler ever since, as a girl of twelve, her husband had died -before she had even seen him. - -So, while she pounded the spices and boned the quails (since that was -one of the refinements of the _bonne-bouche_) for old Jehan Latif, -Maimuna used sometimes to think, with a kind of wondering regret, what -life would have been like if the husband of her youth had not died of -the measles; but, being conscientious, she never allowed the tears to -drop into the quail curry! - -It was no carelessness of hers, therefore, which led to fat Jehan Latif -falling into a fit shortly after partaking of his favourite dish, which -for ten years she had dutifully prepared for him. None-the-less, his -heirs (who had had all these years in which to cook their accounts of -the matter) treated her as if it were. There is no need to enter into -details. Those who know India know how unscrupulous heirs can oppress a -strange lone woman--ignorant, secluded; a woman whose position as wife -has from the first been cavilled at, resented, impugned. It is -sufficient to say that Maimuna, after a few feeble protests, found -herself in the little cell under the stairs, earning a few farthings by -her spinning wheel, and thankful that her great skill at it kept her -from that last resort of deserted womanhood in India--the quern. Even -so, it was hard at times to wait till there was sufficient thread in -the percentage she got back for her spinning, to make it worth while -for the merchant to buy it from her, or for her to break in, by a cash -transaction, on the curious succession of cotton bought, and thread -returned, without a coin changing hands. And this winter it was harder -than ever, for the unusual cold made her fingers stiff, and sent -shoots of rheumatism up her arm as she sat spinning in the ray of light -which came in with the smell. - -It was very cold indeed that New Year's afternoon, and Maimuna felt -more than usually down-hearted; for there had been a death upstairs, -and she knew that the stamping and shufflings she could hear coming -rhythmically downwards over her head were the feet of those carrying a -corpse. Now, weary and worn as she was, Maimuna--between the fifties -and sixties--did not yet feel inclined to fold her hands and give in. -Even now it needed a very little thing to bring a smile to her face; -and once, when a child had fallen downstairs, she had surprised the -neighbours by her alert decision. So that when she heard girls' shrill -voices in half-giggling alarm through her door--which was ajar--she -guessed at the cause, and called to the owners to come in until the -stairs should be clear. - -One (a slip of a thing ten years old) she knew as the daughter of a -gold-thread worker higher up the stairs; the other (not more than five -or six) was a stranger; a fat broad-faced morsel, with a stolid look, -and something held very tight in one small chubby hand. She was dressed -in the cleanest of new clothes, scanty of stuff, but gay, with a yard -or two of tinsel on her scrap of a veil. Maimuna paused in the whirr -and hum of her wheel to look at the children wistfully; her own -childlessness had always seemed a crime to her. - -"It is Fatma, the pen-maker's girl, _Mai_," said the gold-worker's -daughter, patronisingly. "She is just back from the Missen School, -where they have been having a big festival because it is the _sahib -log's_ big day." - -"Tchuk," dissented the solemn-faced baby, clucking her tongue in -emphatic denial. "It is not the Big Day. It is because _Malika_ -Victoria is--is----" The solemnity merged in confusion, finally into a -sort of appealing defiance: "Is--is--_that_----" - -She unclasped her fist, and held out a brand new shining silver -two-anna bit. It was one of those struck when her Majesty the Queen -assumed the Imperial title. - -The gold-worker's daughter giggled. "She means Wictoria -_Kaiser-i-hind_, you know. What the guns were about this morning. They -are to go off every year, they say. That will be fun!" - -"But why?" asked Maimuna, puzzled. Her life for close on -five-and-twenty years had been spent in the cooking of quail curry and -spinning of cotton--the very Mutiny had passed by unknown to her. She -had heard vaguely of the Queen, and knew that it was her head on the -rupee which, despite the hard times, she always wore on a black silk -skein round her neck, because she had worn it since her babyhood, when -the parents of the boy who had died of the measles had sent it her; but -what the Queen had to do with John Company Bahadar, or he to her, was a -mystery. - -"Why," giggled the elder girl, "because she is going to be the King, -and turn all the men out. That is what father says. He says she is sure -to favour the women, and I think that will be fun. But Fatma knows it -all. Come! dear one! Sing Maimuna that song the _miss sahibs_ made the -schools sing to-day. Sing it soft, close, close up to her ear, so that -no one may hear it--for they don't like her singing, you know, at home, -_Mai_: it isn't respectable." - -So, standing on tip-toe, steadying herself against Maimuna's arm by the -hand which held the two-anna bit, Fatma began in a most unmelodious -whisper to chant a Hindee version of "God Save our Gracious Queen." The -words as well as the tune were a difficulty to the fat, solemn-faced -child, but the old woman sat listening and looking at the two-anna bit -with a new interest, a new wonder in her weary eyes. - -"Bismillah!" she said, half way through, when the gold-worker's -daughter, becoming impatient, declared the corpse must have passed, and -dragged Fatma off incontinently. "And she is a woman--only a woman!" - -The girls paused at the door; the elder to nod and giggle, the younger -to stand sedate and solemn, wagging one small forefinger backwards and -forwards in negation. - -"Tchuk! you shouldn't say that, Mai! Little girls are made of sugar and -spice. It is little boys that are made nasty--the _miss_ says so." - -"She should not say so," faltered Maimuna, aghast. The very idea was -preposterous, upsetting her whole cosmogony; but when they had closed -the door, she sat idle, too astonished to work. Then, suddenly, she -took off the black silk hank with its precious rupee, and looked at the -woman's head at the back. - -It was a young woman there; young and unveiled--strange, -incomprehensible! But that other on the two-anna bit had been an old -woman, more decently dressed, and with a crown on her head. - - - "Frustrate their knavish tricks." - - -Fatma's song returned to memory. So the Queen, too, had enemies; and -yet she was Kaiser-i-hind, and, what is more, she made men like the -gold-thread worker upstairs tremble! - - - "On thee our hopes we fix!" - - - * * * * * - - -Maimuna sat, and sat, and sat, looking at that rupee. - - - * * * * * - - -It was a day or two after this that an English official was sitting -smoking in his verandah, when he became aware of a whispered colloquy -behind him. It was someone, no doubt, trying, through the red-coated -_chaprasi_, to gain an audience of him; and he was newly back from -office, tired, impatient, perhaps, of the hopelessness of doing justice -always. So he took no notice till something roused him to a swift turn, -a swifter question. "What's that, _chaprasi?_" _That_ was the -unmistakable chink of fallen silver, the unmistakable whirr of a -running rupee, the unmistakable buzzing ring of its settling to rest. -And there, midway between a giving and a taking hand, lay the rupee -itself--the Queen's head uppermost. - -"_Hazoor!_" explained the _chaprasi_, glibly, "your slave was -virtuously refusing; he was sending this ill-bred one away. Hat! -_budhi!_[2] Hat!" - -But the sight of that head on the precious rupee, which, after many -heartsearchings, poor Maimuna had determined to risk in this effort to -gain justice from a _budhi_ like herself, whose enemies also had -knavish tricks, brought courage to the old heart, and the old woman -stood her ground. - -"_Gharibparwar!_" she said quietly, with her best salaam--and in the -old Pathan house they had taught manners, if nothing else--"Little -Fatma, the pen-maker's daughter, says that Wictoria Kaiser-i-hind is an -old woman like me, and so I have fixed my hopes on her. There is my -rupee. It is all I have, and I want my widow's portion." - - - * * * * * - - -And she got it. It happened years ago, but the story is worth telling -to-day, when women can no longer sing "God Save the Queen." - - - - - THE LAKE OF HIGH HOPE - - -A man stood watching a primrose dawn. There was a cloud upon his -face; none on the wide expanse of light-suffused sky beyond the dim -distance of the world. At his feet lay, stretching far, irregularly, -into the grey mistiness of morning, a great sheet of water. The dawn -showed on it as in a mirror, save where tall sedges and reeds sent -still-shining shadows over its level light. Unutterable peace lay upon -all things. They seemed still asleep, though the new day had come, -bringing with it good and evil, rest and strife. - -And then, suddenly, there was a change. The man turned swiftly at a -light footstep behind him, to see a woman, and in an instant passion -leapt up, bringing with it joy and despair. For the woman was another -man's wife. - -But something in her face made him open his arms and take her close to -his clasp. It seemed to him as if he had been waiting for this moment -ever since he was born. - -She was a little bit of a woman, frail and fair, who looked -over-weighted by her dark riding habit, but both seemed lost in the -man's hold, as vibrating with tense emotion, he stood silent, their -mingled figures forming a swaying shadow against that further light. - -"At last," he said, in tender exultation, "at long last!" - -She threw back her head then, and looked him in the eyes, hope and -fear, and joy and sorrow showing in her face. - -"I couldn't stand it--at the last," she almost sobbed, "when it came to -going away, and leaving you here--alone--with that awful risk--for no -one can say what mayn't come--with cholera---- _He_"--her voice -trembled over the small syllable--"started earlier--I am to meet him -by-and-by--so I came round--just to see you--and now----" She buried -her face again, and the sobs shook her gently. He tightened his hold. - -"I'm glad!" he replied, in a hard voice. "It was bound to come sooner -or later--you couldn't go on for ever--an angel from heaven couldn't go -on standing--it all. But now----" his voice changed--"now you and -I----" he broke off and raised his head to listen. - -It was a wild weird cry, that echoed and re-echoed over the wide -stretches of water, that rose in one long continuous melodious wail -from every reed bed, every thicket of sedge, every tuft of low lamarisk -and bent-rush; for it was the dawn-cry of the myriad wild fowl which -haunted this low-lying _jheel_ of Northern India, and swift as thought, -with a thunderous whirr of wide wings, the birds, teal and mallard and -widgeon, white eye, pochard, and green shank, purple heron and white, -rose in ones, in twos, in threes, in flocks, in companies, in serried -battalions. - -The primrose dawn was half effaced, the coming day was darkened by -wheeling, veering, eddying flight, and the peace vanished in the strife -of wings. - -"By George! what a shot," cried the man excitedly, even passion -forgotten as a trail of whistling teal swooped past, unconscious of -them, to settle on the still water, then, recognising unlooked for -humanity, veered at sharp angle to rise again into the troubled air. - -But the woman clung closer. To her the interruption was terrible. The -soaring birds brought home to her what she had done, and before that -knowledge compelling emotion stopped abruptly. - -"It is very foolish of me," she murmured brokenly, "and very -wrong--though I don't know!--I don't know! It was your danger--and I -was so tired--besides it--it need make no difference." - -"No difference?" he echoed, in joyous, incredulous exultation. "Why, of -course, it makes all the difference in the world, little woman! You and -I can never go back again, _now!_ We can never pretend again that we -don't care! No! when this cholera camp is over, and I have time, we -must think over what is to be done--but it's final. Yes! it's final, my -darling, my darling!" - -His kisses rained on her face, his heart encompassed her. So they stood -for a while, oblivious of the wheeling, veering, eddying wings above -them, oblivious of all things save that they were lovers, and that they -knew it. - -Then she left him. "He" would be wondering why she was so late; but -Suleiman, the Arab pony, would soon carry her over the sandy plain. - -The man remained watching the slight figure on the bounding grey till -it was lost in the "azure silk of morning." Then he returned slowly to -the _jheel_ again, lost in thought. There was a good deal whereof to -think, for she was a mother; by ill luck the mother of girls. Why had -she worn those tiny presentments of their sweet baby faces in the -double heart brooch which fastened her folded tie! She had not thought, -of course; but it had somehow come between him and his kisses after he -had noticed it. - -Well! it was unfortunate; but that sort of thing had to be faced, and -he _would_ face it after he had seen his cholera camp through; for he -was a doctor, and the thought of what might lie before him was with him -as a background to all others. He had chosen a good place for the camp, -yonder among the low sandhills, which were the highest point in all the -desert plain, and, if that did not kill the germ, they could move on. - -Meanwhile---- He drew a long breath and looked out over the water. The -primrose dawn had passed to amber, the amber was beginning to flame, -the whirring wings had carried the birds to distant feeding grounds, -only a flock of egrets remained fishing solemnly in a distant shallow. - -"The Huzoor is looking for God's birds," said a courteous voice beside -him. "They have gone, likely, to the Lake of High Hope, for it nears -the time of transit to a Higher Land." - -The speaker was an old man seated so close to the water that his feet -and legs were hidden by it. He had a simple, pleasant face, which -over-thinness had refined almost to austerity. - -The doctor took stock of him quietly. His speech proclaimed him a down -country man, his lack of any garment save a strip of saffron cloth -around his loins suggested asceticism, but his smile was at once -familiar and kindly. - -"M[=a]nasa Sarovara?" replied the Englishman, carelessly, "is that what -you mean? I am told the birds really do go there during the hot -weather. I wonder if it is true. I should like to see it." He spoke -half to himself, for he was somewhat of an ornothologist and the tale -of the great West Tibetan Lake of Refuge for God's dear birds--that -lake far from the haunts of men amid the eternal snow and ice, into -which so many streams flow, out of which come none--had caught his -fancy. - -"The Huzoor can go when he chooses," remarked the old man placidly; -"but he must leave many things behind him first; the _mem sahiba_, for -instance." - -The doctor felt himself flush up to the very roots of his hair, and his -first instinct was to fall upon the evident eavesdropper. Consideration -natheless condemning this course, he tried cool indifference. - -"You have been here some time, I perceive," he said calmly. - -"I have been all the time behind the _shivala_," acquiesced the other, -with beautiful frankness, as he pointed to a large black upright stone -set on end by the water. "The Huzoor was--was too much occupied to -observe this slave." - -"So that is a _shivala_, is it?" interpolated the Englishman hurriedly; -"it doesn't look much like a temple." - -"We pilgrims call it so, Huzoor, and we worship it." - -"Then you are a pilgrim--whither?" - -"To the Lake of High Hope, Huzoor," came the answer, and there was a -tinge of sadness in the tone. "I have been going thither these twenty -years past, but my feet are against me. God made them crooked." - -He drew them out of the water as he spoke, and the doctor's -professional eye recognised a rare deformity; recognised also that they -were unconceivably blistered and worn. - -"You will not get to M[=a]nasa Sarovara on those," he said kindly; -"they need rest, not travel." - -The old man shook his head, and a trace of hurry crept into his voice. -"I give them such rest as I can, Huzoor. That is why I sat with them in -heaven's healing water; but I must get to M[=a]nasa Sarovara, or my -pilgrimage will be lost--and it is not for my own soul, see you." Then -he smiled brilliantly. "And this slave will reach it, Huzoor. Shiv's -angels tell me so." - -"Shiv's angels?" queried the doctor. - -"The birds yonder, Huzoor," replied the old man gravely, pointing to -the flock of fishing egrets. "Some call them rice birds, and others -egrets, but they come from Shiv's Paradise--one can tell that by their -plumes--perhaps that is why the _mems_ are so fond of wearing them." - -A sudden memory of her face as he had first seen it beneath a snowy -aigrette of such plumes assailed the doctor's mind; but it brought a -vague dissatisfaction. "_Herodias alba_," he muttered to himself, -giving the Latin name of the bird, "more likely to have something to do -with dancing away a man's head!" Then a vague remorse at the harshness -of his thought made him say curiously: "And why must I leave the _mem_ -behind if I want to reach the Lake of High Hope?" - -"Because she is a mother, Huzoor," came the unexpected reply, followed -by deprecating explanation. "This slave has good eyes--he saw the -childs' faces on her breast." - -Once again the doctor felt that unaccustomed thrill along the roots of -his hair. What right had this old man to see--everything?--and to -preach at him? A sudden antagonism leapt up in him against all rules, -all limitations. - -"Well! I don't mean to leave her behind, I can tell you," he said -almost petulantly. "When a man has found Paradise----" - -"Shiv's Paradise is close to the Lake of High Hope," interrupted the -suave old voice. - -"D--n Shiv's Paradise!" cried the doctor; then he laughed. "It's no -use, br[=a]hman-_jee_, for I suppose you are a br[=a]hman. I'm not -going to be stopped by snow or ice. Look here,"--his mood changed -abruptly to quick masterful protest--"that would be to give up -happiness. Now! what makes you happy? Holiness, I expect, being a -pilgrim! high caste! one of the elect! Give that all up, -br[=a]hman-_jee_--and--and I'll think about it. And if you'll come over -there," he pointed to the low sandhills as he spoke, "this evening. -I'll give you an ointment for those blistered feet of yours--you'll -never get to M[=a]nasa Sarovara otherwise, you know." - -"I shall get there some time, Huzoor," came the confident reply. - -Perhaps the old man came; perhaps he did not. The doctor was far too -busy to care, since before daylight failed he found himself face to -face with the tightest corner of his life. The promise of the primrose -dawn passed before noon. Heavy rain clouds massed themselves into a -purple pall, dull, lowering, silent, until, with the close of day, the -courage of the coming storm rose in low mutterings. - -And then, at last, the rain fell--fell in torrents. It found the -regiment--seeking safety from the scourge of cholera,--on the march, -and disorganised it utterly. With baggage waggons bogged, soldiers -already discouraged by dread, all drenched and disordered, there was -nothing to be done but keep cool and trust that chance might avert -disaster, since no man could hurry up tents that were miles behind. - -"There's another man in G company down, sir," said the hospital -sergeant, "and the apothecary reports no more room in his ward." - -"There's room here," replied the doctor, setting his teeth. "Orderly! -put a blanket in that corner and lift Smith to it--he's getting -better--he'll do all right." - -So yet one more man found a cot and such comfort as skill and strength -of purpose could give him, while the thunder crashed overhead and the -pitiless rain hammered at the taut tent roof like a drum. One had to -shout to make oneself heard. - -"Lights! I say, lights! I've been calling for them these ten minutes. -Why the devil doesn't someone bring them? I can't see to do anything." - -The doctor's voice rang resonantly; but the lights did not come. The -waggon with the petroleum tins was hopelessly bogged miles away, and in -the confusion no one had thought of lights. - -"Thank God for the lightning," muttered the doctor with unwonted piety, -as with awful blinding suddenness the whole hospital tent blazed into -blue brilliance, putting out the miserable glimmer of the oil lantern -that had been raised from somewhere. In that brief luminous second he -could at least see his patients--thirty of them or more. It was not an -encouraging sight. The livid look on many faces might be discounted by -the lightning, but there was an ominous stillness in some that told its -tale. - -"Gone! Bring in another man from outside," came the swift verdict and -order after a moment's inspection with the oil lantern. - -"Beg pardin', sir," almost whined a hospital orderly "but Apothecary -Jones has sent to say he's took himself, an' can't go on no more; an' -beggin' your pardin, sir, I'm feeling awful bad myself." - -The doctor held up the lantern, and its bull's eye showed a face as -livid as any in the tent; a face distorted by justifiable horror and -fear. - -"Go into the quarantine tent, it's up by now, and tell them to give you -a stiff-un of rum with chlorodyne in it. You'll be better by-and-by. -I've no use for you here." - -And he had no use for him--that was true. Shaking hands and trembling -nerves were only in the way in a tight corner like this. So, one by -one, men fell away, leaving the one strong soul and body to wrestle -with a perfect hell. - -For the rain never ceased, the thunder went on crashing, the lightning -was almost incessant. Thank God for that! Thank God for the inches of -running water on the floor of the tent that swept away its unspeakable -uncleanlinesses, for the thunder's voice that drowned all other sounds, -for the blessed light which made it possible to work. - -The very sweepers disappeared at last. No one was left save that one -strong soul and body, and even he stood for a second, dazed, -irresolute. - -"How can this slave help the Protector of the Poor," came a courteous -voice beside him, and he turned to see a smile at once familiar and -kindly. - -"How?" echoed the doctor, stupidly; then he recovered himself. "You -can't. You're a br[=a]hman--high caste--all that----" - -"This slave has come to help the Huzoor, so that he may be able to -reach M[=a]nasa Sarovara," was the quiet insistent reply. "Where shall -he begin?" - -A sudden spasm almost of anger shot through the strong soul and body as -it realised and recollected, vaguely, dimly, as rudely, roughly, it -gave no choice save the most menial work. But instant obedience -followed, and the doctor, dismissing all other thoughts, plunged once -more into the immediate present. The rain pelted, the thunder roared, -but every time that blue brilliance filled the tent, it showed two men -at work, both doing their duty nobly. - -A born nurse! thought the doctor almost remorsefully, as he saw the old -man moving about swiftly and remembered those blistered and bleeding -feet. "They must hurt you--awfully," he said at last. - -"God's healing water cools them, Huzoor," replied the old man, with a -radiant smile, "I shall not be delayed in reaching the Lake of High -Hope." - -So the long night drew down to dawn once more, and dawn brought peace -again, even to the cholera camp. An hour and a half passed without a -fresh case, and the doctor, realising that the crisis was over, found -time to notice the grey glimmer of light stealing through each crack -and cranny of the tent. He set the flap aside and looked out. The -primrose east was all barred with purple clouds, the distant _jheel_ -lay in still shiny shadow, but there was no concerted dawn cry of the -wild birds, and the flights of whirring wings were isolated, errant. - -"The call has come to them, Huzoor," said the suave old voice beside -him. "They have gone to M[=a]nasa Sarovara, leaving all things behind -them." - -The Englishman turned abruptly, almost with an oath, and began to count -the costs of the night. Thirty-six dead bodies awaiting burial; but no -more--no more! - -With the mysterious inconsequence of cholera, the scourge had come, and -gone. Seen in the first level rays of the sun, the camp looked almost -cheerful, almost bright. A couple of doctors had ridden out from -headquarters--there was no more to be done. - -"I'll go out for a bit, and shake off the hell I've been in all night," -said the doctor to the chief apothecary, who was recounting his past -symptoms with suspicious accuracy. So he went out and wandered round -the _jheel_, watching a flock of egrets--_Herodias alba_--that still -lingered in its level waters. Were they really Shiv's angels?--or did -they dance away men's brains----? - -The sun was already high when he returned to camp, looking worn and -tired. The hospital orderly whom he had sent to bed with rum and -chlorodyne was standing, spruce and alert, at the canteen. - -"Feeling better, eh, Green?" he said kindly, as he passed, then added: -"All right, I suppose. No more cases or deaths?" - -"No, sir," replied the orderly, saluting somewhat shamefacedly. -"Leastways, not to count. There's a h'ole man as they found dead -outside the camp about quarter of an hour agone, but not being on the -strength of the regiment, 'e don't count." - -Five minutes afterwards the doctor, his face still more tired and worn, -was looking down on the body of his helper. It must have been one of -those sudden cases in which collapse comes on from the very first, for -no one had seen the old man ill. They had simply found him lying -peacefully dead with his blistered deformed feet in a pool of water. - - - * * * * * - - -The doctor wrote a letter; it was rather a wild letter about plumes and -egrets and the difficulty of distinguishing _Herodias alba_ from the -stork which brought babies. For the strain of that night in hell, and -the subsequent fever brought on by wandering about the _jheel_ land -when he was outwearied had told even upon his body and soul. - -So they sent him to the hills when he began to recover, and being a -keen sportsman he did not stop in the Capuas of smart society, but made -straight for the solitudes, seeking for something to slay; for he felt -a bit savage sometimes. And ever, though he did not acknowledge the -fact, his route brought him nearer and nearer to that high Tibetan land -where ice and snow reign eternal. Through Garhw[=a]l and up by -Kidarn[=a]th where the new born Ganges issues from a frost-bound cave, -until one day he pitched his little six-foot hunter's tent on the other -side of the Holy Himalaya and looked down into the wide upland valleys -of Naki-khorsum and up beyond them to the great white cone of -Kail[=a]sa, the Paradise of Shiva. - -A mere iceberg cutting the clear blue sky. How cold, how distant, how -utterly unsatisfactory! He stood looking at it in the chill moonlight -after his two servants were snoring round the juniper fire on their -beds of juniper boughs--looking, and smoking, and thinking. - -He had thought much during his three months of solitary wandering, and -now the time was coming when thoughts must be translated into action, -for his leave was nearly up. Should he go backwards or forwards? Go on -to M[=a]nasa Sarovara, or set his face towards lower levels? Should -Hope of the mind take the place of Hope of the body? Bah! he was a -fool! He would be a sensible man and return. That was his last thought -as he rolled himself in his hunter's blanket and lay down to sleep. - -But the dawn found him plodding on in front of his two coolies towards -that compelling cone of snow. He left the tent at the foot of the next -ridge, and that night the last thing he saw was Orion's Sword resting -upon the summit of Mount Kail[=a]sa. - -Yes! he would go on. He would see if it were true that _Herodias alba_ -disported its plumes on the waters of the Lake of High Hope. - -During the latter part of his wanderings he had, partly owing to the -unsettled and hesitating state of his mind, diverged from the pilgrim -track; but here, on this last day, he rejoined it, and in more than one -place the bones of someone who had fallen by the way, showed amongst -the flowers which carpeted every rent in the world's white shroud of -snow; showed like streaks of snow itself, so bleached were they by long -months of frost. - -But the flowers! what countless thousands of them--low, almost -leafless, hurrying in hot haste to blossom while they yet had time. And -yet how pure, how cold, how colourless had not this mountain-side -looked from afar. Almost as cold as Kail[=a]sa, which, viewed from the -height of the pass, seemed barely more significant. - -But every foot of descent made a difference, and soon over the rocky -ravine it rose stupendous, its great glacier shiny cold, inaccessible. -Before long it would overtop the sky and reach High Heaven. No wonder -men thought of Paradise! - -Down and down, through a mere cleft in the rocks that closed in, -shutting out all view.... - -Then, suddenly, he gave a little gasp and stood still. - -So that was the Lake of the Soul's Hope--M[=a]nasa Sarovara! The pure -beauty of it sank into him, its rest and peace filled him with content. - -A wilderness--a perfect wilderness of bright-hued flowers between the -snow slopes and the lake whose blue waters gleamed like sapphires -between the diamond icebergs that drifted hither and thither on its -breeze-kissed waves. - -But not one sign of life; no movement, no noise, save every now and -again a far-distant thunderous roar, and a puff of distant white smoke -upon some mountain-side telling of a falling avalanche. - -Cradled in snow, yet wreathed in flowers; solemn, secure, unchangeable! - -It was a marvellous sight. He was glad he had come, for it was a place -where one could think--_really_ think. - -So he stood and thought--really--for a while; and then he took out his -watch. Time was waning, for he had to re-climb the pass and rejoin his -tent ere sundown. Still there was enough left for him to reach that -jutting flower-set promontory, whence, surely the best view of the -whole would be obtained. - -Yes! decidedly the best! Shiv's Paradise, rising from the water's edge, -showed from hence, equal-sided, serene, unassailable, a pure pyramid of -ice. - -Truly a sight never to be forgotten; a sight well worth a pilgrimage. - -And then some swift remembrance made him glance downwards, and he saw -before him the bleached skeleton of a man. Something in the attitude of -it, the feet hidden in the lake made him stoop curiously to see what -its sapphire surface covered. - -What was it? - -He stood looking down into the rippling water that whispered and -whispered to the flowers ceaselessly, for some time; then he turned and -climbed the hill again. - -But, even if he had taken anything with him to M[=a]nasa Sarovara, he -left it behind him there beside the skeleton of a man with curiously -deformed feet. But the blisters had gone. - - - - - RETAINING FEES - - -It is not always on rocks and rapids that the cockle shell of human -happiness meets with the direst shipwreck. Often in the quietest -backwaters, where no current is, where not a ripple disturbs the still -surface, disaster so absolute, so overwhelming comes, that the very -tragedy of it sinks out of sight also, unrecognised, unrecorded. - -Such a backwater was a little square of roof four pair back, in a tall -tenement house in Lucknow, where one blazing hot day in June a buxom -woman, with a yellow-skinned baby hitched to her hip outside the -voluminous veil of dirty crushed calico, which for the present was -mostly in folds about her feet, was haranguing three other women who -sat working as for dear life in the hard unyielding shadow of the high -walls, which were deemed necessary even here to shut out the -possibility of prying eyes. - -"What you need, honourable ladies," finished Mussumet Jewuni -decisively, "is a 'bannister.'" - -"A 'bannister!'" echoed the eldest of the three listeners. "And what -new-fangled thing is that?" - -She did not slacken a second in her deft twirling of her distaff, -neither did the others, despite their questioning eyes, relax their -swift business. Indeed, as they sat in the shadows, the three might -have served as a model for the Fates, since Khulâsa Khânum span -ceaselessly. Aftâba Khânum wound yarn on a circling bamboo frame, and -Lateefa Khânum snipped with a very large pair of scissors at the shirt -she was making; for, being many years younger than the others, her eyes -were still fit for fine back-stitching. Beautiful hazel eyes they were, -too: large, soft, full of sunshine and shadow. - -Jewuni dismissed one mouthful of betel nut and began on another ere she -replied. - -"A 'bannister' is a pleader, who, having been across the black water to -London, knows new tricks wherewith to confound the old ones. 'Tis the -only chance for justice, ladies. I know of such an one, and could bring -him here to receive instruction, and mayhap there would be no need for -the honourable ladies to answer in Court." - -Khulâsa Khânum's hands froze in horror; she glanced anxiously towards -Lateefa. "Talk not like that before the child, woman!" she interrupted, -almost fiercely. "No strange man, as thou knowest, comes to this -virtuous house, and no woman goes out of it." - -Both statements were absolutely true; these women, distant relations, -yet bound to each other by the tie of a common poverty, a common wrong, -had not set foot beyond that square of roof for years and no men--save -those whose interest it was to keep them poor--had ever climbed the -steep stair hole which showed like a cavernous shadow in the high back -wall. - -Yet Jewuni Begum laughed. She was a very different stamp of woman. Her -oil-beplastered hair narrowing her forehead beyond even Nature's -intention, and the soap curls at her silver and gold tasselled ears -were of a fashion which left little doubt as to her moral character; -but, being a bottomless receptacle for the gossip of the whole town, -owing to her husband's position as a paid tout at the Law Courts, the -neighbourhood in general, and even that virtuous roof in particular, -had left inquiry and condemnation alone for the present. - -"Lo! Khânum!" she giggled, "that is true enough, God knows; yet what -avails it for reputation? None. 'Tis a rare joke, and I meant not to -tell it thee; still, 'tis too good to be lost. In the Mirza's reply to -the last petition sent from this house for direct payment of the -pension due to honourable ladies, it is written--my man saw it, and -there was laughter among the writers, I will go bail--that the -petitioners, being giddy young things, given to wanton ways, it is -necessary for the honour of a princely family that they be held under -restraint; such money as is due being expended lavishly, aye! and more, -in securing the luxury due to gentlewomen of your estate." - -Here she herself went off into such chuckles that the yellow baby had -to be shifted higher on her shaking side. - -The three women ceased working, and looked at each other helplessly, -while underneath their curiously fair skins a flush showed distinctly. - -"Did they say that--of us?" asked Aftâba Khânum at last, in a faltering -voice. Perhaps it was her occupation of winding hanks without tangle -which made her always so keen to have all things clear. - -"And of me?" echoed Khulâsa faintly. Her old face had grown very grey, -her hands, though they had ceased working, were no longer frozen; they -trembled visibly. - -Only Lateefa sat silent, a swift yet sullen anger on her still young -face. - -Jewuni giggled again. "There was no distinction of decency, Khânum. But -'tis too bad, and that is why I spoke of a 'bannister' to confound such -old tricks with new ones. However, 'tis no business of mine, only," she -paused in her conversation, and, going beside Lateefa, she lowered her -voice, "there is no need for stitching shirts till shroud-time comes. -There be other ways, as I have told thee before, of earning money, aye! -enough even to pay a 'bannister's' fee, and get the truth made known. -So, if thou preferest to be as a hooded falcon, seeing nothing of the -sport in life, sit and stitch. If not, come to me and claim freedom--in -all things." - -When she and the yellow baby had gone, silence fell on the desecrated -little square of virtuous roof. - -Truly it was hard! After a life-time of patient propriety, long years -of self-denial involving silence and seclusion even from scant justice, -to have all these virtues reft from them in order that wantonness and -giddiness and youth might serve as an excuse for withholding their -rights! That these rights should be traversed was to their experience -no new thing, though to Western ears it may seem inconceivable that -even under British rule it is the easiest thing in the world to treat -secluded women as these three had been treated. Briefly, for the male -head of the family, as guardian, to leave them to starve, while he made -merry over their poor pittances of pensions granted to them by -Government in consideration of their race, or its good services. No -wonder, then, that Khulâsa sat helpless, resorting for comfort to the -little rosary she always carried, that Aftâba's tears ran silently down -her withered cheeks, or that Lateefa's sullen anger gave a dangerous -look to her still handsome face. So dangerous that fear pierced -Aftâba's soft self-pity at last, making her ask anxiously: - -"What was it she said to thee privately, Lateefa? Naught worse, -surely?" - -The darkening of the handsome face was not all anger now. Lateefa rose -with a bitter laugh. - -"Nay! she but spoke of 'fees' for justice, as if we had aught to pay. -Yet something must be done." - -"We have done too much already," came Khulâsa's shaking voice. "If we -had trusted in the Lord instead of sending petitions there would have -been no need for them to tell the lie. If we had waited----" - -"Lo! we had waited," put in Aftâba, "and petitions are no new thing. -Our fathers made them. They are not like 'bannisters' and strange men. -These----" - -There was no need for her to explain what these were to that virtuous -roof, for at the moment a tentative cough from the stair-hole -accompanied by the rhythmic squelching of water in a skin-bag announced -the daily visitation of old Shamira, the _bhisti_, who had filled their -earthen pots for them for years and years; and in an instant veils were -hastily drawn close, faces turned to the wall. - -"_Bismillah!_" came the orthodox greeting, for old Shamira knew all -about the honourable ladies, and in a way loved them, though he had -never once seen them in all the long years. - -"_Bismillah! irruhman, niruheem!_" returned the virtuous ones -decorously. Only Lateefa, standing in the corner, felt that there was -but half a truth in the words. God might be clement in the next world, -but he was far from merciful in this. Yet it was not the fault of the -world itself; that was fair enough. There was a displaced brick in the -corner where she stood, and, profiting by the temporary blindness of -her veiled companions, she did what she had done several times on the -sly, during the past few weeks--she took advantage of the brick-hole -and tip-toe to gain a glimpse of that outside world. It was the veriest -glimpse indeed, of purpling shadowy roofs huddled against a flare of -sunset sky, but the dust haze through which she saw it seemed a golden -halo of transfiguration, and in a second she had made her choice. She -would pay a retaining fee for bare justice to her own womanhood. Jewuni -was right! Times had changed. Why should she waste her life clinging to -old ways when new freedom was within reach. - -Yet there was a startled, half-frightened look both in the sunshine and -shadow of her hazel eyes, as she waited, face towards the wall, till -the cool sound of pouring water have ceased, she was free to resume her -limited life. Limited, indeed! How strange those limitations seemed in -the light of her new decision! - -But those brief minutes of arrest, due to old Shamira's entry into the -feminine cosmogony, had, curiously enough, brought decision to the -other two women, for, in truth, Jewuni's story, Jewuni's giggle at the -joke, had been the last straw to their patience, the final goad rousing -them to action of which, each in her own way, they had been dreaming -for long. - -They, too, felt that the time was past for temporising, for trimming -their sails to suit each other's opinions. - -So Khulâsa Khânum's pallid, high-featured face was more like that of -one new-dead than ever, when Shamira gone, she returned to work. And, -in truth, she had in those few seconds died for ever to this world and -its works. - -Delicate from her babyhood, saintly from pure suffering, joy had had -small part even in her desire, and her resistance to pain had been -always half-hearted. For what was even the justice of man worth in -comparison with the justice of God? Naturally enough, then, Jewuni's -tale of the sorry jest had been more a horror to her than to either of -the others, making her turn to the hidden meaning of her thwarted life -for comfort. Her retaining fee for justice should be paid where there -was no fear of a miscarriage. And in the meantime, while the tyranny of -life lasted, she must work--work to the end. - -For on her work, practically, those others lived. In all the town no -hands could spin a finer thread than old Khulâsa Khânum's. The very -spinning jennies of Bombay could not compete with her ceaseless -industry; and there still remained noble folk who clung to the -spider's-web muslin of the old times. So her hands twirled faster, more -deftly. The rest was with God. - -Aftâba Khânum, on the contrary, had decided for the world; not, as -Lateefa had done, for the world as it was in these latter days, but for -the world as it ought to be, as it used to be. She had a very different -strain in her from those other two; from Khulâsa in her spirituality -Lateefa in her emotionality. Aftâba, even when things were at their -worst, smiled, consoling herself and the roof generally with some -unexpected and perhaps extravagant scrap of amusement. A mouthful of -pillau concocted out of nothing to season a dry bread dinner, a -ridiculous toy made out of rubbish, whereat all laughed. Courtier-born, -she loved even the old etiquettes by instinct, while her keen wit could -find a clue of an intrigue as deftly as her fingers could disentangle -Khulâsa's cobwebs. And, of all three, she kept in closer touch with a -world with which she had not quarrelled, despite its injustice towards -her. There was, indeed, a certain Uncle Chirâgh who still came to see -her, and her only, once or twice a year. A blue-beard dodderer, with a -twinkling eye, and a still mellow voice, who sometimes brought quails -with him, and spices, so that Aftâba might regale him with one of her -best curries; for she was a great cook. - -So the spur of Jewuni's retailed insult came as a challenge to Aftâba's -sense of propriety. The world might be diseased by novelty, but the -foundations were sure. She had been a fool all these years to acquiesce -in impersonal petitions with purposeless stamps to them, instead of -some graceful tribute, after the older, approved method. True, she had -once broached the subject to Jewuni. She had even gone so far as to -bring out a certain faded brocaded bag, which was her greatest -treasure, and produce therefrom a medal or two, a dozen or more worn -letters. Quaint, old-world informations to the reader, that the bearer, -Futteh, or Iman, or Hassan, was such and such a worthy person--a -gold-spangled record of thanks for service in the Mutiny--the -intimation of one Rissildar Tez Khan's death in action; which latter -had indeed been the cause of Aftâba's loneliness. Even (curious -survival of friendly days gone, never to return) a few English words, -in sprawling, irresponsible, boyish handwriting, to say that the -self-same Tez Khan knew the whereabouts of every living creature fit to -shoot in the whole countryside! - -But Jewuni had scorned the suggestion of sending these to the bigwig -with, say, a basket of Aftâba's famous pumpkin preserve, since, alas, -oranges stuffed with rupees were out of the question. Indeed, she had -said succinctly: - -"Keep them till the Day of Judgment. The Lord may look at them, the law -will not. For, see, they are not even stamped, and without stamps is no -justice possible." - -Even then old Aftâba had felt, with dim obstinacy, that it was not law -or justice she sought: it was favour! Favour such as the great had to -give in a well-ordered world! - -And so she, in her turn, came back to the limitations of her life with -a decision. Uncle Chirâgh had told her but a week or two before--as -luck would have it!--that the whole town was to be in an uproar the -very next day over the unveiling of a statue of Malika Victoria. The -anniversary of a great day in the heroic annals of the Defence of the -Residency--for which, by the way, that gold-spangled gratitude had been -given--had been chosen as fitting for the ceremonial. The grounds were -to be lit up, fireworks let off, and special messages sent to and from -the Queen herself, while the statue would be covered with offerings. -Could anything be more opportune for the decorous presentation of a -retaining fee? - -So next day, while Lateefa Khânum stitched, repenting not at all yet, -still with a flutter of her heart, and Khulâsa Khânum, with an odd -flutter at her heart also, which kept the colour even from her lips, -worked and prayed, Aftâba used the privacy of a tiny kitchen for the -preparation of other things than a scanty dinner of herbs. It meant the -loss of her only silver bangle, sold on the sly through the market -woman who came every morning. It was quite the most valuable thing in -the house; yet there was but a farthing or two left by the time the -pumpkin preserve, covered with silver leaf, lay in a tinselled rush -basket with the precious brocaded bag on the top, and the market woman, -bribed to return for it in the afternoon, had received a generous -douceur which would surely ensure its due delivery. - -All this took time, and was tiring, to boot; so it was nigh sunset -when, after a sleep which had taken her almost unawares in the little -cook room, Aftâba came out again to the limited life on the roof. As -she did so, the familiar tentative cough of Shamira the _bhisti_ on his -rounds, accompanied by the squelching of his water-skin, made her step -back into the screening wall. - -"_Bismillah!_" she said, wondering not to hear the familiar greeting. -But old Shamira was staring helplessly at something he had never seen -before. It was old Khulâsa Khânum. - -"She must be dead," he said, simply, to Aftâba's horrified disbelief. -"See! She sits with face unveiled." - -And she was dead. Her retaining fee had brought justice swiftly. And -Lateefa? - -Aftâba, when she realised the emptiness of the roof save for herself -and the dead woman, wondered if it was the sight of one who belonged to -it slipping downstairs from its virtue that, by its terrible -confirmation of wantonness, had sent Khulâsa to seek to a higher -tribunal. - -As for herself! - -That night, when the waiters had gone, promising to return at dawn, and -she was left really alone for the first time, she sat wondering what -fate her preserved pumpkins would bring. And then she did something she -had never done in all her life before. She, too, used the hole left by -the displaced brick to gain a glimpse of the world which was doing -honour to dead heroes, and to the Queen for whom they died. As she did -so the first rockets rose from the unseen Residency to commemorate its -brave defenders, and set their stars of glory in high heaven. - -Up and up, valiantly, higher and higher, full of the best intentions, -they went, typical, so far, of the hands that sent them on their -mission. And then? - -Then old Aftâba stepped down from her vain vantage, and creeping back -to where Khulâsa lay waiting the dawn, put her head down beside hers -and wept. - -For the stars had fallen, but the dead woman's retaining fee had -reached the Mercy Seat. - - - - - HIS CHANCE - - -He sate biting his nails viciously. It was not a habit of his, but, at -the moment, the tangle of his nineteen years of life had been too much -for him, and he sate before it, helpless yet resentful. - -He was trying to write a letter to his mother, his widowed mother far -away over the black water in England, to tell her that he had been -placed under arrest for cowardice--since that was what it came to in -the end!--and yet not to hurt her, not to blame her, whom every bit of -his being blamed. Why had she brought him up a nincompoop? Why had she -been so afraid of him?--poor little mother whose nerves had been -shattered once and for all by her hero husband's death ere her child -was born. Yet that father had been brave to recklessness.... - -The boy's head went down on his arm. Something like a sob quivered -through the hot air. For it was hot, though the sun was but an hour -old, in the little grass-thatched bungalow which boasted of but one -room, two verandahs, and two corresponding slips of dark enclosed -space; one a bathroom, the other full of saddles, corn, empty -boxes--briefly, the factotum's go-down. The whole house being nothing -but a square mushroom set down causelessly in a dusty plain and guarded -by two whitewashed gate-pillars, one of which bore the legend, on a -black board, "Ensign Hector Clive, 1st Pioneers." - -A good name, Hector Clive, and yet the boy's head was down on his arm. -Why had he been such a cursed fool? - -A brain-fever bird was hard at work in a far-off _sirus_ tree. He could -see it in his mind's eye--green, with its red head held high among the -powder-puff flowers, as it gave its incessant cry with the regularity -of a coppersmith's hammer--for, though he had been but one year in the -country, he knew all its birds, and beasts, and flowers; aye! and had a -good smattering of its lingo also--it was that, partly, which had made -him--what was it--afraid--or--or cautious? - -His brain was in such a whirl he could not tell which. And he had no -one to whom he could talk; not a friend in the whole regiment, for he -was shy. That was why he was living alone in this cursed shanty where -the centipedes and snakes, too, sometimes (but he was not afraid of -them, or of any animal, thank heaven), fell from the cloth ceiling, and -the sparrows (poor devils, after all they were only making their nests) -dropped straws over one's letters. That one had made a blot--like a -tear-mark--or was it, indeed...? - -He cursed again under his breath, and a rigid obstinacy came to his -face. - -Like his name, it was a good enough face, though curiously young even -for his young age. The great height of his forehead, it is true, took -away from its breadth, and the short-sighted blink of the eyes set so -close upon the high narrow nose prevented their piercing clearness from -being seen. On the lower part of his face, hair had scarcely begun to -show itself. All was callow, immature; yet the square chin showed stiff -and strong enough. - -There should, at least, be no suspicion of tear marks, so he took a -fresh sheet: and then the thought struck him. He would write two -letters. One to the dear little Mother who had devoted herself to -him--him only--ever since he was born; the other to the woman -who had spoiled him and his life, whose timidity had accentuated his -birth-legacy of fear. It would do him good to have it out with himself -and with Fate--not with Her--no! never with Her! - -So this was what he wrote, and left lying on the table when an orderly -came to summon him to the Colonel: - - -"Dear Mother,--It has come at last! I always knew it must come if you -would make a soldier of me, just because my father was one! Why didn't -you think? Why didn't you know? Poor Mother! I'm sorry to write all -this. How could you dream I have felt more or less of a coward all my -life, when _he_ was so brave! - -"And then you made me worse--you know you did. I wasn't allowed to risk -things like the other boys did; because I was your only one. Ah! I -don't blame you, but it was rough on me. I should have made an -excellent parson, I expect. And yet I'll be damned--this isn't really -for your eyes, mother darling--if I can see what good I should have -done if I had ordered that Sepoy under arrest? The men wouldn't have -obeyed orders. I saw murder in their eyes. I've seen it for a long -time, and I haven't dared to say so--haven't dared to warn those who -should be warned for fear of being thought a coward--Isn't that -cowardice in itself? Oh, Mother, Mother! Well, it was very simple. A -Sepoy was cheeky over these greased cartridges; actually threatened to -shoot me if I ordered him under arrest, and--I--you see I know a lot of -their lingo, and I understand--I was afraid to do what I ought to have -done--chanced it. Of course it doesn't read as bare as that in the -Adjutant's report--but I am under arrest. Not that it matters. It must -have come sooner or later--for I'm a coward--that is what I am--a -coward...." - - -The words, still wet, stared up into the baggy cloth ceiling, and the -sparrows dropped straws over them while Ensign Hector Clive was being -interviewed by his Colonel. He sate stolid, acquiescing in every word -of blame; and yet he was obstinate. - -"I don't see, sir, what good it would have done," he began drearily, -when the Colonel stopped him with a high hand. - -"Now, I won't have a word of that sort, Mr. Clive," he said severely. -"There is enough of that silly talk amongst civilians, and I won't have -it amongst the officers of my regiment. It is as good a regiment as any -in India, and I'll stake----" - -Here, feeling some lack of dignity in what he was about to say, he -stood up, and the lad standing up also, overtopped his senior by many -inches. Something suggestive in his still lanky length seemed to strike -the Colonel. "I'll tell you what it is, Clive, you live too much alone. -You're altogether too--too--why! I don't believe you even had a cup of -tea before you started. There! I was sure of it. Absolute suicide! How -can you expect, in this climate--and with a Colonel's wigging before -you--Really too foolish--my wife shall give you one now--she's in the -verandah with the boy--and--and, of course, I can't promise--but -you--you shall have your chance--if--if possible." - -The--lad--for he was but that--murmured something unintelligible. -Perhaps to his dejected mind, another chance seemed to be but another -opportunity of disgracing himself. - -"How very shy he is," thought the tall slim woman who gave a cup of tea -into his reluctant hand and sent Sonnie round to him with the toast and -butter. "I must get you to give my small son a lesson, Mr. Clive," she -said, smiling, trying to make conversation. "He was telling me all -sorts of dreadful things he has heard--so he says--from Budlu, his -bearer, and that he was frightened. And I told him a soldier's son -never could be frightened at anything. Isn't that true?" - -Ensign Hector Clive turned deadly pale. The child standing, with the -plate of toast and butter, looked up at him confidently, as children -look always where they feel there is sympathy. - -"But you are flightened, aren't you?" he asked. - -There was an instant's silence; then the answer came, desperately true: -"Yes! I am--but then I'm a coward--that's what I am--a coward!" - -You might have heard a pin drop in the pause. Then something in the -wise, gentle face of the Colonel's wife broke down the barriers. - -"Ah! you don't know----" he began; and so with a rush it all came out. - -The Colonel's wife sate quite still; she was accustomed to confidences, -and even when they did not come voluntarily she had the art of -beguiling them. The art also of comforting the confider; and so when -the lad's face had gone into his hands with his last words, as he -sate--his elbows on his knees--the picture of dejection, she just rose -gently, and came over with soft step to where he was. And she laid a -soft hand on either of his lank long-fingered ones and pulled them -apart. So, standing, smiled down upon him brilliantly--confidently. - -"I don't believe it!" she said, "I don't believe a word of it! You'll -be brave--oh! so brave, when your chance comes. Now, my dear, dear -boy----" she looked at him as if he had been her son--"go away and -forget all this nonsense. And see! Come back at dinner time and tell me -before dinner that you've obeyed orders and haven't even thought about -it." - -She stood and waved her hand at him as he rode away in the blare of -sunlight. Her voice echoing through the hot dry air reached him faintly -as he turned out of her garden into the dust of the world beyond. "Till -dinner-time--remember!" - - - * * * * * - - -Remember! The memory of those words came back to her idly as she sate -clasping her baby to her breast, while Sonnie, wearied out with fear, -slept in her lap, and her one disengaged hand busied itself in fanning -a half-delirious man who lay on a string bed set in the close darkness. -Dinner time! Yes, it must be about dinner time, for through a chink in -the door you could see the sun flaring to his death in the west. - -What had happened? She shuddered as she thought of it. What had come -first, of all the horrors of that long hot May day? She could not piece -it together. All that she knew was that someone had taken pity on the -women and the children. And that they were all huddled together in that -one room waiting till darkness should give a chance of escape; for the -hut was built against an old ruin through which some underground -passage gave upon ground not quite so sentry-warded as the barrack -square in front. She could hear the familiar words of command, the -clank of arms as they changed guard, and she shuddered again. Aye! the -women and children might be safe, even if the almost hopeless stratagem -failed; but what of the man--her husband--the only one, so far as she -knew, of all the officers of the regiment who had escaped the massacre -on the parade ground? How had he been saved? She scarcely knew. She -remembered his running back like a hare--yes! he, the bravest of -men--all bleeding and fainting, to gasp some words of almost hopeless -directions for her safety. And then old Imân Khân--yes! it had been -he--faithful old servant! Why had she not remembered before? For there -he was, his bald head bereft of its concealing turban, keeping watch -and ward at the door. - -What a ruffian he looked, so--poor, faithful Imân Khân! - -Hush! a voice from outside, a reply from the bald-headed watcher -within. More questions, more replies, both growing in urgency in -appeal. Then a pause and retreating footsteps. - -"What is it, Imân Khân?" she questioned dully, as the old man stole -over to her and laid his forehead in the dust. - -"What this slave has feared, has waited for all the hours," he -whispered, whimperingly. "They know--Huzoor----" he pointed to the bed. -"Or, at least, they have suspicion that a man is here. And they must -search--they will search--or kill. I have sent them to await the -Huzoor's decision." - -She stood up, still clasping her babe, the boy slipping, half-asleep, -to the ground, and looked round at those other women--those other -children who had lost their all. And hers lay here.... - -"They must come," she said in a muffled voice. Then she bent over her -husband. "Will!" she whispered, bringing him back from confused, -half-restful dreams, "the Sepoys say they must search--or--or -kill--them all. We will hide you--if we can." - -If we can! Was it possible, she wondered, feeling dead, dead at heart, -as the door opened wide, letting in the sunlight and showing a group of -tense womanhood, a bed whereon, huddled up asleep or awake, lay the -children deftly disposed to hide all betraying contours. - -"Huzoor! salaam!" said the tall _subahdâr_, drawing himself up to -attention, and the search party of four followed suit. - -How long that minute seemed. How interminable the sunlight. Ah! would -no one shut out the light, and why did Sonnie move his hand?... - -"Huzoor! Salaam!" - -Oh! God in heaven! were they going? Was the door closing? Was the -blessed darkness coming?... - -It was utter darkness, as, her strength giving way, she fell on her -knees beside the bed, burying her face upon her children, her husband. - -"Will! Will!" she whispered. - -A faint sigh came from the watching women. So Fate had been kind to -her--her only.... - -One who had seen her husband shot down before her very eyes rose -slowly, and taking her baby from the bed, moved away, rocking it in her -arms almost fiercely. So, in the grim intensity of those first seconds, -the sound of further parley at the door escaped them. - -Then, in the ensuing pause, old Imân Khân's bald head was in the dust -once more, his voice, scarce audible, seemed to fill the room. - -"Huzoor! They have seen. He must go forth or they will kill--all." - -The words, half-heard, seemed to rouse the wounded man to his manhood. -He raised himself in bed, he staggered to his feet; so stood, swaying -unsteady, yet still a man. "All right--I'll go--Let me out, -quick--quick----" - -But someone stood between him and the door. It was Ensign Hector Clive. -His face was pale as death, his hands twitched nervously, but in the -semi-darkness his eyes blazed, his chin looked square and set. - -"No, sir," he said quietly, "this is my chance. Look here! I ran -and hid in the passage-way when the others--died like men--I couldn't -help it--perhaps if they had had the chance I had--but that's -nothing!--nothing! I heard--I understand their lingo. They don't know -you're here, sir--only a man--let me be a man--for once. It is my -chance----" - -His eyes sought the Colonel's wife in bitter appeal. - -Swift as thought she answered it. Her hand was on her husband's -shoulder to hold him back, for she saw in a flash what others might not -see--a martyrdom of life, soul warring with frail flesh, for this boy. - -"Let him go, Will," she whispered hoarsely. "As he says, it is his -chance." - -There was a faint stir amongst the listeners. The Colonel shook himself -free from his wife's detaining hand. The code of conventional honour -was his, in all its maddening lack of comprehension. - -"Stand back, please--and you, Mr. Clive, obey orders--I--I----" He -reeled and would have fallen, but for the bed against which he sank. -His wife was on her knees beside him. - -"Let him go, Will. It is his chance, give it him, for God's sake!" - -There was no answer. Unconsciousness had come to bring the silence -which gives consent, and she stood up again, stepped to the lad and -laid her lips on his forehead. - -"Thank you, dear--in the name of all these--thanks for a brave deed." - -The blood surged up to his face. A boyish look of sheer triumph -transfigured it as he paused for an instant to throw off his coat and -tighten his waistband. - -"I shall have my chance, too," he cried exultantly, "for I was always a -good runner at school!" - -Aye! a good runner, indeed! With the wild whoop of a schoolboy at play, -he was across the barrack square, untouched. Once over that low wall in -front and he would be in cover. He rose to the leap lightly, and for an -instant he showed in all the pathetic beauty of immature strength, all -the promise of what might lie hidden in the future, against the red -flare of the sunlit sky, against the glorious farewell which is true -herald of the rising of another day. Then he threw his arms skywards -and fell, shot through the heart. - -He had had his chance! - - - - - THE FLATTERER FOR GAIN - - -Prem Lal, census enumerator, raised to that fleeting dignity by -reason of his being a "middle fail" student (as those who have at -least gone up for the Middle School examination style themselves in -India), paused in his ineffectual attempt to write with a fine steel -nib on the fluttering blue paper held--without any backing--in his left -hand, and, all unconsciously, gave the offending pen that sidelong, -blot-scattering flick which the native reed requires when it will not -drive properly. - -Then he coughed a deprecating cough, and covered the previous -act--natural enough in one whose ancestors, being of the clerkly caste, -had spent long centuries in acquiring and transmitting it--by -displaying his Western culture in another way. - -"Now for the next 'adult' or 'adulteress' in this house," he said -pompously in polyglot. - -The grammatical correctness of his genders passed unchallenged by his -half-curious, half-awe-stricken audience. The blue paper, ruled, -scheduled, classified, contained an unknown world to that patriarchal -party assembled in the sleepy sunshine which streamed down on the roof -set--far above the city, far above Western civilisation--under the -sleepy sunshiny sky; so it might well hold stranger things to its -environment than untrustworthy feminines. - -"There is the grandfather's father, Chiragh Shah, Huzoor," replied a -man of about thirty who, standing midway between the real householder -and his grandsons, had assumed the responsibility of spokesmanship in -virtue of his possibly combining old wisdom and new culture. He used -the honorific title "Huzoor" not to Prem Lal--whom he gauged scornfully -to be a mere schoolboy, and a Hindoo idolator to boot--but to the blue -paper which represented the alien rulers, who were numbering the people -for reasons best known to themselves. - -A stir came from the door chink behind which the females of the family -were decorously hiding their indignant anxiety. - -"Yea! let the old man go forth," shrilled a voice to which none in that -household ever said nay. "He is past his time--let them take his brains -if they will, and leave virtuous women alone. Who are we, to be -registered as common evil walkers?" - -Even Prem Lal grew humble instantly. - -"Nay! mother," he said apologetically, in unconscious oblivion of his -own previous classification. "The Sirkar suggests no impropriety. We -seek but to know such trivials as age--sex--if idiot, cripple, -spinster, adult or adult----" - -"Let Chiragh Shah go forth to him," interrupted the hidden oracle with -opportune decision. "Lo! his midday opium is still in his brain. Let it -bring peace to him and the eater thereof." - -The chink widened obediently, disclosing a fluttering and scattering of -dim draperies. So, roused evidently from a doze in the inner darkness, -a very old man shuffled out into the sunshine, then stopped, blinking -at it as if, verily, he found himself in some new and unfamiliar world. - -"The Sirkar hath sent for thee, grandad," bawled the appointed -spokesman in his ear. "They need----" - -But the words were enough. The blank, dazed look passed into a sudden -alacrity which took years from the old body as it sat it a-trembling -with eagerness. - -"The Sirkar," he echoed. "It is long since I, Chiragh Shah--long -since----" He relapsed as suddenly into dreams. His voice failed as if -following the suit of memory, but he supplied the lack of both by a -smile which spoke volumes. - -For it was the smile of a sycophant as unblushingly false as the -teeth which it displayed--teeth which were square, dicelike blocks of -ivory, unvarying in size, strung together en a bold gold wire, and -hung--Heaven knows how--to his toothless gums. - -"Sit down, _meeân-jee_," said the census enumerator, politely, for the -heart-whole artificiality of the smile admitted of no breach of -manners. "We seek but honourable names and ages." - -So they brought the old man a quaint red lacquered stool, which -had once carried a certain dignity in its spindled back rail by -reason of its having come into the family with some far dead and gone -bride--Chiragh Shah's own, mayhap!--and there he sate, still with that -look of urbane smiling alacrity rejuvenating his wrinkled face. - -There was a hint, beneath the semi-transparency of his frayed white -muslin robe, cut in a bygone fashion, of very worn, very old brocade -fitting closely to the very thin, very old body, and the embroidered -cap set back from his high, narrow forehead showed a glint here and -there of frayed old worn gold thread. - -"His name is Chiragh Shah," yawned the spokesman, adding in a bawl, -"How old art thou, dâdâ--the Sirkar is asking?" - -There was a little pause, and wintry though the sun was, its shine -seemed to filter straight through all things, denying a visible shadow -even to the blue paper. - -"How old?" came the urbane voice, speaking with a long-lapsed precision -of polish. "That is as God wills and my lord chooses." - -Prem Lal glanced doubtfully at the schedules. They did not provide for -such politeness, so he appealed mutely to the spokesman, who replied by -roundabout assertion: - -"He was of knowledgeable years when the city fell--wast thou not, -dâdâ?" The explanatory shout brought keen intelligence to the hearer. - -"Aye! it was from the palace bastion I watched the English. Half the -city watched them that 14th of September...." Here once more voice and -memory lapsed awhile. But Prem Lal's history was at least equal to the -more recent event of that memorable date, so his pen grew glib in -ciphering. "Taking knowledgeable age as ten," he commenced rapidly, -"with deduction of years 1857 from present epoch 1881----" - -His face darkened. "He has the appearance of more age than -thirty-five," he began dubiously, when the suave old voice picked up -the lost thread of recollection. - -"Lake sahib came to our court two days after, and the King, being -blind, saw not that the English face was no more merciful than the -French face which had been driven away, so there were rejoicings." - -"He means the day which began the hundred years of tyranny," suggested -the spokesman; and Prem Lal's pen had already substituted 1805 for -1857, when the voice of her who had to be obeyed came sternly from the -chink. "Put him down as a hundred, boy!" it said scornfully. "Meat is -tough when the sacrifice is past its prime, anyhow, so what does it -matter?" - -The next question presented no difficulty. No one in that house could -be aught but a descendant of the Prophet, so the answer "Syyed" sprang -to every lip with chill, almost scornful, pride. - -"Profession or trade," continued Prem Lal, mechanically; "gold-thread -embroiderer, I suppose, like the rest of you." - -It was a natural supposition, seeing that the high-bred, in-bred -household had for years past--since, in fact, courts were abolished in -Delhi--taken to this, the trade of so many ousted officials. - -"Huzoor! no!" replied the spokesman with a yawn, for the proceedings -were becoming uninteresting to him. "He is before that. He does -nothing--he never did anything." - -"Gentleman at large," hesitated on Prem Lal's pen; there an ephemeral -conscientiousness born of his ephemeral dignity made him appeal to the -old man himself. - -Chiragh Shah smiled courteously. His hands trembled themselves tip to -tip. - -"My profession," he echoed. "Surely I am Chaplaoo--of inheritance and -choice," he added alertly. - -"Chaplaoo!" That was clear enough to Prem Lal in the vernacular, but -how was it to be translated for the blue paper which must be written in -English as an exposition of learning that might lead to further -employment? - -Being prepared for such emergencies by a pocket dictionary, he looked -the word up--a proceeding which revived interest in the audience, -notably behind the chink, whence the magisterial voice was heard -remarking that it was no wonder the Sirkar wanted brains if it was so -crassly ignorant as not to know what chaplaoo meant! - -This flurried Prem Lal into premature decision. "Chaplaoo," he -quoted under his breath, "a fawner--ha! I see! One who keepers the -fawn--forester--huntsman--Am I not right?" he translated with a -preparative flick of the steel pen. - -The even ivory smile was clouded by an expression too blank for -resentment. - -"The Sirkar mistakes. This slave kept no animals." - -Prem Lal dived hurriedly into further equivalents. -"Parasite--backbiter--one who bites backs! Ah! I see--bug--etc." - -"This slave, as he has said, kept no kind of animals whatever," -repeated Chiragh Shah, with a suave, unconscious dignity which appeased -even the rising storm of virtuous indignation behind the chink. "He -was--if the Sirkar prefers the title--Chapar-qunatya, by inheritance -and choice." - -The rolling Arabic word had a soothing sound, and a hush fell with the -sunshine even on Prem Lal's search after a common factor between East -and West. - -"Toad eater! eater of toads----" he began with doubt in the suggestion; -"lick spittle--one who licks the spittle?" - -"Eater of toads, licker of spittle," shrilled the voice of the chink. -"Dost come here defiling an honourable house--and I who purvey its -food--with such vile calumny--I----" - -"Peace, mother," soothed a softer voice; "such things do no harm save -to the speaker. What you spit at the sky falls on your own face!" - -"Aye!" assented a ruder voice, "and is he not a Kyasth (clerk)--lie he -must or his belly will burst." - -The word "lie" gave the agitated enumerator a fresh clue, and the pages -of the dictionary fluttered as if in a full gale. - -"Lie--liar--slanderer----" - -There was no connection in his tone; but the suggestion being at least -plausible to his audience, the question was referred loudly to old -Chiragh Shah, who was beginning to nod with combined sunshine and opium -drams. - -"Lie?" he asked, with a return of that swift alacrity. "Surely, I lied -always. Yea! from the beginning to the end." - -He used the high-sounding Arabic word for liar, and so sent Prem Lal -a--fluttering once more. Ere he had lit on the correct gutteral, old -Chiragh Shah's set smile had changed into a real one. The slack muscles -of his neck stiffened; he flung out his right hand airily. - -"Hush!" said the two smallest boys on the roof in sudden interest; -"dâdâ is going to talk." - -He was. - -"Lies!" he began, and there was tone in the old voice, "and wherefore -not if it is a real lie and not a bungle? But I never was a bungler. I -know my profession too well--even at the last--yea, at the very end -they had to come to me for artifice--for subterfuge. It was the last -lie--to count as a real lie." - -He paused, one of the boys had crept round to him and now laid a -compelling hand of entreaty on the old man. - -"Tell us of it, dâdâ." - -The spokesman looked at the enumerator as if for orders. - -"It may elucidate the meanings," muttered the Middle-fail to himself. - -So in the stillness of that sunshiny roof, set so far above the -workaday world, they sate listening. - -"Yea! it was the last lie that was worth the telling. Yet I was past my -prime like the court itself. For none, save those who saw, knew the -heart-burnings, the bitterness of those last years. King but in name, -the very court officials drifting away to other allegiance. And Lake -sahib had been so full of promise on that first September day, when the -Frenchman was driven away because, forsooth! he had made the blind Shah -Alum a prisoner in his own palace----" There was a pause in the thin -old cadences, and a flitting shadow fell on the sun-saturate listeners -from a wheeling kite overhead. - -"And what was Bahadur Shah but a prisoner, too? What matter--the -Huzoors gave him bread after their fashion and he was unfaithful to the -salt of it. That was not well--one must be loyal even to a lie! So -after the mad midsummer dream of recovered kingship in the palace--such -a mad dream--we who dreamed it knew at the time that we were -dreaming--came that second September day when the English returned -to Delhi. We did not watch them, then; we were hiding in the -tombs--Humayon's tomb without the wall. - -"It was the night after Hudson _sahib bahadur_ had wiled away the King -by fair promises--aya! the Huzoor knew the trick of those well--but the -Princes were still hiding--and many a better man, too. - -"My son for one. He was wounded to the death. Ah! I knew it--though the -brave lad--he was the son of mine old age--steadied his breath and -smiled when I spoke to him. But there was little leisure for words with -treachery to right and treachery to left, and none to trust fairly. For -the world had changed even then, and there were but one or two of my -kind left, and I was out of favour. Too old for the new court--too old -for new pleasures. And the young Prince--lo! how he used to laugh at my -worn flatteries--had many pleasures--so many of them that he took some -of them from other folks' lives; thus he had foes. Aye! but friends, -too, for he came nearer to kingliness than his brothers. And my son -loved him. - -"So when the danger came, and I knew by chance of the plot to kill the -Prince as he slept, and gain the reward set on him by the English, I -had no choice. Yet I dare trust no one in the skulking crowd which -crept about the shadows of the old tomb. In those days it was every one -for himself, and the Prince had scant following at best. And he lay -drunk with wine and women, out of bravado partly to the skulkers--in -one of the half-secret upper rooms. But I knew which, and I remember it -so well. The grey spear point of the distant Kut showed through its -open arch. - -"And below, in a far nook of the crypt, where there was a secret -swinging panel in the red sandstone wall, known only to the old, my son -lay dying. - -"He steadied his breath as I stooped over him, and whispered that he -would soon be fighting for his Prince again. - -"'Soon, my son,' I answered, waiting as he smiled. For I knew the -silence was at hand--silence from all things save the breathing that -would only steady into death. - -"We, my servant and I, lifted him easily. He was but a lad, though he -would have grown to greater stature than the Prince. His head lay so -contentedly on my shoulder as I went backward up the stair, telling -those who stood aside to let us pass, that he was better and craved the -fresher air of the roof. 'Better? Aye! he is better, or soon will be, -old fool,' said one with a laugh. Then clattered noisily after his -companions, so noisily that the echo of the winding staircase sent -their scornful mirth back to me. 'He will be dead--like someone he -followed--by morning.' - -"Before morning, if I did not fail, thought I, silently, as, searching -the shadows, we sought the Prince's hidden room. There was a youth ever -with the Prince--a baby-faced, frightened, womanly thing--yet faithful -as far as in him lay. Him, I caught by the throat, 'They would kill -thee, too,' I said; 'better take the chance of life. If fate be kind, -ere dawn discovers the deceit, _he_ will be fit to fly.' - -"So after my servant and I, wailing at our lack of wisdom, had carried -the Prince down, face covered as one to whom worse sickness had come -suddenly, I crept to the upper room again. It was growing late, but the -grey spear-head of the Kut still showed beyond the open arch as I -covered the lad's face, lest, for all his gay dress, the murderers -might see too much. - -"'Dream thou art fighting for the Prince, sonling!' I said, knowing he -was past even the steadying of his breath for an answer; but the smile -had lingered on his face. - -"Then I covered my face also, and, bidding the baby-faced one escape to -the crypt as soon as it was possible, sate as a servant might have -sate, at the turning of the ways from the stair head. - -"Would those who were to come be familiar or strange? I wondered. The -latter, most likely, since Chiragh Shah, the Chaplaoo, had long since -passed from court life, almost from remembrance. - -"They were strange; as they challenged me, I drew the cloth from my -face without fear. - -"'The Prince's room!' they cried, dagger-point at my breast. But that -could not be. There must be no suspicion, only certainty, only soothed -certainty. 'I have been waiting to show it to my lords,' I answered. -'Lo! he sleeps sound--yea! he sleeps sound, his face toward the Kut.' - -"So, with smooth words, I led them in the dark----" - -The memory of the darkness seemed to fall as darkness itself on the old -brain, and Chiragh Shah sate silent in the sunshine for a few seconds. -When he spoke again, it was as if years had passed. "It was the last -lie that was worth the telling," he said, almost triumphantly. - -"And a good lie, too," came the shrill voice from behind the door -chink. "See you, boy!--call the old man by his right name in your -paper, or may God's curse light on you for ever!" - -Thus adjured, Prem Lal, who, throughout the whole tale, had been -fluttering his dictionary from one synonym to another, suggested -sycophant; that was, he explained, one who flatters and lies for -personal profit. - -"Profit!" echoed the voice. "Small profit dâdâ gained. Was not the -Prince killed with his brothers next day by Hudson Sahib; so there was -no one left even to reward the old man?" - -"Save God," suggested Prem Lal, piously trying to escape somehow from -the dilemma. - -"And there is gain, and gain," admitted the spokesman, combining new -and old, east and west. - -"Hush!" said one of the two small boys again; "dâdâ is going to -talk--he may know----" - -So once more the old voice rose in unconscious apology for the -difficulty of condensing what etomologists call his life history into a -census paper. - -"Yea, it was good, and hard--yet not so hard as the first. _That_ never -left me, despite the long years." - -It seemed, indeed, as if it had not, for something of childlike -complaint came into the old voice. "It was my first day at court. -Mother had cut my father's khim-khab robe--crimson with gold -flowering--to fit me, despite her tears. Her eyes were heavy with them -when she kissed me; but I had no fear for all I was so young. I knew -the women's bread depended on my tongue--though it was my heritage also -to be Chaplaoo. - -"And the King was pleased. Mother had tied my turban so tall and he -laughed at that. It was out in the garden, he under the gilt canopy, -the nobles round and beyond the flowers, and birds fluttering among the -roses. - -"And I was standing beside the king, and he was laughing--for I knew my -part. - -"Then the fluttering came closer, closer, and lo! a bird settled on my -wrist. It was Gul-afrog--I had left it with my sister, but it had -followed me--for we loved each other. So, on my wrist it sate joyful, -and salaamed, as I had taught it, drooping its pretty wings. - -"Then the King cried, 'How, now, whose pretty bird is this?' and -someone laid a warning hand upon my shoulder. But I knew before what I -must say if I was to stand in father's place. I knew! I knew! - -"'It is yours, my king.' - -"So I said, kneeling at his feet! 'It is yours, it is yours,' and -Gul-afrog had been with me since it fell out of the bulbul nest in the -rose tree. Then they brought a golden cage ..." The old man sate -staring out into the sunshine in silence, and only the littlest of the -two boys wept softly. - -"We will call him 'Flatterer for Gain.'" said Prem Lal, in desperate -decision, and perhaps the description came as near to old Chiragh -Shah's profession as was possible in a census schedule. - - - - - A MAIDEN'S PRAYER - - -"That is over! Thanks to Kâli Ma!" sighed Ramabhai, fanning herself -vigorously as the last man shambled, a trifle sheepishly, from the -inner apartment. She--was a stoutish Bengâli lady, with red -betel--stained lips and smooth bandeaux of shiny black hair. -Good-looking, good-natured, at the moment distinctly excited as she -went on garrulously. "Muniya! down with the curtain, there is no -further use for it now that crew has gone! And to think that the master -will have to give each one of them five rupees! And for what? Forsooth! -for the first seeing of such a bride as not one of them ever saw -before. Lo! Shibi, marriage-monger!" Here she turned accusingly on one -of the women who were busy unveiling themselves, chattering the while -with shrill voices. "Hast no mind at all? Thou mightst have found newer -words for thy description of my daughter!--'beautiful as a full moon, -symmetrical as a cart-wheel, graceful as a young goose.' What are these -for perfection? And thou didst use the same last week for Luchi Devi's -girl, who is pock-marked and blind of an eye! But there! 'What's a fowl -to one who has swallowed a sheep.' Parbutti,"--here she transferred her -attentions to a young girl who was seated on a cushion resting her face -in her henna-dyed hands, as if she felt dazed or tired--"an thou hast a -grain of sense have a care of that nose-ring thy paternal auntie lent -for the occasion or there will be flies in the pease porridge--there -always is in that family. Yea! it is well over; and thank the gods, the -priest found good omen in the morning watches, so I have not to dine -the creatures. Fish curry and kid pillau is too much to pile on the -getting of a trousseau; yet one must have meats at a wedding feast, if -one in Sakta; and the bridegroom's folk are strict. As for clothes, I -tell you, sisters, that 'boycotts' is well enough to play with every -day, but when it comes to weddings and tinsel, 'tis a different matter. -Kâli Ma! what a price for _kulabatoon_! Parbutti! an thou canst not -remember that thou hast on thee four hundred rupees worth of Benares -_khim-kob_, go put on the old Manchester. Thank Heaven!' Boycotts' is -not so old yet, but one has stores left to come and go upon! Yea! Yea! -A wedding is a great strain on a mother; and then there is the parting -with my daughter, too--my sweeting, my little lump of delight----" - -Here Ramabhai discreetly dissolved into regulation tears, mingled with -sharp sobs and little outcries. It came easily, for she was really -devoted to Parbutti, the little bride, who, in truth, looked -distractingly pretty, all swathed in scarlet gold-flowered silk gauze, -and hung with jewels galore. - -Her grave open-eyed face looked, perhaps, a trifle stupid and -obstinate, but there could be no question of its beauty. - -"Mother!" she said seriously, "there is a smell of smoke--the tall one -in the black coat smelt of it, and it is defilement. Had we not better -pacify the gods?" - -"Hark to her!" exclaimed Ramabhai, drying her facile tears -triumphantly. "Saw you ever such a saint? He who gets my Parbutti is -certain of salvation." - -Parbutti sate silent. She did not even blush, though that is allowed to -a Bengâli bride. But for all her outward calm she was inwardly -quivering all over; and small wonder if she was! After long years -spent, not like an English girl, in ignorance and innocence of -matrimony, but in matter-of-fact expectation of it, that one great -event in woman's life was close at hand. It had been delayed almost -beyond propriety by the difficulty of finding a high-caste husband. For -her father, though a Kulin Brahman, was sufficiently westernised not to -hold with the caste habit of marrying a daughter to what may be called -a professional husband: that is, to a Kulin who already possesses a -score or two of wives. A suitable student had, however, been found at -last, and the feminine portion of the household had plunged -hysterically into all the suggestive ceremonials of a high-class -Bengâli marriage. Even the widows let their blighted fancies dwell on -kisses and blisses; so, feeling vicariously the sensuous pleasures of -bridedom, vied with happier women in drugging the girl with sweets and -scents, and secret whisperings of secret delights. The whole atmosphere -was enervating, depraving; but Parbutti took all the gigglings and -titterings gravely as her right. For this was the consummation of her -hopes ever since, as a child of five, she had been taught to worship -the gods, to pray for an amorous husband, and curse any woman who might -try to win love from her. - -"Look! how the little marionette scowls over it," the women had -tittered as they watched her, a bit of a naked baby, going through the -formula of the Brata, as it is called. "Truly no co-wife will dare to -enter her house." And certainly her energy was prodigious. - - - "Mata! Mata! Ma! Keep my co-wife far-- - Shiv! Shiv! Shiv! Grant she may not live-- - Pot! Pot! Pot! Boil her hard and hot-- - Broom! Broom! Broom! Sweep her from the room-- - Mud! Mud! Mud! Moist thee with her blood-- - Bell! Bell! Bell! Ring her soul to hell--" - - -and so on through every common and uncommon object on God's earth--and -beneath it! - -The childish body had swayed to the rhythm of the chant; the childish -voice had risen clear in denunciation; the childish soul had given its -consent to every wish; for Parbutti was nothing if not serious. - -The very cantrips of the Sakta cult to which her parents--and some -fifty millions of other Bengâlis--belonged, were to her so many -indispensable realities. - -She, as an unmarried girl, ate her plateful of sacrificial meat -contentedly, though her mother refused it. She sate wide-eyed, solemn, -acquiescent, when after long fasting the whole family waited in the -dead of the night till the auspicious moment for sacrifice arrived, and -in the silence the only sound was an occasional piteous, half-wondering -bleat of the miserable victim--a pet goat, mayhap! She did not wink an -eye when the consecrated scimitar curved downwards, a jet of red, red -bubbling blood spurted into the dim light, and a sort of sob from the -dying and the living alike told that atonement was made. - -That sort of thing did not make her or any of the other women quiver; -yet they were affectionate, emotional, kind-hearted. "Without shedding -of blood is no remission of sin," is a Pauline text; but it was theirs -also. Graven by age-long iteration in their limited minds and lives was -the dogma that the Blood is the Life thereof. There was but one -Sacrament; the Sacrament of Blood. Marriage was secondary, but cognate -to it, of course; that was because it was the Gate to Birth and Death, -through which none pass without the Great Sacrifice. So they clothed -the bride in scarlet, and smeared her forehead with vermilion. It was -this stability of inner thought which enabled the women to be so -untiring in their variants of its outward application. All the bathings -and anointings and soothsayings had this unchangeable dogma as -foundation. So the round of ritual went on, the drums throbbed in -unending rhythm, the conches blared in deafening yells, the whole house -was full of the rustlings and bustlings of womenfolk. It must surely -have been a wedding which made Babu Kishub Chander Sen write the -ponderous dictum: "Man is a noun in the objective case, governed by the -active verb woman." - -Parbutti's father, being a sensible man, removed himself as much as -possible from the ebullient atmosphere; perhaps it was as well, since -he was a light in the Nationalist party, and the ceremonials of a Sakta -wedding do not go well with talk of political rights and wrongs, of -education, and equality, and exotic tyranny. - -Even Parbutti's solemnity was not quite proof against the silly -suggestiveness, the almost indecent jokes and tricks, the hysterical -enhancing of emotions with which she was surrounded. - -She felt it a relief when, the guests having retired for some sleep, -she was free to perform her daily devotion at the shrine downstairs. - -It was a quaint place, this shrine dedicated to Mai Kâli in her -terrific form--in other words, to Our Lady of Pain--the Woman ever in -travail of mind and body--the Ewig Weiblichkeit which is never -satisfied. It formed on the river side of the house, a sort of low -basement, private in so far that a flight of steep stone steps led down -to it from the lowest storey of the house, public in that it opened on -to some bathing steps. But few people came thither except on certain -festivals; so Parbutti, still in her wedding finery, stole down to it -confidently. She liked the small, dim, arched chamber where you could -only see Mai Kâli as a blotch of crimson in her dark niche. And as you -crept down the stairs behind that niche, and looked through the -crisscross iron bars that filled up the arch, "She" showed nothing but -a black shadow against the brilliance beyond. Parbutti used often to -stand for an instant or two on the cornerwise landing of the stairs to -look before passing up. Everything showed black but the low square of -the outside doorway; and even the pigeons when they flew across it -seemed flitting shadows on the light. To-day she was in a hurry, so she -squatted down promptly at a respectful distance from the image, and -began to smear the floor from a goglet of red paint she had brought -with her. And as she did so she chanted: - - - "Om! Om! Kâli Ma!-- - Ruler, Thou, of blackest night-- - Dark, Dark, not a Star-- - In Thy Heaven Kâli Ma!-- - Thou who lovest the flesh of man-- - By this blood I pray thee ban-- - Aliens in Hindustan-- - Kill them, Kâli Ma!-- - Drink their blood and eat their flesh-- - Thou shalt have it fresh and fresh-- - Lo! devour it! lick thy lips-- - Flesh in lumps and blood in sips-- - Stain thyself with sacred red-- - Make them lifeless, dead! dead! dead! - Blessed Kâli Ma! - Ho-o-m! 'Phut!" - - -The last two words were spoken with relish, not only because they were -supposed to be the most potent part of the charm, but because they lent -themselves to dramatic effect. _Ho-om_ being given soft and low; _phut_ -explosively. The result being suggestive of an angry tom-cat. But the -rest of the doggerel came slackly, for Parbutti was not much interested -in it. It was not her curse at all, but one she had promised her -schoolboy brother, Govinda, to say every evening. For many reasons; -chiefly, it is to be feared, because someone else, at present nameless, -was a class-fellow of the said Govinda's. But everyone knew, that if -there was one compelling prayer on earth it was that of a maiden bride; -even Mai Kâli could not resist it. And the petition was a fair one. Who -wanted aliens in Hindustani? Not she! Why! their presence made your -menkind do unspeakable things, so that life became wearisome with -pacifying the gods. Imagine not being able to kiss ... - -Voices close at hand, made her leap to her feet, and gain the staircase -like a frightened hare. Then, of course, being a girl, she paused to -peep through the grating. - -Surely it was Govinda! Then, she need not have run away! No! he had a -tall lad with him! Parbutti's heart beat to suffocation. Was it -possible? Could it be? Was it--well! what she had been taught to -consider her prayer, her pilgrimage, her paradise; that is, her duty -and her pleasure combined? Stay! there was another lad--short! And yet -another--middle-sized! - -This was disconcerting; but perhaps if she listened a little she might -find out. So she stood still as a mouse, all ears, praying in her -inmost heart it might be the tall one. - -Though they spoke in Bengâli, they used such a plentitude of English -words that it was difficult for her to understand fully what they said. -It was not all their fault, as it arose largely from the fact that the -ideas they wished to express, being purely Western, had no Eastern -equivalents. Parbutti, however, had been accustomed to this sort of -talk, as she had been a great favourite of her father's, and till the -last year or so, had often sate on his knee as he entertained his -friends. - -So she listened patiently to pĉans about Liberty, Equality and -Fraternity, mingled with darkling threats--threats which must destroy -all three by depriving some brother of the Liberty of Life or at best -of an arm or a leg! - -For they were only silly schoolboys, who, but for an alien ideal of -education, would have been learning, as their father had learnt, -unquestioning, unqualified obedience at a Guru's feet. Learning it -probably with tears, tied up in a sack with a revengeful tom-cat, or -with a heavy brick poised on the back of the neck for livelong hours; -such being the approved punishments for the faintest disobedience. -Small wonder then, if the organism accustomed to this immemorial -control, runs a bit wild when it finds itself absolutely free to do and -think as it likes. - -These particular boys were very angry, apparently, because some one of -their number had been forced to obey something or someone. It was -tyranny. The Mother-land and their religion was outraged. They were all -Bengâli Brahmans; so Kâli worshippers by birth, and of the Sakta cult; -possibly of the Left-handed or Secret form of that cult. Anyhow they -talked big of Force being the one ruling principle by which men could -rule, of the true Saktas' or Tantriks' contempt for public opinion, of -their determination to show the world that the Tantras had been given -by the gods in order to destroy the oppressors of men. So, "_Jai_ -Anarchism! _Jai Kâli! Jai Bhairavi! Jai Banda Materam!_" - -It was a sad farrago of nonsense; Western individualism dished up -skilfully by professional agitators in a garb of Eastern mysticism; but -they talked it complacently, while Parbutti, still as a mouse, told -herself it must be the tall one; he had such a nice voice. - -Her hopes gained confidence when he lingered behind with Govinda after -the others departed, and began speaking in a lower voice. Could he be -talking about her? Ever and always that came as the uppermost thought. -Then consideration told her this was not possible; no respectable -bridegroom could talk of his bride to another--not even if he also were -a Kulin and a brother. What was it then, about which they were so -mysterious when there was nobody nigh?--here a twinge of compunction -shot through her--at least nobody they could know about. - -At last, her ears becoming accustomed to the strain, she caught one -sentence: "My father was Mai Kâli's priest here"; so by degrees -gathered that there was some secret receptacle somewhere, and that the -tall youth wished to hide something. - -The something appeared to be in what Parbutti had supposed to be a -hooded cage such as students often carry about with their pet -_avitovats_ or fighting quails inside. But this one contained a square -box, which the boy removed with great care, and then, before Parbutti -had grasped what he was doing, he was round at the back of the carven -image, kneeling with his back towards her, and fumbling at the gilt -wooden drapery about Mai Kâli's waist; Govinda meanwhile keeping a -look-out at the door. - -How close he was! If she put out a hand she could touch him--she -thrilled all over at the thought! Too close at any rate for her to -move; besides, she must see what happened. - -Ye gods! The drapery slid up! Mai Kâli was hollow! - -"If aught happens to me," said the nice voice solemnly, "I leave this -in thy charge, oh! Govinda Ram, Kulin. Thou art the only other living -soul who knows of it. And see thou use it as it should be used. A -cocoanut full for a bomb. It requires no fuse. The concussion is -sufficient if the hand is bold." - -The box deposited, the panel slid back again, and the tall lad rising -from his knees stepped to the front again. As he did so, Parbutti -caught a glimpse of his face. It was beautiful as the young -Bala-Krishna, and the whole soul and body of her went out to him--her -hand stole through the bars to touch the air in which he had stood--the -happy air which had touched him. - -So absorbed was she in her joy that she did not realise what was going -on until the sound of their voices brought her back to reality. Then -she recognised that they were repeating the vow of secrecy which is -imposed on all initiates to the Tantrik cult. "I swear by the Eternal -Relentless and Living Power I worship never to divulge the Secret, but -to bury it deeply in silence and ever preserve it inviolate and -inviolable. I will conceal it as the water in a cocoanut is concealed. -I will be a Kaula internally, a Saiva externally, and a Vaishnava when -talking at public meetings." Then they branched off into that of the -new secret political society which underlies the old religious -mysteries. And Parbutti listened with growing fear, for this was -sheer straightforward cursing of informers and lukewarm supporters and -spies--and--and---- - -If they should go on to her? If he should curse her? - -The long stillness had told on her nerves--she felt as if she must -scream, must do something to prevent the dreadful sequence going on and -on.... - -"And cursed be they who listen and----" - -The voices were checked by a passionate cry-- - -"Curse me not! Curse me not! I swear! I, Parbutti, swear to keep -faith!" - -Then, terrified at everything, even her own temerity, she turned and -fled. - -There was little leisure allowed her for thought in the women's -apartment that night, for each one vied with the other in devising -cantrips, most of them undescribable, to secure for her a truly -uxorious husband; but one thing beat through her brain. Would he, could -he--if it _were_ he--be angry with her? Surely not! She had sworn, and -she would keep her oath. Yes! she would keep it faithfully. - -So the day dawned and another tumult of rejoicing rose around her. - -In view of the delay in her betrothals it had been arranged to crowd in -the ceremonials as closely as possible, so as to expedite the actual -marriage, and everybody was running about, conches were blowing, women -were giggling and laughing as the professional guests of the male sex -cracked doubtful jests while they awaited the arrival of the -bridegroom. - -And then came a sudden hush. Something must have happened. What was it? - -Parbutti, sitting apart swathed in her wedding scarlet, was too dazed -to notice the pause at first, until low, and whimpering, an -unmistakable woman's wail rose amid the garlands and tinsels, the paper -flowers, the swinging lanterns. - -She started to her feet--was someone dead? - -In a way, the news that had come was worse than death. _That_ was an -act of God to be accepted with what resignation could be mustered. But -this? What! They had arrested a bridegroom on his wedding day!--and -Govinda, too, the son of the house! What! Those boys--they could not be -guilty! It was only the tyranny of the hated police. They could not be -mixed up with Anarchists. So said some of the men; but others held -their peace and looked sinister, while all the women wept and wailed, -and called on Mai Kâli to avenge the sacrilege. Only Parbutti sate very -still, very silent. She knew something that the others did not know, -but the knowledge only increased her blind resentment, only aggravated -her blind despair. - -He had been filched from her--if it was he. She was too dulled by -disappointment at first to do more than realise her loss, and the -thought of her oath of fealty did not come to her at all until -after three months' needless delay in trying the conspiracy case -against some forty students in the college--a delay due entirely to the -hair-splitting efforts of the counsel for the defence--Govinda settled -it for himself by dying in prison of autumnal fever. His had never been -a good life; he had almost died of it the year before; he might have -died of it at home. But the loss of a son, even when he is not the only -one, is a grievous loss to a Hindu household, and it brought enhanced -and almost insensate anger to every member of it; except to Parbutti, -who went about her household duties calmly, almost stupidly. - -Then came the final blow. The bridegroom--was it _he?_--she wondered -dully--shot himself with a revolver smuggled in to him by a woman, a -young and pretty woman full of patriotism and poetry, a woman brought -up on Western lines, who was almost worshipped by the Nationalist party -of unrest. - -Parbutti heard the tale, still calm to outward appearance. She heard -women's voices, full of curiosity, tell of the deed of patriotism, as -it was called: she heard them wonder what the woman agitator was really -like, and say that Kâli Ma would surely, ere long, rise up in Her Power -and smite the M'llechas hip and thigh. - -And then they looked at her and shook their heads. Neither maid, wife, -nor widow, it would be more difficult than ever to find fresh -betrothals for her. Whereupon Ramabhai wept as she had wept before with -sharp sobs and little outcries. And once more Parbutti said nothing, -though she was quivering all over. It would be impossible to define her -feelings, they were such an admixture of hatred, and love, of fear, and -jealousy, and despair. And through it all came the question: "Was it -he?"--while, as a background, sheer physical disappointment stretched -every fibre of her mind and body almost to breaking joint. - -So it went on until one day someone spoke to her almost as if she had -been a widow, and bade her do something almost menial. - -She did it without a word. It was noon time and the house was deserted; -those who were in it being asleep. She sate for a while in the sunshine -of the courtyard, her hands on her knees, doing nothing. Then suddenly -she rose, and slipped into the room which Ramabhai used as a wardrobe. - -When she emerged from it she was swathed in the scarlet and gold -Benares _khim-kob_ that had cost four hundred rupees, and her arms, her -neck, her feet, were hung with golden ornaments. - -They tinkled as she made her way down the steep stone stairs to Kâli's -shrine. Dark, and still, and small, it lay, with a faint scent of -incense about it; for the previous day had been a festival, and many -folk had been to worship there. - -But Kâli--Mai Kâli--would never have better worshipping than Parbutti -meant to give her. How the idea had come to the girl's mind who can -say; but dimly, out of her confused thoughts had grown the conviction -that something must be done. She was the only one, now, who knew the -secret; but it was useless in her hands. She could not go out and throw -bombs, as he doubtless would have thrown them had he lived; so giving -the Great Goddess the Blood for which she craved. Yes! he had meant to -do it, for were not the aliens accursed? Had they not killed him? - -She mixed everything up hopelessly; Mai Kâli and the Sacrament of -Blood, her own loss and the public good; she felt angry, and weary, and -disappointed; she felt that she ought to do something, that she must -get Someone stronger than she was on her side, to do what she was -helpless to do. - -So, confused, obstinate, she stepped behind the image, slid back the -panel, and took out the box. Then, producing a cocoanut shell from the -folds of her _sare_, she filled it carefully, methodically, and put -back the box carefully, methodically. - -This done, she went to the front of the image, smeared the floor once -more with blood-red, and began her maiden's prayer--the prayer that is -infallible! - - - "Om! Om! Kâli Ma!-- - Dark! Dark! Not a star-- - In my Heaven, Kâli Ma!--" - - -This time her voice was high and hard, for had not Mai Kâli to be -compelled--yea! even by the greatest of sacrifices? - - - "Thou shalt have it fresh and fresh-- - Blood to drink, and lumps of flesh--" - - -Higher and higher grew the voice; it did not falter at all: not even -when at the final - - - "_Hoom phut_" - - -the girl, raising her hand on high, dashed the cocoanut she held upon -the ground boldly. - -There was a faint flash, an instant explosion, a grinding noise as the -house rocked to its foundation, then steadied into quiescence. - -But Parbutti had kept her promise to Mai Kâli, and to--_him_; for the -Goddess might have satisfied Her craving for Blood, Her desire for -Flesh amid the welter of broken stones and twisted grids, of shattered -wood-carving and torn Benares _khim-kob_, of jewels rent apart and -splintered bones, that was all remaining of Her shrine, Her image, and -Her worshipper. - -Whether She will keep her part of the bargain is another matter. - -But the Maiden's Prayer has been said, the Greatest of Sacrifices has -been made. - - - - - SILVER SPEECH AND GOLDEN - SILENCE - - - I - SILVER SPEECH - -"It is not only the interest of India--now the most considerable part -of the British Empire--but the credit and honour of the British nation -itself, will be decided by this division. We are to decide by this -judgment whether the crimes of individuals are to be turned into public -guilt and national ignominy; or whether this nation will convert the -very offences which have thrown a transient shade upon its government -into something that will reflect a permanent lustre upon the honour, -justice and humanity of the kingdom! My lords! There is yet another -consideration equal to those other two great interests I have -stated--those of our Empire, of our national character--something that, -if possible, comes more home to the hearts and feelings of every -Englishman--I mean the interests of our constitution itself, which is -deeply involved in this case." - -In the audience, a young man, fair of face, blue of eye, looked up -suddenly, then muttered under his breath: - -"Hard cheek! What the deuce has he got to do with the British -constitution?" - -"Do be quiet, Tom!" blushed the girl who sat next him in a whisper; -"they'll hear you." - -Tom relapsed into bored silence, and the stream of words went on-- - -"But the crimes we charge against him are not lapses, defects, errors -of common human frailty which, as we know and feel, we can allow for. -There are no crimes that have not arisen from passions which it is -criminal to harbour, no offences that have not their root in avarice, -rapacity, pride, insolence, ferocity, treachery, cruelty, malignity of -temper; in short, in nothing that does not argue a total extinction of -all moral principle, that does not manifest an inveterate blackness of -heart dyed ingrain with malice, vitiated, corrupted, gangrened to the -very core." - -"Confound his Billingsgate!" murmured Tom Gordon softly. "What good -does it do--anybody?" - -"H'sh!" came the warning feminine whisper; "his accent is really very -good." - -Tom shifted uneasily, and once again the strenuous, eager voice, -struggling bravely against the harshness of the English language, was -the only sound held in the white walls of the Mission School at Ilmpur, -a little Punjab town set in a waste of sand. The hot sunshine slanted -across it in broad, golden rays from the upper windows, to lay broad, -yellow squares on the cool whitewash. Through the doors, set open to -the air on all sides, the same hot, yellow sunshine slanted in on the -upturned faces of the students, all bent--with elation in their -looks--on the prize English speaker, who was declaiming his set speech -out of Burke's famous impeachment of Warren Hastings. Declaiming it -before, as the local paper put it, "Mr. Commissioner Gordon and his -good lady, Mr. Tom Gordon, a fine young man worthy of his great father -who has lately entered India from Eton in quest of police post, the -beautiful Miss Gordon, and many others of European renown, including -natives of high official positions, who have honoured the Reverends -Freemantle and Smith with attendance at their mission-school -prizegiving." - -They sat in a semicircle on the dais. A quaint company. Mr. -Commissioner Gordon, with a painstakingly pious expression on his -grizzly red-bearded face, inwardly rehearsing the speech he would have -to make in his turn; his good lady nervously eyeing the gilt books -which she would have to give away, spread out on the table before her. -It was covered with a royal red cloth, and on it stood a packed posy of -jasmine blossoms and marigolds. The odour of the crushed blossoms -mingled with the confused scent of cocoanut oil, roses, and curry -powder which is inseparable from every Indian assembly. On one side of -the Commissioner sat the Reverend Freemantle, a gentleman with a beard -grown white in the service of education. Mild, placid, benevolent, his -face beamed out over his students. They were all doing well, and -Gunpat-Rai was simply excelling himself by showing complete mastery -over both vowels and consonants. Indeed, in the whole semicircle of -eager teachers and approvers upon the platform there was not to be seen -a dissentient expression; and one _zenana_-worker positively wept tears -of joy, because it was through her dreary daily drudgery amongst fetid -alleys and sunless back courts that the prize pupil had originally come -to the mission-school. - -Otherwise he might have remained as his father had remained all his -life, proprietor of an odd little shop right away from all other shops, -where they sold matches and oil, flour and earthenware dishes, string -and pipe-bowls--everything, in fact, which might suddenly be wanted in -the big, high, tenement houses that elbowed and shouldered the little -dark lane. - -"The law is the security of the people of England! It is the security -of the people of India!" - -Gunpat-Rai's voice, overtaxed, almost broke over the climax of Burke's -rhodomontade, but the tumultuous, undisciplined applause which -followed, covered the fact, and he sat down feeling dazed, confused. It -was the first time he had ever spoken in public, and he had found that -he had not been afraid. That, in itself, was disturbing--he had not -felt afraid! - -Meanwhile, Mr. Commissioner Gordon's loud voice was bombarding the wall -with fitful explosions of words which reverberated amidst an echo of -hesitating stutters. - -"Gives me great pleasure, unalloyed pleasure to--er--er--er--to--to see -Indian youth--er--er--er--taking their place with--with--er--er--er----" -Here a glance at his son--who, after the manner of sons when their -fathers are speaking, was burying his face in his hands--seemed to -supply the lacking phrase--"with the youth of England." - -"Good Heavens!" groaned Tom Gordon aside plaintively; "I say, Nell, how -long do you think the Guv'nor will be on his legs, for I'll slope out, -and have a smoke----" - -"S--st, Tom!" reproved his sister severely. "You can't--and you've got -to play in the cricket match, you know." - -Tom groaned again, but less plaintively; and so the speechifying -went on, the burden of all being the incalculable advantage of a good -sound English education in every walk of life. Did they but choose, -every student present--at any rate, students of the stamp of -Gunpat-Rai--might "rise to higher things." - -So, with a final and formal hand-shake to the lad who had so -distinguished himself, the company trooped out into the sunshine and -the mission-school lay empty. Only in the place where Gunpat-Rai had -sat ere rising to speak, a tiny packet wrapped in silver-leaf betrayed -its presence by shining like a star. It was the talisman which his -little fifteen-year-old wife had given him that morning ere he started, -with tears and laughter, because it was only the first half-chewed, -half-sucked piece of dough-cake his firstborn had ever had. It had -dropped from his nerveless hand when, in a dire funk, he had stood up -in answer to the call of his name. - -It did not, however, shine long, for an impudent sparrow soon -discovered that it was but dough made silvern, and promptly carried it -off. - -Meanwhile the cricket match was in full swing, Tom Gordon captaining -one side, and the Reverend Mr. Freemantle (who still cherished an old -blue cap he had worn in his Oxford days) the other. - -Youth, however, had to be allowed for, so the last-comer from -Eton found himself, to his great delight, at the head of ten -smaller boys--jolly little chaps with bright eyes and boundless -obediences--while the big students, including Gunpat-Rai--who was cock -at cricket as in English, ranged themselves under their master. - -They won the toss, and Tom Gordon, as he suppled his hands with the -ball, told himself the bowling must be good. - -And good it was, especially in style. The tall young figure in white -flannels, close clipped about the lean flanks with the light blue belt, -reminded one of a flying Mercury as it poised in delivery. Every -woman's eye was on it in admiration. As for the swift balls it sent, -they were a revelation to these Indian boys, who had never seen real -cricket. They crumpled up before them like agitated spiders when they -came off the wicket, and when they came on it, they looked helplessly -at the umpire to see if they were really out. The Reverend Mr. -Freemantle made a good stand, the memory of many a past day coming back -to give half-forgotten skill to his bat, his sheer delight in his -youthful adversary's prowess making him bold. Still the score stood -ominously at one figure when Gunpat-Rai took his place. Tom Gordon -hitched up his belt and looked. - -"I should say leg before," he muttered, "but they're so thin, they -hardly count." - -And then he let drive. - -Now, whether the ball chose to hit Gunpat-Rai's bat or Gunpat-Rai's bat -chose to hit the ball, is immaterial. Away it went beyond the boundary, -and Gunpat-Rai's long legs scored four. A sharp, hissing roar of -delight rose from the assembled school, and Tom Gordon frowned faintly; -but he was far too good-humoured to withstand what followed. Heartened -up by his absolutely unlooked-for success, Gunpat-Rai who, though his -legs were thin, was a powerful enough young fellow, did everything and -more than everything that could be expected of him. He gambolled out -and slogged wildly, he pirouetted like a teetotum and nearly killed his -wicket-keep, and finally let drive at his partner's wicket, demolishing -all three stumps. - -"Out!" cried the umpire ruefully, but with commendable impartiality, -and when Tom Gordon had sufficiently recovered from his laughter to -assert that no one but the stumps had suffered, another hissing roar of -applause rose from the school. - -All things, however, must come to an end, and a skying block of -Gunpat-Rai's was finally caught by Tom Gordon as it appeared to be -descending on his mother's lap. But the score stood at thirty-six, and -as the batsman walked past him proudly yet sheepishly, the Eton boy -shook him by the hand. - -"By George, you know," he said, "you'd be another Ranji, with practice! -I never saw such an innings played--never!" - -Gunpat-Rai flushed up under his dark skin and gave back the grip with -all the curious, lissome strength of an Indian hand, in which the -sinews seem made of iron, the bones of velvet. - -After that it seemed of little count that Tom Gordon, who began the -next innings, should, by a judicious foresight and the obedience of his -small boys combined, carry out his last bat as last man with a score of -seventy-two. - -"You are too good for us, Gordon," laughed the Rev. Mr. Freemantle. "We -must deport him from the station, or request him not to play again, -mustn't we, boys?" - -But the hissing roar which followed was of dissent, not assent, and -when it had died away, Gunpat-Rai, as head of the school, spoke up, to -his own surprise again, fluently. - -"Cricket," he said, "is a noble game. We learn everything noble from -England. So are we pleased to acquire proficiency at the hands of Mr. -Tom Gordon, Esquire." - -The soft dark eyes looked almost appealingly at the blue ones. - -"All right," said their owner, curtly. "I'll come down and coach you a -bit, if you like." - -And he did. - - - II - GOLDEN SILENCE - -"Why on earth can't you learn to hold your tongue, Gunpat?" said Tom -Gordon roughly. "I thought you had more sense than to mix yourself up -with those Arya Somajh agitators. You'll be getting yourself into -trouble some day!" - -The years had passed since the famous innings, making of the bowler an -Assistant District Superintendent of Police, of the batsman a pleader -in the High Court. Practically the balance of progress was all in -favour of the latter. Coming from the house of a miserable merchant -whose monthly earnings barely touched a living wage of the poorest -description, he had risen far beyond his birthright, whereas Tom -Gordon, on his pay of two hundred a month, with poor promotion before -him, had, if anything, fallen from his. But discontent sat in the dark -eyes and cheerful acquiescence in the blue ones. Perhaps the owner of -the latter was a better appraiser of his own worth, for he knew he was -not clever; knew that though he was "jolly good" at this, he was not -"jolly good" at that. Not so Gunpat-Rai. Clever at school--the -cleverness of imitation, of memory--and gifted with a fluency of words -beyond even that of most of his class, he had spent the first years of -his young manhood in waiting for an appointment which never came. How -could it come when every school in India turns out dozens of applicants -as capable as he for every Government post from Cape Comorin to Holy -Himalaya? Yet resentment at this failure of the impossible ate into his -soul. So he had turned pleader, had drifted into the editing of a -native newspaper, a copy of which lay on Tom Gordon's office table as -he looked with kindly contempt at the man who sat opposite him. For, -though Gunpat-Rai had not turned out a second Ranji, the memory of the -old days when he had coached the Ilmpur school still lingered with the -Eton boy, and he had shaken hands as frankly as ever when Gunpat-Rai -had called to welcome him to his new district. - -"I'll tell you what it is, Gunpat," continued Tom Gordon, "you -fellows don't know what anybody wants but yourselves. Now, take this -district--it's a very fair sample." He turned over the leaves of the -last Census report which lay on his table rapidly. "Hum--m--m, here we -are, Jahilabad, population 560,000 odd--240,000 Jat cultivators of the -soil, 35,000 Banyas, presumably moneylenders--literacy--let's take the -average for all India if you like--it tells enormously against my -argument, but it can stand it! Now think! At fifty-three per thousand -we have twenty-nine--let's say 30,000 men who can scrawl their names -and spell out a line or two in their own vernacular. How many of these -are put out of court by the 35,000 moneylenders? More than half, I'll -wager. There you are, you educated men, a negligible minority, taking -India as a whole. So why don't you speak for yourselves, not for the -country at large? Because you don't really mean anything, you don't -know what you want yourselves." Tom Gordon paused in this unusual -eloquence, and, with a laugh, turned to the handsome little fellow of -six whom Gunpat-Rai had shown off with pride as his eldest son. - -"Jolly little chap," said the Assistant Superintendent irrelevantly. "I -suppose he's married?" - -Gunpat-Rai flushed up under his dark skin as he had done five years -before at the cricket match. - -"The women----" he began. - -"Oh, I know!" interrupted the young Englishman. "'_Stri acchar_,' and -all that. But, I say, Gunpat! How the deuce are you going to govern -India if you can't even settle your womenkind? No, my dear fellow! I -haven't the faintest sympathy with you. You sail pretty near sedition -in this copy." Here he laid his hand on the blurred, blotched -broadsheet which called itself _The Star of Hope_. "But, by George! if -you jib it the least bit more, I shall have to run you in. So don't be -a fool. You're a good sort, Gunpat, and I shall never forget that -innings of yours--never! If you would only have stuck to it instead of -'seeking a post in white clothing' you might have been----" - -He paused, unable to say what; and Gunpat-Rai, feeling a like -inability, the conversation ended uncomfortably. - -And so it came to pass that not many more days afterwards, Tom -Gordon sat once more in that curious atmosphere of cocoanut-oil and -curry powder which is inseparable from Indian crowds, listening to -Gunpat-Rai's voice. But he sat disguised in one of the front benches of -the crowded hall, so that he had to look far back more than once to see -that his constables were all in evidence. For a notable agitator on -tour had stopped at the little town; and this was a meeting which must -be reported upon, since here was no audience composed of peacefully -seditious Bengâli clerks and irresponsible students, but of stalwart -Jats, discontented over some new, but as yet untried, scheme of -irrigation. Now, irrigation stands closer to the heart of a Jat that -does wife and children. What! was the Sirkar to deny the land its -drink? - -The other speakers had been innocuous. Their very vehemence had passed -by the slumbering passions of the long-bearded Jats who listened to -them with ill-concealed yawns. But with Gunpat-Rai it was different. At -the first word Tom Gordon felt that he was in the presence of a born -orator. And yet--and yet--surely the words were vaguely familiar in -their import, if not in their sound? - -"The crimes we charge against this alien Government of India," came the -liquid Indian voice, "are not lapses, defects, errors of common frailty -which we, brethren, as we know them in ourselves, can allow for. They -are no crimes that have not arisen from evil passions--passions which -it is criminal to harbour"--an iron mailed stick held by a burly farmer -fell with a clang as its owner shifted it to his right hand--"no -offences that have not their root in avarice, rapacity, pride, -insolence, ferocity, treachery, cruelty, malignity of temper----" Each -epithet seemed punctuated by a growing stir amongst the audience. "In -short, in nothing that does not argue a total extinction of all moral -principle, that does not manifest an inveterate blackness of heart." - -Tom Gordon had it now! The Billingsgate he had confounded years ago, of -course--Burke's Billingsgate! - -He had flung off his disguise and leapt to the dais in a second. - -"Oh, hold your jaw! Do, there's a decent chap! Don't go spouting other -folks' abuse!" he cried. - -But Gunpat-Rai was helpless before the sudden need for decision. "Dyed -ingrain with malice, vitiated----" he went on mechanically. - -The young Assistant Superintendent of Police gave a sharp glance behind -him. What he saw there was not reassuring. "Oh! do shut up! Tell them -the meeting's over, or there'll be mischief." - -"Corrupted, gangrened----" - -"Constables," came the order keenly, "clear the room! For Heaven's -sake, Gunpat, don't get yourself into trouble!" - -They were the last words Tom Gordon spoke. His hand slipped from -Gunpat-Rai's shoulder as he was struck full on the bare head from -behind by an iron-bound staff which crashed into his skull. - -Even then the tyranny of words held Gunpat-Rai, though the suddenness -of the shock dislocated his sequence. - -"Dyed ingrain, corrupted to the very core." - -Then he stood staring at what lay before him, and a great silence--a -golden silence from words--came to him at last. - -He only broke it once, when he was on trial. The court was full of his -friends, and on the dais sat Englishmen, so the conditions were nearly -the same as they had been years ago when the hot sunshine had slanted -from the Tipper windows at Ilmpur to lay broad squares on the cool -whitewash. - -"I learnt it at school," he said dully; and then he began: "But the -crimes we charge against you----" - -"Hush--h!" said the judge gravely. "We know what you learnt at school." - -But that did not lessen the sentence. - - - - - THE FOOTSTEPS OF A DOG - - -She passed, smiling softly, though a vague trouble seemed to clutch at -her heart. She had found him asleep so often of late, and if the driver -slept, the oxen might well pause in their task of drawing water, and so -the fields which needed it so much be deprived for yet another day of -their life-giving draught. They were not, however, pausing now, at any -rate. Their slow circling brought her sleeping husband to Sarsuti's -eyes, and carried him away again, wheeling round by the well from whose -depths a stream of water splashed drowsily into a wooden trough and -then hurried away--a little ribbed ribbon of light--out of the shade of -the great banyan tree into the sun-saturated soil beyond where the -young millet was sprouting. - -How cool it was, after her hot walk from the village! No wonder he -slept! She sat herself down beside the runnel of water where a jasmine -bush threw wild whips of leaf and blossom over the damp earth. There -was no need to wake him yet. The bullocks would not pause now that she -was there to make them do their work. - -That was her task in life!--to make them do their work. - -She sighed, and yet she smiled again, as the slow-circling oxen brought -her husband Prema almost to her feet once more. How handsome he was, -his bare head lying on the turban he had pressed into the service of a -pillow. And his slender limbs! How ingeniously he had curved them on -the forked seat so as to gain a comfortable resting-place! Trust Prema -to make himself and everyone else in the world comfortable! A sudden -leap of her heart sent the blood to dye her dark face still darker, as -she thought of the softness, the warmth, the colour he had brought into -her life. - -How long had they been married? Ten years--a whole ten years, and there -was never a child yet. It was getting time. No! No! Not yet--not yet! -She need not look that in the face yet. - -She rose suddenly as the wheeling oxen brought him to her once more, -and staying them with one swift word, bent over the sleeping man. - -"Prem!" she said. "Prema! I am here." His arms were round her in an -instant, his lips on hers; for here, out in the shadow amongst the -sunshine, they were alone. - -"Sarsuti! Wife!" he murmured drowsily, then with a laugh, shook his -long length and stood beside her, his arm still about her waist. Tall -as he was, she was almost as tall, a straight, upstanding Jatni woman -with eyebrows like a broad bar across her face. - -But, as her dark eyes met his in passionate adoration, something in the -sight of his exceeding beauty smote her to the heart. The thought that -there was none to inherit it, the knowledge that if it passed it would -leave nothing behind it. It is a thought which has driven many an -Indian woman to take another woman by the hand and lead her home to be -a hand-maiden to the lord. It drove Sarsuti--after long weeks, nay, -months of thought--almost to speech. - -"Prem!" she faltered, hiding her face on his breast, - -"I have been thinking--thou needst a son--and----" But she could get no -further, partly because the words seemed to choke her, partly because -Prema, turning her face to his with his soft, supple hand, stopped her -mouth with kisses. - -What was the use? What was the use, she asked herself fiercely, -thinking of such things when she loved him so? Some morning, aye! some -summer morning after a summer's night, she would rather make the -Dream-compeller send her to sleep, once and for all!--to sleep and -dreams of Prema and his love! Then he could marry again, and there -would be children to light up the old house, a son to light the funeral -pyre. - -But now--no! Not yet!... - -The sunshine filtering through the broad leaves dappled them with light -and shade; the oxen resting stood head down, nosing at the damp earth; -the water, ceasing to splash, ran silently more and more slowly on its -way, and all around them a yellow glare of heat hemmed them in -breathlessly. Yet here, at the well, the jasmine grew green, a big -datura lily, rejoicing in the shade, threw out its wide white blossoms, -and, looking down to the mirror-like pool of water into which the long, -unending circle of deftly-arranged earthen pots and ropes dipped, you -could see the tufts of maidenhair fern which came God knows whence. -They were like love in the heart--Heaven--sent! - -"Thou wilt call at the Lala-_jee's_ this evening, Sarsuti," said Prema, -with a faint note of half-shamed uneasiness in his voice, as, his -midday meal of milk and hearth-cakes over, she prepared to go back. "He -deals more justly with thee than with me--may he be accursed, and may -the footsteps of a dog ..." - -"S'st! Prema," she interrupted, "the Lala-_jee_ is no worse than his -kind; and we have asked so much--lately." - -Yes! she thought as she trudged homewards, they had asked much, for -Prema had a lavish hand. Yet she would, of course, have him keep up his -position as head man of the village; the position that had been hers by -right as the only child of her father. Prema, her cousin, had gained it -through his marriage to her, by special favour of the Sirkar, in memory -of good service done in the Mutiny time by the old man. He had been a -better husbandman than Prema, and money had gone fast these few years -since he died, though she had tried to keep things as they had been. -Still, who could grudge Prema the handsomest yoke of oxen in the -country-side, the fleetest mare? And those mad experiments of his with -new ploughs, new seeds that the Huzoors spoke about! It was well to -keep to the soft side of the masters, no doubt, yet it should be done -discreetly--and when was Prema ever discreet? She almost laughed, even -while she stooped to let the water from an overflooded plot run into -the next by removing the clod which her husband had forgotten, thinking -of his indiscreetness--of the gifts he showered on her when he had -money in his pocket to pay for them; sometimes when he had not. Of -course, the Lala-_jee_ would listen to reason and lend more on the -coming crop--who could deny Prem anything? - -But the Lala was curiously obdurate. He was an old man, who had backed -the luck of the village for three generations, and never had a dispute -with his creditors. - -"See you, daughter," he said. "Prem for all he is head man and thy -husband, is but man, and there is none to come after him." - -Her face darkened with a hot blush again. - -"The land will be there," she replied, haughtily. - -"Aye, but who will own it! Strangers, they say, from far away. I have -no dealings with strangers." - -"There will be my share," she protested. - -"Aye! but how wilt thou fare with strangers also, thou--childless -widow?" he asked. - -Her hot anger flamed up. "Wait thou and see! Meanwhile, since thou art -afraid, take this," she tore off the solid gold bangle she wore, "'tis -worth fifty rupees at the veriest pawnshop--give me forty!" - -"Nay," replied the bunnya, with spirit. "'Tis worth a good -seventy-five, though thy man--I'll warrant me--paid a hundred. So -seventy-five thou shalt have; but, look you, daughter--or, if thou -willest it, mother--keep Prem in leash, or a surety the footsteps of a -dog will show on his ashes." - -She looked at him, startled. Curious how the phrase, born of a belief -that one can read the reward of the dead from the marks which show on -his funeral pyre, should crop up. First from Prem, regarding the - Lala-_jee_, next from the Lala-_jee_ concerning Prem. Was there any -truth in it, she wondered? She had the money, that was one comfort, and -Prema would be pleased. Then, when the Biluch mare foaled, and they -sold it as a yearling for the three hundred rupees Prem thought it -would fetch, she would tell him how she had pawned his gift; meanwhile, -a brass bracelet, to be had at the shop for a rupee, would serve to -deceive his eyes. But not the sharp ones of Veru, the young widow who -was the only other inhabitant of the wide courtyard with its slips of -arcaded rooms round about it, and great stacks of millet stalks, and -huge bee-hive stores of grain. - -Her eyes were on it from the moment Sarsuti, sitting down above her on -the little raised mud dais, began to spin. - -"Thou needst not stare so, girl," broke in Sarsuti, at last. "Yes! I -have pawned it. He needed money, and he is more to me than aught else -beside--more than thou, husbandless, can dream, child." - -Veru--she was indeed but little more than a child, this virgin widow of -Sarsuti's half-brother, who had been born and died in his father's old -age--held her head lower over her wheel, and said nothing. Her widow's -shroud seemed to swallow her up. Yet in that Jat household she was -kindly enough treated, for Sarsuti's strong arms loved work, and she -had a great pity in her great soft heart for all unloved things. Here -was no question of shaven head or daily fasting. Veru simply led a -cloistered life, and did what share her strength allowed of the daily -work. Of late that had not been much; she had complained of fatigue, -and had sat all day spinning feverishly as if to make up for her -failure in other ways; for she was a sensitive little thing, ready to -cry at a word of blame. - -So the evening passed by. Prema was not to be back from the well till -late, not, indeed, until the moon set; for the young millet had been -neglected somewhat, and even he was roused to the necessity for action. -Water it must have, or there would be no crop. Thus, as the sun set, -Sarsuti cooked the supper, reserving the best dough cakes, the choicest -morsels of the pickled carrots against her husband's return, and then, -being weary, lay down so as to freshen herself up to receive him as he -should be received. The night was hot, there was a restlessness in it -which found its way into her mind, and she lay awake for some time -thinking of what the Lala-_jee_ had said. Yes! It was time, it was -growing time for so many things. Yes! she must harden her heart and be -wise--the footsteps of the ... - -Here she fell asleep. - -When she woke, there was pitch darkness. The moon had set. What had -happened? Had Prema returned, and, full of kindliness as ever, seen she -was tired and so refrained from waking her? She put out her hand and -touched his bed, but he was not there. How late he was! And where was -Veru? Veru, who should have been watching for him. - -"Veru! lazy child--art asleep?" - -Her question came back to her unanswered; Veru, also, was not in the -wide courtyard. Where were they? - -The very conjunction of her thought regarding them, woke in her a -sudden swift pang of jealousy. - -Where were they? - -A minute later, holding an oil cresset in her hand as a guard against -snakes, she was passing swiftly through the deserted village on her way -to the well. Prema might have fallen asleep--he might be asleep still. -The night was so dark, she held the lamp high above her head so as to -throw its light before her on the narrow edge of a pathway between the -flooded fields. It was so still, she could hear the faint sob made by -some deadly thing slipping from her coming into the water, over which a -wandering firefly would flash, revealing an inky glimmer between the -rising shoots of corn. Ahead, that massed shadow was the banyan tree. -The fireflies were thick there, thick as cressets at a bridal feast ... - -If Prema slept--Yes! if he slept, to be awakened by a kiss. - -Underneath the arching branches of the banyan tree it was dark indeed, -but the silence of it told her that the oxen anyhow were at rest. - -And Prema! - -As she held the light forward, something on the ground at her feet -caught her eye--jasmine! Jasmine twined into a wreath. For whose head? -Not hers! - -"Prema!" she called. "Prem!" - -There was no answer. But he was there for all that; half resting on the -forked seat, as if he had flung himself upon it when weary; weary and -content; his head thrown back upon his arm, his whole body lax with -sleep--and with content. - -She had seen him look thus so often! "Prem!" she whispered. "Prem!" and -touched him on the bosom. - -Then a hideous shriek of terror and horror startled the sleeping oxen -into forward movement, as from the folds of his clothes, like some evil -thought, there slipped a snake, swift, curved, disappearing into the -darkness. - -"Prem! Prem! Speak to me! Oh, Prem--speak!" - -As she flung herself upon him, the forward movement of the oxen forced -her to her knees, so heeding it not at all, one hand holding the light -close to his face as she strove vainly to rouse him, she was dragged -along the accustomed round, until the beasts, recognising the -unaccustomed strain, paused once more. - -"Prem! Say thou art not dead--say only that, Prem!" she moaned. - -Her voice seemed to reach him on the far edge of the great Blank, for -his eyelids quivered. Then, for one moment, he looked at her, and there -was appeal in his eyes. - -"Wife--Veru--my----" It was scarcely a whisper, but she heard it, and -with a cry of joy, she caught him in her strong arms, laid him on the -ground, and, tearing his cloth aside, sought for the wound. Finding it, -her lips were on it in a second. Ah! could kisses draw the poison, -surely her frantic love must avail. - -But no. His eyelids closed. There was no sound, only a little quiver -that she felt through her lips. Then his beauty lay still beneath them. - -After a time she drew herself away from him, and laid his head upon her -lap. So she sat, dazed, thinking of that jasmine wreath in the dust, -and of that half-heard whisper-- - -"Wife--Veru--my----" My--what? - - - * * * * * - - -"And there is none to come after him," said the village worthies, when -the fire of Prema's burning had died down to smouldering embers, and -the oldest man of his clan in the village had performed the rites which -should have been the duty of a son. - -And then they shook their heads wisely, thinking that men of Prem -Singh's kind ran an ill risk in the next world without a son to perform -the funeral obsequies; especially, nowadays, when the law prevented a -dutiful wife from ensuring her husband's safety and salvation by -burning herself on his funeral pyre. Yea! it was an ill world indeed in -which the fostered virtue of a woman you had cared for and cossetted -might not avail to save the man she loved from the pains of purgatory. -And then they drifted away, full of surmise and deep desire concerning -the headship of the village. Mai Sarsuti could not hold it as a widow, -though she could hold the land; and there were no relations--none. So -the coast was clear for many claims. - -Sarsuti meanwhile had not clamoured--as many an Indian widow does even -nowadays--to be allowed to sacrifice herself for her husband's -salvation. She had scarcely wept. She had, on the contrary, spoken -sternly to Veru, bidding her keep her foolish tears until all things -had been done in due order to keep away the evil spirits and ensure -peace to the departed. - -Then, after all the ceremonies were completed, and Prem's beauty lay -swathed awaiting sunset for its burning, she had sat on one side of his -low bier, while Veru sat on the other, and the wail had risen -piercingly-- - -"Naked he came, naked he has gone; this empty dwelling-house belongs -neither to you nor to me." - -There had been a menace in her voice, high-pitched, clear, almost -impassive, while Veru's had been broken by sobs. - -So now that frail weakling was asleep, wearied out by her woe, while -Sarsuti sat where the bier had been, still in all the glory of her -wifely raiment, still with the vermilion stain upon her forehead, still -wearing round her neck the blessed marriage cord with which he had so -often toyed. For she had point-blank refused to allow it to be broken. -Time enough for the widow's shroud, she had said. To-day she was still -Prem's wife--he had scarce had time to die. - -So she sat quite still, looking at the place where he had lain, -thinking of those last words. Had she really heard them? Was it -possible, the thing that had leapt to her mind? - -Deep down in her heart she knew vaguely that the feet of her idol had -been of clay; that with Prem all things were possible. Poor, wandering -feet, which might yet have kept to the straight path, if--Oh, Prem! -Prem! Had it been her fault? Or was she wronging him? - -Then, suddenly, that recurring phrase recurred to her once more. - -"The footstep of a dog--the footstep of a dog." - -Was it past midnight? Had another day begun--the day of judgment? -Surely; then she could see--yea! She could prove it was not true. - -The moon was just sinking as, close-wrapped in her veil, she crept down -to the edge of the nullah, where the burning-ground lay; a gruesome -place, haunted by the spirits of the departed, not to be ventured near -after dark. But Sarsuti had forgotten all the village lore, she had -forgotten everything save that deadly doubt. - -Yonder, it must be on the point close to the water, for still an almost -mist-like vapour lingered there. She sped past the faintly lighted -patches on the hard-baked soil which told of other burnings, murmuring -a prayer for the peace of dead souls, and so found herself beside that -little pile of dear ashes. A breeze from the coming dawn stirred them, -sending a grey flake or two to meet her. - -"Prem!" she whispered; then, as she stooped to look, the whisper passed -to a cry-- - -"Oh! Prema! Prema!" - -She lay there face down, her hands grovelling in the still warm embers -on which there showed unmistakably the footstep of a dog! - -And the moon sank, so there was darkness for a while. Then in the far -east the horizon lightened, bringing a grey mystery to the wide expanse -of the level world. And behind the greyness came a primrose dawn, and -the sun, rising serene and bright, sent a shaft of light to touch her -as she lay. - -Then she rose, and dusting the dear ashes from her almost blistered -hands, she crept back to the wide courtyard, where Veru still slept, -worn out by sorrow. She stood watching her asleep, wondering at her own -blindness. Then she touched her on the bosom. - -"Wake!" she cried, in a loud voice. "Wake! Oh, Veru! And speak the -truth!" - -The girl started up, and the eyes of the two women met. - - - * * * * * - - -The village was bitterly disappointed; but, of course, there was -nothing to be done but wait and see if the child was a son, for Mai -Sarsuti had stolen a march on them. She had gone straight to the -burra-sahib, straight to the head district official, and told him of -her hopes. What is more, she had petitioned for trustees to work the -land, seeing that she and her sister-in-law were poor widows; and she, -especially, unfit for work. - -So three of the village elders had been convened to see to the land and -render account to the sahib, who would be sure to keep an eye on them -seeing that Mai Sarsuti was an upstanding, straightforward Jatni, just -the kind to whom the sahib-logue gave consideration. And, after all, -she and hers deserved it, for they came of a long line of virtuous, -loyal people. - -So Sarsuti, with Vera, lived in the seclusion which befitted her recent -loss; though, according to custom, she still wore a wife's dress. But -she grew haggard as the months went by. Small wonder, said the village -matrons, when they returned from their occasional visits, seeing that -she awaited a fatherless child. - -Then one morning, Veru, looking very worn and frightened, and ill, came -to tell the elders that a son had been born to Sarsuti. Perhaps it was -as well, they thought, since otherwise there might be disputes about -the headship. Now there could be none; and as there would be a very -long minority under the care of the sahibs, Prem's son would come in to -free land, and money laid up in the bank. A rich headman was always a -prop to the village. So their wives went to congratulate the new-made -mother. - -She was looking haggard still, and scarcely seemed to rejoice in her -great gift; but that, perhaps, might come by and bye. - -But it did not. Sometimes she would take the baby and look at it long -and earnestly. Then she would give it back to Veru, whose arms were -seldom empty of Prem's child, and return to the work of the house, or -sit watching them gravely from her spinning-wheel, her large dark eyes -full of wistful pain. - -So the months sped by. - -And still Sarsuti wore a wife's dress and smeared vermilion on her -forehead; and the mangala sutram, still unbroken, held the wife's medal -round her throat. It would be time, she answered proudly to the shocked -village women, to think of breaking it when Prem should have been dead -a year, and the child be able to suck cow's milk. - -She prepared for the anniversary by purchasing a Maw's feeding bottle, -and an eagerness grew to her face as she watched little Prem take it, -and roll over contentedly to sleep, like the fat good-natured little -lump of a healthy child as he was. But Veru wept. - -Still, Maw had supplanted Motherhood when the night came round again on -which Sarsuti had heard that faint whisper from her dying husband. The -child slept as a child should, and Veru, once more worn out by tears, -slept also. - -But, as on that night a year ago, Sarsuti sat on the place where Prem's -bier had lain and thought, her dark eyes full of a great resolve. -Suddenly she rose, tall, straight, upstanding, and passed to where -the child lay. She stooped and kissed it--kissed it for the first -time--then, throwing her arms skywards, murmured to High Heaven, "Lo! I -have saved him--I, his wife"; and so, catching up a small bundle which -she had prepared, passed into the darkness of the night. - - - * * * * * - - -They found her charred body at dawn, face downwards, where the -footsteps of a dog had shown upon Prem's ashes. - -She had saturated her clothes with paraffin, and set fire to herself -deliberately. - -"Lo! how she loved him," said the village elders, behind their outward -and decorous disapproval. "See you, she is decked as a bride with all -her jewels. Now, with a son in his house, and suttee on his pyre, there -is no fear but what Prem hath found freedom." - -"Ay!" assented the Lala-_jee_. "The footstep of a dog will not be seen -on his ashes." - - - - - THE FINDING OF PRIVATE - FLANIGAN - - -We were quartered up in the hills making a military road when Private -Flanigan was lost. It was to be a big road, cutting clean into the -heart of the Himalayas, so various detachments were set to work upon -its long length. Ours was the last but one, and we were lucky in -getting by far the best pitch on the whole line. It would be difficult, -indeed, to exaggerate its beauty, and as summer came on the advantages -of shade-shelter which it afforded made us feel blessed above our -fellows. It was a green oasis about half-a-mile long by some quarter -broad, of fine emerald sward not to be beaten by any English lawn. And -it was irregularly fringed by the most magnificent deodar cedars I have -ever seen. When we arrived in early autumn these were wreathed with -virginia creeper already russet, which, as winter advanced, flamed like -fire among the dark spines. Now, in spring the trees were hung to their -very tops with a rambling white rose, faintly double, faintly yet -penetratingly scented, which festooned the whole forest, making it look -as if it were garlanded for some festival, and turning the oval -greensward into a veritable _stadium_ fit for the sport of a King; for -an amphitheatre of blue hills rose behind the forest, with here and -there a peak of eternal snow. - -It was simply a ripping place, and when on Saturday evenings, the -detachment further south, and the detachment further north, used to -come over to play football, the fellows were always full of envy. Our -men--there were but two officers with each detachment--were little -Ghurkas, but they played an uncommonly good game, thanks partly to the -fact that my captain was an old Rugby man, and gave his countenance to -practice. But our chief asset was Private Flanigan of the small party -of Sappers and Miners who acted as overseers on the works. He was not, -perhaps, a shining example to the men in other ways, but so far as -football went, he was the best possible coach. - -The result was, that, despite their small size, our Ghurkas could hold -their own with the detachment of Tommies further south. They never -actually won a match, but they made a stubborn fight, and accepted -honourable defeat good humouredly, treating their adversaries right -royally at the canteen afterwards in the manner of Ghurkas when they -get chummy with British regiments. It was a quaint sight to see them -hob-nobbing together at the further end of the _stadium_, where there -was a duck-pond sort of lake half filled with sacred lotus, blossoming -white and pink. A wood-slab little temple dedicated to Kâli stood -beside this lake with steps leading down to the water; but nobody -seemed to notice its presence, and the very brahman in charge used to -come and watch the games with interest; perhaps he thought it -sufficiently savage to please the terrific goddess who sat enshrined in -a little dark hole, where nothing was to be seen of Her but crimson -arms and hands, one of them apparently holding a football. It certainly -was bloodthirsty enough one day when the detachment further north came -down to try their luck. They were the biggest, tallest, lankiest lot of -Sikhs I ever saw, but, perhaps because they had such long shins, they -simply knuckled under before a rush of our little beggars. It was -almost pitiable to see them; the more so because they were furious, and -would not accept consolation, even at the hands of Private Flanigan, -who with unblushing kindness of heart, took all the credit to himself -in the curious dialect he used as a means of communication with his -pupils; for being a Manchester Irishman, his English had to contend -with a town accent, a Lancashire accent and an Irish accent, while his -Hindustani was of the lowest type to be picked up in a barrack square. - -"'Taint your _kussoor_ (fault), sonnies, at all, at all! be jabers! -_nahin_ (no). Don'tcher fret. _Dil khoosh_ (heart happy). Kape yer 'air -on. _Dekko you soors_--beg pardon, gintlemen, it was a mistake -entoirely!--You 'aven't a _Nadmi_ (man) like Tim Flanigan to _purwarish -karo_ (nourish) _you_." So in his garbled language he went on to boast -of what he had done for the little Gherkins, as he was wont to call -them, making them, indeed, rhyme to jerkins and firkins in a football -song he had composed; for Private Flanigan was great at singing, also -at clog dancing. In fact, he was good at anything and everything he -chose to take in hand thoroughly; but that was not much, for a more -idle, able, devil-may-care fellow did not exist. He was, however, a -general favourite, and I noticed that even my regulationarily correct -captain dealt leniently with his not infrequent lapses from good -behaviour. Flanigan was in tremendous form at a sing-song held the -night of the football match, and literally brought down the house with -his clog accompaniment to a patter song in which he parodied the -feelings of victor and vanquished. Even the priest of Kâli, who, as -usual, viewed the performance from a distance, was reported to have -observed that the energetic and active Goddess herself could not have -danced with greater vigour upon the prostrate body of Shiv-_jee_! - -As for the Sikhs, they positively bellowed with delight, although -Private Flanigan had not paltered with such obvious rhymes as kicks and -licks. In fact, the whole audience was so happy and hilarious that we -hoped the slight difference of the afternoon was forgotten; but we were -mistaken. About midnight Sunt Singh, havildar, began to attribute Jye -Kush _naick's_ flat nose to a provision of the All-wise Creator in view -of football squashes, and assert magniloquently that God never made an -ugly Sikh, whereat strife arose, and _kukries_ and _bichwas_ might have -drawn blood had not my captain shown discreet firmness, and sent an -exactly equal number of Sikhs and Gurkhas to the guard room. - -It was very shortly after this incident that Private Flanigan found -himself there also; as usual for patronising the canteen too liberally. -But this time he was profusely indignant, and assured me on his Bible -oath--as a rule he professed Roman Catholicism--that it was a gross -case of mistaken diagnosis. He had not been drunk; still less, -disorderly. When the sergeant put him under arrest he was merely giving -a realistic and spirited representation of last year's All England -match _as it had appeared to him_. And this he was doing solely for the -benefit of his pupils, the little Gherkins; shirkin', lurkin' little -Gherkins, who had basely failed to speak up for him when he was -comatose from fatigue. - -That was about the last time I ever spoke to poor Flanigan; for about a -week after he was mysteriously lost. I say mysteriously, because though -all sorts of theories were put forward to explain his disappearance, -none of them were entirely satisfactory. I myself, inclined to the -explanation that, being, according to the Ghurkas' testimony, a little -bit on at the time, he lost his life in a sudden spate of the river -caused by the melting of the snows in the higher hills. It was a very -sudden spate, and caught the working party as they were clearing the -southern end of a deep cutting--a tunnel, indeed, for twenty yards or -so--which lay just at the end of our section. The Sikhs, however, who -were working at the northern end, escaped the flood altogether, and -rather jeered at our men who had to scramble for dear life, some -regaining the camp and others spending the night in the open; so, each -party thinking Flanigan must be with the other, he was not missed till -next morning, when it was too late to find his body. - -We dragged the river pools to no purpose, then, as the spate had ruined -half our work, gave up the search and duly reported his death at -headquarters. - -With the prospect of the advancing hot weather before us, when we must -knock off, there was not much time for amusement, and we were kept -pretty close at it. But a Himalaya spring in the uplands was a -perpetual temptation to me, and I used to start off at dawn time for a -long tramp on the higher _murgs_ or alps, taking my gun with me in case -I came across an old cock _minawul_ pheasant. There was a perfect -mosaic of flowers beneath one's feet; forget--menots, pansies, white -anemones, yellow gillyflowers, scarlet potentilla and half-a-hundred -others whose names I did not know. You could not set your foot down -without crushing some beautiful thing; you felt that you were ramping -through a veritable garden. - -Then it was marvellous to see the snow peaks flush red with sunrise -while the shadow of night--the shadow of the earth itself!--still lay -immovable in the valleys, and you had to bend close over the mosaic to -distinguish one flower from another. Even the cock _minawul_, despite -their dazzling metallic lustre, looked shadowy and dark as they rose; -rose swiftly to flash out suddenly into copper and green, and silvery -goldeny blue as they met the higher sunlight. - -One morning, thinking I had hit a splendid specimen of these rocketting -fireworks, and being anxious to secure such a perfectly plumaged bird, -I followed one over keenly. The result being that I lost my way, and -found myself under a blazing hot sun, still seeking for my particular -valley. At long last I caught a glimpse of deodar trees below me and -began to descend confidently; but half way down a certain strangeness -of contour made me pull up and question my judgment. - -No! it was not our valley. It was too narrow, too small; besides, there -was no lakelet in it. Indeed, there seemed no way out of it; it lay -like an extinct crater, absolutely shut in by the high hills, tucked -away--right away--No! by Jove! there were people or things in it. I -could see a steady white spot of something on the greensward, and a -sort of dancing circle of black specks. - -Were they men or animals? I was too short-sighted to distinguish; so I -started downwards again, impelled by curiosity and a vague feeling that -I knew what was coming, to find a point of vantage whence I could see -clearly. - -I don't think I was in the least surprised at what I _did_ see. I am -sure my inner consciousness was aware of it before _I_ was. - -The dazzling white speck was Private Flanigan. He was standing in a -dignified attitude in the very middle of the field, naked as the day he -was born, save for a waistcloth and the biggest pair of boots I ever -saw. At his feet lay a football, and in his right hand was a glass of -something to drink, which, between his sips, he used to beckon on his -adversaries. - -I crept further till I could hear his voice. - -"Come on, sonnies! come on, boys!" it came persuasively. "_Idder -'h'ow!_ I won't 'urt much--not to spake of--_Kooch nay_--Come on, I -says." Then, as his invitation was reluctantly accepted, he lunged out -a wild kick, an awful howl followed, and yet another lanky Sikh retired -rapidly, rubbing his shin. Whereat Private Flanigan laughed and took -another sip triumphantly. - -"_Bahoot utcha!_"--the rollicking tones were a trifle thick--"Now -you're learning, I tell yer--yer 'ardening like a hegg in 'ot water. -And you'll soon get useter it. You won't remember it when yer sees the -leather a-sailing through the uprights. No, yer won't! No more nor a -woman for joy as a man is born into the wurrld. Hello! ye divvle--ye -would, would ye?" - -This was to an enterprising youth who thought to take advantage of a -prolonged drink to sniggle the ball. - -I lay and laughed. I couldn't help it. Flanigan wasn't a big man, but -he was brawny, and the Sikhs, twice his height, had such temptingly -long shins! - -I watched the lesson of how to defend the globe until, after several -replenishings of the glass he held, Private Flanigan's dignity became -portentous, and his lunge a little wide. - -Evidently, however, he was not too far gone to recognise the fact, for -suddenly he sat down, still guarding the ball with his wide-spread -legs, and called for a pipe, a pillow, and a punkah. - -All three were instantly forthcoming, and as I cautiously re-climbed -the hill, I saw Private Flanigan enjoying his ease in the centre of an -admiring circle of pupils. - -As I made my way home, I puzzled over what I had best do. Of course, it -was easy to report to my captain, but, by so doing, I should get a lot -of men into trouble over what was, in reality, a huge joke. Anyhow, -before I did so report, I determined to find out whether Private -Flanigan had absconded _himself_, or had been stolen. - -So the next evening, having carefully taken the bearings of our valley -in miniature the day before, I went over after work hours. When I came -on the level at the bottom, I found that quite a large wood slab shed -had been erected at one end of the little bit of greensward. As I -crossed towards it the familiar sound of really good clog dancing met -my ears accompanying a rollicking baritone voice that was singing the -refrain of a patter song: - - - "Kick an' 'ammer away at their shins, - Silly old dribblers as cole' cream their skins, - Barkin', lurkin', shirkin' Gher_kins_, - Give 'em a crush and a rush for their sins, - Yoicks! hey forward!!!--the Sicki wins." - - -A perfect bellow of applause was following as I opened the slab door -and walked in. There was a regular stage at the end of the shed, and on -it stood Tim Flanigan, bowing his acknowledgments to an audience of -squatting Sikhs with much dignity. A flimsy muslin overcoat partially -hid his massive muscles and he was garlanded with flowers like a prize -ox at a show. He did not notice me at first, and began a speech in true -music hall style, his hand on his heart: - -"My kyind patrons, an' you Gintlemen of the Press, it is with the -hutmost diffidence that I roise to drink me own 'elth, you, gintlemen, -bein' by birth and descent tay totallers, which is better by a long -chalk than being answered for by godfathers an' godmothers at your -baptism. Gintlemen, I have but a few wurrds to say, so I will not -detain you. Since I come 'ere--I mean since the woise decrays of a -koindly Providence brought me to the wilderness, I 'ave endeavoured to -do my dooty by you, an' I done it. Gintlemen! you are a credit to me. -There ain't a 'ole skin amongst the lot of your shins. Gintlemen! it is -a thing to be proud of. It makes the tear come to my watery heyes an' -sends the life blood to the tip of my nose. I tell you, gintlemen, that -if any of thim officer chaps were to step in this moment----" Here his -eye caught mine. The change was instantaneous, and he brought himself -up to the salute smartly. - -"Beg pardon, sir," he went on, without the least sign of embarrassment. -"Havin' bin h'absent without leave, sir, this fortnight past through -being kidnapped outrageous, I 'as to report myself." - -I mustered up what gravity I could, for his attitude of respectful and -disciplined attention was excruciatingly funny in contrast with his -costume--or rather the lack of it. - -"Private Flanigan," I said. "Have done with tomfoolery. How the devil -do you come here?" - -"I didn't come, sir," he replied volubly. "I was brought, s'help me -Moses. I was kidnapped outrageous, as I said, by them Sickies, same as -seethin' it in its mother's milk. I was, entirely, sir--sure the -bla'gards won't deny it." - -Here, _havildar_ Sunt Singh, who understood English, broke in rapidly -in Hindustani. "He speaks truth, Huzoor. He did not come of himself. He -was brought hither when he was without consciousness." - -"From drink, I suppose?" I asked severely. - -_Havildar_ Sunt Singh paused a moment. "Huzoor," he said at last, -solemnly. "In a world of illusion it is difficult to reach truth; but -one thing is certain, by the blessing of God he was extremely without -consciousness. Was it not so, brothers?" he continued, appealing to two -_naicks_ and another _havildar_ who were also standing to attention. -Their corroborative "_Be-shakks_" rang out smartly, like a rifle shot. - -"That is all very well," I continued, sternly addressing the -culprit-in-chief. "If they kidnapped you, they'll have to answer for -it; but that is no excuse for you stopping here. You can't pretend -you're a prisoner, you know." - -I glanced round as I spoke, and Flanigan's eyes followed mine. There -was a bed in one corner, a chair, a washhandstand, an assortment of -Europe tins, a box of cigars in a rough set of shelves, while on one -side of the stage stood a table, elaborately laid for dinner, with a -tablenapkin folded into the form of a peacock! - -There was a pause. Then candour came to Private Flanigan's aid--almost -pathetic candour. - -"Well! it weren't exactly uncomfortable, you see, sir," he said, with a -deprecating smile; and I had to admit the justice of his plea. It was -more comfortable than being packed like a herring in a barrel in a bell -tent. I had, moreover, thought the matter out, and had come to the -conclusion that the less said about it the better. So I gave Private -Flanigan the option of taking the pledge, and returning to duty, making -the best excuse he could for his absence, or being sent for officially. - -He chose the former, to the great delight of the Sikhs, who, as he had -said, were teetotallers to a man, and who naturally did not want to get -into trouble over the business. - -Next morning Private Flanigan reported himself to my captain. He was -bare-foot, travel-stained, weary, and he had the most cock-and-bull -story I ever heard of how he had spent the last ten days. - -"If there had been any liquor shop within two hundred miles I wouldn't -believe him," said my captain in an injured tone, "but there isn't--and -no man is such a fool as to stop out in this wild country for nothing." - -So the tale passed muster. Had I known, however, of the richness of the -culprit's imagination, I doubt whether I should have given him such a -field for it; for the story of the "loss of Private Flanigan" became a -recognised entertainment, even for the Gherkins, and night after night -he gave a different version of it to delighted admirers. I ventured -once to remonstrate with him, and hint that capture by cannibals was -hardly correct; but his unconsciousness was supreme. - -"S'elp me Moses, sir," he said. "You don' know wot I bin through. -They'd have eat me, sure enuff, if I 'adn't happen to 'ave my big boots -on." - -A fortnight afterwards we finished the work, but before we left our -jolly little camp we had a football Saturday. The Sikhs came down in -force, and licked the little Ghurkas all to smithereens. - -"They must a 'ad some un to teach 'em 'ow to charge, sir," said Private -Flanigan sorrowfully to the captain. - -The captain looked at me, and I looked at the captain. But I said -nothing, for Flanigan had been as sober as a judge since I found him. - - - - - REX ET IMP: - - - I - -"Rex will get on all right," said Muriel Alexander pettishly, "you know -quite well, Horace, that so long as he has old Bisvâs he wants nothing -else. Look at him now! He is quite happy, and the old man would die -rather than let any harm happen to the child." - -Horace Alexander frowned slightly as he looked through the wide set -door of his office room to the verandah beyond. It was a very neat, -natty, office room, severely correct and Western in its pigeon-holes, -its files, its elegant upholstered chair at the further side of the -writing table ready for the confidential visitor. No guns defiled it; -no tennis bats, no half-used box of cigars, no general litter of -unofficial male humanity such as most Indian office rooms in the past -have permitted, was to be seen within the precincts sacred to duty, for -Horace Alexander was that curious product of modern times, a clever and -advanced man, bent upon progress, who stickles for the commonplace -conventional etiquette in all things. So he stirred uneasily at the -sight he saw beyond his office doors, dropped his eye-glasses and put -them on again petulantly. - -Yet it was rather a pretty sight. - -A red-haired, fuzzy-headed child of four or five, small, but strong and -sturdy, seated with the utmost dignity oh a red velvet cushion, his -broad freckled face wearing an expression of conscious majesty, part of -which was doubtless due to the insecurity of a gilt paper band which -was perched on his goldy-red curls. - -Before him, in an attitude of prayerful adoration, squatted a very very -old man. At his full height he must still have been tall, and the bent -shoulders were broad; broad enough to show up the line of war-medals on -the breast of his orderly's coat. They gave the new scarlet cloth a -certain personal _cachet_ and toned down its official garishness. - -"Come here, Rex!" called Horace Alexander, and the child rose at once. -Though high-spirited and a bit of an imp, he was a reasonable, -obedient, little chap enough; obedient because he was reasonable. - -"What's that you've got on your head?" queried his father irritably. - -"It's my c'wown," replied Rex cheerfully. "Bisvâs cut it out for me; -and he's goin' to put b'wown paper to make it 'weal stiff--c'wowns -onghter be stiff, 'weal stiff, oughtn't they? an' he's going to put -things on it like the pictures in the papers, an' then I shall be a -'weal King, shan't I?" - -"No, my boy!" said his father sharply. "Crowns don't make kings; -remember that always. There was Charles the First----"; then he paused, -recognising he was out of the child's depth; and the cult of the weaker -brother was not often forgotten by Horace Alexander. It was the secret -of his popularity; but how he managed to reconcile it with his passion -for progress remained rather a mystery to some people. - -"And what were you doing," he continued. - -"I wasn't doin' nothin' except be king," replied the child; "but Bisvâs -was doin' '_durshan_.' What is a '_durshan_,' daddy, 'weally?" - -The childish forehead was all puckered beneath its crown, and Rex's -father, for all he was entitled to linguistic letters after his name, -hesitated. - -"Sight," he began, "ur--appearance--ur--aspect----" - -But Rex shook his head in disapproval. "Bisvâs says it's just for all -the same as seein' God--didn't you, Bisvâs?" - -The liquid Urdu to which the little fellow's voice turned, echoed -through the sunshine to where the tall old trooper, risen to his full -height, stood smiling. - -"Huzoor! so it is, without doubt. The sight of a King is even as the -sight of a God. It is a revelation of the Most High." - -"Good Lord!" muttered Horace Alexander under his breath, yet with an -amused smile. "The child will grow up a feudal serf combined with a -feudal lord, if we don't take care, Muriel! He is too much with old -Bisvâs--You'd better take him with you--or--or not go." - -His wife did not even frown: her position was too assured in the -household for her to be even alarmed. "Of course I must go. I -must wear my new frocks. Besides, you forget I'm President of the -Veiled-Women's-Guild, and they are going to present a casket. And there -isn't room in the Hotel for Rex--I was lucky to get _one_ for myself -this morning--besides, it would be bad for him. Of course, when you -were going with tents and all that it was different; but now that -you've been told to stop--Really, Horace, it is most annoying! What can -it mean? There is nothing wrong in the district, is there?" - -Horace Alexander's eyeglass dropped again. It generally did when he was -asked for a personal opinion; not from any lack of decision in the man -himself, but from that habit of relying on collective as against -individual thought which distinguishes so many clever men nowadays; as -if the mediocre mass could ever outvalue superior sense. - -"I cannot conceive that anything serious can be wrong," he began, then -paused almost pathetically before the certainty that his district was -admittedly the best managed in the province. "However," he continued, -virtuously remembering that the communication which stopped his going -to the Big Durbar was strictly confidential, "that is neither here nor -there. I have my orders, so that ends it, and----" he glanced out to -the verandah where the "_durshan_" had re-commenced--"I suppose Rex had -better remain, if you think it safe. I shall be very busy----" - -His wife laughed, and stooping over his chair, kissed the top of his -head; it was a trifle bald. - -"You dear old stupid," she said kindly. "You've nothing to do with it. -I wouldn't leave him if it wasn't for old Bisvâs! You and I, Horace, -have grown out of--what shall I call it--feudal relations--but we can -understand them. You don't suppose I leave the boy in your charge, do -you? No! My dear man! you're not up to it. But Bisvâs! Bisvâs was your -grandfather's servant when he was a boy, and he swears Rex is the -living image of '_Jullunder Jullunder baba_,' whom, I verily believe, -he mixes up with Alexander the Great! It doesn't do the child any harm, -though it makes him a bit autocratic now. He'll grow out of being King -at school. And really it is a pretty sight to see him with his -bodyguard of those marvellous old dodderers Bisvâs rakes up from the -bazaar----" - -"I've seen them," replied her husband gloomily. "I'd have sent them -about their business if they hadn't been old pensioners--and in -uniform----" - -Muriel laughed again. "Such uniforms! But they are magnificent to the -child and he's magnificent to them. It's all right, Horace. He is as -pleased as Punch, because I've allowed him, as he can't go to Delhi, to -have a sham coronation here." - -"My dear!" protested her husband; but at that moment an old-fashioned -buggy, with a flea-bitten Arab in the shafts, drew up, and Mrs. -Alexander discreetly withdrew before an official visitor. - -Ere five minutes were over the new comer rose from the upholstered -chair, went to the four doors of the office room, looked round for -possible eavesdroppers, closed them, then sate down again; for John -Carruthers, the Superintendent of Police, was of the old school. He -suspected everybody. In his heart of hearts Horace Alexander loathed -him: or rather, his methods; but he had to admit that he was an -excellent police officer. Short and stout, he looked as if he had a -trace of native blood in him, anyhow, none understood the ways of -Indian wickednesses better than he. - -"This is serious," he said briefly. "I always told you, sir, you would -have to face it some time." Then he paused. "I wonder if anyone -realises the relief it will be to our force when the whole show goes -off well--as it will do! But there's always that off chance--and here -is one----" - -"I don't believe it," said Horace Alexander stubbornly; "it is -unthinkable, inconceivable----" - -John Carruthers raised his shaggy eyebrows. "Nothing, sir, is -inconceivable in India. There's a lot of lees in four thousand years of -civilisation. So long as it's stagnant, well and good; but if you stir -'em up--However! you don't agree. And _this_----" he touched the -confidential communication--"has got to be seen to." - -"Yes! it has got to be seen to--wrong or right," echoed the younger man -firmly. Outside, the sunshine shone in sultry drowsy peace; but within -the closed office room, the air seemed vibrant, as the two, mutually -responsible for so much in their world, looked into each other's eyes -in perfect unanimity. So it is often in India nowadays; something has -to be done and old and new must combine to the doing of it. - -"Hullo! what's up?" asked the Superintendent of Police when, having -offered to drive his official superior down to the city, they stepped -into the verandah; and then he smiled. "The youngster seems to be -enjoying himself, eh!" - -Under the _sirus_ trees on the opposite side of the drive were drawn up -five old men, headed by Bisvâs, who stood next something that was more -like a monkey than a man; for Bhim Singh, even when he had been the -most swaggering _havildar_ in a Ghurka regiment, had never been tall, -and was now almost incredibly shrunken and old. But his eyes still -looked out sharp and bright from his wizened face and his military -salute shot out smartly at the sight of the masters. - -"It is all old Bisvâs' fault," excused Rex's father, giving a disturbed -look at his son and heir, who--with the gilt paper circlet still on his -fuzzy head--was apparently drilling the ancient warriors, "I've told my -wife that it's a mistake, but you see, Bisvâs looked after my -grandfather when they were kids together, and so----" - -"And so," interrupted John Carruthers with a chuckle, "you have the -most valuable asset in the world! If I were you I would encourage it! -Good Lord! man!----" he forgot etiquette for the moment--"that sort of -thing is the safety of--of everything." - -So the two men drove off to the office, to confer secretly with other -good men and true, and the child, with the gold circlet on his fuzzy -hair, stood in the half shade, half shine of the _sirus_ trees, and -dressed his army autocratically. And the old warriors--there was Bisvâs -who had fought at Sobraon, and Bhim Singh who had fought everywhere -indiscriminately for sheer love of fighting, and old Imân, the hair of -whose body still stood on end as he told tales of how he had waged war -for the Sirkar against his own brothers in Mutiny time, and Pir Khan, -Yusufzai, who still talked of _Nikalseyn sahib_ as if he were not dead, -and last but not least, most ancient of all, a nameless fossil of -humanity called by the others "_Baba_" (father), who bewailed the fact -that he had not been at both sieges of Bhurtpore--these all obeyed the -child's orders, and nodded and winked and swore that he was the living -spit and image of "_Gineral Jullunder Jullunder Sahib Bahadur_," who -had led them to victory again and again. The smallest cavalry officer -in _Jân Kampâni's_ army; but the bravest and the best loved! - - - II - -Three days had passed, and once again the two men sate facing each -other in the tidy, conventional office room. The confidential box was -open and papers littered the table; but the hint of possible trouble -remained still a mere hint. - -"And yet," said John Carruthers thoughtfully, "I don't like it. I told -you about that temple incident? Quite a trivial affair, but in my -experience--and that is pretty wide, sir--that sort of thing always -means something. But the fact is, I haven't time----" his bright eyes -grew restless--"to unearth anything." - -Horace Alexander smiled. "Because, my dear fellow, there is nothing to -unearth. I told you so from the beginning. I am pretty well up in my -own district, Carruthers----" - -"That you may be, sir; but pure anarchism isn't a thing of districts: -it's--what do they call it!--a _zeit geist_! How many fools do you -suppose are in your towns and villages, sir? Well! everyone of them is -a danger if there is a good agitator within hearing. Anyhow, I am so -far dissatisfied, that I am going to propose to you a plan----" He got -up as he had done before, closed every door after a good look round for -eavesdroppers, and finally paused before little Rex, who was sitting in -a corner of the room, playing with a pen and paper and some red and -black ink which his father had given him. His mother having gone off to -the Big Show, which was to take place next day, the little fellow had -been tearful and needed consolation. Now, however, he appeared quite -absorbed in his occupation. - -"What are you doing, Rex?" asked John Carruthers. - -The child held up a round of white paper with cabalistic signs on it. - -"I'm makin' a medal to give to my army," he said with importance. "And -'Wex' is to be in 'wed and so's 'Imp.' Then 'et' will be black, don't -you see?" - -The men laughed, and settled themselves over the railway map which John -Carruthers spread out on the table. - -"You see," said the police officer in a low voice, "the Royal train -focusses anxiety according to these hints----" he pointed to the -confidential papers--"and I can't help a feeling that they are right. -I've got a sort of second-sight in these ways--perhaps because I was -born and brought up in the country--and I believe there is something in -it. I'd ferret it out if I'd time; but I haven't. So why run risks? The -Royal train is timed to run the sixty odd miles through your district -on the _direct_ line between three and five a.m. to-morrow morning-- -just before dawn. Now why should it? Why shouldn't it do the eighty odd -miles of the loop line?" - -"But that would bring it right here--right in the very heart----" -interrupted Horace Alexander. - -"That wouldn't matter, provided _nobody knew_," came the quick reply. -"And nobody need know--except, of course, the railway bosses. Just look -at it on the map. Points changed at Barâwal Junction--then straight -away, past us, to the northern branch, and so back a bit--only a -bit--to the main line again. It wouldn't delay them half an hour, if -that----" - -Horace Alexander's finger traced out the line on the map. - -"But the direct line is guarded," he began. - -"Inadequately," persisted John Carruthers, "at least, to my mind. Now, -by taking this new loop you are safe. It only needs a telegram--for the -trains haven't begun yet to run at night, and it will be 'line clear' -all through. The usual pilot engine, of course--so no one need know." - -Horace Alexander nodded. "No! poor devils!" he assented, a bit -irrelevantly, "and dozens of them would have rejoiced to do -'_durshan_.'" - -The child in the corner of the room looked up at the familiar word and -listened. - -But the men were too much immersed to notice him. - -"Well, it may be wise!" said Horace Alexander at last. "I don't agree -with you, Carruthers, of course. The whole thing's a mare's nest. But, -as you say, it won't disarrange anything. The Royal train will be up to -time for early tea at Sonabad, and there all is safe: so if you'll -drive me down to the telegraph office, I'll send the cipher myself." - -"H'm," said John Carruthers thoughtfully, "I wouldn't cipher. Don't -trust 'em a bit. The clerks in my office know 'em, I'm sure. Try -French--it's safer." - -Horace Alexander laughed a superior laugh. - -"Mine don't! not the _real_ confidential one. Why! I don't suppose you -do." - -"That's a different matter," replied the police officer drily. -"However! it's for you to decide." - -"Yes," said the District Officer firmly. "Well! goodnight, Rex! I -shan't be back, child, till breakfast to-morrow." - -"Where are you going, Daddy?" asked the boy. - -"I'm going to do _durshan_," replied his father carelessly. - -The child rose and came towards the table with shining eyes, the medal -in his hand. - -"Daddy!" he said, "I should like to do '_durshan_' too. Mayn't I?" - -His father shook his head and smiled. "Impossible, Rex! You can't ride -forty miles over the desert along a railway as I shall, can you? You -wouldn't like to do what Daddy's got to do to-night, I can tell you, -young man! Wait a while! Your turn'll come." He was busy locking the -confidential box. - -"But I meant _here_, Daddy," persisted the child. - -"Here?" echoed his father carelessly, "Oh! here! Yes! You and old -Bisvâs can amuse yourselves with doing _durshan_ as much as you like. -Now good-night--and--and be sure to say your prayers, Rex." He stooped -down to kiss the child, and as he did so, "_Rex Imp_" in red with the -_et_ in black, caught his eye. "Rex, Imp," he muttered, "not a bad name -for you, though you're a good little chap on the whole." - -And he went off, feeling virtuous. Whatever his own beliefs, or rather -lack of belief, might be, no one could say that he was forcing it -prematurely on the weaker brother. Perhaps, however, the thought that -his little son's lips--which had never to his knowledge been soiled by -a lie--had begged dear God to take care of his Daddy, was unconsciously -a help to the man during the anxious night. For it was anxious. To be -responsible meant much to both those men, and this sudden change of -plan--though it certainly removed risk--threw a still heavier burden of -care on the shoulders of those two who had suggested it. - -Therefore, when, just as the primrose dawn of another day had begun to -dissipate the shadows of the night, the Royal train, safe and sound, -steamed into the station at Sonabad, Horace Alexander and John -Carruthers looked at each other as they stood on the platform and -positively laughed. - -"That nightmare's over," said the latter. - -"I always said it was a mare's nest," replied the former. - -"Well! we needn't quarrel about it now. I've handed over charge to -Evesham, and you to Coleridge, and that's all. And I shall be glad to -have a cup of tea. I've been too busy to eat for the last few days." - -Half-an-hour afterwards they were in Horace Alexander's motor, going -full speed along the Grand Trunk road. - -"We shall be back by breakfast time," said John Carruthers, whose -thoughts ran upon food. - -But Horace, as he steered his way past the long lines of lumbering -wains laden with corn, which still, in India, cling to the roads, -despite railways, was jubilant over his district. - -"I told you it was all right," he said finally, "but you and your -sort, Carruthers, can't see that we are in a new age. We are out of the -past----" - -"That doesn't look like it," interrupted John Carruthers, pointing to a -group in the verandah; for at that moment the car swept easily into the -gateway of Horace Alexander's house. The latter frowned, for Rex's army -was awaiting them, drawn up to stiff military salute, while in front of -them, his small broad face full of smiles, was Rex himself holding a -box in his hand. - -"We got it, Daddy!" he shouted. "We got it all 'wight, and the men 'wan -away, and Baba-jee emptied it, because he was the older-est, and it's -all quite 'wight." - -"Good God," cried John Carruthers, leaping out of the car, his eyes -almost out of his head. "It's an infernal machine. I--I--I--'ve -seen--'em--before--I--I----" - -Horace Alexander turned pale as ashes. "Put it down, Rex. -Gently--gently--but--but----" - -Old Bisvâs salaamed down to the ground. "The Presence need not fear. -The child did not touch it, of course, till the poisonous thing had -been emptied of its venom." - -"But how----" began Horace Alexander helplessly. - -John Carruthers, however, had his wits about him, and said in a low -voice, "Look here, sir! This had better be kept dark; for the present, -anyhow." - -Old Imân, who understood a little English, nodded approvingly. -"Without doubt it is a concealed word," he said suavely. "And -so I told Bisvâs. Therefore none know of it save those here present. -So we had to do often in Mutiny time when news meant much; and -_Gineral-Jullunder-Jullunder-sahib-bahadur_ would say----" - -The police officer cut the old man's reminiscence short. "You have done -well, _risildar-jee_," he said curtly, but the praise brought an -unwonted flush to the withered cheek. "We'd better hear the story _in -camera_, sir." - -So the five old warriors filed into the office room, the doors were -shut, and Rex sate on his father's knee, while John Carruthers -carefully examined the infernal machine which had been laid on the -table. - -"Paris," he said laconically, "one of the latest sort. What did I tell -you, sir--anarchy isn't a thing of districts." - -"Go on, Bisvâs!" replied Horace Alexander evasively. - -"As I was saying, Huzoor, when the Huzoor left to do _durshan_ last -night, _Jullunder Baba_ came to me and said, 'Bisvâs! get ready to go -and do _durshan_ likewise; my father said I might----'" - -"And you did, daddy, didn't you?" broke in the little lad's voice -confidently. His father hesitated, then remembering his uncomprehending -words, nodded and held the child closer. - -"So I, knowing that the word of _Jullunder Baba_ is even as the word of -a King, unbreakable, said, 'But whither, my lord?' And he said, 'That -will I show thee! Do thou as thou art bid, slave!' Now the night, as -the Huzoor knows, was dark, and I grow old. So I bethought me of help, -lest evil should befall. Therefore I said, 'Lo! it is not meet to go -without the Army.' So these came willingly. For, see you, Protector of -the Poor, we are all old, and the _durshan_ is even as the sight of a -god--it heals sin. Therefore, in the darkness we set off, and I wrapped -the _chota sahib_ in blankets and took the _trick_ lamp and a _ternus_ -of hot milk also----" - -John Carruthers looked up. - -"He means electric and thermos," said Horace Alexander, with an odd -sort of cackle in his voice; something seemed to have risen in his -throat and prevented his speaking clearly. - -"We carried the _chota sahib_ by turns, seeing there might have been -serpents in the way," continued the old man, "and made for the railway, -since that was all the direction _Jullunder Baba_ would give. Then -Imân, remembering the old tomb--the Huzoor will remember it also, since -there was a case about it in his court----" - -"And the Huzoor," broke in Imân, "decided virtuously, that being the -tomb of a saint, it should stand, and the railway move----" - -"Remembering it," went on old Bisvâs, "he said, 'It would give shelter -to the child.' So thither we went, and there the _chota sahib_, having -remembered he had not said his prayers as he had promised the Huzoor, -said them. He knelt, Huzoor, on that slab, lest the floor should be -damp----" - -"Yes," assented the child's father as the old man paused. Once -again there was that lump in his throat. He saw, as in a vision, the -old Mahomedan tomb rearing its half-ruined dome so close to the -railway--the white-faced child praying God to bless everyone he loved, -those dark faces standing round reverently. - -"Lo!" continued old Bisvâs gently, "I think the saint down below must -have heard--Imân says he did--for what followed was of no man's making. -We were all drowsing in the tomb--'tis a good five miles from the -Huzoor's bungalow to the railway, for all it goes so near to the -city--when _Baba-jee_--he hath the ears of a mouse still--said 'Hist!' - -"So I looked out, and there were men--five or six of them, on the line. -Then it came to me what the ill-begotten hounds had been doing in -Bengal, and a sort of fury seized on me. So I crept back. _Jullunder -Baba_ was asleep among the blankets on the tomb slab, but I whispered -the others, and they unbuckled their swords and made ready." - -The faces of the four old warriors who, standing two on one side two on -the other of the speaker, had watched his every word, were a study. -Exultation, pride, absolute satisfaction showed in every line of them, -and the lean old fingers gripped their sword-hilts once more. - -"Then _Baba-jee_ gave the word--he was '_senior-orfficer_,' -and--and--Huzoor, they ran away!!!" - -Even John Carruthers' chuckle had a suspicion of a sob in it. - -"And then! Oh! hero!" he said, "what then?" - -"Huzoor! I looked out over the desert and far, far away on the straight -line I saw light. And there was a faint rumble in the air. It was a -train. Mayhap the _chota sahib_ had been right, mayhap it was the -Train-of-Majesty! So I turned on the 'trick lamp,' and there it was on -the line--that thing--it had a string to it that lay on the rail. -And--and--Huzoor! my memory fails me--There was the child, and there -was the train!--I had to decide---- - -"Then I cried to Imân, 'Quick! the _chota sahib_! Run far with -him--far!--far!' So when that was done I up with my sword and I smote -the string that lay on the rail!----" he paused, then went on-- - -"So that was done also; and Imân brought the child back, and the train -sped past, and we all stood in a row and did _durshan_; though I know -not if it was _durshan_ or not, since, mayhap, it was not the Royal -train after all." - -The old eyes looked almost wistfully at those two men in office, but -the child's were on his father's confidently: - -"But it _was_ the Royal train, wasn't it, daddy?" said the child's -voice, and Horace Alexander's answered huskily: - -"Perhaps it was, _Rex_; anyhow, you and the others did _durshan_. Of -that I am sure." - -Content settled to those two faces, the old and the young, and the -ancient warrior went on-- - -"Then there was nothing to do, Huzoor, save to come home and bring the -poisonous thing with us. I was for sending the _chota sahib_ on in -Imân's care and carrying the thing myself; but _Jullunder Baba_ would -not go without it. So Bhim and the Father took the devil's box apart -lest it should kill everyone, and with Bhim's _kukri_ they prized it -open"--a faint sigh came from the Europeans--"and spilt the witches' -brew in the sand. That is all, Huzoor! Your slaves did what they could. -The men ran away so fast, it was not possible for us, aged ones, to -pursue them." - -"But," broke in the most aged, "they were dressed like the Huzoors--in -trousers, and my sword was bloody, so I must have hit someone." - -"And so was mine," said each of the ancient warriors in turn. - -Horace Alexander cleared his throat. - -"Really!" he began, "I scarcely know how to thank----" - -"Daddy!" said Rex's eager voice, "I know! I'm goin' to give each of 'em -my army medal with '_Wex_ and _Imp_ in 'wed, and _et_ in black on it; -an' they'll be orful pleased--won't you, Army?" - -"Huzoor!" The old arms were stiff in salute, and then the oldest voice -struck up quaveringly. "Lo! _sahibân_! it is enough for us that we have -done _durshan_ ere death. It brings contentment, even though both -sieges of Bhurtpore is denied to some of us." - -As, led by Rex, they marched out to the verandah, the two officials -looked at one another. - -But they said nothing for a minute. Then John Carruthers burst out: - -"Damn the cipher! I told you it wasn't safe. Look here, sir, we must -keep this quiet for the time." - -Horace Alexander nodded. - - - - - THERE AROSE A MAN - - -This was one of the many stories which Nathaniel James Craddock told me -in the cab of his engine while we used to go up and down that ribbon of -red brick metalling edged with steel which was slowly laying itself out -over a wide sandy desert. - -Some of these were tragic, some comic, some betwixt and between; but -most of them were worth the re-telling, especially as told by him. But -the discursiveness of his method does not lend itself to print, so they -all suffer in the process; even though, as I write, I seem to hear the -steady grind of the engine, to feel the fine fretting of a sand storm -on my cheek, and see the clear blue eyes looking at me with a keenness -which always came as a surprise out of that bleared dissipated face. - -"It was 'arter I 'ad that peep o' the Noo Jerusalem, sir, at the bottom -o' the King's Well, 'as I come upon pore old 'Oneyman. I was a bit on -the loose, you see, sir; them sort o' peeps wakes up the spiritooal -nater o' a man, an' it's heads I win, tails you lose, if 'e takes to -prayers or to drink. I tuk to the latter"--here he gave a slight cough, -and added gently--"more nor usual. An' so I come across 'Oneyman. 'E'd -'ad a peep o' hell, sir, for 'e'd seen 'is wife's dead body lyin' where -he'd left 'er safe an' sound waitin' for 'er baby to be born in doo -time." There was always a biblical twang about Craddock's recitations -which gave them a mournfully dignified tone. "'E 'ad friends in 'igh -places, sir, an' one o' them, w'en he come through 'is brain fever, -made 'im Conservancy Inspector down Bandelkhand way. It wasn't the -place for 'im. They was wot they call Suckties, sir, down there, though -there was precious little o' the babe an' sucklin' about _their_ -methods, but contrariwise, battle an' murder an' sudden death. They was -for ever killin' goats an' kids, an' smearin' ole Mother Kâli with -blood--never knew such chaps for paintin' the town red! So the -_Khush-boo sahib_,[3] as they call him in their topsy turvey way, since -it weren't perfoom but real stinks down by them temple steps, couldn't -never forget the sights he see in Mutiny time. When 'e was in 'is cups, -'e'd sit an' cry about it; for 'e was a little bit of a man, sir, the -smallest man as ever I see, an' all wrinkled like an' wizened; just for -all the world the same as the monkeys as used to come down in crowds on -feast days, an' leg it with the orferings folk used to bring to ole -Mother Kâli. That's 'ow 'Oneyman come on reduction, as the sayin' is; -tho', pore chap, them as look on 'is face might a-seen that 'e wasn't -for long; not even if they'd made 'im Guv'ner-General-in-Council; for -what with--savin' your presence, sir--a galloping consumption, both o' -drink an' lungs, 'e was wearin' away like snowdrifts in summer." -Here Craddock paused to whistle a familiar tune. "Beg pardin, sir, but -it comes home to me so, for he was awful fond of 'is wife. Well! -whether it was 'is name--'Oneyman, you know, sir, being the God o' -monkeys[4]--or whether it was 'is nater, he was uncommon kind to the -_bunder logue_. Used to say they was the only Christians in the place, -'cos they wouldn't 'ave no meat offered to hidols, sir. An' it's true -as gospel, sir, they wouldn't. You should a' seen them waitin' in the -trees, and hover the arches an' crocketty things on the temples, while -three or four smug Brahmins was going the rounds with a party o' -country folk, full up o' sugar candies, an' parched rice, an' platters -o' curds to leave at each 'oly spot. It was a rare sight; for, you see, -the monkeys were 'oly too, an' the priests dursn't even 'eave a brick -at 'em. - -"They 'ad just to lump it when the beasts 'oofed away with all the best -things afore their very eyes. An' 'Oneyman used to amoose himself of an -evening by sittin' on the steps an' larfin' fit to split. I told 'im it -weren't perlite; but there! it ain't no use talkin' to a man as has -seen 'is wife lyin' dead. - -"Then one day an ole buck monkey 'oofed it with a bag of rupees, an' -dropped it, as 'e was climbin' a tree, above 'Oneyman's 'ead. And -'Oneyman, being in no state to know 'is own 'and, much less wot it -'eld, gathered some of 'em up, an' swore 'e'd keep 'em. That's 'ow it -was. So 'e got the sack: though anyone as had eyes might a-seen it was -the weddin' garment o' a shroud _he_ was wantin', pore chap. - -"I was runnin' ballast then on a bit o' new line that was cuttin' its -way through jungle land, yard by yard an' inch by inch. It give one a -sorter shock, sir, every day, as I come up with my trucks, to find the -engine goin' so much further, an' yet to get 'eld up at last by the -same ole blocking o' trees an' creepers an' butterflies an' all that. -Seemed as though there wasn't nothin' else before one, and as if it -wasn't no use trying to get through with it. But they give me good -wage, specially after they tuk to runnin' o' nights too, so I was able -to put my hand into my breeches pocket when 'Oneyman said, 'You don't -'appen to 'ave a five-rupee about you, do'ee Craddock, for I ain't got -a feather to fly with.' Then my stoker tuk sick an' I managed ter get -'Oneyman as _local demon_. It didn't 'urt no one, you see, sir, for I -done both works without turnin' more 'airs than 'ad to turn with two -shirts, one dryin' the other; an' it give 'Oneyman time to die -respectable an' quiet like at the back o' the lamp room in the junction -where I 'ad my diggings. Not that it was much of a 'quiet and secluded -'ome for an invalid,' sir, specially after orders come to push on the -work as much as may be before His Honner the Guv'ner or some such -bigwig, I disremember which, come on tower. Still, 'e got a sight -better, an' I used to tote 'im about as stoker up an' down the line, -an' many a time as 'e see me 'angin' out my shirt to dry, 'e'd say, -pitiful like, 'It had ought ter be mine; but I'd do as much for -Nathaniel James Craddock if I could.' And he done it, sir, in the end, -for I should a' lost my billet but for 'im. - -"This is 'ow it 'appened. The monkeys weren't no better after 'Oneyman -left, but rather the worse. They was more Christian-like than ever, an' -wouldn't 'ave no bowings down in the house of Rumnings. It got so bad -as the Suckties couldn't stand 'em no more; but it was some leeches as -a down-country man brought as done the trick at last. I don't mean -proper blood leeches, sir, but them whited-sepulcre-the-other-way-round -fruits as is marocky leather outside, an' my golly! in--Well! the 'ead -bottlewasher Brahman, 'im as they called the Gossoon--though w'y, I -can't say, since the only gossoon I ever 'eard tell on was a Hirish -gentleman in the Colleen Bawn--was dead on leeches--'e was a real blood -leech 'imself, if you like--but, though 'e kep 'is eye on them all the -time 'e was palavering away about Mai Kâli an' Shiv-_jee_, the ole buck -monkey was too much for 'im, an' 'e 'ad nothin' but the marocky leather -trimmings as come floatin' down peaceful-like on 'is bald 'ead and big -stummick as he stud dancin' with rage while _bunder-jee_ was eatin' the -my golly. - -"That, as I said, done the trick. There was a gold-printed letter come -from Mai Kâli ter say she was lonesome away in the jungles without 'er -Hunoomân--or some such rot. Then 'is Honner the bigwig was coming, an' -so on, an' so on. It ain't 'ard to do that sort o' thing, sir, w'en you -don't have no Ten Commandments an' everyone is so accustomed to lying -that it don't strike 'em as odd. - -"How they done it, I don't know. All I know is that one moonlick night -I saw the signal against me as I was running through to the junction -with sand I'd bin far to fetch. And I didn't like it. I'd bin away two -days without 'Oneyman, and bein' a bit lonesome I'd perraps had a drop -too much. Or perraps it was the moonlick night as done it." Here -Craddock's voice took on a hushed tone. "It wasn't like the Noo -Jerusalem, sir, or them yaller bottles in the chimist's shop as I used -to think was 'eaven when I was learning my dooty to my neighbour. There -wasn't nothin' glittery about it, nothin' to make you think of the far -away. It was there, right down beside you on the engine, cold an' -clear, taking the colour out of every mortal thing, till there weren't -no difference a'twixt earth an' sky; till the pin point of the pole -star wasn't no brighter than--than the safety valve; for I keeps 'em -bright, you see, sir." Here he laid his hand affectionately on the -throttle. "So I wasn't that pleased at 'aving to 'old up, specially as -I was a bit late and 'ad to get through the junction afore tha Bigwig's -train was due--for 'e was comin' that night. - -"'Wot's up?' I sings out to the station-master, with an oath. - -"'E laughed. 'Two truck load caged monkeys, zoological specimens rate, -attendant priests in charge, consigned to Mai Kâli. We'll hitch 'em on -behind in no time. Superintendent's orders.' - -"Well, sir! it was no use swearin'; so they was 'itched up, and I went -on full steam, givin' them Brahmins a bit o' a swing, wot with the -'eavy sand in front an' the cages behind. The junction was all lit up -an' decorated for the Bigwig, flags a-flying an' red baize all along -the platform. 'E was to dine there, and the refreshment room looked -A 1--a reg'lar spread, I call it. An' there was the Superintendent, -waitin' in 'is best uniform----" Craddock paused as if to emphasise -further remarks. "'E was a real bone-silly man--there ain't no other -word for 'im, sir--bone-silly down to the last drop o' marrow. I dunno -if it was the sight o' 'im, or the drink I 'ad on board, but I forgot -to choke 'er down in time, an' we went over the points at a rattlin' -pace. - -"The sand, being 'eavy, took 'em steady, but the zoological -consignment, being light, didn't. It ran off the rail, lurched into a -shed, upset, and before you cud say 'knife' there was a matter of two -'undred or more o' the specimens let loose in that there junction." - -He paused again and shook his head sorrowfully. "It ain't no use tryin' -to describe it, sir. All you got to do is say ''ell an' tommy' and -leave it alone. - -"'Craddock!' shrieks the Superintendent, as I stud laughin' fit to -split, as I see limber-legs at their old games, 'make that brute give -up my helmet or I'll--I'll----' Then 'e got speechless, save for bad -words, sir. You never see such a huproar. Red baize, tore to strips, -festooning the roof, 'God bless our Bigwig' flutterin' in bits like a -paperchase down the platforms, an' the mail train due in 'arf an hour. - -"'You--you brought 'em 'ere, you scoundrel!' shrieks the -Superintendent, 'take 'em away again or I'll--I'll----' an' again he -refrained even from good words, sir. But 'e was bone-silly. Not as -anyone cud do anything; leastways, not till 'Oneyman step out of the -lamp room in 'is pyjamas, lookin' more dead nor alive. But there was -somethin' in his hair, sir, as made me feel as a man had arose in -Israel, for all he was so small. - -"'You leave it to me,' he says, confident like; then he turns to the -bone-silly Superintendent as stood dumbfounded, staring at 'im as if 'e -were Lazarus noo raised. 'There's five an' twenty minutes yet, sir,' he -says, 'afore His Honner's train's doo. On _my_ honner as Josiah -'Oneyman, I'll 'ave 'em safe out by then--only I won't 'ave no one -a-interfering--everyone's got to obey my horders, and mine honly.' - -"The bone-silly one hadn't a word to say, there was somethin' so awful -majestic about the little man in 'is pyjamas, pore chap. - -"Lordy, sir! you should 'ave 'eard him next with they Suckti Brahmins -as was rubbing their bruises an' calling on Mai Kâli for assistance. - -"'She ain't in it, sonnies, nor the chaps as you bamboozle, neither,' -he said, said he. 'It's you as 'ave to make a offerin' yourselves this -time, so it'll make a 'ole in your _pockets_ as well as your -_stummicks_, my boys. An' it's no use your saying you ain't got no -rupees--your credit's good enough for that.' An' here he waved 'is -'and, sir, to the row o' sweetmeat-sellers' booths and stalls as was -sot just outside the iron railings. You seen 'em, sir. You know 'ow -they looks at night. Harf a dozen trays piled up full o' treacle -stuff an' greese, with a hoil _butti_ flaring an' smoking on the -top of a pile o' their beastly toffee an' dribbling through it to -give the dead flies a-stickin' to it a flavour. Yes! you've seen the -'_met-aiy-yen-shee-yen_'"--here he gave an excellent rendering of the -sweetmeat sellers' cry--"an' so've I--an' 'ad to eat it, too, w'en I -was 'ard put to it. Well! 'e got the lot in, brass platters an' all, -an' then began the rummiest go you ever see. W'en I was a boy, sir, in -quires an' places w'ere they sing, parson use ter make us run through -the service so as to get the Amens right up to time--it's 'arder nor -runnin' a mail train, though you wouldn't believe it, sir. Well! they -Suckti Brahmans 'ad to do the 'ole caboodle, same as if ole Mother Kâli -was sitting like a spider with 'er eight red legs an' harms on the top -of each sand-truck. For you see, sir, they was standin' fair an' square -on the lines, engine's steam up, et cetera. It was a rare sight. The -monkeys was fine an' pleased with the red baize an' the flags an' the -motters, but the moment they 'eard them Brahmans begin to chant, they -cock their tails an' listen, an' the ole buck monkey 'e clomb crafty -along the girders so's to be ready to drop down so soon's he could. But -'Oneyman 'ad 'is views, an' wasn't goin' to be give away prematoor; so -'e kep a Suckti gennoflexing by each platter o' toffee until every -truck 'ad its altar. Then 'e clumb up to the engine, an' beckon me to -foller. - -"I was standin' with one fut on the step when he shouted to the -Suckties, 'Hands off.' I give you my word, sir, it weren't 'arf a -minute before them trucks was covered as black as flies with -them monkeys, grabbing an' yelling an' searchin' out for -_met-aiy-en-sher-een_ like all possessed, for they were main hungry, -'avin' bin shut up all the arternoon. So there was our chanst, an' I -was just leapin' in to put on steam, w'en that bone-silly ass of a -Superintendent says, says 'e, 'You 'aven't got the baton.' An' sure -'nuff I 'adn't. For it was a single line, you see, sir, an' we 'ad to -run a mile or two through a signal station afore branchin' off. Of -course, I didn't ought to 'ave noticed 'is remark, but took the chance; -but there it is! I was a bit on, an' I'd laughed fit to split my sides, -let alone my 'ead. So I putt down my fut agin, an' made to go fetch it, -when the engine she gave a screech an' started full speed. Whether -'Oneyman thought I was aboard, or whether he thought 'e 'ad no time to -lose, I never knew, for after that 'twas no laughin' matter, I can tell -you. But there wasn't much time, for as I run down the platform to -'urry up the baton, I see some o' the platters nigh empty already, an' -they monkeys looking as if they were makin' ready to 'oof it. So when -the screech come I turn back; but I was too late. She 'ad ten mile an -hour on her afore I lep upon the back buffer, seeing there wasn't no -other way o' getting along. An' then, sir"--Craddock drew his hand over -his mouth, thoughtfully--"what come next sobered me in a jiffy. Talk o' -the ride to Khiva! it wasn't in it to the ride I 'ad on the back buffer -o' those sand trucks! Thirty, forty, fifty mile an hour, trundlin' -along a consignment of A 1 devils from the nethermost 'ell. It was 'arf -fright with them, sir, an' 'arf fury. As we scud past the signal -station, full speed, I see the _babu_ fall on 'is face, an' cry -'_dohai! dohai!_' as if 'twere the Day o' Judgment. - -"An' then, sir, I begun to think o' that blockin' o' trees an' creepers -an' butterflies, as was sure to crop up somewhere, closer or furder, -and to wonder if 'Oneyman knew w'en to put on the brake; for 'e was -only a stoker an' not one at that. Lordy, sir, we must a-bin a queer -sight, rushin' through the moonlick night, with the engine flarin' fit -to bust, a full cargo of devils from 'ell dancin' an' whoopin' an' -'owlin' like all possessed, an' Nathanial James Craddock astride the -hoff buffer. I tell you, sir, if any one 'ad said 'whip be'ind,' I'd -a-got down; but I didn't want to leave pore old 'Oneyman off my own -bat. - -"So there we were; but the little fireflies didn't seem to care. I see -'em from the buffer as we flew past, eddyin' up an' down, an' round an' -round, just twinklin' among the trees like the stars up aloft--just as -unreasonable-like an' careless as if there wasn't nothin' to worry -about in this world--and there ain't, sir, since all flesh is grass, as -the man said to the vegetarian. And then we come to the beginning of -the end o' the line, but there weren't no slackenin' down o' steam; so -I prepare to jump---- - -"An' jump I did. When I come to myself the moonlick was as peaceful as -the grave. The engine 'ad cooled down, an' there weren't no sign o' -life anywhere. Only a 'eap of wreckage. I found pore old 'Oneyman lying -dead, chucked clean out o' the cab. 'E 'adn't no mark on 'im, an' -somehow it seemed to me as if 'e 'ad died natural afore we run slap -bang into the blockin' o' trees. For 'e knew enuff about stokin', sir, -to turn off steam. I wouldn't a-took 'im on if 'e 'adn't. - -"But there weren't a sign o' them monkeys, sir; an' wot's more, there's -never bin one seen in that there jungle since." - -Here Craddock rose, yawned, and passed over to the cranks and handles -and valves. The next instant an ear-piercing whistle rang through the -dust-laden air, seeming to set it a-quiver. - -"That's to rouse old Meditations, sir," he said cheerfully; "but it -won't do it. 'E's petrified to 'is place, an' I shall 'ave to lift 'im -out o' the way, as per usual." - -From afar I could see, like a speck upon the receding ribbon of rail, -an immovable figure on the Permanent Way. - - - - - DRY GOODS - - -"Mr. Blooker, sir," said the head clerk severely, "no one whose chest -measurement is under thirty-two inches has any right to beat time to -'Rule, Britannia,' even when it is played by a German band in the -street." - -A small man whose desk stood nearest the office window, against which a -City fog lay like yellow cotton wool, blushed, apologised incoherently, -and returned to fair general averages. - -The other clerks tittered, since this was a recurring criticism. For, -though Alexander Blooker's chest measurement made active patriotism -impossible, the heart within it was full of that sentiment. This was -unmistakable when he boomed forth solid songs of the past, such as the -"Death of Nelson" and the "Soldier's Tear," in his big solid bass -voice; the more modern ditties about "beggars" and "gurls" and "kids" -and "khaki" being, he assured his club, "unsuitable to his organ." And -Alexander Blooker was very proud of his organ. - - - "_Never, never, never will be slaves_." - - -Quite unconsciously his dutiful pen punctuated each quaver and -semi-quaver, though in his heart of hearts he knew that he himself had -been a slave all his life. First to an old aunt who had lately died -full of self-satisfaction because she left him fifty pounds out of the -money she had saved from the earnings he had brought home to her all -his working life; and secondly to the head clerk, Mr. Mossop. Such a -kind, good---- - -"Blooker, please!" chanted the office boy, showing round the glass -screen. - -It was the voice of Fate. Wondering vaguely whether this unusual -call to the innermost Holy of Holies, "Our Firm," presaged -dismissal--possibly for punctuating patriotism--he went meekly. - -And he returned as he went, to sit down solidly once more to fair -general averages. The other clerks waited for a remark, but none came; -so the pens scraped and scraped until time was up. - -Then, when the office was empty, save for himself and Alexander, Mr. -Mossop, the head clerk, went over to the latter's desk. - -"We can finish that for you, Mr. Blooker," he said, "you have much to -do." - -"Thank you, sir," came the solemn reply, "I am much obliged to you, -sir, but I would rather complete it myself, sir, before going to----" -Then decorum gave way. "Mr. Mossop, sir," he continued wildly, "am I on -my 'ed or on my 'eels? I can't believe it--and it is all your doing, -sir. I feel sure 'Our Firm' wouldn't never have done it if you hadn't -spoken for me, and--and--I don't know whether I am on my 'ed or my -'eels!" - -As a rule Alexander Blooker struggled successfully with the accent of -Cockaigne, but in times of stress, and especially when using certain -set phrases, he adhered to it as if he felt it added forcefulness of -expression. - -There was a suspicion of a tear in his pale blue eye, and Mr. Mossop -felt inclined to brace him up by telling him the truth; namely, that -"Our Firm" contemplated in the near future closing the Distant Depot to -the charge of which he had been appointed. Briefly, it did not pay: -Germany had got at the markets in the way that Germany has, when -competition is old-fashioned. But Alexander Blooker's face came up from -the ledger over which it had bent itself for a moment with an -expression on it that startled Mr. Mossop out of contemptuous -compassion. - -"I am going to run this job on my own, sir," he began eagerly; "I'm -going to work it on Imperial lines----" - -"H'm--we are not at the debating club, Mr. Blooker," interrupted the -head clerk; but Alexander was beyond recall; his voice took on the -blatant tone of the public speaker. - -"Shrinkage in trade follows shortage in piece goods, and our piece -goods is short. Germany's ain't. I don't say that 'Our Firm' is as bad -as most, but there's a cool quarter yard out of the forty for rubbage -border and all that. Besides, mind you, some of 'em goes as far as -three-quarters!--a _cool_-three-quarters!!--and why not? If you tike a -hinch why not tike a hell!" - -This was apparently quite conclusive, for the head clerk hastily -changed the subject to the necessary preparations. But two days could -be allowed, as the Distant Depot lay up a river that was only navigable -for six months in the year; and four of these were already overpast. It -was rather a rush, but the present occupant of the post had -unexpectedly accepted the agency of a liquor shop; and the half-yearly -market must not find "Our Firm" without a representative. So the first -mail--it was a journey of six or seven weeks--must be the one. If any -money was wanted--"Thank you, sir," replied Alexander Blooker; "the -fifty pounds of my own that my aunt left me will do for the present: -by-and-by perhaps----" - -He looked mysterious, but he said no more to anyone; unless he -whispered something to the glass case illustrating cotton manufactures -in the Imperial Institute, which had always had an especial fascination -for him. Despite his hurry, he was looking at the peculiarly broad -borders of a pile of piece goods and muttering under his breath, "If -you tike a hinch you may as well tike a hell," when a man of gold lace -and buttons found him, after closing time, and hustled him by corridors -of Imperial pickle bottle into the Sahara of Exhibition Road. - -Within two months he was--to use his own expression--"taking down the -shutters" in a very different desert. For the "Distant Depot" lay at -the Back o' Beyont. Whereabouts in the World-Circle matters nothing. -Briefly, it was one of those advancing tentacles of civilisation -boasting the Mission-House, the Dry-Goods-Store or two and the -Whisky-Shop, which carry between them civilisation to the aboriginal. -Beyond it lay desolation, except for a single telegraph wire which -spanned the void towards the west, instead of following the tortuous -curves of the river (now sinking into sandbanks), which after a long -course south-eastward eventually found itself at the same goal--the -sea-board. There was no town to speak of; only a cluster of leaf-huts, -besides the Mission-House and Chapel, the two Stores and the -Liquor-Shop. And these were so close clustered that to Alexander -Blooker, when he rose to look out over his new world on the morning -after his arrival, it seemed as if the bell which was being rung from -the Chapel was a general invitation to pray, and buy, and drink. - -But it was a pretty little place. A real oasis in the surrounding -desert of sands, and almost bewilderingly green amidst thickets of -banana trees. - -A tall fat man showed in the verandah of the opposition. - -"_Guten, morgen, mien freund_," he called, with superb indifference. "I -gif you welcome." - -That was doubtless Franz Braun, the German rival, and Alexander Blooker -hated him at sight; but he kept his dignity. - -"The same to you, sir," he replied stiffly, "I trust trade is good." - -"It is goot for me," remarked Franz Braun, with an air for which -Alexander Blooker could have kicked him. That being impossible owing to -their relative sizes, the little man relieved his bellicose feelings by -beginning on "'Twas in Trafalgar Bay." It still had for him the charm -of novelty to be able to beat time when and where he chose. - -"_Mein Gott!_" shouted Franz Braun excitedly over the way. "_Wass fur -eine Stimme! Wunderbar!_" - -It was the voice that did it. But for it the armed neutrality of the -past between the rival firms might have remained in the future; as it -was, an hour afterwards Alexander Blooker was politely but steadily -refusing to sing a second to the "Wacht am Rhein," although Franz Braun -(who had an equally good high tenor, after the fashion of tall burly -men) wept on his shoulder and called him "_Bruderlein_." - -"You must to the pastor-house this evening," sighed the big creature at -last, "Fraulein Anna, who is to the Pastor Schmidt daughter, will make -you sing. She is _my verlobte_. I will to her be married, but she will -make you sing." - -Nevertheless, neither her yellow hair nor her blue eyes beguiled -Alexander Blooker from his fixed determination; but they sang together -for half the night, and the memory of Fraulein Anna's soaring soprana, -as the notes of "Oh! for the wings of a dove" floated into the hot air, -was with him as, despite the lateness of the hour, he set all in -readiness for the morrow. Since on the next day's doings much depended; -for it was the yearly market-day, on which all the native traders from -far and near came to buy goods. Alexander Blooker, in fact, had hurried -his _doongah_ up the sinking river so as to reach the Distant Depot in -time for it. His last task was the undoing of one of the small bales -which throughout their journey had been the objects of his special -care. - -"It you tike a' hinch you may as well tike the h'ell," he murmured, as -he cut the packing threads by the dim light--for he had refused to use -the "Made in Germany" lamp of his predecessor. Then, with a sigh of -satisfaction, he held up the top one of the hard-pressed pile of -printed cotton handkerchiefs. - -"That ought to fetch 'em," he said admiringly. Certainly it might -have "fetched" anything and everything. To use heraldic terms, the -field of the kerchief was gules, argent and azure, arranged in -_saltire_--otherwise, a Union Jack. An _escutcheon of pretence_ bore -the Queen's head _regardant_, while _quarterly_, _en surtout_, were: on -the first, _gules_, three lions _passant_, or, for England; on the -second, or, a lion _rampant_ within a double _tressure flory counter -flory_, _gules_, for Scotland; on the third, azure, a harp, _or_, -stringed _argent_, for Ireland; on the fourth?--well!--why the fourth -field should have been charged with specimens from a pack of cards, -Alexander Blooker did not know. It was a blot on the _scutcheon_, no -doubt; but two days had not sufficed for the printing of a special -design, and this was the best he had been able to find. Besides, in a -measure, it was true. There was no blinking the fact that even British -civilisation was apt to bring gambling and drinking with it. - -The next day the whole place was full up with native traders and -natives generally. The first sight of them made Alexander Blooker -wonder why they were so eager for piece goods, considering how little -of them they wore! But then he had hardly realised that beyond that -northerly desert lay a huge tract of densely-populated, almost unknown -land. - -Trade was brisk over the way at Franz Braun's store. The cheap German -muslins, guaranteed full length, and packed in convenient carriageable -size, went off like smoke; and it was not until the best lots had gone -off that a trader thought it worth while to give a perfunctory glance -at Alexander Blooker's consignments. Then his eye fell instantly on the -heraldic handkerchiefs. - -"Sell, how much?" he asked. - -Alexander Blooker shook his head. "They are not for sale, sir," he -replied loftily. "They are a gift. An Imperial gift from Her Gracious -Majesty the Queen of England. Everyone as buys forty yards of English -stuff has one of them given in, free, gratis, and for nothin'. Him as -buys two, has three, and so on--much the same as parcel post rates." - -It took two interpreters to bring home this admixture of patriotism and -progressive bribery to the limited brains of purchasers, but when it -did find its way into their understanding, the effect was marvellous. -Before the sun set Alexander Blooker had to conceal his last bale of -handkerchiefs against the year which must elapse before he could get a -new supply. - -"So! _mein freund_," said Franz Braun, with a good-natured laugh. "It -is well; but it is not trade!" - -"It will be trade," replied little Alexander stoutly. "I am going to -work this job on Imperial lines." - -It grew to be a joke in this Distant Depot, as it had been in the City -office where the yellow fog lay on the windows like cotton wool; but -here Mr. Blooker had liberty to beat time to anything he chose. And it -was surprising how the natives took to him. He must have spent a good -deal of his fifty pounds on the purchase of medicines, for his morning -dispensary soon out-rivalled Pastor Schmidt's--who, in truth, was -growing a bit old for the work. He had lost his wife of late years, his -daughter was betrothed to Franz Braun (who had a promise of a post -elsewhere), and the hearts of all three held hope of change in the near -future which hindered much enthusiasm in the present. Not that there -had ever been much of it in their lives; even the old missionary had -gone on his way coolly, if conscientiously. - -Alexander Blooker, on the contrary, was always at fever heat. He -managed to transfer some of his ardour even through the lengthy mail to -"Our Firm," so that when the river route reopened, a double consignment -of dry goods took advantage of the water. The last penny, too, of the -fifty pounds had gone, through Mr. Mossop's agency, in handkerchiefs of -brand-new design, more heraldic, more patriotic than ever, and -guiltless of cards. Perhaps Alexander Blooker felt that, so far as he -was concerned, British civilisation was bringing no evil in its train. - -And it was not. It was surprising, indeed, to see how the Distant -Depot had improved in tone. Franz Braun, who, deprived by the -difficulty of carriage of sufficient lager beer to satisfy him, had -taken to over-much whisky instead, now, greatly to the delight of his -"_verlobte_," satisfied his thirst on home-made ginger-pop, brewed by a -recipe of Alexander's aunt, while the old pastor gave in with smiling -acquiescence to the appropriation by Alexander Blooker of what might be -called "parochial work." In fact, there was some talk of building -another shanty as a parish hall; for the little man was distinctly -churchy, and liked things in order. A Temperance League and a Band of -Hope had, combined with an enlarged liver, made the liquor-store keeper -take leave home, and Alexander, having offered to run the business -until another man could come out, was now conducting it with a curious -mixture of conscience and commerce. - -So the eve of the next yearly market came round, and Alexander, in a -fervour of Imperialism, actually climbed up the telegraph post which -stood in one corner of his compound, and nailed a pocket-handkerchief -to it, flag-wise. - -"So!" called Franz Braun from over the way, half-jocularly, -half-vexedly, "the patrol will at you haf damages when he returns." - -For that single wire which sped seawards from north to south was -patrolled at intervals by a staff of engineers from the former. - -"He has paid his last visit for the cool season," said Alexander -knowingly; "so there it can stay if it likes for the next four months, -at any rate." - -"I wish that to me came the same certainty of liking," growled Franz -Braun, "but, you see, the Herr papa ails, and the _verlobte_ wishes him -to the Homeland to take, and I would also go if I could." - -A vague alarm showed on Alexander Blooker's face. "And leave me here -alone? I'm glad you can't." - -The idea, however, stuck in his brain. Supposing he were left alone, -what would he do? - -After he had arranged everything to his liking for the morrow, this -idea of perfect solitude kept him from sleep and he strolled out with a -pipe to quiet his nerves in the desert. - -What would he do if he were left alone? A curious elation mixed with -his natural dread. He walked, and walked, scarcely thinking out the -question, only feeling it in that big heart of his. He had -instinctively followed the telegraph line himself so as to be sure of -not losing his way, but now he started at the sight of a solitary -figure before him, visible in the moonlight, advancing to him, and -keeping the same bee-line swiftly yet stumblingly, with a pause as for -a few seconds' rest at each post. It was someone who was ill, or very, -very tired. - -A woman, a native woman! He could hear her voice now in her pauses. -Always the same words mumbled mechanically over and over again: - -"Save me, Queen-of-the-handkerchief.... Save me...." - -He knew enough of the language now to understand so much, and he -waited, watching her curiously. - -Across the last gap she stumbled towards him, gave one surprised look -at him, and--with a vague effort at the same words as if he had been a -telegraph post--sank down in a dead faint. - -She was quite a slip of a girl, and, after a time, she came to herself; -but she was so exhausted that it was past grey dawn when Alexander -Blooker managed to get her back to the telegraph post in the corner of -his compound. And to this she clung pertinaciously, much to his -annoyance, for he wanted to get her out of the way, and find who she -was, and what she wanted, before the native traders began to turn up. - -His remonstrances, however, were in vain. Her only reply was a murmured -incoherent repetition of her first appeal: - -"Save me! Queen-of-the-handkerchiefs." - -And every time she said it, Alexander Blooker experienced a patriotic -thrill down his back. He felt that she must at all costs be saved--but -from what? - -The dawn grew from grey to gold. - -"_Gott in Himmel!_" laughed Franz Braun, coming down very early because -of something he had forgotten. "_Mein Alexander mit a Madchen! Ach!_ -fie!" - -"Stop your silly jaw and find out what she is wanting," cried Alexander -Blooker fiercely, "or help me to get her into the shanty before the -traders come." - -"_Mein bruderlein_," replied Franz Braun solemnly, "when you have so long -as me been in savage places you will-not-to-redress-women's-wrongs-learn." - -Alexander Blooker swelled visibly. "That sentiment is made in -Germany, sir. She has appealed to that"--he pointed to the flag -pocket--handkerchief on the telegraph post which was waving in the -breeze of dawn--"and, by George! she shall have protection!" - -There was nothing more to be said, not even when some of the traders, -coming on the scene, recognised the girl as the daughter of a powerful -chief in the northern land, who would be certain to give trouble were -she harboured by the Distant Depot. It would be better to send her back -in their charge. How she had found her way so far was a mystery; she -must have followed the telegraph posts day by day, have slept in their -shadow night by night. - -Some vague confused sense of the poetry of this--night after night -sleeping, all unconsciously as it were, under the flag of England--day -after day following the course of light to freedom, rose in Alexander's -throat, and half-choked him. - -"She shall stay," he said. "Let her father come to fetch her; if he is -in the right, he shall have her." - -"My dear sir," quavered old Pastor Schmidt, "he will not time for -explanation give. I was in a to-be-compared position once. I will not -be so again. I will take my daughter-ling away. I will go. There is no -good in staying to be massacred when pension has become due." - -It was all to no purpose. Alexander Blooker stood firm. The utmost he -would do was to write a conciliatory letter for the traders to give on -their return to the girl's father, saying that his daughter had been -handed over to the charge of a suitable matron, and that he might have -her again if adequate explanations were tendered to Her Gracious -Britannic Majesty's representative at the Distant Depot. And here the -great temptation of his life came to Alexander Blooker. He would have -loved to sign himself "Consul C.M.G." No one would be the wiser. But -the sense of duty was strong within him, and he refrained. - -This being so, Pastor Schmidt incontinently determined not to brave the -certainty, as he deemed it, of coming trouble. His Society in the West -was prepared for his possible return. The details of how the work could -be carried on by a native deacon during the six months before a new -pastor could arrive were all settled. Nothing but a half-conscious -feeling that to retire would be to sign his warrant of dismissal from -what had been to him his life, had kept him hitherto from decision. -Now, the river was falling fast; they must take their chance of escape -while they could get it. - -And Franz Braun? After two days of moody helping to pack his -"_verlobte's_" belongings, he came to say, not without a certain -tremble in his voice: - -"_Bruderlein_, I also go--so far anyhow--my firm said so much a month -ago--to-night thou wilt be alone." - -There was not much time for Alexander Blooker to realise his position -until, as the cool of the night came on, he stood by the last little -landing-stage on the river, watching the Noah's-ark-boat as it punted -its way slowly through the network of sandbanks. - -Behind him as he stood, flared the red glories of the setting sun; in -front of him, the long stretches of sand, the winding gleams of the -shrinking river were fast losing each other in the purple-blue shadows -of coming night. From the lessening speck of the boat as it drifted -downwards on the current came half-regretful, half-joyful farewells. -The native congregation, assembled in full force, sent after it -wailing outcries; but Alexander Blooker was silent, save for one brief -"Good-bye, Fraulein Anna! Good-bye, Pastor Schmidt! Good-bye, Franz -Braun!" - -The sliding shadow of the boat had disappeared into the oncoming night -for his short-sighted eyes, long before the still savage congregation -lost it, but he stood staring on where it had been long after they had -gone home contentedly. Then he turned suddenly. The red had almost -faded from the sky. Only low down on the horizon lay a band of what -Ruskin held to be the highest light--pure vermilion--and against it he -could see the telegraph post, with a black speck that must be the -pocket-handkerchief of England flying at its peak. - -He drew a long breath. For the first time in his life Alexander Blooker -felt that he was not a slave. - - - * * * * * - - -Six months after, the first _doongah_ of the season punted and sailed -up the river again. The Distant Depot was deserted; but there was no -sign of disorder in it. The English flag still flew from the telegraph -post. The Pastor's house, which Alexander Blooker had been implored to -occupy and keep in order, looked, save for the dust which always -gathered from the desert, as if he must have been there but a few days -before. The garden was ablaze with flowers. The clusters of native huts -had disappeared, and in their place neat streets of low wattle and dab -dwellings converged outwards from quite an imposing edifice with -"Church Hall" marked on it conspicuously. The liquor shop had -disappeared. Franz Braun's dry goods store was closed and the British -one removed to a portion of the central building. - -The little Mission Chapel also was utterly changed. The seats removed -to make room for clean matting on which the native congregation could -squat. Everything western or of western symbolism swept away, and in -their place, ingeniously adapted to their present purpose, were things -held sacred by the natives. Here an English school had evidently had -its quarters, for copybooks, headed in a neat hand "If you take an -inch, you may as well take an ell," were found there. Also a few -chapters of the New Testament written out in the same handwriting. - -The tiny cemetery behind the chapel, surrounded on three sides by -banana thickets, remained unaltered, save that, just under the east -window, three of the heraldic pocket-handkerchiefs were pegged to the -ground in an oblong. - -What had happened? - -The yearly market day brought vague, inconsistent rumours from the -mouths of many merchants. - -Nothing was known for certain. The "Lord-of-Handkerchiefs" had -remained, of course. It was said that the chief had come for his -daughter. Nothing had happened. Only the Handkerchief-Lord had, as they -might see, built palaces. - -He was a Great Chief. The people simply would not live without him when -he died. So, at least, they had said as they came through the villages -beyond the desert on their way north. How long ago? Ah! not long; they -were afraid, see you, of the new gentlemen. They preferred to begin -afresh elsewhere. That would doubtless be his grave at the back of the -chapel. He was a great loss to the country. No one gave handkerchiefs -away as he did. - -So the Distant Depot had to go on its way without further details. Only -the traces of Alexander Blooker's short rule remained, and the new -inhabitants who soon gathered to fill the trim walls and dab houses -benefited by them. - -One day, however, when almost a year had gone by, the new pastor found -that the oblong of handkerchiefs in the cemetery, instead of being worn -and faded by sun and rain was, apparently, brand new. - -Someone must have renewed it in the night. And on the top of it, -written out in wobbly round hand, was the last copy Alexander Blooker -had set: - -"If you take an inch you may as well take an ell." - -From which the Distant Depot inferred that it was his death-day. - - - - - THE REGENERATION OF DAISY - BELL - - -"It is quite out of the question," said the Adjutant, severely. "Major -Primmer has formerly complained, and the C.O. has desired me to--to--to -see that the nuisance is abated----" - -So far, regimental discipline kept the Adjutant's risible muscles under -control; then he smiled, for he was more human than adjutants are wont -to be in orderly room. "And, upon my soul, youngster," he went on, -picking up a letter which lay beside him, "it is a bit hard on Primmer. -I can imagine his disgust! H'm, h'm--'_have to report_'--Ah! here--'_As -usual, I woke with the entry of my body-servant bringing my early tea. -As usual, also, I lay for a few moments to collect my thoughts; but -when I turned to pour out the beverage_'--good old Primmer--'_my -disgust was great to find Lieutenant Graham's so-called tame monkey--I -may interpolate that it is a specimen of the Presbytis schistaceus, a -bold and predatory tribe, and not the Presbytis entellus, a much milder -race_'--good old Primmer again; he's nothing if not exact--'_in full -possession of my tea-table. The brute had consumed all the toast, save -one crust, which I regret to say it threw at me when I attempted -remonstrance_.'" - -We both laughed. - -"Can't you see Major Primmer, V.C., sitting up in bed with his -eye-glasses on, in a mortal funk," I began, trying to brazen it out. -But official decorum had resumed its sway over the Adjutant, and he -read on: - -"'_It then proceeded, with an accuracy which I cannot believe to be -entirely self-taught_'--H'm, Graham, that is serious; remember he is -your superior officer--'_to imitate closely my method of pouring out -tea. This is peculiar, as I invariably put the milk in first. My -efforts at checking the lawless brute were again quite unavailing; and -resulted only in the deliberate emptying of the scalding hot tea over -my nether garments_.'" - -"Why couldn't he say his pyjamas," I groaned, captiously; for I -recognised that things had gone a bit too far. I had had no idea Jennie -had such a fund of humour. - -But once more official decorum failed to respond. - -"'_This, I may add, it did again and again, until the teapot was -exhausted. It then pouched the whole contents of the sugar-basin, drank -the milk, and smeared its head with the butter. The latter action -appeared to arouse reminiscence. It repaired to my dressing-table, -brushed its hair with my brushes, used my pommade hongroise, and then -proceeding to the wash-hand-stand, nefariously laid hold of my -tooth-brush. This, however, was too much. I rose. At the same moment my -body-servant providently appeared with my hot water, and the brute, -jabbering at me in unseemly fashion, made for the window, which I -always keep open winter and summer. I have already requested Lieutenant -Graham to remove this savage animal; and now have no option_ ...'" - -The Adjutant laid down the letter. "It's hard on Primmer," he said, -with almost superhuman solemnity; "the tooth-brush incident was----" he -resumed speech after a brief pause, "and he is a good sort is old -Primmer." - -I was perfectly aware of the fact. Only the week before, when we were -out in the jungle, he had dosed me with quinine and taken my -temperature every two hours during an attack of fever and ague. - -So Jennie the monkey must give way; but what the deuce was I to do with -her? I did not want to have to shoot her. - -"Give her to Tootsie," suggested the Adjutant, sympathetically; "I -heard her say not long ago she would give anything for a monkey." - -It was a brilliant idea. Miss d'Aguilar, familiarly known as Tootsie, -performed the arduous duties of spinster to our little frontier -station; so that afternoon, before going on duty, I rode round by "The -Forest," so called, I presume, because there was not a bit of -vegetation larger than a caper bush between it and the Beluchistan -Hills. - -I found the young lady and her mother--a frankly black-and-tan lady who -looked as if she would have been more comfortable with a veil to roll -round her fat person--engaged, after their wont, in entertaining some -of the junior subalterns at tea. As I entered, Tootsie--a sparkling -brunette with gloriously startling Titian brown hair, due to cunning -applications of henna dye (there were traces of it on Mamma's -hands)--was, in a high-pitched staccato voice, recounting with arch -gaiety, her impressions of Calcutta, whence she had but lately -returned. "Yes! I do declare the men are just sillies. Why! do not -believe me, but I asked a young fellow in a Europe shop to bring me -flesh-coloured stockings, and he brought me tan! Was he not a silly -boy?" - -The pause which inevitably followed this anecdote seemed a fitting -opportunity for somewhat sentimentally offering Jennie. Had I offered a -bomb the effect could not have been more disastrous. Miss grew crimson; -Mamma, purple and plethoric, wondered how any gentleman could keep such -a nasty brute, still less offer it as a fit companion to an innocent -young girl. - -Evidently Jennie had again got herself disliked; how, the junior sub. -told me succinctly as we rode home. - -"You see, Tootsie dyes her hair--and henna's a bit of a lengthy -business. They don't mind me, I'm only a boy; but she has to have it -plastered over her head for hours. So she has a big hat with a false -bun and fringe for these occasions. And Jennie got hold of it somehow -last week. I happened to be there; and, by George, I chevied the beast -half over cantonments before she would give it up--she's a regular -devil." - -I sighed. Evidently the culprit must be shot. She had no friends. - -As I came up to the guardroom, however, I heard a song being lilted out -by a tenor voice into the hot dusty air. The refrain of London sounded -odd here in the desert on the confines of civilisation: - - - "Dy'sy, Dy'sy, give me yer answer dew, - I'm half cry'sy, all for the love o' yew." - - -"Yes, sir," reported the sergeant. "It's Dy'sy, sure enough. He's in -agin; more often in nor out." - -"What for?" I asked, a trifle regretfully, for the man, nicknamed by -his comrades Dy'sy from his habit of perpetually warbling that -aggravating ditty, was rather a favourite of mine. He was a perfectly -reckless rolling stone, a bad shilling of about five-and-thirty, who -from the way he had, when not on his guard, of assimilating drill, must -have been through it several times. But over his past he drew a veil; -and, indeed, his present was sufficient for character. He had come -out with a draft in the cold weather, and already his evil influence -with the recruits was notorious. Yet I liked the fellow; he was a -first-class light-weight bruiser, out and away the best in the -regiment. I had taken lessons of his, and his devil-may-care defiance -had been attractive. - -"Same as before, sir," replied the sergeant. "Shindy in Number Three. -'Tain't no manner o' use shiftin' 'is room. He'd purwurt a Sunday -School." - -Solid truth in every word! Yet the light blue eyes which met mine had a -twinkle in them that softened my heart. - -"If you are such a cursed fool," I said, as sternly as I could, "you'll -come to grief." - -His face took on sublime innocence. "Beg pardin, sir; but it ralely -ain't fair w'en a party is trying to do 'is dooty to 'is parsters an' -marsters. Them young chaps was makin' fun hover your monkey usin' the -major's py-jammas has a slopper; an' I only tole 'm it was kind o' -disrespekful like, as she meant it hall in k'yindness, an' bid 'm hold -their jaw. That's how the tin dishes got hinjured, for," he added, with -great dignity, "I won't 'ave no slanderin' o' dumb animals as can't -speak up for thesselves." - -A gleam of hope shot through me. "You're fond of animals, are you?" I -asked. - -For once candid confidence came to him. "Well! I don' know, sir," he -replied, "but 'twas the loss o' a dorg as fust set me wrong." He gave a -glance towards the sergeant, who was discreetly retiring, and then went -on. "I was but a young chap, just gone twenty, and the dorg was a bull -tarrier, sir, as good as they make 'm. S'yme n'yme as your monkey, -sir--Jennie. We was chums. Then I got a gel, one o' the yaller-haired -kind, sir, an' I was a fool about her, as young chaps is apt ter be. -Well, sir, I 'adn't bin just steddy--no real 'arm, you know, but sort -o' light like. But I settles down an' begins ter screw against gettin' -married. The yaller-haired gel was livin' with me, sir, so as to save -time like, but we was sure to get married in church an' go hoff -emigrating so soon as I'd got the 'oof. An' Jennie was to go, too, for -she an' me was chums. Well, sir, there was a big, black chap, coster he -was, I licked him more nor once for 'angin' round; but there! females -are built that way. So it 'appened when I come 'ome one hevening that I -found 'er gone, an' the 'oof too. An' Jennie----" he drew his hand -slowly over his mouth--"Jennie had died game, sir. She 'ad a bit of the -big black brute's corduroys betwixt 'er teeth, but 'e'd bashed 'er 'ead -open with 'is boot." - -There was silence. Then he went on with a reckless laugh, "'Tweren't -the gel, sir; there's plenty o' them ter be got, yaller hair an' all. -But Jennie an' me had been chums." - -Five minutes later the monkey had changed masters. To oblige me and -save Jennie from being shot Dy'sy Bell had promised to take care of -her. - -"I'u'd rather 'ave no money, sir," he said, when he appeared to fetch -her away and I offered him something towards her keep, "'twould only go -to the canteen, and if I get into trouble, oo'd look after 'er?" - -'"Er," I may mention, had just bitten his finger through to the bone, -an action which he dismissed with the remark that "females was built -that way." - -Three days later, as I rode past Number Three barrack, I saw Jennie -cracking nuts on a brand-new perch. Dy'sy, it now appeared, was quite a -smart carpenter, and had made it himself in the workshop. Three days -after that again, the perch was embellished by a brass chain, and Dy'sy -admitted shamefacedly that he had once been in a foundry. So time -passed on, until it occurred to me that Dy'sy had ceased to come into -prominence before me as company officer, and I questioned the sergeant -concerning him. - -The official did not move a muscle. "Number Three's has quiet has a -orphin asylum now, sir. As I lies in my bunk I don't 'ear no whisper. -But it was Bedlam broke loose the fust night after Jennie come, sir. I -lay low, seeing as there never was no use in tryin' to get at the -bottom o' that sort o' row in the dark, sir. An' next morning 'arf the -room complained of 'avin' a hunbaptised brute put to bed with 'em. The -monkey slep' with Dy'sy, sir, so I spoke to 'im, an' told 'im I -c'u'dn't 'ave no more complaints, an' he replied, quite civil-like, as -there sh'u'dn't be none. An' there wasn't; but 'arf the men 'ad black -eyes that week, sir, though 'ow they came by 'm they didn't say." - -I did not enquire. It was sufficient for me that Number Three barrack -was rapidly becoming regenerate. As I passed one day I heard a voice -say, "Now, boys! I won't 'ave no cuss words; they ain't fit for a lydy -to hear." - -"You don't go so often to the canteen as you used to, Bell," I said to -him one day when I found him sitting alone in the verandah nursing -Jennie, who jibbered at me. - -"Ain't got the money, sir," he replied cheerfully. "_Neringis_ and -sich--like is a horful price in this Gordforsaken spot, an' Jennie's -been a bit ailin'; won't eat nothing else." - -"Well, you'll be getting your stripes soon, I expect, if you go on as -you are doing," I remarked. - -He flushed up. "I 'opes so, sir," he said modestly. "Jennie 'u'd set -store by a striped sleeve, females being built that way." - -My prophecy proved correct. Dy'sy was made a corporal, and before long, -in the Border campaign which the cold weather brought us, found himself -a sergeant, and so eventually in charge of a telegraph station on the -top of one of the passes to our rear. - -It was an important post to keep open, since on the integrity of the -wire through a mile or so of singularly difficult country hung the -certainty of speedy relief, should any kind of disaster overtake our -little force, which was intimidating the tribes in the valleys beyond. - -And disaster did overtake it, chiefly by reason of a terrific snowstorm -which swept over it early in February--a snowstorm which paralysed -progress, and made all thoughts turn to the probability of that mile of -telegraph wire remaining intact. - -No supplies could, of course, be sent up, so the men in the station -must either starve or return, if, indeed, they had not been overwhelmed -already. The latter seemed the most likely, since, though the through -wire remained open, not a signal came from the station. - -"An avalanche most likely," said the Adjutant. "The station was built, -I always said, in the wrong place. What luck the wire isn't damaged as -yet. It won't be long before it is, I'm afraid." - -It was, however, still going strong when four men, one badly -frost-bitten, made their way into camp. They had started five, they -said, by Sergeant Bell's orders, after they had with difficulty -extricated themselves from the ruins of the house, which had been -completely smashed up by a tremendous avalanche. It was impossible, -Dy'sy had said, to keep the post and six men also, so he had given them -what supplies he could spare--the store was luckily uninjured--and -bidden them take their best chance of safety at once. - -As for his, it seemed but slender, as I felt when, a fortnight later, -we managed to cut our way through the drifts that lay round the hollow -where the station had stood. Across this hollow the through wire still -stretched, and quite recently someone had evidently been at work upon -it, for tools lay on fresh frosted snow. But all was still as the dead, -quiet as the grave. We found Dy'sy lying on his face in the store many -feet below the snow surface. The steps cut down to it were worn with -the passing of his feet, but he did not move when we bent over him; -something, however, cuddled close in his arms, woke and jibbered at us -angrily. It was Jennie, dressed for warmth in every rag of blanketing -available. She was as fat as a pig, and the charcoal embers in the tin -can hung round her neck were not yet quite cold. But Dy'sy was skin and -bone; yet the Irish doctor, as he bent hastily to examine him, said, -cheerfully: "Annyhow, his love for the baste may have saved his life; -she's kept his heart warm whatever." - -And she had. - -Six weeks afterwards I sat beside him in hospital. He showed thin and -gaunt still in his grey flannel dressing-gown, and two fingers were -missing on his left hand. - -"Well!" I said, "so they've given you the D.S.M., and a special pension -if you want to go." - -He smiled brilliantly. - -"Don't want to, sir. Jennie she likes the H'army; females is built that -way. And as for t'other, 'twas really Jennie done it. I couldn't take -her through the snow--she'd 'a' died for sure. An' I couldn't leave -her, so there wasn't no choice." - - - - - A SONG WITHOUT WORDS - - -It was in the club that the telegram came, and as I sat watching my -partner make pie of one of the best bridge hands ever ruined, I read it -over once or twice, and, finally, when our adversaries had run out, -handed it over to the culprit as a means of turning my wrath to another -subject. - -"Transferred!" he commented, calmly. "H'm! We shall have to get -Beveridge to join our game instead!" (My self-pity flew for a moment -to poor Beveridge, and I wondered what sort of a temper he had.) -"Still, it isn't a bad place, though rather out of the way. Splendid -buck-shooting--only, of course, this isn't the time. And a very decent -house." Here he giggled. "Well, decent isn't, perhaps, the word to use, -is it? And, by Jove, I'm sorry for you. There will be a devil of a mess -to set right, I expect; and, anyhow, it isn't pleasant to step into -another fellow's shoes after that sort of thing." - -I acquiesced. "That sort of thing" was, briefly, the suicide of a -fellow civil servant, whom I had known vaguely as the most brilliant -man in my year. - -A tall, handsome, light-hearted fellow, full of life, full of -everything, apparently, likely to make him go up; instead of which he -had gone down steadily--so steadily that at last even a Government -which prides itself on ignoring breaches of social law, had been driven -into first banishing him to the charge of a solitary jungle district, -where there was no world to be scandalised, and then with warning him -that he must either pull up or send in his papers. - -He chose the latter course decisively, sending in his checks to another -tribunal. - -"He wasn't a bad sort when he first came out," continued my partner; -"had, in fact, distinct glimmerings of sense, and to the last he -wasn't, so to speak, a bad officer. But the wine and the women--well, -there you are--and--make the best of it." - -This last might have been meant for the nice hand which he displayed. -We had cut for partners again, with the only result of shifting the -deal. I took it that way, anyhow, and said no more. - -There was, in fact, nothing to be said, so when I got home, I told the -bearer of my transfer, and, sitting down, wrote an effusively-cheerful -letter to my wife, who was in the hills with the babies, enlarging on -the manifold advantages of my transfer, and making much of the fact -that, though it brought no extra pay, it was, in a measure, promotion. - -Then I smoked a pipe, feeling virtuous, for those two estimable -creatures--my bearer and my wife--invariably do my duty for me. In -fact, I am the happiest man in existence. I have told my wife so a -hundred times, and she believes it firmly. The faculty, by the way, -which good women have of believing things that ought to be true, is -occasionally appalling, but is always immensely convenient to their -husbands. - -I always wrote her cheerful letters, and in return I used to get -delightful daily budgets, giving me all the wonderful ways and works of -the chicks, and imploring me to let her know regularly what the cook -gave me for dinner, and if I ate it. Also if I were morally sure that -the water was boiling for my tea every afternoon, as, if I was not, she -would infallibly hand the babies over to hirelings, and come down to -her ill-used hubby. - -Such delightful, tender, womanly budgets were her replies that I swear -and declare that, had I been asked to read them aloud, a lump in my -throat would have interfered with my elocution. - -Yet I swear and declare, also, that I would far rather the kettle were -not boiling than that any one I cared for should fuss over it and a -charcoal brazier on a hot verandah on a sweltering August day. But, -then, as my wife is always telling me, I have no real sense of duty. - -I wrote her, therefore, as cheerfully as I could, telling her, which -was true, that solitude would be better than bad bridge. Also that it -really was a move nearer to her, since, in case of emergency, I could -cut across country by dhoolie to the foot of the hills. Finally, I -enlarged on the fact that my successor would take over our house as it -stood until her return, so that she need not fuss about moving -anything, as I should do well in my new house, which was to remain as -it was until my predecessor's unfortunate affairs had gone through the -Administrator-General's office--a business, as a rule, of months. - -I even mentioned the existence of a Bechstein grand piano, with a hint -that if I could get rid of our cottage, I might buy it when the sale -came on--an additional craftiness, since my wife loves to think I am -allowed to have my own way in everything. It makes her more certain -that we have won the Dunmow flitch of bacon--which we undoubtedly have. - -Having done my best to set her wifely anxiety at rest, I advanced fifty -rupees to my bearer. - -In consequence of which we started next day for my new district, bag -and baggage. Though the most part of the journey was by train, the -bearer insisted on buckling a big sword he had picked up somewhere -round his capacious middle. It decidedly had an effect on the railway -coolies. - -About three a.m. we turned out at a roadside station, where, thanks to -that fifty rupees, a dak gharri was waiting to convey me the remaining -twenty miles. I was very sleepy, and as I tumbled into my new -conveyance I got a vague impression of a howling wilderness of sand, -tufted with tiger grass, desolate utterly; so falling asleep again, and -not waking until, in the darkness, I tumbled out--this time into a -large empty room, with a tiny camp bed set in its midst--I carried on, -as it were, the impression of desert surrounding me. But not for long. -The next day would, I suspected, be a trifle trying, since my -unfortunate predecessor's methods of business would scarcely be -conducive to a mechanical taking over charge of his office. So I was -soon asleep, without even realising that probably I was sleeping where -he had lain dead but a day or two before. - -When I opened my eyes next morning I felt a curious content and -surprise. The room was bare in the extreme. The camp bed on which I -lay, a deck chair, the cover of a travelling chest-of-drawers doing -duty as a wardrobe, the top of a travelling bath doing ditto as a -table, a bit of looking-glass hung above it by a string--these were its -furniture. The furniture of the light-hearted boy who had come out in -the same year as I had. With an odd, guilty remorse, I remembered that -I had long since exchanged these simple satisfactions of youth for more -luxurious methods. An unpaid bill of Maple's, indeed, flashed to my -mind, as, looking round the walls, which were hung with full-sized -photographs and copies of the great masters, I realised that my -predecessor had spent his spare cash in a different fashion to what I -had. - -Very different, indeed. My remorse vanished in contempt, as, opening -one of the drawers, a very strong scent of sandal wood made itself -perceptible, and in one corner I saw a trumpery piece of native -jewellery. - -A certain anger took possession of me then, as I looked up into the -eyes of the Sistine Madonna, which hung in a conspicuous place, and I -felt virtuous in realising that, after all, it was a natural refinement -and pure love of order and beauty which lay at the bottom of our -civilised cult of comfortableness. - -So thinking, I passed out on to the verandah, still with last night's -impression on me that I was in a howling desert. - -What I saw, therefore, gave me a shock. For here was a garden such as I -had never seen. Neither English nor Indian, yet reminiscent of both in -its wide sweeps of well-kept lawns, its dense thickets of flowering -shrubs, both, at this break in the rainy season, looking their best. It -took me a moment, however, to realise what it was which gave this -garden its curious distinction from other gardens. There was no path in -it. Though where I stood must once have been the front door, since a -huge pillared porch jutted beyond the verandah, the grass swept right -up to the very house. It had a curious untrodden look. A huge-leaved, -waxen-flowered Beaumontia almost covered the porch with its cold, white -scentless blossoms, and between the pillars Eucharis lilies rose above -a marvellous mass of maidenhair. - -The delicate greenery, the chill whiteness made me think involuntarily -of the newly dead, and had I had on my hat I felt as if I should have -removed it. - -As it was, I stepped, with a slight shiver, beyond the porch into the -sunlight. - -The chilliness was gone in a moment, though the cloistered air -remained, due to the great tamarind trees, which on all sides shut out -the world, shut in the flowers. The birds, too. I never saw so many. A -golden oriole was challenging the sun with its full-throated call from -the bronze rain-shoots of the huge banyan tree, which filled up one -corner, and there were at least a dozen ruby-throated humming-birds -among the hibiscus flowers--those strangely mutable flowers, white in -the dawn, which blush into a crimson death before sunset. - -The banyan tree, promising a well in its shade, and the well promising -the possibility of a gardener whom I could question--for I was beset by -curiosity--I strolled over to it, and found what I wanted--a very old, -wizened man, pretending to weed an offensive patch of yellow African -marigolds, which was carefully hidden away behind a henna hedge. - -"Yes!" he replied, with the tearless regret one often hears in native -voices, the dead Huzoor had been very fond of his garden--in a way. -(Here the regret became personal and aggrieved.) He had never sent for -European seeds, so, of course, it had been impossible even for the most -skilful of malas to make it into a real garden. But if the new Huzoor -would employ this slave--who had many certificates--here the usual -bundle was drawn out from some mysterious hiding-place--mysterious -because he was more than half-naked--he would make proper paths and -"rippin' beds," and set them ablaze with "floccus" and "soot-ullians" -and "gerabians and----" - -He was beginning to reel off a seedsman's catalogue when I pulled him -up by pointing to the marigolds. He pursed up his lips in pious horror. -Oh, no, there would be no more "gooljafari" or "genda" grown in that -garden. They had been for the other folk, who, of course, would no -longer---- The mixture of cunning question and scandalised propriety on -the old humbug's face made me mentally resolve that he should "no -longer" either. In fact, before my wife and the bairns came down I must -have the whole place cleared and fumigated. But the garden? No, it must -not be touched. - -I had my breakfast in a huge dark, central room, which was absolutely -bare save for a ricketty table and two chairs. There were not even any -photographs on the walls. It was so dark that they could not have been -seen. - -"They found the Huzoor lying there, at the door," said my bearer -calmly, after apologising profusely for an oversight in the matter of -marmalade, which, he trusted, might be forgotten, and not reported to -the memsahib. "He had been dead a long time, for he had paid off all -the servants and sent away the other people and the children on the -evening before, saying he was going on a journey. His bearer waited for -him at the station with his baggage, only he never came, nor his horse, -either. - -"It was the office which found him, when it came for signature of -papers next day, and there was nothing disturbed, only the Huzoor lying -where they could see him easily from the front door, and the horse -comfortable in its stall, with plenty of grass. He was always -thoughtful to the poor was the sahib, and never gave trouble to others. -At least, so his servants say--but what can they know--poor, mean -creatures, who do not even know when a kettle boils!" - -I let him talk, for somehow I did not wish to think. In much the same -mood I went doggedly through my day's work in taking over charge and -reducing chaos to order--or, rather, conventional order, for through -all the disgraceful neglect of ordinary routine ran the unmistakable -thread of one man's control, and of a strong man at that, even in its -favouritism, its flagrant derelictions from the ordinary conception of -a magistrate's duty. - -As I got into my dogcart to come home, an orderly came forward, with a -doubtful air, carrying a small bag, such as natives use as a purse. - -"It was the custom," he began; but by this time I felt that I must -return to a right judgment of things, so I purposely lost my temper, -and let it be known that all old customs were to be abolished. "It was -only the pennies for the children on Fridays," stuttered the orderly. -"The Huzoor used always to give them----" - -I drove off, thinking that, perhaps, my predecessor might have been -wise in choosing a higher tribunal. - -My bearer, however, who, as usual, stood in the verandah to receive my -hat, had no doubts in the totality of his blame. He was full of -virtuous activities. Order, in some measure, had been restored. Certain -screens of grass, which had been removed against a time when the mem -might find them useful in the poultry yard, and the outhouses having -been finally cleared--by the aid of the police--of various pensioners -and idle folk, who wept profusely, had been duly distributed among the -servants, he himself having taken one with a women's enclosure, which -would be the cause of great comfort. - -I bid him take what he liked, and for the first time went into the -drawing-room, where he said my tea awaited me. - -I shall never forget my first look at that room, with its five -straight, undraped windows, set in a row round one slightly curved -wall. The others bare, save for the shadows, which were fast creeping -to obliterate even the bareness. The windows were mere oblongs of dim -light, stretching up into the lofty roof, and that shadow looming in -one shadowy corner, across a vast expanse of shadowy matting, must be -the Bechstein piano. I made a move towards it, and stumbled against my -own tea-table, a highly ornate, sham Oriental, carved thing, which the -bearer, by my wife's orders, carried about with him religiously, and at -the same time the bearer himself entered with the reading lamp, without -which, so I am told, I cannot exist. - -I gave up the Bechstein, therefore, for a time, and had caviare -sandwiches with my tea instead. - -I do not know why--my wife would have said because the water was not -boiling--but I did not enjoy my tea. The pity of all things in this -incomprehensible world struck me with a vague anger. I sat wondering -if, after all, a higher tribunal---- - -Good heavens! What was that? Someone was playing on the Bechstein. I -did not turn. I sat staring at those five solemn oblongs of the -glimmering windows, showing lighter and lighter as the shadows deepened -in the big bare room. - -It was Walther's song out of "Tannhauser"--the song of divine love.... - -The bearer said I was asleep when he came to tell me it was time to -dress for dinner. Perhaps I was, for sound sleep brings perfect peace -and rest, and that had come to me with the music which had come out of -the windows. - -I have a dim recollection that the khansaman apologised because the -soup was not clear, and that the bearer explained that a wire mattress -had not arrived owing to the breaking down of a bullock cart. But I -know that I sat up till all hours of the night in the dark, hoping to -hear the Bechstein again, but it was silent as the grave. - -Perhaps at dusk I might hear it once more. I raced off to the office -early, in order to be home in time, and was almost glad of a few -flagrant derelictions of duty cropping up to keep my moral nature from -too much sympathy. - -Yet even so, as I drove home, I put my hand in my pocket and drew out a -handful of coppers for a group of children I passed on the road. I -could not help it when I remembered a certain paper I had sent up to -the Administrator-General that day, showing the way in which a certain -sinner had spent his last pay. - -"Tea is ready in the drawing-room," said the bearer; and even in my -preoccupation I thought there was something odd in his voice. - -But a look into the big bare room was sufficient. I shouldn't have -known it, women have such a way of altering the whole character of a -house by a yellow silk bow. She had taken the little camp bed and made -a couch out of it with cushions and phulkarees. The five fateful -windows, like the five senses looking out on the garden of the soul, -were tucked and festooned, and through one of them came the familiar -sound of a pair of bellows, and then a still more familiar exclamation: - -"There! That's really boiling at last." - -The next instant my wife was in my arms, tearful, tender, triumphant. - -Cheerful letters were all very well, but she knew; so she had just left -the babies in charge of some super-excellent creature, and run away -down to see I was really comfortable. - -"And, after all," she said, nodding her head as she poured out the tea, -"it is as well I did come, for really there seems to be nothing in the -house except the Bechstein." - -I looked over to it dully, and noticed that it was now ornamented by my -photograph in a filigree frame. - -"Yes," I said--I hope I kept some of the regret out of my voice--"only -the Bechstein." - -And as we sat and talked of the children, and our own happiness, and -the seeds we were going to sow in the garden, the five windows grew -lighter as the shadows deepened. - -But the spirit of the room was silent. - - - - - SEGREGATION - - -"I've got the plague, sir, upon my sam, I 'ave. I'll show yer the spot, -sir, same as they 'ad in 1666 w'en the Tower o' London was burnt down, -an' Sir Christopher Wren built St. Paul's--so 'elp me Gawd." - -The speaker was a plausible loafer of the usual type. He was dressed in -white, or what had once been white raiment. A gilt button or two hung -round the coat; mute testimony to its having once belonged to a man who -did some work of some kind for the Government. He was not a Eurasian, -that you could see by the line of white on his forehead above the tan, -as he stood apologetically in the court room holding his helmet before -him with both hands as if he meant to offer it up as a bribe. It was -certainly the most valuable thing about him, for it had a wadded -quilted cover and looked, what the rest of him did not--respectable. - -"The plague!" echoed the magistrate (I am the magistrate). "Nonsense, -man! you're drunk--that's what's the matter with you. Inspector, remove -that man: put him into the lock-up if he gives trouble." - -The inspector approached, but the loafer stood his ground, not without -quiet dignity; the dignity that comes to some people in the first stage -of intoxication. "Excuse of me, sir," he said, "but I ain't going to -make myself a noosance to nobody. That's w'y I came 'ere. That's w'y I -spent my last bloomin' _hart hanner_ (eight annas) in takin' a _ticca -ghari_ (hired carriage) to the 'orspitals, every one of 'em, so as -there might be no infections. Bless your 'art, I don't want to do no -'arm to anyone. I wants to be seggergated, that's all, afore I does -any." - -The magistrate smiled faintly: there was something likeable in the -man's face. - -"So you've been to the hospitals, have you? What did the doctors say!" - -"Same as you, sir," he replied cheerfully, "as I was drunk; but if I -am, Job Charnock--that's me, sir--never got real on afore with one -glass o' _harrack_--an' beastly bad stuff it was, too--smelt like a -dead dorg an' tasted like a tannery." - -Perhaps the name, Job Charnock, awoke memories of the founder of -Calcutta, who, before his fortunes were made, must have been more or -less of a friendless wanderer in an eastern land; perhaps it was -because the magistrate was waiting for a file to be brought from the -record office; but the spirit of cross-examination entered into him. -"One glass of arrak--is that all you've had?" - -The loafer paused, an expression of the utmost candour came to his -face. "All I've 'ad to-day, sir, s'elp me, 'cos I 'adn't a pice more -left ter buy a bit o' food with. Only the _hart hanner_ I spent -Christian-like on a _ticca ghari_ ter try an' get seggergated afore it -was too late. An' they said I was drunk!" - -The mournful cadence of his voice was irresistible. - -"Chaprassi, take that man to the serai, and tell the _darogah_ to give -him some breakfast. I'll pay for it. Now you go quietly, my man, and -sleep it off. You'll have got rid of the plague by morning." - -The file had come in from the record office, I was immersed in the -endless, hopeless attempt to drag truth from the bottom of the well in -a land suit; so I thought no more of Job Charnock until I met the civil -surgeon at tennis in the evening. - -"Yes," he replied to my query, "Segregation was on his rounds again -this morning. You're new, but he is a regular institution here. He gets -the funks on board, generally about a month after a bout, and comes to -every one of us in turn to be segregated. I think he is a bit looney on -the plague--has a real _phoby_ about it. He'll get it, I expect, some -day, from sheer fright--but there's none about at present." - -The something likeable in the man's face, however, returned to memory -with the obvious fact that he had appeared chiefly concerned to "do no -'arm to anyone." So the next morning, having ten minutes to spare on my -way from the city, I called in at the _serai_. It was like all other -_serais_: a dreary cloistered square, deserted absolutely between five -a.m. until eight p.m.; that is to say, the hours during which -travellers are on the road. Now, close on nine o'clock, only the muck -of last night's bivouac remained. A sweeper, with a broom and a basket, -was busy removing some of the more salient rubbishes. Otherwise all was -still as the grave. But, seated on a rush stool in one of the little -octagonal turret rooms, which, built on either side of the gateway, are -reserved for European wayfarers, I found Job Charnock. He had evidently -paid a visit to the well, for he looked cleaner and was distinctly -sober, but he was more voluble than ever. - -"I give 'arf the breakfast you stood me away to the sweeper, sir," he -said, "an' 'e brought me some _omum_ water as cured me in a jiffy. -That's all I was wantin', sir, an' none o' them doctors could spare me -'arf a pint. It seems strange, don't it, sir? And ter think the 'arm as -I might do going about with the plague spot under my harm, as it's all -writ truthful in that book by Mr. 'Arrison Hainsworth, Esquire. 'Ave -you read it, sir?" he asked blandly. - -I assured him I had, told him he was a fool, advised him to go north to -the new railway to find work, gave him five rupees to find his way -there. It was indiscreet and quite contrary to the rules of the Charity -Organisation Society, but as I have said, something in the man's face -appealed to me. - -Thereafter he passed from my memory under the usual pressure of work -and worry which is the lot of an Indian official. - -It was in the middle of the hot weather, when the civil surgeon rushed -into me at my office with a telegram in his hand. - -"Will you arrange with Spiller for my work," he said excitedly, "I must -be off at once. Read that--you see, I gave the assistant surgeon at the -Bimariwallah dispensary a few days' leave off my own bat, and there's -only a dresser in charge; so there will be the devil of a row if -anything goes wrong." - -The telegram read as follows: "Outbreaks of much plague amongst -European gentlemen here. Please arrange for supplies of sufficient -brandy." - -"But there are no Europeans at Bimariwallah," I began. - -"I know that," broke in the doctor, "and, of course, brandy isn't the -right treatment; but that's just where it is. The fool of a dresser -doesn't know English, doesn't know anything, so I'm bound to go." - -"Well, if you'll curb your impatience for two hours, till I've finished -this case, I'll motor you so far down the Trunk road, and _dak_ you on. -I have an Executive Municipal Council to-morrow morning at Raipur, and -it's all on the way." - -There had been a shower of rain--an advance scout of the coming monsoon -to spy out the dryness of the land--so our spin of thirty miles down -the road was pleasant enough, though the great wains of corn and straw -that still defy the network of railways which has immeshed India, had -possession of a large portion of the highway. But, to my mind, there is -always something "satisfactory" in finding that no amount of -preliminary hooting changes the path of the slow-moving wheels, and -that, in the end, even a Siddeley-Wolsey car must either hold up until -comprehension comes to the carter who moves as slowly as the wheels, or -else pass by on a side-walking. It seems to presage safety; to give -assurance that India will not, after all, run off the rails. - -The buggy and horse were waiting at the cross roads, and it only needed -a _detour_ of three miles to drop the doctor at the very door of the -dispensary. - -Feeling some curiosity as to what was really the matter, I withstood -his prayer to be set down and allowed to make his way on foot. I was -glad I did; for the first glimpse I had of the dispensary compound -assured me that something very unusual was taking place. To begin with, -a long low reed shed, such as is used in cholera epidemics, had been -hastily run up on the opposite side of the road, and in it were to be -seen patients lying in their beds or out of them. Posts, each carrying -a yellow streamer, were set up every ten yards around the compound -itself, and at each gate stood a village watchman complete with speared -staff and bells. - -As we drove up, the dresser--pallid of face, but full of a vast -importance--rushed out from a small hut which had been erected inside. - -"Many, many thanks to Supreme Almighty," he ejaculated; then added, -with distinct complacency, "you will find all things necessarily in -order, sir. Segregationalism is being much carried out. Patient having -passed through p--neumonic deliriums is now comatic and in _articulo -mortis_." - -I followed the doctor, who looked, as well he might, completely -bewildered. - -The dispensary was cleared out: saucers of disinfectants positively -littered the ground. White sheets saturated with the same hung at every -door; the smell of them stank in the nostrils, and, as I followed, a -dank disagreeable wet flap from one of them on my cheek made me shiver; -but the sight which met my eyes in the central room set me literally -shaking with laughter. It was so inexpressibly comic. - -Propped high on pillows, his face placid, composed, lay Job Charnock, -snoring contentedly, while an empty brandy bottle beside him on the bed -showed one cause at least of his somnolence. There he lay, peaceful as -a baby, while the doctor, frowning at my inopportune laughter, turned -angrily to the dresser. - -"You cursed fool! The man's drunk. What the deuce do you mean by being -such an ass." Then the comic side of the situation took him also, and -he joined me in my merriment. - -"By Jove," he chortled, "Segregation has done it this time." - -There was no use attempting to awaken him for the moment, so the doctor -turned on the dresser again. How had it come about? How had he allowed -himself to be so imposed upon? - -It was quite simple, even when clothed in the babu's best "middel-fail" -English. - -Segregation had come, had seen, had conquered. He had declared himself -sick of the plague, and defied the dresser to deny it. He had thereupon -taken possession of the dispensary, ordered the erection of the -temporary sheds by enforced labour, cleared out the patients, used up -all the disinfectants, and had then, but not till then, taken to his -bed and drunk all the brandy! So "cometic symptoms supervening, and -supplies of brandy exhausting," the dresser had appealed "through -authentic sources for aid of the Almighty." - -"Anyway, by Jove!" said the doctor, as he noted all the arrangements, -"I couldn't have done it better myself. He has even"--he pointed to a -row of men, evidently of the semi-savage Sansiya race, who were -squatting in front of the village accountant's house--"set them to -killing rats!" - -And, in truth, each of these hardy hunters, bore a bamboo on which were -strung the dead bodies of many rodents, young and old. Undoubtedly Job -Charnock had a genius for organisation; and, with a mournful prescience -of what would be the answer, I asked the nearest Sansi what he was to -get for his rats. - -It was half the Government rate: but the broad grin on the man's -face showed him satisfied. Yes! Job Charnock had the gift of the -Empire-builder! - -"Look here!" I said to the doctor, "that man hasn't committed an -indictable offence. He diagnosed his complaint as plague--that is not -indictable; he went to your Department for advice and got confirmation -of his suspicions; that was not his fault; and all he's done since -then, is what _ought_ to have been done under the circumstances." - -"Except the brandy," expostulated the doctor. "Brandy is not in the -dietary for plague, and he's drunk up the year's supply! That amounts -to stealing." - -"Pardon me! You can have the dresser up for misuse of supplies, if you -like," I said stoutly, "but every drop of that brandy was drunk out of -one of your blessed measuring glasses." I pointed to the inverted -crystal cone with cabalistic signs on it which lay beside the bottle. -"He couldn't have taken more than an ounce at a time, and that to a man -of his habits is strictly a medicinal dose, and for that your dresser -is responsible. No! send him in to me when he sobers. I'll settle him -up." - -I did so to the best of my ability, but there was no question that Job -Charnock was, as the doctor had said, "a bit looney" at times, -especially when he had any drink on board, though no one could have -called him a habitual drunkard. Still, there was little use in getting -him employment. He always drifted out of it again. Then, for a while, -he would disappear, only to return after a few months with his usual, -"I don't want to do no 'arm to anyone. I wants to be seggergated, for -I've got the plague, so 'elp me Gawd I 'ave." He was always, then, at -the last point of destitution; more than once even the "_hart banner_" -for the _ticca ghari_ was not his, and he would come skulking into the -office almost starving and barefoot. For he looked on me as a friend in -need; and, indeed, I used sometimes to wonder if hunger were not as -much responsible for the recurrence of his delusion as drink. - -Then I was transferred to Rajputana, and apparently left Job Charnock -behind me, until one hot weather morning when, in order to catch a -train, I was galloping across a short cut of the wild Bar land which -lay between the railway and the out-of-the-way-place where I was -stationed. It is a strange desert, this Bar land, of wild caper bushes, -stunted _jund_ trees, and hard resilient limestone soil, baked by the -sun to whiteness. A horse's hoofs resounds over it for miles, but a -man, if he left visible path, might, without the aid of the sun, lose -his way in it almost any moment. Even I had to glance at the -whereabouts of that luminary when a few moment's abstraction caused me -to divert my eye from the faint traces of previous passages which was -all there was of path. - -As I did so, my eye was caught by something curious in the gnarled -branches of a _jund_ tree some fifty yards further away. It looked like -a red cross. Instinctively I rode towards it. It was a red cross. Two -strips of red Turkey cotton had been carefully tied crosswise between -the branches. What did it mean? And why had that shallow trench--a mere -scraping on the hard soil--been traced between that tree and the next! - -And--yes!--that was another red cross in its branches also! I rode on -only to find that here again the trench trended at right angles towards -a further tree where yet another red cross showed. - -The grey, green, leafless triangle of caper bushes, all set with tiny -coral bud-flowers, had so far prevented my seeing anything within the -traced square; but now I came upon a definite opening. Across it, -however, from bush to bush, stretched a pair of men's braces, and -pinned to this was a bit of paper on which something was written in -what looked suspiciously like blood. - -I jumped off my horse and bent to look at it. Though written in large -characters it was barely decipherable, and seemed to have been drawn -with difficulty by a pointed stick. This much I could read: - - - "_Trespussers will be persecuted_ - - _No Thoroughfare_ - - _Case of Plague within s'elp me Gawd_." - - -Segregation! by all that was holy! - -I tied my horse to the inarched root of a _jund_ tree, set aside the -braces, and made my way through the bushes. - -It was quite a comfortable secluded spot. The grey-green -set-with-scarlet brocade of the caper bushes formed a curtain round it, -the floor of it was hard and white as marble; but in the middle of the -little open space there was, as one sees so often in this Bar land, a -tiny hillock of sand that had been whirled thither and left by the wild -dust storms which sweep over the Rajputana desert. And on this sand Job -Charnock lay, his face turned up to the sky. He cannot have been dead -long, for his body was untouched by wild birds or beasts, but he was -quite dead. Perhaps though, the sleeves of his turkey-red shirt--the -rest of it having evidently gone to the making of crosses--which were -hung on sticks set in the sand at his head and his feet might, so far, -have frightened away the animals. They might have been put there for -the purpose; on the other hand they might have been meant as a last -danger signal, not to prevent harm being done to him, but to prevent -him from "'arming anybody." His bare body showed terribly emaciated; -but his face was calm; it almost had a smile upon it. - -Had he really died of the plague; or, in coming, it might be, to see -me, had he lost his way, as a stranger might well do, in the pathless -Bar, and fallen a victim to starvation? And had the recurrence of -hunger brought on his curious hallucination once more? - -Who could say? Plague was very prevalent. It might be one; it might be -the other. - -I stood looking at the peaceful face for a minute or two; then I made -up my mind. He should have his wish; no one this time should interfere -with his desire to "do no 'arm to nobody." - -So, covering the body for the time with the doubled blanket I always -use as a saddle cloth, I rode off to the nearest village, some six -miles off, and returned with two men, pickaxes and shovels. - -It took some time to dig a grave in that hard white soil; but when the -coolies had done patting down the dry dust and limestone nodules into -the long mound of earth which is the outward sign that a human body -lies beneath, I lingered to peg one of the red crosses over it. - -So he found Segregation at last. There was no more fear of his doing -any harm to anyone. - - - - - SLAVE OF THE COURT - - -I sate in the sunshine of Delhi as it blazed down upon the trellised -tombs of a dead dynasty. I was very tired; as police officers are apt -to be when Crowned Heads travel in India. But my particular Monarch was -away from my jurisdiction laying foundation stones elsewhere, so I had -an off four-and-twenty hours. Not knowing Delhi as it should be known, -I utilised my holiday for slow, solitary, silent sight-seeing, in the -course of which I had driven out to the Kutb-minar, had bidden the -carriage return to await me by Humayon's Tomb, so, with lunch in my -pocket, had set out systematically to reconstruct old India out of the -crowding ruins. - -It is a fascinating occupation; but one provocative of dreams, and, as -I rested, idly smoking, in the shade of a gnarled _jhund_ tree, I was -more than half asleep. Around me lay the graves of Kings who had once -ruled in the flesh. I had been trying, as it were, to live their lives, -to see with their eyes, and the conclusion had been forced in upon me -that though the monarchy had changed (and my particular Crowned Head -was certainly not to pattern of the Old Indian autocrat) the country -and the people had altered but little. - -For instance, the pageant through the city streets of a few days past, -with the brazen sunlight setting silks and satins aflame with vivid -colours, and painting every shadow dark with the purple gloom of night, -was, as it were, of all time; the faces of the crowd through which it -cleft its way, were in type, in character, permanent. - -I closed my eyes to visualize how the dapper Viceroy would have looked -had he been scattering golden pistachios, silver almonds and enamelled -rose leaves amongst the lieges, instead of sitting his horse -purposefully, like an ill-fitting statue and inwardly rehearsing the -detail of up-to-date benefits he had to proclaim at the end of his -ride? Were they, I wondered, more satisfactory than the older largesse? - -When I opened my eyes, I saw a naked old man squatted forlornly -among the latticed graves. He held a flat basket--a gardener's -basket--between his knees; it contained only one compact posy of -closely crushed flowers--the _gul_ this and _gul_ that--beloved of -natives; but I saw that a similar bunch had been laid on several of the -tombs. - -The man, however, was palpably _not_ a gardener. No one of Indian -experience who on real hot-weather evenings had wandered round his back -premises could have hesitated as to vocation. Either as _chef_ or -scullion, the figure belonged to the cook-room; there was that in its -very nakedness (save for a tight-wound waist cloth), that in the very -polish of the close-shaved head, which was quaintly reminiscent of -full-starched raiment and high-piled turban. - -Now, I always speak to a native when I get him alone--it is a useful -habit for a police officer--so I said casually: - -"On what tomb, friend, are you going to put that bunch?" - -The old figure turned, profuse--of course!--in _salaam_; it showed a -wrinkled toothless face, overlaid with the smiles and subtlety of -centuries of service. But its reply was dazed, forlorn. - -"This slave of the Court," it mumbled, "seeks for a tomb that was but -is not. God send some miscreant hath not taken the marble slab thereof -for his idolatrous curry-stone! Lo! I can find it nowhere, and the -inscription thereof is lost--is lost!" - -A world of angry apprehension crept into the tired blear old eyes; the -tired old hand shook visibly. - -"What inscription?" I asked idly. - -"My inscription, Protector of the Poor!" came the tired old voice. -"Yea! whatever this slave of the Court said, the writer Abd-un-Nubbi -copied it." - -I sate up more alert, vaguely reminiscent of something I had seen -lately. "What was it about?" I queried; this time curiously. - -"About the Heaven-Nestled Kings the slave of the Court served," came -the reply, less wearily; and, as if some stored memory cylinder had -been set going by keywords, the voice went on, gaining strength: "This -old slave of the Court does not feel any shame in serving the Kings and -the Nobles! This old slave of the Court, Mahmud, supplicates God that -the name of the Heaven-Nestled Emperor Humayon and the Heaven-Nestled -Emperor Akbar may be perpetuated for all time! Lo! may they have been -given the robe of Paradise! This old slave of the Court honoured by the -Earth-Cherished Emperor Jahangir was told, 'You have grown old. Serve -in the tomb of the Heaven-Nestled One at Delhi.' - -"Humbly says Mahmud, old slave of the Court! He has come nigh to ninety -years, he has come nigh his end. He has passed his life in luxury and -ease through the kindness of Kings. Oh! Mahmud! no desire is left -unfulfilled. Of giving and taking, buying and selling, bargainings in -the bazaar, all is done with now! - -"Lo! in this seat of Delhi, the rulers and the landholders, the elders -and the neighbours should entrust this tomb and shrine (of which the -total amount of expenses, including all necessary articles and -allowances was 290,000 tankas) to those who are my heirs and who -deserve to possess it, as it was built with my honestly-earned money." -The long-drawn-out quaintly ungrammatical Persian phrases ceased in a -melancholy refrain: "But it has gone, Huzoor! Someone has taken away my -tombstone." - -I knew now what he was talking about; knew why that faint message of -memory had come to me. I had seen this inscription, or something like -it, in the Delhi Museum, on a square slab of white marble which the -catalogue said had been found amongst some ruins not far from where we -were sitting. - -I looked at the old man; though he himself was well on in years, the -impossibility of his words made me pass over major points to cavil at -minor ones. - -"My tombstone!" I echoed. "I suppose you mean this King's cook was a -forbear of yours. You come of a servant family, I expect, ah! Prince of -Personalities." - -I gave him the full title of the highest domestic office with intent. -It had a marvellous effect. His bowed back straightened itself; he -seemed to sit resplendent in gold-laced coat and badge-wound turban. -"The Huzoor speaks truth," he said, with perfectly blatant dignity. -"Since the beginning of time my people have served Kings--and Sahibs." - -The last was a palpable concession to the alien, and I could not help -smiling. But the old man, despite his toothless, wrinkled, wagging -head, was no subject for smiles. He sate there transfigured, his face -shiny, an apotheosis of what folk nowadays call servility. You felt it -in the warm scented sunshine; an atmosphere of dutiful devotion that -brought a kindly interest to my heart. - -"It hasn't been taken as a curry-stone," I said gravely: "it is quite -safe. I saw it yesterday in the Wonder House." And then I remembered -that my Crowned Head had paused over it to look and smile. "Yes! Prince -of Personalities," I went on, "there it is. A marble slab with an -inscription." So I went on to tell him what had occurred. - -He sate and listened, gravely, reverently, and when I had finished he -rose--I knew he would--and salaamed down to the ground. - -"This poor Preparer-of-Plates is proud still to serve Majesty. May the -Earth cherish the Wise King long! May Heaven nestle him when the time -comes for soul to separate from body." - -As I looked into the blazing sunshine at the old, naked, bald-headed -figure, I swear it seemed to me clothed upon with all the liveries of -all those centuries of service. - -"Lo!" he went on, "let the tombstone remain in the Wonder House where -it hath been honoured by the eye-glances of Kings. And as for the Noble -Huzoor who hath relieved this poor slave of the Court's mind concerning -curry-stones----" he paused, took up the remaining posy from his basket -and held it out to me between deferential palms. "It is all I have, -Huzoor, but it is sweet," he said simply, "and I have asked so many -before, and none could tell me." - -In sudden impulse I took it. "I'll tell you what I'll do, Prince of -Personalities!" I said, half in jest, "I'll stop at the Wonder House on -my way home and put it on the tombstone. Will that satisfy you?" - -Once again he salaamed to the ground. "The gratitude of this old slave -of the Court will go with the Huzoor all his days." - -I left him salaaming still among the graves. As I drove back I -regretted not having lingered to pick his brains concerning those -centuries of his ancestors' service. Good stories must have been handed -down as heirlooms; one curious as I was of the past might have heard -much of interest. - -But holiday was over. My Crowned Head had returned, making me -responsible. In addition, fate was unkind. My major-domo, on whose care -during those strenuous days when meals were oft-deferred. I was -entirely dependent, fell sick and had to go to hospital. Not, however, -before he had, in kindly Indian fashion, found me a substitute. -Everyone who has been in India knows the type of professional cook-room -substitute. They are to be seen sometimes in old dâk bungalows, -survivals still of the patronage of other days when such posts were the -recognised superannuation pensions for civilians' servants. And this -substitute of mine--I call them scapegoats as a rule, since all the -subsequent sins of omission or commission in the back purlieus are -invariably laid to their charge--differed in no way from the type. He -was rather more aggressive in starch than most. He had the biggest of -white turbans, and the forward bow of his arched back was a little more -accentuated than usual by folds on folds of white bandaging until he -looked as if he were wearing an extra sized, new whited motor tyre -round his waist. But his scanty beard was purple black, and his eyes -were brightened to youth with beautiful rims of antimony. Altogether he -looked his part to perfection; and for a wonder, performed it also. - -My table servant admitted at once that he was a "master artificer," and -I, personally, confessed that never had I had such appetising dinners. -Most of these substitutes have old-world dishes at their fingers' ends; -dishes with strange names which philology can trace back to French and -Portuguese origin, but this old man might have come from a Parisian -restaurant. - -"This slave belongs to a family of cooks," he said calmly, when I -questioned him as to where he had learnt to make "_Petits Timbales de -foie gras à la Belle Eugénie_." "Therefore the wisdom of all the ages -is at his disposal. When a slave's mind is set on serving his master, -nothing is impossible." - -And nothing seemed to be. My Inspector-General was a gourmet. He -breakfasted with me in camp one morning, and after that it is -surprising how often his meal times tallied with mine. So, in the -course of a few days, the fame of my cook became noised abroad; -especially when the Crowned Head started on a shooting tour and had to -leave his French chef behind him; the latter not feeling equal to camp -fires. - -Then the Substitute came to the fore, and once or twice when I had the -honour of dining at the Royal table, I noticed dishes which I could -have sworn my man had prepared. Knowing the curious bond of brotherhood -which exists in India between one cook-room and another, I knew this -was quite possible. - -We had some hard marching, and at the end of a week, I noticed that my -substitute was palpably older. The _surma_ had worn off his eyes; there -was a fringe of grey beard above the purple black; yet still he looked -magnificently starched as he stood behind my chair on the frequent -occasions when the suite messed with royalty. Then we arrived at a Hill -Rajah-ship where there had been some trouble during a long minority -between Palace-Women and a Council of Regency; neither being -oversatisfied with the Resident. But our Royal visit was to inaugurate -a new regime under a new young Rajah, and great were to be the -rejoicings; amongst other things a State Dinner in the Palace. - -We were a bit late coming in from a shoot after black partridge, and I -had a good many preparations to make, as I was in police charge, so -that it was almost dark ere I returned to my tent to dress for dinner. -To my surprise I found the Substitute immaculate one inside. He was -immaculate as ever, but he looked old and frail and worn. Still it -needed one of those sudden enlargements of personality, which are so -puzzling, to make the shadows of the tent bring what the light of day -had denied to me--recognition of the old man I had met amongst the -latticed Tombs of Kings--the man who had lost his tombstone. - -"You old scoundrel," I said. "Why didn't you tell me before who you -were." - -He salaamed a trifle furtively as he replied, "It is nothing to the -master who his servant is, so that the servant be faithful, and I am -that. My gratitude is bound to the Huzoor for ever and ever. So I came -to ask what Tasters have been appointed for the Earth-Cherished-One -this evening." - -"Tasters?" I echoed. "What the deuce do you mean? Tasters!" Then it -flashed upon me that he was alluding to the old "Tasters for Poison"; -and I looked at him curiously. In the semi-darkness he seemed to have -shrunken, to be inconceivably old and frail, so I went on more kindly. -"There's no need for them nowadays, old man. They belong to the past. -The King--God bless him!--is safe from that sort of thing. Thank -Heaven." - -I was throwing off my shooting togs vigorously, and the answer came out -of the corner of the tent, as it were, vaguely. - -"So said Firdoos Makâni, the Sainted Babar in Paradise, yet he had to -live a full month on lily leaves, and the Heaven-Nestled One the -Emperor Humayon was also--" - -"Look here! old chap!" I said, divided between haste and the desire to -tap these old stories. "You shall tell me all that to-morrow. At -present I must be off to the Palace to see all is right." Then I -laughed. "Other days other manners. Ah! descendant of Mahmud the King's -Cook! we have to look after bombs, not poisons, nowadays." - -The answer came faintly to me, "The wickedness of men's hearts is ever -the same, Huzoor!" - -I do not think I ever saw a prettier entertainment. The long-eyed -lazy-looking young Rajah must have had the blood of past sybarites in -his veins, for he had enhanced Oriental splendour with Western -refinement to perfection. - -Having seen by a glance that all my detectives were in their places, -knowing also the infinite precautions which had been secretly taken on -all sides, and feeling fairly secure of the young ruler's personal -loyalty, I felt I might enjoy myself, and I did. The champagne was iced -to perfection, the illuminations glimmered softly away into the gloom -of the lake, a band of native musicians, beautifully trained, -discoursed plaintive love songs on native instruments deftly entuned to -almost Western modulations, the dinner was super-excellent, a -combination of Eastern and Western delicacies, and there was not one -single hitch in the arrangements, except for a slight _contretemps_, -due, apparently, to short-sightedness on the part of my venerable -Scapegoat. He collided with the State servant who was handing a special -tray of curried _koftahs_ to the Crowned Head, with the result that the -Crowned Head did not even get a taste of it. But the accident only -raised a moment's laugh. The debris was cleared away in a twinkling, -and I caught sight of the offender's scared protesting face as he was -hustled away from further mischief. - -After dinner we had a really excellent pantomime in dumb show by native -actors, so it was past midnight ere I returned to my tent. I found my -Chief Inspector, a man I could really trust, a man whose wide -experience was of infinite use to me, standing outside. - -"A report, Huzoor!" he said briefly, and I passed into the office. He -looked all round, carefully closed the screens, and then began in a low -voice: - -"Huzoor! When your Honour's servant upset the State servant and -his dish, I was close by. There was a look on your Honour's -servant's face I did not understand. They scrambled instantly for the -_koftahs_--scrambled hastily--to pick them up. But I got _one_, Huzoor. -I gave it to a dog; and Huzoor! the dog is dead!" - -I could scarcely speak. "Dead! ye Gods!" Then I remembered that the dog -would be needful evidence, and said at once, "Where is the body? Bring -it here." - -But, if there had been a conspiracy to poison, the conspirators had -been too quick for us. The _corpus delicti_ was not where it had been -left. Neither was the Substitute to be found. The other servants -reported that, overcome with shame at his unpardonable offence in -depriving an Earth-Cherished-One of his victuals, he had retired into -the wilderness. Whence he never returned. - -My Inspector-General used to bewail the _Petits Timbales de foie gras à -la Belle Eugénie_. But I have never ceased to wonder. And every time I -go to Delhi I go to the Wonder House and lay a posy on the tombstone of -Mahmud, the old Slave of the Court. - -The gratitude was to be for ever and ever; so there is time for more -yet. - - - - FOOTNOTES - -[Footnote 1: Ganêsh is the Indian God of Wisdom. He is always portrayed -with the head of an elephant.] - -[Footnote 2: Old woman.] - -[Footnote 3: Pleasant smell.] - -[Footnote 4: Hanooman.] - - - - - * * * * * - Jas. Truscott & Son, Ltd., London, E.C. - - - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's The Mercy of the Lord, by Flora Annie Steel - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERCY OF THE LORD *** - -***** This file should be named 40136-8.txt or 40136-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/0/1/3/40136/ - -Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, -set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to -copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to -protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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