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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5606.txt b/5606.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c157fd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/5606.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10835 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Guns of the Gods, by Talbot Mundy +(#6 in our series by Talbot Mundy) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Guns of the Gods + +Author: Talbot Mundy + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5606] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 20, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, GUNS OF THE GODS *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by Mark Jaqua. + + + +Guns of the Gods + A Story of Yasmini's Youth + By Talbot Mundy + + +Contents + +Yasmini: "Set down my thoughts not yours if the tale is to be worth +the pesa." + +I. "Gold is where you find it." +II. "Friendship's friendship and respect's respect, but duty's what I'm +paid to do!" +III. "Give a woman the last word always; but be sure it is a question, +which you leave unanswered." +IV. "The law .... is like a python after monkeys in the tree-tops." +V. "Most precious friend, please visit me!" +VI. "Peace, Maharajah sahib! Out of anger came no wise counsel yet!" +VII. "That will be the end of Gungadhura!" +VIII. "They're elephants and I'm a soldier. The trouble with you +is nerves, my boy!" +IX. "It means, the toils are closing in on Gungadhura!" +X. "Discretion is better part of secrecy!" +XI. "Say: that little girl you're wanting to run off with is my wife!" +XII. "Ready for anything! If I weaken, tie me on the camel! +XIII. "I am a king's daughter! +XIV. "Acting on instructions from Your Highness!" +XV. "Me for the princess!" +XVI. "And since, my Lords, in olden days--" +XVII. "Suppose I lock the door?" +XVIII. "Be discreet, Blaine .... please be discreet!" +XIX. "I am as simple as the sunlight!" +XX. "Millions! Think of it! Lakhs and crores!" +XXI. "The guns of the gods!" +XXII. "Making one hundred exactly!" +XXIII. Three amber moons in a purple sky. +XXIV. A hundred guarded it. +XXV. And that is the whole story. + + + + +Guns of the Gods + + + +Out of the Ashes + +Old Troy reaped rue in the womb of years +For stolen Helen's sake; +Till tenfold retribution rears +Its wreck on embers slaked with tears +That mended no heart-ache. +The wail of the women sold as slaves +Lest Troy breed sons again +Dreed o'er a desert of nameless graves, +The heaps and the hills that are Trojan graves +Deep-runneled by the rain. + +But Troy lives on. Though Helen's rape +And ten-year hold were vain; +Though jealous gods with men conspire +And Furies blast the Grecian fire; +Yet Troy must rise again. +Troy's daughters were a spoil and sport, +Were limbs for a labor gang, +Who crooned by foreign loom and mill +Of Trojan loves they cherished still, +Till Homer heard, and sang, + +They told, by the fire when feasters roared +And minstrels waited turns, +Of the might of the men that Troy adored, +Of the valor in vain of the Trojan sword, +With the love that slakeless burns, +That caught and blazed in the minstrel mind +Or ever the age of pen. +So maids and a minstrel rebuilt Troy, +Out of the ashes they rebuilt Troy +To live in the hearts of men. + + + + +Yasmini + + + +"Set down my thoughts not yours if the tale is to be worth the pesa." + +The why and wherefore of my privilege to write a true account of the +Princess Yasmini's early youth is a story in itself too long to tell here; +but it came about through no peculiar wisdom. I fell in a sort of way +in love with her, and that led to opportunity. + +She never made any secret of the scorn with which she regards those +who singe wings at her flame. Rather she boasts of it with +limit-overreaching epithets. Her respect is reserved for those rare +men and women who can meet her in unfair fight and, if not defeat +her, then come close to it. She asks no concessions on account of +sex. Men's passions are but weapons forged for her necessity; and +as for genuine love-affairs, like Cleopatra, she had but two, and the +second ended in disaster to herself. This tale is of the first one that +succeeded, although fraught with discontent for certain others. + +The second affair came close to whelming thrones, and I wrote of that +in another book with an understanding due, as I have said, to opportunity, +and with a measure of respect that pleased her. + +She is habitually prompt and generous with her rewards, if far-seeing +in bestowal of them. So, during the days of her short political eclipse +that followed in a palace that had housed a hundred kings, I saw her +almost daily in a room--her holy of holies--where the gods of ancient +India were depicted in three primal colors working miracles all over +the walls and where, if governments had only known it, she was already +again devising plans to set the world on fire. + +There, amid an atmosphere of Indian scents and cigarette smoke, +she talked and I made endless notes, while now and then, when she +was meditative, her maids sang to an accompaniment of rather +melancholy wooden flutes. But whenever I showed a tendency to +muse she grew indignant. + +"Of what mud are you building castles now? Set down my thoughts +not yours," she insisted, "if your tale is to be worth the pesa." + +By that she referred to the custom of all Eastern story-tellers to stop at +the exciting moment and take up a collection of the country's smallest +copper coins before finishing the tale. But the reference was double-edged. +A penny for my thoughts, a penny for the West's interpretation of the +East was what she had in mind. + +Nevertheless, as it is to the West that the story must appeal it has seemed +wiser to remove it from her lips and so transpose that, though it loses +in lore unfortunately, it does gain something of directness and simplicity. +Her satire, and most of her metaphor if always set down as she phrased it, +would scandalize as well as puzzle Western ears. + +This tale is of her youth, but Yasmini's years have not yet done more +than ripen her. In a land where most women shrivel into early age she +continues, somewhere perhaps a little after thirty, in the bloom of health +and loveliness, younger in looks and energy than many a Western girl +of twenty-five. For she is of the East and West, very terribly endowed +with all the charms of either and the brains of both. + +Her quick wit can detect or invent mercurial Asian subterfuge as swiftly +as appraise the rather glacial drift of Western thought; and the wisdom +of both East and West combines in her to teach a very nearly total +incredulity in human virtue. Western morals she regards as humbug, +neither more nor less. + +In virtue itself she believes, as astronomers for example believe in the +precession of the equinox; but that the rank and file of human beings, +and especially learned human beings, have attained to the very vaguest +understanding of it she scornfully disbelieves. And with a frankness +simply Gallic in its freedom from those thought-conventions with which +so many people like to deceive themselves she deals with human nature +on what she considers are its merits. The result is sometimes very +disconcerting to the pompous and all the rest of the host of self-deceived, +but usually amusing to herself and often profitable to her friends. + +Her ancestry is worth considering, since to that she doubtless owes a +good proportion of her beauty and ability. On her father's side she is +Rajput, tracing her lineage so far back that it becomes lost at last in +fabulous legends of the Moon (who is masculine, by the way, in Indian +mythology). All of the great families of Rajputana are her kin, and all +the chivalry and derring-do of that royal land of heroines and heroes is +part of her conscious heritage. + +Her mother was Russian. On that side, too, she can claim blood royal, +not devoid of at least a trace of Scandinavian, betrayed by glittering +golden hair and eyes that are sometimes the color of sky seen over +Himalayan peaks, sometimes of the deep lake water in the valleys. But +very often her eyes seem so full of fire and their color is so baffling that +a legend has gained currency to the effect that she can change their +hue at will. + +How a Russian princess came to marry a Rajput king is easier to understand +if one recalls the sinister designs of Russian statecraft in the days when +India and "warm sea-water" was the great objective. The oldest, and +surely the easiest, means of a perplexed diplomacy has been to send +a woman to undermine the policy of courts or steal the very consciences +of kings. Delilah is a case in point. And in India, where the veil and the +rustling curtain and religion hide woman's hand without in the least +suppressing her, that was a plan too easy of contrivance to be overlooked. + +In those days there was a prince in Moscow whose public conduct so +embittered his young wife, and so notoriously, that when he was found +one morning murdered in his bed suspicion rested upon her. She was +tried in secret, as the custom was, found guilty and condemned to death. +Then, on the strength of influence too strong for the czar, the sentence +was commuted to the far more cruel one of life imprisonment in the +Siberian mines. While she awaited the dreaded march across Asia in +chains a certain proposal was made to the Princess Sonia Omanoff, +and no one who knew anything about it wondered that she accepted +without much hesitation. + +Less than a month after her arrest she was already in Paris, squandering +paper rubles in the fashionable shops. And at the Russian Embassy +in Paris she made the acquaintance of the very first of the smaller Indian +potentates who made the "grand tour." Traveling abroad has since +become rather fashionable, and is even encouraged by the British-Indian +Government because there is no longer any plausible means of preventing it; +but Maharajah Bubru Singh was a pioneer, who dared greatly, and had +his way even against the objections of a high commissioner. In addition +he had had to defy the Brahman priests who, all unwilling, are the strong +supports of alien overrule; for they are armed with the iron-fanged laws +of caste that forbid crossing the sea, among innumerable other things. + +Perhaps there was a hint of moral bravery behind the warrior eyes that +was enough in itself and she really fell in love at first sight, as men said. +But the secret police of Russia were at her elbow, too, hinting that only +one course could save her from extradition and Siberian mines. At any +rate she listened to the Rajah's wooing; and the knowledge that he had +a wife at home already, a little past her prime perhaps and therefore +handicapped in case of rivalry, but never-the-less a prior wife, seems +to have given her no pause. The fact that the first wife was childless +doubtless influenced Bubru Singh. + +They even say she was so far beside herself with love for him that she +would have been satisfied with the Gandharva marriage ceremony sung +by so many Rajput poets, that amounts to little more than going off alone +together. But the Russian diplomatic scheme included provision for the +maharajah of a wife so irrevocably wedded that the British would not be +able to refuse her recognition. So they were married in the presence +of seven witnesses in the Russian Embassy, as the records testify. + +After that, whatever its suspicions, the British Government had to admit +her into Rajputana. And what politics she might have played, whether +the Russian gray-coat armies might have encroached into those historic +hills on the strength of her intriguing, or whether she would have seized +the first opportunity to avenge herself by playing Russia false,--are matters +known only to the gods of unaccomplished things. For Bubru Singh, +her maharajah, died of an accident very shortly after the birth of their +child Yasmini. + +Now law is law, and Sonia Omanoff, then legally the Princess Sonia +Singh, had appealed from the first to Indian law and custom, so that +the British might have felt justified in leaving her and her infant daughter +to its most untender mercies. Then she would have been utterly under +the heel of the succeeding prince, a nephew of her husband, unenamored +of foreigners and avowedly determined to enforce on his uncle's widow +the Indian custom of seclusion. + +But the British took the charitable view, that covering a multitude of sins. +It was not bad policy to convert the erstwhile Sonia Omanoff from secret +enemy to grateful friend, and the feat was easy. + +The new maharajah, Gungadhura Singh, was prevailed on to assign an +ancient palace for the Russian widow's use; and there, almost within +sight of the royal seraglio from which she had been ousted, Yasmini had +her bringing up, regaled by her mother with tales of Western outrage +and ambition, and well schooled in all that pertained to her Eastern heritage +by the thousand-and-one intriguers whose delight and livelihood it is to +fish the troubled waters of the courts of minor kings. + +All these things Yasmini told me in that scented chamber of another +palace, in which a wrathful government secluded her in later years for +its own peace as it thought, but for her own recuperation as it happened. +She told me many other things besides that have some little bearing +on this story but that, if all related, would crowd the book too full. The +real gist of them is that she grew to love India with all her heart and India +repaid her for it after its own fashion, which is manyfold and marvelous. + +There is no fairer land on earth than that far northern slice of Rajputana, +nor a people more endowed with legend and the consciousness of +ancestry. They have a saying that every Rajput is a king's son, and every +Rajputni worthy to be married to an emperor. It was in that atmosphere +that Yasmini learned she must either use her wits or be outwitted, and +women begin young to assert their genius in the East. But she outstripped +precocity and, being Western too, rode rough-shod on convention when +it suited her, reserving her concessions to it solely for occasions when +those matched the hand she held. All her life she has had to play in a +ruthless game, but the trump that she has learned to lead oftenest is +unexpectedness. And now to the story. + + + + + +Chapter One + + + +Royal Rajasthan + +There is a land where no resounding street +With babel of electric-garish night +And whir of endless wheels has put to flight +The liberty of leisure. Sandaled feet +And naked soles that feel the friendly dust +Go easily along the never measured miles. +A land at which the patron tourist smiles +Because of gods in whom those people trust +(He boasting One and trusting not at all); +A land where lightning is the lover's boon, +And honey oozing from an amber moon +Illumines footing on forbidden wall; +Where, 'stead of pursy jeweler's display, +Parading peacocks brave the passer-by, +And swans like angels in an azure sky +Wing swift and silent on unchallenged way. +No land of fable! Of the Hills I sing, +Whose royal women tread with conscious grace +The peace-filled gardens of a warrior race, +Each maiden fit for wedlock with a king, +And every Rajput son so royal born +And conscious of his age-long heritage +He looks askance at Burke's becrested page +And wonders at the new-ennobled scorn. +I sing (for this is earth) of hate and guile, +Of tyranny and trick and broken pledge, +Of sudden weapons, and the thrice-keen edge +Of woman's wit, the sting in woman's smile, +But also of the heaven-fathomed glow, +The sweetness and the charm and dear delight +Of loyal woman, humorous and right, +Pure-purposed as the bosom of the snow. + +No tale, then, this of motors, but of men +With camels fleeter than the desert wind, +Who come and go. So leave the West behind, +And, at the magic summons of the pen +Forgetting new contentions if you will, +Take wings, take silent wings of time untied, +And see, with Fellow-friendship for your guide, +A little how the East goes wooing still. + + + +"Gold is where you find it." + +Dawn at the commencement of hot weather in the hills if not the loveliest +of India's wealth of wonders (for there is the moon by night) is fair +preparation for whatever cares to follow. There is a musical silence cut +of which the first voices of the day have birth; and a half-light holding +in its opalescence all the colors that the day shall use; a freshness and +serenity to hint what might be if the sons of men were wise enough; +and beauty unbelievable. The fortunate sleep on roofs or on verandas, +to be ready for the sweet cool wind that moves in advance of the rising +sun, caused, as some say, by the wing-beats of departing spirits of the night. + +So that in that respect the mangy jackals, the monkeys, and the chandala +(who are the lowest human caste of all and quite untouchable by the +other people the creator made) are most to be envied; for there is no +stuffy screen, and small convention, between them and enjoyment of +the blessed air. + +Next in order of defilement to the sweepers,--or, as some particularly +righteous folk with inside reservations on the road to Heaven firmly insist, +even beneath the sweepers, and possibly beneath the jackals--come +the English, looking boldly on whatever their eyes desire and tasting +out of curiosity the fruit of more than one forbidden tree, but obsessed +by an amazing if perverted sense of duty. They rule the land, largely +by what they idolize as "luck," which consists of tolerance for things they +do not understand. Understanding one another rather well, they are +more merciless to their own offenders than is Brahman to chandala, +for they will hardly let them live. But they are a people of destiny, and +India has prospered under them. + +In among the English something after the fashion of grace notes in the +bars of music--enlivening, if sharp at times--come occasional Americans, +turning up in unexpected places for unusual reasons, and remaining-- +because it is no man's business to interfere with them. Unlike the English, +who approach all quarters through official doors and never trespass +without authority, the Americans have an embarrassing way of choosing +their own time and step, taking officialdom, so to speak, in flank. It is +to the credit of the English that they overlook intrusion that they would +punish fiercely if committed by unauthorized folk from home. + +So when the Blaines, husband and wife, came to Sialpore in Rajputana +without as much as one written introduction, nobody snubbed them. +And when, by dint of nothing less than nerve nor more than ability to +recognize their opportunity, they acquired the lease of the only vacant +covetable house nobody was very jealous, especially when the Blaines +proved hospitable. + +It was a sweet little nest of a house with a cool stone roof, set in a rather +large garden of its own on the shoulder of the steep hill that overlooks +the city. A political dependent of Yasmini's father had built it as a haven +for his favorite paramour when jealousy in his seraglio had made peace +at home impossible. Being connected with the Treasury in some way, +and suitably dishonest, he had been able to make a luxurious pleasaunce +of it; and he had taste. + +But when Yasmini's father died and his nephew Gungadhura succeeded +him as maharajah he made a clean sweep of the old pension and +employment list in order to enrich new friends, so the little nest on the +hill became deserted. Its owner went into exile in a neighboring state +and died there out of reach of the incoming politician who naturally wanted +to begin business by exposing the scandalous remissness of his +predecessor. The house was acquired on a falling market by a money-lender, +who eventually leased it to the Blaines on an eighty per cent. basis-- +a price that satisfied them entirely until they learned later about local proportion. + +The front veranda faced due east, raised above the garden by an eight-foot +wall, an ideal place for sleep because of the unfailing morning breeze. +The beds were set there side by side each evening, and Mrs. Blaine-- +a full ten years younger than her husband--formed a habit of rising in +the dark and standing in her night-dress, with bare feet on the utmost +edge of the top stone step, to watch for the miracle of morning. She +was fabulously pretty like that, with her hair blowing and her young figure +outlined through the linen; and she was sometimes unobserved. + +The garden wall, a hundred feet beyond, was of rock, two-and-a-half +men high, as they measure the unleapable in that distrustful land; but +the Blaines, hailing from a country where a neighbor's dog and chickens +have the run of twenty lawns, seldom took the trouble to lock the little, +arched, iron-studded door through which the former owner had come +and gone unobserved. The use of an open door is hardly trespass +under the law of any land; and dawn is an excellent time for the +impecunious who take thought of the lily how it grows in order to +outdo Solomon. + +When a house changes hands in Rajputana there pass with it, as well +as the rats and cobras and the mongoose, those beggars who were +wont to plague the former owner. That is a custom so based on ancient +logic that the English, who appreciate conservatism, have not even +tried to alter it. + +So when a cracked voice broke the early stillness out of shadow where +the garden wall shut off the nearer view, Theresa Blaine paid small +attention to it. + +"Memsahib! Protectress of the poor!" + +She continued watching the mystery of coming light. The ancient city's +domed and pointed roofs already glistened with pale gold, and a pearly +mist wreathed the crowded quarter of the merchants. Beyond that the +river, not more than fifty yards wide, flowed like molten sapphire between +unseen banks. As the pale stars died, thin rays of liquid silver touched +the surface of a lake to westward, seen through a rift between purple +hills. The green of irrigation beyond the river to eastward shone like +square-cut emeralds, and southward the desert took to itself all imaginable +hues at once. + +"Colorado!" she said then. "And Arizona! And Southern California! +And something added that I can't just place!" + +"Sin's added by the scow-load!" growled her husband from the farther bed. +"Come back, Tess, and put some clothes on!" + +She turned her head to smile, but did not move away. Hearing the man's +voice, the owners of other voices piped up at once from the shadow, +all together, croaking out of tune: + +"Bhig mangi shahebi! Bhig mangi shahebi!" (Alms! Alms!) + +"I can see wild swans," said Theresa. "Come and look--five--six--seven +of them, flying northward, oh, ever so high up!" + +"Put some clothes on, Tess!" + +"I'm plenty warm." + +"Maybe. But there's some skate looking at you from the garden. What's +the matter with your kimono?" + +However the dawn wind was delicious, and the night-gown more decent +than some of the affairs they label frocks. Besides, the East is used +to more or less nakedness and thinks no evil of it, as women learn +quicker than men. + +"All right--in a minute." + +"I'll bet there's a speculator charging 'em admission at the gate," grumbled +Dick Blaine, coming to stand beside her in pajamas. "Sure you're right, +Tess; those are swans, and that's a dawn worth seeing." + +He had the deep voice that the East attributes to manliness, and the +muscular mold that never came of armchair criticism. She looked like +a child beside him, though he was agile, athletic, wiry, not enormous. + +"Sahib!" resumed the voices. "Sahib! Protector of the poor!" They +whined out of darkness still, but the shadow was shortening. + +"Better feed 'em, Tess. A man's starved down mighty near the knuckle +if he'll wake up this early to beg." + +"Nonsense. Those are three regular bums who look on us as their preserve. +They enjoy the morning as much as we do. Begging's their way of telling +people howdy." + +"Somebody pays them to come," he grumbled, helping her into a pale +blue kimono. + +Tess laughed. "Sure! But it pays us too. They keep other bums away. +I talk to them sometimes." + +"In English?" + +"I don't think they know any. I'm learning their language." + +It was his turn to laugh. "I knew a man once who learned the gipsy bolo +on a bet. Before he'd half got it you couldn't shoo tramps off his door-step +with a gun. After a time he grew to like it--flattered him, I suppose, but +decent folk forgot to ask him to their corn-roasts. Careful, Tess, or +Sialpore'll drop us from its dinner lists." + +"Don't you believe it! They're crazy to learn American from me, and +to hear your cowpuncher talk. We're social lions. I think they like us +as much as we like them. Don't make that face, Dick, one maverick +isn't a whole herd, and you can't afford to quarrel with the commissioner." + +He chose to change the subject. + +"What are your bums' names?" he asked. + +"Funny names. Bimbu, Umra and Pinga. Now you can see them, look, +the shadow's gone. Bimbu is the one with no front teeth, Umra has only +one eye, and Pinga winks automatically. Wait till you see Pinga smile. +It's diagonal instead of horizontal. Must have hurt his mouth in an accident." + +"Probably he and Bimbu fought and found the biting tough. Speaking +of dogs, strikes me we ought to keep a good big fierce one," be added +suggestively. + +"No, no, Dick; there's no danger. Besides, there's Chamu." + +"The bums could make short work of that parasite." + +"I'm safe enough. Tom Tripe usually looks in at least once a day when +you're gone." + +"Tom's a good fellow, but once a day--. A hundred things might happen. +I'd better speak to Tom Tripe about those three bums--he'll shift them!" + +"Don't, Dick! I tell you they keep others away. Look, here comes Chamu +with the chota hazri." + +Clad in an enormous turban and clean white linen from head to foot, a +stout Hindu appeared, superintending a tall meek underling who carried +the customary "little breakfast" of the country--fruit, biscuits and the +inevitable tea that haunts all British byways. As soon as the underling +had spread a cloth and arranged the cups and plates Chamu nudged +him into the background and stood to receive praise undivided. The +salaams done with and his own dismissal achieved with proper dignity, +Chamu drove the hamal away in front of him, and cuffed him the minute +they were out of sight. There was a noise of repeated blows from +around the corner. + +"A big dog might serve better after all," mused Tess. "Chamu beats +the servants, and takes commissions, even from the beggars." + +"How do you know?" + +"They told me." + +"Um, Bing and Ping would better keep away. There's no obligation to +camp here." + +"Only, if we fired Chamu I suppose the maharajah would be offended. +He made such a great point of sending us a faithful servant." + +"True. Gungadhura Singh is a suspicious rajah. He suspects me anyway. +I screwed better terms out of him than the miller got from Bob White, +and now whenever he sees me off the job he suspects me of chicanery. +If we fired Chamu he'd think I'd found the gold and was trying to hide it. +Say, if I don't find gold in his blamed hills eventually--!" + +"You'll find it, Dick. You never failed at anything you really set your heart on. +With your experience--" + +"Experience doesn't count for much," he answered, blowing at his tea +to cool it. "It's not like coal or manganese. Gold is where you find it. +There are no rules." + +"Finding it's your trade. Go ahead." + +"I'm not afraid of that. What eats me," he said, standing up and looking +down at her, "is what I've heard about their passion for revenge. Every +one has the same story. If you disappoint them, gee whiz, look out! +Poisoning your wife's a sample of what they'll do. It's crossed my mind +a score of times, little girl, that you ought to go back to the States and +wait there till I'm through--" + +She stood on tiptoe and kissed him. + +"Isn't that just like a man!" + +"All the same--" + +"Go in, Dick, and get dressed, or the sun will be too high before you +get the gang started." + +She took his arm and they went into the house together. Twenty minutes +later he rode away on his pony, looking if possible even more of an +athlete than in his pajamas, for there was an added suggestion of +accomplishment in the rolled-up sleeves and scarred boots laced to +the knee. Their leave-taking was a purely American episode, mixed +of comradeship, affection and just plain foolishness, witnessed by more +wondering, patient Indian eyes than they suspected. Every move that +either of them made was always watched. + +As a matter of fact Chamu's attention was almost entirely taken up just +then by the crows, iniquitous black humorists that took advantage of +turned backs (for Tess walked beside the pony to the gate) to rifle the +remains of chota hazri, one of them flying off with a spoon since the +rest had all the edibles. Chamu threw a cushion at the spoon-thief and +called him "Balibuk," which means eater of the temple offerings, and +is an insult beyond price. + +"That's the habit of crows," he explained indignantly to Tess as she +returned, laughing, to the veranda, picking up the cushion on her way. +"They are without shame. Garud, who is king of all the birds, should +turn them into fish; then they could swim in water and be caught with +hooks. But first Blaine sahib should shoot them with a shotgun." + +Having offered that wise solution of the problem Chamu stood with fat +hands folded on his stomach. + +"The crows steal less than some people," Tess answered pointedly. + +He preferred to ignore the remark. + +"Or there might be poison added to some food, and the food left for +them to see," he suggested, whereat she astonished him, American +women being even more incomprehensible than their English cousins. + +"If you talk to me about poison I'll send you back to Gungadhura in +disgrace. Take away the breakfast things at once." + +"That is the hamal's business," he retorted pompously. "The maharajah +sahib is knowing me for most excellent butler. He himself has given +me already very high recommendation. Will he permit opinions of other +people to contradict him?" + +The words "opinions of women" had trembled on his lips but intuition +saved that day. It flashed across even his obscene mentality that he +might suggest once too often contempt for Western folk who worked +for Eastern potentates. It was true he regarded the difference between +a contract and direct employment as merely a question of degree, +and a quibble in any case, and he felt pretty sure that the Blaines would +not risk the maharajah's unchancy friendship by dismissing himself; +but he suspected there were limits. He could not imagine why, but he +had noticed that insolence to Blaine himself was fairly safe, Blaine being +super-humanly indifferent as long as Mrs. Blaine was shown respect, +even exceeding the English in the absurd length to which he carried it. +It was a mad world in Chamu's opinion. He went and fetched the hamal, +who slunk through his task with the air of a condemned felon. Tess +smiled at the man for encouragement, but Chamu's instant jealousy +was so obvious that she regretted the mistake. + +"Now call up the beggars and feed them," she ordered. + +"Feed them? They will not eat. It is contrary to caste." + +"Nonsense. They have no caste. Bring bread and feed them." + +"There is no bread of the sort they will eat." + +"I know exactly what you mean. If I give them bread there's no profit +for you--they'll eat it all; but if I give them money you'll exact a commission +from them of one pesa in five. Isn't that so? Go and bring the bread." + +He decided to turn the set-back into at any rate a minor victory and went +in person to the kitchen for chupatties such as the servants ate. Then, +returning to the top of the steps he intimated that the earth-defilers +might draw near and receive largesse, contriving the impression that +it was by his sole favor the concession was obtained. Two of them +came promptly and waited at the foot of the steps, smirking and changing +attitudes to draw attention to their rags. Chamu tossed the bread to +them with expressions of disgust. If they had cared to pretend they +were holy men he would have been respectful, in degree at least, but +these were professionals so hardened that they dared ignore the +religious apology, which implies throughout the length and breadth of +India the right to beg from place to place. These were not even true +vagabonds, but rogues contented with one victim in one place as long +as benevolence should last. + +"Where is the third one?" Tess demanded. "Where is Pinga?" + +They professed not to know, but she had seen all three squatting together +close to the little gate five minutes before. She ordered Chamu to go +and find the missing man and he waddled off, grumbling. At the end +of five minutes he returned without him. + +"One comes on horseback," he announced, "who gave the third beggar +money, so that he now waits outside." + +"What for?" + +"Who knows? Perhaps to keep watch." + +"To watch for what?" + +"Who knows?" + +"Who is it on horseback? A caller? Some one coming for breakfast? +You'd better hurry." + +The call at breakfast-time is one of the pleasantest informalities of life +in India. It might even be the commissioner. Tess ran to make one +of those swift changes of costume with which some women have the +gift of gracing every opportunity. Chamu waddled down the steps to +await with due formality, the individual, in no way resembling a British +commissioner, who was leisurely dismounting at the wide gate fifty yards +to the southward of that little one the beggars used. + +He was a Rajput of Rajputs, thin-wristed, thin-ankled, lean, astonishingly +handsome in a high-bred Northern way, and possessed of that air of +utter self-assuredness devoid of arrogance which people seem able +to learn only by being born to it. His fine features were set off by a turban +of rose-pink silk, and the only fault discoverable as he strode up the +path between the shrubs was that his riding-boots seemed too tight +across the instep. There was not a vestige of hair on his face. He was +certainly less than twenty, perhaps seventeen years old, or even younger. +Ages are hard to guess in that land. + +Tess was back on the veranda in time to receive him, with different +shoes and stockings, and another ribbon in her hair; few men would +have noticed the change at all, although agreeably conscious of the +daintiness. The Rajput seemed unable to look away from her but +ignoring Chamu, as he came up the steps, appraised her inch by inch +from the white shoes upward until as he reached the top their eyes met. +Chamu followed him fussily. + +Tess could not remember ever having seen such eyes. They were +baffling by their quality of brilliance, unlike the usual slumbrous Eastern +orbs that puzzle chiefly by refusal to express emotion. The Rajput bowed +and said nothing, so Tess offered him a chair, which Chamu drew up +more fussily than ever. + +"Have you had breakfast?" she asked, taking the conscious risk. Strangers +of alien race are not invariably good guests, however good-looking, +especially when one's husband is somewhere out of call. She looked +and felt nearly as young as this man, and had already experienced +overtures from more than one young prince who supposed he was +doing her an honor. Used to closely guarded women's quarters, the +East wastes little time on wooing when the barriers are passed or down. +But she felt irresistibly curious, and after all there was Chamu. + +"Thanks, I took breakfast before dawn." + +The Rajput accepted the proffered chair without acknowledging the +butler's existence. Tess passed him the big silver cigarette box. + +"Then let me offer you a drink." + +He declined both drink and cigarette and there was a minute's silence +during which she began to grow uncomfortable. + +"I was riding after breakfast--up there on the hill where you see that +overhanging rock, when I caught sight of you here on the veranda. +You, too, were watching the dawn--beautiful! I love the dawn. So I +thought I would come and get to know you. People who love the same +thing, you know, are not exactly strangers." + +Almost, if not quite for the first time Tess grew very grateful for Chamu, +who was still hovering at hand. + +"If my husband had known, he would have stayed to receive you." + +"Oh, no! I took good care for that! I continued my ride until after I knew +he had gone for the day." + +Things dawn on your understanding in the East one by one, as the +stars come out at night, until in the end there is such a bewildering +number of points of light that people talk about the "incomprehensible +East." Tess saw light suddenly. + +"Do you mean that those three beggars are your spies?" + +The Rajput nodded. Then his bright eyes detected the instant resolution +that Tess formed. + +"But you must not be afraid of them. They will be very useful--often." + +"How?" + +The visitor made a gesture that drew attention to Chamu. + +"Your butler knows English. Do you know Russian?" + +"Not a word." + +"French?" + +"Very little." + +"If we were alone--" + +Tess decided to face the situation boldly. She came from a free land, +and part of her heritage was to dare meet any man face to face; but +intuition combined with curiosity to give her confidence. + +"Chamu, you may go." + +The butler waddled out of sight, but the Rajput waited until the sound +of his retreating footsteps died away somewhere near the kitchen. Then: + +"You feel afraid of me?" he asked. + +"Not at all. Why should I? Why do you wish to see me alone?" + +"I have decided you are to be my friend. Are you not pleased?" + +"But I don't know anything about you. Suppose you tell me who you +are and tell me why you use beggars to spy on my husband." + +"Those who have great plans make powerful enemies, and fight against +odds. I make friends where I can, and instruments even of my enemies. +You are to be my friend." + +"You look very young to--" + +Suddenly Tess saw light again, and the discovery caused her pupils +to contract a little and then dilate. The Rajput noticed it, and laughed. +Then, leaning forward: + +"How did vou know I am a woman? Tell me. I must know. I shall study +to act better." + +Tess leaned back entirely at her ease at last and looked up at the sky, +rather reveling in relief and in the fun of turning the tables. + +"Please tell me! I must know!" + +"Oh, one thing and another. It isn't easy to explain. For one thing, your insteps." + +"I will get other boots. What else? I make no lap. I hold my hands as +a man does. Is my voice too high--too excitable?" + +"No. There are men with voices like yours. There's a long golden hair +on your shoulder that might, of course, belong to some one else, but +your ears are pierced--" + +"So are many men's." + +"And you have blue eyes, and long fair lashes. I've seen occasional +Rajput men with blue eyes, too, but your teeth--much too perfect for a man." + +"For a young man?" + +"Perhaps not. But add one thing to another--" + +"There is something else. Tell me!" + +"You remember when you called attention to the butler before I dismissed +him? No man could do that. You're a woman and you can dance." + +"So it is my shoulders? I will study again before the mirror. Yes, I can +dance. Soon you shall see me. You shall see all the most wonderful +things in Rajputana." + +"But tell me about yourself," Tess insisted, offering the cigarettes again. +And this time her guest accepted one. + +"My mother was the Russian wife of Bubru Singh, who had no son. +I am the rightful maharanee of Sialpore, only those fools of English put +my father's + nephew on the throne, saying a woman can not reign. They are no +wiser than apes! They have given Sialpore to Gungadhura who is a +pig and loathes them instead of to a woman who would only laugh at +them, and the brute is raising a litter of little pigs, so that even if he and +his progeny were poisoned one by one, there would always be a brat +left--he has so many!" + +"And you?" + +"First you must promise silence." + +"Very well." + +"Woman to woman!" + +"Yes." + +"Womb to womb--heart to heart--?" + +"On my word of honor. But I promise nothing else, remember!" + +"So speaks one whose promises are given truly! We are already friends. +I will tell you all that is in my heart now." + +"Tell me your name first." + +She was about to answer when interruption came from the direction +of the gate. There was a restless horse there, and a rider using resonant +strong language. + +"Tom Tripe!" said Tess. "He's earlier than usual." + +The Rajputni smiled. Chamu appeared through the door behind them +with suspicious suddenness and waddled to the gate, watched by a +pair of blue eyes that should have burned holes in his back and would +certainly have robbed him of all comfort had he been aware of them. + + + + + +Chapter Two + +Thaw on Olympus + +Bright spurs that add their roweled row +To clanking saber's pride; +Fierce eyes beneath a beetling brow; +More license than the rules allow; +A military stride; +Years' use of arbitrary will +And right to make or break; +Obedience of men who drill +And willy nilly foot the bill +For authorized mistake; +The comfort of the self-esteem +Deputed power brings-- +Are fickler than the shadows seem +Less fruitful than the lotus-dream, +And all of them have wings +When blue eyes, laughing in your own, +Make mockery of rules! + +And when those fustian shams have flown +The wise their new allegiance own, +Leaving dead form to fools! + + +"Friendship's friendship and respect's respect, but duty's what I'm +paid to do!" + +The man at the gate dallied to look at his horse's fetlocks. Tess's +strange guest seemed in no hurry either, but her movements were as +swift as knitting-needles. She produced a fountain pen, and of all +unexpected things, a Bank of India note for one thousand rupees--a +new one, crisp and clean. Tess did not see the signature she scrawled +across its back in Persian characters, and the pen was returned to an +inner pocket and the note, folded four times, was palmed in the subtle +hand long before Tom Tripe came striding up the path with jingling spurs. + +"Morning, ma'am,--morning! Don't let me intrude. I'd a little accident, +and took a liberty. My horse cut his fetlock--nothing serious--and I set +your two saises (grooms) to work on it with a sponge and water. +Twenty minutes--will see it right as a trivet. Then I'm off again--I've a +job of work." + +He stood with back to the sun and hands on his hips, looking up at Tess-- +a man of fifty--a soldier of another generation, in a white uniform something +like a British sergeant-major's of the days before the Mutiny. His +mutton-chop whiskers, dyed dark-brown, were military mid-Victorian, +as were the huge brass spurs that jingled on black riding-boots. A +great-chested, heavy-weight athletic man, a few years past his prime. + +"Come up, Tom. You're always welcome." + +"Ah!" His spurs rang on the stone steps, and, since Tess was standing +close to the veranda rail, he turned to face her at the top. Saluting with +martinet precision before removing his helmet, he did not get a clear +view of the Rajputni. "As I've said many times, ma'am, the one house +in the world where Tom Tripe may sit down with princes and commissioners." + +"Have you had breakfast?" + +He made a wry face. + +"The old story, Tom?" + +"The old story, ma'am. A hair of the dog that bit me is all the breakfast +I could swallow." + +"I suppose if I don't give you one now you'll have two later?" + +He nodded. "I must. One now would put me just to rights and I'd eat +at noon. Times when I'm savage with myself, and wait, I have to have +two or three before I can stomach lunch." + +She offered him a basket chair and beckoned Chamu. + +"Brandy and soda for the sahib." + +"Thank you, ma'am!" said the soldier piously. + +"Where's your dog, Tom?" + +"Behaving himself, I hope, ma'am, out there in the sun by the gate." + +"Call him. He shall have a bone on the veranda. I want him to feel as +friendly here as you do." + +Tom whistled shrilly and an ash-hued creature, part Great Dane and +certainly part Rampore, came up the path like a catapulted phantom, +making hardly any sound. He stopped at the foot of the steps and +gazed inquiringly at his master's face. + +"You may come up." + +He was an extraordinary animal, enormous, big-jowled, scarred, ungainly +and apparently aware of it. He paused again on the top step. + +"Show your manners." + +The beast walked toward Tess, sniffed at her, wagged his stern exactly +once and retired to the other end of the veranda, where Chamu, hurrying +with brandy gave him the widest possible berth. Tess looked the other +way while Tom Tripe helped himself to a lot of brandy and a little soda. + +"Now get a big bone for the dog," she ordered. + +"There is none," the butler answered. + +"Bring the leg-of-mutton bone of yesterday." + +"That is for soup today." + +"Bring it!" + +Chamu was standing between Tom Tripe and the Rajputni, with his +back to the latter; so nobody saw the hand that slipped something into +the ample folds of his sash. He departed muttering by way of the steps +and the garden, and the dog growled acknowledgment of the compliment. + +Tess's Rajput guest continued to say nothing; but made no move to go. +Introduction was inevitable, for it was the first rule of that house that all +ranks met there on equal terms, whatever their relations elsewhere. +Tom Tripe had finished wiping his mustache, and Tess was still wondering +just how to manage without betraying the sex of the other or the fact +that she herself did not yet know her visitor's name, when Chamu returned +with the bone. He threw it to the dog from a safe distance, and was +sniffed at scornfully for his pains. + +"Won't he take it?" asked Tess. + +"Not from a black man. Bring it here, you!" + +The great brute, with a sidewise growl and glare at the butler that made +him sweat with fright, picked up the bone and, at a sign from his master, +laid it at the feet of Tess. + +"Show your manners!" + +Once more he waved his stern exactly once. + +"Give it to him, ma'am." + +Tess touched the bone with her foot, and the dog took it away, scaring +Chamu along the veranda in front of him. + +"Why don't you ever call him by name, Tom?" + +"Bad for him, ma'am. When I say, 'Here, you!' or whistle, he obeys +quick as lightning. But if I say, 'Trotters!' which his name is, he knows +he's got to do his own thinking, and keeps his distance till he's sure +what's wanted. A dog's like an enlisted man, ma'am; ought to be taught +to jump at the word of command and never think for himself until you +call him out of the ranks by name. Trotters understands me perfectly." + +"Speaking of names," said Tess, "I'd like to introduce you to my guest, +Tom, but I'm afraid--" + +"You may call me Gunga Singh," said a quiet voice full of amusement, +and Tom Tripe started. He turned about in his chair and for the first +time looked the third member of the party in the face. + +"Hoity-toity! Well, I'm jiggered! Dash my drink and dinner, it's the princess!" + +He rose and saluted cavalierly, jocularly, yet with a deference one could +not doubt, showing tobacco-darkened teeth in a smile of almost +paternal indulgence. + +"So the Princess Yasmini is Gunga Singh this morning, eh? And here's +Tom Tripe riding up-hill and down-dale, laming his horse and sweating +through a clean tunic--with a threat in his ear and a reward promised +that he'll never see a smell of--while the princess is smoking cigarettes--" + +"In very good company!" + +"In good company, aye; but not out of mischief, I'll be bound! Naughty, +naughty!" he said, wagging a finger at her. "Your ladyship'll get caught +one of these days, and where will Tom Tripe be then? I've got my +job to keep, you know. Friendship's friendship and respect's respect, +but duty's what I'm paid to do. Here's me, drill-master of the maharajah's +troops and a pension coming to me consequent on good behavior, +with orders to set a guard over you, miss, and prevent your going and +coming without his highness' leave. And here's you giving the guard +the slip! Somebody tipped his highness off, and I wish you'd heard +what's going to happen to me unless I find you!" + +"You can't find me, Tom Tripe! I'm not Yasmini today; I'm Gunga Singh!" + +"Tut-tut, Your Ladyship; that won't do! I swore on my Bible oath to the +maharajah that I left you day before yesterday closely guarded in the +palace across the river. He felt easy for the first time for a week. Now, +because they're afraid for their skins, the guard all swear by Krishna +you were never in there, and that I've been bribed! How did you get +out of the grounds, miss?" + +"Climbed the wall." + +"I might have remembered you're as active as a cat! Next time I'll mount +a double guard on the wall, so they'll tumble off and break their necks +if they fall asleep. But there are no boats, for I saw to it, and the bridge +is watched. How did you cross the river?" + +"Swam." + +"At night?" + +The blue eyes smiled assent. + +"Missy--Your Ladyship, you mustn't do that. Little ladies that act that +way might lose the number of their mess. There's crockadowndillies +in that river--aggilators--what d'ye call the damp things?--mugger. They +snap their jaws on a leg and pull you under! The sweeter and prettier +you are the more they like you! Besides, missy, princesses aren't +supposed to swim; it's vulgar." + +He contrived to look the very incarnation of offended prudery, and she +laughed at him with a voice like a golden bell. + +He faced Tess again with a gesture of apology. + +"You'll pardon me, ma'am, but duty's duty." + +Tess was enjoying the play immensely, shrewdly suspecting Tom Tripe +of more complaisance than he chose to admit to his prisoner. + +"You must treat my house as a sanctuary, Tom. Outside the garden +wall orders I suppose are orders. Inside it I insist all guests are free +and equal." + +The Princess Yasmini slapped her boot with a little riding-switch and +laughed delightedly. + +"There, Tom Tripe! Now what will you do?" + +"I'll have to use persuasion, miss! Tell me how you got into your own +palace unseen and out again with a horse without a soul knowing?" + +"'Come into my net and get caught,' said the hunter; but the leopard is +still at large. 'Teach me your tracks,' begged the hunter; but the leopard +answered, 'Learn them!' ' + +"Hell's bells!" + +Tom Tripe scratched his head and wiped sweat from his collar. The +princess was gazing away into the distance, not apparently inclined to +take the soldier seriously. Tess, wondering what her guest found +interesting on the horizon all of a sudden, herself picked out the third +beggar's shabby outline on the same high rock from which Yasmini +had confessed to watching before dawn. + +"Will your ladyship ride home with me?" asked Tom Tripe. + +"No." + +"But why not?" + +"Because the commissioner is coming and there is only one road and +he would see me and ask questions. He is stupid enough not to recognize +me, but you are too stupid to tell wise lies, and this memsahib is so +afraid of an imaginary place called hell that I must stay and do my own--" + +"I left off believing in hell when I was ten years old," Tess answered. + +"I hope to God you're right, ma'am!" put in Tom Tripe piously, and both +women laughed. + +"Then I shall trust you and we shall always understand each other," +decided Yasmini. "But why will you not tell lies, if there is no hell?" + +"I'm afraid I'm guilty now and then." + +"But you are ashamed afterward? Why? Lies are necessary, since +people are such fools!" + +Tom Tripe interrupted, wiping the inside of his tunic collar again with a +big bandanna handkerchief. + +"How do you know the commissioner is coming, Your Ladyship? Phew! +You'd better hide! I'll have to answer too many questions as it is. He'd +turn you outside in!" + +"There is no hurry," said Yasmini. "He will not be here for five minutes +and he is a fool in any case. He is walking his horse up-hill." + +Tess too had seen the beggar on the rock remove his ragged turban, +rewind it, and then leisurely remove himself from sight. The system +of signals was pretty obviously simple. The whole intriguing East is +simple, if one only has simplicity enough to understand it. + +"Can your horse be seen from the road?" Yasmini asked. + +"No, miss. The saises are attending to him under the neem-trees at +the rear." + +"Then ask the memsahib's permission to pass through the house and +leave by the back way." + +Tess, more amused than ever, nodded consent and clapped her hands +for Chamu to come and do the honors. + +"I'll wait here," she said, "and welcome the commissioner." + +"But you, Your Ladyship?" Tom Tripe scratched his head in evident +confusion. "I've got to account for you, you know." + +"You haven't seen me. You have only seen a man named Gunga Singh." + +"That's all very fine, missy, but the butler--that man Chamu--he knows +you well enough. He'll get the story to the maharajah's ears." + +"Leave that to me." + +"You dassen't trust him, miss!" + +Again came the golden laugh, expressive of the worldly wisdom of a +thousand women, and sheer delight in it. + +"I shall stay here, if the memsahib permits." + +Tess nodded again. "The commissioner shall sit with me on the veranda," +Tess said. "Chamu will show you into the parlor." + +(The Blaines had never made the least attempt to leave behind their +home-grown names for things. Whoever wanted to in Sialpore might +have a drawing-room, but whoever came to that house must sit in a +parlor or do the other thing.) + +"Is it possible the burra-sahib will suppose my horse is yours?" Yasmini +asked, and again Tess smiled and nodded. She would know what to +say to any one who asked impertinent questions. + +Yasmini and Tom Tripe followed Chamu into the house just as the +commissioner's horse's nose appeared past the gate-post; and once +behind the curtains in the long hall that divided room from room, Tom +Tripe called a halt to make a final effort at persuasion. + +"Now, missy, Your Ladyship, please!" + +But she had no patience to spare for him. + +"Quick! Send your dog to guard that door!" + +Tom Tripe snapped his fingers and made a motion with his right hand. +The dog took up position full in the middle of the passage blocking the +way to the kitchen and alert for anything at all, but violence preferred. +Chamu, all sly smiles and effusiveness until that instant, as one who +would like to be thought a confidential co-conspirator, now suddenly +realized that his retreat was cut off. No explanation had been offered, +but the fact was obvious and conscience made the usual coward of him. +He would rather have bearded Tom Tripe than the dog. + +Yasmini opened on him in his own language, because there was just +a chance that otherwise Tess might overhear through the open window +and put two and two together. + +"Scullion! Dish-breaker! Conveyor of uncleanness! You have a son?" + +"Truly, heavenborn. One son, who grows into a man--the treasure of +my old heart." + +"A gambler!" + +"A young man, heavenborn, who feels his manhood--now and then +gay--now and then foolish " + +"A budmash!" (Bad rascal.) + +"Nay, an honest one!" + +"Who borrowed from Mukhum Dass the money-lender, making +untrue promises?" + +"Nay, the money was to pay a debt." + +"A gambling debt, and he lied about it." + +"Nay, truly, heavenborn, he but promised Mukhum Dass he would repay +the sum with interest." + +"Swearing he would buy with the money, two horses which Mukhum Dass +might seize as forfeit after the appointed time!" + +"Otherwise, heavenborn, Mukhum Dass would not have lent the money!" + +"And now Mukhum Dass threatens prison?" + +"Truly, heavenborn. The money-lender is without shame--without mercy-- +without conscience." + +"And that is why you--dog of a spying butler set to betray the sahib's +salt you eat--man of smiles and welcome words!--stole money from me? +Was it to pay the debt of thy gambling brat-born-in-a-stable?" + +"I, heavenborn? I steal from thee? I would rather be beaten!" + +"Thou shalt be beaten, and worse, thou and thy son! Feel in his +cummerbund, Tom Tripe! I saw where the money went!" + +Promptly into the butler's sash behind went fingers used to delving into +more unmilitary improprieties than any ten civilians could think of. Tripe +produced the thousand-rupee note in less than half a minute and, whether +or not he believed it stolen, saw through the plan and laughed. + +"Is my name on the back of it?" Yasmini asked. + +Tom Tripe displayed the signature, and Chamu's clammy face +turned ashen-gray. + +"And," said Yasmini, fixing Chamu with angry blue eyes, "the commissioner +sahib is on the veranda! For the reputation of the English he would +cause an example to be made of servants who steal from guests in +the house of foreigners." + +Chamu capitulated utterly, and wept. + +"What shall I do? What shall I do?" he demanded. + +"In the jail," Yasmini said slowly, "you could not spy on my doings, nor +report my sayings." + +"Heavenborn, I am dumb! Only take back the money and I am dumb +forever, never seeing or having seen or heard either you or this sahib +here! Take back the money!" + +But Yasmini was not so easily balked of her intention. + +"Put his thumb-print on it, Tom Tripe, and see that he writes his name." + +The trembling Chamu was led into a room where an ink-pot stood open +on a desk, and watched narrowly while he made a thumb-mark and +scratched a signature. Then: + +"Take the money and pay thy puppy's debt with it. Afterward beat the +boy. And see to it," Yasmini advised, "that Mukhum Dass gives a receipt, +lest he claim the debt a second time!" + +Speechless between relief, doubt and resentment Chamu hid the banknote +in his sash and tried to feign gratitude--a quality omitted from his list of +elements when a patient, caste-less mother brought him yelling into +the world. + +"Go!" + +Tom Tripe made a sign to Trotters, who went and lay down, obviously +bored, and Chamu departed backward, bowing repeatedly with both +hands raised to his forehead. + +"And now, Your Ladyship?" + +"Take that eater-of-all-that-is-unnamable," (she meant the dog), "and +return to the palace." + +"Your Ladyship, it's all my life's worth!" + +"Tell the maharajah that you have spoken with a certain Gunga Singh, +who said that the Princess Yasmini is at the house of the commissioner sahib." + +"But it's not true; they'll--" + +"Let the commissioner sahib deny it then! Go!" + +"But, missy--" + +"Do as I say, Tom Tripe, and when I am maharanee of Sialpore you +shall have double pay--and a troupe of dancing girls--and a dozen horses-- +and the title of bahadur--and all the brandy you can drink. The sepoys +shall furthermore have modern uniforms, and you shall drill them until +they fall down dead. I have promised. Go!" + +With a wag of his head that admitted impotence in the face of woman's +wiles Tom strode out by the back way, followed at a properly respectful +distance by his "eater-of-all-that-is-unnamable." + +Then the princess walked through the parlor to the deeply cushioned +window-seat, outside which the commissioner sat quite alone with Mrs. Blaine, +trying to pull strings whose existence is not hinted at in blue books. +Yasmini from earliest infancy possessed an uncanny gift of silence, +sometimes even when she laughed. + + + + + +Chapter Three + + + +No Tresspass! + +There's comfort in the purple creed +Of rosary and hood; +There's promise in the temple gong, +And hope (deferred) when evensong +Foretells a morrow's good; +There's rapture in the royal right +To lay the daily dole +In cash or kind at temple-door, +Since sacrifice must go before +The saving of a soul. +The priests who plot for power now, +Though future glory preach, +Themselves alike the victims fall +Of law that mesmerizes all - +Each subject unto each - +Though all is well if all obey +And all have humble heart, +Nor dare to hold in cursed doubt +Those gems of truth the church lets out; +But where's the apple-cart, +And where's the sacred fiction gone, +And who's to have the blame +When any upstart takes a hand +And, scorning what the priests have planned, +Plays Harry with the game? + + +"Give a woman the last word always; but be sure it is a question, +which you leave unanswered." + +He was a beau ideal commissioner. The native newspaper said so +when he first came, having painfully selected the phrase from a "Dictionary +Of Polite English for Public Purposes" edited by a College graduate +at present in the Andamans. True, later it had called him an "overbearing +and insane procrastinator"--"an apostle of absolutism"--and, plum of +all literary gleanings, since it left so much to the imagination of the native +reader,--"laudator temporis acti." But that the was because he had +withdrawn his private subscription prior to suspending the paper sine die +under paragraph so-and-so of the Act for Dealing with Sedition; it could +not be held to cancel the correct first judgment, any more than the +unmeasured early praise had offset later indiscretion. Beau ideal must stand. + +It was not his first call at the Blaines' house, although somehow or other +he never contrived to find Dick Blaine at home. As a bachelor he had +no domestic difficulties to pin him down when office work was over +for the morning, and, being a man of hardly more than forty, of fine +physique, with an astonishing capacity for swift work, he could usual +finish in an hour before breakfast what would have kept the routine rank +and file of orthodox officials perspiring through the day. That was one +reason why he had been sent to Sialpore--men in the higher ranks, +with a pension due them after certain years of service, dislike being hurried. + +He was a handsome man--too handsome, some said--with a profile l +ike a medallion of Mark Antony that lost a little of its strength and poise +when he looked straight at you. A commissionership was an apparent +rise in the world; but Sialpore has the name of being a departmental +cul-de-sac, and they had laughed in the clubs about "Irish promotion" +without exactly naming judge O'Mally. (Mrs. O'Mally came from a cathedral +city, where distaste for the conventions is forced at high pressure from +early infancy.) + +But there are no such things as political blind alleys to a man who is +a judge of indiscretion, provided he has certain other unusual gifts as +well. Sir Roland Samson, K. C. S. I., was not at all a disappointed man, +nor even a discouraged one. + +Most people were at a disadvantage coming up the path through the +Blaines' front garden. There was a feeling all the way of being looked +down on from the veranda that took ten minutes to recover from in the +subsequent warmth of Western hospitality. But Samson had learned +long ago that appearance was all in his favor, and he reenforced it with +beautiful buff riding-boots that drew attention to firm feet and manly bearing. +It did him good to be looked at, and he felt, as a painstaking gentleman +should, that the sight did spectators no harm. + +"All alone?" he asked, feeling sure that Mrs. Blaine was pleased to see +him, and shifting the chair beside her as he sat down in order to see +her face better. "Husband in the hills as usual? I must choose a Sunday +next time and find him in." + +Tess smiled. She was used to the remark. He always made it, but +always kept away on Sundays. + +"There was a party at my house last night, and every one agreed what +an acquisition you and your husband are to Sialpore. You're so refreshing-- +quite different to what we're all used to." + +"We're enjoying the novelty too--at least, Dick doesn't have much time +for enjoyment, but--" + +"I suppose he has had vast experience of mining?" + +"Oh, he knows his profession, and works hard. He'll find gold where +there is any," said Tess. + +"You never told me how he came to choose Sialpore as prospecting ground." + +Tess recognized the prevarication instantly. Almost the first thing Dick +had done after they arrived was to make a full statement of all the +circumstances in the commissioner's office. However, she was not her +husband. There was no harm in repetition. + +"The maharajah's secretary wrote to a mining college in the States for +the name of some one qualified to explore the old workings in these hills. +They gave my husband's name among others, and he got in correspondence. +Finally, being free at the time, we came out here for the trip, and the +maharajah offered terms on the spot that we accepted. That is all." + +Samson laughed. + +"I'm afraid not all. A contract with the British Government would be kept. +I won't say a written agreement with Gungadhura is worthless, but--" + +"Oh, he has to pay week by week in advance to cover expenses." + +"Very wise. But how about if you find gold?" + +"We get a percentage." + +Every word of that, as Tess knew, the commissioner could have +ascertained in a minute from his office files. So she was quite as much +on guard as he--quite as alert to discover hidden drifts. + +"I'm afraid there'll be complications," he went on with an air of friendly +frankness. "Perhaps I'd better wait until I can see your husband?" + +"If you like, of course. But he and I speak the same language. What +you tell me will reach him--anything you say, just as you say it." + +"I'd better be careful then!" he answered, smiling. "Wise wives don't +always tell their husbands everything." + +"I've no secrets from mine." + +"Unusual!" he smiled. "I might say obsolete! But you Americans with +your reputation for divorce and originality are very old-fashioned in some +things, aren't you?" + +"What did you want me to tell my husband?" countered Tess. + +"I wonder if he understands how complicated conditions are here. +For instance, does your contract stipulate where the gold is to be found?" + +"On the maharajah's territory." + +"Anywhere within those limits?" + +"So I understand." + +"Is the kind of gold mentioned?" + +"How many kinds are there?" + +He gained thirty seconds for reflection by lighting a cigar, and decided +to change his ground. + +"I know nothing of geology, I'm afraid. I wonder if your husband knows +about the so-called islands? There are patches of British territory, +administered directly by us, within the maharajah's boundaries; and +little islands of native territory administered by the maharajah's government +within the British sphere." + +"Something like our Indian reservations, I suppose?" + +"Not exactly, but the analogy will do. If your husband were to find gold-- +of any kind--on one of our 'islands' within the maharajah's territory, his +contract with the maharajah would be useless." + +"Are the boundaries of the islands clearly marked?" + +"Not very. They're known, of course, and recorded. There's an old +fort on one of them, garrisoned by a handful of British troops--a constant +source of heart-burn, I believe, to Gungadhura. He can see the top of +the flag-staff from his palace roof; a predecessor of mine had the pole +lengthened, I'm told. On the other hand, there's a very pretty little palace +over on our side of the river with about a half square mile surrounding +it that pertains to the native State. Your husband could dig there, of course. +There's no knowing that it might not pay--if he's looking for more kinds +of gold than one." + +Tess contrived not to seem aware that she was being pumped. + +"D'you mean that there might be alluvial gold down by the river?" she asked. + +"Now, now, Mrs. Blaine!" he laughed. "You Americans are not so +ingenuous as you like to seem! Do you really expect us to believe +that your husband's purpose isn't in fact to discover the Sialpore Treasure?" + +"I never heard of it." + +"I suspect he hasn't told you." + +"I'll bet with you, if you like," she answered. "Our contract against your +job that I know every single detail of his terms with Gungadhura!" + +"Well, well,--of course I believe you, Mrs. Blaine. We're not overheard +are we?" + +Not forgetful of the Princess Yasmini hidden somewhere in the house +behind her, but unsuspicious yet of that young woman's gift for garnering +facts, Tess stood up to look through the parlor window. She could see +all of the room except the rear part of the window-seat, a little more than +a foot of which was shut out of her view by the depth of the wall. A cat, +for instance, could have lain there tucked among the cushions perfectly invisible. + +"None of the servants is in there," she said, and sat down again, nodding +in the direction of a gardener. "There's the nearest possible eavesdropper." + +Samson had made up his mind. This was not an occasion to be actually +indiscreet, but a good chance to pretend to be. He was a judge of those matters. + +"There have been eighteen rajahs of Sialpore in direct succession father +to son," he said, swinging a beautiful buff-leather boot into view by +crossing his knee, and looking at her narrowly with the air of a man who +unfolds confidences. "The first man began accumulating treasure. +Every single rajah since has added to it. Each man has confided the +secret to his successor and to none else--father to son, you understand. +When Bubru Singh, the last man, died he had no son. The secret +died with him." + +"How does anybody know that there's a secret then?" demanded Tess. + +"Everybody knows it! The money was raised by taxes. Minister after +minister in turn has had to hand over minted gold to the reigning rajah--" + +"And look the other way, I suppose, while the rajah hid the stuff!" +suggested Tess. + +Samson screwed up his face like a man who has taken medicine. + +"There are dozens of ways in a native state of getting rid of men who +know too much." + +"Even under British overrule?" + +He nodded. "Poison--snakes--assassination--jail on trumped-up charges, +and disease in jail--apparent accidents of all sorts. It doesn't pay to know +too much." + +"Then we're suspected of hunting for this treasure? Is that the idea?" + +"Not at all, since you've denied it. I believe you implicitly. But I hope +your husband doesn't stumble on it." + +"Why?" + +"Or if he does, that he'll see his way clear to notify me first." + +"Would that be honest?" + +He changed his mind. That was a point on which Samson prided himself. +He was not hidebound to one plan as some men are, but could keep +two or three possibilities in mind and follow up whichever suited him. +This was a case for indiscretion after all. + +"Seeing we're alone, and that you're a most exceptional woman, I think +I'll let you into a diplomatic secret, Mrs. Blaine. Only you mustn't repeat it. +The present maharajah, Gungadhura, isn't the saving kind; he's a spender. +He'd give his eyes to get hold of that treasure. And if he had it, we'd +need an army to suppress him. We made a mistake when Bubru Singh +died; there were two nephews with about equal claims, and we picked +the wrong one--a born intriguer. I'd call him a rascal if he weren't a +reigning prince. It's too late now to unseat him--unless, of course, we +should happen to catch him in flagrante delicto." + +"What does that mean? With the goods? With the treasure?" + +"No, no. In the act of doing something grossly ultra vires--illegal, that's +to say. But you've put your finger on the point. If the treasure should +be found--as it might be--somewhere hidden on that little plot of ground +with a palace on it on our side of the river, our problem would be fairly easy. +There'd be some way of--ah--making sure the fund would be properly +administered. But if Gungadhura found it in the hills, and kept quiet +about it as he doubtless would, he'd have every sedition-monger in +India in his pay within a year, and the consequences might be very serious." + +"Who is the other man--the one the British didn't choose?" asked Tess. + +"A very decent chap named Utirupa--quite a sportsman. He was thought +too young at the time the selection was made; but he knew enough to +get out of the reach of the new maharajah immediately. They have a +phrase here, you know, 'to hate like cousins.' They're rather remote +cousins, but they hate all the more for that." + +"So you'd rather that the treasure stayed buried?" + +"Not exactly. But he tossed ash from the end of his cigar to illustrate +offhandedness. "I think I could promise ten per cent. of it to whoever +brought us exact information of its whereabouts before the maharajah +could lay his hands on it." + +"I'll tell that to my husband." + +"Do." + +"Of course, being in a way in partnership with Gungadhura, he might--" + +"Let me give you one word of caution, if I may without offense. We-- +our government--wouldn't recognize the right of--of any one to take that +treasure out of the country. Ten per cent. would be the maximum, and +that only in case of accurate information brought in time to us." + +"Aren't findings keepings? Isn't possession nine points of the law?" +laughed Tess. + +"In certain cases, yes. But not where government knows of the existence +somewhere of a hoard of public funds--an enormous hoard--it must +run into millions." + +"Then, if the maharajah should find it would you take it from him?" + +"No. We would put the screws on, and force him to administer the +fund properly if we knew about it. But he'd never tell." + +"Then how d'you know he hasn't found the stuff already?" + +"Because many of his personal bills aren't paid, and the political stormy +petrels are not yet heading his way. He's handicapped by not being +able to hunt for it openly. Some ill-chosen confidant might betray the +find to us. I doubt if he trusts more than one or two people at a time." + +"It must be hell to be a maharajah!" Tess burst out after a minute's silence. + +"It's sometimes hell to be commissioner, Mrs. Blaine." + +"If I were Gungadhura I'd find that money or bust! And when I'd found it--" + +"You'd endow an orphan asylum, eh?" + +"I'd make such trouble for you English that you'd be glad to leave me +in peace for a generation!" + +Samson laughed good-naturedly and twisted up the end of his mustache. + +"Pon my soul, you're a surprising woman! So your sympathies are all +with Gungadhura?" + +"Not at all. I think he's a criminal! He buys women, and tortures animals +in an arena, and keeps a troupe of what he is pleased to call dancing-girls. +I've seen his eyes in the morning, and I suspect him of most of the +vices in the calendar. He's despicable. But if I were in his shoes I'd +find that money and make it hot for you English!" + +"Are you of Irish extraction, Mrs. Blaine?" + +"No, indeed I'm not. I'm Connecticut Yankee, and my husband's from +the West. I don't have to be Irish to think for myself, do I?" + +Samson did not know whether or not to take her seriously, but recognized +that his chance had gone that morning for the flirtation he had had in view-- +very mild, of course, for a beginning; it was his experience that most +things ought to start quite mildly, if you hoped to keep the other man +from stampeding the game. Nevertheless, as a judge of situations, +be preferred not to take his leave at that moment. Give a woman the +last word always, but be sure it is a question, which you leave unanswered. + +"You've a beautiful garden," he said; and for a minute or two they talked +of flowers, of which he knew more than a little; then of music, of which +he understood a very great deal. + +"Have you a proper lease on this house?" he asked at last. + +"I believe so. Why?" + +"I've been told there's some question about the title. Some one's bringing +suit against your landlord for possession on some ground or another." + +"What of it? Suppose the other should win--could he put us out?" + +"I don't know. That might depend on your present landlord's power to +make the lease at the time when he made it." + +"But we signed the agreement in good faith. Surely, as long as we +pay the rent--?" + +"I don't know, I'm sure. Well--if there's any trouble, come to me about +it and we'll see what can be done." + +"But who is this who is bringing suit against the landlord?" + +"I haven't heard his name--don't even know the details. I hope you'll +come out of it all right. Certainly I'll help in any way I can. Sometimes +a little influence, you know, exerted in the right way--well--Please give +my regards to your husband--Good morning, Mrs. Blaine." + +It was a pet theory of his that few men pay enough attention to their +backs,--not that he preached it; preaching is tantamount to spilling beans, +supposing that the other fellow listens; and if he doesn't listen it is +waste of breath. But he bore in mind that people behind him had eyes +as well as those in front. Accordingly he made a very dignified exit +down the long path, tipped Mrs. Blaine's sais all the man had any right +to expect, and rode away feeling that he had made the right impression. +He looked particularly well on horseback. + +Theresa Blaine smiled after him, wondering what impression she herself +had made; but she did not have much time to think about it. From the +open window behind her she was seized suddenly, drawn backward +and embraced. + +"You are perfect!" Yasmini purred in her ear between kisses. "You are +surely one of the fairies sent to live among mortals for a sin! I shall +love you forever! Now that burra-wallah Samson sahib will ride into the +town, and perhaps also to the law-court, and to other places, to ask about +your landlord, of whom he knows nothing, having only heard a servant's +tale. But Tom Tripe will have told already that I am at the burra commissioner's +house, and Gungadhura will send there to ask questions. And whoever +goes will have to wait long. And when the commissioner returns at last +he will deny that I have been there, and the messenger will return to +Gungadhura, who will not believe a word of it, especially as he will know +that the commissioner has been riding about the town on an unknown +errand. So, after he has learned that I am back in my own palace, +Gungadhura will try to poison me again. All of which is as it should be. +Come closer and let me--" + +"Child!" Tess protested. "Do you realize that you're dressed up like an +extremely handsome man, and are kissing me through a window in the +sight of all Sialpore? How much reputation do you suppose I shall have +left within the hour? + +"There is only one kind of reputation worth the having," laughed Yasmini; +"that of knowing how to win!" + +"But what's this about poison?" Tess asked her. + +"He always tries to poison me. Now he will try more carefully." + +"You must take care! How will you prevent him?" + +By quite unconscious stages Tess found herself growing concerned +about this young truant princess. One minute she was interested and +amused. The next she was conscious of affection. Now she was +positively anxious about her, to use no stronger word. Nor had she +time to wonder why, for Yasmini's methods were breathless. + +"I shall eat very often at your house. And then you shall take a journey +with me. And after that the great pig Gungadhura shall be very sorry +he was born, and still more sorry that be tried to poison me!" + +"Tell me, child, haven't you a mother?" + +"She died a year ago. If there is such a place as hell she has gone +there, of course, because nobody is good enough for Heaven. But I +am not Christian and not Hindu, so hell is not my business." + +"What are you, then?" + +"I am Yasmini. There is nobody like me. I am all alone, believing only +what I know and laughing at the priests. I know all the laws of caste, +because that is necessary if you are to understand men. And I have +let the priests teach me their religion because it is by religion that they +govern people. And the priests," she laughed, "are much more foolish +than the fools they entice and frighten. But the priests have power. +Gungadhura is fearfully afraid of them. The high priest of the temple +of Jinendra pretends to him that he can discover where the treasure is +hidden, so Gungadhura makes daily offerings and the priest grows +very fat." + +"Who taught you such good English?" Tess asked her; for there was +hardly even a trace of foreign accent, nor the least hesitation for a word. + +"Father Bernard, a Jesuit. My mother sent for him, and he came every +day, year after year. He had a little chapel in Sialpore where a few of +the very low-caste people used to go to pray and make confessions +to him. That should have given him great power; but the people of +this land never confess completely, as he told me the Europeans do, +preferring to tell lies about one another rather than the truth about themselves. +I refused to be baptized because I was tired of him, and after my mother +died and she was burned with the Hindu ritual, he received orders to +go elsewhere. Now there is another Jesuit, but he only has a little following +among the English, and can not get to see me because I hide behind +the purdah. The purdah is good--if you know how to make use of it +and not be ruled by it." + +They were still in the window, Yasmini kneeling on the cushions with her +face in shadow and Tess with her back to the light. + +"Ah! Hasamurti comes!" said Yasmini suddenly. "She is my cheti." +(Hand-maiden.) + +Tess turned swiftly, but all she saw was one of the three beggars down +by the little gate twisting himself a garland out of stolen flowers. + +"Now there will be a carriage waiting, and I must leave my horse in your stable." + +The beggar held the twisted flowers up to the sun-light to admire his work. + +"I must go at once. I shall go to the temple of Jinendra, where the priest, +who is no man's friend, imagines I am a friend of his. He will promise +me anything if I will tell him what to say to Gungadhura; and I shall tell +him, without believing the promises. One of these days perhaps he +will plot with Gungadhura to have me poisoned, being in agreement +with the commissioner sahib who said to you just now that it is not good +to know too much! But neither is it good to be too late! Lend me a +covering, my sister--see, this is the very thing. I shall leave by the little gate. +Send the gardener on an errand. Are the other servants at the back +of the house? Of course yes, they will be spying to see me leave by +the way I came." + +Tess sent the gardener running for a basket to put flowers in, and when +she turned her head again Yasmini had stepped out through the window +shrouded from head to heels in a camel-hair robe such as the Bikanir +Desert men wear at night. The lower part of her face was hooded in it. + +Provided you wear a turban you can wear anything else you like in India +without looking incongruous. It is the turban that turns the trick. Even +the spurs on the heels of riding-boots did not look out of place. + +"You'll sweat," laughed Tess. "That camel-hair is hot stuff." + +"Does the panther sweat under his pelt? I am stronger than a panther. +Now swiftly! I must go, but I will come soon. You are my friend." + +She was gone like a shadow without another word, with long swift strides, +not noticing the beggars and not noticed by them as far as any one could tell. +Tess sat down to smoke a cigarette and think the experience over. + +She had not done thinking when Dick Blaine returned unexpectedly for +early lunch and showed her a bag-full of coarsely powdered quartz. + +"There's color there," he said jubilantly. "Rather more than merely color! +It's not time to talk yet, but I think I've found a vein that may lead somewhere. +Then won't Gungadhura gloat?" + +She told him at great length about Yasmini's visit, dwelling on every +detail of it, he listening like a man at a play, for Tess had the gift of +clear description. + +"Go a journey with her, if you feel like it, Tess," he advised. "You have +a rotten time here alone all day, and I can't do much to 'liven it. Take +sensible precautions but have a good time anyway you can." + +Because Yasmini had monopolized imagination she told him last of +all, at lunch, about the commissioner's call, rehearsing that, too, detail +by detail, word for word. + +"Wants me to find the treasure, does he, and call the game on Gungadhura? +What does he take me for? One of his stool-pigeons? If it's a question +of percentage, I'd prefer one from the maharajah than from him. If I +ever stumble on it, Gungadhura shall know first go off the bat, and I'll +see the British Government in hell before I'll answer questions!" + +"They'd never believe Gungadhura hadn't rewarded you," said Tess. + +"What of it?" he demanded. "What do we care what they believe? And +supposing it were true, what then? Just at present I'm in partnership +with Gungadhura." + + + + + +Chapter Four + + +Jinendra's Smile + +Deep broods the calm where the cooing doves are mating +And shadows quiver noiseless 'neath the courtyard trees, +Cool keeps the gloom where the suppliants are waiting +Begging little favors of Jinendra on their knees. +Peace over all, and the consciousness of nearness, +Charity removing the remoteness of the gods; +Spirit of compassion breathing with new clearness +"There's a limit set to khama; there's a surcease from the rods." +"Blessed were the few, who trim the lights of kindness, +Toiling in the temple for the love of one and all, +If it were not for hypocrisy and gluttony and blindness," +Smiles the image of Jinendra on the courtyard wall. + + +"The law .... is like a python after monkey's in the tree-tops." + +Yasmini, hooded like a bandit in the camel-hair cloak, resumed an air +of leisurely dignity in keeping with the unhurried habit of Sialpore the +moment she was through the gate. It was just as well she did, for Mukhum +Dass, the money-lender, followed by a sweating lean parasite on foot, +was riding a smart mule on his customary morning round to collect +interest from victims and oversee securities. + +He was a fat, squat, slimy-looking person in a black alpaca coat, with a +black umbrella for protection from the sun, and an air of sour dissatisfaction +for general business purposes--an air that was given the lie direct by +a small, acquisitive nose and bright brown eyes that surely never made +bad bargains. Yasmini's hooded figure brought him to a halt just at +the corner, where the little road below the Blaines' wall joined the wider +road that led down-hill. Business is business, and time a serious matter +only for those who sign promissory notes; he drew rein without compunction. + +"This house is yours?" she asked, and he nodded, his sharp eyes shining +like an animal's, determined to recognize his questioner. + +"There is a miscalculating son of lies who brings a lawsuit to get the title?" + +He nodded again--a man of few words except when words exacted interest. + +"Dhulap Singh, is it not? He is a secret agent of Gungadhura." + +"How do you know? Why should the maharajah want my property?" + +"He hunts high and low for the Sialpore treasure. Jengal Singh, who +built this house, was in the confidence of Gungadhura's uncle, and a +priest says there will be a clue found to the treasure beneath the floor +of this house." + +"A likely tale indeed!" + +"Very well, then--lose thine house!" + +Yasmini turned on a disdainful heel and started down-hill. Mukhum Dass +called after her, but she took no notice. He sent the sweating parasite +to bring her back, but she shook him off with execrations. Mukhum +Dass turned his mule and rode down-hill after her. + +"True information has its price," he said. "Tell me your name." + +"That also has its price." + +He cackled dryly. "Natives cost money only to their owners--on a hundi." +(Promissory note.) + +"Nevertheless there is a price." + +"In advance? I will give a half-rupee!" + +Once more Yasmini resumed her way down-hill. Again Mukhum Dass +rode after her. + +"At any rate name the price." + +"It is silence firstly; second, a security for silence." + +"The first part is easy." + +"Nay, difficult. A woman can keep silence, but men chatter like the apes, +in every coffee shop." + +His bargain-driver's eyes watched hers intently, unable to detect the +slightest clue that should start him guessing. He was trying to identify +a man, not a woman. + +"How shall I give security for silence?" he asked. + +"I already hold it." + +"How? What? Where?" + +The money-lender betrayed a glimpse of sheer pugnacity that seemed +to amuse his tormentor. + +"Send thy jackal out of ear-shot, tiger." + +He snapped at his parasite angrily, and the man went away to sit down. Then: + +"Where are the title-deeds of the house you say you own?" she asked +him suddenly. + +Mukhum Dass kept silence, and tried to smother the raging anger in his eyes. + +"Was it Mukhum Dass or another, who went to the priest in the temple +of Jinendra on a certain afternoon and requested intercession to the +god in order that a title-deed might be recovered, that fell down the +nullah when the snakes frightened a man's mule and he himself fell +into the road? Or was it another accident that split that car of thine in +two pieces?" + +"Priests cackle like old women," growled the money-lender. + +"Nay, but this one cackled to the god. Perhaps Jinendra felt compassionate +toward a poor shroff (money-lender) who can not defend his suit +successfully without that title-deed. Jengal Singh died and his son, +who ought to know, claims that the house was really sold to Dhulap +Singh, who dallies with his suit because he suspects, but does not +know, that Mukhum Dass has lost the paper--eh?" + +"How do you know these things?" + +"Maybe the god Jinendra told! Which would be better, Mukhum Dass-- +to keep great silence, and be certain to receive the paper in time to +defend the lawsuit,--or to talk freely, and so set others talking?" + +Who knows that it might not reach the ears of Jengal Singh that the title-deed +is truly lost?" + +"He who tells secrets to a priest," swore the money-lender, "would better +have screamed them from the housetop. + +"Nay--the god heard. The priest told the god, and the god told a certain +one to whom the finder brought the paper, asking a reward. That person +holds the paper now as security for silence!" + +"It is against the law to keep my paper!" + +"The law catches whom it can, Mukhum Dass, letting all others go, like +a python after monkeys in the tree-tops!" + +"From whom am I to get my paper for the lawsuit at the proper time?" + +"From Jinendra's priest perhaps." + +"He has it now? The dog's stray offspring! I will--" + +"Nay, he has it not! Be kind and courteous to Jinendra's priest, or perhaps +the god will send the paper after all to Dhulap Singh!" + +"As to what shall I keep silence?" + +"Two matters. Firstly Chamu the butler will presently pay his son's debt. +Give Chamu a receipt with the number of the bank-note written on it, +saying nothing." + +"Second?" + +"Preserve the bank-note carefully for thirty days and keep silence." + +"I will do that. Now tell me thy name?" + +Yasmini laughed. "Do thy victims repay in advance the rupees not yet +lent? Nay, the price is silence! First, pay the price; then learn my name. +Go--get thy money from Chamu the butler. Breathe as much as a hint +to any one, and thy title-deed shall go to Dhulap Singh!" + +Eying her like a hawk, but with more mixed emotions than that bird can +likely compass, the money-lender sat his mule and watched her stride +round the corner out of sight. Then, glancing over her shoulder to make +sure the man's parasite was not watching her at his master's orders, +she ran along the shoulder of the hill to where, in the shelter of a clump +of trees, a carriage waited. + +It was one of those lumbering, four-wheeled affairs with four horses, +and a platform for two standing attendants behind and wooden lattice-work +over the windows, in which the women-folk of princes take the air. +But there were no attendants--only a coachman, and a woman who +came running out to meet her; for Yasmini, like her cousin the maharajah, +did not trust too many people all at once. + +"Quick, Hasamurti!" + +Fussing and giggling over her (the very name means Laughter), the +maid bustled her into the carriage, and without a word of instruction the +coachman tooled his team down-hill at a leisurely gait, as if told in advance +to take his time about it; the team was capable of speed. + +Inside the carriage, with a lot more chuckling and giggling a change +was taking place almost as complete as that from chrysalis to butterfly. +The toilet of a lady of Yasmini's nice discrimination takes time in the +easiest circumstances; in a lumbering coach, not built for leg-room, +and with a looking-glass the size of a saucer, it was a mixture of horse-play +and miracle. Between them they upset the perfume bottle, as was natural, +and a shrill scream at one stage of the journey (that started a rumor all +over Sialpore to the effect that Gungadhura was up to the same old +game again) announced, as a matter of plain fact that Yasmini had sat +on the spurs. There was long, spun-gold hair to be combed out--penciling +to do to eye-brows--lac to be applied to pretty feet to make them exquisitely +pretty--and layer on layer of gossamer silk to be smothered and hung +exactly right. Then over it all had to go one of those bright-hued silken +veils that look so casually worn but whose proper adjustment is an art. + +But when they reached the bottom of the long hill and began twisting +in and out among the narrow streets, it was finished. By the time they +reached the temple of Jinendra, set back in an old stone courtyard with +images of the placid god carved all about in the shade of the wide +projecting cornice, all was quiet and orderly inside the carriage and there +stepped out of it, followed by the same dark-hooded maid, a swift vision +of female loveliness that flitted like a flash of light into the temple gloom. + +It was not so squalid as the usual Hindu temple, although so ancient +that the carving of the pillars in some places was almost worn away, +and the broad stone flags on the floor were hollowed deep by ages +of devotion. The gloom was pierced here and there by dim light from +brass lamps, that showed carvings blackened by centuries of smoke, +but there was an unlooked-for suggestion of care, and a little cleanliness +that the fresh blossoms scattered here and there accentuated. + +There were very few worshipers at that hour--only a woman, who desired +a child and was praying to Jinendra as a last recourse after trying all +the other gods in vain, and a half-dozen men--all eyes--who gossiped +in low tones in a corner. Yasmini gave them small chance to recognize +her. Quicker than their gaze could follow, a low door at the rear, close +beside the enormous, jeweled image of the god, closed behind her +and the maid, and all that was left of the vision was the ringing echo +of an iron lock dying away in dark corners and suggesting nothing +except secrecy. + +The good square room she had entered so abruptly unannounced was +swept and washed. Sunlight poured into it at one end through a window +that opened on an inner courtyard, and there were flowers everywhere-- +arranged in an enormous brass bowl on a little table--scattered at random +on the floor--hung in plaited garlands from the hooks intended to support +lamps. Of furniture there was little, only a long cushioned bench down +the length of the wall beneath the window, and a thing like a throne on +which Jinendra's high priest sat in solitary grandeur. + +He did not rise at first to greet her, for Jinendra's priest was fat; there +was no gainsaying it. After about a minute a sort of earthquake taking +place in him began to reach the surface; he rocked on his center in +increasing waves that finally brought him with a spasm of convulsion +to the floor. There he stood in full sunlight with his bare toes turned +inward, holding his stomach with both hands, while Yasmini settled +herself in graceful youthful curves on the cushioned bench, with her +face in shadow, and the smirking maid at her feet. Then before climbing +ponderously back to his perch on the throne the priest touched his +forehead once with both hands and came close to a semblance of +bowing, the arrogance of sanctity combining with his paunch to cut +that ceremony short. + +"Send the girl away," he suggested as soon as he was settled into +place again. But Yasmini laughed at him with that golden note of hers +that suggests illimitable understanding and unfathomable mirth. + +"I know the ways of priests," she answered. "The girl stays!" + +The priest's fat chops darkened a shade. + +"There are things she should not know." + +"She knows already more in her small head than there is in all thy big +belly, priest of an idol!" + +"Beware, woman, lest the gods hear sacrilege!" + +"If they are real gods they love me," she answered, "If they have any +sense they will be pleased whenever I laugh at your idolatry. Hasamurti stays." + +"But at the first imaginary insult she will run with information to wherever +it will do most harm. If she can be made properly afraid, perhaps--" + +Yasmini's golden laugh cut him off short. + +"If she is made afraid now she will hate me later. As long as she loves +me she will keep my secrets, and she will love me because of the +secrets--being a woman and not a belly-with-a-big-tongue, who would +sell me to the highest bidder, if he dared. I know a Brahman. Thou +and I are co-conspirators because my woman's wit is sharper than +thy greed. We are confidants because I know too much of thy misdeeds. +We are going to succeed because I laugh at thy fat fears, and am +never deceived for a moment by pretense of sanctity or promises +however vehement." + +She said all that in a low sweet voice, and with a smile that would have +made a much less passionate man lose something of his self-command. +Jinendra's priest began to move uneasily. + +"Peace, woman!" + +"There is no peace where priests are," she retorted in the same sweet- +humored voice. "I am engaged in war, not honey-gathering. I have +lied sufficient times today to Mukhum Dass to need ten priests, if I +believed in them or were afraid to lie! The shroff will come to ask about +his title-deed. Tell him you are told a certain person has it, but that if +he dares breathe a word the paper will go straight to Dhulap Singh, +who will destroy it and so safely bring his lawsuit. Then let Dhulap Singh +be told also that the title-deed is in certain hands, so he will put off the +lawsuit week after week, and one who is my friend will suffer no annoyance." + +"Who is this friend?" + +"Another one who builds no bridges on thy sanctity." + +"Not one of the English? Beware of them, I say; beware of them!" + +"No, not one of the English. Next, let Gungadhura be told that Tom +Tripe has ever an open-handed welcome at Blaine sahib's--" + +"Ah!" he objected, shaking his fat face until the cheeks wabbled. +"Women are all fools sooner or later. Why let a drunken English soldier +be included in the long list of people to be reckoned with?" + +"Because Gungadhura will then show much favor to Tom Tripe, who +is my friend, and it amuses me to see my friends prosper. Also I +have a plan." + +"Plans--plans--plans! And whither does the tangle lead us?" + +"To the treasure, fool!" + +"But if you know so surely where the treasure is, woman, why not tell +me and --" + +Again the single note of mocking golden laughter cut him off short. + +"I would trust thee with the secret, Brahman, just as far as the herdsman +trusts a tiger with his sheep." + +"But I could insure that Gungadhura should divide it into three parts, and--" + +"When the time comes," she answered, "the priest of Jinendra shall +come to me for his proportion, not I to the priest. Nor will there be three +portions, but one--with a little percentage taken from it for the sake of +thy fat belly. Gungadhura shall get nothing!" + +"I wash my hands of it all!" the priest retorted indignantly. "The half for +me, or I wash my hands of it and tell Gungadhura that you know the +secret! I will trust him to find a way to draw thy cobra from its hole!" + +"Maybe he might," she nodded, smiling, "after the English had finished +hanging thee for that matter of the strangling of Rum Dass. Thy fat belly +would look laughable indeed banging by a stretched neck from a noose. +They would need a thick rope. They might even make the knot slippery +with cow-grease for thy special benefit." + +The priest winced. + +"None can prove that matter," he said, recovering his composure with +an effort. + +"Except I," she retorted, "who have the very letter that was written to +Rum Dass that brought him into thy clutches--and five other proofs beside! +Two long years I waited to have a hold on thee, priest, before I came +to blossom in the odor of thy sanctity; now I am willing to take the small +chance of thy temper getting the better of discretion!" + +"You are a devil," he said simply, profoundly convinced of the truth of +his remark; and she laughed like a mischievous child, clapping her +hands together. + +"So now," she said, "there is little else to discuss. If Gungadhura should +be superstitious fool enough to come to thee again for auguries and +godly counsel--" + +"He comes always. He shows proper devotion to Jinendra." + +"Repeat the former story that a clue to the treasure must be found in +Blaine sahib's house --" + +"In what form? He will ask me again in what form the clue will be, that +he may recognize it?" + +"Tell him there is a map. And be sure to tell him that Tom Tripe is +welcome at the house. Have you understood? Then one other matter: +when it is known that I am back in my palace Gungadhura will set extra +spies on me, and will double the guard at all the doors to keep me +from getting out again. He will not trust Tom Tripe this time, but will +give the charge to one of the Rajput officers. But he will have been +told that I was at the commissioner sahib's house this morning, and +therefore he will not dare to have me strangled, because the commissioner +sahib might make inquiries. I have also made other precautions--and +a friend. But tell Gungadhura, lest he make altogether too much trouble +for me, that I applied to the commissioner sahib for assistance to go +to Europe, saying I am weary of India. And add that the commissioner +sahib counseled me not to go, but promised to send English memsahibs +to see me." (She very nearly used the word American, but thought +better of it on the instant.) + +"He will ask me how I know this," said the Brahman, turning it all over +slowly in his mind and trying to make head or tail of it. + +"Tell him I came here like himself for priestly counsel and made a clean +breast of everything to thee! He will suspect thee of lying to him; but +what is one lie more or less?" + +With that final shaft she gathered up her skirts, covered her face, nudged +the giggling maid and left him, turning the key in the lock herself and +flitting out through gloom into the sunlight as fast as she had come. +The carriage was still waiting at the edge of the outer court, and once +again the driver started off without instructions, but tooling his team this +time at a faster pace, with a great deal of whip-cracking and shouts to +pedestrians to clear the way. And this time the carriage had an escort +of indubitable maharajah's men, who closed in on it from all sides, their +numbers increasing, mounted and unmounted, until by the time Yasmini's +own palace gate was reached there was as good as a state procession, +made up for the most part of men who tried to look as if they had made +a capture by sheer derring-do and skill. + +And down the street, helter-skelter on a sweating thoroughbred, came +Maharajah Gungadhura Singh just in time to see the back of the carriage +as it rumbled in through the gateway and the iron doors clanged behind it. +Scowling--altogether too round-shouldered for the martial stock he sprang +from--puffy-eyed, and not so regal as overbearing in appearance, he +sat for a few minutes stroking his scented beard upward and muttering +to himself. + +Then some one ventured to tell him where the carriage had been seen +waiting, and with what abundant skill it had been watched and tracked +from Jinendra's temple to that gate. At that he gave an order about the +posting of the guard, and, beckoning only one mounted attendant to +follow him, clattered away down-street, taking a turn or two to throw the +curious off the scent, and then headed straight for the temple on his +own account. + + + + + +Chapter Five + + + + +An Audit by the Gods + +(I) + +Thus spoke the gods from their place above the firmament +Turning from the feasting and the music and the mirth: +"There is time and tide to burn; +Let us stack the plates a turn +And study at our leisure what the trouble is with earth." + +Down, down they looked through the azure of the Infinite +Scanning each the meadows where he went with men of yore, +Each his elbows on a cloud, +Making reckoning aloud - +Till the murmur of God wonder was a titan thunder-roar. + +"War rocks the world! Look, the arquebus and culverin +Vanish in new sciences that presage T. N. T! +Lo, a dark, discolored swath +Where they drive new tools of wrath! +Do they justify invention? Will they scrap the Laws that Be? + +"Look! Mark ye well: where we left a people flourishing +Singing in the sunshine for the fun of being free, +Now they burden man and maid +With a law the priests have laid, +And the bourgeois blow their noses by a communal decree! + +"Where, where away are the liberties we left to them - +Gift of being merry and the privilege of fun? +Is delight no longer praise? +Will they famish all their days +For a future built of fury in a present scarce begun?" + + +"Most Precious friend ... please visit me!" + +The one thing in India that never happens is the expected. If the actual +thing itself does occur, then the manner of it sets up so many unforeseen +contingencies that only the subtlest mind, and the sanest and the least +hidebound by opinion, can hope to read the signs fast enough to +understand them as they happen. Naturally, there are always plenty +of people who can read backward after the event; and the few of those +who keep the lesson to themselves, digesting rather than discussing +it, are to be found eventually filling the senior secretaryships, albeit +bitterly criticized by the other men, who unraveled everything afterward +very cleverly and are always unanimous on just one point--that the fellow +who said nothing certainly knew nothing, and is therefore of no account +and should wield no influence, Q. E. D. + +And as we belong to the majority, in that we are uncovering the course +of these events very cleverly long after they took place, we must at +this point, to be logical, denounce Theresa Blaine. She was just as +much puzzled as anybody. But she said much less than anybody, +wasted no time at all on guesswork, pondered in her heart persistently +whatever she had actually seen and heard, and in the end was almost +the only non-Indian actor on the stage of Sialpore to reap advantage. +If that does not prove unfitness for one of the leading parts, what does? +A star should scintillate--should focus all eyes on herself and interrupt +the progress of the play to let us know how wise and +beautiful and wonderful she is. But Tess apparently agreed with Hamlet +that "the play's the thing," and was much too interested in the plot to +interfere with it. She attended the usual round of dinners, teas and tennis +parties, that are part of the system by which the English keep alive +their courage, and growing after a while a little tired of trivialty, she tried +to scandalize Sialpore by inviting Tom Tripe to her own garden party, +successfully overruling Tripe's objections. + +"Between you and I and the gate-post, lady, they don't hanker for my +society. If somebody--especially colonels, or a judge maybe,--wanted +to borrow a horse from the maharajah's stable,--or perhaps they'd like +a file o' men to escort a picnic in the hills,--then it's 'Oh, hello, good +morning, Mr. Tripe. How's the dog this morning? And oh, by the way--' +Then I know what's coming an' what I can do for 'em I do, for I confess, +lady, that I hanker for a little bit o' flattery and a few words o' praise I'm +not entitled to. I don't covet any man's money--or at least not enough +to damn me into hell on that account. Finding's keeping, and a bet's +a bet, but I don't covet money more than that dog o' mine covets fleas. +He likes to scratch 'em when he has 'em. Me the same; I can use +money with the next man, his or mine. But I wouldn't go to hell for money +any more than Trotters would for fleas, although, mind you, I'm not saying +Trotters hasn't got fleas. He has 'em, same as hell's most folks' destiny. +But when it comes to praise that ain't due me, lady, I'm like Trotters +with another dog's bone--I've simply got to have it, reason or no reason. +A common ordinary bone with meat on it is just a meal. Praise I've +earned is nothing wonderful. But praise I don't deserve is stolen fruit, +and that's the sweetest. Now, if I was to come to your party I'd get no + praise, ma'am. I'd be doing right by you, but they'd say I didn't know +my place, and by and by they'd prove it to me sharp and sneery. I'll +be a coward to stop away, but--'Sensible man,' they'll say. 'Knows when +he isn't wanted.' You see, ma'am, yours is the only house in Sialpore +where I can walk in and know I'm welcome whether you're at home or not." + +"All the more reason for coming to the party, Tom." + +"Ah-h-h! If only you understood!" + +He wagged his head and one finger at her in his half-amused paternal +manner that would often win for him when all else failed. But this time +it did not work. + +"I don't care for half-friends, Tom. If you expect to be welcome at my +house you must come to my parties when I ask you." + +"Lady, lady!" + +"I mean it." + +"Oh, very well. I'll come. I've protested. That absolves me. And my +hide's thick. It takes more than just a snub or two--or three to knock +my number down! Am I to bring Trotters?" + +"Certainly. Trotters is my friend too. I count on him to do his tricks and +help entertain." + +"They'll say of you, ma'am, afterward that you don't know better than +ask Tripe and his vulgar dog to meet nice people." + +"They'll be right, Tom. I don't know better. I hope they'll say it to me, +that's all." + +But Tess discovered when the day came that no American can scandalize +the English. They simply don't expect an American to know bow to +behave, and Tom Tripe and his marvelous performing dog were accepted +and approved of as sincerely as the real American ice-cream soda-- +and forgotten as swiftly the morning following. + +The commissioner was actually glad to meet Tripe in the circumstances. +If the man should suppose that because Sir Roland Samson and a judge +of appeal engaged in a three-cornered conversation with him at a garden +party, therefore either of them would speak to the maharajah's drill-master +when next they should meet in public, he might guess again, that was all. + +One of the things the commissioner asked Tripe was whether he was +responsible for the mounting of palace guards--of course not improperly +inquisitive about the maharajah's personal affairs but anxious to seem +interested in the fellow's daily round, since just then one couldn't avoid him. + +"In a manner, and after a fashion, yes, sir. I'm responsible that routine +goes on regularly and that the men on duty know their business." + +"Ah. Nothing like responsibility. Good for a man. Some try to avoid it, +but it's good. So you look after the guard on all the palaces? The +Princess Yasmini's too, eh? Well, well; I can imagine that might be +nervous work. They say that young lady is--! Eh, Tripe?" + +"I couldn't say, sir. My duties don't take me inside the palace." + +"Now, now, Tripe! No use trying to look innocent! They tell me she's +a handful and you encourage her!" + +"Some folks don't care what they say, sir." + +"If she should be in trouble I dare say, now, you'd be the man she'd +apply to for help." + +"I'd like to think that, sir." + +"Might ask you to take a letter for instance, to me or his honor the judge here?" + +The judge walked away. He did not care to be mixed up in intrigue, +even hypothetically, and especially with a member of the lower orders. + +"I'd do for her what I'd do for a daughter of my own, sir, neither more +nor less." + +"Quite so, Tripe. If she gave you a letter to bring to me, you'd bring it, eh?" + +"Excepting barratry, the ten commandments, earthquake and the act +of God, sir, yes." + +"Without the maharajah knowing?" + +"Without his highness knowing." + +"You'd do that with a clear conscience, eh?" + +Tom Tripe screwed his face up, puffed his cheeks, and struck a very +military attitude. + +"A soldier's got no business with a conscience, sir. Conscience makes +a man squeamish o' doing right for fear his wife's second cousin might +tell the neighbors." + +"Ha-ha! Very profoundly philosophic! I dare wager you've carried her +letters at least a dozen times--now come." + +Again Tom Tripe puffed out his cheeks and struck an attitude. + +"Men don't get hanged for murder, sir." + +"For what, then?" + +"Talking before and afterward!" + +"Excellent! If only every one remembered that! Did it ever occur to +you how the problem might be reversed ?" + +"Sir?" + +"There might one day be a letter for the Princess Yasmini that, as her +friend, you ought to make sure should reach her." + +"I'd take a letter from you to her, sir, if that's your meaning." + +Sir Roland Samson, K. C. S. I., looked properly shocked. + +There are few things so appalling as the abruptness with which members +of the lower orders divest diplomacy's kernel of its decorative outer shell. +"What I meant is--ah--" He set his monocle, and stared as if Tripe were +an insect on a pin-point. "Since you admit you're in the business of +intriguing for the princess, no doubt you carry letters to, as well as from +her, and hold your tongue about that too?" + +"If I should deliver letters they'd be secret or they'd have gone through +the mail. I'd risk my job each time I did it. Would I risk it worse by talking? +Once the maharajah heard a whisper--" + +"Well--I'll be careful not to drop a hint to his highness. As you say, it +might imperil your job. And, ah--" (again the monocle,) "--the initials r. s.-- +in small letters, not capitals, in the bottom left-hand corner of a small +white envelope would--ah--you understand?--you'd see that she received it, eh?" + +Tom Tripe bridled visibly. Neither the implied threat nor the proposal +to make use of him without acknowledging the service afterward, escaped +him. Samson, who believed among other things in keeping all inferiors +thoroughly in their place decided on the instant to rub home the lesson +while it smarted. + +"You'd find it profitable. You'd be paid whatever the situation called for. +You needn't doubt that." + +Tess, talking with a group of guests some little distance off, observed +a look of battle in Tom Tripe's eye, and smiled two seconds later as +the commissioner let fall his monocle. Two things she was certain of +at once: Tom Tripe would tell her at the first opportunity exactly what +had happened, and Samson would lie about it glibly if provoked. She +promised herself she would provoke him. As a matter of fact Tom +gave her two or three versions afterward of what his words had been, +their grandeur increasing as imagination flourished in the comfortable +warmth of confidence. But the first account came from a fresh memory: + +"No money you'll ever touch would buy my dog's silence, let alone +mine, sir! If you've a letter for the princess, send it along and I'll see +she gets it. If she cares to answer it, I'll see the answer reaches you. +As for dropping hints to the maharajah about my doing little services +for the princess,--a gentleman's a gentleman, and don't need instruction-- +nor advice from me. If I was out of a job tomorrow I'd still be a man +on two feet, to be met as such." + +A man of indiscretion, and a diplomat, must have fireproof feelings. +As Tess had observed, Samson blenched distinctly, but he recovered +in a second and put in practise some of that opportunism that was his +secret pride, reflecting how a less finished diplomatist would have betrayed +resentment at the snub from an inferior instead of affecting not to notice +it at all. As a student of human nature he decided that Tom Tripe's pride +was the point to take advantage of. + +"You're the very man I can trust," he said. "I'm glad we have had this talk. +If ever you receive a small white envelope marked r. s. in the left-hand +bottom corner, see that the princess gets it, and say nothing." + +"Trust me, eh?" Tripe muttered as Samson walked away. "You never +trusted your own mother without you had a secret hold over her. I wouldn't +trust you that far!" He spat among the flowers, for Tom could not pretend +to real garden-party manners. "And if she trusts you, letters or no letters, +I'll eat my spurs and saber cold for breakfast." + +Then, as if to console himself with proof that some one in the world did +trust him thoroughly, Tom swaggered with a riding-master stride to where +Tess stood talking with a Rajput prince, who had come late and threatened +to leave early. The prince had puzzled her by referring two or three times +to his hurry, once even going so far as to say good-by, and then not +going. It was as if he expected her to know something that she did +not know, and to give him a cue that he waited for in vain. She felt he +must think her stupid, and the thought made her every minute less at +ease; but Tom's approach, eyed narrowly by Samson for some reason, +seemed to raise the Rajput's spirits. + +"If only my husband were here," she said aloud, "but at the last minute-- +there was blasting, you know, and--" + +The prince--he was quite a young one--twenty-one perhaps--murmured +something polite and with eyes that smoldered watched Tom take a +letter from his tunic pocket. He handed it to Tess with quite a flourish. + +"Some one must have dropped this, ma'am." + +The envelope was scented, and addressed in Persian characters. She +saw the prince's eyes devour the thing--saw him exchange glances with +Tom Tripe--and realized that Tom had rather deftly introduced her to +another actor in the unseen drama that was going on. Clearly the next +move was hers. + +"Is it yours, perhaps?" she asked. + +Prince Utirupa Singh bowed and took the letter. Samson with a look +of baffled fury behind the monocle, but a smile for appearance's sake, +joined them at that minute and Utirupa seemed to take delight in so +manipulating the sealed envelope that the commissioner could only +see the back of it. + +The prince was an extremely handsome young man, as striking in one +way as Samson in another. Polo and pig-sticking had kept him lean, +and association with British officers had given him an air of being frankly +at his ease even when really very far from feeling it. He had the natural +Oriental gift of smothering excitement, added to a trick learned from +the West of aggressive self-restraint that is not satisfied with seeming +the opposite of what one is, but insists on extracting humor from the +situation and on calling attention to the humor. + +"I shall always be grateful to you," he said, smiling into Tess's eyes with +his own wonderful brown ones but talking at the commissioner. "If I +had lost this letter I should have been at a loss indeed. If some one +else had found it, that might have been disastrous." + +"But I did not find it for you," Tess objected. + +Utirupa turned his back to the commissioner and answered in a low voice. + +"Nevertheless, when I lose letters I shall come here first!" + +He bowed to take his leave and showed the back of the envelope again +to Samson, with a quiet malice worthy of Torquemada. The commissioner +looked almost capable of snatching it. + +"Mrs. Blaine," he said with a laugh after the prince had gone, "skill and +experience, I am afraid, are not much good without luck. Luck seems +to be a thing I lack. Now, if I had picked up that letter I've a notion that +the information in it would have saved me a year's work." + +Tess was quite sure that Tom had not picked the letter up, but there +was no need to betray her knowledge. + +"Do you mean you'd have opened a letter you picked up in my garden?" +she demanded. + +His eyes accepted her challenge. + +"Why not?" + +"But why? Surely--" + +"Necessity, dear lady, knows no law. That's one of the first axioms of +diplomacy. Consider your husband as a case in point. Custom, which +is the basis of nearly all law, says he ought to be here entertaining your +guests. Necessity, ignoring custom, obliges him to stay in the hills and +supervise the blasting, disappointing every one but me. I'm going to +take advantage of his necessity." + +If he had seen the swift glance she gave him he might have changed +the course of one small part of history. Tess knew nothing of the intrigue +he was engaged in, and did not propose to be keeper of his secrets; +if he had glimpsed that swift betrayal of her feelings he would certainly +not have volunteered further confidences. But the poison of ambition +blinds all those who drink it, so that the "safest" men unburden themselves +to the wrong unwilling ears. + +"Walk with me up and down the path where every one can see us, won't you?" + +"Why?" she laughed. "Do you flatter yourself I'd be afraid to be caught +alone with you?" + +"I hope you'd like to be alone with me! I would like nothing better. But +if we walk up and down together on the path in full view, we arouse no +suspicion and we can't be overheard. I propose to tell some secrets." + +Not many women would resist the temptation of inside political information. +Recognizing that by some means beyond her comprehension she +was being drawn into a maze of secrets all interrelated and any of them +likely to involve herself at any minute, Tess had no compunction whatever. + +"I'll be frank with you," she said. "I'm curious." + +Once they walked up the path and down again, talking of dogs, because +it happened that Tom Tripe's enormous beast was sprawling in the +shadow of a rose-bush at the farther end. The commissioner did not +like dogs. "Something loathsome about them--degrading--especially +the big ones." She disagreed. She liked them, cold wet noses and all, +even in the dark. Tom Tripe, stepping behind a bush with the obvious +purpose of smoking in secret the clay pipe that be hardly troubled to +conceal, whistled the dog, who leapt into life as if stung and joined his master. + +The second time up and down they talked of professional beggars and +what a problem they are to India, because they both happened as they +turned to catch sight of Umra with the one eye, entering through the +little gate in the wall and shuffling without modesty or a moment's +hesitation to his favorite seat among the shrubs, whence to view +proceedings undisturbed. + +"Those three beggars that haunt this house seem to claim all our +privileges," she said. "They wouldn't think of letting us give a garden +party without them." + +"Say the word," he said, "and I'll have them put in prison." + +But she did not say the word. + +The third time up the path he chose to waste on very obvious flattery. + +"You're such an unusual woman, you know, Mrs. Blaine. You understand +whatever's said to you, and don't ask idiotic questions. And then, of +course, you're American, and I feel I can say things to you that my +own countrywoman wouldn't understand. As an American, in other +words, you're privileged." + +As they turned at the top of the path she felt a cold wet something thrust +into her hand from behind. She had never in her life refused a caress +to a dog that asked for one, and her fingers closed almost unconsciously +on Trotters' muzzle, touching as they did so the square unmistakable +hard edges of an envelope. There was no mistaking the intent; the +dog forced it on her and, the instant her fingers closed on it, slunk out of sight. + +"Wasn't that Tripe's infernal dog again?" + +"Was it? I didn't see." She was wiping slobber on to her skirt from an +envelope whose strong perfume had excited the dog's salivary glands. +But it was true that she did not see. + +"May I call you Theresa?" + +"Why?" + +"It would encourage confidences. There isn't another woman in Sialpore +whom I could tell what I'm going to say to you. The others would repeat +it to their husbands, or--" + +"I tell mine everything. Every word!" + +"Or they'd try to work me on the strength of it for little favors--" + +"Wait until you know me! Little favors don't appeal to me. I like them +big--very big!" + +"Honestly, Theresa--" + +"Better call me Mrs. Blaine." + +"Honestly, there's nothing under heaven that--" + +"That you really know about me. I know there isn't. You were going +to tell secrets. I'm listening." + +"You're a hard-hearted woman!" + +She had contrived by that time to extract a letter from the envelope +behind her back, but how to read it without informing Samson was +another matter. As she turned up the path for the sixth time, the sight +of Tom Tripe making semi-surreptitious signals to attract her attention +convinced her that the message was urgent and that she should not +wait to read it until after her last guests were gone. It was only one +sheet of paper, written probably on only one side--she hoped in English. +But how - + +Suddenly she screamed, and Samson was all instant concern. + +"Was that a snake? Tell me, was that a snake I saw. Oh, do look, please! +I loathe them." + +"Probably a lizard." + +"No, no, I know a lizard. Do please look!" + +Unbelieving, he took a stick and poked about among the, flowers to +oblige her; so she read the message at her leisure behind the broad +of his back, and had folded it out of sight before he looked up. + +"No snakes. Nothing but a lizard." + +"Oh, I'm so glad! Please forgive me, but I dread snakes. Now tell +me the secrets while I listen properly." + +He noticed a change in her voice--symptoms of new interest, and +passed it to the credit of himself. + +"There's an intrigue going on, and you can help me. Sp--people whose +business it is to keep me informed have reported that Tom Tripe is +constantly carrying letters from the Princess Yasmini of Sialpore to that +young Prince Utirupa who was here this afternoon. Now, it's no secret +that if Gungadhura Singh were to get found out committing treason +(and I'm pretty sure he's guilty of it five days out of six!) we'd depose him--" + +"You mean the British would depose him?" + +"Depose him root and branch. Then Utirtipa would be next in line. +He's a decent fellow. He'd be sure of the nomination, and he'd make +a good ruler." + +"Well?" + +"I want to know what the Princess Yasmini has to do with it." + +"It seems to me you're not telling secrets, but asking favors for nothing." + +"Not for nothing--not for nothing! There's positively nothing that I won't do!" + +"In return for--?" + +"Sure information as to what is going on." + +"Which you think I can get for you?" + +"I'm positive! You're such an extraordinary, woman. I'm pretty sure it +all hinges on the treasure I told you about the other day. Whoever gets +first hold of that holds all the trumps. I'd like to get it myself. That would +be the making of me, politically speaking. If Gungadhura should get +it he'd ruin himself with intrigue in less than a year, but he might cause +my ruin in the process. If the local priests should get it--and that's likeliest, +all things considered--there'd be red ruin for miles around; money and +the church don't mix without blood-letting, and you can't unscramble +that omelet forever afterward. I confess I don't know how to checkmate +the priests. Gungadhura I think I can manage, especially with your aid. +But I must have information." + +"Is there any one else who'd be dangerous if he possessed the secret?" + +"Anybody would be, except myself. Anybody else would begin playing +for political control with it, and there'd be no more peace on this side +of India for years. And now, this is what I want to say: The most dangerous +individual who could possibly get that treasure would be the Princess +Yasmini. The difficulty of dealing with her is that she's not above hiding +behind purdah (the veil), where no male man can reach her. There +are several women here whom I might interest in keeping an eye on her-- +Tatum's wife, and Miss Bent, and Miss O'Hara, and the Goole sisters-- +lots of 'em. But they'd all talk. And they'd all try to get influence for +their male connections on the strength of being in the know. But somehow, +Theresa, you're different." + +"Mrs. Blaine, please." + +"I know Tom Tripe thinks the world of you. I want you to find out for +me from him everything he knows about this treasure intrigue and +whatever's behind it." + +"You think he'd tell me?" + +"Yes. And I want you to make the acquaintance of the Princess Yasmini, +and find out from her if you can what the letters are that she writes to +Utirupa. You'll find the acquaintance interesting." + +Tess crumpled a folded letter in her left hand. + +"If you could give me an introduction to the princess--they say she's +difficult to see--some sort of letter that would get me past the maharajah's +guards," she answered. + +"I can. I will. The girl's a minor. I've the right to appoint some one to +visit her and make all proper inquiries. I appoint you." + +"Give me a letter now and I'll go tonight." + +He stopped as they turned at the end of the path, and wrote on a leaf +of his pocket-book. Behind his back Tess waved her secret letter to +attract Tom Tripe's notice, and nodded. + +"There." said Samson. "That's preliminary. I'll confirm it later by letter +on official paper. But nobody will dare question that. If any one does, +let me know immediately." + +"Thank you." + +"And now, Theresa--" + +"You forget." + +"I forget nothing. I never forget! You'll be wondering what you are to +get out of all this--" + +"I wonder if you're capable of believing that nothing was further from +my thoughts!" + +"Don't think I want all for nothing! Don't imagine my happiness--my +success could be complete without--" + +"Without a whisky and soda. Come and have one. I see my husband +coming at last." + +"Damn!" muttered Samson under his breath. + +She had expected her husband by the big gate, but he came through +the little one, and she caught sight of him at once because through the +corner of her eye she was watching some one else--Umra the beggar. +Umra departed through the little gate thirty seconds before her husband +entered it. + +Blaine was so jubilant over a sample of crushed quartz he had brought +home with him that there was no concealing his high spirits. He was +even cordial to Samson, whom he detested, and so full of the milk of +human kindness toward everybody else that they all wanted to stay and +be amused by him. But Tess got rid of them at last by begging Samson +to go first ostentatiously and set them an example, which he did after +extracting a promise from her to see him tete-a-tete again at the +earliest opportunity. + +Then Tess showed her husband the letter that Tom's dog had thrust +into her hand. + +"You dine alone tonight, Dick, unless you prefer the club. I'm going at +once. Read this." + +It was written in a fine Italic hand on expensive paper, with corrections +here and there as if the writer had obeyed inspiration first and consulted +a dictionary afterward--a neat letter, even neat in its mistakes. + + "Most precious friend," it ran, "please visit me. It is necessary that + you find some way of avoi--elu--tricking the guards, because there + are orders not to admit any one and not to let me out. Please bring + with you food from your house, because I am hungry. A cat and + two birds and a monkey have died from the food cooked for me. + I am also thirsty. My mother taught me to drink wine, but the wine is + finished, and I like water the best. Tom Tripe will try to help you past + the guards, but he has no brains, so you must give him orders. + He is very faithful. Please come soon, and bring a very large + quantity of water. Yours with love, YASMINI." + +He read the letter and passed it back. + +"D'you think it's on the level, Tess?" + +"I know it is! Imagine that poor child, Dick, cooped up in a palace, +starving and parching herself for fear of poison!" + +"But how are you going to get to her? You can't bowl over Gungadhura's +guards with a sunshade." + +"Samson wrote this for me." + +Dick Blaine scowled. + +"I imagine Samson's favors are paid for sooner or later." + +"So are mine, Dick! The beast has called me Theresa three times this +afternoon, and has had the impudence to suggest that his preferment +and my future happiness may bear some relation to each other." + +"See here, Tess, maybe I'd better beat him and have done with it." + +"No. He can't corrupt me, but he might easily do you an injury. Let him +alone, Dick, and be as civil as you can. You did splendidly this evening--" + +"Before I knew what he'd said to you!" + +"Now you've all the more reason to be civil. I must keep in touch with +that young girl in the palace, and Samson is the only influence I can +count on. Do as I say, Dick, and be civil to him. Pretend you're not +even suspicious." + +"But say, that guy's suggestions aggregate an ounce or two! First, I'm +to draw Gungadhura's money while I hunt for buried treasure; but I'm +to tip off Samson first. Second, I'm to look on while he makes his +political fortune with my wife's help. And third--what's the third thing, Tess?" + +She kissed him. "The third is that you're going to seem to be fooled +by him, for the present at all events. Let's know what's at the bottom +of all this, and help the princess and Tom Tripe if it's possible. Are +you tired?" + +"Yes. Why?" + +"If you weren't tired I was going to ask you to put a turban on as soon +as it's dark, and dress up like a sais and drive me to Yasmini's palace, +with a revolver in each pocket in case of accidents, and eyes and ears +skinned until I come out again." + +"Oh, I'm not too tired for that." + +"Come along then. I'll put up a hamper with my own hands. You get +wine from the cellar, and make sure the corks have not been pulled +and replaced. Then get the dog-cart to the door. I'll keep it waiting +there while you run up-stairs and change. Hurry, Dick, hurry--it's growing dark! +I'll put some sandwiches under the seat for you to eat while you're waiting +in the dark for me." + + + + + +Chapter Six + + + + +An Audit by the Gods + +(2) + +Loud laughed the gods (and their irony was pestilence; +Pain was in their mockery, affliction in their scorn. +The ryotwari cried +On a stricken countryside, +For the scab fell on the sheepfold and the mildew on the corn). + +"Write, Chitragupta!* Enter up your reckoning! +Yum** awaits in anger the assessment of the dead! +We left a law of kindness, +But they bowed themselves in blindness +To a cruelty consummate and a mystery instead! + +"'Write, Chitragupta! Once we sang and danced with them. +Now in gloomy temples they lay foreheads in the dust! +To us they looked for pleasure +And we never spared the measure +Till they set their priests between us and we left them in disgust. + +"Fun and mirth we made for them (write it, Chitragupta! +Set it down in symbols for the awful eye of Yum!) +But they traded fun for fashion +And their innocence for passion, +Till they murmur in their wallow now the consequences come! + +"Look! Look and wonder how the simple folk are out of it! +Empirics are the teachers and the liars leading men! +We were generous and free - +Aye, a social lot were we, +But they took to priests instead of us, and trouble started then!" + +[* In Hindu mythology Yum is the judge of the dead and Chitragupta +writes the record for him.] + + +"Peace, Maharajah sahib! Out of anger came no wise counsel yet!" + +Tom Tripp had done exactly what Yasmini ordered him. Like his dog +Trotters, whom he had schooled to perfection, and as he would have +liked to have the maharajah's guards behave, he always fell back on +sheer obedience whenever facts bewildered him or circumstances +seemed too strong. + +Yasmini had ordered him to report to the maharajah a chance encounter +with an individual named Gunga Singh. Accordingly he did. Asked +who Gunga Singh was, he replied he did not know. She had told him +to say that Gunga Singh said the Princess Yasmini was at the commissioner's +house; so he told the maharajah that and nothing further. Gungadhura +sent two men immediately to make inquiries. One drew the commissioner's +house blank, bribing a servant to let him search the place in Samson's +absence; the other met the commissioner himself, and demanded of +him point-blank what he had been doing with the princess. The question +was so bluntly put and the man's attitude so impudent that Samson lost +his temper and couched his denial in blunt bellicose bad language. +The vehemence convinced the questioner that he was lying, as the +maharajah was shortly informed. So the fact became established beyond +the possibility of refutation that Yasmini had been closeted with Samson +for several hours that morning. + +Remained, of course, to consider why she had gone to him and what +might result from her visit; and up to a certain point, and in certain cases +accurate guessing is easier than might be expected for either side to +a political conundrum, in India, ample provision having been made for +it by all concerned. + +The English are fond of assuring strangers and one another that spying +is "un-English"; that it "isn't done, you know, old top"; and the surest +way of heaping public scorn and indignation on the enemies of England +is to convict them, correctly or otherwise, of spying on England secretly. +So it would be manifestly libelous, ungentlemanly and proof conclusive +of crass ignorance to assert that Samson in his capacity of commissioner +employed spies to watch Gungadhura Singh. He had no public fund +from which to pay spies. If you don't believe that, then ponder over a +copy of the Indian Estimates. Every rupee is accounted for. + +The members of the maharajah's household who came to see Samson +at more or less frequent intervals were individuals of the native community +whom he encouraged to intimacy for ethnological and social reasons. +When they gave him information about Gungadhura's doings, that was +merely because they were incurably addicted to gossip; as a gentleman, +and in some sense a representative of His Majesty the King, he would +not dream, of course, of paying attention to any such stuff; but one +could not, of course, be so rude and high-handed as to stop their talking +even if it did tend toward an accurate foreknowledge of the maharajah's +doings that was hardly "cricket." + +As for money, certainly none changed hands. The indisputable fact +that certain friends and relatives of certain members of the maharajah's +household enjoyed rather profitable contracts on British administered +territory was coincidence. Everybody knows how long is the arm of +coincidence. Well, then, so are its ears, and its tongue. + +As for the maharajah, the rascal went the length of paying spies in British +government offices. There was never any knowing who was a spy of +his and who wasn't. People were everlastingly crossing the river from +the native state to seek employment in some government department +or other, and one could not investigate them really thoroughly. It was +so easy to forge testimonials and references and what not. One of +Samson's grooms had once been caught red-handed eavesdropping +in the dark. Samson, of course, took the law into his own hands on +that occasion and thrashed the blackguard within an inch of his treacherous +life; and in proof that the thrashing was richly deserved, some one +reported to Samson the very next day how the groom had gone straight +to the maharajah and had been solaced with silver money. + +It was even said, although never proved, that the fat, short-sighted +young babu Sita Ram who typed the commissioner's official correspondence +was one of Gungadhura's spies. There was a mystery about where he +spent his evenings. But his mother's uncle was a first-class magistrate, +so one could not very well dismiss him without clear proof. Besides, +he was uncommonly painstaking and efficient. + +One way and another it is easy to see that Gungadhura had a deal of +dovetailed information from which to draw conclusions as to the probable +reason of Yasmini's alleged visit to the commissioner. One false +conclusion invariably leads to another, and so Samson got the blame +for the secret bargain with the Rangar stable-owner, with whose connivance +Yasmini had contrived to keep a carriage available outside her palace +gates. Her palace gates having closed on the carriage now, the guards +would pay attention that it stayed inside, but there was no knowing how +many riding horses she might have at her beck and call in various khans +and places. Doubtless Samson had arranged for that. Gungadhura +sent men immediately to search Sialpore for horses that might be held +in waiting for her, with orders to hire or buy the animals over her head, +or in the alternative to lame them. + +As for her motive in visiting the commissioner, that was not far to seek. +There was only one motive in Sialpore for anything--the treasure. No +doubt Samson lusted for it as sinfully and lustily and craftily as any one. +If, thought Gungadhura, Yasmini had a clue to its whereabouts, as she +might have, then whoever believed she was not trafficking with the +commissioner must be a simpleton. The commissioner was known +to have written more than one very secret report to Simla on the subject +of the treasure, and on the political consequences that might follow on +its discovery by natives of the country. The reports had been so secret +and important that Gungadhura had thought it worth while to have the +blotting paper from Samson's desk photographed in Paris by a special +process. Adding two and two together now by the ancient elastic process, +Gungadhura soon reached the stage of absolute conviction that Yasmini +was in league with Samson to forestall him in getting control of the +treasure of his ancestors; and Gungadhura was a dark, hot-blooded, +volcanic-tempered man, who stayed not on the order of his anger but +blew up at once habitually. + +We have seen how he came careering down-street just in time to behold +Yasmini's carriage rumble into her stone-paved palace courtyard. After +ordering the guards not to let her escape again on pain of unnamed, +but no less likely because illegal punishment, he rode full pelt to the +temple of Jinendra, whence they assured him Yasmini had just come, +and his spurs rang presently on the temple floor like the footfalls of +avenging deity. + +Jinendra's priest welcomed him with that mixture of deference and +patronage that priests have always known so well how to extend to +royalty, showing him respect because priestly recognition of his royalty +entitled him in logic to the outward form of it--patronage because, as +the "wisest fool in Christendom" remarked, "No bishop no king!" The +combination of sarcastic respect and contemptuous politeness produced +an insolence that none except kings would tolerate for a moment; but +Jinendra's fat high priest could guess how far he dared go, as shrewdly +as a marksman's guesses windage. + +"She has betrayed us! That foreign she-bastard has betrayed us!" +shouted Gungadhura, slamming the priest's private door behind him +and ramming home the bolt as if it fitted into the breach of a rifle. + +"Peace! Peace, Maharajah sahib! Out of anger came no wise counsel yet!" + +"She has been to the commissioner's house!" + +"I know it." + +"You know it? Then she told you?" + +The priest was about to lie, but Gungadhura saved him. + +"I know she was here," he burst out. "My men followed her home." + +"Yes, she was here. She told." + +"How did you make her tell? The she-devil is more cunning than a cobra!" + +Jinendra's high priest smiled complacently. + +"A servant of the gods, such as I am, is not altogether without power. +I found a way. She told." + +"I, too, will find a way!" muttered Gungadhura to himself. Then to the +priest: "What did she say? Why did she go to the commissioner?" + +"To ask a favor." + +"Of course! What favor?" + +"That she may go to Europe." + +"Then there is no longer any doubt whatever! By Saraswati (the goddess +of wisdom) I know that she has discovered where the treasure is!" + +"My son," said the priest, "it is not manners to call on other gods by +name in this place." + +"By Jinendra, then! Thou fat sedentary appetite, what a great god thine +must be, that he can choose no cleverer servant than thee to muddle +his affairs! +While you were lulling me to sleep with dreams about a clue to be found +in a cellar, she has already sucked the secret out from some cobra's +hole and has sold it to the commissioner! As soon as he has paid her +a proportion of it she will escape to Europe to avoid me--will she?" + +"But the commissioner refused the desired permission," said the priest, +puffing his lips and stroking his stomach, as much as to add, "It's no +use getting impatient in Jinendra's temple. We have all the inside +information here." + +"What do you make of that?" demanded Gungadhura. + +The priest smiled. One does not explain everything to a mere maharajah. +But the mere maharajah was in no mood to be put off with smiles just +then. As Yasmini got the story afterward from the bald old mendicant, +whose piety had recently won him permission to bask on the comfortable +carved stones just outside the window, Gungadhura burst forth into +such explosive profanity that the high priest ran out of the room. The +mendicant vowed that he heard the door slam--and so he did; but it +was really Gungadhura, done with argument, on his way to put threat +into action. + +The mildest epithet he called Yasmini was "Widyadhara," which meant +in his interpretation of the word that she was an evil spirit condemned +to roam the earth because her sins were so awful that the other evil +spirits simply could not tolerate her. + +"It is plain that the commissioner fears to let her go to Europe!" swore +Gungadhura. "Therefore it is plain that she and he have a plan between +them to loot the treasure and say nothing. Neither trusts the other, as +is the way of such people! He will not let her out of sight until he can +leave India himself!" + +"He has promised to send European memsahibs to call on her," said +the priest, and the maharajah gnashed his teeth and swore like a man +stung by a hornet. + +"That is to prevent me from using violence on her! He will have frequent +reports as to her health! After a time, when he has his fingers in the +treasure, he will not be so anxious about her welfare!" + +"There was another matter that she told me," said the priest. + +"Repeat it then, Belly-of-Jinendra! Thy paunch retains a tale too long!" + +"Tripe, the drill-master, is a welcome guest at the house built by Jengal Singh." + +"What of it?" + +"He may enter even when the sahibs are away from home. The servants +have orders to admit him." + +"Well?" + +The priest smiled again. + +"If it should chance to be true that the princess knows the secret of +the treasure, and that she is selling it to the commissioner, Tripe could +enter that house and discover the clue. Who could rob you of the +treasure once you knew the secret of its hiding-place?" + +It was at that point that the maharajah grew so exasperated at the thought +of another's knowledge of a secret that he considered rightly his own +by heritage, that his language exceeded not only the bounds of decorum +but the limits of commonplace blasphemy as well. Turning his back +on the priest he rushed from the room, slamming the door behind him. +And, being a ruminant fat mortal, the priest sat so still considering on +which side of the equation his own bread might be buttered as to cause +the impression that the room was empty; whereas only the maharajah +had left it. And a little later the babu Sita Ram came in. + +Gungadhura was in no mood to be trifled with. He knew pretty well +where to find Tom Tripe during any of the hours of duty, so he cornered +him without delay and, glaring at him with eyes like an animal's at bay, +ordered him to search the Blaine's house at the first opportunity. + +"Search for what?" demanded Tripe. + +"For anything! For everything! Search the cellar; search the garden; +search the roof! Are You a fool? Are you fit for my employment? Then +search the house, and report to me anything unusual that you find in it! Go!" + +After several stiff brandies and soda Gungadhura then conceived a plan +that might have been dangerous supposing Yasmini to have been less +alert, and supposing that she really knew the secret. He spent an evening +coaching Patali, his favorite dancing girl, and then sent her to Yasmini +with almost full powers to drive a bargain. She might offer as much as +half of the treasure to Yasmini provided Gungadhura should receive +the other half and the British should know nothing. That was the one +point on which Patali's orders permitted no discretion. The whole +transaction must be secret from the British. + +Reporting the encounter afterward to her employer Patali hardly seemed +proud of her share in it. All the information she brought back was to +the effect that Yasmini denied all knowledge of the treasure, and all +desire to possess it. + +"I think she knows nothing. She said very little to me. She laughed at +the idea of bargaining with Englishmen. She said you are welcome to +the treasure, maharajah sahib, and that if she should ever find its hiding-place +she will certainly tell you. She plays the part of a woman whose spirit is +already broken and who is weary of India." + +Having a very extensive knowledge of dancing girls and their ways, +Gungadhura did not believe much more than two per cent. of Patali's +account of what had taken place, and he was right, except that he grossly +overestimated her truthfulness. And even with his experienced cynicism +it never entered his head to suppose that Patali was the individual who +warned Yasmini in advance of the preparations being made to poison +her by Gungadhura's orders. Yet, as it was Patali's own sister who made +the sweetmeats, and tampered with the charcoal for the filter, and put +the powdered diamonds in the chutney, it was likely enough that Patali +would know the facts; and as for motives, dancing girls don't have them. +They fear, they love, they desire, they seek to please. If Yasmini could +pluck heart-strings more cleverly than Gungadhura could break and bruise +them, so much the worse for Gungadhura's plans, that was all, as far +as Patali was concerned. + +For several days after that, as Yasmini more than hinted in her letter to +Tess, repeated efforts were made to administer poison in the careful +undiscoverable ways that India has made her own since time immemorial. +But you can not easily poison any one who does not eat, and who drinks +wine that was bottled in Europe; or at any rate, to do it you must call in +experts who are expensive in the first place as well as adepts at blackmail +in the second. Yasmini enjoyed a charmed life and an increasing appetite, +Gungadhura's guards attending to it however, that she took no more +forbidden walks and rides and swims by moonlight to make the hunger +really unendurable. Supplies were allowed to pass through the palace +gate, after they had been tampered with. + +Finally Gungadhura, biting his nails and drinking whisky in the intervals +between consultation with a dozen different sets of priests, made up +his mind to drastic action. It dawned on his exasperated mind that every +single priest, including Jinendra's obese incumbent, was trying to take +advantage of his predicament in order to feather a priestly nest or forward +plans diametrically opposed to his own. (Not that recognition of priestly +deception made him less superstitious, or any less dependent on the +priest; if that were the way discovery worked, all priests would have +vanished long ago. It simply made him furious, like a tiger in a net, +and spurred him to wreak damage in which the priests might have no hand.) + +Whisky, drugs, reflection and the hints of twenty dancing girls convinced +him that Jinendra's priest especially was playing a double game; for +what was there in the fat man's mental ingredients that should anchor +his loyalty to an ill-tempered prince, in case a princess of wit and youth +and brilliant beauty should stake her cunning in the game? Why was +not Yasmini already ten times dead of poison? Nothing but the cunning +inspired by partnership with priests, and alertness born of secret knowledge, +could have given her the intelligence to order her maids to boil a present +of twenty pairs of French silk stockings--nor the malice to hang them +afterward with her own hands on a line across her palace roof in full +view of Gungadhura's window! + +Hatred of Yasmini was an obsession of his in any case. He had loathed +her mother, who dared try to wear down the rule that women must be +veiled. Even his own dancing girls were heavily veiled in public, and +all his relations with women of any sort took place behind impenetrable +screens. He was a stickler for that sort of thing and, like others of his +kidney, rather proud of the rumors that no curtains could confine. So +he loathed and despised Yasmini even more than he had detested +her mother, because she coupled to her mother's Western notions +about freedom a wholly Eastern ability to take advantage of restraint. +In other words she was too clever for him. + +On top of all that she had dared outrage his royal feelings by refusing +to be given in marriage to the husband be selected for her--a fine, black- +bristling, stout cavalier of sixty with a wife or two already and impoverished +estates that would have swallowed Yasmini's fortune nicely at a gulp. +Incidentally, the husband would have eagerly canceled a gambling debt +in exchange for a young wife with an income. + +There was no point at which Yasmini and himself could meet on less +than rapier terms. Her exploits in disguise were notorious--so notorious +that men sang songs about them in the drinking places and the khans. +And as if that were not bad enough there was a rumor lately that she +had turned Abhisharika. The word is Sanskrit and poetic. To the ordinary +folk, who like to listen to love-stories by moonlight on the roofs or under +trees, that meant that she had chosen her own lover and would go to +him, when the time should come, of her own free will. To Gungadhura, +naturally, such a word bore other meanings. As we have said, he was +a stickler for propriety. + +Last, and most uncomfortable crime of all, it seemed that she had now +arranged with Samson to have English ladies call on her at intervals. +Not a prophet on earth could guess where that might lead to, and to +what extremes of Western fashion; for though one does not see the +high-caste women of Rajputana, they themselves see everything and +know all that is going on. But it needed no prophet to explain that a +woman visited at intervals by the wives of English officers could not +be murdered easily or safely. + +All arguments pointed one way. He must have it out with Yasmini in +one battle royal. If she should be willing to surrender, well and good. +He would make her pay for the past, but no doubt there were certain +concessions that he could yield without loss of dignity. If she knew +the secret of the hiding-place of the treasure he would worm it out of her. +There are ways, he reflected, of worming secrets from a woman--ways +and means. If she knew the secret and refused to tell, then he knew +how to provide that she should never tell any one else. If she had told +some one else already,--Samson, for instance, or Jinendra's priest-- +then he would see to it that priest or commissioner, as the case might be, +must carry on without the cleverest member of the firm. + +But he must hurry. Poison apparently would not work and he did not +dare murder her outright, much as he would have liked to. It was +maddening to think how one not very violent blow with a club or a knife +would put an end to her wilfulness forever, and yet that the risk to +himself in that case would be almost as deadly as the certainty for her. +But accidents might happen. In a land of elephants, tigers, snakes, +wild boars and desperate men there is a wide range for circumstance, +and the sooner the accident the less the risk of interference by some +inquisitive English woman with a ticket-of-admission signed by Samson. + +An "accident" in Yasmini's palace, he decided would be nearly as risky +as murder. But he had a country-place fifty miles away in the mountains, +to which she could be forcibly removed, thus throwing inquisitive +Englishwomen off the scent for a while at any rate. That secluded +little hunting box stood by a purple lake that had already drowned its +dozens, not always without setting up suspicion; and between the city +of Sialpore and the "Nesting-place of Seven Swans" lay leagues of wild +road on which anything at all might happen and be afterward explained away. + +As for the forcible abduction, that could best be got around by obliging +her to write a letter to himself requesting permission to visit the mountains +for a change of air and scenery. There were ways and means of obliging +women to write letters. + +Best of all, of course, would be Yasmini's unconditional surrender, +because then he would be able to make use of her wits and her information, +instead of having to explain away her "accident" and cope alone with +any one whom she might already have entrusted with her secret. There +should be a strenuous effort first to bring her to her senses. Physical +pain, he had noticed, had more effect on people's senses than any +amount of argument. There had been a very amusing instance recently. +One of his dancing girls named Malati had refused recently to sing +and dance her best before a man to whom Gungadhura had designed +to make a present of her; but the mere preliminaries of removing a +toe-nail behind the scenes had changed her mind within three minutes. + +Then there were other little humorous contrivances. There is a way +of tying an intended convert to your views in such ingenious fashion +that the lightest touch of a finger on taut catgut stretched from limb to +limb, causes exquisite agony. And a cigarette end, of course, applied +in such circumstances to the tenderer parts has great power to persuade. + +As to accomplices, those must be few and carefully chosen. Alone +against Yasmini he knew he would have no chance whatever, for she +was physically stronger than a panther, and as swift and graceful. But +there are creatures, not nearly yet extinct from Eastern courts, known +as eunuchs, whose strongest quality is seldom said to be mercy, and +whose chief business in life is to be amenable to orders and to guard +with their lives their master's secrets. Three were really too many to +be let into such a secret; but it had needed two to hold Malati properly +while the third experimented on the toe-nail, and Yasmini was much +stronger than Malati; so he must chance it and take three. + +The only remaining problem did not trouble him much. The palace +guards were his own men, and were therefore not likely to question +his right to ignore the first law of purdah that forbids the crossing of +a woman's threshold, especially after dark, unless she is your property. +Besides, they all knew already what sort of prowl-by-night their master +was, and laws, especially such laws, were, made for other people, not +for maharajahs. + + + + + +Chapter Seven + + + + +A bloody enlisted man--that's me, +A peg in the officer's plan--maybe. +Drunk on occasion, Disgrace to a nation +And proper societee. +Yet I've a notion the sky--pure blue +Ain't more essential than I--clear through. +I'm a man. I can think. +In the chain of eternal +Affairs I'm a link, +And the chain ain't no stronger than me--or you. + + +"That will be the end of Gungadhura!" + +It took longer to get the hamper ready than Tess expected, partly because +it did not seem expedient to have the butler Chamu in the secret. By +the time she and her husband were up side by side in the dog-cart there +was already a nearly full moon silvering the sky, and the jackals were +yelping miserably on the hillside. Before they reached the stifling town +a slow breeze had moved the river-mist, until a curtain shut off the whole +of the bazaar and merchants' quarters from the better residential section +where the palaces stood. It was an ideal night for adventure; an almost +perfect night for crime; one could step from street to street and leave +no clue, because of the drifting vapor. + +Here and there a solitary policeman coughed after they had passed, +or slunk into a shadow lest they recognize and report him for sleeping +at his post. All sahibs have unreasonable habits, and not even a constable +can guess which one will not make trouble for him. An occasional stray +dog yapped at the wheels, and more than once heads peered over +roof-tops to try and glimpse them, because gossip--especially about +sahibs who are out after dark--is a coinage of its own that buys welcome +and refreshment almost anywhere. But nothing in particular happened +until the horse struck sparks from the granite flagstones outside Yasmini's +gate, and a sleepy Rajput sentry brought his rifle to the challenge. + +Then it was not exactly obvious what to do next. Tess felt perfectly +confident on the high seat, with the pistol in her husband's pocket pressing +against her and his reassuring bulk between her and the sentry; but +everywhere else was insecurity and doubt. One does not as a rule +descend from dog-carts after dark and present half-sheets of paper by +way of passports for admission to Rajput palaces. The sentry looked +mildly interested, no more. He had been so thoroughly warned and +threatened in case of efforts to escape from within, that it did not enter +his head that any one might want to enter. However, since the dog-cart +continued to stand still in front of the gate, he turned the guard out as +a matter of routine; one never knew when sahibs will not complain +about discourtesy. + +The guard lined up at attention--eight men and a risaldar (officer)--double +the regular number by Gungadhura's orders. The risaldar stepped +up close to the dog-cart and spoke to the man he imagined was the +sais, using, as was natural, the Rajput tongue. But Dick Blaine only +knew enough of the language for fetch and carry purposes--not enough +to deceive a native as to his nationality after the first two words. + +"Now I feel foolish!" said Tess, and the risaldar of the guard thrust his +bearded face closer, supposing she spoke to him. Dick answered her. + +"Shall I drive you home again, little woman? Say, the word and we're off." + +"Not yet. I haven't tried my ammunition." + +She pulled out Samson's scribbled permit and was about to offer it to +the guard. But there was a risk that whatever she did would only arouse +and increase his suspicions, and she offered it nervously. + +"What if he won't give it back to you?" asked her husband. + +"Oh, Dick, you're a regular prophet of evil tonight!" + +However, she withdrew the paper before the guard's fingers, closed +on it. The next moment a figure like a phantom, making no noise, almost +made her scream. Dick produced a repeating pistol with that sudden +swiftness that proves old acquaintance with the things, and the corporal +of the guard sprang back with a shout of warning to his men, imagining +the pistol was intended for himself. Tess recovered presence of mind first. + +"It's all right, Dick. Put the gun out of sight." + +She stretched out her hand and a cold nose touched her finger-ends, +sniffing them. A dog's forefeet were on the shaft, and his eyes gleamed +balefully in the carriage lamp light. + +"Good Trotters! Good boy, Trotters!" + +She remembered Tom Tripe's lecture about calling dogs by name, +wondering whether the rule applied to owners only, or whether she, +too, could make the creature "do this own thinking." Before she could +decide what she would like the dog to think about he was gone again +as silently as he had come. The guard was thoroughly on the qui vive +by that time, if not suspicious, then officious. How should one protect +the privacy of a palace gate if unknown memsahibs in dog-carts, with +saises who knew English but did not answer when spoken to in the +native tongue, were to be allowed to draw up in front of the gate at +unseemly hours and remain there indefinitely. The risaldar ordered +Tess away without further ceremony, making his meaning plain by +taking the horse's head and starting him. + +Dick Blaine drew the horse back on his haunches and cursed the man +for that piece of impudence, in language and with mannerisms that +banished forever any delusions as to his nationality; and it occurred to +the officer that his extra complement of men, standing in a row like +dummies at attention, were not there after all for nothing. He despatched +two of them at a run to Gungadhura's palace, the one to tell the story +of what had happened and the other to add to it whatever the first might +omit. Between them they were likely to produce results of some sort. + +"Now we're done for!" sighed Tess. "No chance tonight, I'm afraid. +If only I'd done what she told me to and consulted with Tom Tripe first. +Better drive home now, Dick, before we make the case worse." + +The unreasonableness of the attempt convinced and discouraged her. +It was like a nightmare. But as Dick reined the horse about there came +out of the mist the sound of another horse at a walk, and two men +marching in step. Then a man's voice broke the stillness. Dick reined in, +and a second later Trotters' huge paws rested on the shaft again. +Tess could see his long, unenthusiastic tail wagging to and fro. + +"Tom!" she called. "Tom Tripe!" + +"Coming, lady!" + +Three figures emerged out of the gloom, one of them mounted and loquacious. + +"I'd like to know what these rascally guards are doing off their post! +Give these sons of camp-followers an inch and they'll take three leagues, +every mother's son of them! Halt, there, you! Now then, where's your +officer? Give an account of yourselves!" + +There followed an interlude in Rajasthani.* Tom Tripe becoming more +blasphemously vehement as it grew clearer that the risaldar had done +entirely right. +[* The native language of Rajputana.] + +"Lady," he said presently, riding round to Tess's side of the dog-cart. +"I'm going to have hard work to convince this man. I'd orders from +Gungadhura to search your house, Krishna knows what for, and I rode +up to ask your leave to do it, hoping you'd be alone after the party. +Chamu told me you and your husband had gone out, and one of the +three beggars gave me a message intended for you that tallied pretty +close with one I knew you'd received already, so I guessed where to +head for, and sent the dog in advance. He came back with his hair on +end reporting trouble, and then as luck would have it I rode into these +two men on their way to Gungadhura. If they'd reached him, we'd all +have had to make new plans tomorrow morning! You want to see the +princess, of course? But what have you got that can get by the guard?" + +Tess produced Samson's scribbled note, and he studied it in the carriage +lamplight. Then she recalled Yasmini's warning that Tom Tripe had no +brains and must be told what to do. Her own wits began to work desperately. + +"I'm the lady doctor, Tom. That is my written order from the burra +sahib." (Commissioner). + +Tom scratched his head and swore in a low voice fervently. + +"The difficulty's this, lady: since the escape from the palace across +the river, the maharajah has taken the posting of palace guards out of +my hands entirely. I've still the duty to inspect and make sure they're +on the job--Oh, I see! I have it!" + +He turned on the corporal with all the savagery that the white man +generates in contact with Eastern subordinates. + +"What do you mean," he demanded in the man's own language, "by +standing in the way of the maharajah sahib's orders? Here's his highness +sending a lady doctor to the princess for an excuse to confine her +elsewhere and have all this trouble off our hands, and you, like a +blockhead, stand in the way to prevent it! See--there's the letter!" + +The Rajput looked perplexed. All the world knows what privileges the +rare American women doctors enjoy in that land of sealed seraglios. + +"But it is written in English," he objected. "The maharajah sahib does +not write English." + +"Idiot! Of what use would a letter in Persian be to an American lady doctor?' + +"But to me? It is I who command the guard and must read the letter. +How can I read the letter?" + +"I'll read it to you. What's more, I'll explain it. The princess has been +appealing to the commissioner sahib--" + +The Rajput nodded. It was all over town that Yasmini had been closeted +with the commissioner on the morning of her recent escape. She +herself had deliberately sown the seeds of that untruth. + +"So the commissioner sahib and the maharajah sahib had a conference--" + +The Rajput nodded again. It was common knowledge, too that the +commissioner and Gungadhura had had a rather stormy interview the +day before; and it was none of the corporal's privilege to know that +all they had argued about was the ill-treatment of prisoners in the Sialpore jail. + +"--It was agreed at the conference that if the princess can be proved +mad, then the maharajah sahib may do as he's minded about sending +her away into the hills. If she's not mad, then he's to give her her liberty. +Do you understand, you dunderhead?" + +"Hah! I understand. But why at night? Why not the maharajah sahib's +signature in his own writing?" + +"Son of incomprehension! Does the maharajah sahib wish still more +scandal than already has been by permitting such a visit in the daytime? +Strike me everlasting dumb if he hasn't had more than enough already! +Does he want the responsibility? Does he wish the British to say +afterward that it was all the maharajah's doing? No, you ass! At the +conference be agreed solely on condition that the commissioner sahib +should sign the letter and relieve his highness of all blame in case of +a verdict of madness. And it was decided to send an American, lest +there be too much talk among the British themselves. Now, do +you understand?" + +"Hah! I understand. If all this is true the matter is easy. I will send +one of the guard with that letter to the maharajah sahib. He will write +his name on it and send it back, and all is well." + +"Suit yourself!" sneered Tom Tripe. "The maharajah sahib is with his +dancing girls this minute. What happened to the last man who interrupted +his amusements?" + +The Rajput hesitated. The answer to that question could be seen any +day near the place they call the Old Gate, where beggars sit in rags. + +"Shall I offer him money?" whispered Tess. + +"For God's sake, no, lady! The man's a decent soldier. He'd refuse +it and we'd all be in the apple-cart! Leave him to me." + +He turned again on the Rajput. + +"You know who I am, don't you? You know it's my duty to see that the +palace guards attend to business, eh? That's why I'm here tonight. +His highness particularly warned me to see that if anything unusual +wanted doing it should get done. If you want to question my authority +you'll have it out with me before his highness in the morning first thing." + +The Rajput obviously wavered. Everybody knew that the first thing in +the morning was no good time to appear on charges before a man +who spent his nights as Gungadhura did. + +"Who is to enter? A man and a woman?" + +"No, you idiot! A lady doctor only. And nobody's to know. You'd better +warn your men that if there's any talk about this night's business the +palace guard will catch the first blast of the typhoon. Gungadhura's +anger isn't mild in these days!" + +"Show me the letter again," said the Rajput. "Let me keep it in case +I am brought to book." + +Tom translated that to Tess and her husband. + +"It's this way, ma'am. If you let him keep the letter I suspect he'll let +you go in. But he may show it to the maharajah in the morning, and +then there'll be hot fat in the fire. If you don't let him keep it, perhaps +he'll admit you and perhaps he won't; but if you keep the letter, and +trouble comes of it, he and I'll both be in the soup! Never mind +about me. Maybe I'm too valuable to be sent packing. I'll take the +chance. But this man's a decent soldier, and he'd be helpless." + +"Let him keep it," said Tess. + +Tom turned on the Rajput again. + +"Here's the letter. Take it. But mark this! What his highness wants +tonight is discretion. There might be promotion for a man who'd say +nothing about this night's work. If, on top of that, he was soldier enough +to keep his men from talking he'd be reported favorably to his highness +by Tom Tripe. Who got you made risaldar, eh? Who stood up for you, +when you were charged with striking Gullam Singh? Was Tom Tripe's +friendship worth having then? Now suit yourself! I've said all I'm +going to say." + +The Rajput muttered something in his beard, stared again at the letter +as if that of itself would justify him, looked sharply at Tess, whose hamper +might or might not be corroborative evidence, folded the letter away +in his tunic pocket, and made a gesture of assent. + +"Now, lady, hurry!" said Tom. "And here's hoping you're right about +there being no hell! I've told lies enough tonight to damn my soul forever! +Once you're safely through the gate I'll have a word or two more with +the guard, and then your husband and I will go to a place close by that +I know of and wait for you." + +But Tess objected to that. "Please don't leave me waiting for you in +the dark outside the gate when I return! Why not keep the carriage here; +my husband won't mind." + +"Might make talk, ma'am. I'll leave Trotters here to watch for you. He'll +bring word in less than a minute." + +Tom Tripe dismounted to help her out of the dog-cart. The Rajput +struck the iron gate as if he expected to have to wake the dead and +take an hour about it. But it opened suspiciously quickly and a bearded +Afridi, of all unlikely people, thrust an expectant face outward, rather +like a tortoise emerging from its shell, blinking as he tried to recognize +the shadowy forms that moved in the confusing lamplight. He seemed +to know whom to expect and admit, for he beckoned Tess with a long +crooked forefinger the moment she approached the gate, and in another +ten seconds the iron clanged behind her, shutting her off from husband +and all present hope of succor. The chance of any rescuer entering +the palace that night, whether by force or subtlety, was infinitesimal. + +The strange gateman--he had a little kennel of a place to sleep in just +inside the entrance--snatched the hamper from Tess and led her almost +at a run across an ancient courtyard whose outlines were nearly invisible +except where the yellow light of one ancient oil lantern on an iron bracket +showed a part of the palace wall and a steep flight of stone steps, worn +down the middle by centuries of sandals. Everything else was in gloom +and shadow, and only one chink of light betrayed the whereabouts of +a curtained window. The Afridi led her up the stone steps, and paused +at the top to hammer on a carved door with his clenched fist; but the +door moved while his fist was in mid-air, and the merry-eyed maid who +opened it mocked him for a lunatic. Dumb, apparently, in the presence +of woman, he slunk down the steps again, leaving Tess wondering +whether it were not good manners to remove her shoes before entering. +Natives of the country always removed their shoes before entering +her house, and she supposed it would be only decent to reciprocate. + +However, the maid took her by the hand and pulled her inside without +further ceremony, not letting go of the hand even to close the door, but +patting it and making much of her, smiling the welcome that they had +no words in common to express. The little outer hall in which they stood +was shut off by curtains six yards high, all smothered in a needlework +of peacocks that generations of patient fingers must have toiled at. +Pulling these apart the maid led her into an inner hall fifty or sixty feet +long, the first sight of which banished all diffidence about her shoes; +for never had she seen such medley of East and West, such toning +down of Oriental mysticism with the sheer utility of European importations; +and that without incongruity. + +The lamps, of which there were dozens, were mostly Russian. Some +of the furniture was Buhl, some French. There were hangings that +looked like loot from the Pekin Summer Palace, and tapestry from +Gobelin. In a place of honor on a side wall was an ikon, framed in gold, +and facing that an image of the Buddha done in greenish bronze, +flanked by a Dutch picture of the Twelve Apostles with laughably Dutch +faces receiving instruction on a mountain from a Christ whose other +name was surely Hans. + +Down the center of the hall, leading to a gallery, was a magnificent +stairway of marble and lapis lazuli, carpeted with long Bokhara strips +so well joined end to end that the whole looked like one piece. And +at the top of those stairs Yasmini stood waiting, her golden hair illuminated +by glass lamps on either marble column at the stairhead. She was as +different from the Gunga Singh of riding boots and turban as the morning +is from night--the loveliest, bewitchingest girl in silken gossamer that +Tess had ever set eyes on. + +"I knew you would come!" she shouted gleefully. "I knew you would +get in! I knew you are my friend! Oh, I'm glad! I'm glad!" + +She pirouetted a dozen times on bare toes at the top of the stairs, +spinning until her silken skirts expanded in a nimbus, then danced +down-stairs into Tess's arms, where she clung, panting and laughing. + +"I'm so hungry! Oh, I'm hungry! Did you bring the food?" + +"I'm ashamed!" Tess answered. "The man set it down outside the +door and I left it there." + +But Yasmini gave a little shrill of delight, and Tess turned to see that +another maid had brought it. + +"How many of you are there?" + +"Five." + +"Thank heaven! I've brought enough for a square meal for a dozen." + +"We have eaten a little, little bit each day of the servants' rice, washing +it first for hours, until today, when two of the servants were taken sick +and we thought perhaps their food was poisoned too. Oh, we're hungry!" + +Hasamurti, Yasmini's maid, opened the basket on the floor and crowed +aloud. Tess apologized. + +"I knew nothing about the caste restrictions, but I've put in meat jelly-- +and bread--and fruit--and rice--and nuts--and milk--and tea--and wine-- +and sugar--" + +Yasmini laughed. + +"I am as Western as I choose to be, and only pretend to caste when +I see fit. My maids do as I do, or they seek another mistress. Come!" + +Hasamurti would have spread a banquet there on the floor, but Yasmini +led them up-stairs, holding Tess by the hand, turning to the right at the +stairhead into a room all cream and golden, lighted by hanging lamps +that shone through disks of colored glass. There she pulled Tess +down beside her on to a great soft divan and they all ate together, the +maids munching their share while they served their mistress. They +devoured the milk, and left the wine, eating, all things considered, +astonishingly moderately. + +"Now we ought all to go to sleep," announced Yasmini, yawning, and +then bubbling with delighted laughter at the expression of Tess's face. +"The people outside might wait!" + +"Great heavens, child. Do you suppose I can stay here indefinitely?" +Tess demanded. "I must be gone in an hour or my husband will +murder the guard and force an entrance!" + +"I will have just such a husband soon," announced Yasmini. "When I +send him one little word, he will cut the throats of thirty men and come +to me through flames! Let us try your husband," she added as an +afterthought--then laughed again at Tess's expression of dissent, +and nodded. + +"I, too, will be careful how I risk my husband! Men are but moths in a +woman's hands--fragile--but the good ones are precious. Besides, +we have no time tonight for sport. I must escape." + +Evidently Tess was causing her exquisite amusement. The thought +of being an accomplice in any such adventure stirred all her Yankee +common sense to its depths, and she had none of the Eastern trick +of not displaying her emotions. + +"Nonsense, child! Let me go to the commissioner and warn him that +you are being starved to death in this place. I will threaten him with +public scandal if he doesn't put an end to it at once." + +"Pouf!" laughed Yasmini. "Samson sahib would make a nice clumsy +accomplice! He would send me to Calcutta, where I should be poisoned +sooner or later for a certainty, because Gungadhura would send agents +to attend to that. They would wait months and months for their opportunity, +and I can not always stay awake. Meanwhile Samson sahib would +claim praise from his government, and they would put some more initials +at the end of his name, and promote him to a bigger district with more pay. +No! Samson sahib shall have another district surely, but even he in +his conceit will not consider it promotion! There will not be room for +Samson sahib in Sialpore when I am maharanee!" + +"You maharanee? It was you yourself who told me that Gungadhura +has lots of children, who all stand between you and the throne. Do +you mean--?" + +Again the bell-like laugh announced utter enjoyment of Tess's bewilderment. + +"No, I will kill nobody. I will not even send snakes in a basket to Gungadhura. +That scorpion shall sting himself to death if he sees fit, with a ring of +the fire of ridicule all about him and no friends to console him, and no +hope--nothing but disappointment and fear and rage! I will kill nobody. +Yet I will be maharanee within the month!" + +Suddenly she grew deadly serious, her young face darkening as the +sky does when a quick cloud hides the sun. + +"What is your husband's contract with Gungadhura? May he dig for +gold anywhere? He is digging now, isn't he, close to the British fort +on the 'island' in our territory--that fort with the flagstaff on it that can +be seen from Gungadhura's roof? He is wasting time!" + +"He has found a little vein of gold," said Tess, "that will likely lead to a +bigger vein." + +"He is wasting time! Sita Ram, who has a compass, and who knows +all that goes on in Samson sahib's office, sent me word that the little +vein of gold runs nearly due north. In another week at the rate the men +are digging your husband will be under the fort. That is English territory. +The English have nothing to do with Gungadhura's contract. They will +take the gold your husband finds and give him nothing. Then Samson +sahib would be considered a most excellent commissioner and would +surely get promotion! Pouf!" + +"Perhaps my husband can make a separate bargain with the English." + +"Pouf! Samson sahib is an idiot, but he is not fool enough to give away +what would be in his hands already! I myself, hidden beneath your +window, heard him give you clear warning on that point! No, there must +be another plan. Your husband must dig elsewhere." + +"But, my dear, Gungadhura knows already that my husband has found +a 'leader.' He is all worked up about it, and goes every day to watch +the progress." + +"Surely--knowing as well as I do that the vein is leading toward the fort. +He goes afterward to the priests, and prays that the vein of gold may +turn another way and save him from bankruptcy! Listen? I speak truth! +I speak to you woman to woman--womb to womb! I will count myself +accursed, and will let a cobra bite me if I tell you now one word that is +not true! Do you believe I am going to tell you the truth?" + +Tess nodded. Yasmini, by her own admission, would lie deliberately +when that suited her; but the truth tells itself, as it were, and there is +no mistaking it, except by such as lie invariably, of whom there is a +multifarious host. + +"If your husband continues digging near the fort he will get nothing, +because the English will take it all. If he digs in a certain other place +he will get a very great fortune!" + +"But, my dear, supposing that is quite true, how shall he convince +Gungadhura, after all the outlay and expense of the present operations, +that it's best to abandon them and begin all over again in another place?" + +Yasmini lay back on the cushions, drew something out from under one +of them, and laughed softly, as if enjoying a deep underflow of +secret information. + +"Gungadhura himself shall insist on it!" + +"What? On starting again in a new place?" + +Yasmini nodded. + +"Only do as I say, and Gungadhura himself shall insist." + +"What do you wish me to do?" + +Tess was beginning to feel alarmed again. She knew to a rupee how +much Gungadhura had been obliged to pay out for the digging. To +make herself +responsible even in degree for the abandonment of all that outlay would +be risky, even if no other construction could be placed on it. + +"Has Tom Tripe been told to search your house?" + +"Yes, so he says." + +"Do you know the cellar of your house?" + +"Yes." + +"It is dark. Are you afraid to go there?" + +"No. Why?" + +"Is there a flat stone in a corner of the cellar floor that once had a ring +in it but the ring is broken out?" + +"Yes." + +"Good. Then Sita Ram did not lie to me. Take this." She gave her a +little silver tube, capped at either end and sealed heavily with wax. +"There is a writing inside it--done in Persian. Hide that under the stone, +and let Tom Tripe search the cellar and find it there; but forbid him +to remove it." + +"If I only knew what you are driving at!" said Tess with a wry smile. + +A clumsier conspirator might have lost the game at that point by +over-emphasis, for Tess was wavering between point-blank refusal +and delay that would give her time to consult her husband. But Yasmini, +even at that age, was adept at feeling her way nicely. Again she lay +back on the cushion, and this time lit a cigarette, smoking lazily. + +"The stake that I am playing for--the stake that I shall surely win," she +said after a minute, "is too big to be risked. If you are afraid, let us +forget all that I have said. Let us be friends and nothing more." + +Tess did not answer. She recognized the appeal to her own pride, +and ignored it. What she was thinking of was Gungadhura's beastliness-- +his attempts to poison Yasmini--his treatment of women generally-- +his cruelty to animals in the arena--his viciousness; and then, of how +much more queenly if nothing else, this girl would likely be than ever +Gungadhura could be kingly. It was tempting enough to have a hand +in substituting Yasmini for Gungadhura on the throne of Sialpore if the +chance of doing it were real. + +Yasmini seemed able to read her thoughts, or at all events to guess them. + +"When I am maharanee," she said, "there will be an end of Gungadhura's +swinishness. Moreover, promises will all be kept, unwritten ones as +well as written. Gungadhura's contracts will be carried out. Do you +believe me?" + +"Yes, I think I believe that." + +"Let Tom Tripe find that silver tube in your cellar then. But listen! When +Gungadhura comes to your husband and insists on digging elsewhere, +let your husband bargain like a huckster! Let him at first refuse. It may +be that Gungadhura will let him continue where he digs, and will himself +send men to start digging in the other place. In that case, well and good." + +"I would prefer that, said Tess. "My husband is a mining engineer. +I think he would hate to abandon a true lead for a whim of some one's else." + +Yasmini's bright eyes gleamed intelligence. She was only learning in +those days to bend people to her own imperious will and to use others' +virtues for own ends as readily as their vices. She recognized the +necessity of yielding to Tess's compunctions, more than suspecting +that Dick Blaine would color his own views pretty much to suit his wife's +in any case. And with a lightning ability peculiar to her she saw how to +improve her own plan by yielding. + +"That is settled, then," she said lazily. "Your husband shall continue to +dig near the fort, if he so wishes. But let him show Samson sahib some +specimens of the gold--how little it is--how feeble--how uncertain. Be +sure he does that, please. That will be the end of Gungadhura. And +now it is time to escape from here, and for you to help me." + +Tess resigned herself to the inevitable. Whatever the consequences, +she was not willing to leave Yasmini to starve or be poisoned. + +"I'm ready!" she said. "What's the plan?" + +"I shall leave all the maids behind. They have food enough for the +morning. In the morning, after it is known that I have escaped, word +shall be sent to Samson sahib that the women in this palace have +nothing but poisoned food to eat. He must beard Gungadhura about +that or lose his own standing with the English." + +"But how will you escape?" + +"Nay, that is not the difficulty. Your husband and Tom Tripe are waiting +with the carriage. My part is easy. This is the problem: how will you +follow me?" + +"I don't understand." + +"I must wear your clothes. In the dark I shall get past the guard, making +believe that I am you." + +"Then how shall I manage?" + +"You must do as I say. I can contrive it. Come, the maids and I will +make a true Rajputni of you. Only I must study how to walk as you do; +please walk along in front of me--that way--follow Hasamurti through +that door into my room. I will study how you move your feet and shoulders." + +Looking back as she followed Hasamurti, Tess witnessed a caricature +of herself that made her laugh until the tears came. + +"It is well!" said Yasmini. "This night began in hunger, like the young +moon. Now is laughter without malice. In a few hours will be bright +dawn--and after that, success!" + + + + + +Chapter Eight + + + + +An Elephant Interlude + +Watch your step where the elephants sway +Each at a chain at the end of a day, +Hurrumdi-didddlidi-um-di-ay! +Nothing to do but rock and swing, +Clanking an iron picket ring, +Plucking the dust to flirt and fling; +Keep et ceteras out of range, +Anything out of the way or strange +Suits us elephant folk for change - +Various odds and ends appeal +To liven the round of work and meal. +Curious trunks can reach and steal! +Fool with Two-tails if you dare; +Help yourself. But fool, beware! +Whatever results is your affair! +We are the easiest beasts that be, +Gentle and good and affectionate we, +You are the monarchs; we bow the knee, +Big and obese and obedient--um! +Just as long as it suits us--um! +Hurrumti-tiddli-di-um-ti-um! + +(Unfortunately at this point Akbar's attention was diverted to another +matter, so the rest of his picket-song goes unrecorded.) + + +"They're elephants and I'm a soldier. The trouble with you is nerves, +my boy!" + +There was brandy in the place that Tom Tripe knew of--brandy and +tobacco and a smell of elephants. Dick Blaine, who scarcely ever +touched strong liquor, having had intimate acquaintance with abuse +of it in Western mining camps, had to sit and endure the spectacle +of Tom's chief weakness, glass after glass of the fiery stuff descending +into a stomach long since rendered insatiable by soldiering on peppery +food in a climate that is no man's friend. He protested a dozen times. + +"We may need our wits tonight, Tom. Suppose we both keep sober." + +"Man alive, I've been doing this for years. Brandy and brains are the +same in my case. Keep me without it, and by bedtime I'm an invalid. +Give me all I want of it, and I'm a crafty soldier-man." + +Dick Blaine refilled his pipe and watched for an opportunity. He had +heard that kind of argument before, and had conquered flood and fire +with the aid of the very men who used it, that being the gift (or whatever +you like to call it) that had made him independent while the others drew +monthly pay in envelopes. + +It was a low oblong shed they sat in, with a wide door opening on a side +street within four hundred yards of Yasmini's palace gate. It was +furnished with a table, two chairs and a cot for Tom Tripe's special +use whenever the maharajah's business should happen to keep him +on night duty, his own proper quarters being nearly a mile away. +Alongside the shed was a very rough stable that would accommodate +a horse or two, and the back wall was a mere partition of mud brick, +behind which, under a thatched roof, were tethered some of the maharajah's +elephants. There were two windows in the wall, through which one +could see dimly the great brutes' rumps as they swayed at their pickets +restlessly. The smell came through a broken pane, and every once in +a while the Blaines' horse, standing ready in the shafts outside with a +blanket over him, squealed at it indignantly. + +Tom's horse dozed in the rough shed, being used to elephants. + +Dick got up once or twice to peer through the window at the brutes. + +"Are they tethered fore and aft?" he wondered. + +"No," Tom answered. "One hind foot only." + +"What's to stop them from turning round and breaking down this rotten wall?" + +"Nothing--except that they're elephants. They could break their picket +chains if they were minded to, same as I could break Gungadhura's +head and lose my job. But I won't do it, and nor will they. They're +elephants, and I'm a soldier. The trouble with you is nerves, my boy. +Have some brandy. You're worried about your wife, but I tell you she's +right as a trivet. I'd trust my last chance with that little princess. I've +done it often. Brandy's the stuff to keep your hair on. Have some." + +The bottle had only been three parts full. Tom poured out the last of +it and set a stone jorum of rum in readiness on the table over against the wall. + +"Wish we had hot water handy," he grumbled. + +"Which of the elephants are tethered here?" asked Dick. "That big +one that killed a tiger in the arena the other day?" + +"Yes. Did you see that? Akbar was scarcely scratched. Quickest +thing ever I saw--squealed with rage the minute they turned 'stripes' +loose--chased him to the wall--downed him with a forefoot and crushed +him into tiger jelly before you could say British Constitution!" + +"I guess that tiger had been kept in a cage too long," said Dick. + +"Don't you believe it. He was fighting fit. But they'd given old Akbar +a skinfull of rum, and that turns him into a holy terror. He's quite quiet +other times." + +Dick looked at his watch. Tess had been in the palace about three hours, +and he was confident she would come away as soon as possible, if +for no other reason than to put an end to his anxiety. She was likely +to appear at the gate at any minute. At any minute Tom Tripe was likely +to attack the jorum, and if present symptoms went for anything, it would +not take much of it to make him worse than useless. At present he +was growing reminiscent. + +"Once old Akbar had a belly-ache and they gave him arrak. They didn't +catch him for two days! He pulled up his picket-stake and lit out for +the horizon, chasing dogs and hens and monkeys and anything else +be could find that annoyed him. Screamed like a locomotive. Horrid sight!" + +"Where does this road outside lead to?" asked Dick. + +"Don't lead anywhere. Blind alley. Why?" + +"Oh, nothing." + +Dick was examining the wall between the shed they sat in and the +stable-place next door. It was much stronger than the mud affair between +them and the elephants. Tom Tripe had nearly finished his tumbler-full, +and there was madness in the air that night that made a man take awfully +long chances. + +"Do you suppose a man could lose his way in the dark between here +and the palace gate?" + +"Not even if he was as drunk as Noah. All he'd have to do 'ud be hold +on to the wall and walk forward. The road turns a corner, but the walls +are all blind and there's no other way but past the palace. You sit here, +though, my boy. No need to try that. Your wife's all right." + +"Well, maybe I'd better stay here." + +"Sure." + +"Do you suppose I could back the dog-cart into the shed where your +horse is? I hardly like to leave my horse standing any longer in the open, +yet he's better in the shafts in case we want him in a hurry." + +"Yes, the door's wide enough." + +"Then I'll do it." + +"Suit yourself. But take some of that rum before you go outside. The +night air's bad for your lungs. Help yourself and pass the bottle, as +the Queen said to the Archbishop of Canterbury." + +"All right, I will." + +Dick poured a little on his handkerchief, thrust the handkerchief through +the broken pane and waved it violently to spread the smell. It was +cheap, immodest stuff, blatant with its own advertisement. Then he +set the jorum down on the end of the table farthest from the wall, to +the best of his judgment out of reach from the window. + +"Come along, Tom," he said then. "Help me with the horse." + +"What's your hurry? Take a drink first." + +"No, let's take one together afterward." + +He took Tom by the shoulder and pushed him to his feet. + +"The horse might break away. Come on, man, hurry!" + +Over his shoulder Dick could see a long trunk nosing its way gingerly +through the broken pane and searching out the source of the alluring +smell. He pushed Tripe along in front of him, and together they backed +the dog-cart into the stable-place, making a very clumsy business of +it for three reasons: Tom Tripe was none too sober: the horse was +nearly crazy with fear of the uncanny brutes just beyond the wall; and +Dick was in too much hurry for reasons of his own. However, they got +horse and cart in backward, and the door shut before the crash came. + +The crash was of a falling mud-brick wall, pushed outward by the shoulders +of a pachyderm that wanted alcohol. The beast had had it out of all +sorts of containers and knew the trick of emptying the last drop. The +jorum was about his usual dose. + +About two minutes later, while Dick and Tom Tripe between them held +a horse in intolerable durance between the shafts, and Tom's horse +out of sympathy kicked out at random into every shadow he could reach, +the door and part of the wall of Tom's shed fell outward into the pitch +dark street as Akbar, eleven feet four inches at the shoulder, strode +forward conjecturing what worlds were yet to conquer. The other elephants +stood motionless at their pickets. A terrified mahout emerged through +the debris like a devil from bell's bunkers, calling to his elephant all the +endearing epithets he knew, and cursing him alternately. The horses +grew calmer and submitted to caresses, like children and all creatures +that have intimate contact with strong men; and presently the night grew still. + +"D'you suppose that brute swiped my liquor?" wondered Tom Tripe. + "You mind the horses while I look." + +But suddenly there was a savage noise of trumpeting up-street, followed +by a bark and a yelp of canine terror. + +"God!" swore Tom. "That's Trotters coming to fetch us! Akbar's chasing +him back this way! Hang on to the horse like ten men! I'll go see!" + +He was outside before Dick could remonstrate. Between them they +had lashed the dog-cart wheels during the first panic, but even so Dick +had his hands full, as the trumpeting drew nearer and the horse went +into agonies of senseless fear. It was a fight, nothing less, between +thinking man and mere instinctive beast, and eventually Dick threw him +with a trick of the reins about his legs, and knelt on his head to keep +him down. By the grace of the powers of unexpectedness neither shafts +nor harness broke. + +Outside in the darkness Tom Tripe peered through brandied eyes at +a great shadow that hunted to and fro a hundred yards away, chasing +something that was quite invisible, and making enough noise about it +to awake the dead. + +"Trotters!" he yelled. "Trotters!" + +A moment later a smaller shadow came into view at top speed, panting, +chased hotly by the bigger one. + +"Trotters! Get back where you came from! Back, d'ye hear me! Back!" + +Within ten yards of his master the dog stopped to do his thinking, and +the elephant screamed with a sort of hunter's ecstasy as he closed +on him with a rush. But thought is swift, and obedience good judgment. +The dog doubled of a sudden between Akbar's legs and the elephant +slid on his rump in the futile effort to turn after him--then crashed into +the wall opposite Tripe's dismantled shed--cannoned off it with a grunt +of sheer disgust--and set off up-street, once more in hot pursuit. + + "That brute got my good rum, damn him!" said Tom, opening +the stable door. "Hello! Horse down? Any harm done? Right-oh! +We'll soon have him up again. Better hurry now--Trotters came for us." + + + + + +Chapter Nine + + + + +So many look at the color, +So many study design, +Some of 'em squint through a microscope +To judge if the texture is fine. +A few give a thought to the price of the stuff, +Some feel of the heft in the hand, +But once in a while there is one who can smile +And--appraising the lot--understand. +Look out, +When the seemingly sold understand! +All's planned, +For the cook of the stew to be canned +Out o' hand, +When the due to be choused understand! + + +"It means, the toils are closing in on Gungadhura!" + +Within the palace Tess was reveling in vaudeville In the first place, +Yasmini had no Western views on modesty. Whatever her mother +may have taught her in that respect had gone the way of all the other +handicaps she saw fit to throw into the discard, or to retain for use solely +when she saw there was advantage. The East uses dress for ornament, +and understands its use. The veil is for places where men might look +with too bold eyes and covet. Out of sight of privileged men prudery +has no place, and almost no advocates all the way from Peshawar to +Cape Comorin. + +And Yasmini had loved dancing since the days when she tottered her +first steps for her mother's and Bubru Singh's delight. Long before +an American converted the Russian Royal Ballet, and the Russian Royal +Ballet in return took all the theatre-going West by storm--scandalizing, + then amazing, then educating bit by bit--Yasmini had developed her +own ideas and brought them by arduous practise to something near +perfection. To that her strength, agility and sinuous grace were largely +due; and she practised no deceptions on herself, but valued all three +qualities for their effect on other people, keeping no light under a bushel. + +The consciousness of that night's climactic quality raised her spirits +to the point where they were irrepressible, and she danced her garments +off one by one, using each in turn as a foil for her art until there was +nothing left with which to multiply rhythm and she danced before the +long French mirrors yet more gracefully with nothing on at all. + +Getting Tess disrobed was a different matter. She did not own to much +prudery, but the maids' eyes were over-curious. And, lacking, as she +knew she did, Yasmini's ability to justify nakedness by poetry of motion, +she hid behind a curtain and was royally laughed at for her pains. But +she was satisfied to retain that intangible element that is best named +dignity, and let the laughter pass unchallenged. Yasmini, with her Eastern +heritage, could be dignified as well as beautiful as nature made her. +Not so Tess, or at any rate she thought not, and what one thinks is after +all the only gage acceptable. + +Then came the gorgeous fun of putting on Tess's clothes, each to be +danced in as its turn came, and made fun of, so that Tess herself began +to believe all Western clothes were awkward, idiotic things--until Yasmini +stood clothed complete at last, with her golden hair all coiled under +a Paris hat, and looked as lovely that way as any. The two women were +almost exactly the same size. Even the shoes fitted, and when Yasmini +walked the length of the room with Tess's very stride and attitude Tess +got her first genuine glimpse of herself as another's capably critical +eyes saw her--a priceless experience, and not so humiliating after all. + +They dressed up Tess in man's clothes--a young Rajput's--a suit Yasmini +had worn on one of her wild excursions, and what with the coiled turban +of yellow silk and a little black mustache adjusted by cunning fingers +she felt as happy as a child in fancy dress. But she found it more difficult +to imitate the Rajput walk than Yasmini did to copy her tricks of carriage. +For a few minutes they played at walking together up and down the room +before the mirror, applauded by the giggling maids. But then suddenly +came anti-climax. There was a great hammering at the outer door, and +one of the maids ran down to investigate, while they waited in breathless silence. + +The news the maid brought back was the worst imaginable. The look-out +at the northern corner of the wall (Yasmini kept watch on her captors +as rigorously as they spied on her) had run with the word to the gateman +that Gungadhura himself was coming with three eunuchs, all four on foot. + +Almost as soon as the breathless girl could break that evil tidings there +came another hammering, and this time Hasamurti went down to answer. +Her news was worse. Gungadhura was at the outer gate demanding +admission, and threatening to order the guard to break the gate in if refused. + +"What harm can he do?" demanded Tess. "He won't dare try any violence +in front of me. Let us change clothes again." + +Yasmini laughed at her. + +"A prince on a horse may ride from harm," she answered. "When princes +walk, let other folk 'ware trouble! He comes to have his will on me. +Those eunuchs are the leash that always hunt with him by night. They +will manhandle you, too, if they once get in, and Gungadhura will take +his chance of trouble afterward. The guard dare not refuse him." + +"What shall we do?" Tess wondered. "Can we hide?" Then, pulling +herself together for the sake of her race and her Western womanhood: +"If we make noise enough at the gate my husband will come. We're all right." + +"If there are any gods at all," said Yasmini piously, "they will consider +our plight. I think this is a vengeance on me because I said I will leave +my maids behind. I will not leave them! Hasamurti--you and the others +make ready for the street!" + +That was a simple matter. In three minutes all five women were back +in the room, veiled from head to foot. But the hammering at the front +door was repeated, louder than before. Tess wondered whether to +hope that the risaldar of the guard had already reported to Gungadhura +the lady doctor's visit, or to hope that he had not. + +"We will all go down together now," Yasmini decided, and promptly +she started to lead the way alone. But Hasamurti sprang to her side, +and insisted with tears on disguising herself as her mistress and staying +behind to provide one slim chance for the rest to escape. + +"In the dark you will pass for the memsahib," she urged. "The memsahib +will pass for a man. Wait by the gate until the maharajah enters, while +I stand at the door under the lamp as a decoy. I will run into the house, +and he will follow with the eunuchs, while the rest of you slip out through +the gate, and run before the guard can close it. Perhaps one, at least, +of the other maids had better stay with me." + +A second maid volunteered, but Yasmini would have none of that plan. +First and last the great outstanding difference between her and the +ordinary run of conspirators, Western or Eastern, was unwillingness +to sacrifice faithful friends even in a pinch--although she could be +ruthlessness itself toward half-hearted ones. Both those habits grew +on her as she grew older. + +By the time they reached the little curtained outer hall the maids were +on the verge of hysteria. Tess had herself well in control, and was praying +busily that her husband might only be near enough to hear the racket +at the gate. She was willing to be satisfied with that, and to ask no further +favors of Providence, unless that Dick should have Tom Tripe with him. +Outwardly calm enough, she could not for the life of her remember to +stride like a man. Yasmini turned more than once to rally her about it. + +Yasmini herself looked unaccountably meek in the Western dress, but +her blue eyes blazed with fury and she walked with confidence, issuing +her orders in a level voice. The gateman had come to the door again +to announce that Gungadhura had issued a final warning. Two more +minutes and the outer gate should be burst in by his orders. + +"Tell the maharajah sahib that I come in person to welcome him!" she +retorted, and the gateman hurried back into the dark toward his post. + +There were no lights at the outer gate. One could only guess how the +stage was set--the maharajah hooded lest some enemy recognize him-- +the eunuchs behind him with cords concealed under their loose outer +garments--and the guard at a respectful distance standing at attention. +There was not a maharajah's sepoy in Sialpore who would have dared +remonstrate with Gungadhura in dark or daylight. + +Only as they passed under the yellow light shed by the solitary lantern +on the iron bracket did Tess get an inkling of Yasmini's plan. Light glinted +on the wrought hilt of a long Italian dagger, and her smile was cold- +uncompromising--shuddersome. + +Tess objected instantly. "Didn't you promise you'd kill nobody? If we'd +a pistol we could fire it in the air and my husband would come in a minute." + +"How do we know that Gungadhura hasn't killed your husband, or shut +him up somewhere?" Yasmini answered, and Tess had an attack of +cold chills that rendered her speechless for a moment. She threw it +off with a prodigious effort. + +"But I've no weapon of any kind, and you can't kill Gungadhura, three +eunuchs and the guard as well!" she argued presently. + +"Wait and see what I will do!" was the only answer. "Gungadhura caused +my pistols to be stolen. But the darkness is our friend, and I think the +gods--if there are any gods--are going to assist us." + +They walked to the gate in a little close-packed group, and found the +gateman stuttering through the small square hole provided for interviews +with strangers, telling the maharajah for the third or fourth time that the +princess herself was coming. Gungadhura's voice was plainly audible, +growling threats from the outer darkness. + +"Stand aside!" Yasmini ordered. "I will attend to the talking now." + +She went close to the square hole, but was careful to keep her face in +shadow at the left-hand side of it. + +"What can His Highness, Gungadhura Singh, want with his relative at +this strange hour?" she asked. + +"Open the gate!" came the answer. He was very close to it--ready to +push with his shoulder the instant the bolt was drawn, for black passion +had him in hand. But in the darkness he was as invisible as she was. + +"Nay, how shall I know it is Gungadhura Singh?" + +"Ask the guard! Ho, there! Tell her who it is demands admission!" + +"Nay, they might lie to me! The voice sounds strange. I would open +for Gungadhura Singh; but I must be sure it is he and no other." + +"Look then!" he answered, and thrust his dark face close to the opening. + +Even the utterly base have intuition. Nothing else warned him. In the +very nick of time he stepped back, and Yasmini's long dagger that shot +forward like a stab of lightning only cut the cheek beneath the eye, and +slit it to the corner of his mouth. + +The blood poured down into his beard and added fury to determination. + +"Guards, break in the gate!" he shouted, and Yasmini stood back in the +darkest shadow, about as dangerous as a cobra guarding young ones. +With her left hand she signed to all six women to hide themselves; +but Tess came and stood beside her, minded in that minute to give +Gungadhura Western aftermath to reckon with as well as the combined +present courage of two women. Wondering desperately what she +could do to help against armed men she suddenly snatched one of +the long hat-pins that she herself had adjusted in her own hat on +Yasmini's head. + +Yasmini hugged her close and kissed her. + +"Better than sister! Better than friend!" she whispered. + +Gungadhura had not been idle while he waited for his message to reach +Yasmini, but had sent some of the guard to find a baulk of timber for +a battering-ram. The butts of rifles would have been useless against +that stout iron. + +The gate shook now under the weight of the first assault, but the guards +were handling the timber clumsily, not using their strength together. +Gungadhura cursed them, and spent two valuable minutes trying to +show them how the trick should be worked, the blood that poured into +his beard, and made of his mouth a sputtering crimson mess, not helping +to make his raging orders any more intelligible. + +Presently the second crash came, stronger and more elastic than the +first. The iron bent inward, and it was plainly only a matter of minutes +before the bolt would go. The gateman came creeping to Yasmini's +side, and, with yellow fangs showing in a grin meant to be affectionate, +displayed an Afghan tulwar. + +"Ismail!" she said. "I thought you were afraid and ran to hide!" + +"Nay!" he answered. "My life is thine, Princess! Gungadhura took away +all weapons, but this I hid. I went to find it. See," he grinned, feeling +the edge with his thumb, "it is clean! It is keen! It will cut throats!" + +"I will not forget!" Yasmini answered, but the words were lost in the din +of the third blow of wood on iron. + +The odds began not to look so bad--two desperate women and a faithful +Northern fighting man armed with a weapon that he loved and understood, +against a wounded blackguard and three eunuchs. Perhaps the guard +might look on and not interfere. There was a chance to make a battle +royal of it, whose tumult would bring Dick Blaine and Tom Tripe to the +rescue. What was the dog doing? Tess wondered whether any animal +could be so intelligent after all as Tom pretended his was. Perhaps +the maharajah had seen the dog and killed him. + +"Listen!" she urged. "Tell your maids to stampede for the street the +instant the door breaks in. That will give the guard their work to do to +hold them. Meanwhile--" + +"Thump!" came the timber on the gate again, and even the hinges shook +in their stone setting. + +"Listen!" said Yasmini. + +There was another noise up-street--a rushing to and fro, and a trumpeting +that no one could mistake. + +"I said that--" + +"Thump!" came the baulk of timber--not so powerfully as before. There +was distraction affecting the team-work. The scream of an elephant +fighting mad, and the yelp of a dog, that pierces every other noise, rent +the darkness close at hand. + +"I said that the gods--" + +There came the thud of a very heavy body colliding with a wall, and +another blood-curdling scream of rage--then the thunder of what might +have been an avalanche as part of a near-by wall collapsed, and a brute +as big as Leviathan approached at top speed. + +There was another thud, but this time caused by the hulk of timber falling +on the ground, as guard, eunuchs and Gungadhura all took to their heels. + +"Allah! Il hamdul illah!" swore the gateman. (Thanks be to God!) + +"I said that the gods would help tonight!" Yasmini cried exultantly. + +"O Lord, what has happened to Dick?" groaned Tess between set teeth. + +The thunder of pursuit drew nearer. Possessed by some instinct she +never offered to explain, Yasmini stepped to the gate, drew back the +bolt, and opened it a matter of inches. In shot Tom Tripe's dog, with +his tongue hanging out and the fear of devils blazing in his eyes. Yasmini +slammed the gate again in the very face of a raging elephant, and shot +the bolt in the nick of time to take the shock of his impact. + +It was only a charge in half-earnest or he would have brought the gate +down. An elephant is a very short-sighted beast, and it was pitch-dark. +He could not believe that a dog could disappear through a solid iron +gate, and after testing the obstruction for a moment or two, grumbling +to himself angrily, he stood to smell the air and listen. There was a +noise farther along the street of a stampede of some kind. That was +likely enough his quarry, probably frightening other undesirables along +in front of him. With a scream of mingled frenzy and delight he went +off at once full pelt. + +"Oh, Trotters! Good dog, Trotters!" sobbed Tess, kneeling down to +make much of him, and giving way to the reaction that overcomes men +as well as women. "Where's your master? Oh, if you could tell me +where my husband is!" + +She did not have long to wait for the answer to that. It took the two men +a matter of seconds to get the horse on his feet, and no fire-engine +ever left the station house one fraction faster than Dick tooled that dog-cart. +The horse was all nerves and in no mood to wait on ceremony, which +accounted for a broken spoke and a fragment of the gate-post hanging +in the near wheel. They forgot to unlash the wheels before they started, +so the dog-cart came up-street on skids, as it were, screaming holy +murder on the granite flags--which in turn saved the near wheel from +destruction. It also made it possible to rein in the terrified horse exactly +in front of the palace gate; another proof that as Yasmini said, the gods +of India were in a mood to help that night. (Not that she ever believed +the gods are one bit more consequential than men.) + +Yasmini drew the bolt, and the gate creaked open reluctantly; the shock +of the elephant's shoulder had about ended its present stage of usefulness. +Tom Tripe, dismounting from his horse in a hurry and throwing the reins +over the dog-cart lamp, was first to step through. + +"Where's my dog?" he demanded. "Where's that Trotters o' mine? +Did Akbar get him?" + +A cold nose thrust in his hand was the answer. + +"Oh, so there you are, you rascal! There--lie down!" + +That was all the ceremonial that passed between them, but the dog +seemed satisfied. + +Tess was out through the gate almost sooner than Tom Tripe could +enter it. They brushed each other's shoulders as they passed. Up in +the dog-cart she and her husband laughed in each other's arms, each +at the other's disguise, neither of them with the slightest notion what +would happen next, except that Dick knew the dog-cart wheels would +have to be unlashed. + +"How many people will the carriage hold?" Yasmini called to them, +appearing suddenly in the lamp-light. And Dick Blaine began laughing +all over again, for except for the golden hair she looked so like the wife +who sat on his left hand, and his wife so like a Rajput that the humor +of the situation was its only obvious feature. + +"I must not take my carriage, for they would trace it, and besides, there +is too little time. Can we all ride in your carriage? There are six of us." + +"Probably. But where to?" Dick answered. + +"I will direct. Ismail must come too, but he can run." + +It was an awful crowd, for the dog-cart was built for four people at the +most, and in the end Tess insisted on riding behind Tom Tripe because +she was dressed like a man and could do it easily. Ismail was sent +back to close the gate from the inside and clamber out over the top +of it. There was just room for a lean and agile man to squeeze between +the iron and the stone arch. + +"Let the watchmen who feared and hid themselves stay to give their +own account to Gungadhura!" Yasmini sneered scornfully. "They are +no longer men of mine!" + +"Now, where away?" demanded Dick, giving the horse his head. "To +my house? You'll be safe there for the present." + +"No. They might trace us there." + +Yasmini was up beside him, wedged tightly between him and Hasamurti, +so like his own wife, except for a vague Eastern scent she used, that +he could not for the life of him speak to her as a stranger. + +"Listen!" she said excitedly. "I had horses here, there, everywhere in +case of need. But Gungadhura sent men and took them all. Now I +have only one horse--in your stable--I must get that tonight. First, then, +drive my women to a place that I will show you." + +Away in the distance they could hear the trumpeting of Akbar, and the +shouts of men who had been turned out to attempt the hopeless task +of capturing the brute. At each scream the horse trembled in the shafts +and had to be managed skillfully, but the load was too heavy now for +him to run away with it. + +"If that elephant will continue to be our friend and will only run the other +way for a distraction, so that we are not seen, one of these days I will +give him a golden howdah!" vowed Yasmini. + +And Akbar did that very thing. Whoever was awake that night in Sialpore, +and was daring enough to venture in the dark streets, followed the line +of destruction and excitement, gloating over the broken property of +enemies or awakening friends to make them miserable with condolences. +The dog-cart threaded through the streets unseen, for even the scarce +night-watchmen left their posts to take part in the hunt. + +Yasmini guided them to the outskirts of the town in a line as nearly straight +as the congenital deviousness of Sialpore's ancient architects allowed. +There was not a street but turned a dozen times to the mile. At one +point she bade Dick stop, and begged Tess to let Tom Tripe take her +home, promising to see her again within the hour. But Tess had recovered +her nerve and was determined to see the adventure through, in spite +of the discomforts of a seat behind Tom's military saddle. + +They brought up at last in front of a low dark house at the very edge +of the city. It stood by itself in a compound, with fields behind it, and +looked prosperous enough to belong to one of the maharajah's suite. + +"The house of Mukhum Dass!" Yasmini announced. + +"The money-lender?" + +"Yes." + +Dick made a wry face, for the man's extortions were notorious. But +Yasmini never paused to cast up virtue when she needed assistants +in a hurry; rather she was adept at appraising character and bending +it to suit her ends. Ismail, hot and out of breath from running at the cart-tail, +was sent to pound the money-lender's door, until that frightened individual +came down himself to inquire (with the door well held by a short chain) +what the matter was. + +"I lend no money in the night!" was his form of greeting. He always +used it when gamblers came to him in the heat of the loser's passion +at unearthly hours--and sometimes ended by making a loan at very +high interest on sound security. Otherwise he would have stayed in +bed, whatever the thunderous importunity. + +Yasmini was down at the door by that time, and it was she who answered. + +"Nay, but men win lawsuits by gathering evidence! Are title-deeds not +legal in the dark?" + +"Who are you?" he demanded, reaching backward for a little lamp that +hung on the wall behind him and trying to see her face. + +"I am the same who met you that morning on the hilltop and purchased +silence from you at a price." + +He peered through the narrow opening, holding the lamp above his head. + +"That was a man. You are a woman." + +For answer to that she stood on tiptoe and blew the lamp out. He would +have slammed the door, but her foot was in the way. + +"By dark or daylight, Mukhum Dass, your eyes read nothing but the +names on hundis (notes)! Now, what does the car say? Does the voice +tell nothing?" + +"Aye, it is the same." + +"You shall have that title-deed tomorrow at dawn--on certain terms." + +"How do I know?' + +"Because I say it--I, who said that Chamu would repay his son's loan,-- +I, who knew from the first all about the title-deed,--I, who know where +it is this minute,--I, who know the secrets of Jinendra's priest,--I, whose +name stands written on the hundred-rupee note with which the butler +paid his son's debt!" + +"The princess! The Princess Yasmini! It was her name on the note!" + +"Her name is mine!" + +The money-lender stood irresolutely, shifting his balance from foot +to foot. It was his experience that when people with high-born names +came to him by night mysteriously there was always profit in it for himself. +And then, there was that title-deed. He had bought the house cheap, +but its present value was five times what he gave for it. Its loss would +mean more to him than the loss of a wife to some men--as Yasmini +knew, and counted on. + +"Open the door and let me in, Mukhum Dass! The terms are these--" + +"Nay, we can talk with the door between us." + +"Very well, then, lose thy title-deed! Dhulap Singh, thine enemy, shall +have it within the hour!" + +She took her foot out from the door and turned away briskly. Promptly +he opened the door wide, and called after her. + +"Nay, come, we will discuss it." + +"I discuss nothing!" she answered with a laugh. "I dictate terms!" + +"Name them, then." + +"I have here five women. They must stay in safety in your house until +an hour before dawn." + +"God forbid!" + +"Until an hour before dawn, you hear me? If any come to inquire for +them or me, you must deny any knowledge." + +"That I would be sure enough to do! Shall I have it said that Mukhum +Dass keeps a dozen women in his dotage?" + +"An hour before dawn I will come for them." + +"None too soon!" + +"Then I will write a letter to a certain man, who, on presentation of the +letter, will hand you the title-deed at once without payment." + +"A likely tale!" + +"Was it a likely tale that Chamu would repay his son's debt?" + +"Well--I will take the hazard. Bring them in. But I will not feed them. +And if you fail to come for them before dawn I will turn them out and +it shall be all over Sialpore that the Princess Yasmini--" + +"One moment, Mukhum Dass! If one word of this escapes your lips +for a month to come, you shall go to jail for receiving stolen money in +payment of a debt! My name was on the money that Chamu paid you with. +You knew he stole it." + +"I did not know!" + +"Prove that in court, then!" + +"Bring the women in!" he grumbled. "I am no cackler from the roofs!" + +Yasmini did not wait for him to change his mind but shepherded her +scared dependents through the door, and called for Ismail. + +"Did you see these women enter?" she demanded. + +"Aye. I saw. Have I not eyes?" + +"Stay thou here outside and watch. Afterward, remember, if I say nothing, +be thou dumb as Tom Tripe's dog. But if I give the word, tell all Sialpore +that Mukhum Dass is a satyr who holds revels in his house by night. +Bring ten other men to swear to it with thee, until the very children of +the streets shout it after him when he rides his rounds! Hast thou +understood? Silence for silence! But talk for talk! Hast thou heard, +too, Mukhum Dass? Good! Shut thy door tight, but thy mouth yet tighter! +And try rather to take liberties with hornets than with those five women!" + +Before he could answer she was gone, leaving Ismail lurking in the +shadows. Tess had dismounted from behind Tom Tripe and climbed +up beside her husband so that there were three on the front seat again. + +"Now, Tom Tripe!" Yasmini ordered, speaking with the voice of command +that Tom himself would have used to a subordinate. "Do you as the +elephant did, and cause distraction. Draw Gungadhura off the scent!" + +"Hell's bells, deary me, Your Ladyship!" he answered. "All the drawing +I'll do after this night's work will be my last month's pay, and lucky if I +see that! Lordy knows what the guard'll tell the maharajah, nor what +his rage'll add to it!" + +"Nonsense! Gungadhura and the guard ran from the elephant like dust +before the wind. The guards are the better men, and will be back at +their post before this; but Gungadhura must find a discreet physician +to bind a slit face for him! Visit the guard now, and get their ear first. +Tell them Gungadhura wants no talk about tonight's work. Then come +to Blaine sahib's house and search the cellar by lamplight, letting Chalmu +the butler see you do it, but taking care not to let him see what you see. +What you do see, leave where it lies! Then see Gungadhura early in +the morning--" + +"Lordy me, Your Ladyship, he'll--" + +"No, he won't. He'll want to know how much you know about his behavior +at the gate. Tell him you know everything, and that you've compelled +the guard to keep silence. That ought to reconcile the coward! But if +he threatens you, then threaten him! Threaten to go to Samson sahib +with the whole story. (But if you do dare really go to Samson sahib, +never look me in the face again!) Then tell Gungadhura that you searched +the cellar, and what you saw there under a stone, adding that Blaine +sahib was suspicious, and watched you, and afterward sealed the +cellar door. Have you understood me?" + +"I understand there's precious little sleep for me tonight, and hell in +the morning!" + +"Pouf! Are you a soldier?" + +"I'm your ladyship's most thorough-paced admirer and obedient slave!" +Tom answered gallantly, his mutton-chop whiskers fairly bristling with a grin. + +"Prove it, then, this night!" + +"As if I hadn't! Well--all's well, Your Ladyship, I'm on the job! Crib, +crupper and breakfast-time, yours truly!" + +"When you have finished interviewing Gungadhura, find for Blaine sahib +a new cook and a new butler, who can be trusted not to poison him!" + +"If I can!" + +"Of course you can find them! Tell Sita Ram, Samson sahib's babu, +what is wanted. He will find men in one hour who have too much honor, +and too little brains, and too great fear to poison any one! Say that I +require it of him. Have your understood? Then go! Go swiftly to the +guard and stop their tongues!" + +Tom whistled his dog and rode off at a canter. Dick gave the horse +his head and drove home as fast as the steepness of the hill permitted, +Yasmini talking to him nearly all the way. + +"You must dismiss Chamu," she insisted. "He is Gungadhura's man, +and the cook is under the heel of Chamu. Either man would poison his +own mother for a day's pay! Send them both about their business the +first thing in the morning if you value your life! Before they go, let them +see you put a great lock on the cellar door, and nail it as well, and put +weights on it! If men come at any time to pry about the house, ask +Samson sahib for a special policeman to guard the place!" + +"But what is all this leading to?" demanded Dick. "What does it mean?" + +"It means," she said slowly, "that the toils are closing in on Gungadhura!" + +"The way I figure it," he answered, "some one else had a pretty narrow +shave tonight!" + +Yasmini knew better than to threaten Dick, or even to argue with him +vehemently, much less give him orders. But each man has a line of +least resistance. + +"Your wife has told you what Gungadhura attempted?" she asked him. + +"Yes, while you were at the money-lender's--something of it." + +"If the guard should tell Gungadhura that your wife was in the palace +with me and could give evidence against him, what do you suppose +Gungadhura would do?" + +"Damn him!" Dick murmured. + +"There are so many ways--snakes--poison--daggers in the dark--" + +"What do you suggest?" he asked her. "Leave Sialpore?" + +"Yes, but with me! I know a safe place. She should come with me." + +"When?" + +"Tonight! Before dawn." + +"How?" + +"By camel. I had horses and Gungadhura took them all, but his brain +was too sotted to think of camels, and I have camels waiting not many +miles from here! I shall take my horse from your stable and ride for +the camels, bringing them to the house of Mukhum Dass. Let your +wife meet me there one hour before dawn." + +"Dick!" said Tess, with her arm around him. "I want to go! I know it +sounds crazy, and absurd, and desperate; but I'm sure it isn't! I want +you to let me go with her." + +They reached the house before he answered, he, turning it over and +over in his mind, taking into reckoning a thousand things. + +"Well," he said at last, "once in a while there's the strength of a man +about you, Tess. Maybe I'm a lunatic, but have it your own way, girl, +have it your own way!" + + + + + +Chapter Ten + + + + +In odor of sweet sanctity I bloom, +With surplus of beatitude I bless, +I'm the confidant of Destiny and Doom, +I'm the apogee of knowledge more or less. +If I lie, it is to temporize with lying +Lest obliquity should suffer in the light. +If I prey upon the widow and the dying, +They withheld; and I compel them to do right. +I am justified in all that I endeavor, +If I fail it is because the rest are fools. +I'm serene and unimpeachable forever, +The upheld, ordained interpreter of rules. + + +"Discretion is better part of secrecy!" + +Some of what follows presently was told to Yasmini afterward by Sita Ram, +some of it by Tom Tripe, and a little by Dick Blaine, who had it from +Samson himself. The rest she pieced together from admissions by +Jinendra's fat priest and the gossip of some dancing girls. + +Sir Roland Samson, K. C. S. I., as told already, was a very demon for +swift office work, routine pouring off him into the hands of the right +subordinates like water into the runnels of a roof, leaving him free to +bask in the sunshine of self-complacency. But there is work that can +not be tackled, or even touched by subordinates; and, the fixed belief +of envious inferiors to the contrary notwithstanding, there are hours +unpaid for, unincluded in the office schedule, and wholly unadvertised +that hold such people as commissioners in durance vile. + +On the night of Yasmini's escape Samson sat sweating in his private +room, with moths of a hundred species irritating him by noisy self- +immolation against the oil lamp-whose smoke made matters worse +by being sucked up at odd moments by the punkah, pulled jerkily by +a new man. Most aggravating circumstance of all, perhaps, was that +the movement of the punkah flickered his papers away whenever he +removed a weight. Yet he could not study them unless he spread +them all in front of him; and without the punkah he felt he would die +of apoplexy. He had to reach a decision before midnight. + +Babu Sita Ram was supposed to be sitting tinder a punkah in the next +room, with a locked door between him and his master. He was staying +late, by special request and as a special favor, to copy certain very +important but not too secret documents in time for the courier next day. +There were just as many insects to annoy him, and the punkah flapped +his papers too; but fat though he was, and sweat though he did, his +smile was the smile of a hunter. From time to time he paused from +copying, stole silently to the door between the offices, gingerly removed +a loose knot from a panel, and clapped to the hole first one, and then +the other avidious brown eye. + +Samson wished to goodness there was some one he dared consult with. +There were other Englishmen, of course, but they were all ambitious +like himself. He felt that his prospects were at stake. News had reached +the State Department (by channels Sita Ram could have uncovered +for him) that Gungadhura was intriguing with tribes beyond the northwest frontier. + +The tribes were too far away to come in actual touch with Sialpore, +although they were probably too wild and childish to appreciate that fact. +The point was that Gungadhura was said to be promising them armed +assistance from the British rear--assistance that he never would possibly +be able to render them; and his almost certain intention was, when +the rising should materialize, to offer his small forces to the British +as an inexpensive means of quelling the disturbance, thus restoring +his own lost credit and double-crossing all concerned. A subtle motive, +subtly suspected. + +It was no new thing in the annals of Indian state affairs, nor anything +to get afraid about; but what the State Department desired to know +was, why Sir Roland Samson, K. C. S. I., was not keeping a closer +eye on Gungadhura, what did he propose as the least troublesome +and quietest solution, and would he kindly answer by return. + +All that was bad enough, because a "beau ideal commissioner" rather +naturally feels distressed when information of that sort goes over his +head or under his feet to official superiors. But he could have got +around it. It should not have been very difficult to write a report that +would clear himself and give him time to turn around. + +But that very evening no less an individual than the high priest of Jinendra +had sent word by Sita Ram that he craved the favor of an interview. + +"And," had added Sita Ram with malicious delight, "it is about the treasure +of Sialpore and certain claims to it that I think he wants to see you." + +"Why should he come by night?" demanded Samson. + +"Because his errand is a secret one," announced the babu, with a hand +on his stomach as if he had swallowed something exquisite. + +So Samson was in a quandary, going over secret records getting ready +for an issue with the priest. His report had to be ready by morning, yet +he hardly dared begin it without knowing what the priest might have in +mind; and on his own intricate knowledge of the situation might depend +whether or not he could extract, from a man more subtle than himself, +information on which to base sound proposals to his government. His +reputation was decidedly at stake; and dangerous intrigue was in the +air, or else the priest would never be coming to visit him. + +Sita Ram kept peeping at him through the knot-hole, as a cook peers +at a tit-bit in the oven, to judge whether it is properly cooked yet. + +Jinendra's priest had had time for reflection. True to his kidney, he +trusted nobody, unlike Yasmini who knew whom to trust, and when, +and just how far. It was all over the city that Gungadhura's practises +were hastening his ruin, so it was obviously wise not to espouse the +maharajah's cause, in addition to which he had become convinced in +his own mind that Yasmini actually knew the whereabouts of the Sialpore +treasure. But he did not trust Yasmini either, nor did he relish her +scornful promise of a mere percentage of the hoard when it should +at last be found. He wanted at least the half of it, bargains to the contrary +notwithstanding; and he had that comfortable conscience that has +soothed so many priests, that argues how the church must be above +all bargains, all bonds, all promises. Was there any circumstance, +or man, or woman who could bind and circumscribe Jinendra's high +priest? He laughed at the suggestion of it. Samson was the man to see-- +Samson the man to be inveigled in the nets. So he sent his verbal +message by the mouth of Sita Ram--a very pious devotee of Jinendra +by Yasmini's special orders; and, disguising his enormous bulk in a +thin cloak, set forth long after dark in a covered cart drawn by two tiny bulls. + +There were two doors to Sita Ram's small office; two to Samson's +large one--three doors in all, because they shared the connecting one +(that was locked just now) in common. At the first sound of the long- +awaited heavy footsteps on the outer porch Sita Ram hurried to do the +honors, and presently ushered into Samson's presence the enormous +bulk of the high priest, spreading a clean cloth for him on an easy chair +because the priest's caste put it out of the question for him to sit on +leather defiled by European trousers. + +Then, while the customary salaams were taking place, and the customary +questions about health and other matters that neither cared a fig about, +Sita Ram ostentatiously drew a curtain part-way over the connecting +door, and retired by way of the other door and the passage to remove +the knot from its hole. + +It was part of Samson's pride, and one of his stoutest rungs in the ladder +of preferment, that be knew more Indian languages than any other man +of his rank in the service, and knew them well. There were asterisks +and stars and twiggly marks against his name in the blue book that +would have passed muster as a secret code, and every one of them +betokened passed examinations in some Eastern tongue. So he was +fully able to meet the high priest on his own ground, as well as conscious +of the advantage he held to begin with, in that the priest had come to +him instead of his going to the priest. + +"Well?" he demanded, cutting the pleasantries short abruptly as soon +as Sita Ram had closed the door. + +"I came to speak of politics." + +"I listen." + +Samson leaned back and scrutinized his visitor with deliberate rudeness. +Having the upper hand he proposed to hold it. + +But Jinendra's high priest was no beginner either in the game of +Beggar-my-neighbor. He understood the value of a big trump to begin +with, provided there is other ammunition in reserve. + +"The whereabouts of the treasure of Sialpore is known!" + +"The deuce it is!" said Samson, in good plain English. "Who knows it?" +he demanded. + +The high priest smiled. + +Samson, as was natural, felt that tingling up and down the spine and +quickening of the heart-beats that announces crisis in one's personal +affairs, but concealed it admirably. It was the high priest's turn to speak. +He waited. + +"Half of that treasure belongs to the priesthood of Jinendra," said the +priest at last. + +"Since when?" + +"Since the beginning." + +"Why?" + +"We were keepers of the treasure once years ago, before the English came. +There came a time when the reigning rajah deceived us by a trick, +including murder; and ever since the English took control the priests +have had less and less authority. There has been no chance to-- +to bring any--to put pressure--to reestablish our rights. Nevertheless, +our rights in the matter were never surrendered." + +"What do you mean by that exactly?" + +"The English are now the real rulers of Sialpore." + +Samson nodded. That was a significant admission, coming from a +Brahman priest. + +"They should claim the treasure. But they can not claim it without knowing +where it is. The priests of Jinendra are entitled to their half." + +"You mean you are willing that my government should take half the treasure, +provided the priests of Jinendra get the other half of it?" + +The priest moved his head and his lips in a way that might be taken +to mean anything. + +"If you know where the treasure is, dig it up," said Samson, "and you +shall have your answer!" + +Yasmini in the heat of excitement had called Samson an idiot, but he +was far from being that, as she knew as well as any one. He judged +in that moment that if Jinendra's priest knew really where the treasure +was, he would never have come to drive a bargain for the half of it, +but would have taken all and said nothing. On the other hand, it well +might be that Gungadhura's searchers had stumbled on it. In that +case, there was that secret letter from headquarters hurriedly placed +in his top drawer when the priest came in, that would give good excuse +for putting screws on Gungadhura. A coup d'etat was not beyond the +pale of possibility. As a champion of indiscretion and a judge of +circumstances, he would dare. The gleam in his eyes betrayed that +he would dare, and the priest grew uneasy. + +"It is not I who know where the treasure is. I know who knows." + +"You mean Gungadhura knows!" + +The priest smiled again. The commissioner was not such a dangerous +antagonist after all. Samson's eyes betrayed disappointment, and +the priest took heart of grace. + +"For one-half of the treasure I will tell you who it is that knows. You +can take possession of the of the person. Then--" + +"Illegal. By what right could I arrest a person simply because some +one else asserts without proof that that person knows where the treasure is?" + +"Not arrest, perhaps. But you might protect." + +"From whom? From what?" + +"Gungadhura suspects. He might use poison--torture--might carry the +person off into hiding--" + +He paused, for Samson's eyes were again a signal of excitement. +He had it! He knew as much as the priest himself did in that instant! +There was one particular individual in Sialpore who fitted that bill. + +"Nonsense!" he answered. "Gungadhura would be answerable to +me for any outrages." + +The priest showed a slight trace of dejection, but went forward bravely +to defeat. + +"There is danger," he said. "If Gungadhura should lay hands on all +that money, there would be no peace in Rajputana. I should not bargain +away what belongs to the priesthood, but discretion is permitted me; +if you will agree with me tonight, I will accept a little less than half of it." + +Samson wanted time to think, and he was through with the priest--finished +with the interview,--not even anxious to appear polite. + +"If you bring me definite information," he said slowly, "and on the strength +of that my government should come in possession of the Sialpore +treasure, I will promise you in writing five per cent. of it for the funds +of the priesthood of Jinendra, the money to be held in trust and administered +subject to accounting." + +Jinendra's high priest hove his bulk out of the leather chair and went +through the form of taking leave, contenting himself, too, with the veriest +shell of courtesy--scorn for such an offer scowling from his fat face. +Samson showed him to the door and closed it after him, leaving +Babu Sita Ram to do the honors outside in the passage. + +"I kiss feet!" said the babu. "You must bless me, father. I kiss feet!" + +The priest blessed him perfunctorily. + +"Is there anything I can do, holy one? Anything a babu such as I can +do to earn merit?" + +Rolling on his ponderous way toward the waiting bull-cart, the priest +paused a moment--eyed Sita Ram as a python eyes a meal--and answered him. + +"Tell that woman from me that if she has a plan at all she must unfold +it swiftly. Tell her that this Samson sahib is after the treasure for himself; +that he invited me to help him and to share it with him. Let her have +word with me swiftly." + +"What treasure?" asked Sita Ram ingenuously. Having had his ear +to the knot-hole throughout the interview, it suited him to establish innocence. +The priest could have struck himself for the mistake, and Sita Ram, +too, for the impudence. + +"Never mind!" he answered. "Tell her what I say. Those who obey +and ask no unwise questions oftentimes receive rewards." + +Inside the office Samson sat elated, wiping his forehead and setting +blotter over writing-paper lest sweat from his wrists make the ink run. +It was a bender of a night, but he saw his way to a brilliant stroke of +statecraft that would land him on the heights of official approval forever. +Heat did not matter. The man at the punkah had fallen asleep, but he +did not bother to waken him. Back at the knot-hole, babu Sita Ram +watched him scribble half a dozen letters, tearing each up in turn until +the last one pleased him. Finally he sealed a letter, and directed it by +simply writing two small letters--r. s.--in the bottom left-hand corner. + +"Sita Ram!" he shouted then. + +The babu let him call three times, for evidence of how hard it was to +hear through that thick door. When he came it was round by the other +way in a hurry. + +"You called, sir?" + +"You need not copy any more of those documents tonight, Sita Ram. +I shall send a telegram in the morning and keep my report in hand for +a day or two. But there's one more little favor I would like to ask of you." + +"Anything, sahib! Anything! Am only desirous to please your excellency." + +"Do you know a man named Tripe--Tom Tripe--drill-instructor to the +Maharajah's Guard?" + +"Yes, sahib." + +"Could you find him, do you think?" + +"Tonight, sahib?" + +"Yes, tonight." + +"Sahib, he is usually drunk at night, and very rough! Nevertheless, I +could find him." + +"Please do. And give him this letter. Say it is from me. He will know +what to do with it. Oh, and Sita Ram--" + +"Yes, sahib." + +"You will receive two days' extra pay from me, over and above your +salary, for tonight's extra work." + +"Thank you, sahib. You are most kind--always most generous." + +"And--ah--Sita Ram--" + +"Sahib?" + +"Say nothing, will you? By nothing I mean nothing! Hold your tongue, eh?" + +"Certainly, sahib. Aware of the honor of my confidential position, I am +always most discreet!" + +"What are you doing with that waste-basket?" + +"Taking it outside, sahib." + +"The sweeper will do that in the morning." + +"Am always discreet, sahib. Discretion is better part of secrecy! Better +to burn all torn-up paper before daylight always!" + +"Very good. You're quite right. Thank you, Sita Ram. Yes, burn the +torn paper, please." + +So Sita Ram, piecing together little bits of paper got a very good idea +of what was in the letter that he carried. The bonfire in the road looked +beautiful and gladdened his esthetic soul, but the secret information +thrilled him, which was better. He crossed the river, and very late that +night he found Tom Tripe, as sober as a judge, what with riding back +and forth to the Blaines' house and searching in a cellar and what-not. +He gave him the letter, and received a rupee because Tom's dog +frightened him nearly out of his wits. Tom swore at the letter fervently, +but that was Tom's affair, who could not guess the contents. + +Almost exactly at dawn Sita Ram, as sleepy as a homing owl, reached +his own small quarters in the densest part of town. He had his hand +on the door when another hand restrained him from behind. + +"You know me?" said a voice he did not know. A moment later his +terrified eyes informed him. + +"Mukhum Dass? I owe you nothing!" + +"Liar! You have my title-deed! Hand it over before I bring the constabeel!" + +"I? Your title-deed? I know nothing of it. What title-deed?" + +Mukhum Dass cut expostulation short, and denied himself the pleasure +of further threatening. + +"See. Here is a letter. Read it, and then hand me over my title-deed!" + +"Ah! That is different?" said Sita Ram, pocketing Yasmini's letter, for +precaution's sake. "Wait here while I bring it!" + +Two minutes later he returned with a parchment in a tin tube. + +"Do I receive no recompense?" he asked. "Did I not find the title-deed +and keep it safe? Where is the reward?" + +"Recompense?" growled Mukhum Dass. "To be out of jail is recompense! +The next time you find property of mine, bring it to me, or the constabeel +shall have work to do!" + +"Dog!" snarled the babu after him. "Dog of a usurer! Wait and see!" + + + + + +Chapter Eleven + + + + +To cover a trail is less than half the work, for any dog with a nose +can smell it out. You should make a false trail afterward to deceive +the clever folk. -Eastern Proverb + +"Say: that little girl you're wanting to run off with is my wife!" + +The other side to the intrigue developed furiously up at the Baines' +house on the hillside. Yasmini gave directions from Tess's bedroom, +where Tess hid her from prying servants, she electing to change clothes +once more--this time into her hostess' riding breeches, boots and helmet. +But she insisted on Tess retaining the Rajput costume, only allowing +a hand-bag to be packed with woman's things, skirt, blouse and so on. + +"If I am seen there must be no mistake about me. They must swear +that I am you! It doesn't matter who they believe that you are. Above all, +Chamu the butler must not see me. When he is dismissed in the +morning he will tell tales for very spite, and take his chance of my +accusing him of theft; so be sure that he sees Tom Tripe search the cellar. +Then he will confirm to the maharajah afterward that Tripe did search-- +and did see something--and that Blaine sahib did lock the cellar door +afterward in anger, and put weights on it. That is the important thing. +Blaine sahib must drive the carriage again to the house of Mukhum Dass; +and be sure that I am not kept waiting there--we must start before the +dawn breaks! Now give me paper and a pen to write the chit (letter) for +Mukhum Dass." + +There was no ink in the bedroom; Dick took her into the place he called +his study, and locked the door, glad of the excuse. He was minded +to know more of the intrigue before letting his wife go off again that +night on any wild adventure, second thoughts having stirred his caution. +He began by offering to lend her money, suspecting that a fugitive +princess would need that more than anything. But she replied by drawing +out from her bosom a packet containing thousands of rupees in Bank +of India notes, and gave him money instead--not much, but she forced +it on him. + +"For the three beggars. Ten rupees each. Pay it them in silver in the +morning. They have been very useful often, and may be so again." + +He watched her write the letter and seal the envelope. Then: + +"Say," he said, "don't you think you'd be doing right by telling me more +of this? I'll say nothing to a soul, but that little girl you're wanting to +run off with is my wife, and I'll admit I'm kind o' concerned on her account." + +Yasmini met his iron-gray eyes, judged him and found him good. + +"I never trusted man yet, not even the husband I shall marry, with all +I shall tell you," she answered. "Will you give me silence in return for it?" + +"Mum as the grave," he answered. And Dick Blaine kept his word, not +even hinting to Tess on the long drive afterward that there had been +as much as a question asked or confidence exchanged. And Tess +respected the silence, not deceived for a minute by it. He and Yasmini +had been longer in that room together than any one-page letter needed, +and she was sure there was only one subject they discussed. + +Dick brought Yasmini's horse to the gate, not to the door, and she +mounted outside in the road for additional precaution. Instantly, then, +without a word of farewell she was off like the wind down-hill. + +"It'll be all over town tomorrow that I'm dead or dying, if anybody sees +her!" Dick told his wife. "They'll swear that was you, Tess, riding full +pelt for the doctor!" + +Soon after that Tom Tripe came, and made Chamu hold a light for +him while he searched the cellar. + +"Hold the candle and your tongue too, confound you!" he told the +grumbling butler, indignant at being brought from bed. + +Dick had already put the silver tube in place. Tom Tripe raised the +stone and saw it--uttered a tremendous oath--and dropped the heavy +stone back over the hole. + +"What are you doing?" Dick demanded from the ladder-head, appearing +with a lantern from behind the raised trap. + +"Looking for rum!" Tom answered. Then he turned on Chamu. "Did +you see what I saw? Speak a word of it, you devil, and I'll tear your +throat out! Silence, d'you understand?" + +"Come out of there!" Dick ordered angrily. "I'll have to lock this cellar +door! I can't have people prospecting down there! I've got reasons +of my own for keeping that cellar undisturbed! I'm surprised at you, +Tom Tripe, taking advantage of me when my back's turned!" + +The minute they were up he put a padlock on the trap, and nailed it +down to the beams as well. Then, summoning Tom's aid, he levered +and shoved into place on top of it the heavy iron safe in which he kept +his specimens and money. + +"That'll do for you, Chamu!" he said finally. "I don't care to keep a butler +who takes guests into the cellar at this hour of night! You may go. I'll +give you your time in the morning." + +Chamu showed his teeth, by no means for the first time. It was a favorite +method of his for covering up bad service to fall back on his reference. + +"Maharajah sahib who is recommending me will not be pleased at +my dismissal!" + +"You and your maharajah go to hell together!" Dick retorted. "Tell him +from me that I won't have inquisitive people in my cellar! Now go; +there's nothing more to talk about. Fire the cook, too, as soon as he +wakes! Tell him I don't like ground glass in my omelette! Not been +any in it? Well, what do I care? I don't want any in it--that's enough! +I'm taking no chances. Tell him he's fired, and you two pull your freight +together in the morning first thing!" + +Ten minutes alone with Yasmini had worked wonders with Dick Blaine. +Given to making up his mind and seeing resolution through to stern +conclusions, he was her stout ally from the moment when he unlocked +the study door again until the end--a good silent ally too busy, apparently, +about his own affairs to be suspected. Certainly Samson never suspected +his real share in the intrigue--Samson, the judge of circumstances, +indiscretions, men and opportunity. + +He sent Tom Tripe packing, with a flea in his ear for Chamu's benefit, +and a whispered word of friendship. Later he drove Tess down-hill in +the dog-cart, first changing his own disguise for American clothes +because the saises might be up and about when he returned at dawn, +and for them to see him in the costume of a sais would only have added +to the risk of putting Gungadhura's men on the scent of Yasmini. +Saises are almost the most prolific source of rumor, but he had a means +of stilling their tongues. + +There was little to say during the dark drive. They were affectionate, +those two, without too many words when it came to leave-taking, each +knowing the other's undivided love. Tess had money--a revolver-- +cartridges--some food--sufficient change of clothing for a week-- +sun-spectacles; he reassured himself twice on all those points. + +"If you're camel-sick, fetch it up and carry, on," he advised, "it'll soon +pass. Then a hot bath, if you can get it, before you stiffen. Failing that, oil." + +The camels, with Yasmini and her women already mounted, were kneeling +in the darkness outside the house of Mukhum Dass. + +"Come!" called Yasmini. "Hurry!" + +Dick kissed his wife--waved his hand to Yasmini--helped Tess on to +the last camel in the kneeling line--and they were off, the camel-men +not needing to shout to make those Bikaniri racers rise and start. They +were gone like ghosts into the darkness, making absolutely no noise, +before Dick could steady his nervous horse. + +Then Ismail wanted to tie Yasmini's abandoned horse to the tail of the +dog-cart, but Dick sent him off to stable it somewhere at the other side +of town to help throw trackers off the scent. He himself drove home +by a very wide circuit indeed, threading his cautious way among the +hills toward the gold-diggings, where he drove back and forward several +times around the edges of the dump, in order that the saises might +see the red dirt on the wheels afterward and believe, and tell where +he had been. + +There was some risk that a panther, or even a tiger might try for the +horse in the dark, but that was not the kind of danger that disturbed +Dick Blaine much. A pistol at point-blank range is as good as a rifle +most nights of the week. He arrived home after daylight with a very +weary horse, and ordered the saises to wash the wheels at once, in +order that the color of the dirt might be impressed on them thoroughly. +They were quite sure he had been at the mine all night. Then he paid +off Chamu and the cook and sent them packing. + +He was looking for the beggars, to pay them, when Tom Tripe's dog +arrived and began hunting high and low for Tess. Trotters had something +in his mouth, wrapped in cloth and then again in leather. He refused +to give it to Dick, defying threats and persuasion both. Dick offered +him food, but the dog had apparently eaten--water, but he would not drink. + +Then the three beggars came, and watched Dick's efforts with the +interest of spectators at a play. + +"Messenge!" said Bimbu finally, nodding at the dog. That much was +pretty obvious. + +"Princess!" he added, seeing Dick was still puzzled. It flashed across +Dick's mind that on the dresser in the bedroom was Tess's hat that +Yasmini had worn. Doubtless to a dog's keen nose it smelt of both +of them. He ran to fetch it, the dog followed him, eager to get into the +house. He offered the hat to the dog, who sniffed it and yelped eagerly. + +"Bang goes fifty dollars, then!" he laughed. + +He took the hat to Bimbu. + +"Can you ride a camel?" he demanded. + +The man nodded. "Another would drive it." + +"Do you know where to get one?" + +Bimbu nodded again. + +"Take this hat, so that the dog will follow you, and ride by camel to the +home of Utirupa Singh. Here is money for the camel. If you overtake +the princess there will be a fabulous reward. If you get there soon +after she does there will be a good reward. If you take too long on +the way there will be nothing for you but a beating! Go--hurry--get a +move on! And don't you lose the dog!" + + + + + +Chapter Twelve + + + + +There are they who yet remember, when the depot's forty jaws +Through iron teeth that chatter to the tramping of a throng +Spew out the crushed commuter in obedience to laws +That all accord observance and that all agree are wrong; +When rush and din and hubbub stir the too responsive vein +Till head and heart are conquered by the hustle roaring by +And the sign looks good that glitters on the temple gate of Gain, - +"There are spaces just as luring where the leagues untrodden lie!" + +There are they who yet remember 'mid the fever of exchange, +When the hot excitement throttles and the millions make or break, +How a camel's silent footfall on the ashen desert range +Swings cushioned into distances where thoughts unfettered wake, +And the memory unbidden plucks an unconverted heart +Till the glamour goes from houses and emotion from the street, +And the truth glares good and gainly in the face of 'change and mart: +"There are deserts more intensive. There are silences as sweet!" + + +"Ready for anything! If I weaken, tie me on the camel!" + +There are camels and camels--more kinds than there are of horses. +The Bishareen of the Sudan is not a bad beast, but compared to the +Bikaniri there are no other desert mounts worth a moment's consideration. +Fleet as the wind, silent as its own shadow, enduring as the long hot- +season of its home, the trained Bikaniri swings into sandy distances +with a gait that is a gallop really--the only saddle-beast of all that lifts +his four feet from the ground at once, seeming to spurn the very laws +of gravity. + +They are favored folk who come by first-class Bikaniri camels, for the +better sort are rare, hard held to, and only to be bought up patiently by +twos and ones. Fourteen of them in one string, each fit that instant for +a distance-race with death itself, was perhaps the best proof possible +of Yasmini's influence on the country-side. They were gathered for +her and held in readiness by men who loved her and detested Gungadhura. + +Normally the drivers would have taken a passenger apiece, and seven +of the animals would have been ample; but this was a night and a dawn +when speed was nine-tenths of the problem, and Yasmini had spared +nothing--no man, no shred of pains or influence,--and proposed to spare +no beast. + +They rode in single file, each man with a led camel ridden by a woman, +except that Yasmini directed her own mount and for the most part showed +the way, her desert-reared guide being hard put to keep his own animal +abreast of her. There is a gift--a trick of riding camels, very seldom +learned by the city-born; and he, or she, who knows the way of it enjoys +the ungrudged esteem of desert men all the way from China to Damascus, +from Peshawar to Morocco. The camels detect a skilled hand even +more swiftly than a horse does and, like the horse, do their best work +for the rider who understands. So the only sound, except for a gurgle +now and then, and velvet-silent footfalls on the level sand, was the +grunts of admiration of the men behind. They had muffled all the camel-bells. + +When they started the night was deepest purple, set densely with a +mass of colored jewels; even the whitest of the stars stole color from +the rest. But gradually, as they raced toward the sky-line and the stars +paled, the sky changed into mauve. Then without warning a belt of pale +gold shone in the west behind them, and with the false dawn came the +cool wind like a legacy from the kindly night-gods to encourage humans +to endure the day. A little later than the wind the true dawn came, fiery +with hot promise, and Tess on the last camel soon learned the meaning +of the cloak Yasmini had made her wear. Worn properly it covers all +the face except the eyes, leaving no surface for the hot wind to torture, +and saving the lips and lungs from being scorched. + +In after years, when Yasmini was intriguing for an empire that in her +imagination should control the world, she had the telegraph and telephone +at times to aid her, as well as the organized, intricate system of British +Government to manipulate from behind the scenes; but now she was +racing against the wires, and in no mood to appeal for help to a government +that she did not quite understand as yet, but intended to foot royally +in any case. + +The easiest thing Gungadhura could do, and surest thing he would +attempt once word should reach him that she had vanished from Sialpore +would be to draw around her a network of his own men. Watchers +from the hills and lurkers in the sand-dunes could pass word along of +the direction she had taken; and the sequel, if Gungadhura was only +quick enough, would depend simply on the loneliness or otherwise +of the spot where she could be brought to bay. If there were no +witnesses his problem would be simple. But if murder seemed too +dangerous, there was the Nesting-place of Seven Swans up in the +mountains, as well as other places even lonelier, to which she and +Tess could be abducted. Tess might be left, perhaps, to make her +own way back and give her own explanation of flight with a maharajah's +daughter; but for Yasmini abduction to the hills could only mean one +of two things: unthinkable surrender, or sure death by any of a hundred +secret means. + +So the way they took was wild and lonely, frequented only by the little +jackals that eat they alone know what, and watched by unenthusiastic +kites that always seemed to be wheeling in air just one last time before +flying to more profitable feeding ground. Yet within a thousand paces +of the line they took lay a trodden track, well marked by the sun-dried +bones of camels (for the camel dies whenever he feels like it, without +explanation or regret, and lies down for the purpose in the first +uncomfortable place to hand). + +Yasmini and the guide between them, first one, then the other assuming +the direction, led the way around low hills and behind the long, blown +folds of sand netted scantly down by tufted, dry grass, always avoiding +open spaces where they might be seen, or hollows too nearly shut in +on both sides, where there might be ambush. + +Twice they were seen before the sun was two hours high, the first time +by a caravan of merchants headed toward Sialpore, who breasted a +high dune half a mile away and took no notice; but that would not prevent +the whole caravansary in the city's midst from knowing what they had +seen, and just how long ago, and headed which way, within ten minutes +after they arrived--as, in fact, exactly happened. + +The second party to catch sight of them consisted of four men on camels, +whose rifles, worn military fashion with a sling, betrayed them as +Gungadhura's men. "Desert police" he called them. "Takers of tenths" +was the popular, and much more accurate description. The four gave +chase, for a caravan in a hurry is always likely to pay well for exemption +from delay; and coming nearly at right angles they had all the advantage. +It was crime to refuse to halt for them, for they were semi-military, +uniformed police. Yet their invariable habit of prying into everything +and questioning each member of a caravan would be certain to lead +to discovery. They had a signal station on the hill two miles behind +them, to keep them in touch with other parties, north, south, east and west. +It looked like Yasmini's undoing, for they were gaining two for one +along the shorter course. Tess fingered the pistol her husband had +made her bring, wondering whether Yasmini would dare show fight +(not guessing yet the limitless abundance of her daring), and wondering +whether she herself would dare reply to the fire of authorized policemen. +She did not relish the thought of being an outlaw with a genuine excuse +for her arrest. + +But the four police were oversure, and Yasmini too quick-witted for them. +They took a short cut down into a sandy hollow, letting their quarry get +out of sight, plainly intending to wait on rising ground about a thousand +yards ahead, where they could foil attempts to circumvent them and, +for the present, take matters easy. + +Instantly Yasmini changed direction, swinging her camel to the right, +down a deep nullah, and leading full pelt at right angles to her real course. +It was ten minutes before the men caught sight of them again, and by +that time they had nearly drawn abreast, well beyond reasonable rifle +range, and were heading back toward their old direction, so that the +police had lost advantage, and a stern chase on slower camels was +their only hope but one. They fired half a dozen shots by way of calling +attention to themselves--then wheeled and raced away toward the +signal station on the hill. + +Yasmini held her course for an hour after that, until a spur of the hillside +and another long fold of the desert shut them off from the signaler's view. +There she called a halt, unexpectedly, for the camels did not need it. +She was worried about Tess--the one untested link in her chain of fugitives. + +"Can you keep on through all the hot day?" she asked. "These other +women are as lithe as leopards, for I make them dance. They are better +able to endure than cheetahs. But you? Shall I put two women on +one camel, and send you back to Sialpore with two men?" + +Tess's back ached and she was dizzy, but her own powers had been +tested many a time; this was not more than double the strain she had +withstood before, and she was aware of strength in reserve, to say +nothing of conviction that what Yasmini's maids could do she herself +would rather perish than fall short of. There is an element of sheer, +pugnacious, unchristian human pride that is said to damn, while it saves +the best of us at times. + +"Certainly not! I can carry on all day!" she answered. + +Yasmini emitted her golden bell-like laugh that expressed such +immeasurable understanding and delight in all she understands. (It has +overtones that tell of vision beyond the ken of folk who build on mud.) + +"The maids shall knead your muscles for you at the other end," she +answered. "Courage is good! You are my sister! You shall see things +that the West knows nothing of! If those thrice-misbegotten Takers +of Tenths had not seen us, we would have reached our goal a little after +midday. As it is, they have certainly signaled to another party of +Gungadhura's spawn somewhere ahead of us, who will be coming +this way with eyes open and a lesson in mind for those who disregard +their comrades' challenge to halt and be looted! When I am maharanee + there shall be a new system of protecting desert roads! But I dare +not try conclusions now. We must take a wide circuit and not reach +our destination until night falls. Are you willing?" + +"Ready for anything!" said Tess. "If I weaken, tie me on the camel!" + +"Good! So speaks a woman! One woman of spirit is the master of a +dozen men--always. + +They all drank sparingly of tepid water, ate a little of the food each had, +and were off again without letting the camels kneel--heading now away +from the hills toward a dazzling waste of silver sand, across which the +eyes lost all sense of perspective, and all power to separate three +objects in a row; a land of mirage and monotony, glittering in places +with the aching white of salt deposits. + +The heat increased, but the speed never slackened for an instant. Flies +emerged from everywhere to fasten on to unprotected skin, and the +only relief from them was under the hot cloaks that burned them with +the heat absorbed from sun and wind. But even in that ghastly wilderness +there were other living things. Now and then a lean leopard stole away +from in front of them; and once they saw a man, naked and thinner +than a rake, striding along a ridge on heaven knew what errand. There +were scorpions everywhere. + +Hour after hour, guided by desert-instinct that needs no compass, and +ever alert for sky-line watchers, Yasmini and the headman took turns +in giving direction, he yielding to her whenever their judgment differed. +And whether she was right or not in every instance, she brought them +at last to a little desert oasis, where there was brackish water deep +down in a sand-hole, and a great rock offered shadow to rest in. + +There they lay until the sun declined far enough to lose a little of his +power to scorch, and the camels bubbled to one another, thirstless, +unwearied, dissatisfied, as the universal way of camels is, kneeling in +a circle, rumps outward, each one resentful of the other's neighborhood +and, above all, disgruntled at man's tyranny. + +"By now," laughed Yasmini, smoking one of Tess's cigarettes in the +shadow of the rock, "Gungadhura knows surely that my palace is empty +and the bird has flown. Ten dozen different people will have carried +to him as many accounts of it, and each will have offered different +explanation and advice! I wonder what Jinendra's fat priest has to say +about it! Gungadhura will have sent for him. He would hardly ride to +the priest through the streets, even in a carriage, with that love-token +still raw and smarting with which I marked his face! Two reliable reports +will have reached him already as to which direction I have taken. Yet +the telegraph will have told him that I have not been seen to cross the +border, and he will be wondering--wondering. May he wonder until his +brains whirl round and sicken him!" + +"What can he do?" suggested Tess. + +"Do? He can be spiteful. He will enter my palace and remove the +furniture, taking my mother's legacies to his own lair--where I shall +recover them all within three weeks--and his own beside! I will be +maharanee within the month!" + +"Aren't you a wee bit previous?" suggested Tess. + +"Not I! I never boast. My mother taught me that. Or when I do boast +it is to put men off the scent. I boasted once to Samson sahib when +be offered to have me sent to college, telling him I was in the same +school as himself and would learn the quicker. He has wondered ever +since then what I meant. "Krishna!" she laughed impiously. "I wonder +what Samson sahib would not give to have me in his clutches at this +minute! Have I told you that Gungadhura plots with the Northwest tribes, +and that the English know it? No? Didn't I tell you? Samson sahib +would give me almost anything I asked, if he knew that it was I who +told his government of Gungadhura's plots; he would know then that +with my knowledge to guide him he would be more than a match for +Gungadhura, instead of a ball kicked this and that way between +Gungadhura and the English! Sometimes I almost think he would +consent to try to make me maharanee!" + +"Why not give him the chance then?" + +"For two reasons. The English too often desert their commissioners. +My sure way is better than his blundering attempts! The other reason +is an even better one, and you shall know it soon. I think--I do not know-- +I think, and I hope that the fat high priest of Jinendra is playing me false, +and has gone to Samson sahib to make a bargain with him. Samson +sahib will consent to no bargains with that fat fool, if I am any judge of +hucksters; but he will have his ears on end and his eyes sore with over- +watchfulness from now forward! Oh, I hope Jinendra's priest has gone +to him! I tried to stir treachery in his mind by brow-beating him about +the bargain that be tried to force from me!" + +"But what are you and the priest and Samson all bargaining about?" +demanded Tess. + +"The treasure of Sialpore! But I make no bargains! I, who know where +the treasure is! Why should I offer to share what is mine? I will have +a marriage contract drawn, and you shall be a witness. That treasure +is my dowry. Listen! Bubru Singh my father died without a son--the +first of all that long line who left no son to follow him. The custom was +that he should tell his son, and none else, the secret of the treasure. +He hated Gungadhura; and, not knowing which the English would +choose for his successor, Gungadhura or another man, he told no one, +making only hints to my mother on his death-bed and saying that if I, +his daughter, ever developed brains enough to learn the secret of the +treasure, then I might also have wit enough to win the throne and all +would be well." + +"And you discovered it? How did you discover it?" + + "Not I." + +"Who then?" + +"Your husband did!" + +"My husband? Dick Blaine? But that can't be true; he never told me; +he tells me everything." + +"Perhaps he would have told if he had understood. He hardly understands +yet. Only in part--a little." + +"Then how in the world--?" + +Yasmini's golden laugh cut short the question as she rose to her feet +with a glance at the westering sun. + +"Let us go. Two hours from now we shall cross the border into another +state. Two hours after night-fall our journey is ended. Then the last +game begins--the last chukker--and I win!" + +Tess wished then that they had never halted! The rest had given her +muscles time to stiffen, and her nerves the opportunity to learn how +tired they were. As the camels rose jerkily and followed their leader +in line at the same fast pace as before she grew sick with the agony +of aching bones and the utter weariness of motion repeated again and +again without varying or ceasing. Every ligament in her body craved +only stillness, but the camel's unaccustomed thrust and sway continued, +repeated to infinity, until her nerves grew numb and she was hardly +conscious of time, distance, or direction. + +Once again there was pursuit, but Tess was hardly conscious of it-- +hardly realized that shots were fired--clinging to the saddle in the misery +of a sickness more weakening and deathly than the sort small boats +provide at sea. The sun went down and left her cooler, but not recovered. +She knew nothing of boundaries, or of the changing nature of the country- +side. It meant nothing to her that they were passing great trees now, +and that once they crossed a stream by a wide stone bridge. The only +thought that kept drumming in her mind was that Dick, the ever dependable, +had misinformed her. She had "fetched it up"--a dozen times. True +to his instruction, she had "carried on." But it did not pass! She felt +more sick, more agonized, more weary every minute. + +But at last, because there is an end even to the motion of a camel, in +this world of example instances, about two hours after nightfall the +caravan halted in the shadow of great trees beside a stone house with +a wall about it. Her camel knelt with a motion like a landslide, and Tess +fell off forward on the ground and fainted, only snatched away by strong +hands in the nick of time to save her from the camel's teeth. Uncertain, +unforgiving brutes are camels--ungrateful for the toil men put them to. +For an hour after that she was only dimly conscious of being laid on +something soft, and of supple, tireless women's hands that kneaded +her, and kneaded her, taking the weary muscles one by one and coaxing +them back to painlessness. + +So she did not see the dog arrive--Trotters, the Rampore-Great Dane, +cousin to half the mongrel stock of Hindustan, slobbering on a package +that his set jaws hardly could release; Yasmini, scornful of the laws +of caste and ever responsive to a true friend, pried it loose with strong +fingers. It was she, too, who saw to the dog's needs--fed him and gave +him drink--removed a thorn from his forefoot and made much of him. +She even gave Bimbu food, with her own hands, and saw that his driver +and camel had a place to rest in, before she undid the string that bound +the leather jacket of the package. + +Bimbu on the camel had led the dog by the short route and, having +nothing to be robbed of, had had small trouble with policemen on the way. + +The first thing Tess was really conscious of when she regained her +senses was a great dog that slumbered restlessly beside her own +finger-marked, disheveled, dusty, fifty-dollar hat on the floor near by, +awaking at intervals to sniff her hand and reassure himself--then returning +to the hat to sleep, and gallop in his sleep; a rangy, gray, enormous +beast with cavernous jaws that she presently recognized as Trotters. + +Then came the maids again, afraid for their very lives of the dog, but +still more mindful of Yasmini's orders. They resumed their kneading +of stiff muscles, rubbing in oil that smelt of jasmine, singing incantations +while they worked. They lifted the bed away from the wall, and one +of the women danced around and around it rhythmically, surrounding +Tess with what the West translates as "influence"--the spell that all the +East knows keeps away evil interference. + +Last of all by candlelight, Yasmini came, scented and fresh and smiling +as the flower from which she has her name, dressed now in the soft-hued +silken garments of a lady of the land. + +"Where did you get them?" Tess asked her. + +"These clothes? Oh, I have friends here. Have no fear now--there are +friends on every side of us." + +She showed Tess a letter, pierced in four places by a dog's eye-teeth. + +"This is from Samson sahib. Do you remember how I prayed that +Jinendra's priest might think to play me false? I think he has. Some +one has been to Samson sahib. Hear this: + + "'The Princess Yasmini Omanoff Singh, + "'Your Highness, + "'Word has reached me frequently of late of pressure brought + to bear on you from certain quarters, and hints have been dropped + in my hearing that the object of the pressure is to induce you to + disclose a secret you possess. Let me assure you that my official + protection from all illegal restraint and improper treatment is at your + service. Further, that in case your secret is such as concerns vitally + the political relations, present or future, of Sialpore the proper + person to whom to confide it is myself. Should you see your way to + take that only safe course, you may rest assured that your own + interests will be cared for in every way possible. + "'I have the honor to be, + "'Your Highness' obedient servant, + "'Roland Samson, K. C. S. I.'" + +"That looks fair enough," said Tess. "I dislike Samson for reasons of +my own, but--" + +"Hah!" laughed Yasmini. "He makes love to you! Is it not so? He would +make love to me if I gave him opportunity! What a jest for the gods if +I should play that game with him and make him marry me! I could! I +could make of Samson a power in India! But the man would weary +me with his conceit and his 'orders from higher up' within a week. I +can have power without his help! What a royal jest, though, to marry +Samson and intrigue with all the jealous English wives who think they +pull the strings of government!" + +"You'd get the worst of it," laughed Tess. + +"Maybe. I shall never try it. I am more of the East than the West. But +I will answer Samson. Bimbu shall remain here lest he talk too much, +but the dog shall take a letter to Tom Tripe at dawn. Samson knew hours +ago that I have flown the nest. He will wonder how Tom Tripe holds +communication with me, and so swiftly, and will have greater respect +for him--which may serve us later." + +"Let me add a letter to my husband then, to tell him I'm safe." + +"Surely. But now eat. Eat and be strong. Can you stand? Can you walk? +Have the maids put new life in you?" + +Tess was astonished at her swift recovery. She was a little stiff--a little +weak--a little tired; but she could walk up and down the room with her +natural gait and Yasmini clapped her hands. + +"I will order food brought. Listen! Tonight I am Abhisharika. Do you +know what that is--Abhisharika?" + +Tess shook her head. + +"I go to my lover of my own accord!" + +"That sounds more like West than East!" + +"You think so? You shall come with me and see! You shall play the +part of cheti (the indispensable hand-maiden)--you and Hasamurti. +You must dress like her. Simply be still and watch, and you shall see!" + + + + + +Chapter Thirteen + + + + +Of what use were the gift of gods, +The buoyant sweetness of a virgin state, +The blossomy delight of youth +Ablow with promise of fruit consummate; +What use the affluence of song +And marvel of delicious motion meet +To grace the very revelings of Fawn, +Could she not lay them at another's feet? + + +"I am a king's daughter!" + +That was a night when the full-moon rose in a sea of silver, and changed +into amber as it mounted in the sky. The light shone like liquid honey, +and the shadowed earth was luminous and still. The very deepest of +the shadows glowed with undertones of half-suggested color. Hardly +a zephyr moved. + +"You see?" said Yasmini. "The gods are our servants! They have +set the stage!" + +Hand in hand--Yasmini in the midst in spotless silken white; Tess and +Hasamurti draped in black from head to foot--they left the house by a +high teak door in the garden wall and started down a road half hidden +by lacy shadows. All three wore sandals on bare feet, and Tess was +afraid at first of insects. + +"Have no fear of anything tonight," Yasmini whispered. "The gods are +all about us! Wasuki, who is king of all the snakes, is on our side!" + +One could not speak aloud, for the spell of mystery overlay everything. +They walked into the very heart of silent beauty. Overhead, enormous +trees, in which the sacred monkeys slept, dropped tendrils like long +arms yearning with the love of mother earth. Here and there the embers +of a dying fire glowed crimson, and the only occasional sound was of +sleepy cattle that chewed the cud contentedly--or when a monkey moved +above them to change his roost. Once, a man's voice singing by a +fireside conjured back for a moment the world's hard illusion; but the +stillness and the mystery overcame him too, and all was true again, +and wonderful. + +Hand in hand they followed the road to its end and turned into a lane +between thorn hedges. Now the moon shone straight toward them and +there was no shadow, so that the earth was bright golden underfoot-- +a lane of mellow light on which they trod between fantastic woven walls. +At the end of the lane they came into a clearing at a forested-edge, +where an ancient ruined temple nestled in the shadow of great trees, +its stone front and the seated image of a long-neglected god restored +to more than earthly sanctity and peace by the cool, caressing moonlight. + +"Jinendra again!" Yasmini whispered. "Always Jinendra! His priests +are rascals, but the god himself is kind! When I am maharanee, that +temple shall stand whole again!" + +In front of the temple, between them and the trees, was a pond edged +with carved stone. Lotus leaves floated on the water, and one blue +flower was open wide to welcome whoever loved serenity. + +Still hand in hand, they crossed the clearing mid-way to the pond, and +there Yasmini bade them stand. + +"Draw no nearer. Only stand and watch." + +She had a great blue flower in her bosom that heaved and fell for proof +of her own emotion. Hasamurti's hand was trembling as she nestled +closer, and Tess felt her own pulsing to quick heart-beats as she +clasped the girl's. + +Yasmini left them, and walked alone to the very edge of the pond, where +she stood still for several minutes, apparently gazing at her own reflection +in the moonlit water--or perhaps listening. There was no sign of any +one else, nor sound of footfall. Then, as if the reflection satisfied, or +she had heard some whisper meant for her and none else, she began +to dance, moving very slowly in the first few rhythmic steps, resembling +a water-goddess, the clinging silk displaying her young outline as she +bent and swayed. + +She might have been watching her reflection still, so close she danced +to the water's edge with her back turned to the moon. But presently +the dance grew quicker, and extended arms that glistened in the light +like ivory increased the sinuous perfection of each pose. Still there +was nothing wild in it--nothing but the very spirit of the moonlight, beautiful +and kind and full of peace. She moved now around the water, in a +measured cadence that by some unfathomable witchery of her devising +conveyed a thought of maidenhood and modesty. It dawned on Tess, +who watched her spell-bound, that there was not one immodest thought +in all Yasmini's throng of moods, but only a scorn of all immodesty +and its pretensions. And whether that was art, or sheer expression of +the truth within her rather than a recognition of the truth without, Tess +never quite determined; for it is easier to judge spoken word and +unexpected deed than to see the thought behind it. That night Yasmini's +mood was simpler and less unseemly than the very virgin dress she wore. + +Presently she danced more swiftly, making no sound, so phantom-light +and graceful that the rhythm of her movement carried her with scarce +a touch to earth. That was strength as well as art, but the art made strength +seem spiritual power to float on air. Gaiety grew now into her cadences-- +the utter joy of being young. She seemed to revel in a sense of buoyancy +that could lift her above all the grim deceptions of the world of wrath +and iron, and make her, like the moonlight, all-kind, all-conquering. +Three times round the pond she leapt and gamboled in an ecstasy of +youth undisillusioned. + +Then the dance changed, though there was yet in it the heart of gaiety. +There moved now in the steps a sense of mystery--a consciousness +of close infinity unfolding, far more subtly signified than by the clumsy +shift of words. And she welcomed all the mystery--greeted it with +outstretched arms--was glad of it, and eager-impetuous to know the +new worlds and the ways undreamed of. Minute after minute, rhapsody +on rhapsody, she wooed the near, untouchable delights that, like the +moonbeams, seem but empty nothing when the drudges seize them +for their palaces of mud. + +Nor did she woo in vain. There were stanzas in her dance of simple +gratitude, as if the spirit of the mystery had found her mood acceptable +and dowered her with new ability to see, and know, and understand. +Even the two watchers, hand in hand a hundred paces off, felt something +of the power of vision she had gained, and thrilled at its wonder. + +Borne on new wings of fancy now her dance became a very image of +those infinite ideas she had seen and felt. She herself, Yasmini, was +a part of all she saw--mistress of all she knew--own sister of the beauty +in the moonlight and the peace that filled the glade. The night itself-- +moon, sky and lotus-dappled water--trees -growth and grace and stillness, +were part of her and she of them. Verily that minute she, Yasmini, +danced with the gods and knew them for what in truth they are--ideas +a little lower, a little less essential than the sons of men. + +Then, as if that knowledge were the climax of attainment, and its ownership +a spell that could command the very lips of night, there came a man's +voice calling from the temple in the ancient Rajasthani tongue. + +"Oh, moon of my desire! Oh, dear delight! Oh, spirit of all gladness! Come!" + +Instantly the dance ceased. Instantly the air of triumph left her. As a +flower's petals shut at evening, fragrant with promise of a dawn to come, +she stood and let a new mood clothe her with humility; for all that grace +of high attainment given her were nothing, unless she, too, made of it +a gift. That night her purpose was to give the whole of what she knew +herself to be. + +So, with arms to her sides and head erect, she walked straight toward +the temple; and a man came out to meet her, tall and strong, who strode +like a scion of a stock of warriors. They met mid-way and neither spoke, +but each looked in the other's eyes, then took each other's hands, and +stood still minute after minute. Hasamurti, gripping Tess's fingers, +caught her breath in something like a sob, while Tess could think of +nothing else than Brynhild's oath: + + "O Sigurd, Sigurd, + Now hearken while I swear! + The day shall die forever + And the sun to darkness wear + Ere I forget thee, Sigurd...." + +Her lips repeated it over and over, like a prayer, until the man put his +arm about Yasmini and they turned and walked together to the temple. +Then Hasamurti tugged at Tess, and they followed, keeping their distance, +until Yasmini and her lover sat on one stone in the moonlight on the +temple porch, their faces clearly lighted by the mellow beams. Then +Tess and Hasamurti took their stand again, hand in each other's hand, +and watched once more. + +It was love-making such as Tess had never dreamed of,--and Tess +was no familiar of hoydenish amours; gentle--poetic--dignified on his +part--manly as the plighting of the troth of warriors' sons should be. +Yasmini's was the attitude of simple self-surrender, stripped of all +pretense, devoid of any other spirit than the will to give herself and all +she had, and knowledge that her gift was more than gold and rubles. + +For an hour they sat together murmuring questions and reply, heart +answering to heart, eyes reading eyes, and hand enfolding hand; until +at last Yasmini rose to leave him and he stood like a lord of squadroned +lances to watch her go. + +"Moon of my existence!" was his farewell speech to her. + +"Dear lord!" she answered. Then she turned and went, not looking +back at him, walking erect, as one whose lover is the son of twenty kings. +Without a word she took Tess and Hasamurti by the hand, and, looking +straight before her with blue eyes glowing at the welling joy of thoughts +too marvelous for speech, led them to the lane--the village street--and +the door in the wall again. The man was still gazing after her, erect +and motionless, when Tess turned her head at the beginning of the +lane; but Yasmini never looked back once. + +"Why did you never tell me his name?" Tess asked; but if Yasmini +heard the question she saw fit not to answer it. Not a word passed her +lips until they reached the house, crossed the wide garden between +pomegranate shrubs, and entered the dark door across the body of a +sleeping watchman--or a watchman who could make believe he slept. Then: + +"Good night!" she said simply. "Sleep well! Sweet dreams! Come, +Hasamurti--your hands are cleverer than the other women's." + +Daughter of a king, and promised wife of a son of twenty kings, she +took the best of the maids to undress her, without any formal mockery +of excuse. Two of the other women were awake to see Tess into bed-- +no mean allowance for a royal lady's guest. + +Very late indeed that night Tess was awakened by Yasmini's hand +stroking the hair back from her forehead. Again there was no explanation, +no excuse. A woman who was privileged to see and hear what Tess +had seen and heard, needed no apology for a visit in the very early hours. + +"What do you think of him?" she asked. "How do you like him? Tell me!" + +"Splendid!" Tess answered, sitting up to give the one word emphasis. +"But why did you never tell me his name?" + +"Did you recognize him?" + +"Surely! At once--first thing!" + +"No true-born Rajputni ever names her lover or her husband." + +"But you knew that I know Prince Utirupa Singh. He came to my garden party!" + +"Nevertheless, no Rajputni names her lover to another man or woman-- +calling him by his own name only in retirement, to his face." + +"Why--he--isn't he the one who Sir Roland Samson told me ought to +have been maharajah instead of Gungadhura?" + +Yasmini nodded and pressed her hand. + +"Tomorrow night you shall see another spectacle. Once, when Rajputana +was a veritable land of kings, and not a province tricked and conquered +by the English, there was a custom that each great king held a durbar, +to which princes came from everywhere, in order that the king's daughter +might choose her own husband from among them. The custom died, +along with other fashions that were good. The priests killed it, knowing +that whatever fettered women would increase their sway. But I will revive it-- +as much as may be, with the English listening to every murmur of their +spies and the great main not yet thrown. I have no father, but I need none. +I am a king's daughter! Tomorrow night I will single out my husband, +and name him by the title under which I shall marry him--in the presence +of such men of royal blood as can be trusted with a secret for a day +or two! There are many who will gladly see the end of Gungadhura! +But I must try to sleep--I have hardly slept an hour. If a maid were awake +to sing to me--but they sleep like the dead after the camel-ride, and +Hasamurti, who sings best, is weariest of all." + +"Suppose I sing to you?" said Tess. + +"No, no; you are tired too." + +"Nonsense! It's nearly morning. I have slept for hours. Let me come +and sing to you." + +"Can you? Will you? I am full of gladness, and my brain whirls with a +thousand thoughts, but I ought to sleep." + +So Tess went to Yasmini's room, and sat beneath the punkah crooning +Moody and Sankey hymns and darky lullabies, until Yasmini dropped +into the land of dreams. Then, listening to the punkah's regular soft +swing, she herself fell forward on her arms, half-resting on the bed, +half on the chair, until Hasamurti crept in silently and, laughing, lifted +her up beside Yasmini and left her there until the two awoke near noon, +wondering, in each other's arms. + + + + + +Chapter Fourteen + + + + +He who is most easily persuaded is perhaps a fool, for the world is +full of fools, and it is dangerous to deal with them. But perhaps he +is a man who sees his own advantage hidden in the folds of your +proposal; and that is dangerous too. --Eastern Proverb + + +"Acting on instructions from Your Highness!" + +It tickled Gungadhura's vanity to have an Englishman in his employ; +but Tom Tripe never knew from one day to another what his next +reception would be. On occasion it would suit the despot's sense of +humor to snub and slight the veteran soldier of a said-to-be superior +race; and he would choose to do that when there was least excuse +for it. On the other hand, he recognized Tom as almost indispensable; +he could put a lick and polish on the maharajah's troops that no amount +of cursing and coaxing by their own officers accomplished. Tom +understood to a nicety that drift of the Rajput's martial mind that caused +each sepoy to believe himself the equal of any other Rajput man, but +permitted him to tolerate fierce disciplining by an alien. + +And Tom had his own peculiarities. Born in a Shorncliffe barrack hut, +he had a feudal attitude toward people of higher birth. As for a prince-- +there was almost no limit to what he would not endure from one, without +concerning himself whether the prince was right or wrong. Not that he +did not know his rights; his limitations were not Prussian; he would +stand up for his rights, and on their account would answer the maharajah +back more bluntly and even offensively than Samson, for instance, +would have dreamed of doing. But a prince was a prince, and that +was all about it. + +So, on the morning following the flight of Yasmini and Tess, Tom, +sore-eyed from lack of sleep but with an eye-opener of raw brandy +inside him, and a sense of irritation due to the absence of his dog, +roundly cursed nine unhappy mahouts for having dared let an elephant +steal his rum--drilled two companies of heavy infantry in marching order +on parade until the sweat ran down into their boots and each miserable +man saw two suns in the sky where one should be--dismissed them +with a threat of extra parades for a month to come unless they picked +their feet up cleaner--and reported, with his heart in his throat, at +Gungadhura's palace. + +As luck would have it, the Sikh doctor was just leaving. It always suited +that doctor to be very friendly with Tom Tripe, because there were +pickings, in the way of sick certificates that Tom could pass along to +him, and shortcomings that Tom could overlook. He told Tom that the +maharajah was in no mood to be spoken to, and in no condition to be seen. + +"Then you go back and tell his highness," Tom retorted, "that I've got +to speak with him! Business is business!" + +The doctor used both hands to illustrate. + +"But his cheek is cut with a great gash from here to here! He was testing +a sword-blade in the armory, last night, and it broke and pierced him." + +"Hasn't a soldier like me seen wounds before? I don't swoon away +at the sight of blood! He can do his talking through a curtain if he's minded!" + +"I would not dare, Mr. Tripe! He has given orders. You must ask one +of the eunuchs--really." + +"I thought you and I were friends?" said Tom, with whiskers bristling. + +"Always! I hope always! But in this instance--" + +Tom folded both arms behind his back, drill-master-on-parade fashion. + +"Suit yourself," he answered. "Friendship's friendship. Scratch my +back and I'll scratch yours. I want to see his highness. I want to see +him bad. You're the man that's asked to turn the trick for me." + +"Well, Mr. Tripe, I will try. I will try. But what shall I tell him?" + +Tom hesitated. That doctor was a more or less discreet individual, +or he would not have been sent for. Besides, he had lied quite plausibly +about the dagger-wound. But there are limits. + +"Tell him," he said presently, "that I've found the man who left that +sword in his armory o' purpose for to injure him! Say I need private +and personal instructions quick!" + +The doctor returned up the palace steps. Ten minutes later he came +down again smiling, with the word that Tom was to be admitted. In a +hurry, then, Tom's brass spurs rang on Gungadhura's marble staircase +while a breathless major-domo tried to keep ahead of him. One takes +no chances with a man who can change his mind as swiftly as Gungadhura +habitually did. Without a glance at silver shields, boars' heads, tiger-skins, +curtains and graven gold ornaments beyond price, or any of the other +trappings of royal luxury, Tom followed the major-domo into a room +furnished with one sole divan and a little Buhl-work table. The maharajah, +sprawling on the divan in a flowered silk deshabille and with his head +swathed in bandages, ignored Tom Tripe's salute, and snarled at the +major-domo to take himself out of sight and hearing. + +Soldier-fashion, as soon as the door had closed behind him Tom stood +on no ceremony, but spoke first. + +"There was a fracas last night, Your Highness, outside a certain palace +gate." He pronounced the word to rhyme with jackass, but Gungadhura +was not in a mood to smile. "An escaped elephant bumped into the +gate and bent it. The guard took to their heels; so I've locked 'em all up, +solitary, to think their conduct over." + +The maharajah nodded. + +"Good!" he said curtly. + +"I cautioned the relieving guard that if they had a word to say to any one +they'd follow the first lot into cells. It don't do to have it known that +elephants break loose that easy." + +"Good!" + +"Subsequently, acting on instructions from Your Highness, I searched +the cellar of Mr. Blaine's house on the hill, Chamu the butler holding +a candle for me." "What did he see? What did that treacherous swine +see?" snapped Gungadhura, pushing back the bandage irritably from +the corner of his mouth. + +"Nothing, Your Highness, except that he saw me lift a stone and look +under it." + +"What did you see under the stone?" + +"A silver tube, all wrought over with Persian patterns, and sealed at both +ends with a silver cap and lots o' wax." + +"Why didn't you take it, you idiot?" + +"Two reasons. Your Highness told me to report to you what I saw, not +to take nothing. And Mr. Blaine came to the top of the cellar ladder +and was damned angry. He'd have seen me if I'd pinched a cockroach. +He was that angry that he locked the cellar door afterward, and nailed +it down, and rolled a safe on top of it!" + +"Did he suspect anything?" + +"I don't know, Your Highness." + +"What did you tell him?" + +"Said I was looking for rum." + +"Doubtless he believed that; you have a reputation! You are an idiot! +If you had brought away what you saw under that stone, you might have +drawn your pension today and left India for good!" + +Tom made no answer. The next move was Gungadhura's. There was +silence while a gold clock on the wall ticked off eighty seconds. + +"You are an idiot!" Gungadhura broke out at last. "You have missed +a golden opportunity! But if you will hold your tongue--absolutely--you +shall draw your pension in a month or two from now, with ten thousand +rupees in gold into the bargain!" + +"Yes, Your Highness." (A native of the country would have begun to +try to bargain there and then. But there are more differences than one +between the ranks of East and West; more degrees than one of +dissimulation. Tom gravely doubted Gungadhura's prospect of being +in position to grant him a pension, or any other favor, a month or two +from then. A native of the country would have bargained nevertheless. + +"Keep that guard confined for the present. You have my leave to go." + +Tom saluted and withdrew. He was minded to spit on the palace steps, +but refrained because the guard would surely have reported what he +did to Gungadhura, who would have understood the act in its exact significance. + +As he left the palace yard he passed a curtained two-wheeled cart +drawn by small humped bulls, and turned his head in time to see the +high priest of Jinendra heave his bulk out from behind the curtains and +wheezily ascend the palace steps. + +"A little ghostly consolation for the maharajah's sins!" he muttered, as +he headed toward his own quarters for another stiff glass of brandy +and some sleep. He felt he needed both--or all three! + +"If it's true there's no hell, then I'm on velvet!" he muttered. "But I'm +a liar! A liar by imputation--by suggestion--by allegation--by collusion-- +and in fact! Now, if I was one o' them Hindus I could hire a priest to +sing a hymn and start me clean again from the beginning. Trouble is, +I'm a complacent liar! I'll do it again, and I know it! Brandy's the right +oracle for me!" + +But there was no consolation, ghostly or otherwise, being brought to +Gungadhura. Jinendra's fat high priest, short-winded from his effort +on the stairs, with aching hams and knees that trembled from exertion, +was ushered into a chamber some way removed from that in which +Tom Tripe had had his interview. The maharajah lay now with his head +on the lap of Patali, his favorite dancing girl, in a room all scent and +cushions and contrivances. (That was how Yasmini learned about +it afterward.) + +It was against all the canons of caste and decency to accord an interview +to any one in that flagrant state of impropriety--to a high priest especially. +But it amused Gungadhura to outrage the priest's alleged asceticism, +and to show him discourtesy (without in the least affecting his own +superstitious scruples in the matter of religion.) Besides, his head ached, +and he liked to have Patali's resourcefulness and wit to reenforce his +own tired intuition. + +The priest sat for several minutes recovering breath and equipoise. +Then, when the pain had left his thighs and he felt comfortable, he +began with a bomb. + +"Mukhum Dass the money-lender has been to me to give thanks, and +to make a meager offering for the recovery of his lost title-deed! He +has it back!" + +Gungadhura swore so savagely that Patali screamed. + +"How did he find it? Where?" + +Mukhum Dass had told the exact truth, as it happened, but the priest +had drawn his own conclusions from the fact that it was Samson's babu +who returned the document. He was less than ever sure of Gungadhura's +prospects, suspecting, especially since his own night-interview with +the commissioner, that some new dark plot was being hatched on the +English side of the river. Having no least objection to see Gungadhura +in the toils, he did not propose to tell him more than would frighten and +worry him. + +"He said that a hand gave him the paper in the dark. It was the work +of Jinendra doubtless." + +"Pah! Thy god functions without thee, then! That is a wondrous bellyful +of brains of thine! Do you know that the princess has fled the palace?" + +Jinendra's priest feigned surprise. + +"Is it not as clear as the stupidity on thy fat face that the ten-times casteless +hussy is behind this? Bag of wind and widows' tenths! Now I must buy +the house on the hill from Mukhum Dass and pay the brute his price for it!" + +"Borrowing the money from him first?" the priest suggested with a fat smirk. +None guessed better than he how low debauch had brought the maharajah's +private treasury. + +"Go and pray!" growled Gungadhura. "Are thy temple offices of no +more use than to bring thee here twitting me with poverty? Go and lay +that belly on the flags, and beat thy stupid brains out on the altar step! +Jinendra will be glad to see thy dark soul on its way to Yum (the judge +of the dead) and maybe will reward me afterward! Go! Get out here! +Leave me alone to think!" + +The priest went through the form of blessing him, taking more than the +usual time about the ceremony for sake of the annoyance that it gave. +Gungadhura was too superstitious to dare interrupt him. + +"Better tell that Mukhum Dass to sell me the house cheap," said the +maharajah as a sort of afterthought. Patali had been whispering to him. +"Tell him the gods would take it as an act of merit." + +"Cheap?" said the priest over his shoulder as he reached the door. +"I proposed it to him." (That was not exactly true. He had proposed +that Mukhum Dass should give the title to the temple as an act of grace.) +"He answered that what the gods have returned to him must be doubly +precious and certainly entrusted to his keeping; therefore he would +count it a deadly sin to part with the title now on any terms!" + +"Go!" growled Gungadhura. "Get out of here!" + +After the priest had gone he talked matters over with Patali, while she +stroked his aching head. Whoever knows the mind of the Indian dancing +girl could reason out the calculus of treason. They are capable of +treachery and loyalty to several sides at once; of sale of their affections +to the highest bidder, and of death beside the buyer in his last extremity, +having sold his life to a rival whom they loathe. They are the very +priestesses of subterfuge--idolators of intrigue--past--mistresses of +sedition and seduction. Yet even Patali did not know the real reason +why Gungadhura lusted for possession of that small house on the hill. +She believed it was for a house of pleasure for herself. + +"Persuade the American gold-digger to transfer the lease of it," she +suggested. "He is thy servant. He dare not refuse." + +But Gungadhura had already enough experience of Richard Blaine to +suspect the American of limitless powers of refusal. He was superstitious +enough to believe in the alleged vision of Jinendra's priest, that the +clue to the treasure of Sialpore would be found in the cellar of that house, +where Jengal Singh had placed it; impious enough to double-cross +the priest, and to use any means whatever, foul preferred, to get +possession of the clue. But he was sensible enough to know that +Dick Blaine could not be put out of his house by less than legal process. +Patali, watching the expression of his eyes, mercurially changed her tactics. + +"Today the court is closed," she said. "Tomorrow Mukhum Dass will +go to file his paper and defeat the suit of Dhulap Singh. He will ride +by way of the ghat between the temple of Siva and the place where +the dead Afghan kept his camels. He must ride that way, for his home +is on the edge of town." + +But Gungadhura shook his head. He hardly dared seize Mukhum Dass +or have him robbed, because the money-lender was registered as a +British subject, which gave him full right to be extortionate in any state +he pleased, with protection in case of interference. He could rob +Dick Blaine with better prospect of impunity. Suddenly he decided to +throw caution to the winds. Patali ceased from stroking his head, for +she recognized in his eyes the blaze of determination, and it put all +her instincts on the defensive. + +"Pen, ink and paper!" he ordered. + +Patali brought them, and he addressed the envelope first, practising +the spelling and the none too easily accomplished English. + +"Why to him?" she asked, watching beside his shoulder. "If you send +him a letter he will think himself important. Word of mouth--" + +"Silence, fool! He would not come without a letter." + +"Better to meet him, then, as if by accident and--" + +"There is no time! That cursed daughter of my uncle is up to mischief. +She has fled. Would that Yum had her! She went to Samson days ago. +The English harass me. She has made a bargain with the English to +get the treasure first and ruin me. I need what I need swiftly!" + +"Then the house is not for me?" + +"No!" + +He wrote the letter, scratching it laboriously in a narrow Italian hand; +then sealed and sent it by a messenger. But Patali, sure in her own +mind that her second thoughts had been best and determined to have +the house for her own, went out to set spies to keep a very careful eye +on Mukhum Dass and to report the money-lender's movements to her +hour by hour. + +In less than an hour Dick Blaine arrived by dog-cart in answer to the +note, and Patali did her best to listen through a keyhole to the interview. +But she was caught in the act by Gungadhura's much neglected queen, +and sent to another part of the palace with a string of unedifying titles +ringing in her ears. + +There was not a great deal to hear. Dick Blaine was perfectly satisfied +to let the maharajah search his cellar. He was almost suspiciously +complaisant, making no objection whatever to surrendering the key +and explaining at considerable length just how it would be easiest to +draw the nails. He would be away from home all day, but Chamu the +butler would undoubtedly admit the maharajah and his men. For the +rest, he hoped they would find what they were looking for, whatever +that might be; and he sincerely hoped that the maharajah had not hurt +his head seriously. + +Asked why he had nailed the cellar door down, he replied that he +objected to unauthorized people nosing about in there. + +"Who has been in the cellar?" asked Gungadhura. + +"Only Tom Tripe." + +"Are you sure?" + +"Quite. Until that very evening I always kept the cellar padlocked. It's +a Yale lock. There's nobody in this man's town could pick it." + +"Well--thank you for the permission." + +"Don't mention it. I hope your head don't hurt you much. Good morning." + +Dick little suspected, as he drove the dog-cart across the bridge toward +the club, chuckling over the quick success of Yasmini's ruse, that he +himself had set the stage for tragedy. + + + + + +Chapter Fifteen + + + + +He who sets a tiger-trap +(Hush! and watch! and wait!) +Can't afford a little nap +Hidden where the twigs enwrap +Lest--it has occurred--mayhap +A jackal take the bait. +So stay awake, my sportsman bold, +And peel your anxious eye, +There's more than tigers, so I'm told, +To test your cunning by! + + +"Me for the princess!" + +It is not always an entirely simple matter in India to dismiss domestic +servants. To begin with it was Sunday; the ordinary means of cashing +checks were therefore unavailable, and Dick Blaine had overlooked +the fact that he had no money of small denominations in the house. +It was hardly reasonable to expect Chamu and the cook to leave without +their wages. + +Then again, Sita Ram had not yet sent new servants to replace the +potential poisoners; and Chamu had put up a piteous bleating, using +every argument, from his being an orphan and the father of a son, down +to the less appealing one that Gungadhura would be angry. In vain +Dick reassured him that he and cook and maharajah might all go to hell +together with his, Dick Blaine's, express permission. In vain he advised +him to put the son to work, and be supported for a while in idleness. +Chamu lamented noisily. Finally Dick compromised by letting both +servants remain for one more day, reflecting that they could not very +well tamper with boiled eggs; lunch and dinner he would get at the +English club across the river; for breakfast on Monday he would content +himself again with boiled eggs, and biscuits out of an imported tin, +after which he would cash a check and send both the rascals packing. + +So the toast that Chamu brought him he broke up and threw into the +garden, where the crows devoured it without apparent ill-effect; he +went without tea, and spent an hour or so after breakfast with a good +cigar and a copy of a month-old Nevada newspaper. That religious +rite performed, he shaved twice over, it being Sunday, and strolled out +to look at the horses and potter about the garden that was beginning +to shrivel up already at the commencement of the hot weather. + +"If I knew who would be maharajah of this state from one week to the +next," he told himself, "I'd get a contract from him to pipe water all over +the place from the hills behind." + +He was sitting in the shade, chewing an unlit cigar, day-dreaming about +water-pressure and dams and gallons-per-hour, when Gungadhura's +note came and he ordered the dog-cart at once, rather glad of something +to keep him occupied. As he drove away he did not see Mukhum Dass +lurking near the small gate, as it was not intended that he should. +Mukhum Dass, for his part, did not see Pinga, the one-eyed beggar +with his vertical smile, who watched him from behind a rock, for that +was not intended either. Pinga himself was noticed closely by another man. + +The minute Dick was out of sight Mukhum Dass entered the small gate +in the wall, and called out for Chamu brazenly. Chamu received him +at the bottom +of the house-steps, but Mukhum Dass walked up them uninvited. + +"The cellar," he said. "I have come to see the cellar. There is a complaint +regarding the foundations. I must see." + +"But, sahib, the door is locked." + +"Unlock it." + +"I have no key." + +"Then break the lock!" + +"The cellar door is nailed down!" + +"Draw the nails!" + +"I dare not! I don't know how! By what right should I do this thing?" + +"It is my house. I order it!" + +"But, sahib, only yesterday Blaine sahib dismissed me in great anger +because I permitted another one as much as to look into the cellar!" + +If the tale Yasmini told him on the morning of her first visit to Tess +had not been enough to determine Mukhum Dass, now, with the lost +title-deed recovered, the conviction that Gungadhura wanted the place +for secret reasons, and Chamu's objections to confirm the whole wild +story, he became as set on his course and determined to wring the +last anna out of the mystery as only a money-lender can be. + +"With what money did you repay to me the loan that your son obtained +by false pretenses?" he demanded. + +"I? What? I repaid the loan. I have the receipt. That is enough." + +"On the receipt stands written the number of the bank-note. I have kept +the bank-note. It was stolen from the Princess Yasmini. Do you wish +to go to jail? Then open that cellar door!" + +"Sahib, I never stole the note!" wept Chamu. "It was thrust into my +cummerbund from behind!" + +But Mukhum Dass set his face like a flint, and the wretched Chamu +knew nothing about the law against compounding felonies. Wishing +he had had curiosity enough himself to search the cellar thoroughly +before the door was nailed down, he finally yielded to the money-lender's +threats and between them, with much sweating and grunting, they pushed +and pulled the safe from off the trap. Then came the much more difficult +task of drawing nails without an instrument designed for it. Dick Blaine +kept all his tools locked up. + +"There is an outside door to the cellar, behind the house," said Chamu. + +"But that is of iron, idiot! and bolts on the inside with a great bar resting +in the stonework. Are there no tools in the garden?" + +Chamu did not know, and the money-lender went himself to see. There +Pinga with the vertical smile saw him choose a small crow-bar and return +into the house with it. Pinga passed the word along to another man, +who told it to a third, who ran with it hot-foot to Gungadhura's palace. + +Once inside the house again Mukhum Dass lost no time, arguing to +himself most likely that with the secret of the treasure of Sialpore in +his possession it would not much matter what damage he had done. +He would be able to settle for it. He broke the hasp of the door, and +levered up the trap, splintering it badly and breaking both hinges in the +process, while Chamu watched him, growing green with fear. + +Then he ordered a lamp and went alone into the cellar, while Chamu, +deciding that a desperate situation called for desperate remedies, went +up-stairs on business of his own. It took Mukhum Dass about two minutes +to discover the loose stone--less than two more to raise it--and about +ten seconds to see and pounce on the silver tube. He was too bent +on business to notice the man with the vertical smile peering down at +him through the trap. Pinga escaped from the house after seeing the +money-lender hide the tube inside his clothes, and less than a minute +later a lean man ran like the wind to Gungadhura's palace to confirm +the first's report. + +With a wry face at the splintered trap-door, and a shrug of his shoulders +of the kind he used when clients begged in tears for extra time in which +to pay, Mukhum Dass looked about for Chamu with a sort of half-notion +of giving him a small bribe. But Chamu was not to be seen. So he +left the house by the way he had come, mounted his mule where he +had left it in a hollow down the road, and rode off smiling. + +Ten minutes later Chamu and the cook both left by the same exit. +Chamu had with him, besides his own bundle of belongings, a revolver +belonging to Dick Blaine, two bracelets belonging to Tess, a fountain-pen +that he had long had his heart on, plenty of note-paper on which to have +a writer forge new references, a half-dozen of Dick's silk handkerchiefs +and a turquoise tie-pin. The revolver alone, in that country in those days, +would sell for enough to take him to Bombay, where new jobs with newly +arrived sahibs are plentiful. The cook, not having enjoyed the run of +the house, had only a few knives and a pound of cocoa. They quarreled +all the way down-hill as to why Chamu should and should not defray +the cook's traveling expenses. + +A little later, in the ghat between Siva's temple and the building, where +the dead Afghan used to keep his camels, Mukhum Dass, smiling as +he rode, was struck down by a knife-blow from behind and pitched +off his mule head-foremost. The mule ran away. The money-lender's +body was left lying in a pool of blood, with the clothing torn from it; +and it was considered by those who found the body several hours +afterward and drove away the pariah dogs and kites, that the fact of +his money having been taken deprived the murder of any unusual interest. + +Late that evening Dick Blaine, returning from a desultory dinner at the +club across the river, very nearly fell into the trap-door, for the hamal +had run away too, thinking he would surely be accused of all the mischief, +and no lamps were lit. + +"Well!" he remarked, striking a match to look about him, "dad-blame +me if that isn't a regular small town yegg's trick! You'd think after I gave +Gungadhura the key and all, he'd have the courtesy to use it and draw +the nails! His head can't ache enough to suit me! Me for the princess! +If I'd any scruples, believe me, bo, they're vanished--gone--Vamoosed! +That young woman's going to win against the whole darned outfit, English, +Indian and all! Me for her! Chamu! Where's Chamu? Why aren't the +lamps lit?" + +He wandered through the house in the dark in search of servants, and +finally lit a lamp himself, locked all the doors and went to bed. + + + + + +Chapter Sixteen + + + + +The buildings rear immense, horizons fade +And thought forgets old gages in the ecstasy of view. +The standards go by which the steps were made. +On which we trod from former levels to the new. +No time for backward glance, no pause for breath, +Since impulse like a bowstring loosed us in full flight +And in delirium of speed none aim considereth +Nor in the blaze of burning codes can think of night. +The whirring of sped wheels and horn remind +That speed, more speed is best and peace is waste! +They rank unfortunate who tag behind +And only they seem wise who urge, and haste and haste. +New comforts multiply (for there is need!) +Each ballot adds assent to law that crowds the days. +None pause. None clamor but for speed--more speed! +And yet--there was a sweetness in the olden ways. + + +"And since, my Lords, in olden days--" + +Trotters, fed on chopped raw meat by advice of Tess, and brushed +by Bimbu for an hour to get the stiffness out of him, was sent off in the +noon heat with a double message for his master, one addressed to +Samson, one to Dick Blaine, and both wrapped in the same chewed +leather cover, that the dog might understand. The mongrel in him made +him more immune to heat than a thoroughbred would have been. In +any case, he showed nothing but eagerness to get back to Tom Tripe, +and, settling the package comfortably in his jaws, was off without ceremony +at a steady canter. + +"If all my friends were like that one," said Yasmini, "I would be empress +of the earth, not queen of a little part of Rajputana! However, one thing +at a time!" + +It was hardly more than a village that Tess could see through the jalousies +of her bedroom windows. The room was at a corner, so that she had +a wide view in two directions from either deep window-seat. There +were all the signs of Indian village life about her--low, thatched houses +in compounds fenced with thorn and prickly pear,--temples in between +them,--trades and handicrafts plied in the shade of ancient trees,--squalor +and beauty, leisure, wealth, poverty and lordliness all hand in hand. +She could see the backs of elephants standing in a compound under +trees, and there were peacocks swaggering everywhere, eating the +same offal, though, as the unpretentious chickens in the streets. Over +in the distance, beyond the elephants, was the tiled roof of a great +house glinting in strong sunlight between the green of enormous pipal +trees; and there were other houses, strong to look at but not so great, +jumbled together in one quarter where a stream passed through the village. + +Yasmini came and sat beside her in the window-seat, as simply dressed +in white as on the night before, with her gold hair braided up loosely +and an air of reveling in the luxury of peace and rest. + +"That great house," she said, peering through the jalousies, "is where +the ceremony is to be tonight. My father's father built it. This is not +our state, but he owned the land." + +"Doesn't it belong to Gungadhura now?" Tess asked. + +"No. It was part of my legacy. This house, too, that we are in. Look, +some of them have come on elephants to do me honor. Many of the +nobles of the land are poor in these days; one, they tell me, came on +foot, walking by night lest the ill-bred laugh at him. He has a horse now. +He shall have ten when I am maharanee!" + +"Won't the English get to hear of this?" Tess asked. + +Yasmini laughed. + +"Their spies are everywhere. But there has been great talk of a polo +tournament to be held on the English side of the river at Sialpore. The +English encourage games, thinking they keep us Rajputs out of mischief-- +as indeed is true. This, then, is a conference to decide which of our +young bloods shall take part in the tournament, and who shall contribute +ponies. The English lend one another ponies; why not we? The spies +will report great interest in the polo tournament, and the English will +smile complacently." + +"But suppose a spy gets in to see the ceremony?" Tess suggested. + +Yasmini's blue eyes looked into hers and there was a Viking glare +behind them, suggestive of the wintry fjords whence one of her royal +ancestresses came. + +"Let him!" she said. "It would be the last of him!" + +Tess considered a while in silence. + +"When is the tournament to be?" she asked presently. "Won't the English +think it strange that the conference about men and ponies should be +put off until so late?" + +"They might have," Yasmini answered. "They are suspicious of all +gatherings. But a month ago we worked up a dispute entirely for their +benefit. This is supposed to be a last-hour effort to bring cohesion +out of jealousy. The English like to see Rajputs quarrel among themselves, +because of their ancient saw that says 'Divide and govern!' I do not +understand the English altogether--yet; but in some ways they are like +an open book. They will let us quarrel over polo to our heart's content." + +There is something very close to luxury in following the thread of an +intrigue, sitting on soft cushions with the sunlight sending layers of +golden shafts through jalousies into a cool room; so little of the strain +and danger of it; so much of its engagement. Tess was enjoying herself +to the top of her bent. + +"But when the ceremony is over," she said, "and you yourself have +proclaimed Prince Utirupa king of Sialpore, there will still remain the +problem of how to make the English recognize him. There is Gungadhura, +for instance, to get out of the way; and Gungadhura's sons--how many +has he?" + +"Five, all whole and well. But the dogs must suffer for their breeding. +Who takes a reverter's colt to school into a charger? The English will +turn their eyes away from Gungadhura's stock." + +"But Gungadhura himself?" + +"Is in the toils already! Say this for the English: they are slow to reach +conclusions--slower still to change their policy; but when their mind is +made up they are swift! Gungadhura has been sending messages to +the Northwest tribes. How do I know? You saw Ismail, my gateman? +His very brother took the letters back and forth!" + +"But why should Gungadhura risk his throne by anything so foolish?" + +"He thinks to save it. He thinks to prove that the tribes began the dickering, +and then to offer his army to the English--Tom Tripe and all! Patali +put him up to it. Perhaps she wants a necklace made of Hill-men's teeth-- +who knows? Gungadhura went deeply into debt with Mukhum Dass, +to send money to the Mahsudis, who think more of gold than promises. +The fool imagines that the English will let him levy, extra taxes afterward +to recoup himself. Besides, there would be the daily expenses of his +army, from which he could extract a lakh or two. Patali yearns for +diamonds in the fillings of her teeth!" + +"Did you work out all this deep plot for yourself?" Tess asked. + +"I and the gods! The gods of India love intrigue. My father left me +as a sort of ward of Jinendra, although my mother tried to make a Christian +of me, and I always mistrusted Jinendra's priest. But Jinendra has been +good. He shall have two new temples when I am maharanee." + +"And you have been looking for the treasure ever since your father died?" + +"Ever since. My father prophesied on his death-bed that I should have +it in the end, but all he told to help me find it was a sort of conundrum. +'Whoever looks for flowers,' be said, 'finds happiness. Who looks for +gold finds all the harness and the teeth of war! A hundred guard the +treasure day and night, changing with the full moon!' So I have always +looked for flowers, and I am often happy. I have sent flowers every +day to the temple of Jinendra." + +"Who or what can the hundred be, who guard the treasure day and night?" +Tess wondered. + +"That is what puzzled me. At first, because I was very young, I thought +they must be snakes. So I made friends with the snakes, learning how +to handle even cobras without fear of them. Then, when I had learned +that snakes could tell me nothing, but are only Widyadharas--beautiful +lost fairies dreadfully afraid of men, and very, very wishful to be comforted, +I began to think the hundred must be priests. So I made friends with +the priests, and let them teach me all their knowledge. But they know +nothing! They are parasites! They teach only what will keep men in +their power, and women in subjection, themselves not understanding +what they teach! I soon learned that if the priests were treasure-guards +their charge would have been dissipated long ago! Then I looked for +a hundred trees, and found them! A hundred pipal trees all in a place +together! But that was only like the first goal in the very first chukker +of the game--as you shall learn soon!" + +"Then surely I know!" said Tess excitedly. "In the grounds of the palace +across the river, that you escaped from the night before you came to +see me, there is quite a little forest of pipals." + +"Nine and sixty and the roots of four," Yasmini answered, her eyes +glowing as if there were fire behind them. "The difficulty is, though, +that they don't change with the full moon! Pipal trees grow on forever, +never changing, except to grow bigger and bigger. They outlive centuries +of men. Nevertheless, they gave me the clue, not only to the treasure +but to the winning of it!" + +The afternoon wore on in drowsy quiet, both of the girls sleeping at +intervals--waited on at intervals by Hasamurti with fruit and cooling drinks-- +Yasmini silent oftener than not as the sun went lower, as if the details +of what she had to do that night were rehearsing themselves in her mind. +No amount of questioning by Tess could make her speak of them again, +or tell any more about the secret of the treasure. At that age already +she knew too well the virtue and fun of unexpectedness. + +They ate together very early, reclining at a low table heaped with more +varieties of food than Tess had dreamed that India could produce; +but ate sparingly because the weight of what was coming impressed +them both. Hasamurti sang during the meal, ballad after ballad of the +warring history of Rajasthan and its royal heroines, accompanying herself +on a stringed instrument, and the ballads seemed to strike the right +chord in Yasmini's heart, for when the meal finished she was queenly +and alert, her blue eyes blazing. + +Then came the business of dressing, and two maids took Tess into +her room to bathe and comb and scent and polish her, until she wondered +how the rest of the world got on without handmaidens, and laughed +to think that one short week ago she had never had a personal attendant +since her nurse. Swiftly the luxurious habit grows; she rather hoped +her husband might become rich enough to provide her a maid always! + +And after all that thought and trouble and attention she stood arrayed +at last as no more than a maid herself--true, a maid of royalty; but very +simply dressed, without a jewel, with plain light sandals on her stockinged +feet, and with a plain veil hanging to below her knees--all creamy white. +She admitted to herself that she looked beautiful in the long glass, and +wished that Dick could see her so, not guessing how soon Dick would +see her far more gorgeously arrayed. + +Yasmini, when she came into the room, was a picture to take the breath +away,--a rhapsody in cream and amber, glittering with gems. There +were diamonds sparkling on her girdle, bosom, ears, arms; a ruby +like a prince's ransom nestled at her throat; there were emeralds and +sapphires stitched to the soft texture of her dress to glow and glitter +as she moved; and her hair was afire with points of diamond light. +Coil on coil of huge pearls hung from her shoulders to her waist, and +pearls were on her sandals. + +"Child, where in heaven's name did you get them all?" Tess burst out. + +"These? These jewels? Some are the gifts of Rajput noblemen. +Some are heirlooms lent for the occasion. This--and this" she touched +the ruby at her throat and a diamond that glittered at her breast like +frozen dew-- "he gave me. He sent them by his brother, with an escort +of eight gentlemen. But you should wear jewels, too." + +"I have none--none with me--" + +"I thought of that. I borrowed these for you." + +With her own hands she put opals around Tess's neck that glowed as +if they were alive, and then bracelets on her right arm of heavy, graven +gold; then kissed her. + +"You look lovely! I shall need you tonight! No other human guesses +how I need you! You and Hasamurti are to stand close to me until the end. +The other maids will take their place behind us. Now we are ready. Come." + +Outside in the dark there were torches flaring, and low gruff voices +announced the presence of about fifty men. Once or twice a stallion +neighed; and there was another footfall, padded and heavy, in among +the stamping of held horses. + +The night was hot, and full of that musty mesmeric quality that changes +everything into a waking dream. The maids threw dark veils over them +to save their clothing from the dust kicked up by a crowd, and perhaps, +too, as a concession to the none-so-ancient, but compelling custom +that bids women be covered in the streets. + +Yasmini took Tess by the hand and walked out with her, followed closely +by Hasamurti and the other women, between the pomegranates to the +gate in the garden wall. From that moment, though, she stood alone +and never touched hand, or sought as much as the supporting glances +of her women until they came back at midnight. + +A watchman opened the gate and, Yasmini leading, they passed through +a double line of Rajput noblemen, who drew their sabers at some one's +hoarse command and made a steel arch overhead that flashed and +shimmered in the torchlight. Beyond that one order to draw sabers +none spoke a word. Tess looked straight in front of her, afraid to meet +the warrior eyes on either hand, lest some one should object to a +foreigner in their midst on such a night of nights. + +In the road were three great elephants standing in line with ladders +leaning against them. The one in front was a tusker with golden caps +and chains on his glistening ivory, and a howdah on his back like a +miniature pagoda--a great gray monster, old in the service of three +Rajput generations, and more conscious of his dignity than years. +Yasmini mounted him, followed by Tess and Hasamurti, who took their +place behind her in the howdah, one on either side, Hasamurti pushing +Tess into her proper place, after which her duty was to keep a royal +fan of ostrich plumes gently moving in the air above Yasmini's head. + +The other women climbed on to the elephant behind, and the third one +was mounted by one man, who looked like a prince, to judge by the +jewels glittering in his turban. + +"His brother!" Hasamurti whispered. + +Then again a hoarse command broke on the stillness. Horses wheeled +out from the shadow of the wall, led by saises, and the Rajput gentry +mounted. Ten of them in line abreast led the procession, while some +formed a single line on either hand, and ten brought up the rear. Men +with torches walked outside the lines. But no one shouted. No one spoke. + +Straight down the quiet road under the majestic trees, with the monkeys, +frightened by the torchlight, chattering nervously among the branches,-- +to the right near the lane Yasmini used the night before, and on toward +the shadowy bulk of the great house in the distance the elephant trod +loftily, the swing and sway of his back suggesting ages of past history, +and ever-lasting ages more to come. The horses kicked and squealed, +for the Rajput loves a mettled mount; but nothing disturbed the elephant's +slow, measured stride, or moved the equanimity of his mahout. + +Villagers came to the walls, and stood under the roadside trees to smile +and stare. Every man and child salaamed low as the procession passed, +and some followed in the dust to feast their curiosity until the end of it; +but not a voice was raised much above a whisper, except where once +or twice a child cried shrilly. + +"Why the silence?" Tess asked in a whisper, and without turning her +head Yasmini answered: + +"Would you have the English know that I was hailed as maharanee +through the streets? Give them but leave and they would beat the +tomtoms, and dance under the trees. These are all friends here." + +The great house was surrounded by a high wall, but a gate was flung +wide open to receive them and the procession never paused until the +leading elephant came to a halt under a portico lit by dozens of oil lamps. +Standing on the porch were four women, veiled, but showing the glint +of jewels and the sheen of splendid dresses underneath; they were +the first that night to give tongue in acclamation, raising a hub-bub of +greeting with a waving of slim hands and arms. They clustered round +Yasmini as she climbed down from the elephant, and led her into the +hall with arms in hers and a thousand phrases of congratulation and +glad welcome. + +"Four queens!" Hasamurti whispered. + +Tess and Hasamurti followed, side by side, not down the main hall, +but to the left, into a suite of rooms reserved for women, where they +all removed their veils and the talking and laughter began anew. There +were dozens of other women in there--about half as many ladies as +attendants, and they made more noise than a swarm of Vassar freshmen +at the close of term. + +The largest of the suite of rooms was higher than the rest by half a +dozen steps. At its farther end was a gilded door, on either side of +which, as far as the walls at each end, was a panel of very deeply carved +wood, through the interstices of which every whisper in the durbar hall +was audible when the women all were still, and every man and movement +could be seen. Yasmini took her stand close to the gilded door, and +Tess and Hasamurti watched the opportunity to come beside her--no +very easy matter in a room where fifty women jockeyed for recognition +and a private word. + +But there came a great noise of men's voices in the durbar hall, and +of a roll-call answered one by one, each name being written in a vellum +book, that none might say afterward he was present, who was not, and +none might escape responsibility. The women grew silent as a forest +that rustles and shivers in the night wind, and somebody turned down +the lights, so that it was easier to see through the carved panel, and +not so easy to be seen. Immediately beyond the panel was a dais, +or wide platform, bare of everything except a carpet that covered it +from end to end. A short flight of steps from the center of it led to the +durbar floor below. + +The durbar floor was of polished teak, and all the columns that supported +the high roof were of the same wood, carved with fantastic patterns. +From the center hung a huge glass chandelier, its quivering pendants +multiplying the light of a thousand candles; and in every corner of the +hall were other chandeliers, and mirrors to reflect the light in all directions. + +Grouped in the center of the hall were about two hundred men, all armed +with sabers,--men of every age, and height and swarthiness, from stout, +blue-bearded veterans to youths yet in their teens,--dressed in every +hue imaginable from the scarlet frock-coat, white breeches and high +black boots of a risaldar-major to the jeweled silken gala costume of +the dandiest of Rajput's youth. There was not a man present who did +not rank himself the equal of all reigning kings, whatever outward deference +the exigency of alien overrule compelled. This was a race that, like the +Poles, knew itself to have been conquered because of subdivision +and dissension in its ranks; no lack of courage or of martial skill had +brought on their subjection. Not nearly all their best were there that night-- +not even any of the highest-placed, because of jealousy and the dread +of betrayal; but there was not a priest among them, so that the chance +was high that their trust would be well kept. + +These were the pick of Rajputana's patriots--the men who loved the +old ways, yet admitted there was virtue in an adaptation of the new. +And Yasmini, with a gift for reading men's hearts that has been her +secret and her source of power first and last, was reviving an ancient +royal custom for them, to the end that she might lead them in altogether +new ways of her own devising. + +The roll-call ended, a veteran with a jeweled aigrette in his turban stood +apart from the rest with his back toward the dais steps and made a +speech that was received in silence, though the women peering through +the panel, fluttered with excitement, and the deep breathing in the durbar +hall sounded like the very far-off murmur of a tide. For he rang the +changes on the ancient chivalry of Rajasthan, and on the sanctity of +ancient custom, and the right they had to follow what their hearts +accounted good. + +"And as in ancient days," he said, "our royal women chose their husbands +at a durbar summoned by the king; and because in ancient times, +when Rajasthan was a land of kings indeed and its royal women, as +the endless pages of our history tell, stood proved and acclaimed as +fit to govern, and defend, and die untarnished in the absence of their +lords; therefore we now see fit to attend this durbar, and to witness +and give sanction. Once again, my Lords, a royal daughter of a throne +of Rajasthan shall choose her husband in the sight of all of us let come +of it what may!" + +He ceased, and the crowd burst into cheers. Yasmini translated his +speech afterward to Tess. He said not a word of Gungadhura, or of +the throne of Sialpore, leaving that act of utter daring to the woman who +was, after all, the leader of them all that night. + +Now all eyes were on the dais and the door behind it. In the inner room +the women stirred and whispered, while a dozen of them, putting on +their veils again, gathered around Yasmini, waiting in silence for her to +give the cue. She waited long enough to whet the edge of expectation, +and then nodded. Hasamurti opened the door wide and Yasmini stepped +forth, aglitter with her jewels. + +"Ah-h-h!" was her greeting--the unbidden, irrepressible, astonished gasp +of mixed emotion of a crowd that sees more wonder than it bargained for. + +The twelve princesses took their place beside her on the dais, six on +either side. Immediately behind her Tess and Hasamurti stood. Yasmini's +other maids arranged themselves with their backs to the gilded door. +She, Tess and Hasamurti were the only women there unveiled. + +She stood two minutes long in silence, smiling down at them while Tess's +heart-beats drummed until she lost count, Tess suspecting nervousness +because of her own nerves, and not so wildly wrong. + +"You're not alone," she whispered. "You've a friend behind you--two friends!" + +Then Yasmini spoke. + +"My Lords." The word "Bahadur" rolled from her golden throat like chords +of Beethoven's overture to Leonori. "You do our olden customs honor. +True chivalry had nearly died since superstition and the ebb and flow +of mutual mistrust began to smother it in modern practises. But neither +priest nor alien could make it shame for maidenhood to choose which +way its utmost honor lies. Ye know your hearts' delight. Goodness, love +and soundless fealty are the attributes your manhood hungers for. +Of those three elements is womanhood. And so, as Shri--goddess of +all good fortune--comes ever to her loved one of her own accord and +dowers him with richer blessing than he dreamed, true womanhood +should choose her mate and, having chosen, honor him. My Lords, +I choose, in confidence of your nobility and chivalry!" + +Pausing for a minute then, to let the murmur of assent die down, and +waiting while they stamped and shuffled into three long lines, she +descended the steps alone, moving with a step so dignified, yet modest, +that no memory of past events could persuade Tess it was artistry. +She felt--Tess was sure of it, and swore to it afterward--in her heart of +hearts the full spiritual and profound significance of what she did. + +Beginning at the left end of the first line, she passed slowly and alone +before them, looking each man in the eyes, smiling at each one as she +passed him. Not a man but had his full meed of attention and the honor +due to him who brings the spirit of observance and the will to help another +man succeed. + +Back along the second line she went, with the same supreme dignity +and modesty, omitting not even the oldest veteran, nor letting creep +into her smile the veriest suggestion of another sentiment than admiration +for the manliness by whose leave she was doing what she did. Each +man received his smile of recognition and the deference due his pride. + +Then down the third line, yet more slowly, until Tess had cold chills, +thinking Utirupa was not there! One by one she viewed them all, until +the last man's turn came, and she took him by the hand and led him forth. + +At that the whole assembly milled into a mob and reformed in double +line up and down the room. The same voice that had thundered in the +darkness roared again and two hundred swords leapt from their scabbards. +Under an arch of blazing steel, in silence, Yasmini and her chosen +husband came to the dais and stood facing the assembly hand in hand, +while the swords went back to their owners' sides and once more the +crowd clustered in the center of the hall. + +There was a movement in among them then. Some servants brought +in baskets, and distributed them at about equal intervals amid the forest +of booted legs. When the servants had left the hall, Yasmini spoke. + +"My Lords, in the presence of you all I vow love, honor, fealty and a +wife's devotion to the prince of my choosing--to my husband who shall be-- +who now is by Gandharva ceremony; for I went to him of my own free +will by night! My Lords, I present to you--" + +There was a pause, while every man present caught his breath, and +the women rustled like a dove-cot behind the panel. + +"--Gunga Khatiawara Dhuleep Rhakapushi Utirupa Singh--Maharajah +of Sialpore!" + +Two hundred swords sprang clear again. The chandeliers rattled and +the beams shook to the thunder of two hundred throats. + +"Rung Ho!" they roared. + +"Rung Ho!" + +"Rung Ho!" bringing down their right feet with a stamp all together that +shook the building. + +Then the baskets were cut open by the swords' points and they flung +flowers at the dais, swamping it in jasmine and sweet-smelling buds, +until the carpet was not visible. The same black-bearded veteran who +had spoken first mounted the dais and hung garlands on Yasmini and +her prince, and again the hall shook to the roar of acclamation and the +sharp ringing of keen steel. + +But Yasmini had not finished all she had to say. When the shouting +died and the blades returned to scabbards, her voice again stirred their +emotions, strangely quiet and yet reaching all ears with equal resonance, +like the note of a hidden bell. + +"And since, my Lords, in olden days it happened often that a Rajput +woman held and buttressed up her husband's throne, honoring him +and Rajputana with her courage and her wit, and daring even in the arts +of war, so now: this prince shall have his throne by woman's wit. Before +another full moon rises he shall sit throned in the palace of his ancestors; +and ye who love royal Rajasthan shall answer whether I chose wisely, +in the days to come!" + +They answered then and there to the utmost of their lungs. And while +the hall resounded to the crash and clangor of applause she let go +Utirupa's hand, bowed low to him, and vanished through the gilded +door in the midst of her attendant women. + +For two hours after that she was the center of a vortex of congratulation-- +questions--whisperings--laughter and advice, while the women flocked +about her and she introduced Tess to them one by one. Tess, hardly +understanding a word of what was said to her, was never made so much +of in her life, sharing honors with Yasmini, almost as much a novelty +as she--a Western woman, spirited behind the purdah by the same +new alchemy that made a girl of partly foreign birth, and so without +caste in the Hindu sense of it, revive a royal custom with its antecedents +rooted in the very rocks of time. It was a night of breathless novelty. + +There were the inevitable sweetmeats--the inevitable sugared drinks. +Then the elephants again, and torches under the mysterious trees, with +a sabered escort plunging to the right and left. The same torch-lit faces +peering from the village doors and walls; and at last the gate again in +the garden wall, and a bolt shot home, and silence. Then: + +"Did I do well?" Yasmini asked, leaning at last on Tess. "Oh, my sister! +Without you there to lend me courage I had failed!" + + + + + +Chapter Seventeen + + + + +How about the door! Did somebody lock it? +"I," said the Chairman, "had the key in my pocket." +Who shut the windows? "I," said the vice. +"I shut the window, it seemed to me wise." +"I," said the clerk, "looked under the table +And out on the balcony under the gable." +Then who let the secret out? Who overheard? +Maybe a mouse, or the flies, or a bird! + + +"Suppose I lock the door?" + +Tom Tripe felt like a new man, and his whiskers crackled with self- +satisfaction. For one thing, his dog Trotters was back again--sore-footed, +it was true, and unable at present to follow him on his rounds; and rather +badly scratched where a leopard must have missed his spring on the +moonlit desert; but asleep in the stable litter, on the highroad to recovery. + +Tom had ridden that morning, first to Dick Blaine up at the gold mine, +because he was a friend and needed good news of his wife; then across +the bridge to Samson, straightening out the crumpled letter from Yasmini +as he rode, and chuckling to himself at the thought of mystifying the +commissioner. And it all worked out the way he hoped, even to the offer +of a drink--good brandy--Hennesey's Three Star. + +"How did you manage it?" asked Samson. "The princess has disappeared. +There's a rumor she's over the border in the next state. Gungadhura +has seized her palace and rifled it. How did you get my letter to her, +and her answer so swiftly?" + +"Ah, sir," said Tom Tripe mischievously, "we in the native service have +our little compensations--our little ways and means!" + +That was better than frankincense and myrrh, to mystify a genuine +commissioner! Tom rode back to his quarters turning over the taste +of brandy in his mouth--he had made a martial raid on Samson's tantalus-- +and all aglow with good humor. + +Not so Samson. The commissioner was irritable, and more so now +that he opened the scented letter Tom had brought. It was deuced curt, +it seemed to him, and veiled a sort of suggested laughter, if there was +anything insinuative in polite phrases. + +"The Princess Yasmini Omanoff Singh," it ran, "hastens to return thanks +for Sir Roland Samson's kind letter. She is not, however, afraid of +imprisonment or of undue pressure; and as for her secret, that is safe +as long as the river runs through the state of Sialpore." + +Not a word more. He frowned at the letter, and read and reread it, sniffing +at the scent and holding up the paper to the light, so that Sita Ram very +nearly had a chance to read it through the knot-hole in the door. The +last phrase was the puzzler. It read at first like a boast--like one of those +picturesque expressions with which the Eastern mind enjoys to overstate +its case. But he reflected on it. As an Orientalist of admitted distinction +he had long ago concluded that hyperbole in the East is always based +on some fact hidden in the user's mind, often without the user's knowledge. +He had written a paper on that very subject, which the Spectator printed +with favorable editorial comment; and Mendelsohn K. C. had written +him a very agreeable letter stating that his own experience in criminal +cases amply bore out the theory. He rang the desk bell for Sita Ram. + +"Get me the map of the province." + +Sita Ram held it by two corners under the draughty punkah while Samson +traced the boundaries with his finger. It was exactly as he thought: +without that little palace and its grounds, the state of Sialpore would be +bounded exactly by the river. Take away the so-called River Palace +with the broad acres surrounding it, and the river would no longer run +through the state of Sialpore. That would be the end, then, of the safety +of the secret. There was food for reflection there. + +What if the famous treasure of Sialpore were buried somewhere in the +grounds of the River Palace! Somewhere, for instance, among those +gigantic pipal trees. + +He folded the map and returned it to Sita Ram. + +"I'm expecting half a dozen officers presently. Show them in the minute +they come. And--ah--you'd better lock that middle door." + +Sita Ram dutifully locked the door on Samson's side, and drew the +curtain over it. There was a small hole in the curtain, of peculiar shape-- +moths had been the verdict when Samson first noticed it, and Sita Ram +had advised him to indent for some preventive of the pests; which +Samson did, and the hole did not grow any greater afterward. + +Samson had had to call a conference, much though he disliked doing it. +The rules for procedure in the case of native states included the provision +of an official known as resident, whose duty was to live near the native ruler-- +and keep a sharp eye on him. But Samson, prince of indiscretion, had +seen fit three months before to let that official go home to England on +long leave, and to volunteer the double duty in his absence. The proposal +having economic value, and there being no known trouble in Sialpore +just then, the State Department had consented. + +The worst of that was that there was no one now in actual close touch +with Gungadhura. The best of it was that there was none to share the +knowledge of Samson's underlying scheme--which was after all nothing +but to win high laurels for himself, by somewhat devious ways, perhaps, +but justified in his opinion in the circumstances. And the very worst +of it was that good form and official precedent obliged him to call a +conference before recommending certain drastic action to his government. +Having no official resident to consult, he had to go through the form of +consulting somebody; and the more he called in, the less likelihood +there was of any one man arrogating undue credit to himself. + +They were ushered in presently by Sita Ram. Ross, the principal medical +officer came first; it was a pity he ranked so high that he could not be +overlooked, but there you were. Then came Sir Hookum Bannerjee, +judge of the circuit court--likely to have a lot to say without much meaning +in it, and certainly anxious to please. Next after him Sita Ram showed +in Norwood, superintendent of police; one disliked calling in policemen, +they were so interfering and tactless, but Norwood had his rights. Then +came Topham, acting assistant to Samson, loaned from another state +to replace young Wilkinson, home on sick leave, and full-back on the +polo team--a quiet man as a rule, anxious to get back to his own district, +and probably reasonably safe. Last came Lieutenant-Colonel Willoughby +de Wing--small, brusk and florid--acting in command of the 88th Sikh +Lancers, and preferring that to any other task this side of heaven or hell;-- +"Nothing to do with politics, my boy,--not built that way--don't like 'em-- +never understood 'em anyhow. Soldiering's my business." + +It was well understood it was to be a secret conference. The invitations +had been marked "Secret." + +"Suppose I lock the door," suggested Samson by way of additional +reminder; and he did that, resuming his chair with an expression that +permitted just the least suggestion of a serious situation to escape him. +But he was smiling amiably, and his curled mustache did not disguise +the corners of a wilful mouth. + +"There is proof conclusive," he began, "--I've telegrams here that you +may see in confidence, that Gungadhura has been trafficking with +Northwest tribes. He has sent them money, and made them promises. +There isn't a shade of doubt of it. The evidence is black. The question is, +what's to be done?" + +They passed the telegrams from hand to hand, Norwood looking rather +supercilious. (The police could handle espionage of that sort so much +better.) But it was the youngest man's place to speak first. + +"Depose him, I suppose, and put his young son in his place," suggested +Topham. "There's plenty of precedent." + +The doctor shook his head. + +"I know Gungadhura. He's a bad strain. It's physiological. I've made +a study of these things, and I'm as certain as that I sit here that any son +of Gungadhura's would eventually show the same traits as his sire. +If you can get rid of Gungadhura, get rid of his whole connection by +all means." + +"What should be done with the sons, then?" asked Sir Hookum Bannerjee, +father of half a dozen budding lawyers. + +"Oh, send 'em to school in England, I suppose," said Samson. "There's +precedent for that too. But there's another point. Mukhum Dass the +money-lender has been foully murdered, struck down by a knife from +behind by some one who relieved him of his money. Either a case of +simply robbery, or else--" + +"Or else what?" Colonel Willoughby de Wing screwed home his monocle. + +"That's as obvious as twice two. That rascal Mukhum Dass was bound +to die violently sooner or later. He was notoriously the worst usurer +and title-jumper on this side of India. He charged me once a total of +eighty-five per cent. for a small loan--and legally, too; kept within the law! +I know him!" + +"On the other hand," said Samson, "I've been informed that the cellar +of the house at present occupied by those Americans on the hill--the +gold-miner, you know--Blaine--was burgled last Sunday morning. Blaine +himself complained to me. It seems that he had given Gungadhura +leave to search the cellar, at Gungadhura's request, for what purpose +Blaine professes not to know. Blaine himself, you may remember, lunched +and dined at the club last Sunday and gave three of us a rather costly +lesson in his national game of poker. It took place while he was with +us at the club. He has been able to discover, by cross-examining some +witnesses--beggars, I believe, who haunt the house,--that Mukhum Dass +got to the place ahead of Gungadhura, burgled the cellar, removed +something of great value to Gungadhura, and went off with it. On the +way home he was murdered." + +"The murder of Mukhum Dass was known very soon afterward, of course, +to the police," said Norwood. "But we can't do anything across the river +without orders. Why didn't Mr. Blaine bring his complaint and evidence +to me?" + +"Because I asked him not to!" answered Samson. "We're mixed up +here in a political case." + +"Damn all politics!" growled Willoughby de Wing. + +"If it can be proved that Gungadhura murdered Mukhum Dass, or caused +him to be murdered, I should say arrest him, try the brute and hang him!" +said Topham. "Confound these native princes that take law into their +own hands!" + +"I should say, let's prove the case if we can," said Samson, "and use +that for an extra argument to force Gungadhura's abdication. No need +to hang him. If he'd killed a princess, or an Englishman, we'd be obliged +to take extreme measures; but, as De Wing says, Mukhum Dass was +an awful undesirable. If we hanged Gungadhura, we'd almost have to +put one of his five sons on the throne to succeed him. If be abdicates, +we can please ourselves. I think I can persuade him to abdicate--if +Norwood, for instance, knows of any way to gather secret evidence +about that murder--secret, you understand me, Norwood. We need +that for a sword of Damocles." + +"Who's to succeed him in that case?" asked Ross, the P. M. O. + +"I shall recommend Utirupa Singh," said Samson, with his eyes alert. + +Ross nodded. + +"Utirupa is one of those men who make me think the Rajput race is not +moribund." + +"A good clean sportsman!" said Topham. "Plays a red-hot game of +polo, too!" + +"Pays up his bets, moreover, like a gentleman!" said Colonel Willoughby +de Wing. + +"I feel sure," said Sir Hookum Bannerjee, seeing be was expected to +say something, "that Prince Utirupa Singh would be acceptable to the +Rajputs themselves, who are long weary of Gungadhura's way. But +he is not married. It is a pity always that a reigning prince should be +unmarried; there are so many opportunities in that case for intrigue, +and for mistakes." + +"Gad!" exclaimed Willoughby de Wing, dropping his monocle. "What +a chance to marry him to that young Princess Whatshername--you know +the one I mean--the one that's said to masquerade in men's clothes +and dance like the devil, and all that kind of thing. I know nothing of +politics, but--what a chance!" + +"God forbid!" laughed Samson. "That young woman is altogether too +capable of trouble without a throne to play with! I suspect her, as it +happens, of very definite and dangerous intentions along another line +connected with the throne of Sialpore. But I know how to disappoint +her and stop her game. I intend to recommend--for the second time, +by the way--that she, also, should be sent to Europe for a proper education! +But the point I'm driving at is this: are we agreed as to the proper course +to take with Gungadhura?" + +They nodded. + +"Then, as I see it, there's no desperate hurry. Norwood will need time +to gather evidence; I'll need specific facts, not hearsay, to ram down +Gungadhura's throat. I'll send a wire to the high commissioner and +another to Simla, embodying what we recommend, and--what do you +say to sending for a battery or two?" + +"Good!" said Willoughby de Wing. "A very good thought indeed! I +know nothing of politics, except this; that there's nothing like guns to +overawe the native mind and convince him that the game's up! Let's see-- +who'd come with the guns? Coburn, wouldn't he? Yes, Coburn. He's +my junior in the service. Yes, a very good notion indeed. Ask for two +batteries by all means." + +"I'll tell them not to hurry," said Samson. "It's hot weather. They can +make it in easy stages." + +"By jove!" said Topham. "They'll be here in time for the polo. Won't +they beef!" + +"Talking of polo, who's to captain the other side? Is it known yet?" asked +De Wing. + +"Utirupa," answered Topham. "There was never any doubt of that. +We've got Collins to captain us, and Latham and Cartwright, besides me. +We'll give him the game of his life!" + +"That settles quite an important point," said Samson. "The polo tournament-- +after it, rather--is the time to talk to Utirupa. If we keep quiet until then-- +all of us, I mean--there'll be no chance of the cat jumping before the State +Department pulls the string. I feel sure, from inside information, that +Headquarters would like nothing known about this coup d'etat until it's +consummated. Explanations afterward, and the fewer the better! Have +a drink anybody?" + +In the outer office beyond the curtain Sita Ram cautiously refitted the +knot into its hole, and sat down to write hurriedly while details were fresh +in mind. Ten minutes afterward, when the conference had broken up +in small-talk, he asked permission to absent himself for an hour or two. +He said he had a debt to pay across the river, to a man whose wife was ill. + +One hour and a half later by Sita Ram's wrist watch, Ismail, an Afridi +gate-keeper at present apparently without a job, started off on a racing +camel full-pelt for the border, with a letter in his pocket addressed to +a merchant by way of ostensible business, and ten rupees for solace +to the Desert Police. Tucked away in the ample folds of his turban +was a letter to Yasmini, giving Sita Ram's accurate account of what +had happened at the secret conference. + + + + + +Chapter Eighteen + + + + +Safe rules for defeating a rascal are three, +And the first of them all is appear to agree. +The second is boggle at points that don't matter, +Hold out for expense and emolument fatter. +The third is put wish-to-seem-wise on the shelf +And keep your eventual plan to yourself. +Giving heed to the three with your voice and eyes level +You can turn the last trick by out-trumping the devil. + + +"Be discreet, Blaine--please be discreet!" + +Meanwhile, Gungadhura was not inactive, nor without spies of his own, +who told him more or less vaguely that trouble was cooking for him in +the English camp. A letter he expected from the Mahsudi tribe had +not reached him. It was the very letter he had hoped to show to Samson +in proof of Mahsudi villainy and his own friendship; but he rather feared +it had fallen into secret service hands, in which case he might have a +hard time to clear himself. + +Then there was the murder of Mukhum Dass. He had not been able +to resist that opportunity, when Patali reported to him what Mukhum +Dass had been seen to make away with. And now he had the secret +of the treasure in his possession--implicit directions, and a map! He +suspected they had been written by some old priest, or former rajah's +servant, in the hope of a chance for treachery, and hidden away by +Jengal Singh with the same object. There were notes on the margins +by Jengal Singh. The thing was obviously genuine. But the worst of +it was Patali knew all about it now, and that cursed idiot Blaine had +complained to Samson of burglary, after he learned that the cellar door +was broken open by the money-lender. Why hadn't he come to himself, +he wondered, and been satisfied with a string of promises? That would +have been the courteous thing to do. Instead of that, now Samson's +spies were nosing about, and only the gods knew what they might +discover. The man who had done the murder was safely out of the way-- +probably in Delhi by that time, or on his way there; but that interfering +ass Norwood might be awake for once, and if the murderer should +happen to get caught, and should confess--as hired murderers do +sometimes--it would need an awful lot of expert lying and money, too, +to clear himself. + +With funds--ample extravagant supplies of ready cash, he felt he could +even negotiate the awkward circumstance that he himself was deeply +in debt to Mukhum Dass at the time of the murder. Money and brains +combined can accomplish practically anything. Delhi and Bombay and +Calcutta were full of clever lawyers. The point was, he must hurry. +And he did not dare trust any one with knowledge of his secret, except +Patali, who had wormed out some and guessed the rest, because of +the obvious risk of Samson getting wind of it through spies and so +forestalling him. He felt he had Samson's character estimated nicely. + +Arguing with himself--distracted between fear on one hand, and Patali's +importunity on the other, he reached the conclusion that Dick Blaine +was his only safe reliance. The American seemed to have an obsession +for written contracts, and for enforcing the last letter of them. Well and +good, he would make another contract with Dick Blaine, and told Patali +so, she agreeing that the American was the safest tool to use. She +saw herself already with her arms up to the shoulders in the treasure +of Sialpore. + +"The American has few friends," she said. "He smokes a pipe, and +thinks, and now that they say his wife has gone away there is less chance +than ever of his talking." + +"He will need to be paid," said Gungadhura. + +"There will be plenty to pay him with!" she answered, her eyes gleaming. + +So Gungadhura, with his face still heavily bandaged, drove in a lumbering +closed carriage up the rough track to the tunnel Dick had blasted in the +hill-side. The carriage could not go close to the tunnel-mouth, because +the track was only wide enough just there for the dump-carts to come +and go. So he got out and walked into the tunnel unattended. Dick +was used to seeing him about the works in any case and never objected +to explaining things, several times over on occasion. + +He found Dick superintending the careful erection of a wall of rock and +cement, and he thought for an instant that the American looked annoyed +to see him there. But Dick assumed his poker expression the moment +afterward, and you couldn't have guessed whether he was glad or sorry. + +"You block the tunnel?" the maharajah asked. + +"The vein's disappeared," said Dick. "The rock's all faulty here this +and that way. I'm shoring up the end to keep the roof from falling down +on us, and next I'm going to turn sharp at right angles and try to find +the end of the vein where it broke off." + +"You are too near the fort in any case," said the maharajah. "No use +driving under the fort." + +"What do you propose I should do?" Dick answered a trifle testily. + +"Dig elsewhere." + +"What, and scrap this outlay?" + +"Yes. I have a reason. A particular--eh--reason." + +Dick nodded, poker face set solid. + +The maharajah paused. His advantage was that his face was all +smothered in the bandages, and the dim light in the tunnel was another +good ally. His back, too, was toward the entrance, so that the American's +chance of reading between the words was remarkably slight. Dick's +back was against the uncompleted masonry. + +"Could I--eh--count on you for--eh--very absolute silence?" + +"I talk like that parrot in the story," Dick answered. + +"You--eh--know a little now of Sialpore, Mr. Blaine. You--eh--understand +how easily--eh--rumors get about. A little--eh--foundation and--eh-- +up-side-down pyramids of fancy--eh? You comprehend me?" + +"Sure, I get you." + +"Eh--you have a good working party." + +"Fine!" said Dick. "Just about broke in. Got the gang working pretty +well to rights at last." + +"Would you--eh--it would take a long time to get such another party +of laborers--eh--trained to work well and swiftly?" + +"Months!" said Dick. "Unless you've got tame wizards up your sleeve." + +"Eh--I was wondering--eh--whether you would be content to--eh--take +your working party and--eh--do a little work for me elsewhere?" + +"I'm right set on puzzling out this fault in the reef," Dick answered promptly. +"My contract reads--" + +"For compensation, of course," said Gungadhura. "You would be +adequately--eh--there could be a contract drawn." + +"I wouldn't cancel this one--not for hard cash," Dick retorted. + +"No, no. I do not ask that. It would--eh--not be necessary." + +"Well, then, what's the proposal?" + +Dick settled himself back against the masonry crossed his feet, and +knocked out ashes from his pipe. The maharajah walked twice, ten +yards toward the entrance and back again. + +"How long would it take you--eh--to--eh--what was it you said?--to puzzle +out this fault?" + +"No knowing." + +"A short--eh--additional delay will hardly matter?" + +"Not if I kept the gang in harness. 'Twouldn't pay to let the team-work +slide. Costs too much in time and trouble to break 'em in again." + +"Then--eh--will you go and dig for me elsewhere?" + +"On what terms?" + +"The same terms." + +"You pay all expenses and--what am I to dig for?" + +"Gold!" + +"Do I get my percentage of the gross of all gold won?" + +"Yes. But because this is a certainty and--eh--I pay all expenses--eh-- +of course, in--eh--return for secrecy you--eh--should be well paid, but-- +eh--a certain stated sum should be sufficient, or a much smaller percentage." + +"Suppose we get down to figures?" Dick suggested. + +"Fifty thousand rupees, or one per cent." + +"At my option?" + +Gungadhura nodded. Dick whistled. + +"There'd have to be a time limit. I can't stay and dig forever for a matter +of fifty thousand dibs." + +Gungadhura grew emphatic at that point, using both clenched fists to +beat the air. + +"Time limit? There must be no time lost at all! Have you promised to +be silent? Have you promised not to breathe one little word to anybody?-- +Not to your own wife? Not to Samson?--Above all not to Samson? +Then I will tell you." + +Gungadhura glanced about him like a stage conspirator. + +"Go on," said Dick. "There's nobody here knows English except you +and me." + +"You are to dig for the treasure of Sialpore! The treasure of my ancestors!" + +"Fifty thousand dibs--or one per cent. at my option, eh? Make it two +per cent., and draw your contract!" + +"Two per cent. is too much!" + +"Get another man to dig, then!" + +"Very well, I make it two per cent. But you must hurry!" + +"Draw your contract. Time limit how long?" + +"Two weeks--three weeks--not more than a month at the very utmost! +You draw the contract in English, and I will sign it this afternoon. You +must begin to dig tomorrow at dawn!" + +"Where?" + +"In the grounds of the River Palace--across the river--beginning close +to the great pipal trees." + +"They're all outside the palace wall. How in thunder can I keep secret +about that?" + +"You must begin inside the palace wall, and tunnel underground." + +"Dirt's all soft down there," said Dick. "We'll need to prop up as we go. +Lots of lumber. Cost like blazes. Where's the lumber coming from?" + +"Cut down the pipal trees!" + +"Man--we'd need a mill!" + +"There is no lumber--not in such a hurry." + +"What'll we do then? Can't have accidents." + +"Pah! The lives of a few coolies, Mr. Blaine--" + +"Nothing doing, Maharajah sahib! Murder's not my long suit." + +"Then pull the palace down and use the beams!" + +"You'd have to put that in writing." + +"Include it in the contract then! Now, have we agreed?" + +"I guess so. If I think of anything else I'll talk it over with you when I +bring the contract round this afternoon." + +"Good. Then I will give you the map." + +"Better give it me now, so I can study it." + +"The--eh--risk of that is too great, Mr. Blaine!" + +"Seems to me your risk is pretty heavy as it is," Dick retorted. "If I was +going to spill your secret, I could do it now, map or no map!" + +Three times again Gungadhura paced the tunnel, torn between mistrust, +impatience and anxiety. At last he thrust his bandaged face very close +to Dick's and spoke in a level hard voice, smiling thinly. + +"Very well, Mr. Blaine. I will entrust the map to you. But let me first tell +you certain things--certain quite true things. Every attempt to steal that +treasure has ended in ill-luck! There have been many. All the conspirators +have died--by poison--by dagger--by the sword--by snake-bite--by bullets-- +they have all died--always! Do you understand?" + +Dick shuddered in spite of himself. + +"Then take the map!" + +Gungadhura turned his back and fumbled in the folds of his semi-European +clothing. He produced the silver tube after a minute, removed the cap +from one end, and shook out a piece of parchment. There was a dull +crimson stain on it. + +"The blood of a man who tried to betray the secret!" said Gungadhura. +"See-the knife of an assassin pierced the tube, and blood entered through +the hole. It happened long ago." + +But he did not pass the tube to Dick that he might examine the knife mark. + +"These notes on the edge of the map are probably in the hand of Jengal +Singh, who stole it. He died of snake-bite more than a year ago. They +are in Persian; he notes that four of the trees are dead and only their +roots remain; therefore that measurements must allow for that. You +must find the roots of the last tree, Mr. Blaine, and measure carefully +from both ends, digging afterward in a straight line from inside the palace +wall by compass. Is it clear?" + +"I guess so. Leave it with me and I'll study it." + +The maharajah kept the tube and left the parchment in Dick's hands. + +"This afternoon, then?" + +"This afternoon," said Dick. + +When he had gone, Dick resumed the very careful building of the masonry, +placing the last stones with his own hands. Then he went out into the +sunlight, to sit on a rock and examine the parchment with a little pocket +magnifying-glass that he always carried for business purposes. He +studied it for ten minutes. + +"It's clever," he said at last. "Dashed clever. It 'ud fool the Prince of +Wales!" (Dick had astonishing delusions as to the supposed omniscience +of the heir to the throne of England.) "The ink looks old, and it's not +metallic ink. The parchment's as old as Methuselah--I'll take my oath +on that. There's even different ink been used for the map and the +margin notes. But that's new blood or my name's Mike! That blood's +not a week old! Phew! I bet it's that poor devil Mukhum Dass! Now-- +let's figure on this: Mukhum Dass burgled my house, and was murdered +about an hour afterward. I think--I can't swear, because he didn't let +me hold it, but I think that tube in Gungadhura's hand was the very identical +one that I hid under the cellar floor--that Mukhum Dass stole--and that +the maharajah now carries in his pocket. This map has blood on it. +What's the inference?" + +He filled his pipe and smoked reflectively. + +"The inference is, that I'm accessory after the fact to the money-lender's +murder, unless" - + +He finished the pipe, and knocked the ashes out. + +"--unless I break my promise, and hand this piece of evidence over to +Norwood. I guess he's arch-high-policeman here." + +As if the guardian angel of Dick's conscience was at work that very +minute to torment him, there came the sound of an approaching horse, +and Samson turned the corner into view. + +"Oh, hullo, Blaine! How's the gold developing?" + +"So-so. Have they found the murderer of Mukhum Dass yet?" + +Samson dropped his reins to light a cigar, and took his time about it. + +"Not exactly." + +"Hum! You either exactly find the murderer, or you don't!" + +"We've our suspicions." + +"Leading anywhere?" + +"Too soon to say." + +"If I was to offer to put you next to a piece of pretty evidence, how'd +that suit you?" + +Samson had to relight the cigar, in order to get opportunity to read Dick's +face before he answered. + +"I don't think so, Blaine, thank you--at least not at present. If you've +direct evidence of an eye-witness, of course--" + +"Nothing like that," said Dick. + +"Well, I'll be candid with you, Blaine. We know quite well who the +murderer is. At the right moment we shall land on him hammer and tongs. +But you see--we need to choose the right moment, for political reasons. +Now--technically speaking--all evidence in criminal cases ought to go +to the police, and the police might act too hastily--you understand me?" + +"If you know who the man is, of course," said Dick, "there's nothing +more I need do." + +"Except to be discreet, Blaine! Please be discreet! We shall get the +man. Don't doubt it! You and your wife have set us all an example +here of minding nobody's business except your own. I'd be awfully +obliged if you'd keep yourself as far as possible out of this mess. +Should we need any further evidence than we've got already, I'd ask +you for it, of course." + +"Suits me all right," said Dick. "I'm mum." + +"Thanks awfully, Blaine. Can I offer you a cigar? I'm on my way to take +a look at the fort. Seems like an anachronism, doesn't it, for us to keep +an old-fashioned fort like this so near our own border in native territory. +Care to come with me? Well, so long then--see you at the club again, +I suppose?" + +Samson rode on. + +"A narrow squeak that!" said Dick to himself, stowing away the map that he +had held the whole time in his right hand in full view of the commissioner. + + + + + +Chapter Nineteen + + + + +The East to Columbia + +Sister Columbia, wonderful sister, +Weariless wings on aerial way! +Tell us the lore of thy loftiness, sister, +We of the dark are astir for the day! +Give us the gift of thy marvelous wings, +Spell us the charm that Columbia sings! + +Oversea sister, affluent sister, +Queen inexclusive, though out of our reach! +How is thy genius ever unruffled? +What is the talisman altitudes teach? +Measureless meed of ability thine, +What is the goal of thy heart's design? + +How shall we learn of it? How shall we follow? +Heavy the burden of earth where we lie! +Only a glimpse of thy miracle stirs us, +Stay in our wallow and teach us to fly! +How shall we spring to Columbia's call? +Oh, that thy wings could unweary us all! + + +"I am as simple as the sunlight!" + +Tess was in something very near to paradise, if paradise is constant +assuaging of the curiosity amid surroundings that conduce to idleness. +There were men on that country-side in plenty who would not have dared +admit a Western woman into their homes; but even those could hardly +prevent wives and daughters from visiting Yasmini in the perfectly +correct establishment she kept. And there were other men, more fearless +of convention, who were willing that Tess, if veiled, should cross their +private thresholds. + +So there followed a round of visits and return calls, of other marvelous +rides by elephant at night, because the daytime was too hot for comfort, +and oftener, long drives in latticed carriages, with footmen up behind and +an escort to ride before and swear at the lethargic bullock-men--carriages +that bumped along the country roads on strange, old-fashioned springs. + +Yasmini was welcome everywhere, and, in the cautious, tenfold guarded +Eastern way, kept open house. The women reveled in her free ideas +and in the wit with which she heaped scorn on the priest-made fashions +that have kept all India in chains for centuries, mocking the priests, as +some thought, at the risk of blasphemy. + +Almost as much as in Yasmini's daring they took ingenuous delight in +Tess, persuading Yasmini to interpret questions and reply or, very rarely, +bringing with them some duenna who had a smattering of English. + +All imprisoned folk, and especially women in the shuttered zenanas +of the East, develop a news-sense of their own that passes the +comprehension of free-ranging mortals. They were astonishingly well +informed about the outer world--even the far-flung outer world, yet +asked the most childish questions; and only a few of them could have +written their own names,--they who were titled ladies of a land of ancient +chivalry. + +"Wait until I am maharanee!" Yasmini said. "The women have always +ruled India. Women rule the English, though the English hate the thought +of it and make believe otherwise. With the aid of women I will change +the face of India,--the women and the gods!" + +But she was careful of her promises, holding out no prospects that +would stir premature activity among the ranks she counted on. + +"Promise the gods too much," she said, "and the gods overwhelm you. +They like to serve, which is their business, not to have you squandering +on them. Tell the women they are rulers, and they will start to destroy +their empire by making public what is secret! If you tell the men that +the women rule them, what will the men do?" + +"Shut them up all the closer, I suppose," suggested Tess. + +"Is that what they ever did? No. They will choose for them certain +offices they can not fill because of inexperience, and put the noisiest +women in them, and make mock of them, and laugh! Not for a long +time yet must India know who rules her!" + +"Child, where did you learn all your philosophy?" Tess asked her, one +night when they were watching the stars from the bedroom window-seat. + +"Oh, men taught me this and that thing, and I have always reversed it +and believed the opposite. Why do men teach? To make you free, +or to bind you to their own wheel? The English teach that English ways +are good for the world. I answer that the world has been good to England +and the English would like to keep it so! The pundits say we should +study the philosophies. They made me study, hours and hours when +I was little. Why? To bind me to the wheel of their philosophy, and +keep me subject to them! I say philosophy is good for pundits, as a +pond is good for frogs; but shall I be a frog, too, and croak about the +beauties of the mud? The priests say we should obey them, and pray, +and make offerings, and keep the religious law. I say, that religion is +good for priests, which is why they cherish it, and add to it, and persuade +foolish women to believe it! As for the gods, if they are anything they +are our servants!" + +"Your husband is going to have an interesting time," laughed Tess. + +Yasmini's blue eyes suddenly turned soft and serious. + +"Do you think I can not be a wife "' she asked. "Do you suppose there +is no mother-love in me? Do you think I do not understand how a man +needs cherishing? Do you think I will preach to my husband, or oppose +his plans? No! I will do as the gods do when the priests are asleep! +I will let him go his own way, and will go with him, never holding back; +and little by little he will learn that I have understanding. Little by little +he will grow into knowledge of the things I know--and he will be a very +great man!" + +There were no visits whatever from Utirupa, for the country-side would +have been scandalized. Only, flowers came every day in enormous +quantities; and there was a wealth of horses, carriages, jewels and +armed men at his bride's disposal that proved he had not forgotten +her existence or her needs. She had claimed marriage to him by +Gandharva rite, and he had tacitly consented, but she was not ready +yet to try conclusions with the secret, octopus influence of the priests; +and there was another reason. + +"If it should get to Samson's cars that he and I are married, that would +be the end of his chance of the throne of Sialpore. Samson is English +of the English. He would oppose to the end the nomination of a maha-rajah, +whose wife has notions of her own--as I am known to have! They like him-- +my husband--because he plays good polo, and will bet with them, and +can play cricket; and because he seems to follow no special line of politics. +But if it were known he had a clever wife--me for wife--they would have +none of him! I shall be a surprise for them when the die is cast!" + +Tess was in almost daily communication with Dick, for, what with Tom Tripe +and Sita Ram and about a dozen other sworn accomplices, Yasmini +had messages coming and going all the time. Camels used to arrive +long after dark, and letters were brought in, smelly with the sweat of loyal +riders who had hidden them from too inquisitive police. Most of them +carried back a scribbled word for Dick. But he said nothing about the +treasure in his curt, anonymous, unsigned replies, being nervous about +sending messages at all. + +Only, when in one letter he mentioned digging in another place, and +Tess read the sentence aloud, Yasmini squealed with delight. The next +day her own advices confirmed the hint, Sita Ram sending a long account +of new developments and adding that "Samson sahib is much exercised +in mind about it." + +"All goes well!" Yasmini belled in her golden voice. "Samson has seen +the hidden meaning of my letter! If I had told him bluntly where the +treasure is, he would have laughed and forgotten it! But because he +thinks he reads the secret of my mind, he flatters himself and falls into +the trap! Now we have Samson caught, and all is well!" + +"It would be a very canny person who could read the secret of your mind, +I should say!" laughed Tess. + +"I am as simple as the sunlight!" Yasmini answered honestly. "It is +Samson who is dark, not I." + +Yasmini began making ready for departure, giving a thousand orders +to dependents she could trust. + +"At the polo game," she asked Tess, "when the English ask questions +as to where you have been, and what you saw, what will you tell them?" + +"Why not the truth? Samson expressly asked me to cultivate +your acquaintance." + +"Splendid! Tell them you traveled on camel-back by night across the +desert with me! By the time they have believed that we will think of +more to add to it! We return by elephant to Sialpore together, timing +our arrival for the polo game. There we separate. You watch the game +together with your husband. I shall be in a closed carriage--part of +the time. I shall be there all the time, but I don't think you will see me." + +"But you say they have rifled your palace. Where will you sleep?" Tess asked. + +"At your house on the hill!" + +"But that is in Gungadhura's territory. Aren't you afraid of him?" + +"Of Gungadhura? I? I never was! But now whoever fears him would +run from a broken snake. I have word that the fool has murdered +Mukhum Dass the money-lender. You may trust the English to draw +his teeth nicely for him after that! Gungadhura is like a tiger in a net +he can not break!" + +"He might send men to break into the house," Tess argued. + +"There will be sharper eyes than any of his watching!" + +But Tess was alarmed at the prospect. She did not mind in the least +what the English might have to say about it afterward; but to have her +little house the center of nocturnal feuds, with her husband using his +six-shooters, and heaven only knew what bloodshed resulting, was +more of a prospect than she looked forward to. + +"Sister," said Yasmini, taking her by both hands. "I must use your house. +There is no other place." + +No one could refuse her when her deep blue eyes grew soft and pleading, +let alone Tess, who had lived with her and loved her for a week. + +"Very well," she answered; and Yasmini's eyes softened and brightened +even more. + +"I shall not forget!" + +Getting ready was no child's play. It was to be a leisurely procession +in the olden style, with tents, servants, and all the host of paraphernalia +and hangers-on that that entails; not across the desert this time, but +around the edge of it, the way the polo ponies went, and out of Gungadhura's +reach. For, however truly Yasmini might declare that she was not afraid +of Gungadhura (and she vowed she never boasted), she was running +no unnecessary risks; it takes a long time for the last rats to desert a +sinking ship, (the obstinate go down with it), and just as long for the +last assassins to change politics. She was eager to run all the risks +when that was the surest strategy, but cautious otherwise. + +The secret of her safety lay in the inviolable privacy surrounding woman's +life in all that part of India--privacy that the English have respected partly +because of their own inherent sense of personal retirement, partly +because it was the easiest way and saved trouble; but mainly because +India's women have no ostensible political power, and there is politics +enough without bringing new millions more potential agitators into light. +So word of her life among the women did not travel swiftly to official +ears, as that of a male intriguer would certainly have done. Utirupa +was busy all day long with polo, and the Powers that Be were sure of it, +and pleased. What Gungadhura knew, or guessed, was another matter; +but Gungadhura had his own hands full just then. + +So they formed part of a procession that straggled along the miles, +of elephants, camels and groups of ponies, carts loaded with tents, +chattering servants, parties of Rajput gentlemen, beggars, hangers-on, +retainers armed with ancient swords, mountebanks, several carriage-loads +of women, who could sing and dance and were as particular about their +veiling as if Lalun were not their ancestress, the inevitable faquirs, +camel-loads of entertainers, water-carriers, sheep, asses, and bullock-drawn, +squeaking two-wheeled carts aburst with all that men and animals could eat. +Three days and nights of circus life, as Tess described it afterward to Dick. + +Yasmini and Tess rode part of the way on an elephant, lying full-length +in the hooded howdah with a view of all the country-side, starting before +dawn and resting through the long heat of the day. But monotony formed +no part of Yasmini's scheme of life, and daring was the very breath she +breathed. Most of the time they rode horseback together, disguised +as men and taking to the fields whenever other parties drew too close. +But sometimes Yasmini left Tess on the elephant, and mingled freely +with the crowd, her own resourcefulness and intimate knowledge of +the language and the customs enough protection. + +Nights were the amazing time. A great camp spread out under ancient +trees--bonfires glowing everywhere, and native followers squatted around +them,--long, whinnying horse-lines--elephants, great gurgling shadows, +swaying at their pickets--shouting, laughter, music,--and, over all, soft +purple darkness and the stars. + +For it was something more than a mere polo tournament that they were +traveling to. It had grown out of a custom abolished by the government, +of traveling once a year to Sialpore to air and consider grievances-- +a custom dating from long before the British occupation, when the princes +of the different states were all in rival camps and that was about the +only opportunity to meet on reasonably friendly terms. In later years +it had looked like developing into a focus of political solidity; so some +ingenious commissioner had introduced the polo element, eliminating, +item after item, all the rest. Then the date had been changed to the +early hot weather, in order to reduce attendance; but the only effect +that had was to keep away the English from outlying provinces. It was +the one chance that part of Rajputana had to get together, and the +Rajputs swarmed to the tournament--along the main trunk road that +the English had reconstructed in early days for the swifter movement +of their guns. (It did not follow any particular trade route, although trade +had found its way afterward along it.) + +Yasmini saw Utirupa every night, she apparently as much a man as +he in turban and the comfortable Rajput costume--shorter by a bead, +but as straight-standing and as agile. Tess and Hasamurti used to +watch them under the trees, ready to give the alarm in case of interruption, +sometimes near enough to catch the murmured flow of confidence +uniting them in secrecy of sacred, unconforming interviews. It was +common knowledge that Yasmini was in the camp, but she was always +supposed to be tented safely on the outskirts, with her women and a +guard of watchful servants all about her. There was no risk of an affront +to her in any case; it was known that Utirupa would attend to that. + +Each night between the bonfires there was entertainment--men who +walked tight-ropes, wrestlers, a performing horse, ballad-singers and, +dearest delight of all, the tellers of Eastern tales, who sat with silent +rings of men about them and reeled off the old, loved, impossible +adventures of the days when the gods walked with men on earth--stories +of miracles and love and derring-do, with heroes who could fight a +hundred men unscathed, and heroines to set the heart on fire. + +Then off again before sunrise in the cool amid the shouting and confusion +of a breaking camp, with truant ponies to be hunted, and everybody +yelling for his right of road, and the elephants sauntering urbanely through +it all with trunks alert for pickings from the hay-carts. They were nights +and days superbly gorgeous, all-entertaining, affluent of humor. + +Then on the third day, nearing Sialpore toward evening they filed past +two batteries of Royal Horse Artillery, drawn up on a level place beside +the road to let them by--an act of courtesy not unconnected with its +own reward. It is never a bad plan to let the possibly rebellious take +a long look at the engines of enforcement. + +"Ah!" laughed Yasmini, up in the howdah now beside Tess on the elephant, +"the guns of the gods! I said the gods were helping us!" + +"Look like English guns to me," Tess answered. + +"So think the English, too. So thinks Samson who sent for them. So, too, +perhaps Gungadhura will think when he knows the guns are coming! +But I know better. I never promise the gods too much, but let them +make me promises, and look on while they perform them. I tell you, +those are the guns of the gods!" + + + + + +Chapter Twenty + + + + +A bad man ruined by the run of luck +May shed the slime--they've done it, +Times and again they've done it. +That turn to aspiration out of muck +Is quick if heart's begun it, +If heart's desire's begun it. +But 'ware revenge if greater craft it is +That jockeyed him to recognize defeat, +Or greater force that overmastered his-- +Efficiency more potent than deceit +That craved his crown and won it! +Safer the she-bear with her suckling young, +Kinder the hooked shark from a yardarm hung, +More rational a tiger by the hornets stung +Than perfidy outcozened. Shun it! + + +"Millions! Think of it! Lakhs and crores!" + +The business of getting a maharajah off the throne, even in a country +where the overlords are nervous, and there is precedent, is not entirely +simple, especially when the commissioner who recommends it has +a name for indiscretion and ambition. The government of conquered +countries depends almost as much on keeping clever administrators +in their place as on fostering subdivision among the conquered. + +So, very much against his will, Samson was obliged to go to see a high +commissioner, who is a very important person indeed, and ram home +his arguments between four walls by word of mouth. He did not take +Sita Ram with him, so there is a gap in the story at that point, partly +bridged by Samson's own sketchy account of the interview to Colonel +Willoughby de Wing, overheard by Carlos de Sousa Braganza the +Goanese club butler, and reported to Yasmini at third hand. + +There were no aeroplanes or official motor-cars at that time to take +officials at outrageous speed on urgent business. But Samson's favorite +study in his spare time was Julius Caesar, who usually traveled long +distances at the rate of more than a hundred miles a day, and was +probably short-winded from debauch into the bargain. What the great +Julius could do, Samson could do as well; but in spite of whip and +spur and post, ruthless robbery of other people's reserved accommodation, +and a train caught by good luck on the last stage, it took him altogether +seven valuable days and nights. For there was delay, too, while the +high commissioner wired to Simla in code for definite permission to +be drastic. + +The telegram from the secretary of state pointed out, as Samson had +predicted that it would, the desirability of avoiding impeachment and +trial if that were possible, in view of the state of public unrest in India +and the notorious eagerness of Parliament at home to interfere in +Indian affairs. + +"Get him to abdicate!" was the meat of the long message. + +"Can you do it?" asked the high commissioner. + +"Leave that to me!" boasted Samson. "And now this other matter. +These 'islands' as they're called. It's absurd and expensive to continue +keeping up a fort inside the maharajah's territory. There's no military +advantage to us in having it so near our border. And there are totally +unnecessary problems of administration that are entailed by the maharajah +administering a small piece of territory on our side of the river. I've +had a contract drawn for your approval--Sir Hookum Bannerjee drew it, +he's a very able lawyer--stipulating with Utirupa, in consideration of our +recognition of himself and his heirs as rulers of the State of Sialpore, +that he shall agree to exchange his palace and land on our side of the +river against our fort on his side. What do you think of it?" + +"It isn't a good bargain. He ought to give us more than that in the +circumstances, against a fort and--and all that kind of thing." + +"It's a supremely magnificent bargain!" retorted Samson. "Altogether +overlooking what we'll save in money by not having to garrison that +absurd fort, it's the best financial bargain this province ever had the +chance of!" + +"How d'ye mean?" + +Samson whispered. Even those four solid walls were not discreet enough. + +"The treasure of Sialpore is buried in the River Palace grounds! Millions! +Think of it--Millions! Lakhs and crores!" + +The high commissioner whistled. + +"That 'ud mean something to the province, wouldn't it! Show me your proofs." + +How Samson got around the fact that he had no actually definite proofs, +he never told. But he convinced the high commissioner, who never +told either, unless to somebody at Simla, who buried the secret among +the State Department files. + +"I'll wire Simla," said the high commissioner presently, "for permission to +authorize you to set your signature to that contract on behalf of government. +The minute I get it I'll wire you to Sialpore and confirm by letter. Now +you'd better get back to your post in a hurry. And don't forget, it would +be difficult in a case like this to err on the side of silence, Samson. +Who'll have to be told?" + +"Nobody but Willoughby de Wing. I'll have to ask him for troops to +guard the River Palace grounds. There's a confounded American +digging this minute in the River Palace grounds by arrangement with +Gungadhura. He'll have to be stopped, and I'll have to make some +sort of explanation." + +"What's an American doing in Sialpore?" + +"Prospecting. Has a contract with Gungadhura." + +"Um-m-m! We'll have Standard Oil in next! Better point out to Utirupa +that contracts with foreigner's aren't regarded cordially." + +"That's easily done," said Samson. "Utirupa is nothing if not anxious +to please." + +"Yes, Utirupa is a very fine young fellow--and a good sportsman, too, +I'm told." + +"There is no reason why Utirupa should recognize the contract between +Gungadhura and the American. It was a private contract--no official +sanction. If Gungadhura isn't in position to continue it--" + +"Exactly. Well--good-by. I'll look forward to a good report from you." + +By train and horse and tonga Samson contrived to reach Sialpore on +the morning before the day set for the polo tournament. He barely +allowed himself time to shave before going to see Dick Blaine, and +found him, as he expected, at the end of the tunnel nearly a hundred +yards long that started from inside the palace wall and passed out under it. +The guards at the gate did not dare refuse the commissioner admission. +So far, Dick had not begun demolition of the palace, but had dragged +together enough lumber by pulling down sheds and outhouses. He +was not a destructive-minded man. + +"Will you come outside and talk with me?" Samson shouted, amid the +din of pick and shovel work. + +"Sure." + +Dick's poker face was in perfect working order by the time they reached +the light. But he stood with his back to the sun and let Samson have +the worst of the position. + +"You're wasting time and money, Blaine. I've come to tell you so." + +"Now--that's good of you." + +"Your contract with Gungadhura is not worth the paper it's written on." + +"How so?" + +"He will not be maharajah after noon today!" + +"You don't mean it!" + +"That information is confidential, but the news will be out by tomorrow. +The British Administration intends to take over all the land on this side of +the river. That's confidential too. Between you and me, our government +would never recognize a contract between you and Gungadhura. I warned +you once, and your wife a second time." + +"Sure, she told me." + +"Well. You and I have been friends, Blaine. I'd like you to regard this +as not personal. But--" + +"Oh, I get you. I'm to call the men off? That it?" + +"You've only until tomorrow in any case." + +"And Gungadhura, broke, to look to for the pay-roll! Well--as you say, +what's the use?" + +"I'd pay your men off altogether, if I were you." + +"They're a good gang." + +"No doubt. We've all admired your ability to make men work. But there'll +be a new maharajah in a day or two, and, strictly between you and me, +as one friend to another, there'll be a very slight chance indeed of your +getting a contract from the incoming man to carry on your mining in the hills. +I'd like to save you trouble and expense." + +"Real good of you." + +"Er--found anything down there?" Samson nodded over his shoulder +toward the tunnel mouth. + +"Not yet." + +"Any signs of anything?" + +"Not yet." + +Samson looked relieved. + +"By the way. You mentioned the other day something about evidence +relating to the murder of Mukhum Dass." + +"I did." + +"Was it anything important?" + +"Maybe. Looked so to me." + +"Would you mind giving me an outline of it?" + +"You said that day you knew who murdered Mukhum Dass?" + +"Yes. When I got in this morning there was a note on my desk from +Norwood, the superintendent of police, to say that they've arrested your +butler and cook, and the murderer of Mukhum Dass all hiding together +near a railway station. The murderer has squealed, as you Americans say. +They often do when they're caught. He has told who put him up to it." + +"Guess I'll give you this, then. It's the map out of the silver tube that +Mukhum Dass burgled from my cellar. Gungadhura gave it to me with +instructions to dig here. You'll note there's blood on it." + +Samson's eyes looked hardly interested as he took it. Then he looked, +and they blazed. He put it in his inner pocket hurriedly. + +"Too bad, Blaine!" he laughed. "So you even had a map of the treasure, eh? +Another day or two and you'd have forestalled us! I suppose you'd +a contract with Gungadhura for a share of it?" + +"You bet!" + +"Well--it wasn't registered. I doubt if you could have enforced it. +Gungadhura is an awful rascal." + +"Gee!" lied Dick. "I never thought of that! I had my other contract +registered all right--in your office--you remember?" + +"Yes. I warned you at the time about Gungadhura." + +"You did. I remember now. You did. Well, I suppose the wife and I'll +be heading for the U. S. A. soon, richer by the experience. Still--I reckon +I'll wait around and see the new maharajah in the saddle, and watch +what comes of it." + +"You've no chance, Blaine, believe me!" + +"All right, I'll think it over. Meanwhile, I'll whistle off these men." + +The next man Samson interviewed was Willoughby de Wing. + +"Let me have a commissioner's escort, please," he demanded. "I'm +going to see Gungadhura now! You'd better follow up with a troop to r +eplace the maharajah's guards around his palace. We can't put him +under arrest without impeaching him; but--make it pretty plain to the +guard they're there to protect a man who has abdicated; that no one's +to be allowed in, and nobody out unless he can explain his business. +Then, can you spare some guards for another job? I want about twenty +men on the River Palace at once. Caution them carefully. Nobody's +to go inside the grounds. Order the maharajah's guards away! It's a +little previous. His officers will try to make trouble of course. But an +apology at the proper time will cover that." + +"What's the new excitement?" asked the colonel. "More murders? +More princesses out at night?" + +"This is between you and me. Not a word to a living soul, De Wing!" +Samson paused, then whispered: "The treasure of Sialpore!" + +"What--in the palace?" + +"In the grounds! There's a tunnel already half-dug, leading toward it +from inside the palace wall. I've proof of the location in my pocket!" + +"Gad's teeth!" barked Willoughby de Wing. "All right, I'll have your +escort in a jiffy. Have a whisky and soda, my boy, to stiffen you before +the talk with Gungadhura!" + +A little less than half an hour later Samson drove across the bridge in +the official landau, followed by an officer, a jemadar, a naik and eight +troopers of De Wing's Sikh cavalry. Willoughby de Wing drove in the +carriage with him as a witness. They entered the palace together, and +were kept waiting so long that Samson sent the major-domo to the +maharajah a second time with a veiled threat to repeat, said slowly: + +"Say the business is urgent and that I shall not be held responsible +for consequences if he doesn't see me at once!" + +"Gad!" swore De Wing, screwing in his monocle. "I'd like a second +whisky and soda! I suppose there's none here. I hate to see a man +broke--even a blackguard!" + +Gungadhura received them at last, seated, in the official durbar room. +The bandages were gone from his face, but a strip of flesh-colored +court-plaster from eye to lip gave him an almost comical look of dejection, +and he lolled in the throne-chair with his back curved and head hung +forward, scowling as a man does not who looks forward to the interview. + +Samson cleared his throat, and read what be had to say, holding the +paper straight in front of him. + +"I have a disagreeable task of informing Your Highness that your +correspondence with the Mahsudi tribe is known to His Majesty's Government." + +Gungadhura scowled more deeply, but made no answer. + +"Amounting as it does to treason, at a time when His Majesty's Government +are embarrassed by internal unrest, your act can not be overlooked." + +Gungadhura made a motion as if to interrupt, but thought better of it. + +"In the circumstances I have the honor to advise Your Highness that +the wisest course, and the only course that will avoid impeachment, +is abdication." + +Gungadhura shook his head violently. + +"I can explain," he said. "I have proofs." + +Samson turned the paper over--paused a moment--and began to read +the second sheet. + +"It is known who murdered Mukhum Dass. The assassin has been +caught, and has confessed." + +Gungadhura's eyes that had been dull, and almost listless hitherto, +began to glare like an animal's. + +"I have here--" Samson reached in his pocket, "a certain piece of parchment-- +a map in fact--that was stolen from the body of Mukhum Dass. Perhaps +Your Highness will recognize it. Look!" + +Gungadhura looked, and started like a man stung. Samson returned +the map to his pocket, for the maharajah almost looked like trying to +snatch it; but instead he collapsed in his chair again. + +"If I abdicate?" he asked, as if his throat and lips could hardly form the words. + +"That would be sufficient. The assassin would then be allowed to plead +guilty to another charge there is against him, and the matter would be dropped." + +"I abdicate!" + +"On behalf of His Majesty's Government I accept the abdication. Sign +this, please." + +Samson laid a formal written act of abdication on the table by the throne. +Gungadhura signed it. Willoughby de Wing wrote his signature as witness. +Samson took it back and folded it away. + +"Arrangements will be made for Your Highness to leave Sialpore tomorrow +morning, with a sufficient escort for your protection. Provision will be +made in due course for your private residence elsewhere. Be good +enough to hold yourself and your family in readiness tomorrow morning." + +"But my son!" exclaimed Gungadhura. "I abdicate in favor of my son!" + +"In case of abdication by a reigning prince, or deposition of a reigning +prince," said Samson, "the Government of India reserves the right to +appoint his successor, from among eligible members of his family if +there be any, but to appoint his successor in any case. There is +ample precedent." + +"And my son?" + +"Will certainly not be considered." + +Gungadhura glanced about him like a frenzied man, and then lay back +in a state of near-collapse. Samson and De Wing both bowed, and +left the room. + +"Poor devil!" said De Wing, "I'm sorry for him." + +"Would you be a good fellow," said Samson, "and send off this wire +for me? There--I've added the exact time of the abdication. I've got +to go now and summon a durbar of Gungadhura's state officers, and +tell them in confidence what's happened. I shall hint pretty broadly that +Utirupa is our man, and then ask them which prince they'd like to +have succeed." + +"Good!" said De Wing. "Nothing like tact! Why not meet me at the +club for a whisky and soda afterward?" + +Inside the durbar hall Gungadhura sat alone for just so long as it took +the sound of the closing door to die away. Then another door, close +behind the throne chair opened, and Patali entered. She looked at him +with pity on her face, and curiosity. + +"That American sold you," she said after a minute. + +"Eh?" + +"I say, that American sold you! He sold you, and the map, and the +treasure to the English!" + +"I know it! I know it!" + +"If I were a man--" + +She waited, but he gave no sign of manhood. + +"If I were a man I know what I would do!" + +"Peace, Patali! I am a ruined man. They will all desert me as soon +as the news is out. They are deserting now; I feel it in my bones. I +have none to send." + +"Send? It is only maharajahs who must send. Men do their own work! +I know what I would do to an American or any other man, who sold me!" + + + + + +Chapter Twenty-One + + + + +The king sent his army and said, "Lo, I did it. Consider my prowess +and my strategy!" But the gods laughed. --Eastern proverb + + +"The guns of the gods!" + +Very shortly after dawn on the morning of the polo game Yasmini left +the Blaines' house on business of her own. The news of Gungadhura's +abdication was abroad already, many times multiplied by each mouth +until two batteries of guns had become an army corps. But what caused +the greatest excitement was the news, first of all whispered, then +confirmed, that Gungadhura himself was missing. + +That disturbing knowledge was the factor that prevented Yasmini from +returning to her own rifled palace and making the best of it; for it would +take time to hedge the place about properly with guards. There was +simply no knowing what Gungadhura might be up to. She judged it +probable that he had seen through her whole plot in the drear light of +revelation that so often comes to stricken men, and in that case her +own life was likely in danger every second he was still at liberty. But +she sent word to Utirupa, too, to be on the alert. And she saw him +herself that morning, in her favorite disguise of a rangar zemindari, +which is a Rajput landowner turned Muhammadan. The disguise +precluded any Hindu interference, and Muhammadans on that country-side, +who might have questioned her, were scarce. + +The polo did not take place until late afternoon, because of the heat, +but the grounds were crowded long before the time by a multi-colored +swarm in gala mood, whom the artillerymen, pressed into service as +line-keepers, had hard work to keep back of the line. There was a rope +around three sides of the field, but it broke repeatedly, and in the end +the gunners had to be stationed a few feet apart all down the side +opposite the grand-stand to keep the crowd from breaking through. + +There were carriages in swarms, ranging from the spider-wheel gig +of a British subaltern to the four-in-hand of Rajput nobility--kept pretty +carefully apart, though. The conquerors of India don't mix with the +conquered, as a rule, except officially. And there were half a dozen +shuttered carriages that might have contained ladies, and might not; +none knew. + +It was a crowd that knew polo from the inside outward, and when the +ponies were brought at last and stood in line below the grand-stand, +each in charge of his sais, there grew a great murmur of critical approval; +for the points of a horse in Rajputana are as the lines of a yacht at +Marblehead, and the marks of a dog in Yorkshire; the very urchins +know them. The Bombay side of India had been scoured pretty +thoroughly for mounts for that event. The Rajputs had on the whole +the weight of money, and perhaps the showiest ponies, but the English +team, nearly all darker in color as it happened, except for one pie-bald, +looked trained up to the last notch and bore the air of knowing just +what to expect, that is as unmistakable in horses as in men. + +Tom Tripe was there with his dog. Trotters had the self-imposed and +wholly agreeable task of chasing all unattached dogs off the premises. +But Tom Tripe himself was keeping rather in the background, because +technically, as a servant of Gungadhura, he was in a delicate position. +A voice that he could swear he almost recognized whispered to him +in the crowd that the English were going to forbid the next maharajah +to have any but employees of his own race. And a laugh that he could +pick out of a million greeted his change of countenance. But though +he turned very swiftly, and had had no brandy since morning to becloud +his vision, he failed to see his tormentor. + +Tess and Dick drove down in ample time, as they had imagined, and +found hard work to squeeze the dog-cart in between the phalanxes of +wheels already massed on the ground. When they went to the grand-stand +it was to find not a seat left in the rows reserved for ordinary folk; so +Samson, who arrived late too, magnificent in brand-new riding-boots, +invited them to sit next him in front. + +The ground was in perfect condition--a trifle hard, because of the season, +but flat as a billiard table and as fast as even Rajputs could desire. +A committee of them had been going over it daily for a week past, +recommending touches here, suggesting something there, neglecting +not an inch, because the finer stick-work of the Rajput team would be +lost on uneven ground; and the English had been sportsmen enough +to accommodate them without a murmur. + +When a little bell rang and the teams turned out for the first chukker in +deathly-silence, it was evident at once what the Rajput strategy would be. +They had brought out their fastest ponies to begin with, determined to +take the lead at the start and hold it. + +One could hear the crowd breathe when the whistle blew; for in India +polo is a game to watch, not an opportunity for small talk. Instantly the +ball went clipping toward the English goal, to be checked by Topham +at full-back, who sent it out rattling to the right wing. But the Rajput left-wing +man, a young cousin of Utirupa, cut in like an arrow. The ball crossed +over to the right wing, where Utirupa took it, galloping down the line on +a chestnut mare that had the speed of wind. Topham, racing to intercept +the ball, missed badly; a second later the Rajput center thundered +past both men and scored the goal, amid a roar from the spectators, +less than a minute from the start. + +"Dick!" Tess exclaimed. "You ought to be ashamed of me! I'm rooting +for the Rajputs against my own color!" + +"So'm I!" he answered. "I wish to glory there was some one here to bet with!" + +Samson overheard. + +"Which way do you want to bet?" he asked. + +"A thousand on the Rajputs." + +"Thousand what?" + +"Dollars. Three thousand rupees." + +"Confound it, you Americans are all too rich! Never mind, I'll take you." + +"A bet!" Dick answered, and both men wrote it down. + +About nine words were said by the captain of the English team as they +rode back to the center of the field, and when the ball was in play again +there was no more of the scattering open play that suited the other +side, but a close, short-hitting, chop-and-follow method that tried ponies' +tempers, and a scrimmage every ten yards that made all unavailing the +Rajputs' speed and dash. Whenever a stroke of lightning wrist-work +sent the ball clipping down-field Topham returned it to the center and +the scrimmage began all over again. The first chukker ended in mid-field, +with the score 1--0. + +Both sides brought out fresh ponies for the second, and the Rajputs +tried again to score with their favorite tactics of long-hitting and tremendous +speed. But the English were playing dogged-does-it, and Topham +on the pie-bald at full back was invincible. Nothing passed him. Nor +were the English slow. Three times they seized opportunity in mid-field +and rode with a burst of fiery hitting toward the Rajput goal. Three times +the gunners down the line began to yell. The English team were getting +together, and the Rajputs a little wild. But the chukker ended with the +same score, 1--0. + +"How d'you feel about it now?" asked Samson, looking as calm as the +English habitually do whenever their pulse beats furiously. + +"I'd like to bet too!" Tess laughed, leaning across. + +"What--the same sized bet?" + +"No, a hundred." + +"Dollars ?" + +"Rupees!" she laughed. "I'm not so rich as my husband." + +"Can't refuse a lady!" Samson answered, noting the bet down. "I shall +be a rich man tonight. They play a brilliant game, those fellows, but +we always beat them in the end." + +"How do you account for that?" Dick asked, suspecting what was coming. + +"Oh, in a number of ways, but chiefly because they lack team-loyalty +among themselves. They're all jealous of one another, whereas our +fellows play as a unit." + +As if in confirmation of Samson's words the Rajput team seemed rather +to go to pieces in the third chukker. There was the same brilliant individual +hitting, and as much speed as ever, but the genius was not there. In +vain Utirupa took the ball out of a scrimmage twice and rode away with it. +He was not backed up in the nick of time, and before the end of the +third minute the English scored. + +"You'd better go and hedge those bets," laughed Samson when the +chukker ended. "There are plenty of the native gentry over yonder who'd +be delighted to gamble a fortune with you yet!" + +Dick scarcely heard. He was watching Utirupa, who stood by the pony-line +where a sais was doing something to a saddle girth. A rangar came +up to the prince and spoke to him--a slim, young-looking man, a head +the shorter of the two, with a turban rather low over his eyes, and the +loose end of it, for some reason, across the lower half of his face. +Dick nudged Tess, and she nodded. After that Utirupa appeared to +speak in low tones to each member of his own team. + +"I beg your pardon. What was that you said?" asked Dick. + +"I say you'd better hedge those bets." + +"I'll double with you, if you like!" + +"Good heavens, man! I've wagered a month's pay already! Go and +bet with Willoughby de Wing or one of the gunner officers." + +The rangar disappeared into the crowd before the teams rode out for +the fourth encounter, and Tess, who had made up her mind to watch +the shuttered carriages that stood in line together in a roped enclosure +of their own, became too busy with the game. Something had happened +to the Rajputs. They no longer played with the gallery-appealing +smash-and-gallop fury that won them the first goal, although their speed +held good and the stick-work was marvelous. But they seemed more +willing now to mix it in the middle of the field, and to ride off an opponent +instead of racing for the chance to shine individually. It became the +English turn to drive to the wings and try to clear the ball for a hurricane +race down-field; and they were not quite so good at those tactics as +the other side were. + +All the rest of that game until the eighth, chukker after chukker, the +Rajputs managed to reverse the usual procedure, obliging the English +team to wear itself out in terrific efforts to break away, tiring men and +ponies in a tight scramble in which neither side could score. + +"It looks like a draw after all," said Samson. "Bets off in that case, I suppose? +Disappointing game in my opinion." + +"'Tisn't over yet," said Dick. + +The Rajputs were coming out for the last chukker with their first and +fastest ponies that had rested through the game; and they were smiling. +Utirupa had said something that was either a good joke or else vastly +reassuring. As a matter of fact he had turned them loose at last to play +their old familiar game again, and from the second that the ball went +into play the crowd was on tiptoe, swaying this and that way with excitement. + +In vain the English sought to return to the scrimmage play; it was too late. +The Rajputs had them rattled. Topham at full-back on the pie-bald was +a stone wall, swift, hard-hitting and resourceful, but in vain. Swooping +down the wings, and passing with the dextrous wrist-work and amazing +body-bends that they alone seem able to accomplish, they put the +English team on the defensive and kept them there. Once, at about +half-time, by a dash all together the English did succeed in carrying t +he ball down-field, but that was their last chance, and they missed it. +In the last two minutes the Rajputs scored two goals, the last one +driven home by Utirupa himself, racing ahead of the field with whirling +stick and the thunder of a neck-and-neck stampede behind him. + +"That'll be your month's pay!" laughed Dick. "I hope you won't starve +for thirty days!" + +The crowd went mad with delight, and swarmed on to the ground, shouting +and singing. Samson got up, looking as if he rather enjoyed to lose +three thousand rupees in an afternoon. + +"If you'll excuse me," he said, I'll go and shake hands with Utirupa. He +deserves congratulation. It was head-work won that game." + +"I wonder what she said to him at the end of the third chukker," Tess +whispered to Dick. + +Samson found Utirupa giving orders to the saises, and shook hands +with him. + +"Good game, Utirupa! Congratulate you. By the way: there's going +to be a meeting on important business in my office half an hour from now. +When you've had a tub and a change, I wish you'd come and join us. +We want a word with you." + +"Where are the gunners going to?" asked Tess. "The men who kept +the line--look! They're all trooping off the ground in the same direction." + +"Dunno," said her husband. "Let's make for the dog-cart and drive home. +If we hang around Samson'll think we're waiting for that money!" + +Half an hour after that, Utirupa presented himself at Samson's office +in the usual neat Rajput dress that showed off his lithe figure and the +straightness of his stature. There was quite a party there to meet him-- +Samson, Willoughby de Wing, Norwood, Sir Hookum Bannerjee, Topham +(still looking warm and rather weary after the game)--and outside on +the open ground beyond the compound wall two batteries of horse-guns +were drawn up at attention. But if Utirupa felt surprise he did not show it. + +"To make a short story of a long one, Prince Utirupa," Samson began +at once, "as you know, Gungadhura abdicated yesterday. The throne +of Sialpore is vacant, and you are invited to accept it. I have here the +required authority from Simla." + +Utirupa rose from his chair, and bowed. + +"I am willing to accep," he answered quietly. His face showed no emotion. + +"There is one stipulation, though," said Samson. "We are tired of these +foolish 'islands'--our territory in yours and yours in ours. There's a contract +here. As your first official act--there's no time like the present--we want +you to exchange the River Palace, on this side of the river, for out fort +on your side." + +Utirupa said never a word. + +"It's not a question of driving a bargain," Samson went on. "We don't +know what the palace may be worth, or what is in it. If there is any valuable +furniture you'd like removed, we'll waive that point; but on the terms +of the contract we exchange the fort, with the guns and whatever else +is there except the actual harness and supplies of the garrison, against +the land and palace and whatever it contains except furniture." + +Utirupa smiled--perhaps because the guns in that fort were known to +date from before the Mutiny. + +"Will you agree?" + +"I will sign," said Utirupa. And he signed the contract there and then, +in presence of all those witnesses. Ten minutes later, as he left the +office, the waiting batteries fired him a fourteen-gun salute, that the +world might know how a new maharajah occupied the throne of Sialpore. + +Meanwhile, up at the house on the hill Tess and Dick found Yasmini +already there ahead of them, lying at her ease, dressed as a woman +of women, and smoking a cigarette in the window-seat of the bedroom +Tess had surrendered to her. + +"What was it you said to him after the third chukker?" was the first +question Tess asked. + +"You recognized me?" + +"Sure. So did my husband. What did you say to him?" + +"Oh, I just said that if he hoped to win he must play the game of the +English, and play it better, that was all. He won, didn't he? I didn't stay +to the end. I knew he would win." + +Almost as they spoke the fourteen-gun salute boomed out from across +the river, and echoed from the hills. + +"Ah!" said Yasmini. "Listen! The guns of the gods! He is maharajah now." + +"But what of the treasure?" Tess asked her. "Dick told me this morning +that the English have a guard all round the River Palace, and expect +to dig the treasure up themselves." + +"Perhaps the English need it more than he and I do," Yasmini answered. + +That evening Tom Tripe turned up, and Yasmini came down-stairs to +talk with him, Trotters remaining outside the window with his ash-colored +hair on end and a succession of volcanic growls rumbling between +flashed teeth. + +"What's the matter with the dog, that he won't come in?" asked Tess. + +"Nothing, ma'arm He's just encouraging himself. He stays here tonight." + +"Trotters does? Why?" + +"It's known all over Sialpore that her ladyship's staying here, and +Gungadhura's at large somewhere. + +You're well guarded; that's been seen to, but Trotters stays for double +inner-guard. One or two men might go to sleep. Gungadhura might +pass them a poisoned drink, or physic their rations in some way. +And then, they're what you might call fixed point men here, one there, +with instructions they'll be skinned alive and burned if they leave their +exact position. Trotters has a roving commission, to nose and snarl +whenever he's minded. You can't poison him, for he won't eat from +strangers. You can't see to knife him in the dark, because he's ash-colored +and moves too swift. And if Gungadhura comes an' shoots at where +Trotters' eyes gleam--well--Mr. Dick Blaine is liable to wake up an' show +his highness how Buffalo Billy imitates a Gatling gun! The house is +safe, but I thought I'd come and mention it." + +"When will my palace be ready?" Yasmini asked. + +"Tomorrow or the next day, Your Ladyship. There wasn't so much taken +out after all, though a certain amount was stolen. The first orders the +new maharajah gave were to have your palace attended to; and some +of the stolen stuff is coming in already; word went out that if stuff was +returned there'd be nothing said, but if it weren't returned there'd be +something brand-new in the line of trouble for all concerned. The priests +have been told to pass the word along. 'No obedience from priests, +no priests at the coronation ceremony!--It's my belief from about two +hours' observation that we've got a maharajah now with guts, if you'll +excuse my bad French, please, ma'am." + +"What does it matter to you, Tom, whether he is good or not?" Yasmini +asked mischievously. Isn't there a rumor that the English won't allow +any but the native-born instructors after this?" + +"Ah, naughty, naughty!" he laughed, shaking a gnarled forefinger. +"I thought it was your voice in the crowd. Your Ladyship 'ud like to +have me all nervous, wouldn't you? Well--if Tom Tripe was out of a +job tomorrow, the very first person he'd apply to for a new one would +be the Princess Yasmini; and she'd give it him!" + +"What have you in your hand?" Yasmini asked. + +"Gungadhura's turban that he wore the night when Akbar chased him +down the street." + +Yasmini nodded, understanding instantly. + +Five minutes later, after a rousing stiff night-cap, Tom took his leave. +They heard his voice outside the window: + +"Trotters!" + +The dog's tail beat three times on the veranda. + +"Take a smell o' this!" + +There was silence, followed by a growl. + +"If he comes,--kill him! D'ye understand? Kill him! There--there's the +turban for you to lie on an' memorize the smell! Kill him! Ye understand?" + +A deep growl was the answer, and Tom Tripe marched off toward the +stables for his horse, whistling Annie Rooney, lest some too enthusiastic +watcher knife him out of a shadow. + +"When I am maharanee," said Yasmini, "Tom Tripe shall have the title +of sirdar, whether the English approve of it or not!" + + + + + +Chapter Twenty-Two + + + + +The Creator caused flowers to bloom in the desert and buried jewels +in the bosom of the earth. That is lest men should grow idle, wallowing +in delights they have, instead of acquiring merit in the search for +beauty that is out of reach. --Eastern Proverb + + +"Making one hundred exactly." + +Technically, Yasmini was as much maharanee of Sialpore as she would +ever be, the moment that the fourteen-gun salute boomed out across +the river. For the English do not recognize a maharanee, except as +courtesy title. The reigning prince is maharajah, and, being Hindu, can +have one wife or as many as he pleases. Utirupa and Yasmini claimed +to have married themselves by Gandharva rite, and, had she chosen, +she could have gone to live with him that minute. + +But that would not have paid her in the long run. The priests, for instance, +whom she despised with all her character, would have been outraged +into life-long enmity; and she knew their power. + +"It is one thing," she told Tess, "to determine to be rid of cobras; but +another to spurn them with your hand and foot. They bite!" + +Then again, it would not have suited her to slip quietly into Utirupa's +palace and assume the reins of hidden influence without the English +knowing it. She proposed taking uttermost advantage of the purdah +custom that protects women in India from observation and makes +contact between them and the English almost impossible. But she +intended, too, to force the Indian Government into some form of +recognition of her. + +"If they acknowledge me, they lock swords with every woman in the +country. Let them deny me afterward, and all those swords will quiver +at their throats! A woman's sword is subtler than a man's." + +(That was the secret of her true strength in all the years that followed. +It was never possible to bring her quite to bay, because the women +pulled hidden strings for her in the sphere that is above and below the +reach of governments.) So she moved back into her own palace, where +she received only Tess of all the Anglo-Saxon women in India. + +"Why don't you keep open house to English women, and start something?" +Tess asked her. But Yasmini laughed. + +"My power would be gone. Do you fight a tiger by going down on all-fours +with him and using teeth and claws? Or do you keep your distance, +and use a gun?" + +"But the English women are not tigresses." + +"If they were, I would laugh at them. Trapping tigers is a task the jungle +coolies can attend to well! But if I admit the English women into my +palace, they will come out of curiosity. And out of pity, or compassion +or some such odious emotion they will invite me to their homes, making +an exhibition of me to their friends. Should I be one of them? Never! +Would they admit other Indian women with me? Certainly; any one I +cared to recommend. They would encourage us to try to become their +social equals, as they would call it, always backing away in front of us +and beckoning, we striving, and they flattered. No! I will reverse that. +I will have the English women striving to enter our society! They shall +wake up one day to discover there is something worth having that is +out of reach. Then see the commotion! Watch the alteration then! +Today they say, when they trouble to think of us at all, 'Come and visit us; +our ways are good; we will not hurt you; come along,' as the children +call to a kitten in the street. Then they will say, 'We have this and that +to offer. We desire your good society. Will you admit us if we bring +our gifts?' That will be another story, but it will take time." + +"More than time," Tess answered. "Genius." + +"I have genius. That is why I know too much to declare war on the priests. +I shall have a proper wedding, and priests shall officiate, I despising +them and they aware of it. That will be their first defeat. They shall +come to my marriage as dogs come to their mistress when she calls-- +and be whipped away again if they fawn too eagerly! They will not dare +refuse to come, because then war would be joined, and I might prove +to people how unnecessary priests are. But they are more difficult to +deal with than the English. A fat hypocrite like Jinendra's high priest is +like a carp to be caught with a worm, or an ass to be beaten with a stick; +but there are others--true ascetics--lusting for influence more than a +bellyful, caring nothing for the outside of the power if they hold the nut-- +nothing for the petals, if they hold the seed. Those men are not easy. +For the present I shall seem to play into their hands, but they know that +I despise them!" + +So great preparations were made for a royal wedding. And when +Samson heard that Yasmini was to be Utirupa's bride he was sufficiently +disgusted, even to satisfy Yasmini, who was no admirer of his. Sita Ram's +account of Samson's rage, as he explained the circumstance to Willoughby +de Wing, was almost epic. + +"Damn the woman! And damn him! She's known for a trouble-maker. +Simla will be asking me why on earth I permitted it. They'll want to know +why I didn't caution Utirupa and warn him against that princess in particular. +She's going to parade through the streets under my very nose and in +flat defiance of our government, just at the very time when I've gone +on record as sponsor for Utirupa. I've assured them he wouldn't do +an ill-advised thing, and I specifically undertook to see that he married +wisely. But it was too early yet to speak to him about it. And here he +springs this offense on me! It's too bad--too bad!" + +"You'll be all right with Simla," said Willoughby de Wing. "Dig up the +treasure and they'll recommend you for the K. C. B., with the pick of +all the jobs going!" + +"They don't give K. C. B.'s to men in my trade," Samson answered +rather gloomily. "They reserve them for you professional butchers." + +He was feeling jumpy about the treasure, and dreaming of it all night +long in a way that did not make the waking fears more comfortable. +A whole company of sappers bad been sent for; and because of the +need of secrecy for the present, a special appropriation had had to +be made to cover the cost of lumber for the tunnel that Dick began, +and that the sappers finished. They had dug right up to the pipal trees, +and half-killed them by tunneling under their roots along one side; but +without discovering anything so far, except a few old coins. (The very +ancient golden mohur in the glass case marked "Sialpore" in the +Allahabad Museum is one of them.) Now they were going to tunnel +down the other side and kill the ancient trees completely. + +Being a man of a certain courage, Samson had it in mind--perhaps-- +to send the map to an expert for an opinion on it. Only, he hated experts; +they were so bent always on establishing their own pet theory. And it +was late--a little late for expert opinions on the map. The wisest way +was to keep silent and continue digging, even if the operation did kill +ancient landmarks that one could see--from across the river, for instance. + +And, of course, he could not refuse to recognize the wedding officially +and put on record the name, ancestry and title of the maharajah's legal +first wife. Nor could he keep away, because, with amazingly shrewd +judgment, Yasmini had contrived the novelty of welding wedding and +coronation ceremony and festival in one. Instead of two successive +outbursts of squandering, there would be only one. It was economic +progress. One could not withhold approval of it. He must go in person, +smile, give a valuable present (paid for by the government, of course), +and say the proper thing. + +One modicum of consolation did ooze out of the rind of Samson's +situation. It would have been no easier, be reflected, to say the right +thing at the right time at the coronation ceremony, especially to the +right people, if that treasure should already have been dug up and +reposing in the coffers of the Indian Government. After a certain sort +of bargain, one's tongue feels unpleasant in one's cheek. + +Sialpore, however, was much more taken up with preparations for the +colossal coronation-wedding feast than with Samson's digging. Yasmini +went on her palace roof each day to see how the trees leaned this and +that way, as the earth was mined from under them. And Tom Tripe, +standing guard on the bastion of the fort to oversee the removal of +certain stores and fittings before the English should march out finally +and the maharajah's men march in, could see the destruction of the +pipal trees too. So, for that matter, could Dick Blaine, on the day when +he took some of the gang and blocked up the mouth of the mine on +the hill with cemented masonry--to prevent theft; and cursed himself +afterward for being such a fool as to brick up his luncheon basket inside +the tunnel, to say nothing of all the men's water bottles and some of +their food and tools. But nobody else in Sialpore took very much notice +of Samson's excavation, and nobody cared about Dick's mine. + +Every maharajah always tries to make his wedding and coronation +ceremonies grander, and more extravagant and memorable than +anybody's else have been since history began; and there are plenty +whose interest it is to encourage him, and to help him do it; money-lenders, +for instance. But Utirupa not only had two magnificent ceremonies to +unite in one, but Yasmini to supply the genius. The preparations made +the very priests gasp (and they were used to orgies of extravagance-- +taught and preached and profited by them in fact.) + +Once or twice Tess remonstrated, but Yasmini turned a scornfully deaf ear. + +"What would you have us do instead? Invest all the money at eight +per cent., so that the rich traders may have more capital, and found +an asylum where Bimbu, Umra and Pinga may live in idleness and be +rebuked for mirth?" + +"Bimbu, Umra and Pinga might be put to work," said Tess. "As for +mirth, they laugh at such unseemly things. They could be taught what +proper humor is." + +"Have they not worked?" Yasmini asked. "Has one man got into your +house, without you, or the guard set to watch you, knowing it? Could +any one have done it better? Did it not have to be done? As for humor-- +have they not enjoyed the task? Has it not been a sweeter tale in their +ears than the story-teller's at the corner, because they have told it to +themselves and acted a part in it?" + +"Well," said Tess, "you can't convince me! There are institutions that +could be founded with all that money you and your husband are going +to spend on ceremony, that would do good." + +"Institutions?" Yasmini's eyes grew ablaze with blue indignant fire. +"There were institutions in this land before the English came, which +need attention before we worry ourselves over new ones. Play was +one of them, and I will revive it first! The people used to dance under +the trees by moonlight. Do they do it now? It is true they used to die +of famine in the bad years, growing much too fat in good ones, and the +English have changed that. But I will give them back the gladness, if I +can, that has been squeezed out by too many 'institutions!' " + +"You would rather see Bimbu, Umra and Pinga happy, than prosperous +and well-clothed?" + +"Which would you rather?" Yasmini asked her. "You shall see them +well clothed in a little while. Just wait." + +There were almost endless altercations with the priests. Utirupa himself +was known to have profound Sikh tendencies--a form of liberalism in +religion that produced almost as much persecution at one time as +Protestantism did in Europe. To marry a woman openly who had no +true claim to caste at all, as Yasmini, being the daughter of a foreigner, +had not, was in the eyes of the priests almost as great an offense as +Yasmini's father's, who crossed the kali pani (ocean) and married +abroad in defiance of them. So the priests demanded the most elaborate +ritual of purification that ingenuity could devise, together with staggering +sums of money. Utirupa's eventual threat to lead a reform movement +in Rajputana brought them to see reason, however, and they eventually +compromised, with a stipulation that the public should not be told how +much had been omitted. + +There was feasting in the streets for a week before the great inauguration +ceremony. Tables were set in every side-street, where whoever cared +to might eat his fill of fabulous free rations. Each night the streets were +illuminated with colored lights, and fireworks blazed and roared against +the velvet sky at intervals, dowering the ancient trees and temple-tops +with momentary splendor. + +All day long there were performances by acrobats, and songs, and +story-telling whenever there was room for a crowd to gather. Faquirs +as gruesome and fantastic as the side-shows at a Western fair flocked +in to pose and be gaped at, receiving, besides free rations and tribute +of small coin, gratification to their vanity in return for the edifying spectacle. + +There were little processions, too, of princes arriving from a distance +to be present on the great day, their elephants of state loaded with +extravagant gifts and their retainers vying with peacocks in efforts to +look splendid, and be arrogant, and claim importance for their masters. +Never a day but three or four or half-a-dozen noble guests arrived; +and nobody worked except those who had to make things easy for +the rest; and they worked overtime. + +One accustomed spectacle, however, was omitted. Utirupa would +have none of the fights between wild animals in the arena that had +formed such a large part of Gungadhura's public amusement. But +there was ram-fighting, and wrestling between men such as Sialpore +had never seen, all the best wrestlers from distant parts being there +to strive for prizes. Hired dancers added to the gaiety at night, and +each incoming nobleman brought nautch girls, or acrobats, or trained +animals, or all three to add to the revelry. And there was cock-fighting, +and quail-fighting, of course, all day long and every day, with gambling +in proportion. + +When the day of days at last arrived the city seemed full of elephants. +Every compound and available walled space had been requisitioned +to accommodate the brutes, and there were sufficient argumentative +mahouts, all insisting that their elephants had not enough to eat, and +all selling at least half of the pr-vided ration, to have formed a good-sized +regiment. The elephants' daily bath in the river was a sight worth crossing +India to see. There was always the chance, besides, that somebody's +horses would take fright and add excitement to the spectacle. + +Up in the great palace Utirupa feasted and entertained his equals all +day long, and most of the night. There was horse-racing that brought +the crowd out in its thousands, and a certain amount of tent-pegging +and polo, but most of the royal gala-making was hidden from public view. +(Patali, for instance, reckless of Gungadhura's fall and looking for new +fields to conquer, provided a nautch by herself and her own trained +galaxy of girls that would not have done at all in public.) + +Yasmini kept close in her own palace. She, too, had her hands full +with entertaining, for there were about a dozen of the wives of distant +princes who had made the journey in state to attend the ceremony and +watch it from behind the durbar grille--to say nothing of the wives of +local magnates. But she herself kept within doors, until the night before +the night of full moon, the day before the ceremony. + +That night she dressed as a rangar once more, and rode in company +with Tess and Dick, with Ismail the Afridi running like a dog in the shadows +behind them, to the fort on the hill that the English had promised to +evacuate that night. They never changed the garrison in any case +except by night, because of the heat and the long march for the men; +and as near the full moon as possible was the customary date. + +As they neared the fort they could see Tom Tripe, with his huge dog +silhouetted on the bastion beside him, standing like Napoleon on the +seashore keeping vigil. From that height he could oversee the blocked-up +mouth of Dick's mine, and in the bright moonlight it would have been +difficult for any one to approach either mine or fort without detection; +for there was only one road, and Dick's track making a detour from it-- +both in full view. + +He caught sight of them, and Dick whistled, the dog answering with a +cavernous howl of recognition. Tom disappeared from the bastion, +and after about ten minutes turned up in the shadow where they waited. + +"Come to watch the old march out and the new march in?" he asked. +"I'll stand here with you, if I may. They're due." + +"Is everything ready?" asked Yasmini. + +"Yes, Your Ladyship. They've been ready for an hour, and fretful. +There's a story gone the rounds that the fort is haunted, and if ever a +garrison was glad to quit it's this one! Let's hope the incoming garrison +don't get wind of it. A Sepoy with the creeps ain't dependable. Hullo, +here they come!" + +There came a sound of steady tramping up-hill, and a bugle somewhere +up in the darkness announced that the out-going garrison had heard it +and were standing to arms. Presently Utirupa rode into view accompanied +by half a dozen of his guests, and followed by a company from his own +army, officered by Rajputs. If he knew that Yasmini was watching from +the shadow he made no sign, but rode straight on up-hill. The heavy +breathing of his men sounded through the darkness like the whispering +of giants, and their steady tramp was like a giant's footfall; for Tom +Tripe had drilled them thoroughly, even if their weapons were nearly +as old-fashioned as the fort to which they marched. + +After an interminable interval there came another bugle-blast above +them, and the departing garrison tramped within ear-shot. + +"Now count them!" Yasmini whispered, and Tess wondered why. + +They were marching down-hill as fast as they could swing--a detachment +of Punjabi infantry under the command of a native subahdar, with two +ammunition mules and a cartful of their kits and personal belongings-- +all talking and laughing as if regret were the last thing in their minds. + +"Ninety-seven," said Tess, when the last had passed down-hill. + +"Did you count the man beside the driver on the cart?" + +"Yes." + +"There was one sick man in a dhoolie. Did you count him?" + +"NO." + +"Ninety-eight, them Tom!" + +"Your Ladyship?" + +"Weren't there some English officers?" + +"Two. A captain and a subaltern. They left late this afternoon." + +"Making?" said Yasmini. + +"Exactly a hundred," answered Tess. + +"Let us go now," said Yasmini. "We must be up at dawn for the great +day. I shall expect you very early, remember. Tom! You may ride +back with us. His highness will mount the guard in person. You're to +come to my palace. I've a present waiting for you." + + + + + +Chapter Twenty-Three + + + + +It is better to celebrate the occasion than to annoy the gods with +pretended virtue and too many promises. --Eastern Proverb + +Three amber moons in a purple sky. + +The day of the great inauguration ceremony dawned inauspiciously +for somebody. For one thing, the blasting powder laid ready by the +sappers under +the pipal trees for explosion the day following, blew up prematurely. +Some idiot had left a kerosene lamp burning in the dug-out, probably, +and a rat upset it; or some other of the million possibilities took place. +Nobody was killed, but a dozen pipal trees were blown to smithereens, +and the ghastly fact laid bare for all to see that in the irregular chasm +that remained there was not a symptom of the treasure--as Samson +was immediately notified. + +So Samson had to attend the ceremony with that disconcerting knowledge +up his sleeve. But that was not all. The night signaler, going off duty, +had brought him a telegram from the high commissioner to say that +all available military bands were to be lent for the day to the maharajah, +and that as many British officers as possible, of all ranks, were to take +part in the procession to grace it with official sanctity. + +That was especially aggravating because it had reached his ears that +the Princess Yasmini intended to ride veiled in the procession, and +to sit beside her husband in the durbar hall unveiled. He was therefore +going to be obliged to recognize her more or less officially as consort +of the reigning prince. Simla did not realize that, of course; but it was +too late to wire for different instructions. He had a grim foreboding that +he himself would catch it later on when the facts leaked out, as they +were bound to do. + +(It was babu Sita Ram who "caught it" first, though. Within two days +Samson discovered that Sita Ram had been sending official telegrams +in code on his own account, very cleverly designed to cause the high +commissioner to give those last minute instructions. It was obvious +that a keener wit than the babu's had inspired him; but, though he was +brow-beaten for an hour he did not implicate Yasmini. And after he +had been dismissed from the service with ignominy she engaged him +as a sort of secretary, at the same pay.) + +But that was not all, either. The murderer of Mukhum Dass was refusing +stolidly to plead guilty to another charge, and Blaine's butler had come +out with the whole story of the burglary. Parliament would get to hear +about it next, and then there would be the very deuce to pay. The police +were offering the murderer what they called "inducements and persuasion"; +but he held out for "money down," and did not seem to find too unendurable +whatever it was that happened to him at intervals in the dark cell. There +are limits even to what an Indian policeman can do, without making marks +on a man or compelling the attention of European officers. + +On top of all that, Samson had to hand Dick Blaine a check amounting +to a month's pay, look pleasant while he did it, and--above all--look +pleasant at the coming durbar. + +On the other hand, there were people who enjoyed themselves. Sialpore, +across the river, was a dinning riot of excitement--flags, triumphal arches, +gala clothes and laughter everywhere. Dick Blaine, driving Tess toward +Yasmini's palace in the very early dawn, had to drive slowly to avoid +accident, for the streets were already crowded. His own place in the +procession was to be on horseback pretty nearly anywhere he chose +to insert himself behind the royal cortege, and, not being troubled on +the score of precedence, he had Tom Tripe in mind as a good man +to ride with. Tom could tell him things. + +But he waited there for more than an hour until the royal elephants arrived, +magnificent in silver howdahs and bright paint, and watched Tess emerge +with Yasmini and the other women. Tess wore borrowed jewels, and +a veil that you could see her face through; but Yasmini was draped +from head to foot as if the eyes of masculinity had never rested on her, +and never might. Things were not going quite so smoothly as they ought, +although Tom Tripe was galloping everywhere red-necked with energy, +and it was nearly half an hour more before the escort of maharajah's +troops came in brand-new scarlet uniforms, to march in front, and behind, +and on each side of the elephants. So Dick got quite a chance to "josh" +Tess, and made the most of it. + +But things got under way at last. Dick's sais found him with the horse +he was to ride, and the procession gathered first on the great maidan +(open ground) between the city and the river, with bands in full blast, +drums thundering to split the ears, masters of ceremony shouting, and +the elephants enjoying themselves most of all, as they always do when +they have a stately part to play in company. + +Utirupa led the way in a golden howdah on Akbar, the biggest elephant +in captivity and the very archetype of sobriety ever since his escapade +with Tom Tripe's rum. Akbar was painted all over with vermilion and +blue decorations, and looked as if butter would not melt in his mouth. + +Next after Utirupa the princes rode in proper order of rank and precedence, +each with two attendants up behind him waving fans of ostrich plumes. +Then came a band. Then Samson, and a score of British officers in +carriages whose teams were nearly frantic from the din and the smell +of elephants and had to have runners to hold their heads--all of which +added exquisite amusement. Then another band, and a column of the +maharajah's troops. Then more elephants, loaded with the lesser notables; +and after them, a column nearly a mile long of Rajput gentry on the +most magnificent horses they could discover and go in debt for. + +After the Rajput gentry came a third band, followed by more maharajah's +troops, and then Yasmini on her elephant, followed by twenty princesses +and Tess, each with a great beast to herself and at least two maids to +wave the jeweled fans. Then more troops, followed by Dick and Tom Tripe +together on horseback leading the rank and file. Trotters jogged along +between Tom and Dick, pausing at intervals to struggle with both forefeet +to remove a collar bossed with solid gold that he regarded as an outrage +to his dogly dignity. + +And the rank and file were well worth looking at, for whoever could find +a decent suit of clothes was marching, shouting, laughing, sweating, +kicking up the dust, and having a good time generally. The water-sellers +were garnering a harvest; fruit- and sweetmeat-peddlers were dreaming +of open-fronted shops and how to defeat the tax-collector. The police +swaggered and yelled and ordered everybody this and that way; and +nobody took the slightest notice; and the policemen did not dare do +anything about it because the crowd was too unanimously bent on having +its own way, and therefore dangerous to bully but harmless if not hit. + +Half-way down the thronging stream of men on foot came another elephant-- +a little one, alone, carrying three gentlemen in fine white raiment--Bimbu +and Pinga and Umra to wit, who, it is regrettable to chronicle, were very +drunk indeed and laughed exceedingly at most unseemly jokes, exchanging +jests with the crowd that would have made Tess's hair stand on end, +if she could have heard and understood them. From windows, and +roofs that overhung the street, people threw flowers at Bimbu, Pinga +and Umra, because all Hindustan knows there is merit in treating beggars +as if they were noblemen; and Bimbu wove himself a garland out of +the buds to wear on his turban, which made him look more bacchanalian +than ever. + +In and out and around and through the ancient city the procession filed, +passing now and then through streets so narrow that people could have +struck Utirupa through the upper story windows; but all they threw at +him was flowers, calling him "Bahadur" and king of elephants, and great +prince, and dozens of other names that never hurt anybody with a sense +of pageantry and humor. He acted the part for them just as they wanted +him to, sitting bolt upright in the howdah like a prince in a fairy story, +with jeweled aigrette in his turban and more enormous diamonds flashing +on his silken clothes than a courtesan would wear at Monte Carlo. +And all the other princes were likewise in degree, only that they rode +rather smaller elephants, Akbar having no peer when he was sober +and behaved himself. + +And when Yasmini passed, and Tess and all the other princesses, there +was such excitement as surely had never been before; for if you looked +carefully, with a hand held to keep the sun from your eyes, you could +actually see the outlines of their faces through the veils! And such +loveliness! Such splendor! Such pride! Such jewels! Above all, such +fathomless mystery and suggestion of intrigue! Pageantry is expensive, +but--believe Sialpore--it is worth the price! + +And then in front of the durbar hall in the dinning, throbbing heat, all the +animals and carriages and men got mixed in a milling vortex, while the +notables went into the hall to be jealous of one another's better places +and left the crowd outside to sort itself. And everything was made much +more interesting by the fact that Akbar was showing signs of ill-temper, +throwing up his great trunk once or twice to trumpet dissatisfaction. +His mahout was calling him endearing names and using the ankus alternately, +promising him rum with one breath and a thrashing with the next. But +Akbar wanted alcohol, not promises, and none dared give him any before +evening, when he might get as drunk as he wished in a stone-walled +compound all to himself. + +Then Samson's horses took fright at Akbar's trumpeting, he getting out +of the carriage at the durbar door only in the nick to time. The horses +bolted into the crowd, and an indignant elephant smashed the carriage; +but nobody was hurt beyond a bruise or two, although they passed +word down the thunderous line that a hundred and six and thirty had +been crushed to death and one child injured, which made it much more +thrilling, and the sensation was just as actual as if the deaths had +really happened. + +And inside the durbar hall there was surely never such a splendid scene +in history--such a sea of turbans--such glittering of jewels--such a +peacocking and swaggering and proud bearing of ancient names! Utirtipa +sat on the throne in front of a peacock-feather decoration; and-marvel +of marvels!--Yasmini sat on another throne beside him, unveiled!--with +a genuine unveiled and very beautiful princess beside her, whom nobody +except Samson suspected might be Tess. She wore almost as many +jewels as the queen herself, and looked almost as ravishing. + +But the Princess Yasmini's eyes--they were the glory of that occasion! +Her spun-gold hair was marveled at, but her eyes--surely they were lent +by a god for the event! They were bluer than the water of Himalayan +lakes; bluer than turquoise, sapphire, the sky, or any other blue thing +you can think of--laughing blue,--loving, understanding, likable, amusing +blue--two jewels that outshone all the other jewels in the durbar hall that day. + +And as each prince filed past Utirupa in proper order of precedence, +to make a polite set speech, and bow, and be bowed to in return, he +had to pass Yasmini first, and bow to her first, although he made his +speech to Utirupa, who acknowledged it. So, when Samson's turn +came, he, too, had to bow first to Yasmini, because as a gentleman +he could hardly do less; and her wonderful eyes laughed into his angry +ones as she bowed to him in return, with such good humor and elation +that he could not help but smile back; he could forgive a lovely woman +almost anything, could Samson. He could almost forgive her that no +less than nineteen British officers of various ranks, as well as +one-hundred-and-three-and-twenty native noblemen had seen him +with their own eyes to make an official bow to the consort of a reigning +maharajah. He had recognized her officially! Well; he supposed he +could eat his aftermath as well as any man; and he drove home with +a smile and a high chin, to unbosom himself to Colonel Willoughby +de Wing over a whisky and soda at the club, as Ferdinand de Sousa +Braganza reported in some detail at the Goanese Club afterward. + +Late that night, when the fireworks were all over and the lights were +beginning to be extinguished on the roofs and windows, it was a question +which was most drunk--Akbar, the three beggars, or Tom Tripe. Akbar's +outrageous trumpeting could be heard all over the city, as he raced +around his dark compound after shadows, and rats, and mice and anything +else that he imagined or could see. What Tom Tripe saw kept him to +his quarters, where Trotters watched him in dire misery. The three beggars, +Bimbu, Pinga and Umra, saw three amber moons in a purple sky, for +they said so. They also said that all the world was lovely, and Yasmini +was a queen of queens, out of whose jeweled hand the very gods ate. +And when people scolded them for blasphemy, they made such +outrageously funny and improper jokes that everybody laughed again. + +Drunk or sober (and more than ninety-nine per cent. of Sialpore was +absolutely sober then as always) every one had something to amuse +and entertain, except Samson, whose mental vision was of a great +empty hole in the ground in which he might just as well bury all his hopes +of ever being high commissioner; and poor Tom Tripe, who had worked +harder than anybody, and was now enjoying the aftermath perhaps least. + +Sialpore put itself to bed in great good temper, sure that princes and +elephants and ceremony were the cream of life, and that whoever did +not think so did not deserve to have any pageantry and pomp, and that +was all about it. + +Next morning early, Dick Blaine drove down to look for Tom Tripe, found +him--bound him in a blanket--shoved him, feet first, on to the floor of +the dog-cart, and drove him, followed by Trotters in doubt whether to +show approval or fight, to his own house on the hill, where Tess and +he nursed the old soldier back to soberness and old remorse. + +By that time Bimbu and Pinga and Umra were back again at the garden +gate, sitting in the dust in ancient rags and whining, "Bhig mangi, saheebi!" +"Alms! heavenborn, alms!" + + + + + +Chapter Twenty-Four + + + + +"You are a fool," said the crow. "Am I?" the hen answered. "Certainly +you are a fool. You sit in a dark corner hatching eggs, when there +are live chickens for the asking over yonder." So the hen left her +nest in search of ready-made chickens, and the crow, made a square +meat. --Eastern Proverb + + +A hundred guarded it. + +It began to be rumored presently that Utirupa had declined to recognize +Blaine's contract with his predecessor. Samson's guarded hints, and +the fact that the mouth of the mine remained blocked with concrete +masonry were more or less corroborative. But the Blaines did not go, +although Dick put in no appearance at the club. + +Then Patali, who was sedulously cultivating Yasmini's patronage, with +ulterior designs on Utirupa that were not misunderstood, told Norwood's +wife's ayah's sister's husband that the American had secured another +contract; and the news, of course, reached Samson's ears at once. + +So Samson called on Utirupa and requested explanations. He was told +that the mining contract had not received a moment's consideration +and, with equal truth, that the American, being an expert in such matters +and on the spot, had been asked to undertake examination of the fort's +foundations. The new maharanee, it seemed, had a fancy to build a +palace where the fort stood, and the matter was receiving shrewd +investigation and estimate in advance. + +Samson could not object to that. Those foundations had not been +examined carefully for eight hundred years. A perfectly good palace +had been wrested away by diplomatic means, on Samson's own initiative, +and there was no logical reason why the maharajah should not build +another one to replace it. The fort had no modern military value. + +"I hope you're not going to try to pay for your new palace out of taxes?" +Samson asked bluntly. + +But Utirupa smiled. He hoped nothing of that kind would be necessary. +Samson could not go and investigate what Blaine was doing, because +he was given plainly to understand that the new palace was the maharanee's +business; and one does not intrude uninvited into the affairs of ladies +in the East. The efforts of quite a number of spies, too, were unavailing. +So Dick had his days pretty much to himself, except when Tess brought +his lunch to him, or Yasmini herself in boots and turban rode up for a +few minutes to look on. The guards on the bastions, and in the great +keep in the center, knew nothing whatever of what was happening, because +all Dick's activity was underground and Tom Tripe, with that ferocious +dog of his, kept guard over the ancient door that led to the lower passages. +Dick used to return home every evening tired out, but Tom Tripe, keeping +strictly sober, slept in the fort and said nothing of importance to any +one. He looked drawn and nervous, as if something had terrified him, +but public opinion ascribed that to the "snakes" on the night of the coronation. + +Then about sundown one evening Tom Tripe galloped in a great hurry +to Utirupa's palace. That was nothing to excite comment, because in +his official capacity he was always supposed to be galloping all over +the place on some errand or another. But after dark Utirupa and Yasmini +rode out of the palace unattended, which did cause comment, Yasmini +in man's clothes, as usual when she went on some adventure. It was +not seen which road they took, which was fortunate in the circumstances. + +Tess was up at the fort before them, waiting with Dick outside the locked +door leading to the ancient passages below. They said nothing beyond +the most perfunctory greetings, but, each taking a kerosene lantern, +passed through the door in single file, Tom leading, and locked the +door after them. That was all that the fort guards ever knew about +what happened. + +"I've not been in," said Dick's voice from behind them. "All I've done +is force an entrance." + +From in front Tom Tripe took up the burden. + +"And I wouldn't have liked your job, sir! It was bad enough to sit and +guard the door. After you'd gone o' nights I'd sit for hours with my hair +on end, listening; and the dog 'ud growl beside me as if he saw ghosts!" + +"Maybe it was snakes," Yasmini answered. "They will flee from the +lantern-light--" + +"No, Your Ladyship. I'm not afraid of snakes--except them Scotch +plaid ones that come o' brandy on top o' royal durbars! This was the +sound o' some one digging--digging all night long down in the bowels +of the earth! Look out!" + +They all jumped, but it proved to be only Tom's own shadow that had +frightened him. His nerves were all to pieces, and Dick Blaine took the +lead. The dog was growling intermittently and keeping close to Tom's heels. + +They passed down a long spiral flight of stone steps into a sort of cavern +that had been used for ammunition room. The departing British troops +had left a dozen ancient cannon balls, not all of which were in one place. +The smooth flags of the floor were broken, and at the far end one very +heavy stone was lifted and laid back, disclosing a dark hole. + +"I used the cannon balls," said Dick, "to drop on the stones and listen +for a hollow noise. Once I found that, the game was simple." + +Leading down into the dark hole were twelve more steps, descending +straight, but turning sharply at the bottom. Dick led the way. + +"The next sight's gruesome!" he announced, his voice booming hollow +among the shadows. + +The passage turned into a lofty chamber in the rock, whose walls once +had all been lined with dressed stone, but some of the lining had fallen. +In the shadows at one end an image of Jinendra smiled complacently, +and there were some ancient brass lamps banging on chains from arches +cut into the rock on every side. + +"This is the grue," said Dick, holding his lantern high. + +Its light fell on a circle of skeletons, all perfect, each with its head toward +a brass bowl in the center. + +"Ugh!" growled Tom Tripe. "Those are the ghosts that dig o' nights! +Go smell 'em, Trotters! Are they the enemy?" + +The dog sniffed the bones, but slunk away again uninterested. + +"Nothing doing!" laughed Dick. "You haven't laid the ghost yet, Tom!" + +"Have you got your pistols with you?" Tom retorted, patting his own +jacket to show the bulge of one beneath it. + +"Those," said Yasmini, standing between the skeletons and holding +up her own light, "are the bones of priests, who died when the secret +of the place was taken from them! My father told me they were left to +starve to death. This was Jinendra's temple." + +"D'you suppose they pulled that cut stone from the walls, trying to force +a way out?" Dick hazarded. "The lid of the hole we came down through +is a foot thick, and was set solid in cement; they couldn't have lifted +that if they tried for a week. Everything's solid in this place. I sounded +every inch of the floor with a cannon ball, but it's all hard underneath." + +"I would have gone straight to the image of Jinendra," said Yasmini. +"Jinendra smiles and keeps his secrets so well that I should have +suspected him at once!" + +"I went to that last," Dick answered. "It looks so like a piece of high +relief carved out of the rock wall. As a matter of fact, though, it's about +six tons of quartz with a vein of gold in it--see the gold running straight +up the line of the nose and over the middle of the head?--I pried it away +from the wall at last with steel wedges, and there's just room to squeeze +in behind it. Beyond that is another wall that I had to cut through with +a chisel. Who goes in first?" + +"Who looks for gold finds gold!" Yasmini quoted. "The vein of gold +you have been mining was the clue to the secret all along." + +She would have led the way, but Utirupa stopped her. + +"If there is danger," he said, "it is my place to lead." + +But nobody would permit that, Yasmini least of all. + +"Shall Samson choose a new maharajah so soon as all that?" she laughed. + +"Let the dog go first!" Tom proposed. Trotters was sniffing at the dark +gap behind Jinendra's image, with eyes glaring and a low rumbling +growl issuing from between bared teeth. But Trotters would not go. + +Finally, in the teeth of remonstrances from Tess, Dick cocked a pistol +and, with his lantern in the other hand, strode in boldly. Trotters followed +him, and Tom Tripe next. Then Utirupa. Then the women. + +Nothing happened. The passage was about ten feet long and a yard +wide. They squeezed one at a time through the narrow break Dick had +made in the end of it, into a high, pitch-dark cave that smelt unexplainably +of wood-smoke, Dick standing just inside the gap to bold the lantern +for them and help them through--continuing to stand there after Tess +had entered last. + +"Jee-rusalem!" he exclaimed. "This is where I lose out!" + +The first glance was enough to show that they stood in the secret +treasure-vault of Sialpore. There were ancient gold coins in heaps on the +floor where they had burst by their own weight out of long-demolished bags-- +countless coins; and drums and bags and boxes more of them behind. +But what made Dick exclaim were the bars of silver stacked at the rear +and along one side in rows as high as a man. + +"My contract reads gold!" he said. "A percentage of all gold. There's +not a word in it of silver. Who'd ever have thought of finding silver, +anyhow, in this old mountain?" + +"Your percentage of the gold will make you rich," said Utirupa. "But +you shall take silver too. Without you we might have found nothing for +years to come." + +"A contract's a contract," Dick answered. "I drew it myself, and it stands." + +"Look out!" yelled Tom Tripe suddenly. But the warning came too late. + +Out of the shadow behind a stack of silver bars rushed a man with a +long dagger, stabbing frantically at Dick. Tom's great barking army +revolver missed, filling the chamber with noise and smoke, for he used +black powder. + +Down went Dick under his assailant, and the dagger rose and fell in +spasmodic jerks. Dick had hold of the man's wrist, but the dagger-point +dripped blood and the fury of the attack increased as Dick appeared +to weaken. Utirupa ran in to drag the assailant off, but Trotters got there +first--chose his neck-hold like a wolf in battle--and in another second +Dick was free with Tess kneeling beside him while a life-and-death fight +between animal and man raged between the bars of silver. + +"Gungadhura!" Yasmini shouted, waving her lantern for a sight of the +struggling man's face. He was lashing out savagely with the long knife, but +the dog had him by the neck from behind, and he only inflicted surface wounds. + +"Hell's bells! He'll kill my dog!" roared Tom. "Hi, Trotters. Here, +you--Trotters!" + +But the dog took that for a call to do his thinking, and let go for a better +hold. His long fangs closed again on the victim's jugular, and tore it out. +The long knife clattered on the stone floor, and then Tom got his dog +by the jaws and hauled him off. + +"You can't blame the dog," he grumbled. "He knew the smell of him. +He'd been told to kill him if he got the chance." + +"Gungadhura!" said Yasmini again, holding her lantern over the dying man. +"So Gungadhura was Tom Tripe's ghost! What a pity that the dog should +kill him, when all he wanted was a battle to the death with me! I would +have given him his fight!" + +Dick was in no bad way. He had three flesh wounds on his right side, +and none of them serious. Tess staunched them with torn linen, and +she and Tom Tripe propped him against some bags of bullion, while +Utirupa threw his cloak over Gungadhura's dead body. + +"How did Gungadhura get in here?" wondered Tess. + +"Through the hole at the end of the mine-shaft, I suppose," said Dick. +"I built up the lower one--he came one day and saw me doing it--but +left a space at the top that looked too small for a man to crawl through. +Then I blocked the mouth of the tunnel afterward, and shut him in, I suppose. +He's had the men's rice and water-bottles, and they left a lot of faggots +in the tunnel, too, I remember. That accounts for the smell of smoke." + +"But what was the digging I've heard o' nights?" demanded Tom. "I'm +not the only one. The British garrison was scared out of its wits." + +Utirupa was hunting about with a lantern in his hand, watching the dog +go sniffing in the shadows. + +"Come and see what he has done!" he called suddenly, and Yasmini +ran to his side. + +In a corner of the vault one of the great facing stones had been removed, +disclosing a deep fissure in the rock. One of Dick Blaine's crow-bars +that he had left in the tunnel lay beside it. + +"He must have found that by tapping," said Tom Tripe. + +"Yes, but look why he wanted it!" Yasmini answered. "Tom, could you +be as malicious as that?" + +"As what, Your Ladyship?" + +"See, he has poured gold into the fissure, hoping to close it up again +so that nobody could find it!" + +"But why didn't he work his way out with the crow-bar?" Dick objected +from his perch between the bags of bullion. + +"What was his life worth to him outside?" Yasmini asked. "Samson knew +who murdered Mukhum Dass. He would have been a prisoner for the +rest of his life to all intents and purposes. No! He preferred to hide +the treasure again, and then wait here for me, suspecting that I knew +where it is and would come for it! Only we came too soon, before he +had it hidden!" + +But it was Patali afterward, between boasting and confession, who +explained that Dick was Gungadhura's real objective after all. He +preferred vengeance on the American even to a settled account with +Yasmini. He must have found the treasure by accident after crawling +into the unsealed crack in the wall to wait there against Dick's coming. + +"The money must stay here, and be removed little by little," said Utirupa. + +"First of all Blaine sahib's share of it!" Yasmini added. "Who shall +count it? Who!" + +"Never mind the money now," Tess answered. "Dick's alive! When +did you first know you'd found the treasure, Dick?" + +"Not until the day that Gungadhura found me closing up the fault, and +asked me to dig at the other place. The princess told me I was on the +trail of it that night that you went with her by camel; but I didn't know I'd +found it till the day that Gungadhura came." + +"How did you know where it was?" Tess asked, and Yasmini laughed. + +"A hundred guarded it. I looked for a hundred pipal trees, and found +them--near the River Palace. But they were not changed once a month. +I looked from there, and saw another hundred pipal trees--here, below +this fort--exactly a hundred. But neither were they changed once a month. +Then I counted the garrison of the fort--exactly a hundred, all told. +Then I knew. Then I remembered that 'who looks for gold finds gold,' +and saw your husband digging for it. It seemed to me that the vein of +gold he was following should lead to the treasure, so I pulled strings +until Samson blundered, trying to trick us. And now we have the treasure, +and the English do not know. And I am maharanee, as they do know, +and shall know still better before I have finished! But what are we to +do with Gungadhura's body? It shall not lie here to rot; it must have +a decent burial." + +Very late that night, Tom Tripe moved the guards about on the bastions, +contriving that the road below should not be overlooked by any one. +The moon had gone down, so that it was difficult to see ten paces. +He produced an ekka from somewhere--one of those two-wheeled +carts drawn by one insignificant pony that do most of the unpretentious +work of India; and he and Ismail, the Afridi gateman, drove off into the +darkness with a covered load. + +Early next morning Gungadhura's body was found in the great hole that +Samson's men had blasted in the River Palace grounds, and it was +supposed that a jackal had mangled his body after death. + +(That was what gave rise to the story that the English got the treasure +after all, and that Gungadhura, enraged and mortified at finding it gone, +had committed suicide in the great hole it was taken from. They call +the great dead pipal tree that is the only one left now of the hundred, +Gungadhura's gibbet; and there is quite a number, even of English +people, who believe that the Indian Government got the money. But +I say no, because Yasmini told me otherwise. And if it were true that t +he English really got the money, what did they do with it and why was +Samson removed shortly afterward to a much less desirable post? +Any one could see how Utirupa prospered, and he never raised the +taxes half a mill. + +Samson had his very shrewd suspicions, one of which was that that +damned American with his smart little wife had scored off him in some way. +But he went to his new post, at about the same time that the Blaines left +for other parts, with some of the sting removed from his hurt feelings. +For he took Blaine's rifle with him--a good one; and the horse and dog-cart, +and a riding pony--more than a liberal return for payment of a three- +thousand rupee bet. Pretty decent of Blaine on the whole, he thought. +No fuss. No argument. Simply a short note of farewell, and a request +that he would "find the horses a home and a use for the other things." +Not bad. Not a bad fellow after all. + + + + + +Chapter Twenty-Five + + + + +L'envoi + +Down rings the curtain on a tale of love and mystery, +Clash of guile and anger and the consequence it bore; +The adventurers and kings +Disappear into the wings. +The puppet play is over and the pieces go in store. + +Back, get ye back again to shop and ship and factory, +Mine and mill and foundry where the iron yokes are made; +Ye have trod a distant track +With a queen on camel-back, +Now hie and hew a broadway for your emperors of trade! + +Go, get ye gone again to streets of strife reechoing - +Clangor of the crossings where the tides of trouble meet; +For a while on fancy's wing +Ye have heard the nautch-girls sing, +But a Great White Way awaits you where the Klax-on-horns repeat. + +Back, bend the back again to commonplace and drudgery, +Beat the shares of vision into swords of dull routine, +Take the trolley and the train +To suburban hives again, +For ye wake in little runnels where the floods of thought have been. + +Speed, noise, efficiency! Have flights of fancy rested you? +A while we set time's finger back, and was the labor vain? +If so we whiled your leisure +And the puppets gave you pleasure, +Then say the word, good people, and we'll set the stage again. + + +And that is the whole story + +Smoking a cigarette lazily on Utirupa's palace roof, Yasmini reached +for Tess's hand. + +"Come nearer. See--take this. It is the value, and more, of the percentage +of the silver that your husband would not take." + +She clasped a diamond necklace around Tess's neck, and watched +it gleam and sparkle in the refracted sunlight. + +"Don't you love it? Aren't they perfect? And now--you've a great big +draft of money, so I suppose you're both off to America, and good-by +to me forever?" + +"For a long time." + +"But why such a long time? You must come again soon. Come next year. +You and I love each other. You teach me things I did not know, and +you never irritate me. I love you. You must come back next year!" + +Tess shook her head. + +"But why?" + +"They say the climate isn't good for them until they're eighteen at least-- +some say twenty." + +"Oh! Oh, I envy you! What will you call him? It will be a boy--it is sure +to be a boy!" + +"Richard will be one name, after my husband." + +"And the other? You must name him after me in some way. You can +not call a boy Yasmini. Would Utirupa sound too strange in America?" + +"Rupert would sound better." + +"Good! He shall be Rupert, and I will send a gift to him!" + +(That accounts for the initials R. R. B. on a certain young man's trunk +at Yale, and for the imported pedigree horse he rides during vacation-- +the third one, by the way, of a succession he has received from India.) + +And that is the whole story, as Yasmini told it to me in the wonderful +old palace at Buhl, years afterward, when Utirupa was dead, and the +English Government had sent her into forced seclusion for a while--to +repent of her manifold political sins, as they thought--and to start new +enterprises as it happened. She had not seen Theresa Blaine again, +she told me, although they always corresponded; and she assured +me over and over again, calling the painted figures of the old gods +on the walls to witness, that but for Theresa Blaine's companionship +and affection at the right moment, she would never have had the courage +to do what she did, even though the guns of the gods were there +to help her. + + +The End + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, GUNS OF THE GODS *** + +This file should be named 5606.txt or 5606.zip + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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