Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1867-07-17
Vol. ST, No. 28.

| tottered towards the mysterious speak.
, er, who now, in the sing-song tone
used by the Mohamedans while reci-
: ting the Koran, began to repeat the
Fdhha', or first chapter of the holy
, book.
Praise be to God, the Lord of all
creatures, the most merciful, the King
Of the day Of judgment; thee do we
worship, and Of thee do we implore as
sistance; direct us in the =
L never could get further said tho
unseen speaker, and | remember the
time, venerable father, when your
long stick, that now, | see, serves as
your support, would have been raped
sharply over my si1 fingers
What! is it Alec the six fingered? p
exclaimed the Priest. o Alec! Alec
thou wouldst not have come 10 this, if
God had willed you should remember
his holy words. But where art thou,
my son, or is it thy spirit that speak
eth ? for [ heard the Bokhary killed
thee in the month of Doolhedia last
Alec, who had been we'll concealed
in the hollow trunk of a large and an
clent cork tree, startled the old school
master by his sudden appearance, and,
taking hold of the hem of his garment,
kissed it reverently.
20 my son. said the Priest, griev-
ously fear thy sins will be on my bead
Return with me to Bendeesham and
your frends Still there is hope, for
has not the Prophet written-H ye
turn aside from the grieyous sins which
ye are forbidden to commit, we will
cleanse you from your faults, and will
Introduce you into Paradise with an
honorable entryT
Alec, starting from his knees, ex-
claimed, Does the lion, to whom God
has given strength above all beasts,
does he content himself with sheen
while the herd of oxen are within his
grasp? Why, then, should l live in
misery and slavery, since the Ruler of
nature has given me the strength and
activity of lion? WHENCE he con-
ilnued, in an indignant tone which
made the old man tremble, whence do
sultans and their soldiery-those hu-
man ialcons-derive their right of prey
ing on the weak? Thinkest thou that
| and thousands of bearded men kissed
the dust, the other day, in the Meshwa,
before him who claims the title of
i Prince of Believers, from good will and
affection No! nor is it from such
motive that you and your brethren pay
INTO his Golfers your scanty gains =
What cause have / for abandoning my
mode of subsisting in this world, or for
fearing punishment in the next, whilst
the defender of your faith breaks tho
i Prophets law by rapine and extortion,
and yet lives at ease in his conscience,
so long as he has power to do wrong
with irnpunity? | am not more of IL
freebooter than he is; only | practice
on much smaller scale. My edict is
Stand, or | fire. My prime minister
is my good gun and an unerring aim.
Hark | hear the distant tread of ca
mels; come, old man, this night thou
shalt be the guest of the Spirit of tho
Woods;' and he laughed wildly
Mount your mule, and l will lead the
way
, The old man, fearing to refuse, fol-
, lowed the outlaw. They scrambled
their way through thickest copses,
; trespassing on the very lair of the
+ lynx, the jackal; and the boar, Who,
5 reused, retreated grumbling, after their
= fashion, at such strange intrusion.
: The Taleb thought that the way they
I went looked like one where human
feet had never trod before, and SO it
was most probably, for Alec had avoid
ed detection by never travelling twice
over the same path
/ The old schoolmaster began to feel
himself very uneasy as, muttering the
! word Allah Allah hundred times,
he followed hls extraordinary conduc-
! TOR, grlevously fearing that but little
good would come to himself or his
mule. At length they reached jun
gle of briers, apparently impossible;
and Taleb Moostafa said, with tremb-
ling voice, 1T seems to me, my son,
that you have missed the track
| Alec made no answer, but having
first bent down, as if to examine the
ground, uttered sound like the blcat-
ing of kid, which was soon answered
by a shrill whistle, that made the old
mans heart sink within him, and put
/ a bride on his tongue.
'A!l is right said Alec, going to a
spot where the jungle seemed thickest;
then listening while, he threw back
wicket of the living brier, made in
) such a manner as not to be detected
/ even by a hunters observing eye. This
r they passed through, and then the bri-
n ers were cautiously replaced. Wind
1 ing along a narrow path cut through
d the thicket, they came upon an open
, space, through which ran a clear
d stream. On its bank the outlaw had
3 formed hut, but so thatched as to be
e with difficulty distinguished from tho
d surrounding thicket foliage.
G To be Continued.