The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-04-11
THE BURIED BUNGALOW.

Bret Aarte. in ". y. INDEPENDENT.
THE BURIED BUNGALOW.
WHAT can this mean?" asked l,
refining up my horse close to the dense
milkthorn hedge that shut in Mr.. War
rem 5 pretty house. and its garden gay
with flowers. from the tea plantations,
the green valley. the upland pastures
and the dazzling peaks of the Hima-
layaS soaring overhead. There. on a
fragment of rock, stood the well-known
tall form of the planter himself, angri-
lv confronting motley mob of natives,
some tawny. Others yellow-skinned and
few nearly black. These, although
they had tluns aside hoe and spade, /
knew to be the coolies employed ut the
prosperous hill-station, where such a
scene of confusion had been hitherto
unknown.
The scoundrels are going to leave
me, that's air. said Mr.. Warren, curt
ly; and at that instant there stepped
forward in advance of the rest gaunt
Tibetan. clad in sheepskins, who cere-
moniously and with perfect gravity
placed on the ground fragment of
wheaton cake, a handful of salt, and a
iota or brass drinking-cup nearly filled
with coins. from silver rupees to cop
per pice. Then pointing with peeled
willow wand that he held in his hand
TO the food and the money thrice, he
snapped in twain the slender stick, and
with bent head and downcast mien
stood motionless as though waiting to
be questioned.
"What mummery is this?'' asked l,
in an undertone. NV intended father
in-law, who knew the people and the
country better than l did, shook his
head.
1T means mischief" he whispered.
Something has terrified the supersti-
tious ours. and, see! they renounce my
bread and salt, return the advance of
wages and break the wand, in token
that they are my men no more. You
mean,' he added harshly, in the Ben
gal dialect, ito desert me, then, Han
Gorain?'
1.-The Sahib Warren is good
MASTER replied the Tibetan, in the
same language. If we go, it is be-
cause the evil eye has looked upon his
threshold, and the voice that never lies
has laid curse on Yirmi Sou and all
that dwell there"
The man spoke slowly and with some
difficulty, such as those who use a
foreign tongue imperfectly mastered;
but he had uttered his brief speech with
emphasis, and with certain dignity of
bearing Behind him stood the Tibe-
tans and hill-men, sturdy fellows, on
whom devolved the rough work of
trenching and dyke-building, while a
little way of clustered the dusky coolies
from India proper, their lips frightened
over their shining teeth, and in atti-
tudes expressive of the most abject
servility. Clearly there was no slim
illus short of physical fear which would
have nerved these crouching creatures
to disobey the Burra Sahib, or owner of
the plantation, whose lightest word had
been law to his meek subordinates.
If the Sahib will hearken to the
counsel of the poor" said the spokes-
man, after a pause, "he and his will
hasten away before"
But here Mr.. Warren lost patience,
and interrupted the orator, roundly re-
bukine the whole gang as pack of
craven hounds, frightened at their own
illness to redeem them. We're it worth
while, he said, he could gallop over to
the nearest Magistrate and enforce the
performance of the contract under pain
of tlogging and imprisonment; but he
wanted no half-hearts in his service, so
they might go. "You hear me?' he
Numbered, silencing Hahn Gorain's
resi- effort to speak; and the men skunk
away, cOwed, as Orientals usually are,
by this undoubting assertion of au-
thority.
The planter recovered his temper as
soon as the recusants had departed, and
laid his broad hand on my shoulder,
saying, with jolly laugh, "a lesson,
George, my boy, as to the thorns that
will lie in your path when you and
Edith live here in my stead, as l hope
you'll do. after the gathering in of the
next tea-crop, and aet-to to feather YOUR
nest, as her mother and have done. /
thought better things, too, of the over
seer-that Han Gorain, who, before
some heather boyle scared him, was a
shrewd and reliable servant. But never
mind! Come in, Musgrave. come in!
The parsOn from Nynee Tai is here al
Eeduk duU yOu IuuSt uc'p VIC DfNc.cX-
pectant to entertain him until dinner
time''
Pretty Edith, who was on the NOR
row to become my wife, smiled away
any uncomfortable feelings which the
conduct of Han Gorain and his COM
panlOns had left behind; and neither
she nor her parents, nor Mr.. Edwards,
the clergyman, who had come over ex-
pressly to perform the marriage ccre-
mony, seemed to attach any Importance
to the panic among the coolies.
lit was something" exclaimed Mr..
Warren, "about Alph Dagh, the B;p
Mountain, at the foot of which we live
but have been planter here too long
to care for the tattle of coolies. Thev
are like children who talk of the nur-
sery ghosts until they see it in every
dark corner. A delightful life should
have led here, had been credulous.''
And with that he dismissed the sub.
iect, and the evening passed genially
enough. Later on, however, after the
whispered farewell to my sweet Edith
in the porch, drsped with the glisten-
ing leaves and big white blossoms Of
the Indian creepef, after the ride home
- 500, x>,,v,.