Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1878-10-11
THE BURIED BUNGALOW.

w nat can this mean r. asked i, REIN
ing up my horse close to the dense milk
thorn hedge that shut in Mr.. Warren's
pretty house, and its garden gay with
flowers, from the tea-plantations, the
green valley, the upland pastures, and
the dazzling peaks of the Himalayas
soaring overhead. There, on fragment
of rock stood the welLknown tall form
of the planter himself, angrily confront
inga motley mob of natives, some tawny,
others yelloW-skinned, and few nearly
black. These, although they had flung
aside hoe and spade, knew to be the
coolies employed at the prosperous hill
station, where such scene of confusion
had been hitherto unknown.
'The scoundrels are goingto leave me,
that's all 70 said Mr.. Warren curtly; and
at that instant there stepped forward in
advance of the rest gaunt Ebetan, clad
in sheepskins, who tremendously and
with perfect gravity placed on the ground
a fragment of wheaton cake, handful
of salt, and q Lotd or brass drinking cup,
nearly filed with coins, from silver
rupees to copper 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 down.
cast mien stood motionless, as though
waiting to be questioned.
"What mummery is this ?" asked I in
an under-tOne. My intended father-in-
law, who knew the people and the
country better than did, shook his
head.
"It means mischief" he whispered.
Something has terrified the superstitious
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 Bengali dialect,
ITO desert me, then, Han Gorain
'eThe Sahib Warren is a good master"
replied the Tibetan in the same language.
IF we go, it is because the evil eye has
looked upon his threshold, and the voice
that never lies has laid curse on Yirmi
Sou and ali that dwell there"
The man spoke slowly and with son
difficulty, such as besets those who usc
a foreign tongue imperfectly mas; cred;
but he had uttered his brief speech
with emphasis, and with certain dig
Tibetans and hiil-men, sturdy fellows,
on whom deyolYed the rough work Of
nenehing and dyke-building, while a
little way off clustered the dusky coolies
from India proper, their lips tightened
over their shining teeth, and in attitudes
expressive of the most abject servlllty.
Clearly there was no stimulus short OF
physical fear which would have nerved
these crouching creatures to disobey the
Bufra Sahib, or owner of the plantation,
whose ightest word had been law to his
meek subordinates. s -
"If the Sahib will hearken to the
counsel of the poor" said the spokesman
after pause, "he and his will hasten
away, before -"
But here Mr.. Warren lost patience,
and interrupted the orator, roundly re-
buking the whole gang as a pack OF
craven hounds, frightened at their own
shadows, and without spark Of man
illness to redeem them. Were it worth
while, he said, he could gallop over to
the nearest magistrate and enforce the
performance of the contract under pain
of fOgging and Imprisonment; but he
wanted no half-hearts in. his service, so
they might 90. "You hear mep he
thundered, s;lencing Han Gorain's fresh
effort to speak; and the men skunk away
cowed, as Orientals usually are, by this
undOubting assertion of authority.
The planter recovered his temper as
soon as the rescusants had departed, and
laid his broad hand on my shoulder,
saying, with jolly laugh:
"a lesson, my boy, as to the thorns
that will lie in your path when you and
Edith live here in my stead, as hope
you'll do, after the gathering-in of the
next tea crop, and set-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 logic scared him, was
slirewd and reliable servant. But never
mindi Come in, Musgave, come inI
The parsOn from Nynee Tai is here
already, and you must help the bride
expectant to entertain him until dinner
time"
Pretty Edith, who was on the morrow
to become my wife, smiled away any
uncomfortable feelings which the con-
duet of Han Gorain and his companions
had left behind; and neither she nor
her parents, nor Mr.. Edwards the eler-
gynar, who had come over expressly to
perform the marriage ceremony, sc.mcd
TO attach any importance to the panic
among the coolies.
'It was something" cxclaimed Mr..
Warren, "about Alp Dagh, the Big
Mountain, at the foot of which we live,
,HIt l have been a planter here too long
to care for the tattle of coolies. They
are like children who talk of the
nursery ghost until they see it in every
dark corner. A delightful life l should
nave led here, had / been eredulous."