The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1879-03-20
THE BURIED BUNGALOW.

THE BURIED BUNGALOW.
"What can this mean9' asked I, rein
/ ing up my horst close to the dense milk.
thOrn hedge that shut in MIR. 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 a fragment
of rock stood the Welb-knOWn tall form
Of the planter himself, angFily confront
inga motley mob of natives, some taWny,
others yellow-skinned, and a few nearly
black. These, although they had flung
aside hoe and spade, Il knew to be the
coolies employed at the prosperous hill
station, where such a scene Of confusion
had been hitherto unknown.
'sThe scOUndrels are -gongtU leave me,
that's all p said Mr.. Warren curtly; and
at that instant there stepped forward in
advance Of therest a gaunt Tibetan, clad
~ sheepskins, who tremendously and
with perfect gravity placed on the ground
a fragment Of wheaton cake, a handful
of salt, and l0tG or brass drinking-cup,
nearly filed with coins, from silver
rupees to copper piCe. Then, pointing
with a 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 thisP asked I in
an under-tone. My intended father-in-
law, who knew the people and the
country better than I did, shook his
head.
'It means mischief he whispered.
Something has terrified the supersitious
ours, and seei 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,
'to desert me, then, Han Gorain %
''The Sahib Warren is a good master"
replied the Tib6tan in the same language.
"If we 60, it is because the evil eye has
looked upon his threshold, and the voice
that never lies has laid a curse on Yirmi
Sou and all that dwell there"
The man spoke slowly and with SON
difficulty, such as besets those who use
a foreign tongue imperfectly mastered;
but he had uttered his brief speech
with emphasis, and with a certain dig
nifty of bearing. Behind him stood the
Tibetans and hill-men, sturdy fellows,
on whom devolved the rough work of
trenching 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 abiect servility.
Clearly there was no stimulus 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 spokesman
after a pause, che 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 a 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 flogging and imprisonment; but he
wanted no half-heaTts in his service, SO
they might go. "You hear meP he
silencing Han GoTain's fresh
effort to speak and the men skunk away
cowed, as Orientals usually are, by this
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 q 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 I 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. I
thought better things, too, of the over
seer 7 that Han GOrain, who, before
some heathen logic scared him, was a
shrewd and reliable servant. But never
mind! Come in, Musgrave, come in !
The parsOn from Nynee Tai is here
already, and you must help the bride
sXpectant to entertain him until dinner
ime" EL.
Pretty Edith, who was on the morrow
70 become my wife, smiled away any
feelings which the con-
duct of Han Gorain and his companions
had left behind; and neither she nor
ler parents, nor Mr.. Edwards the cler-
lyman, who had come over expressly to
perform the marriage ceremony, seemed
o attach any importance to the panic
.mong the coolies.
'It was something" exclaimed Mr.
Warren, "about Alp Dagh, the Big
Mountain, at the foot Of which we live,
lut I have been q planter here too long
% care for the tattle of coolies. They
re like children who talk Of the
nursery ghost until they see it in every 4
lark corner. A delightful life I should
lave led here, had / been CredulOus."
And with that he dismissed the sub
ieet, and the evening passed genially
enough. Later on, however, after a
whispered farewell to my sweet Edith |
n the porch, draped with the glistening /
caves and big white blossoms of the |
Indian Creeper, after the ride home to |
ny own dwelling among the hills, and
when my head rested on its pillow, a
7ague sense of insecurity beset me
fresh and even when 1 fell asleep my |
lreams were troubled and sad, not such !
IS should visit the slumbers Of one on |
whom the world smiled as it did on me, !
George Musgrave. The daWning of the /
lew day-my wedding-day-hOWever !
hased away the clouds from my mind
nd when mounted my horse to ride to |
lirmi Sou, attired rs a bridegroom !
hould be, my heart was light and full |
e happy hope. Edith loved me better |
Lo- 7 Iassr-ra5 7 1vv,avry that orE - /