Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-12-21

AiulScAA CTcCU, anu lOOkeu the COmUlSs
sioner full in the face with the air of q
man who knew his own value, and had
something to tell which he felt to be
worth hearing; but MI. Sparks, with
whom 1smail was an old acquaintance,
appeared to understand these signs per.
fectly, and said
"NVhat has Ismail to tell? l am list
ening."
Il have been at the village of RAM
ganj," answered the Mahratta, laying a
slight stress upon the last word.
"Ramganj?'' echoed Mr.. Sparks.
"Ah, to be sure; the place where that
crocodile's cen beating up so many peo-
ple."
care you quite sure, Sahib?" asked
the Hindu, keenly watching the effect of
his words, "that it qUaS a crocodile that
did it?"
The Englishman started, and looked
fxedly at Ismail's immovable face:
THAT'S how [ heard the story told,"
rejoined he. eff it wasn'ta crocodile,
what was ftp"
'Did the Commissioner, Sahib," in.
quired Ismail. ''ever hear of a crocodile
being SO nice in his eating as to devour
none but women, and only such women
as had plenty Of si1ver bangles on?n
Again Mr.. Sparks gave a slight
start, and the sparkle of his
eye showed that he was beginning
to guess the riddle, but he took care to
make no interruption, seeing that Ismail
wished to have the pleasure of telling
the whole story himself.
II went to the village" continued Is
mail, ''and talked with the people.
Then I dived into the river (my lord
knows that I can find my way through
water as well as through thickets), and
at the bottom I came upon q noosed
rope"
The Commissioner nodded with the
air OF a man who understood the whole
affair perfectly, but still he said
nothing.
1.-The Sahib understands how it was
DONE" proceeded the Hindu. ..When
any woMan worth robbing went into the
water, the moose tangled her feet, and
the robber, hidden among the bushes on
the opposite bank, dragged her down
and drowned her, and then plundered
the corpse at his leisure"
81 see,' said Nh. Sparks. "Well,
Ismail, you know there's a Government
reward of a thousand rupees (S5OO) for
every murderer brought to Justice; see
what you can make Of the case"
The Mahratta's black eyes flashed
fire, for five hundred dollars is more to
a Hindu than five. thousand to a white
man, and such a chance did not come
to him every day. He went out with
out a word, but Mr.. Sparks felt satisfied
that there would be news of the GRIM
inal before long.
lsmail plunged at once into the sur
rounding jungle, and traversed it at a
pace which few men could have kept up
over such ground and in such a climate,
till he came in sight of Ramgani, but
instead of entering the village he struck
down a by-path to the river, swam
across, went slowly up the opposite side
till he came to two bamboo-clumps close
together, and cropping in the water be-
side them, pulled a rope.
His next move Vas to hunt out q BIG
stone, upon the sharp edge of which he
sawed the cord to and fro till it held
only by one strand. One slash of his
long, sharp knife would have done the
work much quicker, but Ismail doubt
less had his reasons for what he did.
Then placing the stone in the shallow
water with the sharp side uppermost,
and the rope lying right across it, he
vanished in the thicket.
An hour had passed since his dissap-
pearance, and night had already set in,
when a dark figure came creeping up
to the same spot, and pulled at the
Undiscovered cord, which instantly
parted in his hand.
The man started, and held up the
broken ends to the light Of the rising
moon, but finding them rough and
frayed as if by constant rubbing, and
feeling the sharp-edged stone lying just
underneath, he appeared satisfied that
it must have been an accident, and
knelt down to knot the cord together
again.
So engrossed was the villain with his
treacherous work that he never lifted
his head to look around him, but even
had he been less preoccupied he would
scarcely have heard the noiseless foot
fall of n who had been tracking the
tiger and antelope through their native
jungles ever since he was ten wears old.
AO AoSuS wax quill 4u4Ic uuSuS plClOuS
of harm, when a tall, shadowy figure
rose behind him as suddenly as if it had
started up through the earth, and a
tremendous blow from a heavy bamboo
club, falling upon his bowed head like
a thunderbolt, felled him senseless to
the earth.
That very night the crestfallen robbe1
was sent off to the nearest British sta
ton, escorted by a strong guard of
native policemen, to be tried and
executed, as he deserved, while Is
mail received from the hands of the
Commissioner himself, together with a
warm commentator of his shrewdness,
the thousand rupees which he had SO
well earned.-Ddvsd Ker, IN The Cont
nent.
a good many young people try to
be original, and make a miserable mis-
take in the endeavor. They imagine
they a turn the whole world round by
some eccentricity Of dress or behavior,
or by some method of speech. In gen
oral tboy ofapI +boir f,.;o,l, .-lJ.