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

The sun was setting ovcr the Gauges
one bright summer evening in 1871.
The day had been a hot one even for
India, and it was an unspeakable relief
to every one when the scorching sun be-
gan to decline at last, and the length
ening shadows of the tall palms along
the riverbank told that night was at
hand.
And now the Hindu inhabitants of
the neighboring village, who had been
lying motionless all the afternoon under
the shade of their re%ed-thatched roofs,
or of the vast overarching banyan trees
around them, came trooping down to
the water in a body.
Instantly the whole bank of the great
river-so lovely and silent all through
the long, burning day-became all alive
with noise and hustle. Children pad
died in the broad, still pools, or chased
each other in and out of the tall,
feathery bamboo clump that grew along
the bank. Women filled their earthen
pitchers from the stream, or washed
their threadbare clothes. Men began
to scour their brass lotahs drinking
vessels), or to kindle fires for the cook
ing Of their evening meals; while a little
farther down the stream, a group of
young girls, wading out in the shallow
water, fell to splashing each other with
might and main, amid shouts of merry
laughter.
To any one unaccustomed to the WAYS
of India it would have seemed strange
enough to see, upon the wrists and
ankles of nearly all the girls. and many
of their mothers likewise. heavy bangles
of solid silver. which any Western lady
might have been proud to wear. But the
Hindu peasants, to whom savings-banks
are utterly unknown, have no way of
keeping their money safe except by
carrying it about with them in this
fashion, somewhat hazardous plan,
1t must be owned. in a country
swarming with the most expert and
daring thieves in the world.
Suddenly, one Of the girls, who had
venturcd a little farther out into the
stream than the rest, disappeared under
water with a piercing Shrek, as if
dragged down by some overpowerine
force. \ few bubbles that rose sullenly
to the surface We're the only token Of
her fate, while her terrified companions
turned and rushed back to the shore as
fast as possible. screaming:
"A crocodile! a c~rocodile!!"
Several day passed before any of the
village women dared to approach the
scene of this terrible mischance. At
length one, holder than the rest, VEN
tured III again. and the others, seeing
that no harm came Of her daring, began
to follow her example. More than a
week passed without any accident, and
everything was beginning to go on as
usual, when, one evening, a second girl
disappeared in precisely the same man
ncr as the first.
The terror was 10Y universal, and all
the best hunters of the village set them
selves with nj accord to get rid of this
destroying crocodile. Bats were laid,
traps set, men posted along the bank
with loaded guns to keep watch for the
monster; but, look for him as they
might, nothing was to be seen of him.
Several days later the wife of one of
the villagers was washing her white
it slipped from her hands and tloated
slowly out into the wide, still pool
formed by the bend of the stream. The
woman at once waded after it, and had
just succeeded in clutching it, when she
was seen by those on the bank to give a
sudden start, throw her arms convul-
sively into the air and disappear under
water Just as the other two had done
before.
=
About three days after this last catas-
trophe. Mr.. Henry Sparks, the British
Commissioner .for the District of
Jungleywallah, was at work in his office
amid a perfect mound of papers, halt
ing every now and then to wipe his
streaming face (Which, despite the
enormous punkah, or swinging-fan,
worked by his native servant outside
with a cord passed through a hole in
the wall, looked very much like a half
melted snowbalD, when he was sudden
ly disturbed by a knock at the door.
Come in!' cried he, snappishly, ex-
pecting the entrance of some Hindu
farmer or peasant with a complaint as
long and unintelligible as an Assyrian
inscription. But at the first glimpse of
the person who entered his face cleared
at once.
The visitor was a tall native, with the
handsome features and stately bearing
of a Mahratta. His figure, nearly six
feet in height, was SO gaunt and sinewy
that it seemed to be made of pin-wire,
and his piercing black eyes looked out
from beneath the folds OF his white tur-
ban with the quick, keen, watchful
glance of Il practical hunter.
In truth, Isnail, the Mahratta, was
well used to tracking other game beside
deer or tigers. Over and above his oc-
equations as scout, hunter and Govern
ment courier. he was in constant re-
quest as a detective, and, for tracking
down either a wild beast or a criminal,
he had no equal in Bengal.
Gliding into the O as noiselessly
as a shadow, he made a low salaam,
and said in his own language:
MAY the humblest of his servants
speak to the Sahib?" (master).
There was nothing particularly hum-'
BILE, It uar.st be admitted, in the speak