The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1884-01-12

AONh O WIN bSesob Va -
he had no equal in Bengal.
Gliding into the room as noislessly
as a shadow, he made 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 must be admitted, in the speak
er's bearing; on the contrary, he held
himself erect, and looked the commits
sioner full in the face with the air of a
man who knew his own value, and had
something to tell which he felt to be
worth hearing but Mr.. Sparks, with
whom Ismail was an old acquaintance,
appeared to understand these signs per-
fectly, and said:
''What has Ismail to tell ? am lis
tening."
II have been at the village of Ram
ganj," ans wered the Mahratta; layinga
slight stress on the last word.
Ramganj ?" echoed Mr.. Sparks. "Ah
to be sure the place where that croco-
dile's been eating up so many people,
care you quite sure, Sahib ?" asked
the Hindu, keenly watching the effect
of his words, "that it was crocodile
that did it p''
The Englishman started, and looked
fixedlv at Ismail's immovable face.
"That's how heard the story told, :"
rejoined he. "If it wasn't a crocodile,
what was it 2''
"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 silver bangles on p''
Again Mr.. Sparks gave slight start,
and the sparkle of his eye showed that
he was beginning to guess the riddle,
but he took care to make no interrup
tion, seeing that Ismail wished to have
the pleasure of telling the whole story
himself.
~ went to the village" continued
Tsmail, sand talked with the people
Then L dived into the river (my lerC
knows that 1 can find my way througl
water as well as through thickets,) ant
at the bottom l came upon nooset
rope"
The commissioner nodded with tn,
air of man who understood the who'll
affair perfectly, but still he said moth
ing.
"The Sahib understands how it wa
done," proceeded the Hindu. "Whel
any woman worth robbing went into tn
water, the moose tangled her feet, ant
the robber, hidden among the bushe
on the opposite bank, dragged he
down and drowned her, and then plum
dered the corpse at his leisure"
81 see," said Mr.. Sparks. "Wel
Ismail, you know there is government
reward of 1000 rupees (S5O0) for ever
!, murderer brought to justice see wha
you can make of the case."
The Mahratta's black eyes flashed fire
for $500 is more to Hindu than S., 90
to a white man. and such a chance di
not come to him every day. He wen
out without word, but Mr.. Spark
felt satisfied there would be news of th
criminal before long.
Ismail plunged at once into the SUI
rounding jungle, and traversed it at
pace which few men could have lSet
up over such ground and in such cl
mate, till he came in sight of Ramgan
/, but instead of entering the village /
struck down a bypath to the river, swal
! across, went slowly up the opposite sid
till he came to two bamboo clumps clio:
together and, cropping in the water b.
side them, pulled up a rope.
His next move was, to hunt out bl
! stone upon the sharp edge of which /
! sawed the cord to and fro till it hel
only by one strand. One slash of h
| long, sharp knife would have done I'll
{ work much quicker, but Ismail doub
I less had his reasons for wha t he di
. Then placing the stone i'll the shallo
? water with the sharp side uppermo
. and the rope lying across it, he wants
+ ed into the thicket.
An hour had passed since his dlsal
pearance, and night h ad already set IL
2 when dark figure came creeping to I'll
, same spot, and pulled at the half.se
cord, which instantly parted in h
hand.
The man started, and held up th
broken ends to the light of the risin
moon, but finding them rough an
frayed as if by constant rubbing, an
feeling the sharp edged stone just un
derneath, he appeared satisfied that
must have been an accident, and knel
down to knot the cord together again.
So engrossed was the villain with hi
treacherous work that he never LITE
his head to look around HIM, but eve
had he been less preoccupied he woul,
scarcely have heard the noiseless footfa
of one who had been tracking the tigei
and the antelope through their nativ
jungles ever since he was ten years old
ue rogue was still quite unsuspicios
of harm, when tall, shadowy figur'
rose behind him as suddenly as if it haC
started up through the earth, and {
tremendous blow from a heavy bamboo
club, falling upon his bowed head like
thuuderbolt, felled him senseless t
the earth.
That very night the crestfallen robbie
was sent off to the nearest British sta
tion, escorted by strong guard of ma
tive policemen, to be tried ana execut
ed, as he deserved, while Ismail receiv
ed from the hands Of the commissions
himself, together with warm commen