Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-06-14
THE HAUNTED POOL.

when the scorching sun began to decline at
last. and the lengthening shadows of the
hall palms along the river bank told that
night was at hand.
And now the Hindu inhabitants of the
1reighboring Village, who had been lying
motionless all the afternoon under the
shade of their reed-thatched roofs, or of the
vast overarching banyan trees around
them, came tro0ping down TO the water in
a body
Instantly the whole bank of the great
riyer-so lovely and silent all through the
long, burning day-became all alive with
noise and hustle. Children padded in the
broad. still pools, or chased each other in
or out of the tall, feathery bamboo clump
that grew along the bank. Women filled
their earthern pitchers from the stream, or
washed their threadbare clothes Men be-
gan to scour their brass lotahs drinking
vessels), or to kindle fires for the cooking
sftheir evening meals; while little farther
down the stream group of young girls,
Wading out in the shallow water, fell TO
Spiashing 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 peas
ants, to whom saVlng-bankS are utterly
unknown, have no way OF keeping their
money safe except by carrying it about
with them in this lashion-a somewhat
hazardous plan, it must be owned, in :.
and daring thieves in the world
Suddenly, one of the girls, who had ven
tured u little farther out into the stream
than the rest, disappeared under water with
a piercing shrek, as if dragged down by
some OverpOWering force A few bubbles
that rose sullenly to the surface were the
only token of her fate, while her terrified
companions turned and rushed back to the
shore as fast as possible, screaming:
" A crocodilel a crocodile y
Several days passed before any of the
village women dared to approach the scene
of this terrible mischance. AS length one,
holder than the rest, ventured in again. and
the others, seeing that no harm came of
her daring, began 10 follow her example.
More than week passed without any acct
dent, and everything was beginning to go
on as usual, when, one evening, a second
girl disappeared in precisely the same man
ner as the first.
The terror was now universal, and all
the best hunters in the village set them
selves with one 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 wrapper
on the bank of the river when it slipped
from her hands and floatcd slowly out into
the wide, still pool formed by the bend of
the stream. The woman at once waded
after it. when she was seen by those on the
bank to give a sudden start throw her
arms conyulsively into the air and disap-
pear under water just as the other had
done before.
About three DAYS after this last catas-
trophc, Henry Sparks, the British Com
missioner for the District of Jungleywal
lab, was at work in his Office amid a per
feet mound Of papers hating every now
and then to wipe his streaming face
(Which, despite the enormous punkah, or
swinging fan, worked by his native servant
outside with cord passed through hole
in the wall, looked very much like half
melted snow ball, when he was suddenly
disturbed by q knock at the door.
Come in r' cried he snappishly, ex-
pecting the entrance of some Hindu farmer
or peasant with a complaint as long and
as an Assyrian inscription.
But at the first glimpse of the person who
entered his face cleared at once.
The visitor was tall native, with the
handsome features and stately bearing of
al, He naorHy q foot in,
hight, was so gaunt and sinewy that il
seemed to be made of pin-wire, and his
piercing black eyes looked out from be-
meath the folds of his white turban with
the quick, keen, watchful glance of q prac-
teal hunter
In truth, Ismail, the Mahratta, was well
used to tracking other game beside deer or
tigers. over and above his occupations as
scout, hunter and Government courier, he
was in constant request as q detective, and,
for tracking down either wild beast or
criminal, he had no equal in Bengal.
Gliding into the room as nOiselesSly as
shadow, he made 4 low salaam, and said in
his own language:
May the hGmblest of his servants
speak to the Sahib?' (master)
There was nothing particularly humble,
it must be admitted, in the speakers bear
INK Oil LAlt N'llAl al ilt AN41 AAlllASt-l
erect and looked the Commissioner 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 ac
quaintanCe, appeared to understand these
signs perfectly and said,
What has ISmail 10 tell ? am listen
ing"
q have been at the village of Ramganj,
answered the Mahratta, laying a slight
stress upon the last word
" Ramganj ?" echoed Mr.. Sparks. All,
10 be sure she place where that crocodile's
been eating up SO many people.
Is Are You quite sure, Sahib?" asked the
Hindu, kcenly watching the effect of his
words, thai II jQGS a crocodile that did it,
The EngliShman started and looked
fxedly at Ismail immovable face
That's how heard the story told, re-
Joined he If II wasn't a crocodile, what
was it?n
" Did the Commissioner Sahib,' in
Quired Ismail, ever hear of a crocodile be-
ing so nice in his eating rs to devour none
but women and only such women as had
plenty of silver bangles on?n
Again Mr. Sparks gave slight start and
the sparkle of his eve 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 tell
ing the whole story himself
:" went 10 the village, continued Is
mail: and talked with the people Then l
dived into the river (my lord knows that /
can find my way through water as well as
through thickets), and at the bottom came
upon 1ioosed roBc.
The Commissioner nodded with the air
of a man who understood the whole affair
perfectly, but still he said nothing
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 piundered the corpse at his leis-
ure"
=" see, said Mr. Sparks. Well, Ismail
YOU know there is Government reward Of
a thousand rupees $500 for every muir
derer brought to justice; see what you can
make of the case