San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-12-26


PLANTATION.
"What do you do here, Ho-Ton?" he
asked in shrill, troubled voice.
II want the path to the lower village"
I answered. ~ have missed it."
At last got clew to much that was
puzzling.
"You are far out of your way. You
can not reach the zyat tonight. 1t will
be better to stay in father's-in our cave
again. Come"
l obeyed the word and gesture, and
very few PAGES brought us through
steep descent on to my old ledge, and
thus once again into the familiar quar-
tiers of Moung Kos secret home.
My geni of the mine, then, was Moung
Kos son?
"Hark" said he. And terrified look
came upon his countenance.
listened, but could hear nothing. My
senses were less acute than his.
"Yes, yes: it has come, as he said it
would, the boy cried, shifting his breast.
And his eyes dilated with fear. ...
"What is your trouble?" l asked,
though could already guess.
"Hark, l say, again" he answered in
an agony; 1.-The wailing is louderl There
is fighting below in the valley. Oh, will
they kill hinl?'
Kill the loved and revered phoonghie,
of whose lapses from orthodoxy there
seemed no current suspicion! | thought
it very unlikely. Yet the foreboding
words of the seer echoed in my memory.
The eventide went in anxious watch
ing and waiting. 1t was marvellous how
the one touch of nature made us kin.
But the boy spoke no word of his past.
When the morrow dawned two anx-
ious faces watched from the friendly
veil of the bushwood the bend of the
great valley. A solitary wayfarer came
into view. Relief, ringing into exube-
rant joy. was in my companions accents:
1T is my father. He is safe" the
poor lad said.
Alas! the gladness was doomed to
speedy eclipse. | thought that Moung
Ko crept upwards slowly, and staggered
as he walked. And once within the
mountain fastness it was plain that his
somber forecast had not been so false as
we would willingly have believed.
Moung Ko looked at me first with con-
sternation and then, was almost sure,
content. know that, with genuine I'M
selfishness, he wished me well. A man
was man and brother to Moung Ko,
whether he were Burman or Briton. 1t
is the glory of the world-bond that in all
lands there are these hearts loyal to hui
manity. But the phoonghie reeled and
sank upon the floor. To the boys horror
and my own we saw that his coarse robe
was dyed crimson at the side he gripped
so tightly Moung Ko was wounded.
1t was my turn to play the surgeon,
aided, as to appliances, by the devoted,
despairing son. But my skill was in
finitely below Moung Kos. 1t was the
patients suggestions that | had to fol-
low.
And it will be in vain," the old priest
gasped, YEARLY, 1.-The time is at hand.
| have known it from the first. 1t is my
fate, and deserve it. Listen, and l will
make the dark thing clear. The law
of the pagoda allows neophites to go
back to the world if they like not
the life of the solitary. l was sent
on a mission soon after became a
priest; and they lost me. In an
other province l broke my VOWS for a
woman's sake. l loved and married.
But it was an unhappy match. My wife
deserted me, and l understood that our
babe was dead. Then l returned to
Anapoora as if nothing had happened.
1t was my great transgression. The story
7 told was true. but only half the truth,
and so, in another sense, lie. And
could not rest. / wandered much, and
| found the minc-and this cave. 1t was
occupied by-would you guess it?-my
wife! She was hunting me to my dis
grace, and death had overtaken her
here. could not save her. But we
were reconciled, and she confessed that
our son lived. sought the child and l
brought him here. We have been much
together. Now go"
There was a long breath, and then the
story reached its end.
1.-THE hill men rose, as knew from my
visions they would do. They came
against the village. Many houses have
been burnt-the zyat among them. You
escaped in time. went into the fight
a man of peace, to stay the hand of the
fratricide; and, in the conclusion, the
blow fell 1t was not struck of intent,
and l triumphed through the fact.
pointed to the stream of blood, pleaded
my works for their welfare Then got
away by secret path-and it is all