Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1890-11-27

the White 90 to the White and the
Black to the Black. Then, what
ever trouble falls is in the ordinary course
of things-neither Sudden, alien nor I'M
expected.
This is the story of a man who wilfully
stepped beyond the safe limits OF decent
everyday society, and paid for it heavily.
He knew too much in the first in
stance; and he saw too much in the sec
ond. He took too deep an interest in ma
tive life; but he will never do SO again.
Deep away in the heart of the city, be-
hind Jitha Megji's bustee, lies Amir
Mathis Gully, which ends in dead-wall
F., pierced by one grated window. At the
head of the Gully is big crowbyre, and
the walls on either side Of the Gully are
without windows. Neither Suchet Singh
nor Gaur Chand approve of their women
folk looking into the world. If Durga
Charm had been of their opinion, he
would have been happier man to-day,
and little Bisesa would have been able to
knead her own bread. Her room looked
out through the grated window into the
narrow dark Gully where the sun never
came and where the buffaloes wallowed
in the blue slime. She was widow,
about fifteen years old, and she prayed
the Gods, day and night, to send her a
lover; for she did not approve of living
alone.
One day, the man-Trejago his name
was-came into Amir Mats Gully on an
aimless wandering; and, after he had
passed the buffalces, stumbled over big
heap OF cattle-food.
Then he saw that Gully ended in a
trap, and heard little laugh from be-
hind the grated window. 1t was pretty
little laugh, and Trejago, knowing that,
for all political purposes, the Arabian
Nights are good guides went forward to
the window, and whispered that verse of
"The Love Song Of Har Dyal" which
begins
Can a man stand upright in the face of the
naked Sun; or Lover in the Presence of his
Beloved?
II my feet fail me, o Heart of my Heart am
TO blame, being blinded by the glimpse of
your beauty?
There came the faint tchinks of a
woman bracelets from behind the grating,
and little voice went on with tile song
at the fifth verse;
Alas alasl Can the Moon tell the Lotus of
Her love when the Gate of Heaven is shut
And the clouds gather for the rains?
They have taken my beloved, and driven her
with pack horses to the North.
There are chains on the feet that were set on
My heart.
Call to the bowmen to make ready
The voice stopped suddenly, and Ire
jago walked out of Amir Mathis Gully,
wondering who in the world could have
capped "The Love Song Of Har Dyal" so
neatly.
Next morning, as he was driving to
office, an old woman threw packet into
his dog-cart. In the packet was the half
Of broken glass bangle, one flower of
the blood red dhak, pinch of bhusa or
cattle food, and eleven cardamons. That
packet was letter-not a clumsy, COM
promising letter, but an innocent, unin-
telligible lovers epistle.
Trejego knew far too much about these
things, as have said. No Englishman
should be able to translate object letters.
But Trejego spread all the trifles on the
sid Of his office-box and began to puzzle
them out.
A broken glass-bangle stands for a
Hindoo widow all India over; because,
when her husband dies, weman's
bracelets are broken on her wrists. Ire
1sgo saw the meaning of the little bit of
glass. The flower of the dhak means di-
versely "desire," ''come," "write," or
danger" according to the other things
with it. One cardamon means jealousy,
but when any article is duplicated in an
object letter, it loses its meaning and
stands merely for one OF number indi-
eating time, or ifincense, curds or saffron
be sent also, place. The message ran
then: "a widow, dhak flower and bhus
st IL o'clock" The pinch of bhusa en-
igttened Trejago. He saw-this kind
OF letter leaves much to instructive
knowledge-that the bhusa referred to
the big heap of cattle-food over which he
had fallen in Amir Mathis. Gully, and
that the message must come from the
person behind the grating; she being
widow. So the message ran then: "a
widow, in the Gully in which is the heap
of bhusa, desires to come at IL O'Clock"
Trejago threw all the rubbish into the
fireplace and laughed. He knew that
men in the East do not make love under
the windows at IL o'clock in the fore
noon, nor do women fix appointments a
week in advance. So he went that very
might at IL, into Amir Mathis Gully, clad
In boorka, which cloaks a man as we'll
as a woman. Directly the gongs in the
city made the hour, the little voice be-
hind the grating took up ''The love song
& t. - - L =