Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-08-14


in and heard our story. He finished hi
pipe and said oracularly: I'VE must ge+
at the evidence. Oorya bearer, Mussal
man knit and methraniayah, suppose
are the pillars of the charge. I am on il
this piece, but I'm afraid I'm gettine
rusty in my talk"
He rose and went into Biers bedroom
where his trunk had been put, and shut
the door. An hour later we heard hin
say: az hadn't the heart to part with my
old makeups when I married. Will thi.
do? There was lothely faquir salaam
ing in the doorway.
"Now lend me fifty rupees" said
Strickland, "and give me your words Of
honor that you won't tell my wife"
He got all that he asked for, and left
the house while the table drank hi:
health. What he did only he himself
knows. A faquir hung about Bronck
horst's compound for twelve days,
Then mehter appeared, and when Bic
heard of him he said that Strickland
was an angel full fledged. Whether the
mehter made love to Janh, Mrs Bronck.
horst's ayah, is a question which con
Germs Strickland exclusively.
He came back at the end Of three
weeks, and said quietly: "You spoke
| the truth, Biel. The whole business j:
put up from beginning to end. Jove
1t almost astonishes mel That Bronck
horst beast isn't fit to live"
There was uproar and shouting, and
Biel said: -"How are you going to prove
it? You can't say that you've been tres
passing on Bronckhorst's compound in
disguiseT
NO." said Strickland. Tell you,
lawyer fool, whoever he is, to get NJ
something strong about inherent i'm.
probabilities and discrepancies of evi
dence.' He won't have to speak, but il
will make him happy. I'm going to run
this business"
Biel held his tongue, and the other
men waited to see what would happen.
They trusted Strickland as men trust
quiet men. When the case came off the
court was crowded. Strickland hung
about in the veranda Of the court till he
met the Mohammedan khitmatgar.
Then he murmured faquir's blessing in
his ear, and asked him how his second
wife did. The man spun around, and as
he looked into the eyes of "Estreeker
Sahib" his jaw dropped. You must re-
member that before Strickland was mar.
ried he was, as l have told you already,
a power among the natives. Strickland
whispered a rather coarse vernacula1
proverb to the effect that he was abreast
of all that was going on, and went into
the court armed with gut trainers
whip.
The Mohammedan was the first wit
ness, and Strickland beamed upon him
from the back of the court. The man
moistened his lips with his tongue, and
In his abject fear of "Estreeken Sahib,
the faquir, went back ON every detail of
his evidencc-said he was poor man
and God was his witness that he had for
gotten everything that Bronckhorst Sahib
had told him to say. Between his terror
of Strickland, the judge and Bronck-
horst he collapsed, weeping.
Then began the panic among the wit
nesses. Janki, the ayah. leering chastely
behind her veil, turned gray, and the
bearer left the court. He said that his
mamma was dying, and that it was not
wholesome for any man to lie unthriftily
in the presence of ''Estreeken Sahib."
Bel said politely to Bronckhorst:
Your witnesses don't seem to work.
Haven't you any forged letters to pro-
duce:" But Broncllhorst was swaying
to and fro i'll his chair, and there was a
dead pause after Bel had been called to
order.
Bronckhorsts counsel saw the look on
his clients face, and without more ado
pitched his papers on the little green
baize table, and mumbled something
about having been misinformed. The
whole court applauded wildly, like sol
diers at theatre, and the judge began
to say what he thought.
Biel came out of the place and Strick-
land dropped gut trainers whip on the
veranda. Ten minutes later Bell was
cutting Bronckhorst into ribbons behind
the old court cells, quietly and without
scandal. What was left of Bronckhorst
was sent home in carriage, and his wife
wept over it and nursed it into a man
again.
Later on, after Bel had managed to
hush up the counter charge against
Bronckhurst of fabricating false evil
dence, Mrs. Bronckhurst, with her faint,
watery smile, said that there had been a
mistake, but it wasn't her Teddy's fault
altogether. She would wait till her
Teddy came back to her. Perhaps he
had grown tired of her or she had tried
his patience, and perhaps we wouldn't
cut her any more, and perhaps the
mothers would let their children play
with '1ittle Teddy" again. He was so
lonely. Then the station invited Mrs.
Bronckhorst everywhere until Bronck-
horst was fit to appear in public, when
he went home and took his wife with
him. According to the latest advices
her Teddy did come back to her" and
they are moderately happy, though of
course he can never forgive her the
thrashing that she was the indirect
means of getting for him,
What Bel wants to know is: "Why
didn't 1 press home the charge against
the Bronckhorst brute and have him run
inn
What Mrs, Strickland wants to know
is: GLOW did my husband bring such a
lovely, lovely Waller from your station;
l know all his money affairs, and I'm
certain he didn't buy it."
What l want to know is: "How do
women like Mrs. Bronckhorst come to
marry men like Bronckhorst?"
And my conundrum is the most unan-
swerable of the three.-Rudyard Kip
ling.
THE NANCY LEE