The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-04-03
UNDER THE TOWER OF SILENCE
BY JOHN d. REID,
Author O. ga ROSE DooNn "AuIE,s BARN. THE BULLERs OBUCHAN,n etc.

At q distance of perhaps a mile from the
Wanowrie lines at PoOnah, In the presi-
dency of Bombay. the ground rises some
little way above the elsewhere dead level
of the surrounding country. The eleva-
tion referred 10 is scarcely sufficiently i'm
posing to entitle it to the name of a hill,
but as il is the only exception to the
everlasting wooded fiat. il bulks in the
relieved eye with a kind OF fictitious i'm
p~ortance. In character it is rocky and
of being. even In tho rainy season.
of little account and less value.
Trees will not grow OF il. and.
although the b%rushwood on the plain
below is thick enough, not a bush climbs
Its sun-baked. blIstered slopes. There
would. indeed. be nothing about it worth
q second glance were it not that on it's sum-
NIT stands q huge circular pillar or tower.
built of red brick. and having a name hat
epitomises humanity. 1t Is one of the Par
see places of the dead: one Of the Towers of
Silence.
Grim enough il looks even in daylight.
Win inc ucdIcu ~ tQQJl INK NnQ QulNCIiuk
around it, and the fierce fare of the tropic
sun turning its dingy red to the hue of
flame; spIashing it with streaks and blOtch-
es that look like blood. Grimmer yet is its
aspect in the ghostly moonlight. for then
it is black against the stars, and
the shadows creep about it like bod
Hess presences of outer and evil
things. Grimnest of all. perhaps, it is
in that weird time that lies between
the first Frightening of the east and the
rising Of the sun when the haze lifts
from the grey levels and the inky woods
sharpen their outlines against the white-
ness of the dawn. At such q time there is
something unearthly about 1t, coming al
most into open sight and surrounding it
with an atmosphere of fascination that &c
once draws and repels the imagination. not
yet wholly freed from the influences of the
night and the dark. Such q time. too.
seems of all the fittest for those who would
follow the dead into the inner pit of their
aerial grave. Were we now to open yonder
low, frowning door. and climb in the dark
ness of the inner stairway up and up to the
eeric tower top. we should find-whst1
10 bCob CIV oAouCs POooiOiys IL Ouiy
out of pity for deaths shame; for the hol-
low core of the tower is lidded. within q
few feet of the top. by an iron grating, and
upon that CHASTITY platform we might find
that that would appal us with the revealed
horrors and hIdeous realities of the graves
that are yet to be our own. Better to stay
here ON the hillside. and. looking up at the
dizzy crown of the tower. picture in fancy
all we dare to think of 1.-THE hour after
the mourners have one and over the still,
naked one stretched on the grating the OBJ
scene ~air-scavengers gather in clouds.
Ugh! The very atmosphere of the place
is charnel. and had there been no more of
mystery attaching to it than the sad and
solemn secrets of the grave We might have
passed it by. But it so happens that con-
nected with that CHASTITY air pit Is an ex-
perience as weird and awful as ever was
undergone by man. beginning and ending,
that is. short of the shut lid of q coffin.
For IL CHANGED. once upon O time. that a
draft of fifty soldiers from England arrived
at Poonah, en- route for a certain regiment
then stationed at Benares. And as there
was no room for them all at Gorporee. the
station depot, the surplus, about a dozen
In number. were sent ON to Wanowrie.
Tho distance between the two places ia
less than a mile, but even that was enoueh
TO insure the WanOwrie party being left
very much to themselves; the officer COM
handing the depot having two pronounced
characterlstics-a suDerabundance Of fat
and rooted dislike to exertion.
Among the newcomers who found them.
solves located at Wanowrie was one Hec-
tor Mcleod. As his name implies. he was
of Highland descent, was about twenty
seven years OF age. and was exceptionally
handsome. He was possessed of much
more than the average intelligence and
education OF his class. but in addition to
being imaginative and reserved to an ex-
treme degree. professed to hold views that
stopped but little short of downright
atheism What was more. he seemed to
have lost or destroyed any moral
sense he had ever possessed. and
summed sunni ,,9 up his not creed in one
the ordinary greedy. grasping sense. be
&c understood, for, when the within seized
him, he could be even generous; and his
conduct as q soldier was unexceptionable.
But he acknowledged no dividing line be-
Of law apart, held no right or honor sacred
In Others that opposed or impeded the graf
iticatiOn of mis- wishes and desires. In ad-
dition to all this he he was credited by his
comrades. most OF whom were of Scots
nationality. with the gift.of second sight; a
belief his recurrent fits of savag gloom
did much to strengthen, and which in
creased TO no small extent the feelings of
uneaslness and aversion with which thoy
regarded him.
When the draft had been about q week
at Wanowrie, Mcleod found himself fone
evening at the foot of the rise upon the
crest of which stands the Tower of Silence.
As usual, he was alone. and to Judge from
the expression on his face. was in even
more than his wonted state of gloom.
Standing there on the edge of the bare,
bllstered activity. and staring ND at the
W through the swiftly falling twilight
of the east, he had n touch of the satanic
about him In his sneering lips and sombre
eyes.
A demonstrating ~vulture, that had been
perehed on the coping of the tower, sud-
denly lost its footing and came tumbling
ed by the great bird itself had been the
movement that it was half way to the bot
tom before IL succeeded In arresting Its de-
scent. Then, as its vast wings again re-
covered their mastery of the air, it wheeled
sharply and swept away over the tree tops
lii q tempest-driven cloud. And as it did
so, Mcleod, to whom the quick transition
from dignified repose to scared activity APP
peared IN the last degree ludicr0us. broke
into a laugh of saturnine amusement.
The laugh was echoed behind HIM. but in
o voice Inelodlous and soft as q woman's.
Instantly wheeling round, he found HIM
self face to face with n tall figure, wearing
the lowing dress and grotesque head
gear oil a farsee. Too much surprised for
the moment 10y the others unheard and
unsupported approach to speak, Mcleod
stood staring. his face revealing an odd
mixture of curiosity and irritation.
Although appareled like n man, and of q
stature rarely attained by the opposite sex,
there was that in the face and general
bearing of the stranger that suggested to
Mcleod an instant suspicion that he was
In the presence OF q woman. Yet when he