The Irish standard., 1895-06-01
rajah shall be divided among us. What

raiah shall be divided among us. What
say you to it. sahib?'
'sIn Worcestershire the life Of a man
| seems great and a sacred thing; but
1t is very different when there is fire
and blood all round you and you have
been used to meeting death at every
turn. Wheth - Achmet the merchant
lived or died was thing as light as air
to me, but at the talk about the treas
ure my heart turned to it, and thought
of what might do, in the old country
with it, and how my folks would stare
when they sew their ne'er-do-well COM
ing back with his pockets full Of gold
moidores. I had, therefore, already
made up my mind: Abdullah Khan,
however, thinking that I hesitated,
pressed the matter more closely.
.'".'Consider, sailib," said he, that II
this man is taken by the commandant
he will be hung or shot, and his jewels
taken by the government, so that no
man will be a rupee the better for
| them. Now, since we do the taking of
him, why should we not do the rest as
as we'll? The jewels will be as we'll
with us as. in the corapany's Golfers.
There will be enough to make every
| one of us rich men and great chiefs.
No one can know about the matter. for
here we are cut Off from all ,uen.
! What could be better for the purpose?
| Say again, then, sahib, whether you
are with us, or il we must look upon
you as an enemy
"'I am with you heart and SOUL"
said T..
est is WE'LL he answered, handing
me back my tirelock. You see that we
trust you, for your word, like ours. is
not to be broken. We have now only
| to wait for my brother and the lncs-
chant -
"'Does your brother know, then, OF
what you will do?' asked. t.
'The plan is his, He has devised it.
We will go to the gate and share tbs
! watch with Mahonet Singh
ssThe rain was still falling steadily,
for it was just the beginning Of the
| wet season. Brown, heavy clouds were
drifting across the sky, and it was hard
| to see more than a stone-cast. A deep
| moat lay in front of our door, but the
| water was in places nearly dried up,
and it could easily be crossed. It was
| strange to me to be standing there
with those two wild Puniaubees wait
| ing for the man who was coming to his
| death.
| Suddenly my eye caught the CLINT
of a shaded lantern at the other side OF
the moat. 1t vanished among the
mound-heaps, and then appeared again
II Il
":Here they are!' exclaimed.
"'You will challenge him, sahib, as
usual whispered Abdullnh. Give him
no cause for fear. Send us in with
him, and we shall do the rest while
you stay here on guard" Have the
lantern ready to uncover, that we may
be sure that it is indeed the man.
f. ''The light had flickered EDWARDS,
now stopping and now advancing, I'M
til could see two dark figures upon
the other side of the lnoat let them
scrumble down the sloping bank,
splash through the miro, and climb
halfway up to the gate, before I
challenged them.
"'Who goes there?' said / in sub
dued voice.
Friends came the answer. UNI
covered my lantern and threw flood
Of light upon them. The first was an
enormous Sikh, with. black beard
which swept nearly down to his cum
merbund. Outside of a show ] have
! never seen SO tall man. The other
was little fat round fellow, with q
great yellow turban and bundle in
his hand: done up in a shawl. He
seemed to be all in CULVER with fear,