The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-07-11

HIS HAND WOULD TIGHTEN ON
THE CURTAIN.
| the Rajah another stone" was the
rumor that went the round of the city.
"The bee makes hoards." said AZim
| Khan, the Rajah's heir, sitting in the
upper chamber of Golam Shah. "There-
| fore we will wait awhile" For Azlm
was more coward than traitor.
Golam Shah heard him with a touch
of impatience. Notwithstanding that
the feebeness of Aim was Golam's
chief hope in the happy future that was
| coming.
Such We're the last days of the reign
of the Rajah of Mindapore. in the days
when the story of the making of his
hoard had spread abroad from Pesha
wur to Calcutta. Here am l." said
the wife of the deputy commissioner
at Allapore, enlarging on the topic.
wearing paste. while the aNound Is
positively lumpy with buried treas
| ures.''
But isn't it bad that horrid old
! man should have SO much"
| He has"
| At last there We're men in the Deccan
even who could tell you of particulars of
the rubes and precious stones that the
Rajah had gathered together. But so
circumspect was the Rajah that AZim
Khan and Golam Shah had never even
set eyes on the glittering heaps that
| they knew We're accommodating in the
| safe.
| The Raiah ever went into the little
room alone, and even then he locked
the door of the little room--it had a
couple of locks-before he went to the
safe and used the magic word How
| all the ministers and officers and guards
| listened and looked at one another as
| the door of the room behind the curtain
| closed.
The Rajah changed indeed, in these
days, not only in the particulars of
his rule, but in his appearance. He
is growing old. How fast he grows old!
| The time is almost ripe" whispered
Samud Singh. The Rajah's hand be-
came tremulous, his step was now some-
what unsteady, and his memory curl
ously defective. He would come back
out from the treasure-room, and his
| hand would tighten tiercely on the cur
| tain. and he would stumble on the steps
VI tiie udls. IiiS SycsiSht ldiiS, Saiu
| Golam. "See!- His turban is askew.
He is sleepy even in the forenoon, be-
fore the heat of the day. His judg-
ments are those of a child"
1t was painful sight to see man
| 50 suddenly old and enfeebled still rul-
ing men. That alone would have given
properly constituted heir apparent
| revolutionary turn of mind. But the
treasure was certainly the chief cause
| that set the idle, garrulous. pleasure
loving AZim plotting against his cousin.
A throne was a thing one might wait
for in his opinion-a throne and its
cares; but the thought of those heaps
of shining stones and intricate gold
jewels was different matter. AZim
had had year of college education,
and was 50 far an enlightened man. He
understood investments, and credit. and
the folly of boarding. Moreover, the |
thought of So much latent wealth set
him thinking of the pleasure Of life and
his lost youth.
He may go on yet a score of years"
said Golam Shah.
Azim became "a greedy hearer of ru- |
mors. |
1t was through Azim and Golam, who |
was Inundated and panied by his mas
ter's want of confidence. that the lep- |
rosy of discomfort came into the state. |
The land tax, the salt tax, the cattle |
tax became burthens; the immemorial |
custom of leaving the troops unpaid |
became a grievance. the commissioner |
at Allapore heard tales, and was sur
prised to find growing evidence of mis- |
thought passably well-governed ma
tive state. Also the chief mollahs We're |
sounded. and there was talk of gifts |
and the honor of the shrine. And the |
two eunuchs. and the women of the |
Rajahs harem became factors in the |
greatest movement in the state.
Should a ruler hoard riches" said |
Sherc Ali. i'm the guardroom. and leave |
his soldiers unpaid?" That was the |
beginning of the end.
1t was the thought of the treasure |
won over the soldiers. even as it did the |
mOllahs and the eunuchs. Why had |
the Rajah not buried it In some un-
thinkable place. as his father had done |
before him, and killed the diggers with |
his hand? Surely India is not what 1t |
was. He has boarded" said Samud |
with chuckle-.for the old Rajah had |
once pulled his beard-"only to pay |
for his own undoing." And in order to |
insure confidence. Golam Shah went be- |
yond the truth perhaps, and gave. |
sketchy account of the treasures to this |
man and that. even as a casual eye wit |
ness might do.
Then. suddenly and swiftly. the pal
ace revolution was accomplished. When |
the lonely old Rajah was killed. a shot
was to be fired from the harem lattice, |
bugles were to be blown, and the Sc
roys We're to turn out in the square
before the palace, and fire a volley in |
the air. The murder was done in the
dark save for a little red lamp that
burnt i'm the corner. Azim knelt on the
body and held up the wet beard. and cut
the throat wide and deep to make sure.
1t was so easy! Why had he waited SO
long? And then, with his hands COW
cred with warm blood, he sprang up
eagerly-Rajah at last! and followed
Golam and Samud and the eunuchs
down the long. family moOnlit passage,
towards the hail of audience.
AS they did so, the crack of a rifle
sounded far away, and after pause
came the first awakening noises of the
town. One of the eUnuchs had an iron
bar and Samud carried q revolver in his
hand. He. fired into the LOCKS of the
treasure room and wrecked Them and
the eunuchs smashed the door in. Then |