The National tribune., 1896-02-13

chiefly remarkable for huge gilt French
mirrors and great glass candelabra, for
which the late Maharajah had a true ma
| tive's passion, but which contrasted i'll with
the Moorish arches and the stone carving.
At the back of the palace, as we stepped
out on to hanging balcony of stone, we
came Unexpectedly on large artificial pond,
washing the very walls.
mot a very delightful addition to the
place!" / exclaimed, shifting disdainfully
as eazed down into its pea-soup-like depths.
And what is that? rock? Mud?
Rocks?
water, half in the mud, were dark masses.
Rocks?" laughed Jim. ''Wait and
see!"
And he signed to a native who had fol-
lowed us; carrying, l had wondered why,
large pieces of raw meat. These he threw
down among my rocks"
Instantly there was stir, an upheaval of
the water. and vision of crawling feet, of
yellow-whi,e bellies of gaping jaws, and of
rows upon rows of cleaning teeth. The
pond was alive with crocodiles / thought
they would snap off each others hideons
heads as they fought for the dainty morsels! !!
There are both sorts there" remarked
Jim, calmly looking down upon the fray.
"The long-nosed, fish-eating 'mugger,' and
the bottle, or snub-nosed gentleman, who
devours the unwary wasberman, when he
ventures too far out into the stream"
"Ugh!" shuddered, turning away in
disgust. ats horriblei l can't bear to
watch them. / wish you hadn't .
Jim apologized, abjectly, all the way back
through the great hall. / forgave him.
After tiffin, rs we sat on the terrace in the
shade of the portico, a native juggler came
and performed his tricks to u.s. He did the
most marvellous things then and there, on
the bare stone, with scarcely a rag upon him
in which to conceal his apparatus-quite
putting many-pocketed European conjurer
to shame. We bebeld mango trees grow
under flower-pot from n mere leaf to a
shrub some feet high. We saw man, shut
up in basket much too small for him, and
stabbed through and through till the sword
was CORY, suddenly reappear intact from the
hall behind u.s. The iuggler swallowed
knives and vomited burning tow, and when
we were aweary of him we adjourned to an
open space beyond the lake where they
spread a carpet and brought chairs, and wild
beasts came and fought before us. There
were rams that butted each other with their
horns, elephants that wrestled with their
trunks, and swarthy-maned wild Brahmin
bulls that charged believing. All these
shows to do honor to my Jim, as represent
ing Her Majesty acrsss the frontier in Pu-
greepoor.
i fancy it WIS the fighting rams that
turned Jim's thoughts back to the black
buck Of The morning.
He called Mohun to him. There was
brief consultation. Then he turned to me,
and, of course, l let him go! There were
yet two good hours Of daylight before din
ner-iime. Before then Jim might secure
fine head. Mohun was forthwith sent for
ward with coolies and the rife. The pony
was hurriedly brought round, and Jim
trotted away under the carved gateway.
must say that / felt little sad as his
knIckerbockers and brown putties vanished
round the corner of the mud huts which
clustered round the palace gate.
Left to my own devices, i returned to our
Pearl Garden House. Causing chair and
table TO be brought to me out on a
chabuttrd, or raised stone platform, among
the rose trees, sat down TO indite long
epistle TO Ethel.
Ethel! my very dearest school chum!
Ethel, who, if promises counted for any
thing, and miles of ocean had not inter
vened, should have been "best girl at my
been married with meier bridesmaiden
at ALL There were but four girls in all
Pugreep0or, and, of these, one was witty
brown and impossible and the other three
none too friendly with me on account of the