The morning times., 1896-03-15
A Thrilling Story In Which
the Mystic FeteS of an East
ern Religion Play an ImpOr-
tant Part.
tBy Z g5aa,d Ht.5,sgoroe ia Pau Nal nqgasme)

(By g5aa'd WiterJoros il Pau Nal Magazine
About . O'Clock in the evening OF June
IA, lS5-, The military station OF Kotsial.
in India, was slowly awakening from the
daytime sieSJa. White clothed, white-faced
men were To be seen walking tl.eir ponies
for il was too hCt TO move at any other
pace, along tie Lard puCCa road that went
the whole length OF the station and there
coined the Grand Trunk road which traversed
India from Calcutta to PeShawur All
nature bore witness to the intense heat:
dusty. brown-lcaved trees. grass shrivelled
e. tindcr-even the cactus hedges, which
seemed 10 guard with jealous care some Of
the bungalows, scarcely showed any green
through the mantle Of GuSt that cover, I!
them; the very ground seemed to exhale the
heat tEat The day had pcured INTO At, and
though the sun was now low and long
shadows were cree ping along the ground,
the Sitting atmosphere was well nigh
uDcndurable.
Among others who were riding toward
the hauG-for IL was hand nIsht-were
Two yoH1r iol4ows who haa Leeu some wears
IN India. They tad come out before the
great mutiny of lSal ana joined thCir H. "a
Incnt. and with il had served throu ch those
trouhlGus tines: they had been SchpCIfCllQwS
together, and were warmly aJJaCuCu the
one 10 tie other, alihJL gi they dinerCd
mach in appearance as they did in character.
Gage was short and strongly bulIt, a good
cricketcr and very popular in the regiment
good -nAlured To a lauII. CitOu Iahing the
unpopular side TO shed any one whC might
unwiltiugly have broken some UEwTitten
rcgimcutal ". Al the soige or Delhi Gage
had Teen wouEdCu sumrWudt severely. tut
had now quite recovered. His companion
was tall, thin, Tie scion OF an cid Cornish
family. who, Tor many generations, had
given jEcT sons 10 toe food Tor IOwder.
None of the family tad ever risen 10 dis
1HCiiUn in Tie service. for they were
taCtiCSS race, with strong Irej1clCCs, quick
and SUlky 1CmIprS, men WEn seldom RENE III
hcrcd kIndncsSeS and never fCrgN orlCrgave
Sights. A the two friends rode along they
talked over lneir next dly'S expedition;
they had Two months leave, ard were
bound for the fair valley or Cashmere, lEylr
dak was lad, their traps all packed. and
they Were auNioUSly discussing @ lte weather
for lEa rains We're JGsl due. aDd they hoped
before thcy burst TO he FAR over the snow
hills whose tops were visible on a fine,
clear evening from the station q kOtSIal.
Next morning. long before the sun was mp.
tE,. TWO HveTe OF en- their journey. The
weather for once was prcplilouS. They
reached THE Gar-uIf SHOWS, rfImhCd the Pr
Puniai. and from its summit lOCk,d back
on the plains. ShrOudtd by a pa!l Ci dusty
heai, INTO wEich the sun SANK ID a ban Of
fire. 4 few days more saw them safely
hogSvl in Sriaarear, in one Of tie bunga-
lows above tie first bridge, which. owing
To the cons ideratiCu OF the Naharaj2h, had
been built for The accommodation uf iiin-
Grant EnEiishmen.
For some three weeks all went wei. The
friends each had a boat, for in Sr.na c"ar
DO one ever ,bin!ls G. walking. " hen Grass
was not fishing they made he ular eX-
cursions; weat TO the shawl shops, inter
viewed cd Suffiie Babu, prince OF shawl
merchants, Went down { hc river through the
seven bridges. aud down to the Wulur
lake. where they saw the mountains rise
sheer out of the water til they lowered
In the everlasting bloc some 23OGU feet
above their heads. They tried TO shoot
black bears in the mulberry trees, and,
though Gage was lucky enough lC get =
couple, Grass missed his chance. owing, ~
bis friend laagh.u2ly averrad, 10 his mis-
taking by the evening light a drop OF per
spiraGon on the end Of his nOSc-a pccu-
liarity OF our hero for The light Of his rifle.
when they got back 10 SrInaegar they
found thep place IN cOmnoii8n fort bC Mama
IA JAN Gbolab Singh was just deed. lie
Was an old man, ana tad ruled over The
CaShmccrces for many years. He had
been virtually given hi> kingdom as reward
for his betrayal of his master, Runjeet
Singh, The celebrated Lion OF the PunJab.
Though GhOlab Singh Gi,d full CT years,
those over whom TIC had ruled had no rca-
son to- bless his reign, fer his cruellieS had
made him abhorreDt in the eyes OF the
people. One OF his masterpieces CT vindic-
tive cruelty was the placing men in large
wooden cages attached tC the piers 0f the
first bridge. Just over Tie water. where
they were fed daily. and allowed 10 die
that most horrible OF draIhS-death by
thTSt-a ana 4 be sganics OF hat death were
.agcr ravatcd by seeing the cool. flowing
stream of the river close underneath n them.
TINS horrible torture was inflicted on
men. cot for the cCmmittal OF any crime,
but Tor HOu-itJg.H,Ul CT the heavy taxes
which GAul&D cXt0rl"d from tie people.
or course wien Euglis!lmCn were in Srin-
agear there were 10 occupants OF the
cagrS-made Of bars or wood thruue hout-
which were 30 lac seen attached To the
bridge immed aiCly above the palace. ready
and waiting for victims when ST.naeear
should be dear OF the English
what Gholab SiuEh'S exact tenctS of
faiIh were it is unnecessary rs 10 inquire. Suf-