The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-30

| free II from you aliens--fOr aliens you
are for all your noble work. We will
| respect your memory, bur the time will
come when you must leave our land to
us. So few, you say. sahib? The man
| that is the Master of life. that is Grip
| pied by no fear of the sickness that
| overshadows his brothers. is worth
more than you can realize. We are the
Masters of the Art of living, and we
| shall win. once and for ALL will You
| join u.s."
There was a long pause. Then said
| Esdaie. quietly:
You know that ! cannot. l have
been wondering at your audacity in
proposing it. You are a strange man.
| Valid Ali"
Valid Ali bent forward and caught
| the Englishman by the coat.
Il am not so sure" he said. "Think
"f the little children. sahib. You are Il
poor man now; how are you going to
send them back to England. and keep
| the mem sahib from fading before
! your eyes, Is your government CRATE
| ful enough to do that? Yet you have
| worked long and hardly for it. Think
of your sons. Englishmen that will be,
and of the life here that is sapping the
| blood from them every hour. What
would You not have been if you had
| gone home as other mems children
| did? The taint of the east has dogged
| you. All! that makes you vince but it
is true. With US your pay would be
in proportion to your service, and you
know how we estimate that. Not for
| Vn,,csa1f h,rf hn \rifa hill
the wife and the children that are dear
er than your life! 1t is barren scru-
pie that prevents you benefiting them"
The mans voice. pleading out of the
half-light. had surely magic in it. Es
dale saw the struggle for existence
that he fought for 50 long ended at
once, and forever. The children: what
chord that touched; 1t was true that
to be easternbred as he was carried
with 1t loss of caste and privilege, and
it maddened him to think that the bit
terness of it lay before those that
should come after him. Ii was a taint,
| though he had never avOwed it before.
| And then to give his wife back her
youth in an English home, though he
must stay and-Ah. what was it he
would stay and do? Madness to think
of it: madness, and worse than that.
He faced round again.
| Not another word, Valid ALI" he
said. II am weak from want of sleep
I and unnamed, else surely should not
have listened thus far to you. | am
not to be bought, not even with such
! bribe as you offer. Fortunate for you
that my lips are sealed, otherwise !
| should hold YOU uD to ridicule as
| man that was fool enough to try to
| bride an Englishman. Your treasure.
too, is not yet in your hands, and all
your babble of power and riches may
| be of less consequence than the slight
| est accident that might reveal the hid
| den wealth to others. For my part |
think your talk is idle vaporing. i'm
practicable and vain, though | agree
that you have the appearance of wise
men. but for your madness in choosing
a meeting place in this wild jungle.
am no skeptic. ! know too much: but
this wild scheme of yours is too rOman-
tic for me. And here a word of ad
| vice. The empire is not built on as un-
stable a foundation as you think. You
have looked only ON the surface. and
you underestimate the obstacles before
you. Remember the thousands of Eng
lishmen that have died for there
ON this very sOil-and think if the ma
| tiOn to which they belong would have
sent them forth unheeding. Think of
the network of careful government that
covers all the land, ana the use we have
made of the lesson of forty years since
that you mentioned just now. And
when was east ever pitted against
west that it did not sucsumb. sooner or
later? The reins are not slipping from
our hands: it Is that we have seen our
way to broader, nObler rule than per-
haps your nature can comprehend.
| will not argue with you further, be-
| cause there are some things too sa-
cred to be spoken of unadvisedly. and
as l said before, l am daZed and be-
| wildered now. If you win your treas
ure there is use enough for that with
out Overturning the cleanest govern
ment your country has known. Look
around at your millions of fellow cOun-
trymen, poverty-stricken, sick and
struggling, and reflect if it could not
benefit them. AS you say, power is the
best of the trinity that money can give,
but the power of charity only. Let this
money be ceansed from its blood stain
by the thanksgivings of the poor. to
whom it can give blessings your Mus
ulman empire could never distribute.
AS for your precious gife of life. you
are handling edged tools. and you may
find it to be no benefit. but bitter
curse. l will have none of it,"
TO BE CONCLUDED.