Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-11-17

did not exist. Two cobras in . basket
by his side reared their heads and
hissed as I came near, but the fakir
did not raise his eyes until stood be-
fore him. Then he looked ct me with
out the slightest sign of surprise and
motioned that should seat myself
opposite him.
/" L expected you, he said, in Hin
dostanee. You will remain here until
the morrow
"He returned to his contemplation
and spoke not another word through
the night. The tigers roar came
nearer, and clutched my revolver as
it changed into the low, eager, purring
cry that tells he has scented his prey
but the old man gave no sign that
he had SO much as heard it.
watched the misty darkness around
for an hour or more, but there was no
more roaring. and no tiger appeared,
and laid my pistol across my lap and
prepared to pass the night as comfort
ably as could. In searching my
pockets for cigars 1 found package
of quinine. took 80 grains of it be-
fore morning and thus saved myself
from jungle fever. Hour after hour I
sat on the ground smoking cheroots,
with the old man sitting opposite me.
"Part of the time his eyes were
closed, but he did not nod OF change
his position, and whether he slept or
not could not tell. From time to
time he fed the fire from little heap
of dry branches at his side, and two or
l,4 IL L:
bubble, but he did not once rise to
his feet or leave the mat. Toward
morning sleep overcame me, and
woke to find myself on my back on
the ground with the beams of the ris-
ing sun streaming into my face and
one of the cobras crawling across my
legs. I kept still, and the snake crept
away in the grass hunting his break
fast.
'The old fakir, who was smoking,
presently laid aside his pipe, collected
his snakes and other luggage together,
told me with look that we were to
move, and we left the clearing and
turned into the road toward Baghra.
In the dust, and more plaiNly in the miry
places, we could see the tracks of Nagho.
Presently there were other footprints
above the man. and taking the same
course - the tracks of tiger which
had come into the road from the jun
gle. I had not said word to the
fakir of what had occurred the night
before, but he pointed to the tigers
tracks and said gravely, the first
words he had spoken that morning:
These are bringing you to your
property
''We kept along the road until we
came to place where the tracks
showed that the swinging trot of the
tiger had changed to a succession of
long bounds, which ended at spot
where the dust had been stirred by
marks of struggle and caked with
drops of red. The bushes and long
grass crushed and bent to left and
right, showed where the tiger leaped
back into the jungle, and there was no
track of man or beast in the road be-
yond. But in the tigers path at a
few PAGES from the roadside, strung
along the bushes, was the unwound
turban of Nagho with long smear of
red upon it's white.
1T was so appointed, said the
fakir. He was weaving the plan of
his own death when he thought he was
comprising yours. Now. take your
own, restored to you, and we will go
on into Baghra.
''He pointed to my satchel, which
had not seen, in the grass by the
roadside. 1t was unopened, and all
its contents were safe. We went on
to Baghra, where the fakir left me at
the outskirts of the town, taking his
way, l suppose, to the house of some
person of his religious order. gave
him bag of rupees at parting, which
he accepted without thanks or COM
ment-to him it came by appointment
of the gods, and feel sure he would
have received sentence of immediate
execution with the same calm fatalism.
saw him once more, when he was
called before the magistrate to give his
testimony as to the manner of Nagho's
death, but he gave me no sign of rec
ognition. To one like him, wrapped
in communion with diety, a mere man,
whatever his degree. was worthy of
nothing more than passing notice.
"My story of the fakir is told, and
you may explain it if you can to your
satisfaction. His tricks at the bunga-
low were incomprehensible to the
Western mind. Beyond these, what
do you think of his reading of the hu-
man soul, as when his glance at Nagho
revealed my servants thought of
murder and robbery against me? OF
his knowledge of the events occurring
in his case beyond the perceptions of
the recognized senses of see ng and
hearing? Was it the reading of Nagho's
mind at the bungalow and of mine by
the fire in the jungle? Let that ex-
plain it if you will. But what gem
uine and lofty order of mind reading.
Compare it with the jugglery that
passes by that name among people of
the Western hemisphere. New York