The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-02-19
PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
RECEIVING AND DECEIVINC.
By J. ID. Gordon.
copyrighted, 1899, by J. D. Gordon.l

Then !, who know what the soft words of
a Musselman are worth to a Hindu money
lender, shivered anxiously and replied; Your
kind heart must have blinded your eyes, oh
kotwal sahib. Prosperous am 1. as the gut
tering Of a tal!ow candle that consumes it
self in its endeavor to appear of wax, and
wealthy as a brook before the rains"
Then he. with much laughter. said, TT is
not so, for I, sitting as 1 do day by day
in sight of your shop, can see how great
are your dealings. Wherefore, hearken,
neighbor and friend. Great trouble will be-
fall me unless a paltry sum of two thousand
rupees be paid on my behalf to Seth
Muckan Dass on or before this day week;
for the Seth may he burn for ever has
sworn by the Ganges to ruin me. Are we
not brothers? Will not a brother take my
bond as security and pay the money!
Security, sahib! The bond of low Ma
homedan as security? But that it was at
my own expense 1 could have enjoyed the
joke hugely! 1 refused to enact brotherly
part. and bade him go to the rich bankers,
who doubtless had two thousand rupees;
whereas /, a poor seller of cloth, had not
as many paisa to spare. Hussain Ali de-
parted and by the evil smile on his fox
like face we'll / knew that one more had
been added to mine enemies.
Next. then, let me explain why the Kot-
wal was so careful to describe three of the
Jewels which would be found in my house.
Chuggu Lal, the sonar (goldsmith), who
lives in the gully over there, came to me
for work, crying out that he was a poor
man and starving; whereat babe him sit
down by the door and gave him two nose
rings and the necklet of emeralds to mend.
Towards evening he, having finished the job,
received two annas, for of q TRUTH sahib,
to a starving man two annas is wealth.
But the shameless budmash (bad character)
cried aloud so that many in the bazaar
might hear him: oh, Manik Chand, son of
an unknown father and of a gypsy mother,
pay me four annas more, for such is my
lawful payment. Then /, being wroth,
smote him with stick and drove him away
from my door, whence he fled to the Kot-
wall, doubtless a welcome guest to Hussain
Ali
Now once more to my story. Armed
with his search warrant, the Kotwal came
to my house with ten constables in the
busiest part of the day and said: Come
forth, o Manik Chand friend and associate
of dacoits. Come forth whilst we do our
duty and bring to light your evil deeds
"Then l. having satisfied myself that his
warrant was in order, answered him aloud:
KotwaI sahib, L am an old man and well
known to many. Do what you would do,
but by the head of my son L swear that if
either you your men raise but the corner
Of any woman's veil in my zenana not one
of you shall escape alive
Nor, indeed, was this an idle boast for
though averse to fighting, we Hindu traders
would freely shed our blood to preserve in
violate our womens honor.
During two long hours the police ran
sacked the house, which doubtless they
would have robbed as we'll had not luckily
a tall sergeant in the artillery, old friend
of mine, been passing. Him 1 persuaded to
stay and be a witness of my wrongs, and
in the presence of a white man Hussain Ali
became careful refraining from further
abuse. At length the search was ended; the
Kotwal departed, carrying off all the jew
elry he could find pointing out triumphant
ly that the suspected articles had been
found. After this what could the J'int
sahib do but issue a warrant for my arrest,
and by the next day l was a prisoner
My heart became as water when the cold
irons touched my wrists and for hours lay
senseless and like the dead. At length 1 re-
vived sufficiently to bethink me of my posi-
without offense; most men in my crcum-
stances would have engaged one or two of
the many excellent barristers who swarm in
Allahabad. but I was an old man with old
friends wherefore a telegram was dis
patched to Agra, summoning the gray
bearded pleader of that town to mine aid
He came, and we consulted long together.
The jewels are mine said I; my wife
has worn them repeatedly.
Evidence of an Indian wife is not worth
a d.; said he.
I can prove who made the necklace I
cried.
Is the man alive?
No, sahib, I replied but his son is an
honest man and knows well that his father
skllfully made it to my order
'Boshn grunted the pleader; such evil
dence will not do. OF truth, o Manik
Chand your trouble is great, but go hence
to speak to your women-folk through the
purdah-for many a time sense abides with
the wife, even after her husband is smitten
with folly
During the night Russian Ali came to my
cell to scott and gibe at me; but to answer
fools is folly, wherefore I held my peace.
The next day I was taken before the J'int
sahip, who truly had as many brains in his
head as hairs on his chin, and should not
have been weaned so hastily.
DO you acknowledge, said he, that
these three jewels were found in your
house?'
"Then I, turning to my old pleader said,
Speak for me; who am l. to speak in your
presencer
"Thereupon, to my great alarm, the Old
man burst out laughing and replied, Admit
everything, worthy lalla.'
Surely the man had been got at by the
enemy or was he under the influence of
drink? In either case who now would save
me?
''Then the witnesses for the prosecution
were called. First of all was p in
prison garb, with chains upon his legs. by
name Gawahir Singh, who testified thus:
4 was concerned in the Garampura dacoity,
for which offense having been arrested, 1
have been sentenced to five years imprison-
ment-such being the kindness of the gov
erEment. ] recognize the two nose-rings
and the necklace now in court; they fell to
my share after the dacoity, whereupon
took them by night to Manik Chand, the
prisoner, and he bought them for twenty
two rupees! He would not give more on ac-
count of the great risk he ran. Manik
Chand is a miser, but we dacoits have dealt