Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-05-31

VINO, SET apart IOT the l1OrQ b WOrK,
broke down in the utter desolation and
returned half distraught to the head
mission crying, "There is no God. but
/ have walked with the devilp'
The reports are silent here, because
heroism, failure, doubt, despair and
self abnegation on the part of mere
cultured white man are things of nc
weight as compared to the saving Of
one half human soul from a fantastic
| faith in wood spirits. goblins Of the
rock and river tiends
And Gallo. the assistant collector OF
the country side, ''cared for none OF
these things He had been long in
the district, and the Buria Kol loved
him and brought him offerings OF
speared fish. orchids from the dim.
moist heart of the forests and as much
game as he could eat. Inreturn he gave
them quinine, and with Athon Daze,
the high priest, controlled their simple
policies
"When you have been some years in
the country, said Gallo at the Krenks'
table, "you grow to find one creed as
good as another. I'll give you all the
assistance in my power, of course, but
don't hurt my Buria Kol They are
good people, and they trust me-
81 will them the word of the Lord
teach, said Justus, his round face
beaming with enthusiasm, ssand / will
assuredly to their prejudices no wrong
hastily without thinking make But,
oh. my friend, this in the mind impair
tiality of creed Judgment belooking is
very bad. .
"Heigh-hol'' said Gallo, 81 have
their bodies and the district to see to,
but you can try what you can do for
their souls Only don't behave as you
predecessor did, or I'm afraid that !
can't guarantee your life. -
"And that?" said Lolita. sturdily.
handing him cup of tea.
''He went up to the temple of Dun
gara-to be sure he was new to the
country ~ and began hammering old
Dungara over the head with an um-
brella; SO the Buria Kol turned out and
hammered him rather savagely. l was
in the district, and he sent runner to
me with note saying Prosecuted for
the Lords sake Send wing of regi-
ment. The nearest troops were 200
miles off, but l guessed what he had
been doing. / rode to Panth and talk
ed to old Athon Daze like father, tell
ing him that man of his wisdom ought
to have known that the sahib had sun
stroke and was mad. You never saw a
people more sorry in your life. Athon
Daze apologized, sent wood and milk
and fowls and all sorts of things, and I
gave rupees to the shrine and told
Mcnamara that he had been injudi-
cious. He said that had bowed down
in the house of Rimmon, but if he had
only just gone over the brow of the hill
and insulted Palm Deo, the idol of the
Suria Krol, he would have been impaled
on charred bamboo long before could
have done anything. and then should
have had to have hanged some of the
poor brutes. Be gentle with them, padri
but I don't think you'll do much. .
s'Not l, . said Justus, "but my Mas
ter. We will with the little children
begin. Many of them will be sick-that
is SO. After the children the mothers,
and then the men. But would greatly
that you were in internal sympathies
with us prefer. .
Gallo departed to risk his life in
mending the rotten bamboo bridges of
his people, in killing too persistent
tiger here or there. in sleeping out in
the reeking jungle or in tracking the
Suria Kol raiders who had taken a few
heads from their brethren of the Buria
clan. A knockkneed, shambling young
man was Gallo, naturally devoid of
creed or reverence. with longing for
absolute power which his undesirable
district gratifed.
''No one wants my post, he used to
say grimly, "and my collector only
pokes his nose in when he's quite GER
tain that there is no fever. I'm monarch
of all survey, and Athon Daze is my
viceroy."
Because Gallo prided himself on his
supreme disregard of human life
though he never extended the theory
beyond his own-he naturally rode 40
miles to the mission with tiny brown
baby on his saddlebow.
s'Here is something for you, padri, .
said he. 1.-The Kols leave their surplus
children to die. Don't see why they
shouldn't, but you may rear this one.
I picked it up beyond the Berbulda
fork I've notion that the mother has
been following me through the woods
ever since.
= '.It is the first of the fold, said
Justus, and Lolita caught up the scream
ing morsel to her bosom and hushed it
craftily, while, as wolf hangs in the
field, Matui, who had borne it and, in
accordance with the law of her tribe,
had exposed it to die, painted wearily
and footsore in the bamboo brake.
watching the house with hungry moth
er eyes. What would the omnipotent
assistant collector do? Would the little
man in the black coat eat her daughter
alive, as Athon Daze said was the GUS
tom of all men in black coats?
Matui waited among the bamboos
through the long night, and in the
morning there came forth fair, white
woman, the like of whom Matui had
never seen, and in her arms was Matui' s
daughter, clad in spotless raiment
Lolita knew little of the tongue of the
Buria Kol, but when mother calls to
mother speech is easy to understand.
By the hands stretched timidly to the
hem of her gown, by the passionate gut
turals and the longing eyes, Lolita un-
derstood with whom she had to deal
So Matui took her child again-w would
be servant. even slave, to this won
derful white woman, for her own tribe
would recognize her no more. And
Lolita wept with her exhaustively after
the German fashion, which includes
much blowing of the nose.
''First the child. then the mother,
and last the man, and to the glory of
God all, said Justus the hopeful And
the man came, with bow and arrows.