Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-01-25
THE DAILY
SHORT STORY.
RETRIBUTION.

old, and he was generally spoken OF by
his fellow workmen as THE Silent
One" He was not given to song or
chatter. He would give a fair days
work, but his answers to his boss were
brief and surly and lie answered his
companions not at all for days and
days. His elephant was like him. He
was strong and willing and intelligent.
but he avoided his kind as far as pos
slble and permitted no man but his
master TO be familiar with him. The
English boss under whom Guya Ia
bored Mt Rewah said to himself that
the native was Il bad tempered man
and that the elephant had the devil in
his eye, but so long as the work was
well done he had no fault to find. The
fifty other laborers in the gang with
Guya were offended by his silence and
his refusal to chatter and argue, and
they whispered to each other:
''This man and his beast may cast
a spell over us. Why not get rid OF
them?"
Three days later man complained
of being robbed of sum of money.
and when suspicion had been directed
toward Guya his tent was searched
and the empty purse discovered. At
first he contented himself with sullenly
ienying his guilt. but when he had
been locked up as the thief ana the
gang were shouting his name in con-
tempt he stood erect, with tears in his
eyes. and said:
"How dare they say such things Of
mel l am Guya Jansi. You can trace
my family back for 200 years and
xx-iII faf in,
silent because men have wronSed me
and mine. and | brood over it, but
does it follow that because | am silent
1 am also n rogue? Look for the thief
among the men who chatter more than
they work"
Three days later the English district
judge reached Rewah on his circuit.
and Guya was arraigned as n thief
There was n conspiracy to ruin him,
and the false testimony offered salts
fed the judge of his guilt. The affair
was. treated in an offhand way. and
when the accused asked for time TO
bring witnesses who could vouch for
his character his request was refused.
He was convicted of theft and SEN
fenced to Jail for three months. He
wept and cried out over his disgrace.
but he was only laughed at. The judge
went his way without giving the case
second thought. He had hundreds of
such cases per year. and there was no
particular reason why he should give
this case special attention. Before be
ing sent to prison Guya asked permits
sion to bid his elephant goodby. This
was granted. RaipOor seemed to under
stand that misfortune bad come. and
those who stood close by saw tears in
his eyes as he lovingly caressed his
master.
They have done me n great wrong"
said Guya as if talking TO 4 fellow
man. 81 am innocent. as God knows.
but they have declared me to be n
thief. and / must go to Jail. We have
been poor, my beloved. but we have
been honest, and never until today
have we been ashamed to look men in
the face. If the sahib judge had been
fair minded. this disgrace would not
have come. but he took the word of
liars and refused to hear me. He is not
a just Judge"
They would have put the elephant at
work under another mahOut. but he es-
capped from the camp that night and
took to the jungle. Guya was thrown
into Jail among a lot of malefactors.
and within two weeks there was n
quarrel in which he was stabbed to
death. That was the end of him so far
as any one at Rewah was concerned.
The district judge had Il long circuit
and many cases, and it was two months
before he approached Rewah again.
Night overlook him while he was yet
twelve miles away, and with his serv-
ants he made camp by the roadside.
When he had eaten his supper. he drew
a little way from the camp and sat
down on a stone to smoke his pipe. 1t
was a bright moonlight night. without
breeze enough to move a leaf, and the
patter of n hyena's feet on the hard
baked earth could have been heard a
quarter of mile away. So strong was
the moonlight that n prowling jackal
could be made out along the edge of the
jungle forty rods away. There was no
fear of tiger or panther, and the judge
was peacefully content as he smoked
and cast a careless eye about him. He
had not been seated ten minutes when
an elephant moved out of the fringe of |
the jungle and advanced upon him.
sound. His feet made no more noise |
than those of a fox. One acting as SEN
tinel for the camp would have seen |
him at once as he moved out, but the |
eyes of the judge looked vacantly into |
space as his mind was busy with his |
legal work. The elephant had 800 feet |
Of open ground to pass over. There sat |
the judge. and there were half a dozen !
moving about, but no one saw |
him. Not a sound reached any mans /
ear. He crept forward like the shadow |
0f death, and by and by he reached out |
and curled his trunk around the judges |
body and lifted him on high and dash
I'd him down on the hard earth. The
man had cried out, and as
he servants leaped to their feet and /
stood staring the elephant lifted up the
body and dashed it down twice more.
Then he turned away and sought the /