The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-09-04

III "a ~ 49, 49,
plants, bearing on their backs sor-
geous howdahs, made the picture
which brought all Delhi out to see.
WHAT THE PRINCE SAW IN THE
GUTTER.
In the procession Mahomed Rao
Khan rode alone upon a wilk-white
arabian stallion, his saddle 5ncrusted
with gems and a great diamond star
Inning in the from of his tall Astra-
chan cap. He was a middle-aged man,
stern OF appearance and sharp Of eye.
As he let his glance roam over the
thronS which lined the street he
caught sight of Alice Clifton standing
with a group OF other children who
had come from the COntOnment to see
the show. He looked al her steadily
and boldly as he passed, and Alice let
her glance fall modestly beneath his
eager gaze. Her cheap, coarse frOck
II her poor little ornaments seemed
50 mean and squalid in h midst Of
all that splendor.
That evening Alice had a birthday
party for which her mother made tea
and cakes and told the children stories
Of English fields and English DAISIES.
But Alice declared that English fields
and daisies did not interest her, and
that it would be stupid living in q
place where one met nobody except
white people all the time. She was
born in Delhi and wanted to stay there
and, perhaps, seme day become a Ma
haranee and ride on an elephant with
gilded tusks.
Even while they talked a rumor ran
through the cantOnment that an officer
of the court was there with a message
for Private Clifton from MahOmed
Rao Khan saying hat he wanted to
marry the beautiful girl whom he had
seen h a day in the streets as he
passed along. =
A1ica jnnona1 fnr jny--tha fairy nrinPn
had come just as she had expected he
would. But Private Clifton and his
wife were not so enthusiastic. Jar
Mahomed Khan was a much married
man already, and it was not seemly
that the daughter of a British soldier
should be one of the household of an
Asiatic, prince and friend of the Grand
Mogul though he was. So the nego-
itiatiOns took some time.
COMES a QUEEN.
Finally. the Khan said that his other
women were not his real wives, but
landmarks after the style of DaVid's
cOmfOrterS, and, at n rate, he would
put them all ~away-pensiOn them off
and have but one wife thereafter, ac-
cOrding to the custom of the white
| man, if the beautiful English girl
| would only become his queen.
The result of his declaration was
| apparent q few weeks later when Alice
| married and departed in a litter with
rOse-cOlored curtains from Delhi, ac-
companied by her lord n a great
cavalcade, passing across the snow
mountains. and beyond Bokhara into
Turkestan, where she became queen.
Not long after the great Sepoy
| Mutiny broke out. Private Clifton
was killed in battle and the Grand
! Mogul was tried in his own palace on
a charge Of treason against the Eng
lish. Mrs. Clifton escaped after many
perils and went home to live among
the English fields and daisies on a
liberal allowance sent her by her royal
daughter.
For ten years Queen Alice reigned
as the ccnsOrt of Rao Khan NJ was
intrusted by him with almost an equal
share in the government. At the end
of that time Jar Mahomed slept with
his fathers and Alice Clifton had her
self proclaimed sole and absolute ruler
of the Khanate. There were aspiring
ministers and near relatives of Jar
MahOmed who tried to dispute the
throne with her but Alice had learned
the arts of AsiatiC government, and
what haGnened to the ambitious ones
III sought to contend with her is not
recorded in his. But something def
mite happened to them and they
troubled Queen Alice no more.
Once firmly established as queen in
her own right, Alice set about the
work of a reform administration. She
opened new a routes, built new
bazaars and repaired the old ones and
repealed bad laws and made good ones
IN their places. She increased her
army and tried to put it on a modern
footing. She was the best soldier in
her dominiOns, for was she not a child
of the regiment. and of an English
regiment at that?
The ruler of a ~neighbOring Khanate
went to war against her, thinking to
make short work of a woman general,
but Alice her army against him in
but Alice led her a"~ov against him in
person. met him in a pitched battle
tered his army. Then she annexed
part of his territory n made him
humbly SUE for peace.
In this battle she commanded with
admirable skill, ordering the DISPOSE
ton of the troops n all their move
ments. and once. when the outcome of
the fight seemed doubtful. she headed
a desperate charge, which broke the
enemy'S line and sent the hostile
Khan fleeing from the field.
When ever the little rebellions broke
out as they did now and then, or the
wandering tribes of the desert got too
bold. Alice would take h field with
her army and scatter the tents of her
enemies to the four winds of HEAVIER