The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-06-11
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{: THE PURPLE GOD. !:
BY WILLIAM MURRAY GRAYDoN. Copyright
"a a. a. @

| is my last wish and prayer. To that end
| Penderell and he will carry out my In
structions. You will be sent away Sc
! cretly to your maternal uncle. Major
| Fame, and in future you will bear his
name. The jewel goes to the custody OF
| Glynn & Shelton, my London bankers,
and on your twenty-falrth birthday,
wherever you may happen to be, 1t Will
be delivered into your hands, together
| with this letter.
"You must decide for yourself whether
to retain the Purple God, sell OF destroy
IT, or restore It to It's rightful owner,
tho heir of Pnrtab Gingh. The latter
course would be the wlsest, and re-
greet that I did not take that step my
self long ago. but your grandfather re.
garded the jewel ns legitImately spoil
OF war, and I foolishly gave him my
word to keep 1t In the family. Strength
| ID falling me. Farewell. my dear son.
your affectionate father,
s'BERTRAM GRENv1LLD."
The above letter made clear to Jack
| several things that had puzzled and per-
| picked him during that dreadful sum
| mer Of 1857. and not very long after the
| capture of Delhi. when the town OF
| Jhalapur surrendered at the end OF
| September to a British force sent to in
\ vest, It, certain papers were found IN
! Chandra Singh's palace that supplied
| the missing links to tho chain OF mys-
terry.
1 II appeared from these that Partial
Singh was not dead when he was car
! ried off the field OF Laswarl, but that he
| fingered for day or two. and In his
! conscious intervals dictated document
| for his son, In which the latter was on
| joined, when he should reach years OF
| maturity. to recover tho jewel and take
vengeance on the thief OF his descend
ants. Chandra Singh was then an In
FAINT few months old.
The only clew to the identity Of the
i English officer was the brooch contain
Ing the miniature of his wife. which had
/ been torn from his neck while he was
] struggling with Partial Singh. But this
/ was stolen within n few days by one Of
tho rnjah's servants. and thirty-two
years afterwards in 1898, 1t was strangely
restored to Chandrn Singh. then grown
4 to manhood
He promptly undertook to obey his
fathers wishes, and the crest and let.
tcring on the brooch gave him material
/ assistance. But the crafty emissaries
whom he sent to England failed to get
| possession of tho Purple God. MS the
reader knows. and after the death OF
Bcrtram Grenville their hands were tied.
though they were aware that the stone
! was in the strong room Of Glynn 6; Skel-
4 TOMS bank, and that It was to be de-
i llvercd to Bertram's son on his twenty
fourth birthday.
/ Until then nothing further could be
4 done They even failed to trace the
whereabouts OF the lad. But In the spring
OF 1857 Raghava was sent to London. and.
4 with truc oriental cunning. he Swallowed
GIynn & Skeletons messenger, Tobias
4 Clink, back to India.
4 What took place subsequently has
been In part explained. The letter an
nounclng the coming OF the messenger.
| ~, -%<1a ov,1 nd hpfn
reached Lieutenant Fnne's hands. caused
the death of Tobias Clnk. and thwarted
! the hopes OF Chnndrn Singh and Rag
1avh.
What happened on that occasion can
only be surInised. but 1t is pretty certain
! TINT Joel Spanish after he had killed
Clnk md was rifllng the latter's pouch.
was attacked by the Parsee travelling
merchant and driven to take shelter IN
the Jungle. Entl Banerji then fled with
both the jewel and the letter that was
/ in the box with It. and shortly after
wards Rnghava and his party reached
q the spot, to he deceived by the clever
tale TINT Spanish invented.
How the Parsee was robbed and MUIR
dcred by Govind Punt, how the latter
met his death at the hands of Joel Span
& ish. who himself came to violent end
4 these arc additional facts which seem to
show Tint the curse attributed to the
Purp1e God was no imaginary thing.
There Is little more to tell. 80 far as
our story is concerned. Though Delhi
had fallen and the MoGul king was :"
prisoner and his army, broken. scat
tered or slain. that did, not mean the
finish of the mutiny. The emhers of
Y the instruction remained to be stamped
ont In various parts OF tho country. hnH
I Jack had his share OF the work to DO
with his regiment.
When the worst OF It was over, carly
in the year 80 he got 12-months' FUR
Tough and Joined AIndge in Calcutta.
They were married there In the begin
ming of March and a couple OF days
! later they parted from Ralph Estconrt--
, who was going up-country TO rebuild on
the ruins OF Rampoora-and boarded the
, P. and o. liner Mysore. which was fret,
, ting Mt her mooring rones as she tossed
on the swell OF the Hoogy
That evening they stood together on
II the deck. In the sunset glow. Far
astern was the city OF palaces. FORT WI NJ
4 liam and Black Town, Howah and Dta.
mond harbor. In the morning they would
he mast the Sunderbunds and the Sands
> head lighthouse. and cleaVing through
: the bay of Bengal toward the broad
, bosom OF the ocean
"At last!' whispered Madge, as she
!. chung to her husbands arm. IT Is IKE
7 n dream-the memory of the black. hid
eous past"
!. bent to press n fond kiss on her llps.
3 "Th,nk OF the hawthorn lanes and hedges
of England. OF woodland and meadow
and stream lying fair under an English
, sky! We are going into our kingdom OF
happiness. dear wife and who can say
we do not deserve TT And some future
day when we come hack, we VIII finh
! n different Indn. with nothing to re-
= mind us OF our sufferings, In time, per-
iiaps. we may even forget the curse of
: tho Purple God"
e ~ - u,IIJ1 JTnJD