Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-13

his workmen willing enough to do the won
derful things that he commanded
He found small lake upon a hill and
laid a course of bamboo pipes, and carried
fresh water into the very midst of their
village. He taught them to make pottery.
He found some cotton growing wild, and
sent out a lot of pickers to bring it in. He
built cotton gin, and taught them grad
ually to make cotton string, and then to
weave He showed them how to cure and
dry meat Half Of these things he knew;
the other half he guessed at. He even
healed the sick.
Last but not least, he taught them to cure
good tobacco and to make good whisky.
For this they were duly grateful. They
had been eating opium and drinking a mix
ture of opium and alcohol. In other words,
he was all things to all men, was Billing
ton O'Keefe.
Now Ellington O'Keefe could not do all
these things and many more without leaV-
ing his impress upon the time and upon
| the men about him. And he did. And he
became, by the assent. in fact by the sug-
gestion, of the Hkoond himself, not only
the prophet of the Snake, the priest Of the
Coiled Serpent, but also the prime minister
| to the Akoond himself. And the Akoond
| resigned to him all the tasks of state
| O'keefe ran everything that there was to
run In all, OKeefe's sojourn in that
| island at that time was not so many
| months. But he worked rapidly and sin
| gularly enough he had good material to
| Wci n upon. ne ldu the freedom OF ln6
island. and his word was practically law
1t was at this Juncture that the great
American game Of. politics entered the
| arena of events In Swat
| Ellington O'Keefe had become a popular
man. His advent marked the commence
| ment of an era of prosperity. He had min
| istered to the material wants of a gra tefu
people, and the people were anxious to re-
| ciprocate. They had kept their eyes open,
| too. and they had observed that OKeefe
did everything and the Akoond nothing
O'Keefe was man after their own
| hearts.
nothing Stupid as they We're, the inhab-
| itants of Swat appreciated the genius OF
| the man whs could make the work of men
| ten times as light, with the same result
! who could show one man how to do the
| work of ten; who could invent and teach
them new pleasures of which they had
never even dreamed; and who could. in
| short make their life infinitely more worth
living than 1t was before. To them this
man O'I<eefe. il not god. was at the very
least a prophet. And all that he was doing
was to teach them to live. to work, to en-
JOY themselves, as the very poorest white
man lives, works and enjoys himself: that
is all He was doing nothing unusual. But
to them he was wizard; he was the Yam
kee In King Arthur's court. The Akoond
was but an ordinary man.
| And so low-voiced cry went around the
principally. And the burden of it's song
was this;
4
Akoond of Swat? In other words IT wa.
late fall or early winter and the election
season had commenced The campaign wa.
beginning.
| The Akoond did not enjoy all this. A
first he, too, had enjoyed and admired tn,
genius of O'Keefe: many of the universe
benefits fell to his lot. But being stupid
he did not grasp at first the meaning of thu
times. And beyond all that, he kept his mus
Giles in fairly vigorous trim. Surely he wa
the logical Akoond of the unwritten law
But the people felt otherwise. O'Keef
was the very man for them.
O'Keefe vas well satisfied as he was. Ii
preferred private life to public honor. He
too, felt of his muscles and then looked a
the Akoond's, and concluded that 1t wa
! well to let well enough alone. He did no
banker after public office Besides, h
wanted to get home.
But O'Keefe was finally forced into tn
e candidacy of the first Office In the land
E The majority were for him. stanch mi
5 nority, however, still supported the Akoond
S 1t was not until winter had begun t
e break and the spring had set in that tn
judges set a day for the great trial O
] | strength between the old Akoond and tn
; new-for no one doubted that O'Keef
| would be the new one. OKeefe reluctantl
I contemplated the situation. He went 9
r | far to suggest a change In the un
4 written constitution of the islanders @
d Swat. and advised them to select thei
( high official by votes rather than b.
Q wage OF battle. But religion and super
< stition were too firmly grounded In tn
/ Inhabitants. They still believed in the 81
y premacy Of the strongest man. but the
Q knew that OKsefe would turn out 10