Evening star., 1904-02-01

| successful issue, and when they saw the
door leading to the lane standing open 1t
did indeed look like a wonderfully easy
| thing for them; but they passed through
| things changed abruptly. a dozen men
| closed on Ben Alif, who led the way, and
/ the attack was sudden that they flung
him over before he had time to give them
any taste of his 'mettle.
Meredith rushed out after him into the
arms of the Sahib who had had so long a
wait In the lane, and the two grappled
iercely. till Meredith cried out in pain,
'D-n it, man, let go; IL. Why. good
God-Jansen. Let CO. you id idiot! I'm
no nigger!"
Jansen relaxed his Objectionable grip
slowly as he peered in the others face; he
! lifted from his head the feZ Ben Alif had
given him, and gave low whistle; then in
quick whisper, Niger with You, Doc?'
Yes; my servant.
Right. Wait! Hey you, Fuzdar Mufil:
d-n your silly eyes Let that man goI
He's no bhudmash, you soiled pig! Let
him up quick and get to that dood. Jeldii
don't you hear the devils coming? They've
given our boys the slip. d-n 'em Here
you, Dhagma, take these two men safely
past the guards-you know the word-and
, tell my gharrie-wallah to take them where
! they want to go and to get back here sharp
or I'll kick his head Off Day-day, Doc:
keep that hat on If you value your reputa-
ton. All! Quick, men; get it shut He'll!
Close in and give 'em the stick Sons of
pigs! Cow-eating devilsi. Look out for
that soor with the knife. D-n, That was
q near shave, Farahate. Now shove 'em
back Good boys! In they go! Look outI
Now, all together! In with the bar. mani
Shove! Again! So! Good boys: got 'em
back very prettily. Anybody hurti D-n!
Too bad Ambulance, Abdar!-jeldi, now.
Jedi, boy''
So handful of men under vigorous
chief drove back the rush and closed the
door and barred it through the iron handle
with a crowbar. A few were left outside,
knocked senseless in the first savage on
slaught by the Sepoys' clubs. These were
bound hand and foot with their own pug
garees and langoutis and piled away in con-
venient doorways till the men from the jail
wagon had time to look after them.
The raid was entire surprise and
great success for, although many un-
doubtedly escaped over the roofs and by
secret subterranean ways, the haul OF
wanted" men and women was tremendous.
A round dozen Sepoys were badly hurt,
and one, whose skull was cracked with
native lotah, died later. Eight women and
three men were killed the other side.
and about hundred more or less seriously
hurt. More than 700 prisoners of both sexes
were taken, most of whom. however, were
released the following day with fines, as,
of course, the real object of the raid was
to gather in a number of notorious GRIM
inalS who were suspected of having sought
sanctuary there.
So ended the most determined and sue
cessful raid in the annals of the Bombay
police, and to the credit of the Sepoys, they
uiu not Ire a single Snot THROUGHOUT tn6
whole affair. though their opponents were
easily ten to one, and armed. desperate
men at that.
All the sky was paling in tender grays and
greens, heralding the coming day. as Mere
dith parted from Ben Alif at his place on
Avenue Wagram. The great dokma towers
loomed ghostly and big from the garden
beyond, and the ragged edge of vultures
sleeping Off their debauch still crowned
them like frieze against the sky.
(To be continued tomorrow,