Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-16

those hungry devils drive him mad!
The man obeyed; and Stubbs, who nad De-
come the unwilling center OF attraction az
soon as he left his tub darted away with
his abbreviated tail tucked in and a SWARM
OF mosquitoes in hot pursuit.
Now. il was Meredith's habit TO take this
bath in his pajamas. and on coming out 20
slip bathrobe over them and do his tower
ing later in his rooms, instead OF taxing
| the chance of being eaten alive out IN the
bath house. But with caller waiting IL
| was different matter. so he prepared to
| take his rubbing where he was.
- Abdul Milk. hurry nowi Take that
| towel and smite these sons of Sheitan hip
and thigh. and mark you. my friend. IL one
of them so much as lights on my great toe.
/ I, Kubberwan. win have thee tortured with
| a whole week of night-watches. Now
smite. Abdulla; smter'
| He slipped out of the tub slim brown and
nude, and began rubbing vigorously while
| the hamal darted about him fourishing a
| towel wildly.
Had one been observant. he might have
| been surprised at the darkness of the doc
| tors skin: he was not merely Drowned 20
| the elbows and the root of the neck, but
! his whole body held that delicate bronze
tone so rarely met with in the Anglo-Saxon
And the observer. had he been very quick,
might have noticed at one time something
peculiar in the manner of the hamal; he
| halted suddenly in his gyrations for posi-
l bly, the fraction of second. the arms that
| were swinging the towel suddenly stffened
! terror, dilated his eyes. The next moment
| he had recovered and was bounding on the
| oisordered ranks of the mosquitoes with
| renewed zeal
| Now. what had caught the eye of Abdulla
| Milk. hamal of the Jeejeebhoy Hospital
| ana secret agent of one Juggi BIN Chundra.
| dealer in silks on Beebe Jan street, was a
| curious discoioration. evidently a birth
| mark, on the sahib's muscular brown chest.
The sahib, who bent. with his head
| thrown back and the towel across his
| shoulders, missed the mans glance entirely
| and few minutes later lie was wrapped
| about in his bathrobe and ordering brandy
| panee for his visitor.
| But Abdulla sat in me shadow of the big
| banana palms. in the very lair of the mos
| quitoes, and his eyes were fined with much
| wonder and not little awe He sat there
| from j till the sun went down. regardless
of his duties in the hospital He had fallen
| on wonderful thing-so wonderful thing
! that it staggered his belief-and he sat still.
| there in the shadow. trying to realize its
| reality.
Well, it was true; he could not doubt his
| own eyesight, aye, his touch, for had he not
| managed to draw his fingers over the mark
| while aiding the sahib with his bathrohe.
and felt the raised circle of Iesh distinctly?
| He shivered little as though he realized
some of the tremendous issues at stake. He
did not balk at them. as a low-caste Hindu
| might have done, crying Hum greel admi'
| u am a poor. ignorant mani. why is this
thing thrust me?" but set himself the
task of balancing the pros and cons. ever.
be it marked, with a shrewd eye to the in
terests of Abdulla Milk. Meredith had
| been good to him, and he liked the sahib.
much in the way other natives like other
sahibs. He recognized, too. If the whispers
he had heard were true, that IL might be
dangerous to betray the man who that
curious mark; but then, again. if he sat and
| sucked his tongue he was liable to get hun
cry And If he took the other side and
betrayed the man who lived in Beebe Jan
| street he had not the slightest doubt as to
| would haDDeO then We at
| all pleasant to link of-unless. indeed. the
friends of the mark were strong enough
and willing to pay and protect him. So he
| sat on in the lengthening shadows. going
painfully over the position again and again.
from every point of view his tortuous mind
could suggest. But in the end he shivered
| afresh-the thought of the methods of the
man in Beebe Jan street had conquered all
| the other thoughts.
| So it came to pass that the next day three
| men 1T the house in Beebe Jan street One
| a fakir with his seven-knotted staff his
| lotah and antelope Skin-an ash-begrimed
| yotary of silva on his way to holy Benares;
he went from the Byculla railway station by
! fast express train. The second was a borah.
| a travelling peddler. who took the train for
Calcutta, and thence to Segowlie in Behar:
he was last seen on the road to Bhimpedi.
| which is only some thirty miles from Khat-
mandu. the capital of Nepaul. and we'll
within that independent state. The third.
and last, was mang (outcast). of whom IL
may be remarked that he never reached his
destination. and there is the greatest proba-
bility that he met with foul play before he
got TO DarJeeling. whittier he was bound.
The other two. the borah and the fakir. I'M
doubtedly reached their destination though
on two occasions the holy narrowly
] escaped the fate of the mang, during sud
I den uprisings in Mussuman villages that
/! lay along his route. However, beyond the
| fact that these two men did undoubtedly
| reach khatmandu, they have noting to do
| with the story.
CTo be continued Monday