The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-09-20

down from the heights above and ran
| through one side of the plateau on
which stood the temple. On the other
| side il was a sheer drop of at least
thousand feet. Within lights flickered
| to and fro, more like will O. the wisps''
| from the rotting vegetation than evil
dences of human habitation-
| The sky now changed with the sud-
denness of tropical mountain climate
and was overhung with racing black
| clouds. The wind came up with
| bound and made the giant deodar and
| the lesser trees about sough and crack
lie. Favored by the protecting roar of
| the elements we crept cautiously for
ward and gained the broad surface of
the portico behind the deodar. Clarke
and I We're in the lead and then our
| with cat-like stealth. Beady-eyed liz
ards scurried to and fro in search of
| their hiding places. We hoped there
were no more deadly reptiles about
Now we had a full view of the in
terror OF the temple lighted by flaring
| torches of the resinous deodar. The
sight baffled description. At one end
of the great hall stood gigantic like
ness of the terrible goddess Kali, the
| wife OF silva Her girdle was hung
with human heads. Bodies of naked
| infants depended from the great rings
i'm the lobes of her ears. In her right
hand was dripping sword and in her
| left newly severed human head. At
| her feet bowed a semicircle of dark
forms. At one side of the room on
hook hung a self-torturing mum. An
other lay stretched upon a bed of
spikes which pierced his flesh. A third
| lay prone, his right arm extended up
ward and fixed immovable by the stiff
| fpninO nf no In he he
had held the position. Half clad NUNS
were going round the room with bowls
of rice, feeding the worshipers and the
self-torturers. Though We had view
of every corner of the room Thaida
was not visible.
l turned in horror from the awful
sight and as I turned / saw around
the neck of one of our faithful Sikhs
the flash of a white cloth, the fatal
handkerchief of Hindu thuggee. Inn
mediately a lurid flash of lightning il
Illuminated the scene. Clarke's revolver
spoke. the thug behind the Sikh rolled
off the balustrade and the report was
drowned in the crash of thunder that
followed. In an instant we were off
ne portico and huddled back to back
in the open plateau.
And then the storm broke. Not light
ming in intermittent flashes, but one
| long and Jagged streak from the heav-
ems to the earth as from pole TO pole
of a mighty battery while the thunder
crashed and reverberated through the
| hills in one continuous roar, drowning
from the ears of the fanatic worshipers
inside the bang and rattle of the strug
gle we were Waging for our lives with
out.
BY twos and threes they charged us.
their deadly handkerchiefs cast aside
! and with short sword in one hand and
dagger in the other. And regularly our
revolvers and the rifles of the Sikhs
spoke.
Bullets seemed powerless to stop them
until they fell fairly riddled.
Now one of the Sikhs was down from
a sword thrust and / heard Clarkes
breath in short gasps at my side
We had moved backward with the
rush of fighting at our front until we
were at the edge of the plateau. All
our assailants lay before us, but one
gigantic fellow against whom bullets
seemed to have no more effect than
pebbles upon the side of a battleship.
On he came with p terrific rush, right
through the line of Sikhs. directly up
on us. ] was struggling with a cart
ridge that had damned. He was on
Clarke's side / saw Clarke dive in
under the uplifted sword and dagger
and grapple him about the waist. Back
ward and forward they struggled on the
edge of the plateau. Then by the I'M
ceasing flash from the heaySns l saw
Clarkes face blacken ane the veins
stand out on his forehead like knots.
as with superhuman effort he lifted
his antagonist bodily and hurled him
over the cliff to be dashed In pieces
on the rocks thousand feet below.
Then all was still except the war of
the elements above us. From the tenn
pie came no sound and the lights had
disappeared.
Our injuries were slight One Sikh
had a sword thrust in the thigh. an
other a cut from a dagger in the hand.
The steel of the giant thug had pierced
Clarkes clothing and reached his side.
but he assured us ii was but a scratch,
and when his breath was recovered he
was ready for anything.
Again we turned toward the temple,
when n blue ball of livid fire seemed
to hurl itself from the heavens upon
the roof. There was a binding flash
and a crash that fairly split my ear
drums. And then l knew no more I'M
til / awakened from the shock. Clarke
was sitting up. Around us lay the
bodies Of our Sikhs. not dead but
stunned as we had been by the bolt of
lightning The bodies of the thugs
covered the plain. The temple was in
ruins literally not one stone left upon
another The storm had passed. The
light of morning was breaking in the
east.
Clarke stood up and lifting his hands
TO heaven gave a shrek that woke the
stiffness of the snow-covered peaks and
then the tears coursed down his cheeks.
was too dazed to realize it all.
"She is there" cried Clarke, pointing
to the ruins. Come, we will at least
rescue her body"
We rushed to the heap of stones that
had been the temple. Frantically we
searched among the debris and the
bodies of the fanatics. Then Clarke
gave a cry and rushed TO his side
He had found in the floor an opening
that was free from debris. 1t evidently
led TO a subterranean vault below. and
Selling and lighting one of the deodar
torches we descended. A short flight
of steps led to a long gallery. We fol-
lowed this to the end and came to a
small ROOM into which we burst.
Before us was Achmon, his eyes burn
ing like Goals of fire, his arms out
stretched toward a figure that seemed
floating in md-air. I looked into the
pallid face. IL was Thaida.
Clarke fired and Achmon tumbled
backward. AS he fell he crushed the
torch at his side. Our own had already