Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-11
CHAPTER VIII.
First Steps.

otcpS
Forward on the promenade deck Of the
Poonah, i'm the shadow of the bridge.
Amber stood with both elbows on the
rail- dividing his somewhat perturbed at
tention between a noisy lot of lascar
Stewards deck hands and native third
class passengers I'm the bows below. and
tie long lines CT Saugor Island, just then
slipping past on the starboard beam.
On either hand. ahead. the low. livid
green banks of the Hooghly were closing
in, imperceptibly constructing the narrow
channel through which the tawny tide
swirled down to the sea at the full force
of it's ebb. Struggling under this handi-
cap. the Poonah trembled from stem to
stern with the heavy laboring of the
screw. strain!ng forward like thorough
bred, it's strength almost spent. with the
white cleaning decks. as the bows swung
from port to starboard and back again,
following the channel, purple-black shad-
ows slipped like Oil. languid land WIND
blew fitfully down the estuary. I'm warm
puffs dense with sickly sweet jungle reek.
The day was hot and sticky with hui
midity; haze like a wall OF dust col
ored the skies almost to the zenith
1t was 10 o'clock In the morning: Cal
cutta lay hundred miles UP the river.
pected to be in the city. whether he
stuck by the steamer until she docked
In the port. or left her at Diamond mar
Dor sixty miles up stream and finished
his Journey by rail At the present mo-
ment he hardly knew which to do: In the
ordinary course of events he would have
gone ashore at Diamond harbor. thereby
gaining an hour or two in the city. But
within the last eighteen hours events mad
been diverted from their normal course.
and Amber was deeply troubled with
msgivings
Up to the day that the Poonah had
sailed from Tilbury dock, London. from
the time he had left Quain among the
sand dunes of Long Island, he had not
been conscious Of any sort OF espionage
upon his movements. That gaunt ana
threatening figure which he had seen Sill
houetted against the angry dawn had not
again appeared to disturb or trouble him.
His journey across the Atlantic had been
uneventful: he had personally tnvesti-
gated the saloon passenger lists. the sec
Ond and third cabins and the steerage or
tie I.usitania. not forgetting the crew.
ONLY to he treasured by the absence OF
anybody aboard who even remotely sug-
gested an Indian spy. But from the hour
that the Poonah with its miscellaneous
ships company, white. yellow. brown and
black. had warped out into the Thames.
he had felt he was being watched-had
realized it instinctiveiy. having nothing
definite wherein to base his feeling. He
was neither timorous nor given to con-
turing up shapes of terror from the
depths of a nervous imagination; the SEN
sation of being under the surveillance of
unseen. prying eyes is unmistakable. Yet
he had tried to reason himself out OF the
belief-after taking all sensible precau-
tons, such as never letting the photo
graph Of Sophia Farrell out of his pos
session and keeping the Token next his
skin. in a chamois bag that nestled be-
meath his arm, swinging from leather
cord round his neck. And as day blended
into eventless day he had lulled himself
into an uneasy indifference. What II he
were watched? What could il profit any
one to know what he did or how he did
it, day by day? And with increasing in
frequency he had come to question MINI
self as to the reason for the spying on his
movements.
Possibly the fruitlessness of any such
speculation had much to do with mis-
gradual cessation of interest in the enig-
ma. He was not credulOus of the power
of divination popularity ascribed to the
oriental: he was little inclined to believe
that the nature Of his errand to India
had been guessed. or that any native in
telligence in India knew or suspected the
secret of Sophia Farrell's parentage-
Rutton's solicitude to the contrary not
withstandng. The theory that he most
favored in explanation of the interest In
him was that II had somehow become
known that he bore with him the emer-
Jewel, intrinsically invaluable, was badly
wanted by its former possessors, whether
for the simple worth of it or because 1t
played an important part in the intrigue.
or whatever II was. that had resulted In
Rutton's suicide. For his own part, Am
Der cared nothing for il: he had christen-
ed il, mentally, the Evil Eye-with a
smile to himself; nonethsless he half seri-
ously suspected IL of malign properties.
He was imaginative enough for that-or
superstitious, IL you prefer.
He would. however. gladly have sur
rendered the jewel 10 those who coveted
it, i'm exchange for promise OF i'm
munity from assassination, had he known
whom to approach with the offer and
been free to make it. But he must first
show il to Dhoa Baksh Of the Machua
bazaar After that. when its usefulness
had been discharged, he would be glad Of