The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1910-05-14
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THE RAJAH's TRAP
BY Harold Carter

Months of Imprisonment had
not Slapped the captive's courage;
1t was the suspense that counted.
That the rapah meant to execute
him with diabolical cruelty he
knew, but why did he delay?
At first he had feared assassin
alton, but then he reflected that
Dhuleep Singh had put no prisoner
to death without allowing him a
chance of liberty. Some had fought
tigers in the presence of the court;
some had been roped, tied in
sacks, and flung into reservoirs
but with knives in their hands. A
few escaped; these had been given
high posts in the rajah's army.
That night when the jailer
brought him his food he thrust a
dagger into his hand and whis-
pered:
II am your friend. Walk out at
midnight, when the bell tolls
overhead. The guards have been
bribed."
The captive knew midnight only
by the sound OF the bell, tolled by
Brahmin acolytes. for he dwelled
in perpetual darkness In his sub
terranean dungeon. He waited;
when the first strokes rang out he
felt for the handle, turned 1t.
pushed the door open, and Stun
bled down the corridor to free
dom.
He could feel that he walked
between walls of closely woven
wire, which turned and twisted, SO
that he followed in series of cir
cular movements. Suddenly his
progress was arrested by a small
oval barrier that he could not
pass.
He halted, and an instant later
la blaze of electric light, suddenly
switched on, dazzled his eyes,
while thunderous shouts acclaimed
him. When he could see he dis
covered that he was in the vast
palace enclosure. The seats were
filled around him, and in the CEN
ter, upon his throne, sat the rajah
himself clapping his hands and
Smiling.
He had walked in the darkness,
before the silent multitude of
spectators, round and round a
huge wire cage-one of those
mazes of wire paths that are fire.
|quently displayed at amusement
resorts. Now he stood in the GEN.
ter. He understood that II he
could find the exit he would be
free.
Not quite! A door In the aren't
opened and with a 1.-the leap q
large trained leopard bounded in
to the entrance along which the
captive had come. And suddenly
he realized his fate. The beast
and he, wandering through the
maze of paths, must ultimately
meet!
Then he looked down. and saw
the dagger in his hand He hest
tated an instant. Then he started
toward the leopard, which picked
its way cautiously along the paths.
Closer and closer they approach
ed as they followed their routes,
the man with many hesitations and
|turnings, the beast following the
scent of his track. Once they came
face to face, one thickness OF
wires only between them. The
leopard turned. snarling, and the
man thrust his dagger through
the meshes and scratched its
shoulder. The spectators broke In
to applause.
One turn - they were carried
apart. The man had chosen tbs
alright passage. He might yet win
freedom without meeting the
leopard. But suddenly he perceiv.
led with horror that the path he
was following ended in a blind.
He must turn back! The beast
was close upon him.
He began to run, painting. The
LEOPARD, purring heavily, was lop-
ting parallel with him. They would
meet face to face. Mol A sudden
Iopening on the left and the cap
tive had placed another wall Of
Imeshes between them.
Then thought flashed through
his brain. Was the leopard really