Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1911-09-20


gateway of Kathiapur, that is lie!
Speak, brother of jackals and father
of swine, lest my temper overcome
me and I make carrion OF youl"
MY lord, hear mel" protested the
man in an extremity Of fright. These
/ BIO the words of truth If otherwise,
let my head be forfeit. Early
in the morning you returned from the
axe, heavy with sleep, and so soundly
have you slept since that hour that
no effort Of mine could rouse you,
/ though many came to the door, ma
| king inquiry | am Ram Lal, a true
man, and no trafficker in drugs and
| potions."
Even So" said Amber, ironic.
But if. on taking thought. / find
you've lied to me. Go now
and hold yourself fortunate in this,
that ] am not a man Of hasty judg-
ment"
"Hazocr!" Like shadow harried
by wind of night, the khansamah
scurried, from the room. But on the
threshold he paused long enough to
lay significant finger upon his lips
and nod toward TIE table.
From the khansamah's quarters
came an occasional clash Of crockery
and pattering of naked feet. Outside,
in the compound, the sepoys were
chattering volubly; their words were
indistinguishable. but from their con-
stantly increasing animation Amber
inferred that they were keenly relish
ing the topic of discussion. He be-
came sure of this when, at length,
his curiosity aroused, he went to the
window and peered out between the
wooden stats of the blind. The little
company was squatting in circle
round the fire. and bottle was pass
ing from hand to hand
He turned back, puzzled. to find the
khansamah calmly seated at the table
and enjoying one of Amber's choicest
cigarettes.
Thank God" he said. with profound
emotion. for civilized smoke!"
"Labertouchew cried Amber
The pseudo-khansamah rose. bowed
formally, and shook hands with CON
siderable cordially. It's good TO see
you whole and sound" he said, Il had
TO walt until Ram Maths work began
to show results. He's out there, yon
know, keeping the bottle moving. l
don't believe those damned sepoys
will bother us much, now, but we've
got no time at all to spare. Now tell
uyh Mt hax tn Nali In
| nothing Of the slightest consequence.
Amber dropped into chair. and this
Englishman sat near 10 him. II say,
thank God for you, Labertouche! You
don't know how I've needed you"
Il can fancy. I've had a ripping
time of 1t myself. Sorry / couldn't
communicate with you safely before
you left Calcutta. But we've not a
minute to waste Get into your yarn,
please; explanations later. II we ear
afford EN-"
Inhaling with deep enjoyment. he
narrowed his dark eyes. listening in.
tently to Amber's concise narrative of
his experiences since their parting b.
| fore the stall OF Dhola Baksh In the
Machua bazaar Not once was he in
terrupted by word or sign from Laber.
touche; and even when the tale was
told the latter said nothing, but
dropped his gaze abstractedly to the
smolc oring stump Of his cigarette.
And your" demanded the Virginian-
| Have pity, Labertouchei Can't you
see I'm being eaten alive by curlos-
ityf"
Labertouche eyed him blankly for
an instant oh" he said, with an
EFFORT freeing his mind from an in
tense concentration of thought rs
What's there to tell? I've been al
work. That's all was
jostled OF to one side when the row
started In the bazaar, and so lost you
There was then nothing to do but
strike back to the hotel and wait for a
clew. You can figure my relief when
you dropped out of that ticca ghari,
gave you the word to go on to Oar
feeling. intending to Join you en- route
But you know why that jaunt never
came OF. l found out my mistake be-
fore morning, wired you, and left Cal
cutta before you, by the same traiI
that conveyed the maharana of Khan
dawar Fortunately enough we had
Ram Nath already on the ground,
working up another case--I'll tell you
aoout II some time He's one of our
best men-a native, but loyal to the
core, and wrapped up in his work
He'd contrived to get billet as tonga
wallah to the Kuttapur bunia who has
the dRk-service contract. / myself
had arranged to haye the telegraph
babn here transferred. and myself APP
pointed In his place. So was able to
attach myself to the tail of the ma
harana without exciting comment.
Miss Farrell came by the same train.
but Salig Singh was IN too great a
hurry to get home to pay any atten-
tion TO her. and I, knowing you'd be
| along. arranged that tonga accident
with Ram Natn. He bribed his broth
err tonga-waIian to bring it about
Thank you. said Amber. from his
heart.
Labertouche impatiently waved the
interruption aside. Il looked for yop
at the telegraph Office this morning.
but Of course when you didn't appear
! knew something was up. So / con.
cocted message TO you for an ex.
cuse. came down, engaged the Ehansa-
nah in CONVEX sation Il think he had
some idea was an agent of the other