The Huttig news., 1911-07-15
CHAPTER XII.
The iono Day.


 One travels dak by relays casually disposed along the route at the whim of the native contractor Between Badshah Junction and Kuttarpur there were ten stages. of which the con clusion of the first was at hand-Am- Der having all but abandoned belief in it's existence.
 Slamming reckless'v down the bed of an ancient water course. the tonga spun suddenly upon one wheel round a shoulder of the banks and dashed out uren rolling plain, across which the trail snaked to other farther hills that lay dim and low, a wavy line of blue, upon the horizon-the hills in whose heart Kuttarpur Itself lay oc- cult. And, by the roadside. in a com pound fenced with camel-thorn. sat an aged and indigent dak-bungalow. marking the end of the first stage, the beginning of the second.
 Ram Natb refined in with a flourish and lifted a raucous voice, hailing the syce, while Amber, painfully disen- gazing his cramped limbs, climbed down and stumbled towaHd the veran da. The abrupt transition from vib lent and cratic motion to solid and substantia footing affected him un- pleasantly, and with an undepia5'e aualm; the earth seemed to rock and flow beneath him as if under the in- 1uence of an antic earthquake. He was for some seconds occupied with the problem of regaining his boise, and it was not until he heard an Eng ishwoman's voice uplifted In accents of anger, that he remembered the other wayfarer with whom he was to share his tonga, or associated with he white-clad figure in the dark door way of the bungalow with anything but the khansamah. coming to greet and cheat the chance brought guest.
 Where is that tonga wallah who deserted me here last night?" the woman was demanding of Ram Nath, too preoccupied with her resentment to have eyes for the other traveller, 1ho at sight of her had stopped and removed his pith helmet and stood staring as if he had come from land in which there were no women. Where" she continued. with an i'm perative stamp of daintily-shod foot, lis that wretched tonga-wallah?
 "Sahiba," protested Ram Nath. with great show of deference, how should 1 know? Belike he is in Bad shah Junction, whither he returned very late last night, being travelworn and weary, and where left him, be- ing sent with this excellent tonga to take his place"
 You were? And why have I been detained here, alone and unprotected, this long night? Simply because that other tonga -wallah was a fool, am I to be imposed upon in this fashion,"
 What am 1, whimpered Ram Nath, "to endure the wrath of the sahiba for a fault that is none of mine?'
 q beg your pardon, sir" said the girl, turning to Amber, but 1t is very annoying" She looked him over. first with abstraction, then with puzzled gathering of her brows. for he was far from her thoughts-the last per son she would have expected to meet m thai place, ana very eHtctudlly uis- guised in dust and dirt besides. The tire came off the wheel just as we got here. late yesterday evening, and in trying. or pretending to try. to fit it on again, that block-head of tonga wallah hammered the rim with a rock as big as his head and naturally smashed it to kindling wood. Then. before I could stop him. he flung him elf on the back of pony and went way. saving that 1t was the will of God that he should return to Badshah for a better tonga Since when !