Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-07-02
CHAPTER XII.
In the Hour of Need.

the balcony. The air In the great silent
room behind him stified him. and even
the night breeze, as It touched his cheeks
seemed to burn with fever. He stood
there motionless. his arms folded, gazing
fixedly into the half darkness. A pale,
watery moonlight cast an unearthry SHIN
mer over the shadowy world before him,
frightened every here and there by the
w1ll-o -the-wisp fire points which marked
the presence of the camped thousands
waiting silently for his word. Only one
spot-it seemed like black stain-re-
manned in absolute gloom, and 1t was
thither the rajah's eyes were turned.
Every night he had come to the same
place to watch 1t. Every night he had
tortured himself with the thought of all
it contained.
For he knew now, with the clear GER
tainty of a man who has searched down
to the bottom of his soul, that in that 81
lent area his whole life. his one hope of
happiness was bound up, and waited,
with those who were fighting stubborniy.
heroically, against the end-its destruc-
ticn beneath his own sword He was
fighting against himself. With his own
hands he was tearing down that which
seemed an inseparable, incorporate part
of himself Anger and contempt were
dead. In their place the old love had re-
kindled and grown brighter before the
sight Of a courage. dignitied and silent,
which had held back the tide of furious
fanaticism and thwarted his own de-
spair. He had seen. with eyes which
burned with an indescribable emotion.
regiment of wearied, weakened men, led
by q man he had once despfsed, burst
through the densest squares of his own
soldiers: he had heard their cheers as
they had clasped hands with the de-
tenders; he had looked aghast into his
own heart, afire with admiration, aching
with a strange broken-hearted gratitude
to God who had made such men. 1t was
in vain that. flashing himself with the
knowledge of his own weakness and of
his disloyaty to those who followed him,
he had flung himself against the defenses
of the little garrison
Day after day they drove him. back,
fighting hand to hand in the earthworks
they had thrown up in few hours of
miraculous labor He fought against them
like man possessed of an unquenchable
hatred: but at night, when he was at last
alone, he had slipped out on to his bal
cony and held out his hands toward them
in an unspeakable. wordless greeting.
Once more they had become for him the
worlds great people, the giants OF his
boyhood's imagination, the heroes Of his
mans ideal. At the point of the sword
they had proved the truth of Nicholson's
proud boast. and hour by hour the man
who had turned from them in a moment
Of bitter illusion saw the temple he had
ashes in new and greater splendor.
Thus two weeks had passed and tonight
was to see the end. Nehal knew that,
brave though they We're they could do
no more. They had no water and his
forces Rugged them in on every side. One
last attack and it would he over-Marut
would be cleared from the enemy, his vic
tory complete His victory. 1t was his
own ruin he was preparing. the certain
destruction of that which seemed linked
| ipyiSih1v blif surely TO his fate And.
knowing that, he knew also that there
was no turning back for him, no retreat.
His word was given. His people. the
people who claimed him by the right of
blood. clamored for him to lead them as
he had sworn. 1t made no difference II
on the path he had chosen he trampled
on every hope. every wish. every rooted
instinct. There was no turning back.
He knew 1.-THE knowledge that his own
words bound him came to him with pitt
less finality as he stood there watching
the silent, lightless stretch which was
soon to be the scene of last tragic
struggle: and If. indeed, there are such
things as tears Of blood, they rose to his
eyes now.
With lips compressed in an agony he
could neither analyze nor conquer. he
turned slowly back into the dimly lighted
room. Two torches burned either side
of the throne and threw unsteady
shadows among the glittering pillars.
They lit up his face and revealed 1T as
that of a man who has cast his youth
behind him forever. Only few months
had passed since he had sat there with
Travers in the full noon Of his hope and
enthusiasm. He remembered the scene
with a clearness which was a fresh tor
ture. The hopes that had been built up
in th.t hour lay shattered. the woman
for whom they had been built was lost.
He thought of her now as he always
thought of her, as he knew he would
think of her to the end. For this love,
save that it had grown and deepened into
a wider understanding, had remained I'M
changed AS there had been towards and
tricksters among his heroes, SO in that
one woman evil and good had stood side
by side and fought out their battle. And
the good had won-had won because he
alone of all men had believed In 1t. He
believed in it still-in the same measure
as he had learned to love her-with a
deeper understanding of temptation and
failure. 1t was the one triumph in the
midst Of seeming ruin, the one firm rock
in the raging torrent of his fate, beaten
as 1t was between the cOntending streams
of desire and duty. She was, indeed. lost
to him. but not as in the first hour of his
shaken trust He had regained his
memory of her as good woman, striv-
ing upward and onward and already he
had invested her with the glory Of those
whom death has already claimed from
us.
Nehal Singh started from his painful
reverie, conscious that some one had en-
tered the room and was watching him.
He turned and saw his chief captain
standing respectfully before him, and,
though it was a man he liked and trusted
it seemed to him that the gaunt. soIdierly
figure had taken on the form of an ugly,
threatening destiny
IAN is ready, Great Prince the native
said salaaming. Every man is at his
post We do but await thy orders
Nehal did not answer. His hands
| clasped and unclasped themselves in the
| last agony of hesitation The moment
| had come the inevitable and irretrievable
moment which had doomed SO long upon
| his horizon. Even now he hardly knew
what it was to bring him. The forces
warning in his blood were locked in
| death struggle. At last he nodded and
| his lips moved.
1T is well. In half an hour-I will
come to them. In half an hour-the at
| tack Will begin
| "Sahib-is 1t good to wait? The dawn
cometh, and with the dawn"
,Nehal Singh lifted his hand peremp-
ltorily.
I'm half an hour" he repeated.
The man salaamed and was gone. Ne
hal Singh stood there like a pillar of
stone 1t was over In half an hour!
| And yet at the bottom of his hear, ne
| knew that he had delayeG-purposely, but
| to no end but his own increased suffering.
With a sigh of Impotence he turned, and
| in the same instant became once more
aware that he was not alone.
IT, q moment he perceived nothing save