The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1912-01-09
A Tale of the Far East
By CLARISSA MACKIE

told me-" warned Captain BarnaDas
Fish as he skillfully mended net on
the silver sands of Ounce harpor'
therefore, ma'am, I'm not Responsible
for its veracity."
"Neyer mind" / assured him eagerly.
"Of course l know they can't be true
Nevertheless they are interesting II one
can separate the truth from the ne
ton"
Miss Telham," said the captain
turning his twinkling eye upon me-
fiction amt no word to use in connec-
ton with my old messmate Ananias
Slime. He's just a plain and. simple
liar but every once in awhile' ike
most liars. he swings the pendulum SO
far TO leeward that back she comes
and runs afoul of the truth. AZ such
times Ananias gets into heaps of trou-
Bile.
"Now. the story l have in mind Is
about the time Ananias got into trou-
BILE with the rajah of Raddahah, out
in India. You wouldn't think the mate
of n peaceful trading ship like the old
Indus was would be mixing in such
high society as Indian princes, but
when Ananias got started on an al
venture there was no knowing where
he'd stop-not at princes anyway.
Likely it would have to be kings or
queens or big bugs of some extra high
standing.
well, we had left Calcutta and was
running along down the coast with the
| .Jaipur hills in the background when
Ananias came aft and told me Mat the
water butts had sprung leak and
that we would have 20 put ashore and
get another supply Of water
II won't go into the details of how
this happened, ma'am. for it was all
most unseamanlike, and it had never
happened TO me before. Our ships
CARPENTER repaired the damages, and
all we had TO do was TO tie up ut the
right place aud try and find some pure
water, and i'm India ma'am, that's no
easy matter.
Eat last we came to fair sized viii
lage where the natives didn't seem any
more than naturally curious at sight
of us, and Ananias went ashore with
some men to have a powwow with the
| headman.
allow could you talk to that head
man, AnaniasY' I asked him. Il didn't
know you could speak Hindustani.'
81 don't wear all my accomplish
ments on my sleeves, skipper he says
excitedly.
"'S'pose you talk little Hindustani
to me- baited him.
"Then Ananias ratified off n lot of
queer gibberish that sounded as If he
had swallowed all his teeth and was
laughing about 1t. You saveeT he
ended up just like Chinee laundry
man.
al understand says TO him grim
~. Il understand from what you say,
Ananias Slime. that you're throwing
me n game Of bluff about talking to the
headman. He looks too intelligent TO
converse in any langwitch like that.
Whatever he told you about the water
you go and do IL. l can stand anything
except water from the Gauges. If
you're going through the jungle you
better take guns
"Ananias didn't say word. but he
and the men he picked out hustled
around and got the water casks and
provisions and some guns and ammu-
milton, and away they went in the bull
lock cart. with the headman of the vii
lage lashing a long whip and yelling
at the bullocks in langwitch that
didn't sound like the one Ananias made
/, up.
at was the next morning before
Ananias and his party came back. and
they were hurrying some, mann, can
tell you. Ananias was i'm the lead,
running for his life, and behind him
came his four seamen, and back OF
them were three of the tallest. longest
! legged Iindus / ever set eyes upon,
5 and I've seen sight of 'em in my
day.
Y IL had a boat at the jetty to meet
D 'em, but I declare II the three Hindus
didn't get there ut the same time. and
t all tumbled in with our men, and so
! they were all brought aboard and
4 came before me.
What's all this?' I demanded of
Q Ananias.
: "1'll explain. skipper, II you'll send
! my men below for bite to eat and n
I little rest he says slyly And so I
sent the four seamen below. and that
left Ananias standing there. looking
scared and mad at the same time,
while the three Hindus stood Just be.
: hind him. staring sadly at me.
Explain. then snapped out.
: "Ananias took a chew of tobacco and
folded his arms 1T happened this
: way, skipper he began And then he
: launched out in wonderful tale of
how they had reached the shore of the
lake where the rajah's palace was sit.
uated when the rajah was taking his
pleasure In boat on the lake.
1T seems he didn't understand the
dialect that Ananias used. or course
Annnias told me he had n personal in.
; teryiew with the big man, and he or.
dered Ananins to be brought before
him the next morning for examination
so that night the men from the Indus