El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-12-14
The Green Lights
CBy Paul Louis Garnier3

wv Pc WE'RE in the garden, stand
NJ ing in the shade OF a bamboo
hedge. A bottle of whisky was
standing in the middle of the table and
time and again he filled his glass with
his great coarse hand. His eyes were
dlmmed By the effects OF his last pipe
of opium and his breath was foul with
the smell Of gin. Thomas Joanny he
called himself I listened to him while
he told his story.
Yes, I saw it that time" said
Thomas The stable was full OF blood.
The tiger had bitten through the
horses throat"
had had enough of his stories.
Ihen II IS you who are in command
today" I interrupted Has your mas
ter left?"
Yes"
and his littl 5Onf Did he take
No; he is asleep UP there"
But you are not guarding him"
He has Sahita, the Malay woman, to
look after him"
Little Jack was a yOungster of 10
years, with fair cUrls, whom they had
given as playmate a small Java deer
innocent and gentle as a fawn. And
Thomas JOanny was in the employ OF
Jacks father, rich Englishman. who
had bought up all the forests for miles
around. He had been in his employ
for two years as a kind Of overseer
The Englishman stayed here because
ne was tired of travelling. and he kept
Thomas because he knew India.
Thomas had one of his bad days His
hand was shaking more and more and
my mention of little Jack seemed to
make him nervous. He turned around
to call the boy.
"Phu SEM Phu SEM" he cried
And Phu Sen came at last trotting
upon his heavy, white-soIed shoes
SHOES through the long avenue of teak
and banana trees.
Go and see il Jack is there"
The boy left / stood I'D. driven by
some vague fear I felt as if in the
presence of some mysterious danger.
which l realized, however. did not
threaten myself
I felt worried about Jack and started
towards the house, hardly realizing
where 1 was going Looking through
the dense foliage towards the back of
the house, where there was a veranda
overlooking a meadow. the young deer
was browsing. As I went closer I saw
a very pretty sight. On the stems of
the stairs leading to the veranda. in the
bright sunlight, Jack was sleeping
soundly, his fair, curly head resting on
his arm. Buddha undoubtedly had
had thrown sand into his eyes and also
into the eyes of Sahita. who was sitting
on the piazza, looking for anything in
the word ike an idol. She was mo-
tionless and her eyes were tightly
closed. over their heads were the big
green leaves of an immense banana
tree.
How foolish OF me to worry about
him." I thought. 1 did not want to go
closer for fear of waking the duskv
goddess or the child. It seemed to me
that I saw under the neck of the boy
something green, which I could not
quite make out. Undoubtedly it was
some green leaf or branch which he had
placed there because it felt soft and
cool
'Thomas! Thomas! Come and seer I
cried.
I did not have to go back for him. I
heard the sound of his heavy step in
the hall. And suddenly I caught sight
of him pale, yellow. haggard and wild
eyed. He could hardly keep himself
erect, and 1 thought he was drunk. He
did not appear to see the child, though
he was staring straight at il.
Keep quiet, Keep quiet Don't say a
word" he whispered. and disappeared
quick as lightning. Ec was evidently
no more drunk than ]. I felt like run
ming after him, but before I made up
my mind. he came back swiftly and
nOislessly, carrying a Ratchet
Keep quiet! Don't stir" he whis-
pered.
What are you going to do?"
1 thought he was going to kill the