Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1912-01-18
designating:
Rajah
A Tale of the Far East
By CLARISSA MACKIE
Copyright by American Press Asso- I
citation, 1911.
A Tale of the Far East
By CLARISSA MACKIE


"This is a story that Ananias Slime
told me-" warned Captain Barnabas
Fish as he skillfully mended a net on
the silver sands Of Ounce harbor;
"thercfore, ma'am, Pm not responsible
for its veracity."
"Never mind" assured him eagerly
"Of course l know they can't be true.
Nevertheless they are interesting if one
can separate the truth from the fic
ton"
"N1iss Telham." said the captain,
turning his twinkling eye upon me-
"hctiOn 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 i'll awhile, like
most liars, he swings the pendulum so
far to Ieeward that back she comes
and runs afoul of the truth. At such
fines Ananias gets into heaps of trou-
bic.
Now, the story have in mind is
about the time AnaniaS got into trou-
BILE with the rajah of Raddabah, out
in India You wouldn't think the mat
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 adj
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 that 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 unseamanike, and it had never
happened to me before. Our ships
carpenter repaired the damages, and
all we had to do was to tie up at the
right place and try and find some pure
water, and in India, am, that's no
easy matter,
at last we came to fair sized VIII
lage where the natives didn't seem any
more than naturally cufious at sight
of us, and Ananias went ashore with
some men to have powwow with the
headman.
"'How could you talk to that head
man, AnaniasY l asked him. L didn't
know you could speak Hindustani.'
az don't wear all my accomplish
ments on my sleeves, skipper he says
excitedy.
"'S'pose you talk n little Hindustani
to me- | baited him.
"Then Ananias ratified off a lot of
| Queer gibberiSh that sounded as If he
had swallowed all his teeth and was
laughing about 1t. You savee% he
ended up Just like a Chinee laundry
man.
az understand says to him grim
| ". i understand from what you say,
Ananias Slime, that you're throwing
me game of bluff about talking to the
headman. He looks too intelligent to
converse in any langwitch like that.
1 w IlultNeI ne lolt Nou ubOul lLC NoASh
you go and do it. | can stand anything
except water from the Ganges. Ii
you're going through the jungle you
better take guns
"Ananias didn't say a word, but he
and the men he picked out hustled
around and got the water casks and
provisions and some guns and ammu
nition and away they Went in the bull
lock cart with the headman of the vii
lage lashin@ Il long whip and yelling
at the hulockS in a 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. car
tell YOU. Auanias was in the lead
running for his life, and behind him
came his four seamen, and back OF
them were three of the tallest, longest
legged TIlndus | ever set eyes upon
and I've seen a sight of 'em in my
day.
81 had Il boat at the jetty to meet
'em, but I declare If the three Hindu>
didn't get there at the same time. and
all tumblcd in with our men, and sc
they were all brought aboard anc
came before me.
"'What's all this?' l demanded OF
Ananias.
"I'll explain. skipper. II you'll SEND
my men below for bite to eat and 6
little rest he says slyly. And so
sent the four seamen below. and thai
left Ananias standing there, lookins
scared and mad at the same time
while the three Hindus stood Just be
hind him. staring sadly at me.
"'Explain. then snapped ont.
"Ananias took n chew Of tobacco anC
folded his arms. 1T happened this
way. skipper he began. And then ht
launched out in wonderful tale OF
how they had reached the shore Of the
lake where the rajah's palace was sit