Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-11-02
TO MEET HIS EXCELLENCY

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platform. When they had quite finished
Chunder Sen had given the delayed orders
for the patroling of the line.
In the next toolshed was Govind Vinayak,
peering through crack in the boards of the
| door. seeing MacNIanus himself now and
again; vet unable to communicate with any
! body. There was practically no ventilation
| in his prison, and Chunder Sen had thought
| fully omitted to provide him with water or
food.
TT wanted but half an hour to the time
l when his Excellencys train was due. The
laborers were lined up along the approaches,
their foreman in front. The sun was SHIN
ing, and the little station, with its streaming
flags and CAV red cloth, was gradually filling
with guests, a score of them. MacManus
was talking to the doctors wife at the end
| of the platform nearest the signal box when
| he first became aware of a continuous and
irritating sound of heavy blows striking upon
metal A moment later he guessed that the
prisoner in the hut had found some tool In
there, and was determined not to let his
presence pass unnoticed. Chunder Sen was
on guard at the door; but in vain did he
| command, threaten, or persuade: the blows
never ceased. MacManus shrugged his
shoulders and supposed that human endur-
ance had its limits, and that the old man
could scarcely maintain such violent effort
| for another thirty minutes 1t was to be hoped
that he would exhaust himself, since other
wise explanations might have to be offered:
1t was seventeen minutes to the hour, and
now the padre was telling MacManus that 1t
was an suspicious occasion. Through the
even flow of small talk words and halt
| formed words for which he could not ac-
count began to drift into MacManus's brain
-rhythmically, continuously, repeated over
and over again.
Platform -. platform under the
platform platform platform
Just for one CHASTITY instant he thought
that his brain was going wrong. Then,
abruptly leaving the puzzled padre, he
walked away And all the while the prison
er in the toolhut was swinging bar against
its iron walls with all the force he could
bring to bear upon the task. Crasn-a
pause-two rapid knocks-then crash again.
MacManus walked down the line at his
usual pace; though his heart was beating
like drum, and there were beads OF cold
sweat breaking out on his temples. For he
read the message that was being hammered
out upon the walls of the hut only too well
now-and somehow he knew, without rea-
soning or deduction, that Govind N1nayak,
who had taught him the Morse code life
time away in North Kanara, was in there,
tirelessly, desperately, sending out his thrn--
derous warnings to save the man who had
long been the child that he loved.
Mine under platform !. !. mine under plat
form
The train had passed the Undur station
In eleven minutes it was due at Amralutch.
MacNIanus stopped at the signal box, and
gave an order The distance signal dropped
to "Danger,7 and the line was blocked. Be
fore he had traversed the few intervening
yards to the hut he knew all, or nearly all.
CHUNDER SEN saw the signal fall, and
- simultaneously the approach of his
chief His face drew into a distorted grin:
but his eyes were windows to the naked ter
ror of his soul. He wavered, tried to keep
his stand, wavered again--and fled: not in
haste, not as one in fear of pursuit. His
chance lay in the urgency Of the hour, and of
the situation. He knew what MacAlanus
had to do, and how quietly he would do it.
So he walked away up the line, looking
neither to the left-nor to the right, where
his confederates waited in ignorance of the
coming of their fate. No one noticed him
as he walked out of sight. No one knew
that he left the line and made across coun-