The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-28

their eyes and they would come to him
and beg for pardon.
Moonlight. The village slept. Two
fishermen sat before the hut combining
the prisoners on guard. An elephant
squealed in the distance. Out Of the
shadow a sleek leopard. then another.
The guards Jumped to their feet and
scrambled away for dear life to the
nearest hut crying the alarm.
Bruce opened the door, which had no
lock, and peered forth. 1t was natural
that the leopards should give their i'm
mediate attention to the two men In
flight. Bruce, realizing what had hap
pened, called softly to Ramabai and
Pundua; and the three of them stole
out into the night, toward the camp.
Bruce did not expect to find any one
there. What he wanted was to arm
himself and to examine the bowlder.
Meantime. Ahmed returned with the
truant elephant to find nothing but dis
order and evidences of a struggle. A
| tent was overturned the long grass
tramp!ed and the Colonel's sola-topee
hat lay crumpled near Kathlyn's tent.
al, ali" he walled. But, being
philosopher his wailing was OF short
duration. He ran to the bowlder and
examined it carefully. 1t had not been
| touched. That was well. At least that
meant that his sahib and memsahib
| lived. treasure He spat out a curse
and threw his rifle to his Shout
der. But his rage turned to JOY as he
discovered who the arrivals were.
Bruce Sahib!"
ayes, Ahmed. Umballa got the best OF
| us. We were tricked by the truant ele-
phant. He has taken Kathlyn back
toward Alfalfa"
| "And so shall we return!"
Ahmed called to his weary men. His
idea was to I'LL the elephant saddle bags
with the gold and stones, leave 1t in
trust with Balakhan, who should In
truth this time take his tulwar down
from the wall. He divided his men,
one company to guard and the other to
labor 1t took half an hour to push
back the bowlder and dig up the bas-
ket. After this was done Bruce and
Ramabai and Ahmed, the indefatigable,
carried the gold and precious stones to
the especially made saddlebags. All
told, 1t took fully an hour to complete
| the work.
With water and food, and well armed
they began the journey back to Alfalfa,
a formidable cortege and in no tender
mood. They proceeded in forced
marches, snatching what sleep they
could during the preparation OF the
meals.
| Many time the impulse came to
Bruce to pluck the shining metal and
sparkling stones from the saddlebags
and toss them out into the jungle, to be
| lost till the crack of doom. There were
also moments when he felt nothing but
hatred toward the father of the girl he
loved. For these trinkets Kathlyn had
gone through tortures as frightful al
most as those in the days of the In
QUESTION.
Upon one thing he and Ahmed had
agreed, despite Rama BARS wild protest
they would leave the treasure with Bal
akhan and follow his army to the walls
of Alfalfa. If harm befell any Of their
loved ones not a stone should remain
upon another. And Bruce declared that
he would seek Umballa II the ends OF
the earth for the infinite pleasure OF
taking his black throat in his two hands
and squeezing the life out of 1t.
Eventually and without mishap they
came to the walled city Of tn desert
Balakhan's stronghold. Balakhan OF
necessity was always ready. always pre-
pared Before night of the day of thei:
arrival an army was gathered within
the city, fierce eyed, lean Joined men
who asked nothing better than to go I,
paradise. where they had but to selec
what houri they would and be happ!
, eternallj. For Balakhan's army wa
wholly Mohammedan, and so long sine,
was n thew had fought that the,
romped toward Alfalfa with the spiri
and effervescence of puppies.
Ramabai sat in his howdah sad an
dispirited. He himself had always beel
, an honorable man, had never acte