The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1914-09-18

" -
times styles himself q rajah, He has
a body Of fierce fighting men; and he
lives unmolested for two reasons; loot.
ing would not be worth while. and his
position is isolated and almost impreg'
nable. Now, II ! am right, We shall
find shelter there. for he wal an old
friend of my fathers, and might call
him a friend Of mine, since fell asleep
for him occasionally"
4Bala Khan" unused Bruce reminds
Gently. Isn't he the chap who has a
sacred white elephant?"
1T is the same" answered Ramabai.
We can reach there before shutdown,
1t would be wise to hasten, however.
as this desert and those hills are In
tested with lawless. nomadic bands of
masterless men--brigands, You cali
them They would cut the throat of a
man for the sake Of his clothes"
Let us 20 on said the colonel. 4
don't care where. an dead for want
of food and sleep"
And l, too" confessed Kathlyn, My
arm pains me badly"
MY poor Xiii" murmured her
father, gloomily. And all this because
l told you half a truth, because in play
l tried to make a mystery out of a few
plain facts. / should have told you
everything, warned you against follow
i,,, 10 anro I FnlIaA tn trrn ,irf
Il should have followed you just the
same"
Shall | rebind the ARM" asked
Bruce. turning.
mo. thanks She smiled down at
him. This bandage will serve till we
reach Bala Khan's."
by the way, colonel, is there a pair
Of binoculars In the howdahT
Yes. Do you want them?"
mo. Just to be sure they were
there. We may have occasion to use
them later, in case this place Ramabai
is taking us to should turn out hostile.
I like to know what is going on ahead
of me-"
"A white elephant" unused the colo
mel. DO you know It for a fact that
this Bala Khan has a white elephant?"
he called across to Ramabai.
II have never seen It, sahib. It Is
what they say"
"a pair Of notified ears IL the near.
est | ever came to seeing a white ele.
plant, and I've hunted them for 80
years, here. In Ceylon, In Burma, in
Africa. There was once a tiger near
Madras that hadn't any stripes. The
natives would not permit him to be
killed because they held that, being
unique, he was sacred. A sacred white
elephant! Poor simple minded fools!"
The colonel felt in his pockets, then
dropped his hands dispiritedly. How
long since he had tasted tobacco?
Bruce. have you got a cheroot in your
pocket? l think a smoke would brace
me up"
Bruce laughed and passed up a bro.
ken cigar. which the colonel lighted
carefully. The WEAKNESS seemed to go
out of his face magically.
This Bala Khan should be Moham-
medan," said Bruce. The Pathan
despises the Hindu"
There are Hindus in yonder city,
quite as many" said Ramhbai. AS
there are Mohammedans. Even the
Pathan respects that which he cannot
understand"
isn't that the wall behind that sand
hill? Let me have the glasses a mo-
ment, colonel. . Hm! The walled
city, all right. Some people moving
about outside. Dancers, ] should say"
Professional" explained Ramabia.
Nothing religious. then? BY
George!"
Take a look. There's an elephant
being led into the city gates"
Tho colonel peered eagerly through
the glasses, 'The sun is shining on
him. mol he is white! A
white elephant! I'd give ten thousand
this minute to " 1t. There, he's en-
tered the gate. Wen, well, well! And
I've lived to see 1t! Poor old Barnum,
to have carried around a tinted pachy-
derm! He's white as any elephant
flesh could be. Those dancing chaps
are going in, too. What caste would
those dancers be, Ramabai?"
"Pariahs, quite possibly; probably
brlgands."
The rim Of the sun was sinking