The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1914-07-24

Ing the hot. lazy afternoons, over theil
hookahs and coffee. To them reform
meant change only. not the alienation
OIL some OF their heavy burdens. The
hik OF freeing slaves was but talk;
slaves were lucrative investments; q
man would be a fool to free them. An
old man. with a skin white like this
new queens and hair like spun wool,
dressed In a long black cloak and a
broad-brimmed bat. had started the
agitation OF hberatlng the slaves. More
than that, he carried no idol of his
God, never bathed In the CHATS, or
, TOOK flowers to the temples. and seemed
always silently communIng with the
simple iron cross suspended from his
neck. But he had died during the last
visitation Of the plague,
They had wearied Of their tolerant
King, who had died mysteriously: they
were now wearied Of the council and
ombaiia: In other words, they knew
not what they wanted. being People.
Who was this fair-skinned woman
who stood so straight before Umbal.
las eye! Whence had she come? To
be ruled by a oma who appeared to
De tongue tied! Well. there we're worse
.hihgs tina a womnn who could not
talk. Thus they gabbled In the ba.
zaars, round braziers and dung fires,
some talked Of the murder. The
proud Ramabai had been hailed to
prison: his bankers gold had not
saved him. .. this street rat UmbaIIa
generally got what ne wanted. Ra.
inabais wife al one Of the beauties
Of Hind.
through the narrow, evil smelling
streets OF the bazaars a man hurried
nat night. giancing behind frequently
20 see II by any mIschance some one
'oilowed. He stopped al the house OF
al Singh, the shoemaker, whom he
ound browsing over his water pipe.
is 1t well?' said the newcomer, In
1T is we'll" answered Lal Singh.
lropping the ]mouthpiece OF his pipe.
had spoken mechanically. When
% saw who his visitor was his eyes
frightened. Ahmed"
'Hush!' with a gesture toward the
she Is out ~merrymaking. like the
est OF her kind. The old saying: II a
ian waits. the woman comes to him,
am alone. There is news?"
There is a journey. Across Hind to
The hour has arrived"
AT least the excuse. Give these to
In authority with the British raj
hose bread we eat" Ahmed slid
ross the table q very small scroll
The memsahib is my masters daugh.
r She must be spirited away to
ALL" Lal Singh rubbed his fat
'nds. so the time nears when we
all wiring the vulture's neck. AL, II
good! umballa, the toad. who swells
d swells as the days go by. SILVA L.
9 guarded him we'll. The king picks
out Of the gutter for a pretty bit
lmpudence, sends him afar TO I'm ho
liza, where he learns to speak Eng. wi
h. where he learns to wear shoes W.
1t button and stiff linen bands round ~,
} neck. He has gone on, gone on!
Q higher up, the harder the fall" sor
The cellar?" IT,
There are pistols and guns and w,
munition and strange little wires Oh
which make magic fires" u,
'Batteries?' w.
One never knows what may be w,
'ded. You have the key?" wa
Yes" We
Hare sahib's daughter. And Hare Pr,
twinkling eyes. m,
In some dungeon, mayhap. There sba
avenues seemed closed up" n
umballa needs money" said Lal s,a
gh, thoughtfully. but he will not =
It." In afterthought. ,,
~
At dawn"
hese two men were spiders In that cra
1t web Of secret service that the ru,,,
ish raj caves up and down and Dr.
'ss Hind, to Persia and Afghanis- sa,a
to the borders Of the Bear. Dr.,
ven as Lal Singh picked up his - !
thpiece again and Ahmed sailed w.,
b into the bazaars Umballa had "r
lght to him in the armory that az
pany of soldiers who had shown DIV
open mutiny. not against the "1
but against him. r.,
avely he questioned the captain. ~
'ay our wages, then. heaven born" n
the captain, with yelled insolence. ,or
us, for we have . not SO much w.,
,etel money since the last big cori
coui
u, help
~, 49, n",nius Their
the time came. .t,,
money; bright rupees, or, better savs
yellow British gold. Pay us!" amu,
ct us be frank with each other" ST
Umballa. smiling to cover the fire ,vr
eyes. -
-. "na' 11sne' lepnea wait
troopers. ha,,a
A.,., -. - .&' haL ...