The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-02-25

"Who is this woman?" he demanded.
"Highness, she is the white queen of Alfalfa, but who
may say that she Is hereT' with a smile as evil as his
masters.
But how came she here?'
"The horseman briefly recounted the events as ne had
seen them in the capital of Alfalfa.
Who are you, maiden % the Knmor asked in English.
for, like all potentates, little or great, in India, he spoke
English. 1t presented the delectable pastime Of CON.
spring in two languages; for. from Bombay to Calcutta,
from Peshawar to Madras, India seethes. conspires, and
takes an occasional pot shot at some poor devil of a COM
missioner whose only desire is to have them combine
religion and sanitation.
81 am an American. Please take me TO the English
commissioner" Somehow instinct told her that she
might not expect succor from this man with the pearls
about his gross neck.
"A regret that his excellency the commissioner has
gone to Bombay. Besides, 1 do not know tnat you tell
the truth. Still, l can offer you what pearls and emer.
aids you may find to your liking"
Your %highness, there are those whose coming shortly
will cause you much annoyance if you refuse to give me
proper aid. There is no possible way for you to cover up
my appearance here. Send me to the commissioners
bungalow, where 1 may await the coming Of my friends"
"~Indeed!' The Kumor saw nere a conflict not alto
gethcr to his liking. He was lazy, and there was the
dpmnable, unrelenting hand Of the British Raj looming
in the distance. He shrugged. "Achmet, call the cap
tain of the guard and have him convey this runaway
queen to Alfalfa. Surely, I may not NEEDLE with the
affairs Of a friendly state" With n wave of his fat, be,
jeweled hand he appeared to dismiss the matter from his
mind.
Outside the palace courtyard stood Rajah, the howdah
securely attached once more. kathryn was hidden to
mount. A water bottle and some cakes were placed in
the howdah beside her. Then a drunken mahout
mounted behind Rajah's ears. The elephant did not
like the feel Of the mans legs, and he began to sway omi-
nously. Nevertheless, he permitted the mahout to direct
him to one of the city gates, the soldiers trooping along
side.
1t appeared that there was a much shorter route to
Alfalfa. Time being essential, Bruce had had to make
for the frontier blindly, as it were. The regular nigh
way was a moderately decent road which led along the
banks of one Of those streams which eventually join
the sacred Jumna. This, Of course, was also sacred.
Many Hindus were bathing in the CHATS. They passed
by these and presently came upon a funeral pyre.
Sometimes one sleeps with ones eye open, and thus IT
was with Kathlyn. Out Of that funeral pyre her fever.
ISL thoughts builded a frightful dream. .
The drunken mahout slid off Rajah; the soldiers turned
aside. Hired female mourners were kneeling about, wall.
ing and beating their breasts, while behind them stood
the high caste widow, her face as tragic as Dido's at the
pyre Of Eneas. Suddenly she threw her arms high
above her head.
81 am ~sutteeg"
Suttee! 1t wa against the law Of the British Raj.
The soldiers began arguing with the widow, but only half
~neartedly. 1t was a pious rite, worthy of the high caste
Hindu's wife. Better death on the pyre than a future
like that of a pariah dog. For a wife who preferred to
liVe after her husband was gone was a social outcast,
permitted not to wed again, to exist only as a drudge a
mental, the scum and contempt: Of all who had known
her in her days of prosperity.
The widow, having drunk from a cup which con.
tanned opium, climbed to the top Of the pyre where her
husband lay, swahed in white. She gazed about wildly,
and her courage and resolve took wings. She stumbled
down. A low Kissing ran about.
MAKE the white woman suffice in her placer cried
the drunken mahout ..:...4 .....
The cry was taken up by the spectators. Kathlyn felt
herself dragged from the elephant, bound, and finally laid
beside the swathed figure. There could be no horror in
the wide world like 1t. Smoke began 10 curl up from the
underbrush. 1t choked and stifed her. Sparks rose
and dropped upon her arms and face. And through
this smoke and flame came Rajah. He lifted her with
his powerful trunk and carried her off, for hours and
hours, back into the trackless jungle. it, ~
Kathlyn found herself. all at once, sitting against the
roots Of an aged banyan tree. A few yards away. an ape
sat on his launches and eyed her curiously. A little
farther off Rajah browsed in a clump Of weeds, the
howdaa at a rakish angle. like the cooked hat Of a bully.
kathlyn stared at her hands. There, were no burns
there; she passed "a hand over her face; there was no
smart or sting. A dream; she had dreamed it; a fantasy
due to her light headed state Of mind. A dreaml She
cried and laughed, and the ape gibbered at her uneayily.
In reality, Rajah, freed OF his unwelcome mahout, had
legged it down. the road without so much as trumpeting
his farewell, and the soldiers mad not been able to
stop him. ..~ t.. "@ ':
How she had managed to get down would always re-
main a mystery to her. Food and water, food aud
water; in her present state she must have both or jie.
Let them send her back to Alfalfa; she was beaten; she
was without the viii to resist further. ALI she wanted
was food and water and sleep, sleep. After that they
do what they pleased with ner.
For the FIRST time since the extraordinary Eight from
Alfalfa Kathlyn recollected the elephant talk 7" which
Ahmed had taught her. She rose YEARLY and walked
toward Rajah, who cooked his ears at the sound Of her
She talked to him for a space In monotone.
held out her bands; the dry, raspy trunk curled out
fnem. Rajah was evidently willing to meet hen,
half way. She ordered him to kneeI. Without even
pausing to think it over Rajah bent his caloused knees,
and gratefully Kathlyn crawled back into the howdah.
Food and water; these appeared at hand as il by magic.
So she ate and drank. If she could hold Rajah to a walk
the howdah would last at least till she came to some
Later, in the moonshine, she espied the ruined portfco
of q temple.