The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-05-15
tcOpyr4xat. 1914. BY Harold Mao arataAl
CHAPTER XVII

longer doubted his star: Gutter born, was he?
A rat from the streets? Very well; there were
rats and rats, and some bit so deep that people
died of it. He sometimes doubted the ACCESSIBILITY Of per-
hitting Colonel Hare's headman Ahmed to roam about:
the rascal might in the end prove too sharp. Still it was
not a bad idea to let Ahmed believe that he walked in
security. All Umballah wanted was the colonel, Kath-
Ign, and the young hunter, Bruce. 1t would be Ahmed,
grown careless, who would eventually lead him or his
spies to the hiding place. ....
That the trio were in the city Umballah did not doubt
In the least, nr that they were already seheming to lib
crate the younger sister. All his enemies where he could
put his hand on theml
Cheerful was the word.
The crust of civilization was thin; the true savage
was cracking out through it. In the days of the Mutiny
Umballah would have been the Mana Sahibs right hand.
de would have given the tragedy at Cawnpors an extra
Iouch.
Ten thousand rupees did not go far among soldiers
whose arrears called for ten times that sum. So he
placed it where it promised to do the most good. 1t was
a capital idea this of cutting Rsmabai's throat with his
own money. The lawless element among the troops was
his, Umballah's; at least his long enough for the purpose
he had in mind.
When the multitude round the platform dissolved and
Winnie was led to her chamber in the Senana, UmbalIah
treated himself to a beverage known as the kings peg-a
trihe composed Of brandy and champagne. That he drank
TO stupefaction was Gods method of protecting that
night an innocent cnllQ-1Or WINNIE was NOT much more
than that.
Alone, dazed and terrified, she dropped down upon the
cushions and cried herself to sleep-exactly as Kathlyn
had done. In the morning she awoke to find tea and
food. She had heard no one enter or leave. CHANGING
suriously round her prison Of marble and jasper and
~porphyry, she discovered q slip of white paper protrud-
ing through a square in the lattced window which opened
sut toward the garden of brides.
Hope reused her into activity. She ran TO the window
nnd anafched4 the ANA q apePIy. II was from KathIUn
darling Kit. The risk with which it had been placed in
the laticed window never occurred to Winnie.
The note informed her that the woman doctor of the
enana had been sufficiently bribed to permit Kathlyn to
make up like her and gain admittance to the zenana.
Winnie must complain of illness and ask for the doctor,
but ROT before the morning Of the following day. So far
as she, Kathlyn, could learn, Winnie would be left in
peace till the festival of the car of Juggernaut. Ill, she
would not be forced to attend the ceremonies, the palace
would be practically deserted and then kathlyn would
appear.
This news plucked up Winnie's spirits considerably.
Surely her father and Kit were brave and cunning
enough to circumvent Umballah. What a frightful coun-
try! What a dreadful people |! She was miserable over
the tortures her father had suffered, but nevertheless she
held him culpable for not telling both her and Kit all
and not half the truth. A basket Of gemsl She and Kit
did not wish to be rich, only free and happy. And now
her own folly in coming would but add to the miseries Of
her loved ones.
Ahmed had told her OF the two ordeals, the black dun-
geon, the whipping; he had done 80 to convince her that
she must be externally on her guard, search carefully into
any proposition laid before her, and play for time, time,
Cor every minute she won meant a minute nearer her ulti-
mate freedom. She must promise TO marry Umballah. but
to set her own date.
Unlike Kathlyn, who had Pundita to ~untangle the in
tricacies Of the bastard Persian, Winnie had to depend
wholly. upon sign language and the inmates Of the zenana
did not give hsr tho respect and attention thsE had faysn