The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1914-07-10
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By HAROLD MAC GRATH

mated by the British raj. some art
only protected. while others do abou'
as they please. This state"-touch
ing the order--"does about as 1t die
since the days OF the first white rovel
who touched the shores OF Hind. 1t Ii
, small. but that signifies nothing: FOL
you can brew q mighty poison In .
|, small pot. Well, l happened to save
the old kings life"
Il knew 1t would be something like
that" said Kathlyn. go on Tell II
all"
The colonel had our to his pipe
again. He smoked on till the coal was
dead. The girls waited patiently;
They knew that his silence meant thai
he was only marshaling tho events In
their chronological order.
The king was a kindly old chap,
simple. yet shrewd. and with that
s%lumbrous oriental way Of accom-
plishing his ends. despite all obstacles,
Underneath this apparent simplicity
| discovered a grim, sardonic hnmor,
Trust the oriental for always having
that packed away under his bewiider.
Ing diplomacy. He was all alone In
the world. He was n OF those rare
eastern potentates who wasn't ham.
pered by parasitical relatives. BY
George, the old boy could have given
his kingdom. lock. stock and barrel,
10 the British government, and NJ one
could say him nay, There was a good
deal Of rumor tho last time | was there
that when he died England would step
in actually. The old boy gave me
leave to come and go az ! pleased, to
hunt where and how / would. I had a
mighty fine collection, There are
tigers and ~leopards and bears and fat
old pythons, 40 foot long. OF course,
1t isn't the tiger country that central
India Ia. but the brutes you find are
bigger. | have about 60 beasts there
now. and that's mainly why I'm going
back. Want to clean 1t up and ship
EN- to Hamburg. where rye a large
standing order, I'm going first to Cey-
lon, for some elephants"
The colonel knocked the ash from
his pipe,
The old boy used to DO some trap
ping himself, and whenever he'd
| catch a fine specIman he'd turn 1t over
to me. He had a hunting lodge not
far from my quarters. One day All
- A.,. - WIN uptih {. n,anu ,uu,
Ing that the king commanded my pres
ence at the lodge, where his slaves
had trapped a fine leopard. Yes. my
dears, slaves. There Is even a slave
mart at the capital this day. A bar
barrie fairy land, with its good genli
and its bad djinns.'
"The Arabian Nights" murmured
Winnie, smuggling close to Kathlyn.
The oriental loves pomp." went on
the colonel. "He cant give you a
chupatti--'
What's that?' asked Winnie.
Something like bareback. Well, he
can't give you that without ceremonial.
When ! arrived at the lodge with All.
med the old boy--he had the complex
lon Of q pima donna--the old boy sat
on his portable throne, glittering with
orders. Standing beside him was a
chap we called UmballG He had been
a street rat. A bit of impudence had
caught the kings fancy, and he
brought up the boy. clothed, fed him.
and sent him away down to Umballa
to school. When the boy returned he
talked Umballa morning, noon. and
night, till the soldiers began to call
him that, and from them It passed on
to the natives, all Of whom dlsliked the
upstart. Hanged II l can recall his
real name. He was ugly and hand.
some at the same time: suave. pa
tient, courteous: yet somehow or other
I sensed the real man below--the Tar
tar blood. took q dislike to him.
first on. It's the animal sense. You've
got 1t. Kit. Behind the king sat the
Council Of Three--three wise old ducks
I wouldn't trust with an old UNI.
brella."
WINNIE iAus
while we were salaamIng and
ge~nufiecting and using grandiloQuent
phrases the bally leopard got loose.
somehow. Maybe some one let him
loose: l don't know. Anyhow. he
made for the king, who was too thun-
derstruck to dodge. The rest Of 'em
took to their heels, You may lay odds
on that. Now, ! had an honest liking
for the king. Seeing the brute make
for him, | dashed forward, You see.
at c%eremonials you're not permitted
to carry arms. 1t had to be with my
hands, The leopard knocked the old
boy fiat and began to maui him,
kicked the brute In the face, swept
the kings turban on his head and
flung II about the head OF the leopard.
Somehow or other I got him down,
Some Of the frightened natives came
up, and with the help of Ahmed we
got the brute tied up securely. When
the king came around he silently shook
hands with me and smiled peculiarly
at Umballa, who o came running
up"
"And that's how You got those poor
hands!" exclaimed Kathlyn. kissing
the a which stood out white
against the tan.
That's how" raising the hands and
putting them on Kathlyn's head In 4
kind OF benediction.
rs that all?' asked Winnie, breath
lessly.
isn't thar enoughf' no ~retorted.
Well. what Is II, Martha! Dinners
N hav0n't chAated yOu rfrls |