Morris tribune., 1915-07-09

applied for work He declared that, he
had had no food for several days and
begged as an especial favor that he be
permitted to work for; d. little rice or
meal, He was turned away. by the,
servants. but persisted in seeing the.
occupant of the premises In this be
succeeded. and Kadur gave him tenn
porary job to watch the cow with the
others. The stranger on seeing the
COW made: kotow, putting his face
on the floor. for the COW is sacred
animalin India. This act>of reverence
wen Kadur's confidence. and he gave
the stranger a permanent position as
cow guard. - ~&.-' IL t:S.@
One day man reing near the prern4
fses went to Agya's father and told
him that q few weeks before he ahaoe
started on q journey at 2 o'clock in the
morning and had seen the dead body
Of a cow removed from the priests
premises and a live COW insta He'd IN its
place. This settled -Agya's fate.- and
her father made arrangements with
some persons engaged In the business
Of strangling unmarried girls to put his
daughter where she would cost him no
more money. - ;s.@<.. &,
Agya; who saw the men go into the
house to confer with her father and
suspected the purport of the confer
ence. listened to Il in concealment and
heard her father agree to take her into
a wood near by and deliver her to her
Th~ oSAT1
this deed was one week from chat day.
Now. it was Rustum who had beg
ged Kadur for work and become ,oneof
the guards Of the COW, Agya did not
tell her father that she and her lover
had laid a plan to secure her inherit,
for the priesthood that this would de-
feat the plan. Rustum could not solve
the problem by marrying her. for: he
had not rupee in the world.
Rustum in applying to Kadur for
work hoped that he might be given
the duty of watching the cow and In
tended looking out for an opportunity
to expose the fact that she was not
the original cow that as calf had
become the embodiment of the spirit
of Nfrmaps son and the heir to; the
fortune that was to pass at his death
to Agya. If he could not expose the
fraud possibly he might kill the cow
But this would be difficult since NO
one person was trusted with her care
and any such attempt on his part
would be foiled by, the other care
takers. : ,-
When Agya heard that she was to
be strangled that day week she knew
It behoo7ed her to be up and doing
She contriTed to get word to R1stum
Of the situation that: be might make
haste IN the sacrifice of the COW that
she might be saved. Rustum deter
mined to put his scheme in operation
| at once. =: :.
There Is no dearth of poisons in
India, and Rustum would have no
| difficulty in mixing one Of them in the
cows fodder. The trouble was to get
Witnesses Of the animaPs death In
deed. this could only be done by cor.
rupting the guard, for Rustum realized
that when she died Kadur would pay
those who were cognizant Of her death
to keep it q secret, II Rustum en-
deavored to forestan him by. corrupt
ing them himself fn case he was be-
trayed by: any Of them he would be
sent away and the girl he loved would
be strangled. kustum decided not to
! attempt to brfbe any one: the risk was
too great <'s@><, ,.:..~ -. -.
One dark morning before daylight
Rustum arose and, partly dressed, stole
out into the yard and; taking some COM
bustibles from under a pile Of rubbish
where he had concealed them. placed
them against the corner Of the house
| where the COW was kept and set fire
to them: When the flames were: well
started he raised cry Of fire and began
to break" down the door of the manger,
ostensibly to rescue the cow. He had
the day before weakened the door, and
it gave way under his blows just be-
fore persons appeared on cthe scene.
Rustum. rushing into the smanger. took
little syringe from his clothing and
thrusting 1t into the COW; squfrted the
contents under her; skin. Then. unloos.
enfng her. he led her out into the yard
By this time the guards who were on
duty only by day appeared and persons
In the neighboring houses began to
throng in to help put out the fire K IA.
dur came down half dressed and. see.
ing that the COW had been saved, nut
tered thanks to V1shnu and promised
Rustu1n, who he was told. had saved
her. a large rewaFd.o But suddenly
while he was. rejoicing4at her safety
she began to sstaggep and In another
moment fell dead In presence Of the
assembled crowd :-:-< =: " G:ss
AS soon ais Agyas father heard OF
the death fof the animal that sf6od be
tween his daughter and her fortune he
instituted proceedings in the courts to
give her %possession@Of 1t ard: there be
ing many witnesses OF the. cows death
had no> trouble,in getting iteout Of the
hands ofvthe administrators When This
! had been accom- piished instR;.d of Jurn
II fY1Sp }h<ar