Rocky Ford enterprise., 1915-12-24
CHAPTER discontinued.


CHAPTER xi-contInued.
Lowly and quickly Pundita transIa-
ted for Kathlyn SO that she might miss
none of the conversation.
The Colonel Sahib looks worn.-
Il am"
Now. in my travels have been to
Bombay. and there I dressed like you
white people. have the complete
dress. Perhaps the Colonel Sahib
would be pleased to see II he can wear
It? And also the use of my barber?"
"Bala Khan." cried the colonel, you
are prince indeed! 1t will tonic me
like medicine. Thanks. thanks!"
1T is we'll"
You have a wonderful elephant out
there in the compound" said Bruce.
who had remained silent listener to
all that had gone before.
"Ah! That is a curiosity. He is wor-
SHIPPED by Hindus and reverenced by
my own people. l am his official Gus
todian. There is a saying among the
people that Ill will befall me should l
lose. sell or permit him to be stolen"
And many have offered to buy?'
inquired the colonel
Many"
y When the colonel appeared at sup
per, simple but substantial, he was a
new man. He stood up straight,
though his back still smarted from the
lash. kathlyn was delighted at the
change.
ha ff,p
was drunk. the khan conducted his
guests to his armory. of which he was
very proud. Guns Of all descriptions
lined the walls. Some OF them Bruce
would have liked to own, to decorate
the walls of his own armory, thou
sands of miles away.
The colonel whispered a forgotten
prayer as. later. he laid down his
weary aching limbs upon the rope bed.
Almost Immediately he sank into slum-
Der as deep and silent as the sea
Kathlyn and Bruce. however. went
up to the hanging gardens and re-
mained there till nine. marveling over
the beauty Of the night. The Pathan
city lay under their gaze. with a like
ness to one of those magic cities one
bad the Sailor. But they spoke no
word of love. When alone with this
remarkable young woman. Bruce found
himself invariably tongue-tied.
At the same hour. less than fifty
miles away. Umballa stood before the
opening OF his elaborate tent, erected
at sundown by the rivers brink, and
scowled at the moon. He saw no
beauty in the translucent sky. in the
silvery paleness OF the world below.
He wanted revenge, and the word
Kissed in his brain as a viper Kisses
in the dark Of Its cave.
Dung fires twinkled and soldiers
lounged about them, smoking and gos-
siping. They had been given an earn.
est against their long delinquent
wages. and they were in a happy frame
of mind. Their dead comrades were
dead and mourning was for widows: for
them would be the pleasures OF swift
reprisals. The fugitives had gone to-
ward the desert, and in that bleak
stretch of treeless land 1t would not be
difficult to find them. once they started
In pursuit.
Midnight.
In the compound the moonlight lay
upon everything; upon the fat sides
and back Of the sacred white ele-
phant, upon the three low caste keep
ers, now free Of the vigilant eye Of
their Brahmin chief. The gates were
barred and closed: all inside the house
Of Bala Khan were asleep. Far away
a sentry dozed on his rifle, on the
wall. The three keepers whispered
and chuckled among themselves.
Who will know?" said one.
The moon will not speak," said an
other.
Then let us go and smoke"
Fhe three approached the elephant.
|, bit of gymnastics and one of them
>>as boosted to the back of the ele-
phant, to whom this episode was more
or less familiar. Another followed:
the third was pulled up, and from the
elephants back they made the top of
the wall and disappeared down into
tfs street. Here they paused cautious
ll5Sfor two guards always patroled the
frSnt of the compound during the
night. Presently the three truants stole
a~ar toward the hazaars. which in this