Meade County news., 1915-02-04
CHAPTER XIV.
The Garden Of Brides.

The Garden Of Brides.
From the four ends of the princi
pality they came, the yelled candi
dates; from the North, the East, the
South, and West. They came II
marvellous palanQuins, in curtainet
howdahs, on camels, in splendid bull
lock carts. Many a rupee resolved
Itself into new-bought finery, upon the
vague chance of getting It back with
compound interest.
What was most unusual, they came
without pedigree or dowry, this being
Ramabsi's idea; though, in truth
Umballa objected at first to the lack
of dowry. He had expected to inherit
this dowry. He gave way to Rama.
bal because he did not care to have
Ramabai suspect what his inner
thoughts were. Let the fool Ramabai
pick out his chestnuts for him. I'm.
balla laughed in his voluminous sleeve
Some one of the matrimonially In
clined houris the colonel would have
to select; If he refused, then should
Ramabai do the selecting. More, he
would marry the fortunate women by
proxy. There was no possible loop
hole for the colonel
The populace was charmed, enchant-
ed, as 1t always is over a new excite.
ment Much as they individually de-
spised Umballa. collectively they ad-
mired his ingenuity in devising fresh
amusements. Extra feast days came
one after another. The oriental dis
likes work; and any one who could
invent means of avoiding it was
worthy Of gratitude. So, then, the
populace fell in with Umballa's scheme
agreeably, The bhang and betel and
toddy sellers did fine business dur
ing the festival of Rama.
There was merrymaking In the
streets, day and night. The temples
and mosques were filed to overflow
ing. Musicians with reeds and tom
toms paraded the bazaars. In nearly
every square the nautch girl danced,
or the juggler piled his trade, or there
was mongoose-cobra fight (the cobra,
of course, bereft of its fangs), and
fakirs grew mango trees out of moth
ing. There was a furry in the slave
mart, too.
The troops staggered about, over
bearing. They were soon to get their
pay. The gold and silver were rot
ting in the treasury. Why leave 1t
thora cinoa GOLD ond ciIyar ,ro,o ...t.-I
ed to be spent?
There were elephant fights in the
reconstructed arena; tigers attacked
wild boars, who fought with enormous,
razorlike tusks, as swift and deadly as
any Malay kris. The half forgotten
ceremony of feeding the wild pig be-
fore sundown each day was given life
again. And drove after drove came
in from the jungles for the grain,
which was distributed from a plat
form. And wild peacocks followed the.
pigs. A wonderful sight 1t was to see
several thousand pigs come trotting
in, each drove headed by it's fighting
boar. When the old fellows met there
was carnage; squealing and grunting,
they fought. The peacocks shrilled
and hoped from back to back for such
grain as fell upon the bristly backs of
the pigs. Here and there a white pea
cock would be shared, or a boar whose
tusks promised battle royal with
some leopard or tiger.
And through all this turmoil and
clamor Ahmed and Lal Singh moved
sounding the true sentiments of the
people. They did not want white
kings or white queens; they desired to
be ruled by their kind, who would not
start innovations. but would let af-
fairs drift on as they had done for
centuries.
Nor was Bruce inactive. Many
time Umballa had stood within an
arms length of death; but always
Bruce had resisted the impulse. It
would be rank folly to upset Ramabais
plans, which were to culminate in
Umballa's overthrow.
But upon certain hour Ramabai
came to Bruce, much alarmed During
hAo oUoShSo Win 1uuulId at some
palace affair his home had been en-.
tered, ransacked. and 10000 rupees
had been stolen. His real fortune,
however, was hidden securely. The
real trouble was that these 10000 ru-
pees would practically undo much of
what had been accomplished. He was
certain that Umballa had instigated
this theft, and that the money would
be doled out to the soldiers. For upon
their dissatisfaction rested his future.
Take Bala Khan at his word" sug-
gested Bruce, land ask him for his
5000 hillmen."
Ramabai smiled. And have Bala
Khan constitute himself the king Of