Rocky Ford enterprise., 1915-10-22

ly over the shoulder OF trooper
wait" she said. Il wish you to
understand the enormity Of your
crime"
"Crime?" with elevated eyebrows.
Yes. You have abducted me-"
mo. You came of your own free
will"
THE white men of my race will not
pause to argue over any such subtlety.
Marry you? l do not like your color"
A dull red settled under Umballa's
skin.
Il merely wish to warn you" she
went on, that my blood will be upon ,
your head. And woe to you II 1t Is.
There are white men who Will not
| await the coming of the British raj.
"Ah, yes: some brave, hardy Ameri-
can; Bruce Sahib, for instance. Alas.
he is in the straits settlements! Seven
days"
Il am not afraid to die"
But there are many kinds Of DEATH
and with this sinister reflection he
stepped aside.
| The multitude, seeing Kathlyn COM
ing down from the dais. still surround
ed by her Gordon of troopers, began
reluctantly to disperse. Bread and
the circus,"-the mobs will cry 1t
down the ages: they will always pause
to witness bloodshed, from safe dis
tance, you may be sure. There was
deal Of rioting in the bazaars that
night, and many measure of bhang
and toddy kept the fires burning. ORR
entail politics is like the winds of the
equinox: 1t blows from all directions.
The natives were taxed upon every
| conceivable subject, not dissimilar to
the old days in Urdu. where man
paid so much for the privilege OF
| squeezing the man under him. Mutiny
was afoot, rebellion but 1t had not yet
found a head. The natives wanted
change, something to gossip about dur
ing the hot. lazy afternoons. over their
hookahs and coffee. TO them reform
meant change only, not the alienation
of some of their heavy burdens. The
talk of freeing slaves was but talk;
slaves were lucrative Investments;
man would be fool to free them. An
old man, with skin white like this
new queens and hair like spun wool,
dressed in a long black cloak and
broad-brimmed hat, had started the
agitation of liberating the slaves. More
than that, he carried no idol of his
God, never bathed in the CHATS. or
took flowers to the temples. and seemed
always silently communing with the
simple iron cross suspended from his
neck. But he had died during the last
visitation of the plague.
They had weared OF their tolerant
king. who had died mysteriously; they
| a aatl nd
UmbaIla; in other words. they knew
not what they wanted, being People.
Who was this fair-skinned woman
who stood so straight before umbal-
las eye? Whence had she come? To
be ruled by a woman who appeared to
be tongue tied! Well. there were worse
things than a woman who could not
talk. Thus they gabbled in the ba-
zaars. round braziers and dung fires.
And some talked OF the murder The
proud Ramabai had been hailed to
prison: his bankers gold had not
saved him. o. this street rat Umballa
generally got what he wanted. Ra-
mabai's wife was one Of the beauties
of Hind.
Through the narrow. evil smelling
streets of the baZaars man hurried
that night. glancing behind frequently
TO see If by any mischance some one
followed. He stopped at the house Of
I.al Singh. the shoemaker whom he
. found browsing over his water pipe.
rs IL well?" said the newcomer. in
toning.
1T is .weIl,' answered Lal Singh.
, dropping the mouthpiece OF his pipe.
lie had spoken mechanically. When
he saw who his visitor was his eyes
, frightened. Ahmed"
'Hush," with a gesture toward the
ceiling.
She is out merrymaking. like the
rest of her kind The old saying: II a
man waits, the woman comes to him.
am alone. There is news?"
There is a journey. Across Hind to
Simla'
THE hour has arrived"
AT least the excuse. Give these to
one in authority with the British raj,
: whose bread we eat" Ahmed slid
across the table a very small scroll.
The memsahib is my masters daugh.
ter She must be spirited away to
safety"
"Ah!" Lal Singh rubbed his fat
hands. so the time nears when we
shall wiring the vultures neck. Al. 1t
is good! Umballa, the toad. who swells
and swells as the days go by. SILVA
has guarded him well. The king picks
|, him out of the gutter for pretty bit
Of impudence. sends him afar to Um-
balla, where he learns to speak Eng
lish, where he learns to wear shoes
, that button and stif linen bands round
the neck. He has gone on. gone on!
The higher up. the harder the fall"