Rocky Ford enterprise., 1916-03-03
CHAPTER xxII-contInued.

It'll an hour gone 1t had not oc-
CURED to me. Shall Ramabai. then.
become your master, to set forth the
propaganda of the infidelf
-No!" The word was not spoken
ioudly. but sibilanuy. with something
resembling hiss. mol"
-And shall king who has no mind.
NO will, no strength, resume his au-
thority! Perhaps to bring more white
people into Allaha, perhaps to give Al
Aaha eventually to the British ra1r
Again the negative.
sbut the method7"
umballa smiled. What brings the
w6shiper here with candles and iow-
ers and incensef Is It love or rev.
erence or superstition?"
The bald yellow heads nodded like
porcelain mandarins.
Superstition" went on Umballa.
"the sword which bends the knees Of
the layman, has and always will
through the ages!"
In the vault outside a bell tinkled.
gong doomed melodiously.
when I give the sign." continued
the schemer, declare the curse upon
all those who do not bend. A word
from your lips. and Ramabai's troops
vanish, reform, and become yours and
minei"
Will. die king lives?" asked the
chief priest curiously.
"Ahl" And Umballa smiled again.
But you, Durga Ramf"
There is Ramabai. . senile king,
and i. Which for your purposes will
you choose?"
There was q conference. The
priests drifted away from Umballa-
He did not stir. His mien was proud
and naughty, but for all that his knees
shook and his heart Numbered. He
understood that It was to be all or
nothing. no middle course. no half
methods. He waited. wetting his
cracked lips and swollen lips. When
the priests returned to him. their
heads bent before him little. 1t
represented a salaam. as much as
they had ever given to the king him
self. A glow ran over Umballa.
'.Highness. we agree. There will be
terms"
81 will agree to them without ques-
tion."
Aife and power again: real power!
These loddering fools should serve
him. thinking the while that they
served themselves.
Half the treasury must be paid
to the temple
Agreed Half for the temple and
half for himself; and the abolishment
Of the seven leorards. With this
stipulation: Ramabai La yours. but the
white people are to be mine"
The priests signified assent.
And Umballa smiled in secret Ra
mabai would be dead on the morrow
There remains the king" said the
chief priest.
Umballa shrugged.
The chief priest stared soberly al
the lamp above his head. The king
would be. then. Umballa's affair.
He is ill?"
He is moribund E. Silence'
warned Umballa-
The curtains became violently agi
tated They heard the voice OF thu
young priest outside raised in protest
to be answered by the shrill tones o
woman.
You are mad!"
And thou art stupid fooli"
UmbalIa's hand fell away from hi
dagger.
'1t is a woman" he said. "Admi
her.
The curtains were thrust aside. an,
the painted dancing girl who ha,
saved Umballa from death or captur
in the fire of his own contriving rushe
in. Her black hair was studded will
~.
cleaned like gold around her mech
and on her arms and ankles a pleni
tude of silver bracelets and ankleti
With her back to the curtains. tn
young priest staring curiously owe
her shoulders, she presented a pic
turesque tableau.
"Well?'' said Umballa, who undel
stood that she was here from no idl
whim.
"Highness. you must hide with m
this night"
'Tndeed?"
"Or die" coolly.
Umballa sprang forward and seize
her roughly.
What has happened?"
"I was in the zenana, highness. vi,
iting my sister. whom you had tram
ferred from the palace. All at ono
We heard shouting and trampling c
feet, an n moment later your hous
was overrun with men. They ha
found the king in the hut and ha
taken him to the palace. That the
did not find you is because you cam
here"
Tell mo all
1T seems that the netordomo CAV
the poison to Ramabai. but tho whit
GODDESS -