Rocky Ford enterprise., 1916-01-07
CHAPTER XIV.
Tho Garden Of Brides.

.H CHAPTER XIV.
Tho 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 in
marvellous palanquins. In curtained
howdahs. on camels. in splendid bull
lock carts. Many rupee resolved
itself into new-bought fnery. upon the
vague chance of getting 1t back with
compound interest
What was most unusual, they came
without pedigree or dowry. this being
Ramabai'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. Um-
balla laughed in his voluminous sleeve
Some one of the matrimonially In
clined houris the colonel would have
to select; II 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 It always Is over a new excite
ment. Much as they individually de-
spised rmballa. collectively they ad-
mired his ingenuity in devising fresh
amusements. Extra feast days came
one after another. The oriental dis
l u.,L NH, ~nst1A
invent means OF avoiding 1t 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 filled to overflow
ing. Musicians with reeds and tom
toms paraded the bazaars. In nearly
every square the nantch girl danced.
or the juggler piled his trade. or there
was a 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.
/
bearing. They were soon to get their
pay. The gold and silver were rot,
ting in the treasury. Why leave II
there. since gold and silver were mint,
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 its 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 a 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 a
time Umballa had stood within an
arms length of death. but always
Bruce had resisted the impulse. 1t
would be rank folly to upset Ramabai's
plans, which were to eliminate In
Umballa's overthrow.
But upon certain honr Ramabai
came to Bruce, much alarmed. During
his absence with Pundita 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, and ask him for his
5000 hillmen."
Ramabai smiled. And have Bala
Khan constitute himself the king OF