Rocky Ford enterprise., 1916-03-17
CHAPTER xxIv-contInued.

But Ramabai knew only the bridge.
They would have to investigate and
explore the bank. Half an hours jour
ney-rather a difficult one-brought
them to still and shallow water. Here
they crossed and made camp beyond.
In a natural clearing. They erected
the small tent for Kathlyn. inside Of
which she changed her clothes. drank
her tea and lay down to sleep.
What does Ahmed think?" asked
Bruce anxiously.
That we are being followed by
some assassins hired by our friends
the priests"
Colonel. let us make straight for
the port and let this damnable bushel
Of trinkets stay where It is." urged
Bruce. the lover.
THAT is not possible now" replied
Ramabai. I'VE can now reach there
only by the seacoast Itself. or return
TO the desert and journey over the old
trail. We must go on
The colonel smoked his pipe mood
lily. He was pulled between necessity
and desire. He had come to Asia for
this filigree basket, and he wanted It,
with a passion which was almost
miserly. At one moment he silently
vowed to cast the whole thing into the
sea. and at the next his fingers would
twitch and he would sigh.
Sometimes It seemed to him that
there was some invisible force work
ing In him. drawing and drawing him
against the dictates Of his heart. He
had experienced this feeling back in
California. and had fought against 1t
for weeks. without avail. And frequent.
~ now. when alone and undisturbed.
he could see the old guru. shaking
with the venom of his wrath. the blood
dripping from his lacerated fingers,
which he shook in the coIonel's face.
hecking II with blood. A curse. 1t
was SO. He must obey that invisible
VIII: he must go on and on.
His pipe slipped from his fingers and
bis head fell upon his knees; and thus
hathlyn found him.
Let him sleep. memsahib." warned
Ahmed from across the fire. He has
been fighting the old guru"
WHAT" Kathlyn whispered back
-Where?'
Ahmed smiled grimly and pointed to-
ward his forehead.
rs there really such evil, Ahmed?"
Evil begets evil, heaven born, Just
as good begets good. The Colonel Sa-
hib did wHong. And who shall deny
some OF these gurus a supernatural
power? ! have seen: know"
But once you said that we should
eventually escape. all OF us"
And ] still say II. memsahib. What
is written is written" phlegmaticaily.
Yearly she turned toward her tent.
but paused to touch the head Of her
sleeping father as she passed. Her
occidental mind would not and could
not accept as possibilities these mys-
terious attributes of the oriental mind.
That a will could reach out and pre-
arrange q mans misfortunes was to
her mind incredible. for there were no
precedents. She never had witnessed
a genuine case of hypnotism: those ex.
amples she had seen were miserable
buftooneries, travesties. hoodwinking
not even tffs newsboys in the upper
gallery. THE. she had read OF such
things. but from the same angle with
which she had road the Arabian Nights
fairy stories.
Yet, bxre was her father. thoroughly
convinced of the efficacy of the gurus
cnrse: and here was Ahmed. compia-
Gently watching the effects. and not
dopbting in The least that his guru
would in tbs end prove the stronger
NJ the two,
One of .he elephants clanked his
nhains rsstlessly. He may have heard
the proSling of a cat. Far beyond the
Ore. beyond the sentinel, she thought
she saw a naked form fash out and
back of tree. She stared Intently at
tEe tree for a time; but as she saw
nothing more. she was convinced that
ber eyes had deceived her. Besides.
her body seemed dead and her mind
too heavy Tor thought
Umballa, having satisfied himself
that the camp would not break till
morning, skunk away into the shadows.
He had failed again; but his hate had
made him strong. He was naked ex-
cept for q loin clout. His beard and
hair were matted, the latter hanging
over his eyes. His body was smeared
with ashes. Not even Ahmed would
have recognized him a yard on. He
had something less than nine hours to
reach the cape before they did; and 1t
was necessary that he should have ac-
completes. The fishermen he knew to
be OF predatory habits. and the prom
Ise of gold would enmesh them.
The half island which constituted
the cape had the shape of a miniature
volcano. There was verdure at the
base OF its slope and trees lifted their
heads here and there hardly. 1t was
e mile long and half mile wide; and
in the early morning 1t stood out like a
huge sapphire against the rosy sky.
A.