Montpelier examiner. [volume] (Montpelier, Idaho) 1895-1937, 1920-05-14
cHAPTER nv.

EACHGCU9 gS&6Us
How did you get here?" demanded
the magnate.
FThe ways Of my people are not the
ways Of yours, sahib. Did you not
give me permission to come? And who
am 1 that / should presume to disobey
you-or the godsT"
"The gods?"
"Vishnu and Siva," salaamed the
Hindu. '"They, too. are here. Has the
sahib never read the lines Of n OF
his WI people?
Far or forgot to me Is near;
Shadow n sunlight are the same;
The vanished gods to me appear,
And mi to me are shame and fame
"But It's Incredible" returned the
mine owner. II rode my horse almost
to death-and there were times when
! had all ! could do to get through"
He gazed, more and more mysti6ed,
at the gaunt figure who seemed to have
forgotten fatigue or hunger at the
mere sight of him. Jitendra was naked
to his loins, which were girded with q
cloth almost the same hue as his body.
His legs and feet were bare, and
save for a thick something swathed
about his neck and his sn0w-white tur-
ban, he was otherwise nude. 1t was
inexplicable-and the incongruity Of
the poetry which the Hindu had quot
ed, together with his devotion, added
to the Americans p~erpIexity.
Then his eyes fell upon the feet of
the little brown man.
He was conscious of a swift, re-
morseful throb. The feet were bare
bruised, cut, swollen, bleeding-the
feet of a man who has plodded across
the iinty surface of the open country.
who has u~nhesitatingly kept on through
c%haparral. woods, streams-the feet OF
a man unused to unremitting pursuit.
Buck Williams gulped-there was a
lump in his throat.
"You have followed me all Of these
nine days-afootT' he sternly de.
manded.
"Yes, sahib Buck" replied the ORR
entail. II pray the sahib not to turn
away his face from that Of his serv-
ant"
"But / did not see you once"
II remembered the sahib's threat of
punishment" meekly returned Jiten-
dra.
but why-of course it's absurd
even to think Of it-but why in the
devil didn't you work the occult STUFF,
-Jitendra-that is, if you could7 I'm
sorry to have caused you all this trou-
BILE and worry. If you could send
your astral body on ahead and then
follow it-well, I wouldn't have cared.
Why didn't you do that72"
"Sahib, It is not permitted to In
woke the powers of the gods when our
own efforts will avail. Only when no
other are at hand for deliver
ance may | call upon Vishnu and
Siva.n
There was nothing to be gained by
discussion, Williams decided. Yet he
could not imagine in what ann the
Oriental had anticipated his own ar
rival.
"You were ahead OF met" he asked.
Jitendra bowed.
How did you know this was 81
Tigre7 There are many other mines
around these hills"
The Hindu silently stretched his
hand, pointing to the huge sign on the
company store above them. The mine
owner laughed.
ut was q foolish question, wasn't It'll
I guess I'm almost too tired to think
straight. Well, we'd better be getting
up to camp" continued Williams.
He dIsmounted stlfiy from the horse,
and the other dropped lightly to the
road, meekly following in the rear.
I'm a man Of my word, Jitendra and
while l can't promise that you'll ever
live long enough to resume your jour
ney at ri Paso, I'll be glad of your
company until Scotty and the other
boys arrive from Culiacan. If you get
In bad, remember. I gave you the
straight dope on this proposition. and
don't blame me-"
A careful search OF the premises dis
closed no pseudo-insurrectos in am
bush.
Williams. much relieved, permitted
Jitendra to aid in carrying a supply of
canned food to his W house, q stout
adobe building somewhat higher than
the others, with its back against the
hill. Bis horse vas picketed along
side. where the thick grass carpeted
the slope, and q brook beyond obyiated
the necessity OF fetching water up the
steep ascent from the bed of the creek
far below.
Captured by bandits led