The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1939-01-12

tIontlnueu from rage One)
the Baptist's flute. rs he squatted
at the gate welcoming the cool Of
the evening.
John the Baptist sat there now
under the vast greedy banyar
which each year sent down
branches that bit into the earth
struck root and claimed another
square yard or two of garden.
John the Baptists simple mel
ody was an improvisation which
went on endlessly, and to Ran
some's western ear II was always
the same.
John had no girl, or if he had
one he saw her in secret dubious
ways. His whole life was his mas
ter's life-his masters tea when
he wakened, his masters break
fast, luncheon and dinner, his mas
ter's shirts and socks, his jodhpurs
and his shorts, his brandy and his
cigars.
The Native Sources
OF News
His proper name was Jean Ba-
tiste. but to Ransome he was al
ways John the Baptist.
In the fading light, surround
ing John. squatted three or four
| OF his friends, one Of whom accom-
/ panied him with malarial listless-
ness by humping a drum. They
were ALL like himself gentlemen's
boys probably the colonels and
Mr.. Bannerjees and Major Safu's
and one or two perhaps from the
mahara jah's guest house. 1t was
very difficult to tell one from the
other.
They knew everything which
happened in Ranchipur. Not one
of them could really read and none
of them ever dreamed of looking
at newspaper, but they knew
everything, not only about things
like wars and earthquakes ano
calamities which happened in re-
mote parts of the world, hui
thefts, adulterics, betrayals and {
great deal more in Ranchipul
which never reached the papers IL
Bombay or Delhi or Calcutta o
even the ears of those whom the,
served.
John the Baptist had been will
him ever since he had come 4
Ranchipur; he knew his maste
and now and then modestly h
would bring forth a stupendous bi
of news and lay 1t on the tabl
at mealtime as If he were serving
tea or putting down a bowl o
rice. Mrs. Talmadge's scandalou
elopement with Captain Sergean.
for example; John the Baptist hat
predicted il and so Ransome knew
il three days before it happened
He could have warned Talmadg
and prevented ii. If 1t had BEEF
worth the effort of interfering.
Miscellaneous Monkeys
Raise Row
The group beneath the banyal
tree presently stopped playing al
together and, in silhouette agains
the fading light. Ransome saw
their heads together. And then il
the tree above them there brok
out fearful row-a wild caco
phony of chattering and scream
ing, and along the dusty tops o
the great mango trees. raced
whole procession of monkeys, tn
sacred monkeys OF Ranchipur-
noisy. gray black, handsome. in
solent, comic and confident in thei
age-old knowledge that no on,
dared to kill one OF them. neithe
the Indians because long ago the,
had fought in battle by the side o
Rama, nor the Europeans because
of the awful row the assassination
of a single monkey would raise.
Ransome hated them and wa
amused by them all at once.
The spell broken by the mon
keys row. Ransome finished tn
last OF his brandy. put down nj
fan and rose from his chair 4
walk TO the back of the house ant
have look at the weather.
The garden was a big squar
Enclosure surrounded by higl
wall made of yellow mud an,
waffle which gave it soft mot
tied appearance wherever it wa
not covered by trailing bougain
villea and begnonia. II was dr..
= now. the very earth bitten deep b.
the brazen heat of sun whicl
went on and on, day after day
unrelieved by any cloud.
Waiting for the Weather
To Break Into Rain
For days. for weeks. the Who'll
countryside the farmers, III
shopkeepers. the army. the minis
: tiers of state-hsd waited for IN
weather To break and the rains I
begin, those rich flooding rain
. which overnight turned the gar
$ dens. the field, the jungle, froI
a parched and burning desert int
mass of green which seemed I
live, 10 writhe. TO devour the wal
a and trees and the houses. Eve
I the old maharajah had waite
D through long weeks OF hurnin
/, heat, unwilling to quit Ranchipu
for the delights Of Paris an