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1995

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ri^PPUEDJVMGEJnc

1653 Eost Mom StrMt

Roch«tar. Nm York 14609 USA

(716) «M - OJOO - Pho™

(716) 2aa - »a9 - rm

THIRTEEN MEN

BY
W. A. l^RASER

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK ,906

156146

COPVKlCHTt 1906, By

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

PuhlUhed Beptemher, aoe

CONTENTS

The Turbulent. . . '*'"
I

The Ofpcasting of the Nichemods ,,

The Home-Comino of the Nakannies .... 36

The "Mbled" Collie. . «

The Infatuation of Ackerly g^

The Stealing of the Buddha Pearl ,02

The Net of Leo .

Mahhet ...

160

FlNNERTT OF the ElePHANT KeDDAH ,go

The Apostasy of Moung Pyu j„5

Nawaz Khan, the Gift of Allah 224.

The Blooding of a Griffin j.g

The Capture of Sheitan jg.

THE TURBULENTS

THIS story has to do with the period
of time in which Swampy, the rac-
coon, associated with some lumber-
men in Cameron's shanty in the thick Canadian
woods.

The toilers slew the oak and chestnut giants
of the forest, in the matter of daily bread;
danced at some farmhouse out in the Scotch
Block; toyed with immature corn whisky at Rod-
ney; or coon-hunted in their own forest at night,
in the way of relaxation. And, in addition to all
this, there was the sver-present feud with the
" river boys."

The McRaes, the Campbells, the Grahams,
interminable of relationship, living along the
Thames River, held the men of the Scotch Block
—the McPhails, the Mclntyres, and Camerons
— as enemies to be thrashed at times, and reviled
always. These martial sentiments were recipro-
cally entertained by the Cameron adherents. A
pretty face at a dance, with a little misunder-
standing over an engagement for a Scotch reel,
I

THIRTEEN MEN

and a McRae and a McPhail would be at each
other's throats out in the chip yard before you
could say " Great Wallace ! "

But a sore irritant was the matter of coon
dogs. Jack McRac's boast was that his dog
Watch could tree a coon quicker'n anything that
wore hai , would stay with him till the cows came
home, and could lick his own weight in swamp
coons or wild-cats. He had enlarged on this
boast by addingj that he had the best coon dog
in the county of Elgin, and that Cameron's
Queenie didn't know a coon scent from the odor
of a wild onion.

It was a primeval condition of life, its atmos-
phere surcharged with toil and strife and re-
ligion and coon-huntiag.

Swampy's advent, though dramatic enough,
was uneventful compared widi his exit.

His mother, a true swamp coon, long of limb,
black-haired on the back, and stout of heart,
hibematmg through the long winter in the hol-
low hmb of a black-ash tree, came by the way of
a family in the month of April. Half a month
later, the Cameron men felled her lofty home
for lumber; mother coon, darting from her front
door, was set upon by Queenie and was slain.

The fall of the ash had killed all the young-
sters but one, and the foreman, Mclntyre, put
2

THE TURBULENTS

the orphaned little creature in the bosom of his
flannel shirt, and carried it to the log shanty.
That was in the evening, and the whole camp
entered seriously into the consideration of how
the httle chap's life was to be saved.

A plump, gray, fluffy ball, with an extremely
attenuated nose, the coon babe slept in a little
box filled with cotton batting behind the cook
stove, totally oblivious of the grave question he
had raised by his unwilling advent.

It was Ben Locke who hit upon the brilliant
Idea that proved so satisfactory at first and so
productive of disorder later on. " Try him with
Queenie," Locke suggested; " she might take to
him in place of one of her pups. I believe she's
lonesome with only Bruce."

Queenie was a half-bred collie, and, as
such, great in motherly instinct, and jealous to
a degree. Her brown eyes searched Locke's
face understandingly as, with forefinger ex-
tended wamingly, he commanded her: " Down,
Queenie! Now, now— that's a good dog—
that's a good dog I " This while Mclntyre held
the little orphan to the mother-fount of nour-
ishment.

There is no doubt diat Swampy's methods dif-
fered from the collie pup's, for Queenie curled
her hps in a snarl that showed her white teeth,
3

THIRTEEN MEN

and growled her disapproval. But Swampy
made good use of his time; and presently, his
little stomach round and taut like a toy drum, he
was put back in his box and presented in this
shape to Queenie for inspection.

No one ever knew how it happened, but in the
morning Swampy was found sleeping with the
collie pup at the mother's side. After that he
was made free pf the collie's bed, and made
foster brother to Bruce, the pup.

He washed his food in a little wooden trough
before he ate it, and poked his thin, inquisitive
nose into cupboards, boxes, and every nook of
the log shanty. From a long line of swamp-
dwelling, night-prowling ancestry had come to
him an inherited sensitiveness of touch. His
slim, biack-skinned fore paws were like another
pair of eyes; he appeared to be always feel-
ing for treasure. Sometimes, half-angered by
Bruce's foolishness of puppyhood, his sharp
claws cut little lines of remonstrance in the youth-
ful collie's face. The thin parchment ears of
Swampy were slit into ribbons by the fishlike
teeth of his dog foster brother. "ITius the three
played together, and ate together, with as much
amity, relieved by occasinial family jars, as
though they were all dogs or all raccoons.
When Swampy was a little over a year old,
4

THE TURBULENTS

one night the tremulous whistle of his own kind
sang in his slit ears from a tree in the forest
and something that he had forgotten all about
came to him with compelling force. He had
lain there the child of a collie modier, and in a
minute a dozen whimpering notes of call reincar-
nated him and he was a coon. Inherited visions
of a black-ash swamp in which he might puddle
all through the hours of darkness for frogs and
snails and things delicious to a coon's palate
flashed through his mind.

He stole softly from the little box diat was
his home, raised his gray, black-barred muzzle,
sniffed inquiringly toward the forest, and then
slipped like a noiseless shadow across the clear-
ing and was swallowed up in the gloomed bush.
Men came and went from the Cameron lum-
bering gang, and their passing was of transient
regret; but Swampy's defection laid melancholy
upon the whole camp. The men said he would
come back again, but he did not.

One moon from the passing of Swampy— it
was a September night— Locke and Mclntyre,
«king the dogs and their axes, made their way
along three miles of bush road to a little clearing
in the woods. This field was planted in com,
and, as Locke said, every coon in the bush
knew it.

THIRTEEN MEN

Eager in the hunt, having knowledge of its
method, the dogs slipped silently through a
fence; their masters perched on its topmost rail
and listened to the whispering com leaves as the
dogs, panting in blood lust, chased through the
rustling stalks, up and down the dwarf avenues
of the miniature forest. A misty moon peeped
over a somber tree wall into the little clearing,
turning to jewels the dewdrops held in the silver
feathers that were the tassels of the corn.

Nose to ground, Queenie raced; at her heels
the pup. When Bruce sought to forge ahead,
the mother lunged at him with her teeth, adding
a yelp of admonition. She knew that even then,
perhaps, the one they sought was safe settled in
a tree; but if shi clung dose to the trail they
would come to his hiding place, and then her
partners in crime, the humans, would bring him
to earth for a grapple.

At first above the whispering of the shadowy
corn came little whines of anxiety, as though
Queenie asked: "Where is he— where is he? "
Then there was a short yelp of delight.

" Found 1 There's one there!" Locke mut-
tered, touching his companion's arm.

Presently, as the scent freshened, shorter and
sharper came the " Yeh-yehl" and then, from
a half-burned fallow beyond, with its blackened
6

THE TURBULENTS

stumps and charred logs, Queenle's voice came
back, tingling the night air with a joyous " Yi-ih-
ih, yehl "

The men slipped from the fence, dashed
through the cornfield, sprawled through the
labyrinth of burned logs, into the woods on the
farther side, over a sandy knoll clothed with
beech and maple, and down into a black-ash
swamp, where the ringing baric of dogs told they
had treed a coon.

Halloo I " ejaculated Locke, as they came to
the scene of turmoil, " darned if there ain't an-
other dog I Wherein thunder— ? Hanged if it
ain'tMcRae'sI"

" We're here first, whatever," Mclntyre an-
swered. " We'll make a fire, so we can see to
chop."

The swamp was dry from the summer
drought, and while the men gadiered sticks
and built a fire, Queenie sat on her haunches, her
nose pointed at the stars, and her red-brown
eyes fixed wistfully on something very like a fur
muff high up in the ash. Bruce and the McRae
dog were tearing about the tree, jumping against
Its smoodi-barked trunk, and causing the forest
to echo with their clamor.

" We can throw her into that openin'," Locke
said, as he squinted up the tree; "let's hurry.
7

THIRTEEN MEN

Them McRae boyi'U be ineakin' in, an' daimin'
their cur treed the coon."

Ai the axes rang sharp and clear against the
ash three men slipped into the firelight and a
voice said: " Hey there, you fellers, what're you
uoin' ? "

Locke grounded his ax and, leaning on the
handle, retorted sarcastically: "Shavin' myself.
WhatV! you think I was doin'? "

" Looks like you was choppin' down 'nother
man's coon."

" Not on your broadax, Jack McRae. Our
dogs druv the coon out of Gillis's com, an' treed
him; an' as we sort o' happened along 'bout that
time, we kinder surmised 'twouldn't be a bad
idee to chop him down."

'' Us boys's got that job in hand, Ben Locke."
" We're first, which is nine points of the law."
" Vm thinkin' you've got two points, an' we've
three," McRae rejoined menacingly.

" Look here. Jack McRae," broke in Mcln-
tyre, " that's too strong. We're not out for
trouble, but we'll chop this coon down, what-
ever."

"If you're a better man nor me, you're
meanin', Dan Mclntyre, by God I" and the
speaker slipped o£F his coat and rolled up his
sleeves.

THE TURBULENTS

1 II take that from no man."

Lock. intenxMed. " What', the u.e of you
nver boy, ookin' for trouble. You know [u.t

hancfa full with Dan. Let the fightin' go till 'he
S „ w" W""-«°--- there'll be plenty of U
then We come out for coons, an' w did you."

which makes a grand difference."

^am^K n '"'" ^'^" •'"y* °"' »"d Archie
Campbell can see fair play."

" Well, spit it out of you, Locke."

" We was here first, an' oughter have first

d";. b^r"' P?'" '"" ^» ^- y- "^"p you

yoJm " ' " '' """^ "^""'^ «'* *« •^^o". he'.
"You're meanin', Locke, you'll give us a

It s a pretty th.ck bush here in the swamp, an'

most hke the ash'll lodge, then the coon'lf'skip

nto that elm-perhaps he'll do it soon's the ash

starts o go; from the run he give our dogs he's

cumim enough for anythin'. Anyway, 'tain't

THIRTEEN MEN

no UM good men fightin' over a pelt that ain't
worth more'n a dollar. We're two to three, but
we ain't goin' to take no back water."

The McRaea and Campbell stepped to one
•ide and debated the question; the well-known
fightmg abihty of "Strong Dan" Mclntyre
havmg something of a mollifying influence upon
their spirits.

M'd : We 11 agree to that, only we'll draw lots
ror first try at die coon."
"All right, t)oys," Locke acquiesced; "we'd

n /..'^^r"*'"' *»" "k*"' ^°«'dn't we,
UM t There was a deprecating pleasantry in
his voice which amounted to a sneer. *

Then he broke two twigs, placed dicm be
^een his fingers, and held his hand up to Mc
Rae, saymg, " Draw, Jack; long stick wins."

The other drew; and Locke, throwing the re-
maining twig in the fire with an angry jerk,
growled: " You win; go ahead."

While the Cameron men sat holding their
dogs, the others sank eager axes into the soft
flesh of the black ash.

Soon a shivering moan went up icom the tree •

Its top trembled and swayed; as Jack McRae

drove die blade of his ax to its eye there was a

crackling scream of dissolution; the ash reeled

THE TURBULENTS

i^^''' H u" " .•'""^' ""'' ^hen iwept down-
ward Halfway in iti fall to earth a ttL^Trl
cjught In the ein. and the tree hun^lZJ^^a
With a powerful stroke the axman knocked the
butt from .ts holding ,tun,p, the tree rolled and
with a .wishing ,igh, fell to it. .ide.

i he McRae dog dashed into the manv lioiS*^

bl die y along a limb while the tree .waved i J
m.d.ajr. had jumped into a .lender Tamamk
and clambered nimbly to it, top.

back toThe r r"1 '" *' -'^'««' «""«
Then ? 1, ' *'"■ '"" »""«=" With anger.
Then Locke stepped over to the tamarack fnd
ran h.s eye up it. length, which wa. like the
tapering spar of a yacht.

" an'?h!,r"'' "" '^"' "■«''' '='"'"8'''" be said,
an there am't no use fallin' this saphn'- ifd
never come down-it'd lodge sure " '

.. i!;"'" ^°^" and pulled off his boots, saying-

thldotK""^''''''''"'^"-"- ^--S''
Locke had been a sailor on the Great Lak..

rack Jike a boy. As he approached, the much-

had" huo^Z^T' '™'" ^"^ -'-^h - whiTh te
had huQdIed and crept cautiously along a slender
bmb. where he hung by his long, sha,p^laws
* II

THIRTEEN MEN

" Look out below 1 " Locke cried, standing in
the crotch; then he struck the limb a sharp blow
with the sole of his foot. The coon, dislodged,
drew in a great lungful of air, till he was blown
out like a football, and fell lightly to earth.

With a rush Queenie and Bruce were upon
him ; and then, even as they stuck their noses into
his fat stomach as he lay on his back ready to
battle, the two dogs sheathed their teeth and,
drawing back a little, sniffed in a puzzled man-
ner at the quarry. And through the sensitive
nostrils of the collie mother vibrated the faint
scent that reawakened a memory almost obliter-
ated ; it was the scent that once had stood for one
of her own children. She gave a whine of de-
light; pleading, eager it was, and wirfi her paw
she scratched coaxingly at the coon's neck.

The foster mother had come by the truth; it
was Swampy, the escaped one.

But with him, a half-generation reclaimed
from the forest life, memory was shorter; he
had lapsed rapidly to the primal savagery of his
race. His white teeth gleamed for an instant in
the firelight and then were buried in the paw that
was the transmitter of mother affection.

With a yelp of pain, even of indignant remon-
strance, the collie sprang back, and Swampy,
rolling leisurely to his feet, scuttled back to the

THE TURBULENTS

Mclntyre- to him hZ P'"fo""'ne, all but

coon is t7hctZ71 T ^'""^'^ *^' *^
wo.dWto™t:X^t^,X--''^^-

tool 111'; 3 --'jf^ ^^; tree, Ca.pbel,
and the latter Z 'f"°^'^' McRae dog,

'"•s throat po^ntdl'onT'' "'' ' ""' '^

Then SwLp?Er tr'n^"°"-
^is foster brothJr Bre^anrtt^r'^ "'
strance into the rash M.d j °^ '■^"'°"-

THIRTEEN MEN

Dan," and sought to batter him in the way of
reproval.

The din of battle came to Locke's ears, and
his breeches screeched and fairly smoked with
the friction of his descent as he shot down the
scale-barked tamarack. It was a time for rapid
descent : he was needed. Strong Dan was surely
being dragged to earth when his companion,
crouching, after the manner of sailors in a fight,
made entry to tjie festive scene.

"You would— blank you!— Huh!" That
was a grunt at the butt end of a blow, as Locke's
fist swung inward on Campbell's chin and
dropped him to his knees. Before Locke could
recoil to guard, Jim McRae's long arm flopped
around like the loose end of a flail, and the
Scotchman's fist, as hard as a horse's hoof from
rough toil, smashed like a brick into the sailor's
face.

It was a joyous mill, flagging not for the new-
fangled innovation of rounds. It was one long
continuous swirling round, full of action, good
old-time rough-and-tumble rules governing the
contest.

Locke was a master in the sailor's fighting art,

which is a method of fair execution; and Mc-

Intyre's strength, known throughout the county,

was as hurtful as a bear's. On the other side

THE TURBULENTS

here were three of the river boys: the McRaes,
ong of hmb, clean of wind, like cats on
their feet-proper woodsmen; while Campbell,
though short of stature, had been nicknamed
F.ghtmg Archie." Hate and clan rivalry set
a fast pace, and the combatants' diligent method
would soon bnng a verdict for one side or the
other.

Meanwhile the cause of the little unpleasant-
ness had scuttl-d up the tamarack once more,
where he sat blinking curiously at the extraordi'
naq. animals who shattered the peace of the for-
est below. Because of the preoccupation of their
masters the dogs carried on their engagement,
until Watch, outnumbered and sorely bitten
curled his tail between his legs and took to th,'
darkened bush with howls of disgust

The uneven ground, the big roots of the elm,
and the slippery moss-covered sticks, introduced
a rare element of chance into the contest. Some-
times Strong Dan " wa. on his back with two
men atop, until Locke, throttling one of them,
would sip and all hands go rolling over one J.
other like pups at play. It was like a football
scrimmage; m the faulty, glimmering firelight a
hard-knuckled fist, missing its mark, would land
on the nose of a friend.
The Marquis of Queensbury and his rules had
15

THIRTEEN MEN

never puzzled the minds of these busy Scotch-
men. It was go-as-you-please, kick and slug
and clinch in that ring, which was the whole
black-ash swamp. Rough-and-tumble bars noth-
ing bui the gouge and the bite; and, so far,
the combatants adhered closely to these honor-
able rules. If: was a scrap of fervor, fast and
furious; at times a little breathing spell coming
in a clinch. They were almost too busy for
speech. Once Mclntyre grunted : " Take that,
McRae, blank you ! " as his Scotch knuckles,
high in bone, ripped like a saw at his opponent's
eyebrow. And Jack retaliated with a kick that
would have opened an oak door.

Locke, less economical of speech than the
Scots, encouraged his fighting comrade from time
to time. " Give it — to him — Dan ! I'm at your
—back." And he was. But, unfortunately for
his powers of succor, he was surrounded himself.
Three men can deploy in battle more promiscu-
ously than two ; so there wa. always a spare fist
ready to prod either Dan or Ben just as he was
getting the better of his opponent.

Locke's face was redder than the rose, and
the crimson hiie had smeared his shirt front; he
peered with difficulty from beneath a beehive, or
something, that hung heavily over his left eye.
Three times Campbell had been knocked as
i6

THE TURBULENTS
many feet j but he was a wasp, a terrier that came
snarling back to meddle officiously with four
good men who desired to settle, in their own
way, a difference of opinion.

Once the two McRaes held Mclntyre in their
long arms until he was like a figure of the La
ocoon. Jack's left had Dan's head in chancery,
while with his right he upper-cut, only to batter
his Iwuckles against the Mclntyre skull.

Will you take water now, blank you ? " Mc
Rae panted.

For answer Strong Dan buckled his hips side-
wise and with a feint of throwing his opponent
backward, gave him the rolling-hip lock, and
McRae turned in the air, falling on his back
heavily. That would have settled it if it had not
been for the spare man. Before Mclntyre could
recover from the throw he was back-heeled by
the brother and brought down, with a McRae
atop.

Locke, jumping back from a swing of Camp-
bells fist, found time for an impromptu kick at
.[im McRae's ribs; and at the same minute Mc-
lntyre turned his m n beneath.

Jack was up again, and, first pivoting a blow

into the base of Locke's skull by way of assist-

ance to Campbell, reached down and clutched at

Mclntyre's throat with his long fingers for a

Thirteen men

strangle-hold. Then he pitched forward at a
blow from Locke, and the three— the two Mc-
Raes and Mclntyre— rolled over and over in a
rround-tussle. Suddenly Jim McRac's hand,
clutching treacherously at his enemy's face,
found an opening, and two fingers slipped into
his mouth, fastening upon the cheek in a gouge-
hold.

Just as Locke had landed a subduing blow
over Campbell's heart he heard a half-smothered
cry of " Gouge 1 " from his comrade. The flick-
ering firelight fell red upon the polished steel of
an ax almost at Locke's feet. With an oath the
sailor swung it over his head, and, springing to
the struggling group, cried: "Let him up, you
dogs, or I'll split your heads open! I'll smash
you like a rat for gouging— you cowardly
Indians I "

Locke's address was short and very much to
the point; even the advantage of a gouge-hold
sank into insignificance compared with the ad-
vantage a man held standing above them, ax in
hand. With a growl Jack McRae rose to his
feet, while the fingers of Jim uncurled from their
vise-like grip.

With a twist Dan turned the McRae under
and sprang to his feet, saying: "Get up now,
you dirty dog, whatever I Stand by, Ben, to see
i8

THE TURBULENTS

fair play an- I'll lick the .vo of them. Fight-
in nver boys — gougers 1 "

th/Sa'„3 Y°'"'' *'''^d""™i"«!n^ between

Tver tt I ' ^°T'' ''"' '^' '''««^'- ^" well

over the I.nc into the illegitimate.

"^Il7".u"'''"^' ^'"'" ^'^' ^postulated;

be! yful of fight th.s time. We don't scrap with
old women that scratch "

allv^ai?" "'V^ '^^ P"''="^' ''"''^ kind usu-
ay, and, as .s the manner of that tribe, when

hisbood was up, was hard to subdue.

1 11 tell you this whatever, Jack McRae,"
he sa,d angnly, "I-l, gi,e you a thrashin' L
thus mghfs work yet. You've boasted from
Rodney to the town line that you could best any
man m the Scotch Block, an' I'll „,ake you eal
your words. An' forbye you're doubtin' wha
I^msayn, just step out here an' fight like a

retZd"'"^?''°"!; ''''""• Mclntyre," McRae

in' axes '" ' *'''"" "°^ ""' ^°-"''» ''-"g"

This exchange of compliments was good, in

he.rj J ?' '"P'*' ^'■'"" ^^*'°" allowed the
heated blood to cool. And as for fighting, it

clamored for more than had been served out in
19

THIRTEEN MEN

the ash swamp. Mclntyre's face bore eloquent
testimony to the excellence of the entertainment,
and the McRaes were battle-scarred to a high
degree.

As the two parties gathered their axes and
prepared to depart, Mclntyre spoke again : " I'll
tell you. Jack McRae, why Queenie didn't tackle
the coon, fearin' ye'U spread it from the town
line to the lake that she's no a good coon dog:
yon coon is Swampy, that she raised as one of
her own pups; and that's why she'd no put a
tooth in him. And now, Locke, do you away up
the tamarack again and bring Swampy down in
your arms this time. We'll take him back U the
shanty."

THE OFFCASTING OF NICHEMOUS

IN the first place Lieut. Hugh Royd became
of .merest, as far as this story is concerned,
even '"/'"8°°"-. ^hat was long enough ago

taken bv°h- T '"'"^ '^'''•"'- ''»' ''»«
taken by h„ royal neck and led out of the

countn. by the British Raj.-thirty-one yea„.

Nobody ever quite knew why he apsUd out of

he regiment, which is a Hind,ostanee word de

wo"rke"d'«kr"T"'""''''^ '''''^''- "' ^^'^
a Sub .Ih f \'T *° «" *"■* commission a,
a Sub, and fought like a hero to exchange that
for somed^mg higher; and then in a singlf n gh

.sh „ffl ''\^«'°"«'«'' paraphernalia of a Brit!

ish officer, and m the morning crawled aboard an

outgomg steamer-a thing closely allied to a
oaal panah; for when a young man cuts the
entice without some higher motive ostensibly

'" sight, It ,s considered decidedly bad form

sta^Zi^ T ""^"^' ^'"^ '' '''^" ^ «^«P''n8
TTT '■ il ' """""" ^'^' '"'<J ^J^o one other
man, who did not cut the service. She did not
tell; neither did the other man; Royd disa^

THIRTEEN MEN

peared, so practically nobody knew. And this
story has only to do with die other end of Royd's
long drawnK)ut term of misfit in the universe.

Neither does what had happened in the inter-
vening d>irty-one years matter much; for it was
at the end of that time, in the present year, that
the love replica came again to Kootenay Royd,
ex-Lieutenant in Her Majesty's service.

Almost at the feet of Chief Mountain, close
to the Montana boundary, a gigantic doorway
has been cleft through the Rocky Mountains—
the Kootenay Pass. In the mouth of the Pass,
nestling among the grass-covered foothills like
a string of blue-green jade stones, lies a crescent
of water, delicately slender as a new moon— the
Kootenay Lakes. In the lakes swim the gold-
shimmered rainbow trout, almost the size of
giant salmon. When the south-traveling sun
bends to its autumn sleep over the snow-crested
hills to the west at eventide, elk and caribou and
bear and gray wolf steal down from the spruce
forests, which lie like a velvet mantle on the
breasts of the uplands to the empurpled waters
and drink m leisurely content, for it is far from
the leather-scented trail of man.

On the brink of the middle lake crouches a
small log shack; in the shack homes Kootenay
Royd. And to him in the crouching shack, at

THE OFFCASTING OF NICHEMOUS

the end of thirty^ne years, cams the thine of
which no one spoke that other time, and made
this little story.

The antlered deer and the trout with the
shimmer of the rainbow on their fatted sides
were not enough to Kootenay Royd. The spir-
Its up in the mountains, always busy with their
storm-making and cloud-building, gibed at him,
and whispered at him, and conned over in black
n.ght that other story which nobody knew, until
he cinched tight his broncho saddle on a piebald
cayuse and rode many miles nordi to the land of
the Lrees.

He tied tl.e cwe-necked cayuse to a tent peg
outs.de of Stone Axe the Chiefs lodge, dipped
through the lowbrowed slit that served as door,
and with much sign talk conversed with the red
man over the expediency of accepting ten horses
for his daughter. Weighed against her personal
charms, a yearling colt would have been ^n ex-
orbitant price to pay, but as the daughter of a
Chief, not a hoof less than twenty hones would
secure her, Stone Axe explained.

Kootenay had seen Nichemous, the Chief's
daughter once at Stand-off, the unlawful capital
of the whisky smugglers' domain. But that was
not at all why .e had come for her, even Koote-
nay knew that; she must have made medicine to
23

THIRTEEN MEN

lure him, or the ipirit winds from the mountain,
had whiipered her name when he sat in the midst
of ^a sohtudc that was leagues broad on every

It was something of this sort; it could not
have been romance, for she was ugly dose to
the point of fascination; built on the lines of a
wheelbarrow_as devoid of grace, only blacker,
and more disconsdlately in evidence forever and
ever.

chief the value of twenty horses; there was an
unseemly tea dance at which the apostafe pJe-
face became in verity a dweUer in proscribed
limits — a squaw man.

Kootenay took her back with him to the lop-
sided shack that seemed forever threatening to
commit suicide by a plunge in the ^rout-peopled

Her talk drowned the voices of the wind spir-
Its; and she kept the shack clean, and cooked his
ood after the crude fashion of her savage an-
cestry. *

Kootenay read the books that came from other
lands-Latin and French and English; and out-
wardly npened in the personification of a man
who had never worn anything but leather chapps
since the donning of early raiment.
24

THE OFFCASTING OF NICHEMOUS

The Weitem world', knowledge of Kootcnav
wa. not extensive; he wa, "a queer fiT'-'a

ferei"??"" " ^""'^ «"'de/' ." an who in
teripersed Lat.n quotation, and classic oaths

achSin ? "° "*''"■ P"''" had ever
acnieved in his remembrance. All fh«. »k-

were confusing in the extreme; bu tthey wt" fs'

thlilLnT^'- ^ "!'"« '" ""^ »«!"« log shack
that leaned plaintively out toward the jade-gree„

Tm^ I ''""« "™"8 "Pon him set his

S'f^oTthe''' ""J''?' ' ""'» ™" ^-i
"lucs rrom the mouth of thi« Pa., t

-ncsintheWestmeanslv^S^^^rb^
And also with the new man was his daughter

W'thayearofageuponherforeve^S;;
*5

THIRTEEN MEN

trail that lay between their new log shack and the
homing place of Kootenay Royd.

Her name wasn't Helen at all; but this is a
true story. The culture that was in Helen com-
pletely blotted out the many years of Kootenay's
dwelling in the catacombs, until, though he was
actually fifty-five, he was really just turned one
score when he talked to her. That was why it
all came back with such silly force — the love-
thing. The man that was fifty-five, that was
Kootenay, hunted and fished, and wandered up
the steep sides of Chief Mountain for bighorn;
and came back tired and sat dejectedly opposite
the black Cree squaw, and called her " Niche-
mous," which means " My dear." And the man
who was just turned a score, that was Lieutenant
Royd, galloped to the ranch and talked to Helen
of the things that were in the East; which are
books written by poets, and music that wails
from the cord strings of a violin, and of lilac
blossoms that grow purple, or lilies that stand
pale at Easter, and of all the other unnecessary
things which a squaw man should know nothing
about; for if he do, and the squaw become more
coarse in the fullness of time, it is all apt to end
in the uncanonized way.

Also Helen sketched with a charming disre-
gard of perspective and unnecessary variation of
26

THE OFFCASTING OF NICHEMOUS

•fc»n the i«,ua„ who „! '.'•»■ >^"""e„
tiling,, c„„ldd,rr„r *'"«"■ """i'l

Ittle, envied, bboLJw Iv»T "1 ,*'
much h«™7" ? "" ""'' ™"' "Id »"<i

w.-tr,r"h:,T;rd„t'irh";

• 27

THIRTEEN MEN

other was near. Yes, it must have been that: it
was impossible that such a physical rebuke to the
glory of creation could feel anything of love for
the paleface who was not even a savage. The
gnawing pain must have been because of the cold
and hunger which was the heritage of her people.

The obese Nichemous saw every little act in
the scheme of transformation which set in over
the person of hir white lord. One morning the
grizzled locks that had rested erratically against
his sloped shoulders for a decade were clipped
close to the roots and tossed disdainfully out
among the sienna-colored bunch grass. Then
he shaved.

No wonder that the furtive little eyes that
were like the eyes of a hippopotamus took on
a lurid heat that burned back to the hot brain.
When he bathed himself, a new vista was opened
up to her slow, speculating mind; he was turn-
ing wehtigo — becoming crazy.

An Indian stalks game with a silent tongue,
and the squaw watched much and said nothing.

The coming of the ranchman had been when
the Chinook — which is the gentle breath of the
mountains when they are not angry — came down
through the Pass and kissed the lonesome-
hearted earth, and the hot lips melted the late
spring snow that lay about, and the grass came
28

THE OFFCASTING OF NICHEMOUS
up green, and the grouse mated. Then the sum

and full of plaintive tragedy '^'

ToJe J^' 1 '""« P™P°^'' °^ *he offcastL

Together they rode over to where her brothe;

had h.s tepee among the Blood Indians and

akeUnrr''""^*^'^ ''''' Nichemous wou d

go back to her people. It was like cutting

THIRTEEN MEN

the grizzled hair, part of the metamorphosis of
Kootenay, the recrudescence of the man in the
living catacombs.

If Kootenay 's eyes had not been touched with
rose salve, the strange feeling of loneliness, of
having wrenched himself from something that
had been in his life, would have asserted itself
more strongly as he rode back to the crouching
shack by the string of jeweled lakes; hut he
planned fast atihis air castle, every mirrored wall
of which reflected a sweet girl face; and the
broad, black visage of the other grayed down
into the dead past until it became only something
that he had turned his back upon.

Nichemous stood stolidly in front of her
brother's lodge watching the horseman as he
loped over the tawny sea of gold-brown prairie.
In the huge face was the gravity of many things;
and in the little eyes the light of something which
the slow-going brain had evolved from the chaos
that had come into her existence. When the
horseman had become only a tiny wabbling blur,
she went into the lodge, sat down and smoked a
small graystone pipe until the brass-ringed bowl-
mouth became hot. At the end of three pipes
she rose, took a rawhide medicine bag from th?
folds of a blanket, sat down again and crooned
softly to it a strange guttural, " Hi-yi-yi ;
3<J

THE OFFCASTING OF NICHEMOUS

ooh.h.h.huh-huhI" On the white side of the
medicme bag were two yellow and red diamonds
and a figure in blue like a spearhead; its bLei
were tasse^ed with coarse threads of burk^
From a red handkerchief she unrolled two cr.de

a man and woman; ,t was Kootenay and herself
She pressed the man figure to her coa„e Ju i
hps heavly, clumsily; then rolled them face
to face, m many folds of red cloth, slipped thm
'n the gayly decorated medicine bag anS hun.^
on a forked willow behind the tfpee Sure V
Kootenay's frail castle was builded in the air

hid it r:"^-"'^^'--^-"^-"*-

m^l7J^- ""^1"''''° ^'•'^ night Nichemou,
made medicme with the charm bag to bring back
the white man who had been good to her Thet
ret.ca„y, knewnothingoflL;sheru:;wi;ted
It thl h- . ""T '^''^ ""^ ^°°^ wonderingly
.„t?h r ""f '"'" ^^'^ '^"ghed -nd frowned
A .,T. "' ""^ °"'y *™"Wed her to cook a httle
and fill h.s pipe. And the medicine that t s 1

reserve (for N.chemous went not to her own
people) and got into the muscles of the wh"
2"- H,s arms twitched, and the winds from
the mountam came down through the Pass and
31

THIRTEEN MEN

screamed at him through the chinks in his log
shack, and the lapping waters of the lake bab-
bled strange noises.

It was the medicine Nichemous made that
changed all his plans; that drove Kootenay to
break a lance with Fate moons before he meant
to — that made him ride to the tourney of his
undoing.

At the offcasting Nichemous had claimed his
pinto riding hdrse as one of the twenty. At the
time Kootenay had not understood why she was
so insistent upon this point, for he could not hear
her whispering to herself, " I will keep the pinto
for when the paleface comes back." So he
cinched up a chestnut broncho, with a great gap-
ing hollow on its inner thigh where a wolf had
sought to hamstring it as a two-year-old.

As Kootenay loped out of the Pass, the medi-
cine that was to the south in the lodges of the
Bloods drew him to the wrong trail. For an
hour he galloped, conscious of nothing but that
the air held the perfume of lilacs and the music
of young laughter and die presence of love.
Then the chestnut put the wolf-bitten leg into a
badger hole and brought the dreamer with an
exaggerated flourish down among the stunted
yellow dandelions and purple violets. The
man's energetic comments perhaps broke the
32

THE OFFCASTING OF NICHEMOUS
spell of the tiny manikins, for when he looked
across the prairie he saw that he had ridden
miles out of his way.

That night he talked to Helen of things that
were as startling as though Chief Mountain had
slid out fifty miles into the plain in a single day
"f course, it only meant much misery to the
girJ, for she had never thought of it in that way
It was the rose salve that had blinded Kootenay
-that was all. The talk of flowers and books
and the thnll of " Rusticana " had not made
this squaw man of the old age a lover in her
young eyes. At home there was the talk of cat-
tie; of calves and cows and bulls; storms and
grass feed and beef-nothing but beef-less
romance than there was in the medicine bag of
the squat, black squaw, and the glamour of this
almost extmct gentleman had been pleasant as
triendship— only as friendship.

Even from Kootenay the spell fell away, and
he, too, saw himself as he had been before the
coming of Helen.

The goblin in the medicine bag laughed as the
white man rode the wolf-maimed chestnut de-
jectedly back to his log shack. Nichemous
heard the laugh and crooned softly her weird
witch song, and gave five horses to the friends
inat had been friends to her brother.
33

THIRTEEN MEN

When thirty years of life come back to a man
in one day it is apt to stoop the shoulders a little
and for the full turn of a moon Kootenay sat
by the emerald-green lake like one who has been
caressed by a blizzard. He swept up the tiny
fragments of his shattered castle and threw them
out against the wind— the mountain wind diat
ch.ded back, and carried the tale to the demon
m the medicme bag on the Blood reserve.

Nichemous Waited, for she came of a patient
race, and took the little manikin from the raw-
hide, ocher-marked bag and caressed it until her
bead eyes became blurred with mists of joy.

Every night the medicine-bag demon called to
the lone paleface and twitched at his muscles;
and every day Kootenay drew a pencil ^*-rough
a black-lettered date on a calendar that hung
just over the table where he had sat so many
times opposite the Cree woman who was Ni-
chemous.

The effacing of the other time had been thirty
years; surely now he would wait thirty days and
dnnk of the wormwood tonic which was hope-
less resignation.

Sometimes he laughed bitterly at the utter
foolishness of the thing that had come to him.
Living at the foot of Chief Mountain and seeing
only blinking elk eyes, o ' '

! pig eyes of a griz-

THE OFFCASTING OF NICHEMOUS
zyy, had strangely tortured his knowledge of the
e crnal fitness of things; but Helen's qufet, kind
RU.t.ve words :.d shown hi. how p'articrrj

adv"nt ^°" *" ^"^ ''"" »'"« h«

Small wonder he sat for thirty days and
scored h.n,self with a rare inventivTgen us bo-
of h.s excted condition. Sometimes it was w^tT
a levty that was all awry; sor.^.imes it was^he
hollow despair of a man who counts the d y

t s ha„7 " '^'kT'"^ °"* ^°^ «-«t flower,
h.s hand came back laden with nothing bu

tcSytoir """^^-^-''^ "— -^

When he had penciled out thirty days of sit

heaw teH '"'" *° '•'^ '"'^^^ ^here the

Neither this time did the red and yellow eves
show any surprise. She knew; it was as the
demon had said it would be.

lefflnn' ^T"^' ^'^ «'^^" '''«« were ten
eft, and m three days they were eating grass in
the shadow of Chief Mountain; and kIZ"
was once more just a squaw man, deep in the ter^
nble pathos of what might have been.
35

THE HOME-COMING
NAKANNIES

OF THE

IF you travel into the northwest comer of
Canada, close under the shoulder of the
Rockies, and ask a Sicanee Indian about
the Nakannies, he will fill his pipe and smoke,
and talk about anything in the world but these
people. By lavish expenditure of tobacco and
other things of rare value, and by persistently
pinning him down to the business in hand,
you may get him to talk of them. He will tell
you that they are bad-spirit Indians; that they
always hear when they are talked about, but are
never seen.

If two Indians go out after moose and never
come back, the solution is simple — they are with
the Nakannies. If a family start at grandfather
and die off until even the last papoose, swathed
and laced tight in its moss bag, is gone, that is
the work of the Nakannies.

That is the belief of the other tribes; but the
white trappers say that this tribe lives up in the
gorges of the Rockies, and is tough — very tough.
36

HOME-COMING OF NAKANNIES

All agree, red. white, and " pinto." that the Na-

theT.r'?h°"" '" '^' ""''-"''y """^h i"
theflesh. That was as I am going to tell you.

Many moons ago they lived in the foothills

o the Rock.es just at the great cut in the granite

chff, where the chmook wind comes smiling

through and kisses the babe snow into non-ex-

istencc. That time no iron horse tore through

the a^ure-draped portal, of the castle mountain,;

there were only the soft chinook and odd parties

°JJT"1 "^^'•'^r'"' " **"y *"'d each
other back and forth through the big gate

The land of the Nakannie, ran to the very
edge of the stone rampart. They hunted the
grizzly up to h.s rocky home and slew him; they
ran the buffalo on the herb-turfed plain, and their
tepee,, built from the skins of the slain bison,
stood gorgeous white in the autumn sun. They
were not stock raisers; when they needed ponies
they stole them. It wasn't really ,tealing-the
pome, were the ,poil, of war; al«, the scalp, of
the Blackfoot, that came home with the horse-
hunting braves.

War Cloud was the chief. He had two son,.

tagle Strength, the elder, and Day Child. Their

spiritual life wa, looked after by Wolverine, a

medicine m.in.

Then one day Father Descoign came among

I E

THIRTEEN MEN

them. It was almost as thbugh he had dropped
from heaven. Of a verity he simply came
among them. War Cloud gave him a tepee, and
told the young bucks not to molest the paleface
Med.cme Man If they were spoiling for excite-
men they could go out and cut the throats of the
Blackfoot, or go higher up in the mountains a bit
and fight Stonies.

Now the Nakannies were about as unarable a
block of theological land as one could well look
for, but that did not matter to Pire Descoign
The pnests were' all like that; they came and
hammered away at the unbelief of the pagan
tribes until some one believed; then they kept on.
and by and by others had faith.

The first to listen to the priest was Day Child,
rhe father taught him French and die Christian
religion.

Above all, the Indian has a simple directness
of thought wh.ch gets very close to the root of
thmgs. The good fadier taught Day Child that
the Manitou of the paleface was all-powerful,
and that men who sold themselves to the Evil
One were sure to suffer in the end. The simple-
ness of that appealed to the primitive mind of
the young Nakannie, and the longer he thought
over It the more certain he became that it was
a very unpolitic thing to have anything to do
38

HOME-COMING OF NAKANNIES

with the devil. Many time, he filled the red
•tone bowl of his pipe and emptied it over this
untortuoui problem before he cryitallized hit
Ideas m .ords.

At la.t Day Child spoke: " Your Manitou i,
chief over all the spirits, even as War Cloud is
great among Indians. Is not that so, Pale-

" It is true," asserted the priest laconically.
He IS greater than the Evil Spirit you have
told Day Child about ? "

"I have spoken that it is so," answered
rather Descoign.

"And the foolish braves you have told me
of, who made treaty with this devil, will not go
to the Happy Hunting Ground at all ? "

'' Day Child's words are true," the priest said.
Ihen I will make treaty with God, who is
your Manitou," said Day Child decisively, hold-
ing out his hand to the white man as earnest of
his intention. "The Evil Spirit appeared to
those foolish white men and made treaty with
them; is that not so. Paleface? "
The father nodded his head in acquiescence.
Then call your Manitou to appear and make
treaty with Day Child, that I and my tribe may
be at peace with this great Spirit Chief, your
Manitou." '

THIRTEEN MEN

Now all this was rather startling to the good
father and he realized that the air was, so to
speak, full of great things. Either the faith of
this young warrior must be held or his hope for
good harvest in that field be forever abandoned.
Bravery and diplomacy go hand in hand in the
Christian crusade against the gods of the pagan
Indians, so Father Descoign answered:

" I will ask my Master to speak to Day Child,
whose heart is inclined toward Him."

That night Father Descoign said to the young
Indian : " To-morrow night the God of the pale-
faces, who is also the God of the red man, will
speak to Day Child where the river bursts
through the hills and falls over the rocks."

All that night the brave priest prayed forgive-
ness for the deed he was about to do. It was for
the good of these poor people that he would im-
personate his Master for a little time.

The next night Day Child saw God, even as
the priest had said he would. The young son of
the chief and two Nakannies crouched silently
beside the waterfall and waited for the paleface
Manitou.

All the little tricks the reverend father knew
—the luminosity of sulphurous matches damped
and rubbed on the face, and all the rest of it-
he practiced. It was a clumsy enough represen-
40

HOME-COMING OF NAKANNIES
tation, but it succeeded; and Day Child made
treaty with the Great Spirit, who'told hL ^a

finrghiir^"^'^^^-™--^'-

. From that time on Day Child and his ever-
mcreasmg following prospered. They ceased
ITa Z" '."'^ '""'"■°" horse-stealings and
It J..' -'^hildishly enough at firsf-and
whlh K / uT'*^ P™^P^™"^ '■" the land
Tatttelf " '-' ''"" '^' - --'•-«'"«
A blood fury was growing on Wolverine; his
power was gradually becoming less. His medi-
cne sometimes worked success for the braves

wtrdtr:'"-'^'''^"'^^^^''-^-^-

.nH?"''"!,'' ^^"^ *^'^ ^'"' ^°«h to battle,
and h.s medicme had said the foray would be
uccessfPl, they came home very much the wol
fo wear and considerably battered-some did
not even come at all. But the priest's medicine
wh.ch was God's law, worked for good £Z'
and Day Child's band prospered. ^'

Then Wolverine ■;vorked his charms and had

strtr* i """' *" ^'^ ^'"■''^ -""J'l become
stronger and stronger because of the evil cunning

of .he pnest; and. in the end, War Cloud and

Eagle Strength would have to sit like squaws in

THIRTEEN MEN

the council, silent, when Day Child, wf - irould
then be chief, spoke.

He roused the fury of the Nakannies by say-
ing that they would all become squaws. What
would it profit them if they were prosperous and
worked like women in the field? The Blackfoot
braves to the east of them, the Peigans to the
south, the Stonies who were in the west, and the
Crees who crouched among the spruce and aspen
in the north would close in on them if they were
not warriors, and take all they had— even their
scalps and their women.

What need had they to work like squaws —
there were buffaloes to kill for meat, and their
enemies had horses to give for the asking? What
more did they want? They had fire and food
and skins for their lodges and a great name as
warriors among the fighting people of that land.
Would they trade all these comforts and all this
glory for squaw valor, and toil and slave like
pack dogs? Would they be like this, or would
they be braves?

Day Child and the priest had right on their
side; but they were terribly handicapped because
of the labor their policy entailed. Work will
weigh down all the things of this world in the
scale of an Indian's calculation. The priest's
policy meant labor; Wolverine's, the traditional
42

HOME-COMING OF NAkANNIES
' good s«„, ,h.„fa ,„ hi, dn,m.dc eiL t^

-d Day cIJS's band r^cT^^^^^^^ ""' "''"''
the Icnif- V L ' "^ "** •'rave, put to

Moons came and wen*- ,„j
themselves into a dLde ' d v/''!?."""*^''^
called over the t Jl of mj^ty^^L^"!' ""

Wnt^, a,on« which heCVhltt'soT

k^i dTCTimt";. "i^ ^" p^"^ -»

Ground and^, *' "''PP^ ""«'"«

FooSwaskft^o rr' ^'" P"* ''"''^•^ him
was lefr «\1 ! V°"« J°""''y' »nd his lodge

was left standing and untenanted. ^

Then Wolverine spoke to the tribe-
* 43

THIRTEEN MEN

" Brothers, behold I am Wolverine I When
I sleep Manitou comes and whispers that which
is good for the Nakannies. Who told you that
your Chief, War Cloud, would be called to the
Happy Hunting Ground in two moons? Was
not that Wolverine, who stands before you ?

" When I make my medicine and blow it out
upon the other tribes they become as children in
their fear of you who are my braves. Who
worked the medicine which brought the pitted
disease that ate "into the flesh of the Blackfoot
ur:ti 1 they died like scourged rabbits ? Was that
n.:'. Wolverine — and was it not because they
came in the night and stole the daughter of our
great chief who has now gone to the Happy
Hunting Ground? When I made medicine the
Nakannie braves went forth and laughed at the
arrows of the Blackfoot and Stonies, and brought
back war ponies and scalps and glory to the
lodges of our tribe.

" It was I, Wolverine, wlio knew, because of
my medicine, that trouble would come to you
through the little paleface priest, who spoke with
the forked tongue of a false Manitou. But the
Chief, War Cloud, who is now dead, had a good
heart, and said, ' Let the little paleface rest in
the lodges of the Nakannies.' And for days
Wolverine had evil dreams because of that.

HOME-COMING OF NAKANNIES

became squaws also; they tr ded their warho'e"
wJo arf nT """' '''"«'''='^' '""^ *<= Stonies

5."; tiS w4'\";r/a'" "^'^- ^'
sltStaiarh^H-r^^

THIRTEEN MEN

brothers, Eagle Strength, the son of War Cloud,
is chief, and his heart thirsts for the land where
he was bom — where the buffaloes crowd the
grass plains like clouds in the sky, and their fat
will warm us and their skins keep us from the
cold winds. Wolverine has made medicine, and
knows that there are no redcoats there ; and that
the spirits of Day Child and his squaw brothers
have gone to the Happy Hunting Ground.

" We will go back to our home prairies, and
Wolverine will drive the spirits of the dead
away, and you, my braves, will fight the Black-
foot and the Stonies, and conquer because of the
medicine of Wolverine. Are we rabbits to skulk
here among the stones because we have killed the
squaw men of the fork-tongued priest? Wol-
verine has spoken."

When the Medicine Man sat down there was
deep silence in the little valley in which they
lived; for the awe of the home-going had stolen
over the spirits of the Nakannies.

Then Eagle Strength rose, tall and stately,
every inch a warrior, and stiffening his bronze
body, threw back his head, and from his power-
ful throat came, like the note of a bugle, the
joyous battle cry, full of defiance and eagerness
and resolve. Every brave took it up, until the
mountain side rang with the wolflike cry of hun-
46

HOME-COMING OF NAKANNIES
drcds of fierce voices. In their souls was that

and that hngered hke a memoir of Paradise
to these outcast red men.

It bJt ^°'^^r " '"«^'""«. had told them to
go back where the grass was rich a- sweet for

thronged the plam; and there were enemies to
fight m the open, and scalps and ponies to get by
conquest. Small wonder that their hearts^ried
out m joy, and they looked upon Eagle Strength
.nthehghtof a deliverer! If WolvfrineW
cme kept the sp.rits of their murdered brother

fn Tar ' ''" "° ^"^ ''" °^ ""^''^ '^'^ «°°d

I.W 1" "/« the sun peeped down into the Val-

it'ed? A "'?/'"• "''*=" '^' Nakannies had
Wed and hunted for years, there was nothing but
a few smoldenng camp fires, a myriad of bare
tepee poles, the empty lodge of Ae dead chief,
and the grave in which he slept.

On the afternoon of the twentieth day of their
Pjgnmage back to the land of their'natv.^
Wolvenne sa^d: "Spell here, brothers, for i^
are clo!u> tn tU. i-_j —l- • • ' ""^

arc close to the land which

is ours. The smell

THIRTEEN MEN

of the sweet grass is in Wolverine's nostrils, and
the soft pad of the buffalo hoofs on the prairie
run is in his ears. To-night when the hills rise
between us and the sun we will go forward to the
home that is ours; then in the morning, when
Manitou sends the sun up in the east, it will find
us there."

A Medicine Man has two qualifications, po-
etry and diplomacy,, and Wolverine had played a
strong hand in his last address. It would be
better to get there in the night, because if there
were objections to their coming there might also
be objections to their going away. Wolverine
would take the lay of the land in the dark, so to
speak. That was the utility of the diplomacy;
the poetry was for the Indians, and saved dis-
cussion.

When darkness h-d crept across the tangled
mass of rosebush and sweet grass, and the yel-
low-faced Gaillardias of the plain, and chased
the dying sun up the gray of the foothills, and
across the splashing crystals of the Bow River,
and draped the tawny forms of the Nakannies
in its sombemess. Wolverine spoke to Eagle
Strength, and the tribe moved down the sloping
approaches to the Rockies, and stole silently, like
spirit shadows, across the prairie.

In each breast was the smothered joy of home-
48

HOME-COMING OF NAKANNIES

coming; in each heart the pagan fear of the spir-
its of their murdered relatives. Even the dogs
trailed their tails, and with flapping lips skulked
close to the heels of the silent squaws. Not a
babe prattled. The flower carpet of the flattened
earth mufiled the hoof beats of the soft-stepping
horses as the spectral troop slid through the thick
gloom. It was the blood fear that was over all
— the spirit terror.

In front Wolverine rode his gray horse
straight as an arrow for the old camping home
of the Nakannies. Even the horse, which was a
sucking colt when the Indians lied from the fear
of the redcoats, held his nose true to the point,
as the mariner's needle cleaves to the north.
Wolverine clasped the little medicine bag that
dangled from his neck. Over and over he whis-
pered a charm to ward off the spirit vengeance of
Day Child. Once he turned on his horse and
looked up at the Indian's clock— the star-jeweled
" dipper." The gleaming hand, circling round
the North Star, had moved three hours since
they rested. They were halfway there, he whis-
pered to Eagle Strength in a hushed voice. The
chief leaned far over the neck of his horse to
catch what Wolverine said. The muffled hol-
lowness of the voice had been lost in the slipping
of the hoofs in the dry grass.

THIRTEEN MEN

"Halfway," whispered Wolverine again;
and Eagle Strength tat bolt upright and held
his small bead eyes straight forward into the
gloom.

When the dipper had cut three hours more
from its circle path, and stood almost straight
over the North Star, Wolverine stopped his
horse and slid to the ground. The others closed
around him silently, like soldiers forming up
before a stockade that is to be assaulted at day-
break. A little to the right the daric line of the
earth rounded against the purple of the sky.
The Medicine Man was standing with his face
set against the mound. Eagle Strength and the
others knew what that meant— on that hill Day
Child and his band had made their last stand;
and on its top, unburied, they had been left for
wolf and vulture.

" Hobble the ponies and sleep here," whis-
percd the Medicine Man hoarsely.

The night air was thick with stillness. Wol-
verine ran his hand over the flank of his horse;
the gray was trembling, and his ears were twitch-
ing nervously back and forth— now cocking for-
ward in nervous curi ity, now drooping back in
irritable weariness. Wolverine knew— even the
horses were afraid.
A low, trembling whimper cut through the
50

HOME-COMING OF NAKANNIES
night like a whittling arrow from the top of the

weird call .truck on their shrinking ears; a pack
of coyote, had winded them. Apon-broke
-ay .n affright and nearly ttam'^jed t

Wolverine tteadied himself, and spoke
sharply: " Nakannies, are you al squaw, Tie
your horse, get away ? " •S"»w, ro let

Before any horse could be hobbled, a dull,
rumbhng moan came creeping through the graw
and hushed the whimper of the wolves. It S

away as suddenly as ,t began. The Medicine

Aga n he heard .t. It was like the roar of angS

and then there wa, ,ilence. Again it came
onger and louder thi, tin.e. Th-> ^.L prf kTd

voice of an angry ,p,nt, always growing louder

»'rd made when Manitou was anerv Th^

f«r that had been silent in the heam ofTL

THIRTEEN MEN

bravei began to mutter — they whispered to each
other: "That it Day Child'i band crying for
blood I"

Wolverine'i gray anorted and tossed his head
impatiently from side to side, and rubbed his
nose forcibly against the Medicine Man's breast.
Eagle Strength stood silently watching in the di-
rection of the spirit noises. A dull, muttering
Tumble, breaking into a fierce, threatening call,
startled them again, and a fiery eye glared at
them from high u^ in the hills. Nastas, Eagle
Strength's mother, screamed and sank in a broken
heap at the feet of the young chief.

The eye closed sullenly, the roar deadened,
and there was only the muffled sound of some-
thing gliding through the gloom toward them.
Then again it broke forth with malignant fury,
shooting its rays in long shafts out into the daric-
ness of the plain. It closed again, only to scorch
theii hearts nearer and fiercer the next second.
No one spoke now; fear took them by the throat
and paralyzed their tongues. They could see
little bright flashes of light glinting from the
scales of the huge monster all along its body as
it rushed screaming and hissing down through
the gateway of the hills. Back on its tail were
two little green eyes that fascinated Wolverine.
It was the angry God of the murdered priest —
52

HOME-COMING OF NAKANNIES

the dctroying Manitou he had said would
•urely punish them for the killing of men.

Fear and anger fought in the blood of Eagle
^trength. He had been a child— a fool. He
had listened to the words of Wolverine and
ilam his blood brothers, the Nakannies, because
they believed in this God— the God of the pale-
face pnest. He could see little green and red
eyes peering at him from the darkness far in
advance of the dragon god with the monstrous
eye. They were lesser spirits coming to devour
his people because of the sin the false Medicine
Man, Wolverine, had led them into. The
dragon might destroy his people, but his hand
would avenge their blood upon Wolverine. The
huge, trailing, fire-vomiting dragon was close
upon them, when, with a scream of defiance and
barbanc triumph, he plunged his knife to the
hilt in the Medicine Man's breast.

This act roused the others. " Come, broth-
ers, cned Eagle Strength, "we'll go back to
our home on the Little Bear," and throwing him-
self on his horse, he yelled a war song and lashed
his horse across the flanks.

As the tribe streamed over the plains to escape,

the fire-belching monster circled in toward them,

and the hot breath from his evil-smelling body

smote upon the nostrils of Eagle Strength as he

THIRTEEN MEN

lashed the last Nakannie across the iron path,
under the very nose of the demon. Then they
melted silently info the darkness of the long,
back trail.

Over on the dragon there was a screeching,
hissing, grinding, as the feet of the monster
gripped the iron of the gravel-packed trail and
strove to stop its headlong charge. Passengers
stood on their heads in the seats in front of their
own, and cursed and prayed, each according to
his readiness of habit. A short man in a blue
coat, all spangled with brass buttons, slid from
the side of the dragon and ran forward to it?
head, with a loose, blinking eye under his arm.

" What in blazes did you put on the ' emer-
gency' for, Dick?" he screamed into the sul-
phurous jaws of the thing's head.

" Thought I was ninnin' into a pack of fool
Injuns," grunted a voice thick with the fullness
of stopping a heavy express on a down grade.
And a burly demon came out of the white, hot
mouth and stood wiping his brow.

" Did you see 'em, Dick? " panted the little
rian.

" Seed a swarm of 'em, an' heerd 'em scream.
An' the President, ol' Van Home, 'd rather
wreck the best engine on the road than have a
greasy ' nichie * killed."
54

HOME-COMING OF NAKANNIES

" It's them spirits the fellows say are always
about this ol' camping ground where they foj ,d
a lot of dead Injuns when they were building
the line. I guess that's what you saw, Dick."

"Spirits be hanged! They was cavortin'
about on the track 'tween the rails on their saw-
horse bronchos, an' I slid right in among 'era.
It 8 a miracle if I hain't killed none."

"I guess it's all right, Dick— I hope we
haven't killed any passengers," said the con-
ductor, unshipping the eye from his arm. " All
aboard 1 "

The little lantern described a circle in the air,
the monster tore at the iron trail with his huge
feet, the lights slid off and were swallowed up
m the gloom of the prairie night, and the home-
coming of the Nakannies had been disrupted by
the Pacific Express.

THE "MISLED" COLLIE

ONE evening in September a " Misle "-
coated collie stood watching the door
of the Red Lion Inn.
Her attitude was one of pathetic expectancy
—the beautiful, slim-tapered head cocked side-
ways, and ears thrust forward from the heavy
neck-ruff, vibrant -with the intensity of her inter-
pretation of footsteps.

Suddenly the dog's frame stiffened with joy.
ous anticipation; there was the shuffle of many
feet; the swinging door pushed outward; and
four men in working garb issued boisterously to
the sidewalk.

The collie leaped joyously at her master with
a yelp of delight, caressing his rough hand with
her tongue.

"There, there, girl— down I " the man said,
•hoving her gently away.

" But, Watson, you're an old rascal," one of
the jovial four ejaculated, clutching Watson's
arm and twisting him playfully about.

Suddenly a mottled body with hair bristling
sprang between the two; there was a gleam of
56

THE "MISLED" COLLIE

white teeth, an ominous snarl, and a pair of
weird wall-eyes, fierce in anger, glared at the
maker of the horseplay.

J'^iT^ °"*' P"' '''^*= « carel-down, girl I
She d bite you in a jiffy, man," Watson cried in
broken sentences.
Bob's assailant released his hold, and jumped

Sf;coi;ir''°°'°^^'^™--^°-»«

.'.'\'" f^y I'" of you. Bob," he said.
^^J.llyou,now? How much will you give,

" Ten dollars."

" Not for a thousand, Dannie, my boy. I'd
sell a wifie first-if I had one. Ten dollars for
Sracathna Princess I Man, I've been offered
ntty; yon's a bench bitch."
^^ Then turning to another of the group, he said :
Come on, Murray. I'll go a bit of the road
with you.

Watson walked in silence beside his friend, the
collie at their heels.

H '^?"'.% '™""'"' y°"' Bob - you're
dumpy ? Murray asked at the end of the block
I was thinkin' of Dan's ten dollars. But I
couldn't sell the doggie-my heart. I couldn't
fell her, Jock. Could I, girl? " he asked, turn-
mg to stroke the collie's head,
57

THIRTEEN MEN

" D'you sec the answer in her eye, man-
she's sayin' as plain as anything, *No, you
could na.' "

" She's a wise dog, Bob; she's almost human.
But what is it about the ten dollars? "

" I have a chance of a job at Buffalo. I've
been on the shelf since the foundry closed down,
an' I haven't the price o' a ticket."

Murray pondered over this problem for a
little, his hand clutching a slim roll of bills in
his breeches' pocket — the week's wage. The
money was needediat home — badly ; but Watson
would have helped him with his last dollar —
he knew that.

With an impetuous movement, Murray
crushed the bills into his friend's hand, saying,
" Here's ten dollars for you. Bob."

But the other drew back, protesting : " You're
needin' it yourself, Jock."

For answer Murray shoved the money into
Bob's vest pocket, and turned away.

" I'll not borrow it, Jock," Watson said, " but
I'll take it if you'll keep the collie."

" I don't want the dog."

" Keep her, man; and when I'm in funds I'll

buy her back. If anything happens me, die's

yours; and don't you see, Jock, you could get

your own back, and I'd die, as I lived, owin' no

THE "MISLED" COLLIE

tne old girl for all time."

Hnh.^n':'!! V" *""" '^^^"^ Scotch way,

?er o i f ^""i^' ^""''^ ^'''" "-» with
her to the house and have a bite of supper "

In ten minutes the two friends came to a little

rough-cast cottage setting back from the street.

I ye brought Watson home for supper, Mar-

Sd h "\"l' '° ^'•^ "" « who
greeted him at the door.

Murray ate his simple meal in troubled silence.
How could he reconcile his wife to the receipt of
a dog mstead of the needed money !

to Rf?r''v *'*"'''"• '''"''^= "Bob's going
to^Buffalo, w.fe, an' I've bought the collie from

Margaret's face mirrored her dismay. It was
just this careless improvidence that frittered
away Jack's earnings.

" Are you no likin' dogs? " Watson said, for
Margaret s silence brought an ominous lull in the

" ] ^''Y"'y hands full with baby; besides-"
slK closed her teeth on the lower lip and turned

"The collie'll take care of baby for you.
She s a gran' hand wi' children."
This was a most barefaced assertion, for Bob
' 59

THIRTEEN MEN

was a bachelor and children had not come the
way of the Princess at all.

" Collies are treacherous — they're apt to
snap," Margaret retorted; inwardly she was
wondering how much precious money had been
wasted over the useless canine.

" I'll just show you, mistress — bring little
Elsie here, and you'll see."

"It will frighten baby," Margaret objected.
" Not a bit of it, wife," Murray asserted.
And going to the cot he brought the child and
placed her on Wdtson's knee.

" Here, girl," Bob said to the dog. The col-
lie put her wise head on her master's leg, and
looked inquiringly into his face.

" You're to take care o' little Elsie, old girl,"
Bob said with great gravity. " An' if anyone
goes to run away with the baimie just grip him
with your teeth."

The collie understood that her master's words
had something to do with the child. She put
her paws on his leg and, raising herself, stuck
her cold nose in the baby's face, and caressed the
chubby little cheeks with her tongue.

" Look at her. Mistress Murray; she knows.

Didn't I tell you? My word, she'll die for

little Elsie. Aye, aye, an' I'm leavin' her behind.

But she'll be in good hands. Mistress Murray."

THE "MISLED" COLLIE

"It's a useless expense, Mr. Watson; a biir
dog will eat as much meat as a man"
»K-^''\1'"'' *^"""'' '"' ^'"'^^'^ " she said

and they had got behind; all summer she had
been trymg to catch up and get even with the
wond.

"Meat mistress!" Watson ejaculated in
well.fe,gned astonishment-" porritch is the very
thmg or coll.« Stracathna Princess-that-s
her full name, Mistress Murray," Bob said very
proudly—" just loves her porritch "

Watson put the baby's legs astraddle the col-
li« s back, and saying, " Come on, girlie," strode
solemnly three times around the room sing-
ing *

" Ride I cock hone
To Binbury Crow."

Little Elsie's eyes, as big and bluer than her
mothers, stared wonderingly into the broad,
good-natured face of the Scotchman; and Prin-
cess paced as proudly as though she were a pal-
irey carrying a queen.

Margaret, forgetting for a second her appre-
hens.o„ o the ruinous expenditure, smiled in
mother delight.

"There, bonnie blue eyes," Bob said, lifting
6i

THIRTEEN MEN

the child from the collie's back, " give doggie a
kiss. Kiss the bairnie, girl."

The baby drew her eyebrows together disap-
provingly, but the collie imprinted a kiss after
the manner of her kind.

The mother took the child, and Watson pro-
ceeded to explain just why Princess was the very
best dog in the world.

He detected an atmosphere of trouble for
Murray ahead over parting with the money.
The little woman's uncordial reception of her
husband's announcement set Watson thinking
very deeply. He' must square the matter for
Jack by making the wife satisfied with the
deal.

" Jock has come by a grand bargain, Mis-
tress," he said, throwing a touch of envy into his
voice.

" But we're needing every cent of his wages,
Mr. Watson." It was out ; the little woman had
let slip the words she was repeating over and
over to herself.

" Why, mistress, the collie's pups'll be worth
more'n ten dollars."

^^ "Ten dollars!" she exclaimed in horror.
" And is Jack bringing pups, too — where are
they? "

Bob turned in confusion and whispered to
62

THE "MISLED" COLLIE
Murray. "Heaven, Jock. I n,ade a bad

Then squaring the slip with a little equivoca-
Z a ' "TT'^; " ^ ^" -"""in', mistress,

Trefo"'?" '°" "" ''" °^ C"^'^' "
"No, what are they?"

h.J'P"'''" ^"f* *^'"' "°'"' ^'««« Murray,
but they were dog»_gran' dogs, the fathers of

P i„fe« • "2 '" ^"''^'"^- ^^ Stracathna
Prmcess .s o- that strain-Jock knows that."

The husband nodded his head complacently,
though .t was entirely new informatioJ to him!

tress M?r:a7?"'"^'°'J°'^'^ ^°™-- ^-

WetS'it^.''"--^^-^'.^-!

AVatson buried his face in the collie's neck.

tres^M '^'"'" ^°" ""^ "'^" '" Scotland, Mis-

coJ^rj- ^°" ^•=' ""'"■ '' "^ '"''" J*" JU't
a common dog-not a collie-mind you, thev

» „ Jy J . * " *''*y ""^ *'«'T plenty. So

a good dog's name is a hoosehold word

,fnl. .'' ^°""'"' "^^ ' «""' ™"i'= that was

stden; an just among ousel's, Stracathna Prin-

"ss « o' Johnnie Norman's blood. Murray

:«• :ii!

fill
ill

THIRTEEN MEN

knowi that. He's a good judge o' a dog, ii Jock.
No man'Il stick him wi' a bad one "; and Bob,
stretching out his foot, surreptitiously pressed
Jock's corns till he squirmed in agony.

Murray blushed at his friend'n tribute so at
variance with fact, but answered: " That's right
wife." '

It was quite a conspiracy.
" You could put her on the bench," Watson
declared, turning to the husband. " She has all
the points o' a prize winner. There's the finest
head you ever saw on a collie; th- flat, wide
skull that carries brain, tapering' like a lady's
han' to her eyes. An' the long muzzle an' black
nose are strong points. She has small ears, too
— big ears would throw her oot."

Watson stroked the really beautiful head as
though he were a mother caressing a loved child.
" Aye, girl, you're a beauty."

"Tell me. Bob," queried Murray; "she's a
queer color for a collie; and lier eyes are sort of
like glass marbles."

" A collie may be any color for the bench— it
doesna' matter. The Princess is what they call
' misled '; an' the ' wall-eyes ' always go with a
mottled coat. But they must be slittcd in like
a fox's. I'll tell you the points; you might want
to enter her at the Kennel Show. She has a lonjr
64

THE "MISLED" COLLIE

body and ribs well rounded up; an' the chest is
jeep an narrow in front, but plenty o' room o'er
the heart behind the shoulders."

Watson was at home on the points of a good
collie, and, once started, would talk all night on
his favorite theme. And he continued about the
straight fore legs and the well-bent hocks and
long pasterns of the hind, the arched toes, the
double coat-the outer hair coarse and the inner
soft and furry— until Margaret regretted having
expressed any objection.

. " ^,',"n'l°T ''°" ^^"' *•" ''"«' «""«« in. mis-
tress. Bob finally said; " the intelligence that's
next to human. Just stay here, girl," he com-
manded the collie. " I'll go out the back door-
I see It's a latch-an' do you, Jock, say, ' Find
Bob, an' you'll see what'U happen."

Watson went out, and when Murray spoke the
mystic words, the collie went to the door and
struck the latch with her fore paw until it freed
from the hasp. Then she wedged her thin nose
in the crack, opened the door, and with a yelp of
delight whisked about her master.

Watson came in, his face radiant with smiles,
saying: " You see, mistress, she'll be a companion
to you when Murray's at work. Just learn her
wi Find Jock,' an' if she once gets the scent of
his steps, she'll bring him if he's in the town
6S

llli

THIRTEEN MEN

You could even go out and leave her wi* little
feUie; ru guarantee nothing would touch the
baimie."

"She is wise," Mn. Murray admitted.

Are you ture ihe'd not snap if baby pulled her

hair— the little one's always clutching at things "

" No, she'll not do that. An' now I must be
gomg away home, for it's late."

As Watson put on his hat, the collie sprone
eagerly to die door, and stood waiting for him to
open it.

^^ " No, no, girlie," Bob said in a husJty voice,
you re to stay he^ an' mind little Elsie. Up
t.U I say good-by," and he snapped his fingen
at his chin. "

Princess put her paws on Watson's shoulders;
he threw his arms around her arched neck, drew
her head in against his rough cheek, and when
he hfted her gently down there were tears in his
eyes.

" I'll walk to the comer with you, Bob," Mur-
ray said, passing out.

" \"'^^'' » »I'P. Jock," Watson said, as they
parted. " It was over the puppies. If anything
went wrong, an' I couldna send you die money*
or you were ncedin' cash, just sell the puppies.
Mick to the mither as long as you can, Jock— I'm
feared I'll be very lanesome widiout h«-r "
66

THE "MISLED" COLLIE
Wation went away to Buffalo, and Stracathn.

wl u °* ',!'^' " ''■y '■» « "'hole cycle of time

I htpifd^eL^rr^r^^^^ "^' " '•'^

V ofcoune thatdaj). ' ^'"'"^ '■*^*""'-

Wtime, a, she lay on the fro,.t doorstep

Z „r *''V'°""» "d«- Whe. the restless

„Tk ''"'' '"' "°« *° 'J-^ Plump-creased
Sometimes the cold caress would brin^ forth

■<•'

THIRTEEN MEN

doJng the square thing," she kissed him apolo-
getically, and said, " If we're very careful, we'll
manage, I think, Jack."

It was in the patrician collie blood of Stra-
cathna Princess to guard and watch over some-
thing. With her ancestors it had been sheep; so
she literally interpreted her master's orders in the
supervision of Elsie.

The little one was taught to say, " Find papa,
Prin," and Watson's game of find-your-master
was played many times in the little family.

Perhaps it was' the going away of Watson,
who was convivial, or the walks Murray gave
the collie that altered the man's life. He went
less frequently to the Red Lion, and there was
more money for Margaret and her primitive
housekeeping.

It was the fourth Saturday from the event of
Princess that the household god of content was
shattered.

Murray returned from the carpet factory with
sullen depression in his face. A strike had been
declared, and, as he handed the bulk of his week's
wage to Margaret, he said, " I fought against it,
wifie, for winter's coming, and God knows we've
not much to go on with."

The little woman sat down and cried; she
was brave enough, but her slender form was
68

THE "MISLED" COLLIE

strung with fine nerves that sometimes went to
pieces.

The collie, feeling the unrest of something
wrong, put her head compassionately in the dis-
consolate woman's hand.
^^ " She's friendin' you, girl," the husband said;
she s saying to cheer up."
For a week Murray sat about the house smok-
«ng, or walked with the dog, and fought against
the hypnotic influence the Red Lion thrust into
nis hours of idleness.

One morning four puppies squeaked and tum-
bled foolishly over each other at their mother's
side—a pair of little dogs, sable-and-white, and
two females, "misled " like their mother.

In SIX weeks the money was all gone; but that
day Bob's ten dollars came.

"You see, wifie," Murray said, "a man
doesn't suffer by helping a friend. We wouldn't
have had this money now only for the collie "

Murray tried to get employment; but there
were a dozen applicants for every place— some-
times fifty; and a carpet weaver was not a desir-
able man for general work.

Bob's ten dollars lasted two weeks. Then
hunger sat and jeered at them in the little rough-
cast house. People rolled by in their carriages,
fur-robed and red of cheek, and the laborer, de-
«9

THIRTEEN MEN

void of labor, cursed at the injustice of it all;
and stroUed many times into the Red Lion, on
chance of a casual glass with its fatal warmth
for his chilled spirits.

The day after the last dollar had gone, Mar-
garet said to her husband, "Jack, there is no
milk for Elsie, and there's very Httle bread for
ourselves."

" I'll have to sell one of the pups, wife," the
husband answered; " Bob said I might if I was
pmched, and it's a case of sell or starve."

The pup was sold, and when Murray brought
home five doUars he said: "This will carry us
mto work, I diink, for they're all saying the
strike is about over."

Princess was showing the effect of short ra-
tions, and Murray gave away the two females.
They existed two weeks on the five dollars ob-
tained for the little son of Princess; the man did
—Margaret absolutely starved herself, furtively
hiding this from Jack. She grew weaker, won-
dermg if she could hold out till the time of work.
Hunger-tried in the day when she was alone
with the collie and Elsie, she indulged in costless
epicurean feasts of fancy; the great juicy joint
of beef she would have on the table when Jack
was at work again. She held these wild revels
m company with die collie; and Princess would
70

THE "MISLED" COLLIE

Wink her wise wall-eyes, and swing her tail
^Jd^ecauseonhe faint s.ileoS her ™i.

Before the two weeks were up, Margaret
fainted twice of exhaustion. It was the dayX

Z ." \'! '!V^ ** P"P "'°"«'y go that Mar-
garet tumbled for the second time, in a crum-
pled heap on the floor; she was brought out of
.nsens.bj^.ty by the sympathetic tongue of Prin
cess on her face.

been T '^'/? '"^°" ^''"*"""' """d it had

When Murray came in in the evening he'"
bought the same bitter tale of the unyielding
master and obstinate men

h.^"^T i^^"^ " *^ "''' ^«^"ily in a chair
holdmg the child in her lap.

cnJi -""r" ^'''' ""'^ ^''•^ '«' "hovelful of
w'oVus^r^'J^^- ^^^o^'wHat-sto

to ell the other pup-that's all there is to it

on till now, but we can't starve "

" We can't starve 1 " what mockeiy-she had
been starving for days.

Murray picked up the collie saying, " I won't
71

THIRTEEN MEN

be morc'n fifteen minutes." Princess followed
him to the door, and, as he stood for a second,
looked yearningly at the pup in his arms.

" It's rough on you, old girl," he said, " but it
can't be helped."

In ten minutes Murray leaned against the Red
Lion bar, saying to the heavy-faced proprietor,
" I've brought the pup you wanted."
" One of Bob Watson's breed? "
" Yes."

" All right, here's your V. Have a drop on
the head of it— we'll christen the youngster. By
Jove! we'll name' him Christmas. Here's to
you, Jack— Merry Christmas! "

The florid man said nothing about the little
starved woman at home; she didn't hear, any-
way, so it didn't matter.

Then the glasses were filled again at JaJc's
order, lest the stigma of meanness should sminA
the name of the man.

"Merry Christmas, ha, ha I" some little
devil in the clinking glasses had sneered the
mocking laugh.

Murray left the saloon, his hand grasping the
crisp bill in his pocket; a comforting influence
stole up his arm and threw his shoulders back.
He had gone in shivering with cold; he issued
with a warm glow at his heart— he forgot to
72

THE "MISLED" COLLIE

button his coat. The cheery liquor enveloped
thefivc dollars with the potentiality of fifty

The sidewalk thronged with Christmas shop-
pers, animated of countenance.

A man touched Murray's shoulder, and a fa-
miliar voice said: " Well, Jock I "

"Bob Watson! God, man!" Then the two
friends held hands for a minute in silence.

I m just back from Buffalo to have Christ-
mas with the collie-an' yourself, Jock, o'
course." Watson said. " Come an' we'll have
a drop for auld lang syne."

Murray complied hesitatingly, objecting, " I
must hurry back to the wife."

"C<""«on.man— I'mgoin'withyou. We'll
just have a smile first."

Watson furnished the smile; and then— a man
must be a man— Murray carried the ripple of
hilarity along with another smile. And over the
glasses with their loosening-up power, he told
the whole story of his troubles. But Watson
had saved money, and declared he would
stand by the man who had loaned him his last
dollar.

Bob's eyes became jewels of delight He
snuggled the pup under his chin; put it on the
73

•^i

!il

THIRTEEN MEN

oak bar, and called them all to witness the glo.
nous points of " Christmas."
.. " Sable-and-white," he cried exultingly;
man, alive! that's the Charlemagne cropping
out— a grand strain indeed I "

Murray leaned over and whispered in Wat-
son's ear, " I wouldn't have sold him, Bob. if
I could a-hclped it."

" Tut, man I he's in good hands— the Prin-
cess s enough for me. And, Mr. Nolan, we'll
just trouble you to wet the feet o' little
Christmas."

Then Watson, as breeder of such a fine dog,
felt called upon to do the honors of the occasion.
A dozen times little Christmas was brought forth
to be shown to the friends of Watson who
dropped in. The proprietor had the price of the
pup back in an hour.

The liquor had laid its strong grasp upon
Murray s half-starved physique, and subdued
his consciousness of the flight of time.

At first he repeated at intervals, " I must go,
Bob ; now he drank in quiescent waiting on his
friend's pleasure.

Christmas Eve at the Red Lion; in the little
rough-cast house it was this way:

When Jack had gone, Margaret lighted a
lamp and peered into the stove; die fire was
74

THE "MISLED" COLLIE

almost burned out-and the Kuttic wa, empty.
She placed Els.e upon a shawl beside the stove
and opened the oven door. As the stored

tTeThnd"'"'*^' *' ~"'' "'"''"'^ ^^"'" ''"'^^
Sitting down, the mother tried to rest, as she

waited her husband's return. She couldn't

Nerves are all-powerful just before they break;

*ey dragged the weary woman to her feet, they

paced her up and down the room.

A half-hour went by-an hour. A gong in

the htt e box of wheels on the shelf said it las

e^ght o'clock Why did not Jack retumJome!

thing must have happened him-he had been

Kilied, run over?

The jerky nerves drew fanciful pictures of dis-
aster Elsie was sleeping nestled against the
colhe's s.de, but the room was getting cold-tt
fire had gone out; she put the little one in her
cot As Margaret rose from the chair, she stag-
gered; and as she stooped to lift the child, glim-
mcnng lights, violet and blue-green, blinded her
-she was choking. Then, with a call of " Jack "
the little woman pitched forward, the collie's
body breaking her fall.

The frightened child set up a wail; and Prin-
cess, crawling from beneath her mistress, stood
trying to puzzle out the extraordinary happen-
6 75

THIRTEEN MEN

ing. Why did her mistress lie there without
speaking? The child's wail stirred her heart
with i! lonesome feeling.

The collie stepped forward and peered into
Margaret's face, then caressed it; she lifted her
paw and tapped the woman's shoulder plead-

ingly — there was no response.

Subtle instinct rr'd Princess that her mistress

was rll; and he- little playmate, Elsie, was in

trouble because :-.e cried— just like her own pups

used to.

Her brain, that was only a wise dog's brain,
worked confusedly at the disturbing tangle- it
needed a lead in the right direction from ihe
hner-workmg mechanism of a human mind.

There was an air of unrest over the room, such
as comes before a storm— the child's plaintive
cry vibrated her sympathy. It made her restless ;
she wanted somcthing-her pups or her master,
or even if the mistress would but speak She
wandered about the room, sniffing at the nooks
into which her puppies used to crawl. A pair of
Murray's boots with the man's scent started a
clear thought— her master and her pup had gone
away together. And in the room was but the
child's wail; Princes, felt a desire to howl in
sympathy. She trotted back to the pathetic
group on the floor, her nails clicking the boards
76

r; !

THE "MISLED" COLLIE

and shoving the coHie'. h^,A . *'

"Find papa 1>IT^"" ''"'' "^"y- »'»«= "id.

P icd-croMcd and recrossed as they had
77

Ill

THIRTEEN MEN

been by others; on, taking her wonderful way to
the door of the Red Lion.

Her thrill collie bark carried to Watron'i ear.

"God, man!" he cried, "I'll take
m' oath "

He darted to the door; as he flung it open,
Princess sprang against him with a whine of
delight. Then she raced to Murray, in whose
hands was little " Christmas."

" She's followed the pup," Jack said, as the
mother smothered the little chap's face in her
caresses.

Then Princess raced to the door, uttering a
sharp calling bark; then again to the pup, giving
it a hurried kiss; and once more to the door.

Watson watched the collie's erratic move-
ments with intense interest. Suddenly he said,
" Jock, she's been sent for you ; there's something
wrong, I fear — come away, man 1 "

Watson's words steadied Murray's senses that
were swaying because of the liquor. Without a
word he pushed through the door, and the two
men almost ran; dread and the cold night air
mastering the liquor fumes.

As they swung up the path, the little house
was quiet — there was a light. As Murray stood
for a second in the doorway, Elsie held up her
hands, crying in delight, " Papa 1 "
78

THE "MISLED" COLLIE

Murray lifted the sensclen form of hit wife
to the bed, saying, " Quick, Bob, the doctor—
the red light on the comer."

Margaret lay like one dead. The husband
put his hand over her heart; it took a length of
time to detect the weak flutter. He chafed her
hands, crying in an anguish of remorse, " Mar-
garet, girl, tvake uj^— oh, my God! "

Elsie was crying on the floor. He put her
in her cot, and reproached himself with strong
words, "Woe to me; I'll never drink a drop
again— I've killed the little woman."
Then the doctor and Bob came hurrying in.
She'll be all right," the doctor said, after a
little. " It's lucky you caught me in, though—
she's so weak that a half-hour might have made
ail the difference."

" The collie was just in time, Jock," Watson
whispered to Murray, as the doctor sat by the
bed.

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THE INFATUATION OF ACKERLY

ACKERLY was an inspector of police in
Burma. That was at Thayetmyo.
He was tall and square and round-
cheeked — a splendid specimen ; just the sort of
man to throttle men who needed it.

" Not an ounce of sentiment in his gladiator
head," some one said. That was what they
thought; in point of fact his great muscles were
wrapped up in sentiment. That was why Mys-
tery held up her cloak, and threw a shadow across
his path.

If the Gomez girl had been beautiful, or even
pleasing, the thing that happened might have
been put down to the irresponsibility of a full-
blooded youthfulness; but the Gomez was short
and squat and broad-featured and black. She
was " twelve anas in " of Hindoo blood, and
not an ana of it had lost any of its darkness.

There was nothing to account for Ackerly's
infatuation — absolutely nothing — except her
playing. That was the one thing she could do
— ^play the violin.

THE INFATUATION OF ACKERLY

When I say she could, I must stop and think
what a man who knew aU about those things
once said: "It is not this woman who plays-
some spmt comes and uses her hand^-that is
all." It was like that, too.

The violin, a gentle-walled Cremona, had
been m the Gomez family since the time of Pie-
tro, Marie's great-grandfather, who played like
an angel, tradition said. And all these years the
spirit had lain asleep until Marie's fat hands
had cried it into wakefuhiess.

Of course she had learned the thing. A sister
was married to an engineer in a rice mill, and
his money had been used freely to teach her the
workmanship of the arts. That was in Calcutta
— she had been sent there.

This in itself was a mere bagatelle, the tuition
she received, as compared with the spirit that
used her hands. It was only the knowledge of
perspective an Angelo might use for one of his
masterpieces.

Tall, broad-shouldered young men are fairish
marks on the matrimonial rifle ranges; and Ack-
erly had been brought down by about as sweet a
girl as anyone could very well wish for. That
was before he went to Thayetmyo; and it made
the infatuation all the more like a piece of the
evil goddess Kali's work.
8i

THIRTEEN MEN

I have said that the Gomez's one accomplish-
ment was the violin-but she had another. She

that thnlled through the vibrating strings of the
sobbmg viohn out to master the minds of
animals.

The first time Ackerly saw her was at her
father s place. Old Gomez had asked him down
to see Mane make a king cobra dance; that was
^e way he put .t. But then old Gomez had no
soul for anythmg beyond the fleshpots of a rich
son-m-law; and so knew nothing about the ter-
nble power that came from the talking strings
A hamadryas iS a king cobra; as vicious and
as deadly as the capello, and as strong as a boa.
But as Mane Gomez drew the bow across the
strings of her violin in wailing tones, the king
cobra was hke a slim, silken ribbon, for the spell
of the spirit numbed his vicious mind.

" It's extraordinary," Ackerly thought, as he
sat and watched, and listened to the spirits in the
violin calling to the king cobra. And " Boh "—
that was the cobra's name^nderstood them

When Marie ceased playing the cobra dropped
fuU length on the hard, beaten ground, a seiVant
threw a basket down, and he glided in

As the Gomez raised her eyes, Ackerly looked
82

THE INFATUATION OF ACKERLY
into them. He should not have done that, for
he s^hing of the spirit, in the music had gone
.nto h.s muscles, and he was ready for the h^™
that was to come. He tried to reLmbfr\vt"

fa«d^mCh.tt.Ko„g once. The leopard had eyes

After this there was no rest for Ackerly; nor
for he matter of that, for his friends. Friend;

tho..ri <^ ''''" *'y "'■'^ "^e ^" doing
^hough the Gome^ was hardly as bad as tia?
All the same ,t wasn't the proper thing-no eZd
could come of it. He couldn't lift hef up to w"k

there d be sorrow all over the place. That was
the way the friends figured it ot .nd they hid

r„? 'm' P""'^^"^^ - *- «■- of the art
ment No white man had ever done it yet- SI
man had always been dragged down t<^ the ield
of the other. The friends looked at it from
reasonable, fair-to-all point of view Th^T^a
because the spirits in the fiddle hadn't taTed t"

Ackerly .knew that all they were saying was

W they talked to him he said they were
83

THIRTEEN MEN

right; he was no end of an ass, and the girl was
as black as his hat — the hat he wore in England.
He admitted it all, and cursed the whole Gomez
family for a lot of " thugs."

But when the spirits that were in the girl sent
their voices down through the tamarind trees that
stood thick between the two bungalows, calling
to him on the wailing violin, he rose, and went
and sat where he could look into the eyes that
made the cobra droop his head. " Devil's eyes "
she had, the friends said; but they haunted Ack-
erly day and night. They weren't evil, he
thought; but that they would work evil for him
he knew, just as surely as any of the others.

And when he had come, the short, squat figure
would huddle itself close beside him. And the
music would talk to him of love and rest, and
the sighing of the violin was th-; sighing of
angels, and the sobbing, the crying of wrecked
hopes ; and the full notes were a godlike majesty,
and the low, soft plaint the whispering of the
winds in the gossamer leaves of the tamarind.

Nobody, not even the Gomez, knew about
this, the only bit of truth there was in the whole
thing. She thought it was for herself that the
strong-limbed inspector of police came — because
he loved her. Had not her sister, who was
also fat, married a sahib ; a sahib who drew six
84

liil

THE INFATUATION OF ACKERLY

they were iealou,.Vj. ^* '^" ''«'»««

hurrying hi.seff u^der L "fl te on™"""'
«h«t out the barrenness of bel^b/r '""' '"

bei^te%tf d"'r- '^^ ^'^'^-''- "oo. "I
oeiieve that devil is jealous " Art.-i .

to the Gomez girl '• c" ' .h, ''^ ?"" "''*
at me." ''" **"« ^''X he looks

"Oh, he won't harm youl " reoIie-J f,;.
panion ; " he like« th^ ^ ■ . *^ '^ "is com-
J- , lie iiKes the music, that s all T<^ i * n

h.. ^ go. vein your bung;iow.h\tllgoV'"

cwS'^"^.t.dr„.r ''''^" «-

I should kill him." ""«'" •"'• *»• «=!''«

The squat figure laughed a little, and made
8j

■ ilk

THIRTEEN MEN

a pass at the cobra with her fiddle bow. He
raised his head slightly, blew out his hood, and
then glided off among the silk leaves of the
plantain trees.

" I'll send him to your bungalow to-morrow,"
she said, " to guard it, lest some other girl comes
and steals you away from me."

"If you do, I'll shoot him," replied her com-
panion, looking at her widi a grave, determined
face.

She pulled the bow across the strings of the
violin that lay upon her knee; and the note cut
through him like a knife. Yes, it was some one
dying, that was the cry that came up from the
strings.

"You sec," she said, looking into his face
with those strangely lighted eyes, the leopard
eyes, " if you kill ' Boh,' you kill me."

" You must not say such a silly thing as that,"
he answered angrily; "it's only a cobra, .nd
should be killed."

" No," she said, and the violin was wailing
again, as the bow touched it tremblingly, " if
you kill him I shall die. I can't tell you about
it, but that is so."

And then the violin wailed and moaned, and
the cadences of the dirge rose and fell, ,ust like
the wind sighing through the gaunt cassarina
86

THE INFATUATION OF ACKERLY

trees, with their harp bows, which grew down on
the salt-sea shore where Ackerly's white girl
lived. She let the hand that held the bow sud-
denly stop and lie across his wrist, as she said:
And if anything were to happen to you, it
would be the same, too, I should die."

The hand scorched his wrist, and her voice,
which was only the continuation of the plaint
that had come from the violin, seared his ears,
and lay hot against his soul. It was an accursed
thing this; even if she were to die, or the whole
family were to die, he couldn't wreck everything
—his own life, the lift of the girl who lived
down where the cassarinas grew, and his mother's
life. That was all so ; but strong as these things
were, they were not so strong as the other, the
voices that spoke to him from the fat hands of
the Gomez, and told him to come night after
night, and sit where the big, black eyes might
look into his.

The next day Ackerly heard a soft rustle in
the comer of his bedroom. It was " Boh."

When the inspector saw him he swore like a
proper soldier. That was because the sound of
the violin was not in his ears, and he was more
or less in his right senses.
^^ He took his police sword down, exclaiming:
I II not stand your infernal nonsense, anyway
87

THIRTEEN MEN

If. bad enough to play the goat with a Portu-
g«e.e ha f-ca.te. but when it lom.s to klZT,
".enagenc if. too n,uch of a good thing "' *

The cobra looked at him sleepily; he felt .ure
that nothing would happen to him.

Ackerly took two steps toward " Boh " then
stopped. "Hang ,he thingl " he sar": "£

there d be no end of a row over it. He's lust

^!Tr '•?r""' ' ''"'''■" So He puti

"Boh-T/"^ ?'r " «"''^'' « *he cobra.

Boh dodged the little round fruit, and glided

Ackerly thought of what the Gomez had said

true to her. There's no danger of that " he
cxcla.med angrily; " if anyone blacker or u'glie

rou see, he used to score himself heavily when

^atuat,on, as a man reviles liquor when he is

^nl^°K ^'u"^ '''"'' ""'^ 'P^'d »^» hood in
JSanl" .' '^°^' °' *^ ^-" « ^-g

black and ugly.

Ho?". "" u' ^^^'J' «°* " '^"'^ from the girl

down by the sea-the white one. There wa

none of the weird music of the fiddle in it; „oT

the girl

THE INFATUATION OF ACKERLY

Nice chum you've ont " - l

»..rd Boh, ..h.p„„^.,k.i„,„„^,^ J
?J„ f '«•■"' *i"8 know. U., ;l „„ ^^^^

Wave a cheroot, Green," said Ackerlv h. 'W
h.s agar case toward the newcomer ' ^ '^■

someot7pTacXo°.'^".r '""^^^^^ ^^
89

THIRTEEN MEN

out where there's a good healthy icourge of
cholera on, I'd have you sent there," he added,
looking indulgently at the inspector.

" Look here," exclaimed Ackerly, shifting in
his chair, " you fellows are bothering your heads
confoundedly about me. Leave me alone. I'm
all right."

"So was Sanbum," said Green — "and he
shot himself at the finish. ' Chee-chee ' love is
hell, that's what it is, my young friend."

" Well," answ -ed Ackerly, " when the order
comes I won't budge. I'm not a griffin just out
from home, to be ordered about the country by
a lot of paternal cusses who have gone through
the whole thing themselves, and are sick of it."

" What'U you do? " asked his friend laconic-
ally.

" I'll cut the forre first — go into something
else, where I'll have a little say in my own affairs.
I'd like to be my own master for a minute, just
to see how it feels."

" You'll never be that if you stay here," as-
serted Green decisively.

" Here, have a peg, and shut up," br^ke in the
inspector. " I'm sick of the whole business —
sick of you fellows lecturing me as though I were
worth bothering about. Besides, Green " — and
he reached over and laid his hand on his friend's
90

THE INFATUATION OP ACKERLY

, wasn t a talking man AI«n f — .

know it i/Tt, ?!" f "" "■'"« " I'M you

y,t „ '^ """^ '^> I « pull you out of the mire

^nff^ S"*'"''^ incredulously. "You„ ,

(Clerks) and your mudcoated villagers, but
^ 91

THIRTEEN MEN

when it comes to playing against the Gomez,
she'll beat you out. You remember the Hindoo
fakir who came here one day and sent a boy up
a string into the air, and we never saw him
again ? "

" Yes, I remember," said Green, listlessly.

" Well, with all your codes of procedure, and
your books on how to do this and how to do that,
you couldn't accniint for it, could you ? "

" No," answered the deputy absent-mindedly,
wondering what it had to do with the thing in
hand.

" Nor could you bring the boy back again.
No, of course you couldn't. Neither can you
tell anything about the power this woman uses to
send me up a string, if you like. Neither can
you bring me back again. That's because your
logic is of the West, where you've got to get at
the cubical contents of the thing before you can
do anything with it. You've got to measure it,
and weigh it, and pound it up, and assay it — and
then write out a sort of formula about the thing.

" But this other problem you can't understand,
because it's of the East; but it's as simple to these
close-to-nature beings as your mathematical rot
is to you. There, I have spoken. Drink your
peg, and let's gallop down to the polo grounds
—that's healthier. And also if I ride hard per-
92

THE INFATUATION OF ACKERLY

haps I'll break my stupid neck, and it'll save you
meddlesome grannies a lot of worry."

As they went out they saw " Boh " lying under
the veranda, his wicked eyes gleaming like two
blood-streaked diamonds.

" Did the woman give him to you? " asked
Green, nodding his head sideways toward the
cobra; " or did she send him here to keep your
mmd fixed on her? You're the bird, and he's
to keep up the fascination, I suppose."
^^ " I don't know," answered Ackerly carelessly;
he himed up to-day— that's all I know about
It. But It wasn't ; he knew the violin player had
sent him — he could feel it.

" He's really not a cobra at all," remarked the
deputy. " In the books on snakes he goes under
another name. I forget what it is—' devil ' for
choice, I should say."

They played polo, and nobody's neck was
broken, not even Ackerly's. After dinner Green
called at the policeman's bungalow to lug him
off to the club. " I must amuse this strange ani-
mal," he thought as he went up the steps, " until
I break her hold on him."

But Ackerly was gone. " He's over there,"

muttered the deputy, nodding in the direction

from which came dreamy, sensuous music. " I'll

go and take part in that seance^ he told himself.

THIRTEEN MEN

"If there are two of us, it will split up the blessed
thing, perhaps."

He found the inspector sitting beside the black
Gomez. Of course she was playing to him, just
as she had been to the cobra diat night. It made
Green angry; his anger silenced him. He said
" Good evening " sullenly as he came up to
them.

Ackerly looked up good-naturedly, and
pointed toward a big chair. " I suppose you
want me. I'll come with you in a minute. Sit
down," he said. He nodded toward Marie, and
ejaculated " Play 1 " for she had stopped.

As Marie played, the deputy's anger slipped
away from him. He tried to think of why he
had come — tried to remember why he was angry.
But the melody was of green fields and sunshine,
and water splashing over the rocks, and of birds;
and nothing else there — nothing only love. It
was the song of a love dream.

He sat a long time watching the fat hands
caressing the spirit-voiced violin, and wondering
why he had been angry at all — why the thing
was wrong.

When she ceased playing, and there was only

the squat, dark-faced figure bulging misshapenly

in the white muslin dress, he thought of the un-

holiness of it all. Surely it was something to un-

THE INFATUATION OF ACKERLY

fJl ^*""7'°"K' °^<^ -^hap," he said rudely, get-
ting up and putting his hand on Aclcerly's shoul-
der; we promised to meet the colonel at die

about .t. That was an impromptu lie, but
Green knew he'd never do penance for it. The
fair ha.red boy beside him was worth a great
deal more than that, if he could bring him back
to his senses.

. J'°°",'' ^"'f *"'" """"""ded Ackerly, as they
swung along the hard road togeAer. " Youvl
seen what you've seen, and you're going to do
something; but don't preach-it's no good."

That was why Green said never a word for
days to his friend about the Gomez; but stuck
close to him until the inspector began to almost
hate the sight of his face.

freS'" vl ^°"'°""'^,^'^'y f"«"dly," he said
trettul y, I m sure you're neglecting your vil-
agen, looking after me." That was beLse the
influence wasn't good for his nerves, and he was
getting irntable. Green wasn't trying to cure
him that way; he was only holding him in check
until the coup d'e,at he had planned should come

He had worked out the saving of Ackerly
95

THIRTEEN MEN

■m

with his wife. " A woman is worth a dozen men
in a case of this kind," he said to himself. To
her he said : " I want you to help me a little.
Ackerly is in a bad way; something has got to be
done pretty quick. If they trap him with a mar-
riage it -vill be too late.

" I've written to have him transferred as far
as they can send him. The correspondence is
only just nicely under way as yet, and I have
received fourteen communications from three
different departments about the matter. And it
appears that I have nearly ruined the man's
character as an officer; also considerably dam-
aged my own as a man of sense, I think.

" They want me to specify my charges against
him. Has he been looting? or taking bribes?
Is it drink? has he been hanging the natives
about? or is he simply inefficient? One depart-
ment intimates that he is not supposed to take
orders from me; and if he has been insubordi-
nate, it serves me right.

" At any rate, they are not paying traveling
allowance for officials from one eud of Burma
to the other, simply because somebody wishes
somebody else shifted, they say.

" That's only a part of it," he continued de-
spairingly. " One man who seems to have got
an inkling of what's in the wind — inkling!
96

t i

THE INFATUATION OF ACKERLY

Great Cisar I I thought I had put it as plain as
I dared— writes that the Government is not a
maternal institution, looking after harebrained
youngsters, and keeping them out of matrimonial
entanglements. I should say they weren't; but
they'd weed him out quick enough if he married
the Gomez."

" Well, Jack," said Mrs. Green, " you've got
to send for the other one; that's the only way.
She'll come quick enough, too. She loves this
soft-headed youngster, and she's got sense
enough to lift him out of this business."

That was the coup d'etat that Green was hold-
ing Ackerly in check for.

Ackerly was leading a haunted life. Green
stuck to him with a feverish intentness. " I must
hold this young ass till Jess comes," he thought
" Jess " was the girl.

On the other side " Boh " had nested in the
mspector's house; and often when he fancied he
was breaking awSy from the speU a little, the
devil eyes of die cobra would peer at him from
some hole, and he could feel that the Gomez saw
him, and was reproaching him.

Of course, he went many times over to the
other bungalow. Sometimes the violin called to
him down through the tamarinds; sometimes the
dark eyes beckoned to him out of the night.
97

THIRTEEN MEN

Then one day Jess came. She stopped with
the Greens, as had been arranged. They took
Ackerly in hand with a proprietary right, but
with much diplomatic gentleness; that was Mrs.
Green's doing.

The Gomez knew the other had come, and
why. She talked to her violin, and it wailed
back; and the big, eloomy eyes looked at " Boh,"
and he, too, knew. It was all the doing of the
spirits that worked through the fat hands which
caressed the strings of the throbbing violin.

" How is it going. Jack? " Mrs. Green aoked
her husband. " Does he go there now ? " That
was two or three days after Jess had come.

" I think not," replied Green. " Looks as
though it's broken up."

He was right in a way. Ackerly had not gone
to the Gomez s ''tice Jess came; but it was not
broken up — not by a great deal. The young fel-
low was only torturing his soul that he might be
a man for three or four days. He talked to Jess
in the evening, and then went to his own bunga-
low, and the sobbing violin carried its talc of
anguish to him through the heavy, Burmese
night.

" Boh " only knew what the violin cried; that
for three nights his mistress Marie had sat with
scorched eyes and low-droof ed head.
98

THE INFATUATION OF ACKERLY
The fourth night from the coming of Jew

the latter 8 bungalow. Je« had gone to bed, and
Green had kept hi, friend there long into tEe

"Have you seen ' Boh ' about here lately? "
asked Ackerly, trying to speak carelessly. " He's

£-th°a"t^" "' ^""«'"°"' """^ ^ ^" ""^"'d

tJ^^k'??*""" '"'^ whispered to him about

£iniiss;r"'^^"--'^^^-^^--

frol^"' k"* ^''f ""'*' "^''y *° ~'"« o'^" here
from my bungalow; I wish you'd keep an eye
open for h.m, and if he bothers club him away "

h J ", ?"^ *°"«''* °^ ^''" ^«'«ri« Gomez

fall '. ' "'"?"» " ^"'^ " *° P^'^'nt his
falling m love with any other girl. What if

there was anything i„ that, and " Boh " should
revenge his mistress on Jess.

He was still in this train of thought when he

was start led by Jack's wife gliding toward them

with a fright-blanched face ^"^ tnem

" Jess 1 " she gasped. " The cobra I "

Ackerlyfa,ew;his thoughts had just been of it.

1 . y^"'- u .'"' ^°"'" t^«Ive-boreI " he ciacu-

lated widi subdued earnestness. Green handed

him his shotgun, and they hurried to Jess's apart-

THIRTEEN MEN

ment. Ackerly knew exactly what he thould
find; he knew just what " Boh " would do.

At the door he stopped. On the dressing
table a lamp was burning, and by its light he
saw " Boh's " flat, arched head, with the wicked,
gleaming eyes, erect and motionless, not two feet
from Jess's face; the body of the cobra was
coiled up on her breast. Jess was awake; her
eyes moved, but for that she was perfectly mo-
tionless. '

" Don't be frightened, little woman," he said
tenderly; "I am going to shoot, but don't
move."

Then without raising the gun, for he saw the
evil in the cobra's eyes, he fired point-blank from
his hip. The report was terrific in the closed
room, and the heavy pall of the sulphurous
smoke shut out the sight of everything.

He sprang forward, and his strong arm swept
the girl, covers and all from the bed. There was
really no hurry, for " Boh " was stone-dead, his
ugly head shot to pieces.

Green had never arranged for that act in his
coup d'etat.

Whether it was the death of " Boh " or not
I am not prepared to say; but the mystery and
power had passed away from the Gomez from
that time.

lOO

THE INFATUATION OF ACKERLY

Marie didn't die physically as she had said she
would with the death of " Boh," but the other,
the greater, died. The spirits caUed no more to
Ackerly from the strings of her violin.

lOI

THE STEALING OF THE BUDDHA
PEARL

WHEN a man is rich he joins the looth
Hussars — if he can; when he loses
his money he retires — he must.
That's what Hadley did — both. It was in
Rangoon.

An officer out of service is about as useful as
a bronze Buddha in Covent Garden; and the
more Hadley thought of things he might do,
the oftener he came back to the predominant
idea of a popular crossing to sweep, somewhere
in London.

Then rose up Balthazar, the Armenian, and
started him in the pearl-fishing. Balthazar was
an individual who had momentum and much
money. Hadley had brains and honor — there
you are.

MacAUister, of Singapore, furnished a
stanch craft of seventy tons, the Ruby; also
good "Hinks"' air pumps. Balthazar sent
I^hbo, son of Mah Thu, who lived in Mergui,
with Hadley. Lahbo was coach — Hadley would
soon learn, the Armenian said.

102

STEALING THE BUDDHA PEARL

All the pearl fisher, went to Mergui, in Bur-
ma, for their pump boats and crews. Hadlev
hired three boats with crews from Ragath,: for
iix hundred rupee, per month. For each boat
he hired a diver: Angelo, Pietro, and Lahbo.

m all the Mergu. Archipelago. If other divers
got thirty shells in a day, Angelo got fifty, when
they brought none, he still found a few Pa
raly.i. never came near him, though he "dived
deeper than any of them-worked farther out
m the deep water where the best shells were.
When the other divers strove for his secret. An-
gelo showed his white Spanish teeth in a laugh,
and said it was the medicine he rubbed on that
kept h,m from the divers' devil, the paralysis.

Hadley s allotted station was off Pawa Island
— Pawa, where the great waterfall tumbles
sheer over die rock-cliffed shore into the sea. It
was good fishing there, and each evening wh:n
the boats pulled alongside the Ruby her decks
g istened with the gray-green shells, big as soup
plates, that were thrown over the rail. There
were pearls in some of them, too; sometimes
loose, like a cherry in the jelly; sometimes grown
in the shell, like a fly in the amber.

Perhaps it was trying to keep up with Angelo
that caused Lahbo to be laid by the heels by the
103

THIRTEEN MEN

dreaded paralytii. The second week cf the fish-
ing he came up unconKious, and when he opened
his eyes again he was paralyzed. Hadley did
not turn him off like a broken-down horse,
but nursed him. " Hanged if I'll send him off
there to live on betel nut," he said. " He's
come to it working for me, and I'll see him
through."

That was Hadley's way. So he fed him gen-
erously, and doctored him intelligently, and paid
him with a Quixotic fairness. And when Lahbo
went back to Mergui at the end of the season
he told Mah Thu that Hadley Thakine was as
good as a Buddhist.

Then the mother went and smoked her che-
root on the veranda of Hadley, the pearl-mas-
ter's bungalow. The little eyes, like cheap
yellow beads set deep in the heavy Burmese face,
watched the white man furtively as he came and
went. When the eyes were satisfied, she told
him her secret — of the Buddha Pe? 'l. That was
because he had been good to Lahbo. Years
before, a Buddhist priest, Crotha, who was fa-
vored of Buddha, wanted to build a pagoda on
Pawa. So he carved little images of Buddha
from the alabaster, and put them in young
oysters. These he put back in the sea near to
Pawa. " The oysters will cover the Buddhas
104

STEALING THE BUDDHA PEARL

He invoked a curse on any who ihould come
by he pearls dishonestly, and put a .acred mark
on the sheHs so that they might be known.

When Crotha thought the pearls h,d been

tZLJ: ""'^^''»'-. who was Mah
Ihus husband, to dive for them.

"> the hght of an .mpostor; and when the bia
pear oysters with the marks were fished up he
gently strove to sequester them for the use' o
h.s own church. Nobody ever quite knew ju.
what happened on the boat, for th.v were all
k."ed m the row that ensued. Even C^th "
who was with them, was killed. '

Mah Thu knew the spot. Outside from

Reef, fifty boat lengths beyond this, sailing
south unt.l the great waterfall is opposite th!
first .ron dog-that was the spot. Mah Thu'

I must keep Angelo for this work, he thought.
bo when Angelo's money was all swallowed up
in gm and religion, and little side issues, he ad-
105

THIRTEEN MEN

vanced him more to live on; that was against
the next seaeon's work. Lahbo would be fit to
work again also, the doctor said.

When Hadley went out next season, Mah
Thu went with him to show the place where the
great pearls were.

Beyond the Iron Dog Reef Hadley anchored
the Ruby, and the divers worked back and
forth.

It was Lahbo found the teakwood ribs of
Crotha's boat sticking up out of the sand, quite
half a mile from the Ruby. It was in twenty-
five fathoms, and the pressure was great.
Lahbo had been so long under water that his
tender signaled him to come up.

At last he came, with eight shells in his bag.
As he reeled in the bottom of the boat, faint
and giddy, one of the boatmen gave a queer
cry of awe. Lahbo looked at him drunkenly;
in the sailor's hand was a shell with the sacred
mark of a pagoda on it.

" Loud-voiced fool I " said the diver, " throw
it with the others." Then he swayed like a
broken shutter, for he was half-paralyzed by the
terrible pressure, and fell in a heap close to the
shells.

" The sun will kill him, oh, you brothers of
oxen I Put up on this side the canvas that he
1 06

STEALING THE BUDDHA PEARL

may have shade!" exclaimed Ncyoung, the
tender.

And to make hot water for the stricken man
he built a fire on the small clay fireplace just in
the stem. When the fire was burning strong,
and the canvas had shut off the boatmen so that
they could not see, Lahbo clutched his mate by
the arm and pointed to the fire and the marked
shell. All the weariness of the paralysis had
gone; there was only a mu-derous look of cu-
pidity in the oblique eyes of the diver. The ten-
der understood. He shoved the little iron tongs
that were used for the charcoal in the fire, and
showed his pawn-blackened teeth in a grin of
appreciation. Soon the tongs were red hot;
Lahbo had taken a cork from the pocket of his
short white jacket.

Then Neyoung put the hot iron close to the
hinge of the gigantic shell and slowly the
saucerlike lids opened. The cork was shoved
in to keep them in that position, and Lahbo ex-
plored the inside with a sliver.

The boatmen heard a sharp cry from behind
the canvas. " Lahbo is in pain," they said.

" It's a pearl from the gods," hoarsely whis-
pered Lahbo to Neyoung, as he held in his hand
something he had gently roUed out with the
bamboo sliver.

* 107

THIRTEEN MEN

Then they used the hot iron again, and the
cork was taken out; the lids closed, and the
hinge was made wet, and the oyster was tossed
back among the others, and only the great pearl,
large as a man's thumb, nestled in the trembling
hand of Lahbo. The yellow in his eyes was
streaked with blood-red pencilings. Surely the
pressure had driven all the blood to his brain
— it was on fire. , He strove to clutch at his
throat — he was choking; his hand refused to
obey; a deathly numbness was creeping up the
arm. The pearl clasped in the palm of his hand
was ice; it was freezing the blood, and all the
time his brain was on fire — the smoke was
smothering him.

He tried to call out; the muscles of his
tongue had been cut; it lay like an idle thing
in his mouth. Then slowly, inch by inch, the
freezing crept up his arm, pricking and sting-
ing like a thousand points. He tried to grasp
it with the other hand — to shake it into life
again; it, too, was utterly powerless.

Then he knew.

Back across the shells he drooped, his eyes,
with the red-streaked yellow, the only thing of
life now left in his stiffening body.

Neyoung, the tender, also knew; and his
black eyes glistened with a new light. With a
io8

STEALING THE BUDDHA PEARL

wrench he tore open the stiffening fingers
which clasped the pearl and slipped it in his
mouth.

He knelt down and shoved his long yellow
arm among the pots and things stored in the end
of ^he boat. He found what he was searching
for-a ball of black pitch. Making a hole
with his thumb, he shoved the pearl in, smoothed
down tht pitch, and threw it carelessly back
where it had lain before.

Then he called: "Ho, brothers! Lahbo is
dead, and threw the canvas down.

They rushed aft and looked at Lahbo; the
eyes of the paralyzed thief looked back at them,
and they knew he wasn't dead-H)nly hi. mus-
cles strangled by the evil spirits.

Then they seized the oars and pulled for the
Ruby, for the wind was dead and the sea flat
as the blue sky above them.

Mah Thu leaned over the brass-studded rail
her wrinkled face looking like yellow parchment
on the mirror water, as she watched them carry
Lahbo up the little ladder and lay him on the
deck. She took his poor, useless head in her
lap, and Hadley watched the big pearl shells
brought up. He was passing them through his
hands when he suddenly stopped and held one
out toward Mah Thu.

109

THIRTEEN MEN

"That is one of then, O Thakine," she
exclaimed.

Lahbo's eyes tried to say something, but they
did not understand. Mah Thu thought he was
in pain, and rocked her poor bent old body back
and forth in anguish.

Hadley brought his little tub close to Mah
Thu and opened the marked oyster. There was
nothing in it — no pearl.

" The evil spirits have stolen it 1 " cried the
woman.

Again the eyes that were in the dead body of
the paralyzed diver tried to say something, but
nobody understood him — nobody only Ne-
young. He knew, and he muttered to himself :
" I must send Lahbo away to Nirvana, or those
devil eyes will tell that I have the pearl."

In all the other oysters was only one pearl
— not a Buddha pearl. Mah Thu, Lahbo,
and Neyoung were sent ba'-k to Mergui in
Lahbo's boat. And all the way in Neyoung's
eyes war, the light of murder; and in Mah Thu's
watchfulness; and in Lahbo's something he
wanted to tell, and which nobody understood —
nobody but Neyoung.

Hadley continued fshing, but no more
Buddha pearls came his way.

One moon from that time Neyoung landed
no

STEALING THE BUDDHA PEARL

in Singapore from the " B. V mail steamer to
sell the stolen Buddha pearl to Rico, the Rus-
sian Jew. That was Rico's business— buyins
stolen pearls from divers.

Rico had a nose for pearls keen as the vulture
instmct that finds a sand-buried horse. He
swooped down on Neyoung, but the astute Bur-
man would not show him the Buddha at first
He played Rico for a time. When the Jew saw
the pearl he went mad.

Rico had seen big pearls, and bought them,
too, but never anything like the Buddha pearl
It was as large as the jewel Tavemier had paid
half a million for in Arabia. Rico knew that,
for he knew all the great pearls in the world.
Ihe luster was good also. Neyoung dealt like
a Burman who has an eager buyer after him—
suikily. If Rico wanted the jewel he could take
It at the tender's price, twenty thousand rupees;
if he did not, then the Burman would take it
on to Freemantle, in Australia, and sell it to
Simonski. How that set Rico's bmin on fire!
Simonsk. to get this, the greatest pearl since
the time of T.vernier? Not if it cost him
ftfty thousand; but, slowly-a thousand saved
was a thousand gained.

So for days they fenced— this subtle Burman
and the scienced Jew.

Ill

THIRTEEN MEN

And all the time Neyoung was trembling lest
the eyes of Lahbo should tell Mah Thu of the
pearl.

Then one day the sale was completed Ne-
young got a thousand pounds.

That night Rico took the razor he kept for
that purpose and cut the throats of twenty fowls.
It was a sacrifice to the god that had sent the
pearl to him. It was an extravagance — he
could not eat them ; biit he was drunken with the
wine of success. He had never committed an
extravagance before; also had he never come by
a pearl for a thousand pounds worth twenty
thousand.

When he got home he locked the door of his
office and cherished his find. He opened his
vest and rubbed it against his heart. He
kissed it with his black, snuff-smudged lips. He
put it on his table, and sat with his arms folded
in front of it for a long time, drinking in the
beauty of its vast contour.

Suddenly he gave a cry and sprang to his feet.
The color seemed to have changed; a red, murky
tinge had given place to the faint purplish luster
he had been worshiping.

He sat down with a hollow chuckle and gave
a sigh of relief; it was only a passing fancy, or
some drunken shadow, for the pearl-white was
iia

STEALING THE BUDDHA PEARL

back again. All this excir ment was not good*
for him, he thought. He would put it away —
lock it up in his iron safe, where it would be out
of his sight.

When he touched it a shudder ran up his arm.
How cold the thing was! The perspiration
stood out on his forehead as though he had
taken an iced drink. When he placed it in the
safe he fancied that two glassy eyes were staring
at him from the dark interior. Surely the ex-
citement had unstrung him a bit. When it was
locked up he felt better; besides, the thought of
the great gain he would make warmed his chilled
blood.

Next day he sent it to Dalito, in London, for
sale. He described it to him as an irregular,
pear-shaped pearl of great luster, weighing one
hundred and fifty carats.

Then for a whole moon he knew no rest. He
had insured it, but if it were lost or stolen I It
was the one great thing he had achieved in his
life.

At length he heard from Dalito, but the let-
ter only increased his unrest. Evidently there
had been some mistake. His letter had stated
that the pearl was pear-shaped, of great luster
—the one they had received was of no dis-
tinct form at all, but approached the button-
'"3

THIRTEEN MEN

shape; the luster was bad, of a reddish cast;
but they would try for an offer in the London
market.

Rico was in despair. Somebody had stolen
his priceless pearl and substituted this red, form-
less thing.

Then the memory of what he had seen in his
own office— that red shadow— came back to him
with full force— also the eyes in the vault.
What if this were a ilevil pearl— iie had heard
of them; where murder had been committed,
and the ill luck stuck to the jewel.

He laughed at his own folly, and sat dc^-n
and wrote a scathing letter to Dalito. He, or
somebody, was trying to rob him, he wrote.
Then he tore it up hysterically, and wrote a be-
seeching one. This he also tore up. Next he
wrote, he hardly knew what, and waited for
further news.

The second letter from Daluo stated that, on
closer examination, the pearl seemed to be of
much better luster than they had at first thought,
and that there was every prospect of selling it
to an Indian prince for a very fair price; they
would cable him the offer as soon as received,
before closing.

Rico cut the throats of more chickens and
wept tears of gratitude. Surely it was good to
114

STEALING THE BUDDHA PEARL

be alive-and deal in big pearls. He prayed
that the heart of the Hindoo prince might be
made to lean toward him.

The next letter was one of despair— despair
on the part of Dalito. They had sold the pearl
simply on the strength of their guarantee that
It was of good luster. Now the prince had sued
them for damages, and brought half a dozen
experts as witnesses who swore that it was of a
vile red. They had been forced to take it back,
and pay costs, bill of which they sent, and ex-
pected Rico to remit the amount. Under the
circumstances they would ask to be relieved of
the privilege of holding the jewel.

The only thing that seemed tangible to Rico
m the whole thing was that the pearl retained
its weight one hundred and fifty carats. Verily
if It had not been for that he would have cut
his own throat instead of the chickens'. He
cabled them to send it to Antwerp. There it
brewed won- mischief. Two men, an expert
and a dealer, got into a wrangle over its luster,
and wound up by fighting a duel. But that did
not settle the dispute, for there were other ex-
perts, some of whom swore it was red, while
others declared it white. But to sell a pearl of
one hundred and fifty carats it must have a
steady, sustained reputation; and soon Antwerp
"5

THIRTEEN MEN

was no market for Rico's prize. The Jew
would have to send it far from the strife it had
created in Europe, so it was transferred to a
big firm in Hong Kong.

Because of its likeness in shape to Buddha,
its holder there narrowly escaped assassination
twice from fanatical Buddhists. It was sold
once, and the seller was beheaded for defraud-
ing the buyer, a rich mandarin.

In despair Rico had it brought to Singapore.
He would at least se^ it again. Then one day
a brilliant idea came to him. Angelo had
stopped at Singapore on his way to Australia.
He was on a trip, and, incidentally, would now
and then dispose of a few pearls that had stuck
to his fingers.

Rico had known the diver for years, and
knew that he could trust him to carry out the
mission he wished him to undertake.

" Angelo, my friend," said Rico, " my house
is thrice accursed because of this shadow of a
heathen god that changes color. I, a poor man,
have given a thousand yellow sovereigns to a
thief of a Burman for it, and am ruined. For
days I eat lothing because of the poverty that
has come upon me. Simonski, who lives in Free-
mantle, is rich; he has robbed and cheated the
poor divers — even you, too, Angelo — and now
Ii6

STEALING THE BUDDHA PEARL

he is rich. Take you this purple devil and
sell it to him for a thousand sovereigns, even
as I bought it. Of a surety you may keep a
hundred of it for yourself. Tell him that you
have come by it at the fisheries; and show it to
him when you are both calm in mood, for me-
thinks men's passions bring the blood-red into
the unchristian thing."

Then Rico fairly wept at the loss of the hun-
dred sovereigns, and the disappointment of the
great chance that had gone by him. He
chuckled sneeringly as he thought that Simonskl
would also have days of tribulation, and that
presently he should have his rival's gold in his
safe.

" He will buy it, Angelo, he will buy it," he
said, as he walked up and down his ofBce ex-
citedly, dragging his long, talon fingers through
his yellow-gray beard. Then he stopped and
faced the diver, looking pleadingly into his eyes:
" And, Angelo, if you get from Simonski more
—twelve hundred pounds, or even more, you
will bring me, a poor man, my thousand. Thnik
of the money I have spent in commissions and
insurances — all lost, all lost I

" Surely you will get for me back my thou-
sand pounds; but if not, then the nine hundred
—that you will get for me, Angelo. Remem-
117

THIRTEEN MEN

ber, next year you will have pearU to k11, and I
will pay you good prices."

Angelo did not take in the full pathos of the
Jew's plaint; but he made up his mind to Meed
Simonski for all the big pearl would fetch. Rico
had said nine hundred pounds, and that was all
he would get; the rest- would be his perquisite
for working Simonski.

When Angelo landed in Freemantle he was
met at die steamer Ijy the Jew. The diver was
diffident and haughty ; that proved to Simonski's
astute mind that he must have something good
— something very good — up his sleeve.

They were both artists. Angelo was Simon-
ski's " dear friend." But Angelo answered thai
Simonski had paid him poor prices before; this
time it would be a great price — a really great
price — more money, perhaps, than the Jew had.
At this Simonski grinned and smote his chest,
and was on the point of making a boast when
he suddenly remembered that he was a buyer,
and said: " Yes, alasl I am a poor man; the
divers have robbed me because of the prices I
paid them until I am poor. Rico, who has
robbed the divers, is very rich."

He thought he saw a look of disappointment
creep into the eyes of Angelo. " But I can bor-
row the money, my peerless diver, by paying
ii8

STEALING THE BliUDHA PEARL

ruinous intere»t, lo be it the pearls are good.
But pearls are cheap — very cheap this year.
Big pearls sell for little more than small ones,
because everybody is poor— everybody but
Rico."

But not even that day did he see the pearl.
Angelo, who had come by the cunning from his
Spanish father and the patience of waiting from
his native mother, knew the Jew was not quite
ripe.

At last the day arrived when Angelo became
mellow under the gentle influence of the Jew's
alcoholic friendship.

Simonski had not seen the pearl before — the
diver would never show it. When ht jew be-
held its size he thought that perhaps he would
build a small synagogue if the favor continued
till he acquired the gem.

Angelo threw his arms around the Jew's neck
and kissed him like an impulsive Latin. In the

end he made Simonski a present of the pearl

for twelve hundred pounds.

Then he took the nine hundred pounds back
to Rico, and his own three hundred to Mergui.

Simonski sent the Buddha to Dalito, even as
Rico had done. " I am sending you the great-
est of all pearls," the Jew wrote; " it ought to
bring twenty-five thousand pounds at least."
119

THIRTEEN MEN

More he wrote, for the words cost nothing.
" He will fall in love with my queen of light
when he sees it," thought the Jew poetically,
while he waited for word from Dalito.

The London dealer's letter was hardly a love
epistle when it arrived. " This accursed bauble
has turned up again," he said, " after nearly
ruining my reputation as a respectable mer-
chant; or else there has been a shower of devil
pearls out there, and you have each got one."
He refused absolutely to have anything to do
with negotiating its sale.

Simonski was horror-struck. Then a sus-
picion crept into his mind; Dalito was crying
down his jewel because of its priceless value.
Did he not talk that way himself every day
when buying? But this was too serious a mat-
ter; a pearl of that size I It was beyond cavil;
he would teach Dalito a lesson. So he wrote
to a trusted Jew friend of his in London to take
it over to Antwerp, and advised Dalito to
deliver it.

It landed his friend in jail in Antwerp, and
cost Simonski many pounds to get him out, and
the Buddha back again. They were all in
league to cheat him out of this fabulous gem, he
knew, for had he not seen it with his own eyes?
and it was good.

I20

STEALING THE BUDDHA PEARL

Then he sent i< lo Hong Kong, to the same
firm that had it I efore; but .'. it happened, his
letter got there fit t, and v.hri the jewel arrived
they promptly reshipped it lo Simonski widiout
opening the case.

When it came back he was nearly crazy
Day and night he had paced his room thinking
of the mighty pearl.

Then Simonski thought of the King of Bur-
ma at Mandalay. He paid big prices for jewels,
and was not so particular about color as they
were in London. He would have to take it to
Rangoon to reach him. So he went at once to
Rangoon, to Balthazar; he was the man to get
at the king.

All this time Mah Thu had been trying to
find out something. Her little yellow-bead eyes
were always watching.

When Neyoung came back from Rico—
from having sold him the Buddha pearl— he
spent money like a son whose rich father is just
dead. Mah Thu saw that. Then the curse of
the Buddha pearl fell upon Neyoung, for his
money melted away and left him with only a
craving for opium.

When Angelo returned, the three hundred
pounds he had got so cleveriy from Simonski
were not to be spent without many little boast-

121

THIRTEEN MEN

»i

ings. To have done up a Jew of Simonskl's
caliber was, ot a surety, cleverer than having
gathered many tons of " pearl shell."

Mah Thu heard it in the bazaar, and ques-
tioned Angelo about it. Yes, it was shaped like
a little bronze Buddha — much like the little
black alabaster Buddha in Mah Thu's lacquer
box.

Then Mah Thu talked to Lahbo about it.
She had learned to understand the eyes. When
he shut them quickly, that was " Yes " ; when
he rolled them, that was "No." Mah Thu
asked him questions, and he answered — that
was their language. So Mnh Thu asked Lah-
bo : " Did you see the Buddha pearl when you
dived the last time?"

The eyes that had been always trying to tell
something opened and closed eagerly, many
times. " Did Neyoung steal it? "

Again the eyes answered " Yes."

" Did he bring it to Mergui ' "

" Yes," answered Lahbo.

At last Mah Thu understood what the eyes
had always been trying to tell her; and the eyes
looked so glad.

It was plain enough. Neyoung had sold it
to Rico, and Rico had sold it, through Angelo,
to Simonsk^ When cornered, Neyoung con-

122

STEALING THE BUDDHA PEARL

fessed gladly enough. He had nothing to lose
now; he was starving; and if he went to jail,
even for many years, he would have plenty to
eat-and they would allow him a little opium
lest he should die.

"Yes," Angelo said when questioned, "I
sold the devil pearl, the thing that goes red and
white by turns, like a changing lizard, to the
Jew at Freemantle."

But there was no law broken in that; so the
diver had no fear-only pride at his cleverness.
Hadley followed up the course of the unfor-
tunate pearl. He learned that both Rico and
Simonsk, had failed to sell it in Europe, and
that the Freemantle Jew had gone to Rangoon
w.th ,t. He took the first steamer for that
port himself when he learned this, taking
Angelo with h.m to identify the pearl. He
also had Neyoung's written confession of the
theft.

He went straight to Balthazar, saying: " One
bimonski has come here with a pearl. Tell him
1 want tovsee him."

Now, Balthazar had the Buddha in his pos-
session. When Simonski brought it and he saw
'ts great size, he knew that the spirits of his
forefathers had sent it to him that he might be-
come rich among men. He had marveled much
• • 123

THIRTEEN MEN

at the Freemantle Jew's stupidity in not sending
it to Europe.

He was a man of much silence on occasion,
so he said nothing to Hadley about this.

The Freemantle man thought he had a new
purchaser for his jewel when he met Hadley.
" Surely the pearl was worth ten thousand
pounds," he told the captain. " Never had
such a precious thing come his way. Yes, three
thounand pounds was its price, and the next day
he would show it." That was because Bal-
thazar had it then in his hands to decide about
buying it.

The captain meant to seize it wheii it came
into his possession. But that night it was stolen
from Balthazar. Captain Hadley heard thiii in
the morning, and told Angelo of it.

" Fernandez has stolen it," said Angelo; " he
was a diver, but because of stealing he came to
Rangoon. He has taken it — he alone knows
how to steal and sell pearls. These Burmese
know only to steal rupees." Also he assured
Hadley that he would get it for him. " Give
me one hundred pounds, master, and I will get
it from Fernandez."

Then the captain went to Simonski and told
him that the Buddha pearl was his; it had beer,
stolen from him at the fisheries by Neyoung,
124

STEALING THE BUDDHA PEARL

and he, Simonski, had bought it from another
d.ver Angelo. Now it was stolen again, and he
would hold the Jew responsible for its value, the
three thousand pounds he had said it was worth
The Jew saw trouble ahead. He swore by
the beard of Abraham that he had never said
It was worth three thousand pounds. It was a
vile, gnarled thing of infamous color, not worth
a hundred pounds. He had been ruined by it-
it was an accursed thing, bringing nothing but
trouble to honest men. It would be better if
they never saw it again; and the thief would
go to perdition because of it, sure. If he had
asked three thousand pounds for it from Bal-
thazar, that was because the Armenian was
rich, while he was a poor man and the pearl
had ruined him. But the Buddha had been
stolen from the Armenian, he declared, and he
would make him pay its value, three thousand
pounds.

Simonski was in despair. If he recovered the
pearl, Hadley would seize it; if he did not the
captain would try to make him p ./ its full value
If Balthazar paid him for it, this man would
seize that. Surely evil days had fallen upon his
house.

Captain Hadley was also uneasy. To come
so close upon the jewel and then lose it was
"5

THIRTEEN MEN

really too bad. It would be difficult to grind
the money out of the Jew. All depended upon
Angelo's being able to get back the pearl. A
hundred pounds should fetch it, Hadley thought,
if the diver could get at the right man; for it
would be difficult for a thief to dispose of a
jewel as large as the Buddha pearl.

That night Angelo brought to his master the
stolen Buddha. Yes, it was Fernandez who had
taken it. But he had given his master's word
that nothing shoult} be done to the thief; also
had he paid him the hundred pounds — all ex-
cept ten pounds, which he had kept for his own
trouble.

At last the Buddha pearl had come back to its
rightful owner. Hadley had not stolen it; he
had come by it in the fishing at Pawa; so the
curse of Crotha fell away from it when it came
into his hands.

Crotha's pearl had accomplished much. It
had humbled Lahbo and Neyoung and Rico
and Simonski. And now it brought good for-
tune to Hadley, for he got twenty thousand
pounds for it in England when he sent it there.

He gave Simonski five hundred pounds at the
fmish. He declared that he would give him
nothing; but when tears stand in a man's eyes,
what can another man do ?
126

THE NET OF LEO

PHILIP FLEMING. Akyab, was Com-
missioner of Arakan, Burma.

Commissioners arc made by hard
work, from honest material; Government kisses
seldom go by favor, notwithstanding club belief.
The Indian Civil Service is a monastery
wherein men are consecrated to the labor of em-
pire extension. It is a car of Juggernaut, wheel-
ing the new religion of betterment over their
worn bodies.

Commissioner Fleming was a giant of huge
official wisdom, holding codes and civil proce-
dure at his finger tips. The governorship of
Uurma would accrue to him as surely as a crown
comes to the rightful heir. Philip Fleming in
the lesser hfe was a babe, holding belief in the
goodness of human nature until it stultified itself
in large type. He was impregnate with such
nch juiciness of honor that he had in his own
Kind the sublime faith of an ox.

This state of mind was altogether before the
happening.

127

THIRTEEN MEN

Fleming had married young. If marrying
young is a mistake, in his case it was seven kinds
of a mistake, for the more he developed the
work fever, the more Helen, his wife, became
a lily of the field.

An impatient man, out of cause, would have
developed a crisis; but Philip waited, almost not
understanding, until the crisis came with a vehe-
mence.

It is not a story for new reading; it is so old,
old, old.

His soul was in his work; his heart was really
in the bungalow; but the work soul cried for rest
and consolement to the heart, until the heart
responsive was a little too quiescent. It wasn't
that Helen was bad — just selfish. Somebody
must smooth the mold to the lilies that toil not,
and the monastery that was the Government
service laid heavy penance of toil on its zealous
priest.

Thus the old, old story fructified.

At the time of the coming of the crisis Helen
was at Darjeeling with the children, Roscoe and
Madge. On the Akyab rumor board she was
ill. The station people read this cynically; they
always knew far more than they knew — that's
an Indian habit. Then one day the commis-
sioner was called suddenly by wire to Calcutta —
128

THE NET OF LEO

Helen wai ill. In two weeks Philip returned
with his little boy and girl; the mother was
sleeping under the sweet-perfumed hill deodars,
and their cones dropped gently on the little
mound in summer, and the snow covered it pure
white in winter.

If the commissioner had worked before, now
he toiled.

For a year the children were the children of
an ayah, which is little better than being the off-
spring of Spartans. If Philip could have s'.nt
them to England it would have been better; but
he couldn't — his heart would have starved.

A commissioner's bungalow without a mis-
tress is as useless, socially, as a convent; in fact,
the commissionership is a dual office, social and
official. So Akyab groaned in its desolation.
It was a place ill-favored by the gods most abso-
lutely, for the prev'ous commissioner had come
among them worse than single — he had brought
a Burmese wife.

Meetha had nursed him just on the sloping
bank of Styx — ^he was almost rolling in — up
Pakan way; and he, with unofficial chivalry, had
married her, pucca — as thoroughly as church
and state could seal the contract.

So his tenure of office had been a social blank ;
and now, in Fleming's time, the big bungalow
129

THIRTEEN MEN

was just a homing place for the silent man who
sent dacoits to the Andaman Islands, or hantred
them out of hand.

There was a deputy commissioner, Jack
Kawlton; and, also, which was of greater im-
portance, he had just the cleverest wife that ever
took an Indian station in hand.

Maritally ,he was in love with her husband,
Jack; psychologically she was enamored of
I'hilip Flemmg's superb qualities. Quite hon-
estly she determined to ameliorate his condi-
tion; and, diplomatically, she stirred the people
mto a ferment of discontent, to the end that the
commissioner might be harassed into a properly
amenable frame of mind.

Mrs. Rawlton had a sister within striking dis-
tance of Akyab. Had the other ladies known
of this, they might not have labored so enthu-
siastically, nor blindly accredited her with dis-
interested motives until it was absolutely too

The sister, Mary Kelvey, was in Calcutta,
and quite unaware of the endeavor of Mrs
Rawlton. Even when Mary stepped from the
B. I. steamer to the pier in Akyab, and was
whirled away in a high dogcart to her sister's
bungalow, she was as innocent of the crusade
as was Philip Fleming.

130

clever
; breast

THE NET OF LEO

Jack Rawlton was not in it with his
wife at putting an ear to the palpitating

the utihty of having a sister-in-law married to
a man who would one day be chief commissioner,
he could undentand that much of diplomacy.
After all, his role was a minor one. Mrs. Rawl-

dell h "k 'T'T °^ ''"'"^'■"« ''" ^''«' blun-
dering husband a chance to wreck the play.

The little stories of Philip Fleming's excel-

lence, chiefly official, which Rawlton told at

mlderin^"'""* '" """"'^ ^™'" *"'* ''''^''"'^
Mary Kelvey's advent caused a renaissance in
tlie dormant sentimental atmosphere of the sta-
tion. She was beautiful, which was excuse
enough for this change; and, in addition, new
girls didn't fetch the Port of Akyab often
Hvery mau possessed of legitimate right to fall
in love with a woman (and some who weren't)
cultivated Mrs. Rawlton. This phase of the
case was absolutely innocuous; but when small
dark Laurence Herbert began to abstain from'
his orever and ever caustic epigrams, Mrs.
Rawlton m defense was forced to confide to
Molly that Philip Fleming was simply waiting
his chance. Herbert was all very fine in the way
of romance, but Mary hadn't come from Cal-
131

THIRTEEN MEN

cutta for romance; there wai plenty of that in
the City of Palaces.

Mary Kelvey had manifestly broken Herbert
of his q'liical i'lhumanity — which was a good
thing for his friends; for him it was the Bastile.
Four hundred rupees a month was the chain
binding him to the rock of celibacy.

The sister saw to it that Mary viewed Philip
Fleming's character in the purple and fine linen
of wise interpretation, until the glamour of the
real man crept into her understanding, as the
droning of bees wafts soft music to ears lazy of
sleep.

On Fleming's side potent influences were at
work to enlarge the void in his life.

It is a tenet of faith held of the Anglo-Indians
that ayahs always quiet their child charges with
the black tears of the poppy — the little pellets
of opium; and Mrs. Rawlton had this skeleton
fear brought forth and made to dance in the
mind of Philip Fleming. This was only one of
the many things that, beyond doubt, shadowed
the lives of the children unless they should ac-
quire a European mother.

Also of Philip Fleming's self: paradoxically,

the intensity of his official endeavor vacuated his

mind, till in its exhaustion it clamored for refill-

ment at the fount of sympathy. The club

132

THE NET OF LEO

whiit, the station dinners with their semiofficial
chatterings, the vagaries of the opium-saturated
Arakanese— all failed utterly by way of com-
pensation.

Mrs. Rawlton's dominating influence forged
a connecting link; and when Philip asked the
beautiful girl, half his age, to become his wife,
she answered as though there was no such thing
as a negative in the philosophy of love.

The announcement set the station aghast, like
the sweep of a cholera wave. Somehow they
had been as one in their deductions as to Flem-
ing's natural destiny: an official's widow, or
maiden of his own age, forty, they had dedi-
cated unanimously to the governing of Govern-
ment House. Now the commissioner was to
marry Mary Kelvey, still loitering in the spring-
time of girlhood.

It would make quite a separate story to chron-
icle the gentle exhilaration of gossip, all full of
regret, that once bitten was not twice shy with
the commissioner.

What Mary said to her sister is of this story,
for it was of the vital essence of the second
crisis. " Cid, I said ' Yes,' " Mary confided to
the Deputy Memsahib.

The sister kissed her, and said, " I'm very
happy, Molly; Philip loves you."

133

THIRTEEN MEN

"He didn't say anything about it," Mary
answered. ^

Mrs. Rawlton raised her evebrows. " Philip
didn't tell you he loved you'. ^

" Haven't you always darioned his great vir-
tue of truth and honesty, Cid ? " » '^'^

"I don't understand?"
" Just that he has proven himself all that you
say. He might easily have romanced about
We; but he didn't. As I remember it, there
was much talk of happiness, honor. a„d all

'' Are you joking, Molly? "

" No; his declaration was in keeping with our

to back out. He doesn't love me a little bit-
he just wants some one to mother the children.'
Oh don t look frightened; the Kelveys never
back out once they pledge their word-that's
the^disadvantage of having family esprh de

" Molly, you're mistaken. Philip is one of
those strong, self<ontained men who feel a
great deal more than they express."

"Yes, he's self-contained, Cid. But if I
didn t actually believe that what you say is true

d it ;rf ?r ™- '' ' ^"' "<=»• °' power:
ful, I wouldn't beheve it. But he must care for

134

THE NET OF LEO

me, to wish to make me ;iis wife— don't you
think so, sister?" '

Mrs. Rawlton saw it all. Fleming had worn
that execrable armor of reserve, even in his love-
niaking, a„d Mary was simply voicing the
doubts which this had left in her mind. How-
ever ,t would all come right, she knew.

They were married in the little English
church that nestled in the mango tope like a
quamt bloodstone. The bell clanged vocifer-
ously; the guests brought the diplomatic felici-
tations of higher culture; in fact, there was a
brave attempt at making it a love feast.

But, somehow, the little god seemed to have
wandered off into the jungle, or to have hidden
himself m the pagan shrine that was a white-
washed pagoda. Perhaps, even, he was down in
the little bamboo hut where Shwebo, who had
been married that same day, had taken Mindah,
h.s bride. Shwebo was only a clerk in the cut-
chem; so if Cupid really lingered widi him, he
was at best but a poor courtier.

Intention counts for little if everything in
environment is an obstacle; and the church rit-
ual seemed to have exorcised die sister's influ-
ence. Things drifted badly.

Disenthralled, Mary became a bondwoman
to her distrust of Philip's love. His very solid-

1 '1

i»i ill

if.

1 r>

THIRTEEN MEN

tudc over the children thrust her from the inner
orcle of h.s heart; and the illogical fantasy thl[
she was there simply as the keeper to the other
woman's children grew oppressively huge in her

Philip knew nothing of this. At first his hesi-
tancy of expressed sentiment was of delicate for-
bearance-of his remembrance always that he
was forty; oddly enough, his abnegating gentle!

Jf ITr'''n'° -^'^ " '""'^ inconsideLion.
If he had really trusted more to the blind little

tToubi*:/'''^ °' '"^ ^""''"'-^ •>- ^"3
Something of his cleavage entered into the

kedni ''"'"". ^' '°y 'P^'^^ °f the
an715.r"!f" \^0"J««"g " his mother,
and With Madge, Mary was mother.

over thJ^lT""""/''"* '^"^'^ '■*' "8'y "°»»'"
over the lattice of restraint until even the serv-

ants talked. They always do m India ; but wS,

the commissK,ner's servitors was a strange, weird

tale that had come of the ayah's unwise tongue

h„ lui f T^ ''"* '°^^ °^ " '" the cook
house Abdul, the cook, laughed in derision. He
was a Mussulman, having no truck with the de-
vious ways of many gods; so he muttered " Al-
iah, to himself, and aloud reviled the teller as
a liar of much magnitude.
136

fii i

THE NET OF LEO
"Listen, brother," cried the ayah, "if this

offend a Brahmin."

" G° o". tc" us. garrulous one," sneered Ah-

I u^" " ^''^'^ *•= *y" : P^haps he will
also call thee a liar when thou hast finished, for
Baloo beheves nothing when he is sober, and
everything when he is otherwise."

" It is of the Mcmsahib," began the a-ah
drawing her muslin serai over her silver anklets.
_^ Then, indeed, it is a lie," declared Abdul,

for if ayahs were to tell the truth of their
Memsahibs they would offend other than the
Brahmins."

"Abdul, thou hast swallowed the carving
kn>fc. I speak not of the new Memsahib— no,
't is of the Commissioner Memsahib that is
dead at Darjeeling."

"Oh, indeed, it is a true tale," sneered Ab-
dul ; of a dead woman there may be truth."

' What of the story," pleaded Baloo; " is it
a new one?"

"Did I not always maintain that the Mem-
sahib loved the babas?" began the nurse.

She gave you a silver bangle, ayah," remon-
strated Baloo.

^^ "That she knew of," interjected Abdul;
ayah had other presents."

137

111 i

THIRTEEN MEN

The woman ignored the insinuation, and
continued: " As I always said, she loved the little
babas, and now—" the nurse leaned forward
and whispered— "she comes at night and plays
on the piano for them."

" How can one that is always asleep know
these things?" objected Abdul.

Twice have I found them slumbering by
the piano," continued the ayah; "and when I
asked of the little Sahib the why of it, he waxed
cross and spoke ill of all Hindoos. But are they
not my charge, thp babas; so I watched, sitting
b<!hmd a purdah— the new Memsahib was at a
i-"rra khana "

" That is not news," exclaimed Abdul; " am
I not forgetting my art dirough the cooking of
no house dinners? I might as well be on circuit
m the jungle."

" Have patience, cook," pleaded Baloo; " it
is a good tale."

" The new Memsahib was at a hurra khana
as I watched," repeated the ayah, " and there
was but tl , one oil lamp."

" Coulc you see the dead Memsahib?" que-
ried Baloo.

" No ; but I heard sweet music. And at once
the babas came from their beds, where I had put

them with such great care "

138

THE NET OF LEO

Abdut""'' °^ '^' "'""■ ''""«''•" '««""Pted
"The A«Aa, sat by the piano, and the soft

M^hJll 'V ^/ '"' ^"""'''•'- Then the
Mehja came blundering with a noise, and the

AeLlTK-r ^^^^'l ^** I had driven away
„h,!f Sahib's mother. Is not that proof that
what I say IS true?"
;; Did you tell master? " queried Baloo.
No; ^hy should I? The new Memsahib
does not play for my little baia., and have I n^
said the mother loved them ? "

" Certain it is a bad sign." declared the syce
solemnly "The new Memsahib will die, or
perhaps It IS the *«*<«."

" 1 '* if ""^i*" ""'" °""'" «^°««d A« nurse;
th^ have done nothing that is wrong."

Still, ayah, perhaps the mother is coaxina
tnem away." *

It is because of ayahs that everything in India
•s known. An ayah tells an ayah, and some-
toes that ayah whispers to her Memsahib.
So the ghost tale came to the ears of Mary's
sister Mrs. Rawlton had seen with wise eyes
the foolish discontent. Now it was time
to take Mary in hand with decision; and she
did.

" It's no use." the girl answered; " no woman
10 X39

1 ■ I

I Mi

^'ii

THIRTEEN MEN

could fall !n love with Philip— he wouldn't
allow It. I'm the second to discover that."
" Hush, Molly! You love him."
" Not a bit. Why should I ? "
" You are tragically honest."
" Then I'm even with Philip. We are both
honest; that's all there is to it. I'm there to
look after the dead woman's children."
" Philip loves you, Molly."
" Cid, do you know what I think? I believe
he s m love with Helen."
" She's dead."

" Perhaps that's why; a woman can't reason
out a man's motives."

'' You don't try to reason out Philip."
I' It's unnecessary, Cid. I know he's aU you
claim for him. But a woman at twenty-two
can t love a man simply because he is excellent
in office, or approved of at his club. A girl
wants love— the thousand and one things that
Philip knows nothing of."

"You're just talking yourself into rebellion,
Molly."

" I'm starving for sympathy, Cid. Can't you
see what a desert I'm in, with its mirage of love.
My soul is parched— I cry out, revolting my.
self for the falseness of my existence."

" Is it not as hard on Philip, Molly? "
140

THE NET OF LEO

Oriental diplomacy, conceived this plan of get-
ting a governess for hi, children. It is all 'the
children with him. The little sentiment he can
find time for is theirs."

,'.' J,.*j '•* y°" '"'«'»' make him love you "
Cid, you treat the grand passion as a doctor
would gout. You might write out a prescriptil"
Honesty, five grams; position, ten grain,; official
capacity, twenty grains; mix, and it .11 induce
tove. But it's worse than the gout mixture, Cid.
One can toss that horrible stuff through die win-
dow ; the other remains in one's life for ever and

" You are disloyal, Molly."
" No Kelvey was ever that "

pk'JSSr- " """»««"««'«*!. P-

" But about Herbert, Molly "

The girl laughed. " Don't say commonplace

d»ngs, sister; die half-castes in the Telegraph

Service take that view of everything."
He's always about."

"Naturally; he's in love with me, I fancy.

If I had married him, I should probably be in

love with h.m. I didn't; so I'm not."

141

l'\.

!:1

THIRTEEN MEN

" I shall write to headquarters to have Her-
bert transferred to a place of hard work."

"You needn't trouble, Cid. Philip willsoonsee
the hopelessness of it all, and I shall go away."
"You mustr't, Molly— you mustn't!" Men-
tion of this dreadful alternative stirred Mrs.
Rawlton to impatient strides up and down the
room. " Did you ever hear of a Kelvey shirk-
ing her duty? Didn't Ned hold that stone san-
gar against the Afridis until—" she stopped and
put her arms around the girl's neck, burying her
face in her shoulder.

" Don't worry, Cid. I'll keep the Kelvey
honor as bright as Ned did. But this is worse
than holding a stone fort against Afghans. The
house is haunted by the other woman's spirit;
her presence is everywhere— was she a great mu-
sician, Cid?"

The sister started. "She was, Molly; but
why do you ask?"

" I'll tell you. I know you'll call it morbid
fancy, but it's not. When I touched the keys
of the piano, her piano, a spirit wailed back at
me from the chords. My fingers thrilled with
its influence."

"Too much quinine, Molly; it gets on my
nerves sometimes."

" No, Cid. I've heard soft music at night
142

THE NET OF LEO

when there was nobody in the room. I know
somethmg dreadful will happen-I can feel it."
...• Jj'^u'"''!^'''"' '^°"y-" Mrs. Rawlton

. ".^""'V/*'"""'^' '"*''« way- WithRos-
coeitisall my mother, my mother.' If there
w« one soul that loved me, I shouldn't mind;

tiently.-''' "" ''"" ^°"' ^°"''- J"'' ^"'^ P""
it will" '"'''' ''"* '°°''*^'"8 ^^'^ ''"PPen. I know

■.Ja^I ""^"'^ ^P''"^ °^ "^ happening material-
ized the next day.

r Jlt'*""^'! T*'" "'^"y" '^'"='' togrther at the
Gymldiana Club on Saturday night. This was
Sahirday and the commissioner broke bread
with his brother officials.

When he returned home he found Roscoe and
Madge asleep in each other's arms on the
matted floor by the piano. In his astonishment
he called sharply, " Mary! "

The ayah came from the servants' quarters.
Call your Memsahib," Philip commanded.
Memsahib going to Dep'ty Memsahib's
bungalow, the woman answered in confusion.
143

i :

[i r 'I i\

Mil

J! i

THIRTEEN MEN

Of the children the ayah knew nothing; the
Sahib's fierce questions brought forth nothing.
Of the spirit music she spoke not at all; nor of
anything, but that she put the babas in their
cots, and she was a poor woman that sometimes
fell asleep on the veranda when saying her
prayers.

Philip carried the children to their room; as
his hand rested for an instant on the boy's fore-
head he found it hot. The sea night wind that
always carried pisflential fever— why, no man
can say— was blowing straight up the harbor
neck between the lighthouse and Scandal Point,
and, sweeping in through the open door, it had
smitten the thin-dad lad as he slept and poisoned
him.

Philip's heart in its anger grew as hot as the
fevered brow of the boy. Molly's indifference
to himself he could understand. He felt he was
very much of a machine, an official plodder; the
dust of the cutcherri, no doubt, had clogged the
buoyant working of his mind until he was as
hopelessly dull as the big alabaster image of
Gaudama up a he pagoda.

But surely the children should have crept into
her heart a little. Now one of them was
stricken, and she, who should have been a
mother to them, was away.
144

,;hi

THE NET OF LEO

" Sit here with the children, ayah, till I re-
turn," he commanded.

Passing out, he stood for a minute, an un>
utterable weariness of lonely feeling in his face,
his eyes wandering over the big room. The
dreariness of it struck into his heart.

Fronting the bungalow, the salt waters lapped
and moaned as the fever wind drove them slug-
gishly up the flat beach. How different was his
homecoming to what it might have been I That
the fault was undoubtedly his, lessened not the
aspect of desolation.

A tucktaw, somewhere in the leaf roof,
echoed in dreary monotone the bitter cry that
was in his soul. " Tucktaw, tucktaw 1 " Nine
times Philip counted the lizard's grating cry; and
then at the end, a long-drawn-out " Aw-w-w ! "
as if in derision of his futile longing for hap-
piness.

A tucktaw was a harbingei good fortune,
in the belief of that land of beliefs. There had
been one in the bungalow before Helen was
kissed to sleep by the death angel; then it had
gone away — at least this was the first time hi
had heard the dreary rail for months. But there
was little prospect of good fortune this forlorn
night of the luck lizard's advent.

It was as though nothing slept; as though
Hi

THIRTEEN MEN

with darkneM itiiKry came down to earth and
stalked gaunt, uniatiified, rapacious of human
housing. These fantastic voices of the night,
striking with fierce sweep the tense heart chords
of the listener, had stilled Philip to a moment
of silent meditation.

Suddenly a sweet note fell upon the depressed
man's ear. He turned his head sharply; he
could have sworn it was from the piano. Some-
thing in the exquipite pathos of the low vibration
echoed in his memory. In his young li fe, Helen's
fingers used to wander over the keys idly, claim-
ing from the chords a sweet response of sym-
pathy. In those days, a rose blossom, a murmur
of music, had fitted to their careless happiness.
He took an eager step and listened again.
The adagio had ceased — there was nothing. It
was as if his close presence repulsed all gen-
tleness.

Down on the beach, silhouetted in the moon-
light, he could see a pair of jackals wrangling
discordantly over something the ebbing tide had
stranded on the black sands.

Philip laughed in bitterness. Was not his life
more like that — ^was not the soft music but the
creation of his own yearning?

Impatient with himself, yielding again to new
anger, he strode into the moonlight.
146

THE NET OF LEO

Ai he paued down to the metaled road, the
champacs stirred lazily in the fever wind, their
white blossoms, yellow-hearted, revolting his
tensioned spirit with their heavy, sensuous
breath. Bah! They choked him — smothered
him. He almost ran to the straight, broad road ;
then over its hard floor he swung with fierce
stride, under the octopus limbs of the over-lacing
banyans that threw weird serpentine shadows
across his path. Somehow the fantastic night
picture was one of Dore's Inferno conceptions.
Then the road dipped lower toward the sea
beach, and the spirelike casarinas — wives of
Neptune, that die from out his embrace — caught
the whispering wind in their singing bows and
wailed softly to the human that sped so swiftly
at their knees.

Between two white pillaw that looked like
tombstones, Philip turned into the Rawlton
drive; within the lighted bungalow he could see
Mary — happy from out his presence.

Philip checked his eager way and gazed with
hot eyes at a picture that seared his heart : beside
his wife the lamplight limned in sharp-cut lines
the face of Hertert.

This was why Mary had left the children to
the ayah's care. More than once Philip had
fancied a sense of uneasiness over Herbert.
147

THIRTEEN MEN
When the liveried Durwan stepped into the

A^Jr'^M TT'"^' "C°"""i"ioner Sahib
ha,t Mn Rawlton could have risen in anger
and grasped w.th strong hands the slender oL
throat of Laurence Herbert-as appeal against
the erratic cruelty of fate. His coming had been
such a chance-a lucidess chance. Fate, in the
Z H °K ' P»«'"'-*«='"P"»d pony, had
Arown Herbert to earth with such emphatic
force that his b(.ttered nerves had shirked the
club dmner, and to escape the desolation of his
silent bungalow he had wandered over to the
Kawltons.

In Philip's face Mrs. Rawlton read the anger
of cumulative suspicion.

" I've come for you, Mary— Roscoe is ill »
the commissioner said, with the slow drawl of a
set purpose. For a moment Mary gave no sign ;
she was thinking that Philip's anger was for the
neglect of the children, not because he had
missed her. Mrs. Rawlton looked curiously
from face to face. On Herbert's was a cynical
look of amused pity.

Mrs. Rawlton spoke first, with decision, for
she detected rebellion in her sister's face : " Come
«nd get your wraps, Mo^y. Sit down for a
minute, Philip."

In the room she spoke with large wisdom to
148

|!:li

THE NET OF LEO

the girl, saying over and over again : " Don't
speak— don't utter a word, unless you say, ' I'm
sorry.' Leave the matter of Herbert's being
here to me— I'll settle that. Now go— quick ! "
Mrs. Rawlton went with them to the tom-
tom.

As the gray Burma pony's small hoofs beat at
the beach road with the rattle of a .snare drum,
the two angered ones sat upright and silent in
the cart that slipped swiftly in and out the tun-
nels of banyan shade that were dark caverns in
the moonlight.

Perhaps it would have been better had Philip
talked to Mary then; for when he did give voice
to his bitterness in the bungalow, the boy's fe-
vered face had drawn his thoughts to the chil-
dren again, and his strong complaint was of her
evident lack of affection for them. If he had
only spoken of his own loneliness— of a craving
for her love— she would have rejoiced; but he
was forever and ever relegating her to the posi-
tion of a governess. That was her misconcep-
tion ; in reality he had come to look upon her love
as too great a thing to ask. He also misunder-
stood. His age appalled him. He might have
known that a girl of twenty could not come to
love a man of forty, whose years of delving in
dusty official records had made him old indeed.
149

^:|

! !

1 1 i

ill

' ; !i :

i< iii ■

THIRTEEN MEN

Not undemanding each other, the foolish
thougft that they had blundered crept into their
words, and they drifted in a sea of anger that
set their life craft against a cleaving rock of de-
struction. Mary, possessed of the sin of impetu-
osity — which is a quick gamer of evil results —
picturing a false hopelessness of striving, asked
Philip to let her go away. He, thinking she was
utterly weary of him, consented.

When Mrs. Rawlton knew from Mary of this
she writhed in hopelessness. It was the very
emptiness of the quarrel that rendered her im-
potent; there was nothing tangible to go upon.
How could a sane woman deal with fancies, or
explain them away ? It was all as clear as noon-
day to her. Mary was practically jealous of a
dead woman; that certainly was a fancy difficult
to combat. She was jealous of the children; but
to attempt to prove that Philip did not love the
little ones would be absurd. Possibly the hus-
band was jealous of Herbert; but as there was
absolutely so little cause, Mrs. Rawlton could
not even mention the subject without making
trouble.

So she just sat still, after a little attempt at
reason with Molly, and waited.

The boy's fever had been checked — he was
almost well again — but still the quarrel was un-
150

THE NET OF 7.E0

healed; Mary was to go to Calcutta by the first
steamer.

Up to the very evening before steamer day
Fate had shown no inclination to interfere.
That evening the commissioner was suddenly
called to Padouk. He went in his steam launch,
and by traveling all night would return in the
early morning before his wife departed. Mrs.
Rawlton had Mary for the evening, and toiled
without avail.

As the girl, leaving the sister's bungalow,
turned her cart between the two white stones of
the gateway the pony swerved and a man's voice
came out of the darkness, saying, " Pull up,
Molly — I want to talk with you."

She reined in her pony, and the syce caught
him by the head. Herbert came forward and
stood by the wheel. " Send Baloo ahead,
Molly," he pleaded, " and walk home."

" I don't like it, Laurence."

"Just to say good-by," he begged; " it's the
last time."

The girl descended, and the syce led the pony
ahead of them.

"You shouldn't have waited for me," she
said; " it's not right — I don't like it."

" It was a fluke, Molly — honest. I was going
in to Rawlton's when I saw your trap. Your
IS!

M'l

THIRTEEN MEN

sister wigged me for being there the other night.
Are you really going away, Molly? "
" To-morrow."

"Is it anything— am I to blame — did
Philip »

" Nobody is to blame."

" You are coming back? "

" Never."

" What is to come of it, Molly? "

The girl sighed wearily. " I don't know:

•• • There is t door tu which I find no key ;
There is i veil put which I cannot see.' "

They walked a little in silence, then Herbert
added :

" ' And i< there tillc awhile of me and thee i ' "

" No. ' No more of thee and me.' "

" You are more cruei than the tentmaker —
you harden his words."

" Omar was a Persian, and said more than he
meant; I am English, and say less."

" But has Philip decided on anything— arc
you to be free?"

" I am going away— that is aU ' between thee
and me,' Laurence;

" ' The stars are setdng and the Canvui
Starts for the Dawn of Nothing^—.' "
152

THE NET OF LEO

" It is dark going, Molly."
" Yes ; but it is darker staying."
They were at the gate. The syce had gone
on to the stable; and the two went in between
the opium-breathed champacs, the mottled-leafed
crotons brushing the girl's cheek as she walked,
like fingers of remonstrance touching her in a
friendship of caution.

" When you are free, Molly—" Herbert be-
gan; but she stopped him, interrupting, " I am
not free, Laurence; I am Philip Fleming's wife."
" I^ haven't forgotten that, Molly. You
needn't caution me. Fleming is your husband,
and he's my friend; that's the bitter part of it.
When we dine together at the gym we eat the
same salt, and I'm bound to a rock of despair

like Prometheus "

" You should bind your tongue, Laurence;
you shouldn't say diese things to me."

" There is no sin in actuality; I suffer the most
over it. You don't love him— you are going

away. When you are free, Molly "

They were at the bungalow veranda. The
girl slipped up the steps, and reached down her
hand. " Good-by, Laurence." she said softly;
" you must stop even thinking of me."

He followed, clinging to the small white
hand.

IS3

THIRTEEN MEN

" Molly," he whispered, " can't I wait? Tell
me " — he was at her side.

Suddenly a soft strain of music stole between
the purdah and the door casement. Herbert felt
the hand he held tremble. Involuntarily, on tip-
toe, they stole to the curtained door. Just as
they gained it Herbert's foot struck a chair and
it clattered.

Then a boy's voice came to their ears, saying:
" Don't jump, Madgie; it's father's topee
blowed from the rack again — it's always tum-
bling."

" I don't tare ; it s mean. Now your mudder'U
doe away, and we'll has to doe to bed, 'tause
there's no moosic. I wish my mudder's tum
home, tause I'se so sleepy."

Herbert felt the girl at his side shiver.

" Let's go to bed, Madgie," the boy pleaded.

" No, I'se doin' to wait for my mudder; I
wants a tiss."

" I wish my mother would kiss me, but she
jes' plays for us, cause she's dead and can't come
to kiss us. Your mother is going away to Cal-
cutta, Madgie, and then you won't have any
mother."

"No; she's not."

" Yes, ayah told me."

" Den I'll doe, too."

154

THE NET OF LEO

" I won't," replied the boy sturdily. " Your
mother doesn't love me. I don't believe she
loves you, Madgie, 'cause she never plays
for us."

" She tisses me sometimes, Ross. Folkses
don't tiss you ef dey doesn't love you."

" She's nice when she stays with us," offered
the boy in the way of reparation.

" She doesn't stay much with papa, neever;
but papa loves her, and tourse she loves him,
tourse everybody does."

"Come to bed, Madgie; I'm awful sleepy.
Papa'U be cross if he catches us here again."

" I'se going to wait for my mudder; I want
a tiss."

Herbert felt a small hand catch him by the
arm, and he was drawn silently along the ve-
randa, and down the steps until he stood beside
the crotons.

" Good night, Laurence," the girl said, hold-
ing out her hand.

" When you go away, Molly "

"I'm not going — ^you are; Cid is going to
have you transferred."
"Have me— what?"

" Can't you understand ? Did you hear noth-
ing? Don't you think God put the little chil-
dren there to talk to us? "

" 155

THIRTEEN MEN

Herbert's head drooped. " Good-by, Molly,"
he said; " you are a brave little woman — I was
a coward; you are right."

" I was also a great coward, Laurence, seeing
evil shadows where there was only light. See
how foolish I was — such a trivial thing has
opened my eyes. Cid was going to send you
away for my sake, but that was nonsense, Lau-
rence. For your own sake I think you had better
go. Good night; Madge is waiting for her kiss
— good-by."

He touched the hand he held with his lips,
and went out through the riotous perfume of
champac to the metaled road that was dreary in
its hardness.

The girl passed swiftly along the veranda.
As her heels clicked on its hard floor she heard
Madge's voice cry out: "Wait, Ross; here
timis my mudder; wait 'til I det a tiss."

What had come over her mother, Madge
wondered; a thousand kisses lay upon the lips
and eyes and cheeks; and hot tears rained upon
the little face, and damped the curls.

" Div Ross some, too, mudder," the child
pleaded ; " Ros.^^ is awful lonesome because he
tan't det no tiss from his mudder. You ain't
doin' away, mudder, is you ? Ross told a fib dus
to tease, didn't he?"

IS6

THE NET OF LEO

to 1^°' •'i!'"'*'"*'' ""'' »^«*"rt. I'm going
to stay with you and papa." *

n^L^^JV """^''^y ^°y »° *«=» fibs," com-

^;;hJsi'^^;.*'^-'^^^''''"-i"'i-Hc

out of a r'l ; '"" ""° " ''''^'""'J °f love
doJi vt !'' *^"'" °' "''8'«*' *«'> eyelids
dosed with the pressure of mother lip,. a„d
gentle hands that tucked them in with'tender

thAV'''^''"'"*""'' ^'"y "" '^'de-eyed in

In Z7 "^""'^ '''^"^ '^' «°°'' -d stole
on tiptoe many times to their cots. The hours

were ages; the night a span of life; even tim"
eemed to sleep while Mary, incapable of eTt
awaited the coming of Philip

What would he say? In her own joyous
transition she had not thought of this. ^

dre^ed as she was, upon a couch, and tried to
seep She must have dozed. She found herself
standing on the floor with an echo of music in
her mind. Had she dreamed it? But it w«
terribly real-it was ghostly.
The light was breaking. She went out from

red rubble drive. The breath of dawn was per-
157

K»

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111

THIRTEEN MEN

fumed from the gentle kiu of jwrnine. From
down the road a whir of rapid wheeli came to
the girl't ear»; it would be Philip. She went
inside and waited. Ai Philip came into the
bungalow ahe stepped forward, and stood look-
ing at him in silence.

" You are up early, Mary," he uid.
" I haven't been in bed."
" What I And going on a journey? "
" I'm not going, Philip."
" You're not — " he stopped and looked at her
as though he had nqt heard aright.

" I want to — stay with you, and — the chil-
dren — if you — if you wish it." She spoke with
slow, timid emphasis. " I was wrong about my
own feelings — I couldn't understand — I thought
no one loved me here, but Madge does; and if
you—" The girl stopped, lamely, trying to say
what was in her heart.

Philip knew he should answer— should say
something; but bells were ringing in his ears;
queer jumbled words, inanely empty, were con-
fusedly rampant in his mind. He did just the
wisest thing; he put his big strong arms about
the stammering girl, and said: " Hushl Don't
say anything more. I thought the bungalow
looked so dreary in the gray morning; and now
OGod, I am happy 1"

158

THE NET OF LEO

When the love god tits between two people,
iio'iding their hands, all troubles are brushed
away with the fairy wand of trust. And in ail
the girl's story of the night there was but one
troublous thing— the weird music, for Philip
himself had known of it.

But the piano was forced to give up its secret.
When Philip, in the way of investigation, re-
moved the front, a silly mouse, diat had built a
nest within, of the felt and strings, startled by
the light, clattered up the vibrant wires and
scuttled across the floor.

«S9

MAHNET

PHOBAH was king of the Yenan district.
Yenan is halfway from Rangoon to
Mandalay, in British territory; and
Phobah was only a dacoit, yet he was king of the
district. He took toll in rice or rupees or
heads; or sometimes in all three, just as it
pleased his pagan fancy.

Langworth was siiperintendent of police and
acting magistrate at Yenan.

Phobah had the regular knight-of-the-road
chivalry; he seized the goods of the rich, and
when he had more than enough for himself and
his merry men, he gave to the poor.

The police were handicapped. No man came
forth and told where Phobah was in hiding —
the rich man because he was afraid of losing his
head, and the poor man because Phobah fed
him when he was hungry. All the same, this
bandit king took a regular dacoit's delight in
killing people who incurred his enmity.

If Phobah was king of the jungles, his sister,
Mahnet, was queen of the village.

When Langworth first went to Yenan, no
1 60

MAHNET

Europeani lived there, and the air, that wai
empty of everything but the taint of native*,
hung heavy on his soul.

That was why Phobah's sister, Mahnet, who
was really pretty, appeared more beautiful than
anythmg else in the world— meaning, of course,
the Yenan world.

Burma is not as conventional as Belgravlj -
not openly, at any rate; so Mahn.t rolled rhc
roots for Langworth, and wov jasmine flowers
j in her hair, and put the golden-hearted .himpa.

blossoms m her ears, and wore the sl-y colored
silk putsoes daintily and coquettishly, and ghzed
the olive and rose of her cheek with sanJal-
wood powder, all for the sake of the smart po-
lice oflicer who talked gently to her with his full
rich English voice.

If Mahnet was pretty, Langworth was hand-
some. The cavalry officer's beauty he had; tall
and lithe and agile, blue eyes and blond hair,
and the square, sun-browned jaw that made
strong setting for the man beauty that was in
the face.

It was a cheap little heaven that Mahnet had;
just to sit there and watch this man god through
the rings of curling smoke, and sometimes to
catch the music of his laughter as he chaffed her.

But one thing bothered Mahnet. Phobah,
l6i

1^ ' 'i

•ii

I pi

i li

THIRTEEN MEN

who was her brother, was a dacoit, a bad daco!t,
on whose head there was a price; and some day
this god thakine, the superintendent, would go
out with his soldier police after him, and there
would be a fight.

Twice Langworth went out with his Punjabi
police after the dacoit chief; but they saw only
the trail of the serpent — the blackened iron-
wood posts of the bamboo houses he had burned.
There were no fights, neither were any dacoits
captured.

So in Yenan itself there was much peace right
up to the day Padre Hoskins came with his
mission.

Now Padre Hoskins knew of the home his-
tory of Langworth; he knew there were broad
acres and a manor house ; also the prospect of a
title, with only two lives between.

So, while Langworth watched for a chance
to land Phobah, and incidentally attended to
routine matters, Padre Hoskins set himself the
task of putting the superintendent's household
gods in order.

Once started in that direction, Hoskins worked
with feverish intentness. This intentness woke
Langworth up — it was like playing a hose on a
light sleeper. He had not thought of all the
things the padre discussed with him in a seem-
1 6a

MAHNET

ingly disinterested manner. If he had thought
of them at all, it was only in a nebulous way;
the only concrete thing in the whole bag of
tricks was Mahnet, and she was pleasant.

Hoskins was a past master at mental manipu-
lation, and the tall dacoit fighter rvas no match
for him at diat game. Even Mahi.st couldn't
help him a bit, though she knew what was
going on.

But though Langworth was outclassed at this
mental fencing, yet he was as bull-headed as—
as— well, an Englishman. Hoskins could see
that, or rather feel it.

An inspiration came to him. He must have
reenforcements; that was the key to the whole
situation — he must have a woman to play off
against Mahnet. So he sent to Rangoon for his
niece, Florence, to come to Yenan to help him
in his " missionary work." If Hoskins had not
been a padre, he would have smiled a little when
he wrote that — " missionary work."

Mahnet knew why die white girl had come:
just as the native news carriers beat out the tele-
graph, Mahnet's subtle Oriental mind discov-
ered this fact long before Langworth had the
least suspicion of it.

" Does my lord like the English lady? " she
asked Langworth.

163

8h s

THIRTEEN MEN

"Yes; she's a ripping fine girl ! How do you
like her swagger frocks, Mahnet? Better than
putsoes, aren't they? "

These were things for Mahnet to think over
—slowly, dreamily, in a proper Burmese man-
ner, so she said nothing. And at the end of
some of the thinking, Mahnet did a proper silly
thing: she had some dainty muslin dresses made,
and in anger stripped from the bronze, statu-
esque limbs the clinging silk folds of the grace-
ful putsoe, and imprisoned them in the skirts
that were like the English lady's.

Of course she couldn't eradicate all the grace
that had come from years of freedom of limb,
but si;e went a long way toward it ; and this little
false play, trifling as it seemed, did considerable
toward the realization that the padre had been
working for. It was the illustration that went
with his story of the incompatibility of this sort
of thing in England.

With the reenforcemti.is thrown into the field,
the padre commenced to score. The sight of
Florence's English face and high-bred manner
reawoke the " caste " that had been bred in the
bone of Langworth's English home life.

Florence, to do her justice, knew nothing
about this — that was why it was so effective;
she was natural, and liked Langworth.
164

MAHNET

A man couldn't fight against all this, so in the
end the padre won, and Langworth became en-
gaged to Miss Florence.

So Mahnet spent most of her time now at her
father's little bamboo house, because her lord
wished it. And Langworth spent most of his
time thinking out futile little schemes for break-
ing off the thing effectually: a trip to Darjeeling
would perhaps be the best way, with a sub-
stantial recompense to Mahnet for her disap-
pointment.

Then suddenly, one sultry night, Ragathu,
who was a village woon, came to the superin-
tendent and whispered in fear that Phobah
was hidden in the Zealat jungle, close to Raga-
thu's village. His villagers had captured one
of the dacoits, named Yaman, and Ragathu had
brought him to Yenan.

The dacoit was marched before Langworth.
A proper cocoanut-headed villain he was. On
his legs, from knee to hip, was much barbarous
tattooing in blue and red ; snakes and big-tusked
dragons fought each other on the great muscles
of his sturdy thighs. The scar of a dahcut
traced its unpleasant length down his cheek from
ear to mouth.

" Judging from the specimen," Langworth re-
marked, " I should say they were a pretty tough
165

J
1

■'if

i. ■

(si i-i

THIRTEEN MEN

gang. No wonder you villagers drop your guns
and run, if they're all as hideous as this gentle
creature. What does he say for himself, Ra-
gathu?"

" He says, thakine, that if you will not take
away his life, nor send him off to the Devil
Island, where the Government puts the dacoits,
he will show where Phobah and his jackals are
hiding."

" I thought so ; he looks a proper traitor. He
ought to be shot out of hand. But Phobah is
worth a bigger price than this sneak's useless life.
Tell him that if he keeps his word, I'll try to get
a pardon for him. But mark you, Ragathu, if
I see anything suspicious, I'll kill him as I would
a cobra. I don't want my Punjabis led into a
trap. How far is it to the dacoit's camp? Ask
him."

" Four hours, thakine, he says."

" Well, we had better nab Phobah to-night,
then; he'll be gone in the morning."

Yaman was closely guarded, and the sergeant
of police given orders to line up fifteen picked
Punjabis and get ready for a start immediately.

Mahnet had heard that one of Phobah's men

was at Langworth's bungalow, so she had come

down to hear if evil had befallen her brother.

Sitting out on the veranda, she had heard all

i66

MAHNET

this talk, the bamboo walls were so thin — not
thick enough to keep this misery from her heart.
What a black cloud it was!— at last somebody
would be killed I

She sat huddled up on the floor, her face
buried in the arms folded across the knees, the
silly muslin dress drinking greedily the tears that
dropped from the big dark eyes. She was think-
ing, thinking, thinking. Phobah would be killed,
or Langworth thakine would be killed.

Suddenly she raised her head. Buddha would
help her do that, help her prevent the killing.

Yaman had been left in the bungalow, hand-
cuffed to a policeman, while Langworth arranged
for his men over at the thanna. Mahnet went
in to where the dacoit and his guard were.
" Quick, brother," she said in Yaman's jungle
speech; " where is Phobah? "

" What are you saying? " asked the Punjabi,
for he did not understand the language.

"I am asking how many men Phobah has
with him," she replied, with Oriental diplomacy.

"At the white pagoda that is where the nullah
crosses the road from Zealat to Minbu," an-
swered Yaman; and his red and yellow eyes
lighted up furtively.

"What does he say? " asked the policeman,
suspiciously.

I<7

THIRTEEN MEN

"He says Phobah has many men, and that
the pohce must go very slowly and carefully,
because the guns are always watching at the little
path that leads through the jungle."

Then Mahnct went out and sped'swiftly down
into the Village to her father's house, where lived
l-athu, her young brother.

" Lathul Lathul " she called softly, just at
the foot of the teak-wood steps.

Lathu came down from the little house, his
sandals knocking irritably at the hard wood of
the primitive stairway. " What is it, little sis-
ter r he asked.

"Phobah is at the Zealat pagoda, and die

tnakine is going out with the police. O Lathu

somebody will be killed I"

"It is four hours there," said Lathu, plain-
Uvely. '^

"You arc afraid, then," sneered Mahnct,
drawing back disdainfully.

"I will go," answered Lathu, with decision;
but Fhobah must go away— he must not siioot
at the police."

" Yes; tell him that Mahnet says he must not
shoot at die police, because the thakine is Mah-
net's brother."

Over the government road that led to Raga-
thu s viUage, tramp, tramp, tramp, with the
1 68

MAHNET

stately military tread of soldier-bied Punjabis,
the fifteen tall policemen marched through the
thick, sensuous gloom of the Burmese night. At
their head rode the superintendent on his gray
Pegu pony, and between him and the policemen
was Ragathu, the sergeant, and Yaman.

At Ragathu's village they halted for a rest.
It was twelve o'clock. The Pegu pony was left
at the village, and the brown figures of Lang-
worth and his men, with soft muffled steps,
melted into the deep shadow of the Zealat
jungle. In front of the column marched Lang-
worth and the sergeant; between them the dacoit
guide, Yaman.

Down the Minbu road they moved softly,
silently. The Punjabis had slipped off their big
loose sandals and shoved them into the khaki
blouses. The order for silence had been passed,
and no one spoke — no one whispered.

At the nullah that cut its little gorge across
their way, Yaman touched Langworth on the
arm, and they halted. With his lips close to the
ears of the sergeant he whispered something.
The sergeant spoke to Yaman, so low that no
one heard. Then he put his face close to the
superintendent's. "He says," whispered the
sergeant, " that a path on the other hank of the
nullah leads down to the white pagoda, that is
169

THIRTEEN MEN

lii!

in a thick jungle of bamboos. Beyond the pa-
goda Phobah has a stocicade."

" When we come to the pagoda," whispered
back Langworth, "take six police and work
around the back to cut off their retreat. I will
charge them from in front. They will be sleep-
ing, and we'll bag the lot."

He touched Yaman, and the party moved
down into the dark bottom of the nullah, over
the little bridge, .:nd up on the farther bank.
They turned sh.i'j to the left along the narrow
ribbon of the jungle-hid path; they could only
walk two abreast.

Suddenly something rustled the hanging
leaves of the drooping bamboos on their right.
Langworth cocked his revolver and half-turned.
Then they moved forward again.

As they started, a sharp bird-whistle sounded
at Langworth's elbow; he could have sworn it
was Yaman giving a signal a step behind him.
Wheeling like a flash he stretched out his hand
for the dacoit's throat. His fingers clutched the
sergeant — Yaman had gone.

Then again that sharp hissing note sounded
from the jungle on their left.

" Forward I Quick march ! " he commanded.

Too late. Hell belched forth; its hot
breath scorched their faces. The sergeant
170

MAHNET

pitched forward on hii head— diot through
the heart.

Langworth felt a pair of red-hot pincen grab
the tendons of his right arm, and tear them
down, down to the elbow. The arm hung use-
less as a withered leaf— a slug had shattered die
bone. And something was ripping at his breast
widi a knife or a jagged nail; it seared his flesh
and clutched at his lungs— they were choking.

A glaring flame darted out and withered his
cheek; the light was burned out of his eyes.

The leaderless Punjabis were charging like
madmen dirough the jungle; firing, and mixing
up indiscriminately with spearlike bamboos that
had been planted in a bayonet wall about Pho-
bahs nest. But after the first volley Phobah
and his men had melted into the waste of dark-
ened jungle. Pursuit was useless.

Tenderly the baflied police picked up their
fallen leader and the sergeant, and started back
dejectedly over the road to Ragathu's village.
There a charpoy was improvised as a litter, and
with swinging tread the silent men bore Lans-
worth to Yenan.

Mahnet had been waiting like a frightened
bird for the police to come back out of the
jungle.

"The sahib will die," said the Punjabi Naik
« 171

THIRTEEN MEN

who wai in charge lince the sergeant's death.
Somebody betrayed ui to Phobah; his men
shot from the jungle before we came to the pa-
goda, and the sergeant is already dead. The
Mhib will die also; because there is nobody here
but the guru sahib, who is a fool, and knows only
to pray. The doctor sahib is at Minbu, which is
twenty miles, and so our captain will die."

Now Ungworth had a race pony, and in three
minutes Mahnet was galloping on the road to
Mmbu. In an hour and a half she was there;
and die civil surgeon, who was a Bengali baboo,
was having it explained to him that if he did not
go quick to Yenan, Phobah, the dacoit, would
crucify him to please Mahnet.

So in three hours more, just as the blar^faced
sun was slipping down behind the Yomas, the
baboo was picking twisted slugs from the torn
holes diat were in Langwordi's arms and chest
and legs.

" He will die," said the baboo, cheerfully,
with soulless brevity, " because of the proper
shooting of the dacoits. What can I, who am
but a civil surgeon, do, when the fusillade had
been conducted with such commendable preci-
«on? Also are the damn slugs corkscrewed into
him with beastly linuosity.
" In die morning he will be defunct; there-
172

MAHNET

fo« you mu.t arrange about «,n,c futurity mat
ter,, becauM the demi« may be ,ccTr7J 1
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a strange mixture of petulant humor and seri-
ousness :

"The baboo's an ass — always was; but I'm
afraid he's right this time; it's usually big odds
the other way. I'm not going to give up —
that's no good; but still we'd better fix things
a bit, if you'll help. Oh, hang it I I shouldn't
mind if I'd bagged that beast Phobah, and
hadn't lost the sergeant — poor devil! I won-
der who sent the dacoits word we were coming?
I'd like to know that.

" There's a bit of land at home, and if I don't
fix it, Basil — ^you remember him — deuced bad lot
— will come in for it, and make ducks and drakes
of the whole business. It wouldn't do him a bit
of good either — ^wouldn't last long. We must
save the acres so they'll be of benefit to some-
body who deserves it. It's about time I did
something decent. Would Florence mind if we
were married to-night? "

" Robert — " commenced the padre, dis-
tressedly.

" Don't bother I " broke in Langworth, petu-
lantly. " If the baboo's right, I'll snuff out by
morning, so don't upset what ought to be, be-
cause of form scruples. Send for Florence,
that's a good man. She won't mind if I'm torn
up a bit. Afterward you must fix up the papers
174

). i|i

MAHNET

leaving even^thing to her-bar a thousand
pounds for Mahnet: she deserves something,
too-I m afraid I've treated her beastly bad.
Now hurry this up and don't bother, for it's
shppery go.ng, and I may take a header at any
moment." '

The padre stopped out on the back veranda
and called the orderly. " Bring the mems.hib,
quick "he said. " Your captain's order."

Then he went back and sat beside Langworth,
and waited. Presently a step sounded on A^
graveled road at the veranda. She had come,
ihe padre rose and went to the door. He
could see the shadowy figure of the girl in the
dusk of the gathering night. " Come here, my
dear, he said, softly; " Robert wants you.'«

As she came forward in the gray of the un-
lighted room, droopingly, he whispered: "He
w«hes to make you his wife to secure the prop-

bitterly hard to be cut off in his prime by those

M^trwillT''""' "" ' '""-^ ^'^^ ^'^
Then he stepped up to the cot, and bent over

the man Iy.„g there with his eyes bandaged.
She has come " he said, softly. " Shall we

proceed with the ceremony; is it really your

*75

■M

THIRTEEN MEN

" Yes; hurry up, or wc may be short a bride-
groom," answered Langworth. " Come here,
little woman. Deuced good of you to come.
Sorry I can't see you; my eyes are bunged up."

The girl slipped to her knees beside the figure,
which was almost swallowed up in the shadow
of the coming night. The wounded man heard
the soft rustle of the dress, and stretched his left
hand gropingly toward her. She caught the
hand in both her own, and covered it with sob-
bing kisses. The hot tears scalded it.

" Don't cut up,' girl," said Langworth. " I
think I'll pull through in spite of the baboo and
Phobah; but we've got to do this thing for fear
of accidents, you know."

" Shall we go on without a light? " asked the
padre; "the baboo has forbidden one in the
room."

" Yes," answered Langworth. " I like the
gloom — it rests me."

Impressively the tall, slender padre, with
strained voice, repeated the solemn sentences
which joined them together till death should
them part. Only a few hours at the most, per-
haps a few minutes, it might be till the parting
would come.

"Now, girl," said Langworth, when the
padre ceased speaking, " I'm glad that is sct-
176

MAHNET

tied. We must make a strung fight to get over
these cuts. You'll be all right at home if I don't
pull through."

It was a strange marriage— pluck and misery,
and perhaps just a little worldly satisfaction on
the part of Padre Hoskins to relieve his genuine
sorrow at the almost certain loss of a friend.

"It doesn't seem very regular," said the
clergyman, as he thought canonically of the
usual routine, " but the circumstances must be
considered."

" It's all right," answered Langworth, wea-
rily; " I'm glad I pulled through it. Give me a
drink, please. Hurry the papers— they'll need
my name to them."

" You'll remain w . your husband, my dear,
until I return," said the padre, softly. " I'll
send the doctor to help you with Robert."

As he stepped off the veranda hastily he fairiy
ran into somebody.

^^ "O uncle I" a frightened voice exclaimed;
" you nearly knocked me down. I came over to
see how Mr. Langworth is. The doctor says he
is dangerously wounded."

Hoskins stood petrified with astonishment
for an instant; then he spoke in a voice of won-
der: "You — you — Florence? You — ^weren't
— in the room just now? "
177

THIRTEEN MEN

"Why, no, uncle; I've just come from the
bungalow."

" My God! whom, then, have I married to
Robert? " as a horrible suspicion flashed through
his mind. "It must be— the— other— Mah-
net."

He turned and passed quickly to the door of
Langworth's room. Just inside he stopped,
awed by the sight of a blurred picture.

Drooping over t^e cot in broken misery was
the slight figure of the woman he had joined in
marriage to the dying man. The unwounded
left arm was thrown about her neck. The hush
of the little room was broken by plaintive sobs,
and a man's voice was saying: " It's a terrible
mix-up, Mahnet— why did you do it, girl? I
can't blame you, though. It seems like fate.
You can't beat out fate — nobody can."

It seemed to the listener that there was more
of resignation than regret in the voice. And
Mahnet was sobbing.

The padre turned, and taking Florence gently
by the hand, said, " Come home with me, dear;
I will come back to Robert presently."

In the morning Langworth was still alive

and that night— and the next morning; and as

the days went by he grew stronger and stronger,

and Mahnet nursed him back to life. The doc-

178

MAHNET

tor said it was the nursing that pulled him
through.

Only the light that had been scorched out of
the eyes never came back; and the right :irm was
gone. But Mahnet didn't mind that; she was
happy.

Afterward the padre learned that Mahnet had
come into her own innocently enough; it was his
amateur Hindoostanee that was at fault. He
should have said, " Bring the Missie Baba," not
the " memsahib." Then the orderly would not
have gone for Mahnet, thinking the padre
wanted her.

179

i il

v. •*

FINNERTY OF THE ELEPHANT
KEDDAH

SOME day a man will come out of India
and write a book about Major Finnerty
of the Elephant Keddah. Then this
story will be last 'in the book, because of the
thing that is in the story.

The " Major " was Finnerty's " ranking,"
for he had been out of the regiment since he was
a sub-lieutenant.

Finnerty was the strongest man in the Indian
Service ; and sober his strength was a forbearing
delight; drunk he was a tribulation. Liquor
floated his mentality to some ir st dead sea of
oblivion, and his physical force guided him
illogically, a rampageous gorilla.

Knowing of this thing himself, and in avve of
the blank anger of the Sircar, he stuck to pina-k-
pani (water) in the the jungle; leaving the othsr
till he got his month of leave in Calcutta.

The Keddah Sahib's rer own had gone from

Manipur to Herat, and from Simla to Cape

Comorin. Punjabi wrestlers came from the

" Land of the Five Rivers," end wept with joy

1 80

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

when they looked at the six-foot-three Irishman.
They stroked his huge muscles lovingly, and
exclaimed " Wah-wah I " Then, when they had
been thrown, they would go back to their own
caste, and tell of the one sahib that should have
been a Sikh Rajah. That was Finnerty of the
Elephant Keddah.

And Chota Moti was a grunty little babe
elephant that Finnerty had captured in the As-
sam jungles.

Out of consanguinity of temperament these
two took to each other like blood relatives. For
a year Finnerty made a pet of Chota Moti; and
then the official who writes on paper what is to be
done with the Government's elephants passed an
order that Chota Moti, being rseless for work,
should be sold with other cast animals. Wilson!
the circus man, bought the babe, and she passed
from Dhuttaghur to a canvas home on the big
maidan in Calcutta. Then when the hot weather
blew its sirocco breath across the City of Pal-
aces, the viceroy and the sahibs trooped up to
the Himalayas, and the circus folded its tei.t and
stole away to Australia.

The going of Chota Moti from Dhuttaghur

left a blank in the life of the Keddah Sahib. If

he could have filled the void with some strong

essence of forgetfulness, he might not have

i8i

I i^

THIRTEEN MEN

missed the little hathi so much, but he dare not
even smell the stuff— it would have led to slaug.
ter; for Dhuttaghur and natives and elephanu
and delirium-laden jungle fever wasn't Calcutta
and the white men of his own caste, by any
means.

In September Finnerty read in the Calcutta
^sian that the circus was daily expected from
Australia. Then ^he devil of restlessness drew
at the soul of the Irishman, till he became like
a muggar that forsakes his pool in the Ganges
and travels far across land.

" Faith, I can't stand it," he growled. " I'll
go kharab (bad) if I stay here."

He applied for leave, and when it came passed
with celerity from Dhuttaghur to the city of
rejuvenation.

" Now, my little pig-squeaker, I'll feed you
nuts and taparees till your sides bulge," Finnerty
muttered, as he donned clean raiment in his
room m the Great Eastern Hotel. Then he
drove to the maidan. The green sward stretched
away m unbroken flatness to the escarpment of
Fort William; no flag-topped, white-walled tent
met the Keddah Sahib's eyes; the circus had not
arrived; there was no little trumpet of welcome
for Finnerty from Chota Moti.
But Calcutta was not Dhuttaghur, and there
182

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

was the other thing to be had, the solace of many
pegs. So the Keddah Sahib became one to
avoid.

It was all play, for no man might ipeak out
of h.s memory that he had seen Finnerty cross.
But such play I Tom coats and bruised limbs
are jokes to read about, not to come by. Be-
cause of h.i giant strength, no man showed an-
ger to the Keddah Sahib, and Finnerty held
anger against no man.

The trouble commenced over a new sahib-
one who had lately < ; to Calcutta, and
knew not of Finnerty and his ways. He was a
seller of wares from Birmingham, and every
man m that town thinks he can box. So Ham-
merton put hin„elf on guard when Finnerty,
with h.s huge arKis spread, swept through the
cafe tiffin room in a friendly charge. The
sahibs that knew ducked and scuttled and
laughed and swore, and it was fun— for Fin-
nerty. The drive proceeded with exuberant
success till :he man from Birmingham stood in
the way.

"Ay, there, me 'earty," he called wamingly,
as his fists swung into proper pose.

Finnerty stared. Was there ever such luck?
He rubbed his eyes doubtingly. Here was a
man inviting a grapple. Not since the Keddah
183

':t

THIRTEEN MEN

Sahi^ had graiMd the last Punjabi had he felt
the joyou. thrill of .training muscle, against hi.
chest The sahibs of Calcutta were weakling,
that fell away m disordered limpness from the
clutch of his brawny hands.

"HivinsI but you're a darlin'I" cried Fin-
nerty in his exuberant joy. " I could love you.
man; its a britle of Simpkin ^e'll be havin'
presently. In the' meantime, look out, me buck.
1 m chargin'

« For they c«U it limimde in Billyhooly.* "

The ''Balljhooly" wa, like the trumpet of
one of his own elephants; indeed, Finnerty's rush
was entirely like that, and die Birmingham gent
was seized by the vest, and the upper story of
his trousers, swung from his feet, lifted to die
end of die long tiffin table, all set for lunch, and
then the table was swept from er.u to end. Mul-
ligatawny and beer and claret and Worcester
sauce and many other liquids formed a lake
on the marble floor that was pebbled with frag-
ments of bottles and broken dishes.

" Now, me darlin'," cried die audior of the
mischief, " we'll drink a bottle of wine to show
there's no ill will."
The merchant's white suit was gaudy with
184

FINNERTY OF the KEDDAH

the purple .tain of claret and the biliou. „een
of mull.g,uwny; and hi. hair held ZryZd
there wa. Worcester sauce in hi, eye, and the

daTs,h\" "" "" °J ''' '°'y- So to'th' K 5
of th. 1' »«°""'»""t. he walked sulkily out
of the roo turning at the door to curse thl

"f" w f "'I'. ' ^"""''■•'™^ of ^Xy

like L K .1 ." T'^ ''" ""P^y he stood

table anH^h '^ "-'"iringly at the desolate
s^^^ha^^^^^^^^^^^^

"When the glory', pdmed up,
Wh..'. the tally in Ae bloody he.p of d«„ ,

Now you-re drunk, you Irish pup.
And you'll never get your .tripe. „o „,ore ,g«„.

For the Lunenck. .re rough-very rough. "

nesfhewt''^ """"'' */ *'*" "°'"'- '»» --"Pti-
ness held no promise of entertainment- it, still
new oppressed him. He passed a W t hi'
and up to the billiard room humming? "

" ^''«n the "Uiging cable', ftd

With the tally of the awfUl Butcher'. Bill
In their wbered tunic, .reared with dirty r^.

Count the Irirf. on the cre.t of every hUl,
For the Lunericb are dead-mo.tly dead "
185

i;r

I' it

i i' i

lip

THIRTEEN MEN

As he entered the room two sahibs laid their
cues on the table, took their helmets, and slipped
through the other door.

The Irishman looked at the button-strung
wire over the table. The score showed that the
sahibs had left their game half-finished. On
a side table stood two glasses, half-full.

Finnerty laughed; then he stretched his huge
form in a chair ai^d ordered a bottle of " Mono-
pole."

" Faith, it's too bad entirely," he muttered;
" sure I'd like to split this bottle with that gen-
tleman of the zebra coat."

As the Keddah Sahib drank, a hotel peon
appeared, and, salaming deeply, handed him
a note. It was a bill for sixty-eight rupees
breakage.

" Sure, shikarri comes high in Calcutta," Fin-
nerty remarked, as he scrawled his signature
across the bill and passed it to the peon.

Before he had emptied his glass a private
servant appeared with another missive. It was
a request that Mr. M. J. Finnerty would se 'd
by bearer twenty-four rupees, value of a suit he
had ruined.

The Keddah Sahib laughed. " Faith, that's
rich," he muttered. " The bounder must be a pro-
fessional; he wants pay for an amateur bout."
i86

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

Finnerty tore the note and threw it at the
servant, intimating that he and his master might
take a trip to a worse climate than Calcutta.
The native disappeared. And presently the
khitmutghar handed to Finnerty a third neatly
folded sheet of paper. This was distinctly dis-
courteous in tone; it intimated that M. J. Fin-
nerty was a man of low caste; that he had struck
the writer's servant; that he had been rude to
the sahib himself; that he had committed an
assault; that he had refused to pay a legitimate
charge for damages sustained and that now he
was about to be punished.
„ "^?^' ^^^ darlin'," Finnerty murmured;
"I'm in luck— me, that was so lonesome. Och,
I'm happy entirely. He'll be spankin' Finnerty
—the darlin' 1 "

The beady champagne boiled up in the Irish-
man and threw a vapor of ecstasy to his brain.
He sang softly: "Oh, the fightin' boys that
come from Limerick, from Limerick, from
Limerick 1 " Then he called: " Here, khitmut-
ghar, bring me the toy man that fetched this
chittie — I'll be givin' him a rupee."

" That bearer he's plenty much 'fraid, Hu-
zoor."

" Faith, I'll not touch him. Sure, I'm a mem-
sahib, I'm that gentle— just holdin' meself for
18 187

:H!

THIRTEEN MEN

what's to come. Stand him by the door the
till I malce bat (talk) with him; then you'll b
givin' him this rupee."

By the persuasiveness of silver the servant
was coaxed to the door, and Finnerty made the
bat, which was :

" Give your sahib my salams, and tell him
that I'll be waitin' in room seven, on the second
floor, just dyin' with the joy of seein' him. Tell
your master that Finnerty Sahib is just dyin' to
be punished — altogether hungry for it."

The servant slipped away; the Keddah Sahib
finished his wine, and, more or less troubled by
its wavering influence, passed to the second floor,
muttering, as he went : " Oh, but I ought to
telegraph to Healey at Dhuttaghur that I'm
goin' to be chastised I "

Down the dim corridor Finnerty swung, full
of the exhilarating prospect ahead of him. He
pushed back the purdah of a doorway and
passed into the room. Had he looked at the
number he would have seen it was nine, but the
rooms were all alike in their primitive simplicity,
and he was deeply interested in other matters.
His foot struck against a pair of riding boots
standing in the middle of the floor. Finnerty
kicked them through the purdah to the hall,
muttering : " That Abdul is a budmash ; I'll fine
i88

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

hin, eight annas for leavin' mc boots therc-I
might have broken me neck."

He threw his coat and helmet on a chair
Jgh ed a cheroot, and stretched himself on J.e
bed to wa,t for a visitation of justice. I„ trutih
the man from Birmingham had probably m«„t
oure b ess; but such a thing L law waT^
side the cognizance of the Keddah Sahib- he
was a law unto himself. '

m,3? ''^,co'"in• presintly," Finnerty mur-
mured drows. y as the many potations tugg/d
at h.s eyehds. " but hurry, you darlin'." ^^

ihen he thought regretfully of the physical
TVu' f^^' Englishman. After all, there

iufpotsZ "'""'"'''''"^''"^'^P-''^^
" "'^'"^ ' P'"PS he'll bring a friend. Faith
Jen there wil be fun. P'raps he will-by Je
f^:;" He's sure to. Yes, there'll be Iport

as trAnd '^■"""'"'^ '^'' °'"' "^ '^'^ "^'^ kind,
as b.g and smewy as a Punjabi wrestler, came
^ d gnpped h™, and the strength of the stran!

e 'stasvTf '" k" "'''f '' •"='"« ''•*™^ ^'* the

-4ioraf'°'^'°^°"-'-^"^"«'^-

189

THIRTEEN MEN

As Finnerty slept, a man as big as the Red-
dah Sahib, clad in a towel and pajama pants,
stepped from a bath room at the end of the
hall. It was Colonel Le Messurier; and if
Finnerty was the strongest man in the service,
Le Messurier was the handsomest, and almost
as strong.

The colonel slipped quietly along to Number
9. He stared when he saw his riding boots lying
drunkenly in the corridor, and muttered, " The
devil take that bearer I " as he passed through
the purdah.

Inside the room he stared again. On his bed
lay a huge, rumpled creature snoring volumi-
nously. A lighted cheroot was sizzling in the
pillow case.

"By Jove! of all the infernal cheek! " ex-
claimed the indignant colonel. Then b" laid a
heavy hand upon the sleeper's arm, and Fin-
nerty's eyes opening fell upon a pair of satin-
skinned shoulders as broad as a gladiator's.

The Irishman sprang to his feet. " Och, you
boy — you've come ! " ne cried joyously, as he
looked straight into a pair of blue-gray eyes that
were on a level with his own. " Faith, an*
you're ready for business," as his eye took in
the fighting trim of the stranger, who was
stripped to his waist.

190

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

"What are you doing here?" queried the
gladiator.

" Waitin' for you, you darlin' I "
"Waiting for me, eh?" The gladiator
dropped the boots and surveyed the dusty im-
print of Finnerty's feet on his bed. " Get out I "
he said.

The Keddah Sahib laughed, and tightened his
belt.

" Come, leave the room I You've got a devil-
ish c«-tek."

For answer Finnerty slapped him on the chest
with the flat of his hand, as is the method of
wrestle's, sprang back, and crouched, his eyes
wide with delight at the gladiator's excellence
of form. Never had he seen in India such a
man; tall as himself, lithe and supple, not tied
with knotty muscles, but the biceps and the tri-
ceps and the broad flat fore arm big and smoodi
and covered with pink-white skin that was like
a woman's.

^^ "You blackguard," cried the gladiator.
" Leave the room, or, by Jove, I'll throw you
out."

"Begin, you dariin'; I'm cryin' with joy.
You're the loveliest boy— for the love of God
begin; I'm cryin' with joy."

There was a shimmer of white skin and a
191

I -

» ii:

THIRTEEN MEN

hand of steel grasped the wrist of the Keddah
Sahib's guard and the tussle was on. It was an
affair of equality; the scarcity of furniture con-
duced to freedom of action.

In vain Finnerty had drained the Punjaub for
a man of his own might; and here, in the grasp
of a chanceling, his strength was held in check,
and his art was matched by art, and his
bones creaked, and his muscles strained, and
he had come by sjiort such as he had dreamed
of.

Finnerty's shirt hung in shreds. Once he
found time to strip die collar from his swelling
neck; once the gladiator, fastening in his belt,
lifted him from die floor and started toward
the door. Then they were on die mat and Fin-
nerty|s breath, made thick by his too generous
potations, blew hot and strong against the pink
chiek of the gladiator.

It was an accident — Finnerty would have
given a month's pay to have it undone— but his
hand slipped on the moist skin, and lifted a welt
over the gladiator's eye.

"You blackguard I You cadi" he heard
panted through the set teeth of the gladiator,
and a knee knuckled his ribs as he turned.

Finnerty took " to the bridge " for a breath-
ing space, and a smooth hand glided beneath
191

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

his armpit, and a hot palm lay against the back
of his neck.

A desolating regret filled the soul of the Ked-
dah Sahib, as he waited cooling his lungs. Here
was the opportunity of a lifetime, and he rank
out of condition.

" Curse the beer sharab I Why did I touch
it? " he moaned inwardly. " I'm an old wom-
an — I'm a punkah cooly — I'm a fat baboo —
that's what I am 1 "

Then he was woven sideways till his spine
was like a corkscrew, and another hand came
up between his legs and laid him by the
thigh.

"Och, you laddie-buckl" he muttered;
" you're the fairest play boy from over the sea,
and I'll promise you this, that if me shoulder
touch the mat, I'll walk out like a lamb an
give you me own room."

Then like a wire jack-in-the-box Finnerty
spiraled straight through the holding arms and
was up on top of a strong-bridged back that
was like chiseled ivory.

" Rest a bit, you darlin' ! Rest a bit, you
boyl " he said; " it's yourself that's up to die
game."

Finnerty looked longingly at the opening he
saw for die " strangle hold"; he shut his eyes
193

THIRTEEN MEN

to put the temptation from him— the gladiator
played the game too fair for a trick.

There was a full half-hour of this joyous en-
tertainment; the first fierce onslaught and careless
taking of chances had passed away and decorum
graced the game. Also there was a suspicion of
lethargy creeping into the huge muscles that had
strained assiduously.

Because of the frivolous week, Finnerty's con-
dition commenced \o tell. Had he been chasing
hathis in the jungle during that time, the bout
would have lasted perhaps till midnight. How-
ever, it was now suddenly terminated by a bustle
of people at the room door.

The gladiator loosed his grip and sprang
ninbly back, and the Keddah Sahib, rising, saw
the hotel manager— in fact, the hall thronged
with sahibs and the hotel staff, who gazed with
a mixture of awe and amusement upon the
wrestlers.

The colonel's silk pajamas were no more than
an apology; while Finnerty, from the belt up,
was a muscular statu? of hand-spanked flesh.

" Och, Tremaime! " Finnerty began, but the
manager interrupted him with a concise repri-
mand. No more wild Irish elephant-catchers
for the Great Eastern; Finnerty had wrecked a
tiflSn table, made a bear's garden of the cafe,
194

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

and now the whole hotel had been thrown into
confusion by his assault upon Colonel Le Mes-
suner. Indeed, the Keddah Sahib was invited
to adjourn to some other hotel, where they
looked more kindly upon such proceedings

It was the Colonel Sahib's voice interniptinii
the manager: " If this person is quite finished
with my room, I should like to dress."

, " r?r 7°™— *^'« 'oom? " queried the Ked-
dah ijahib, looking from one to the other.
" Yes," answered Tremairne.
Finnerty looked at the number on the door,
and the enormity of his transgression swept him
into unspeakable shame. He gathered his coat
and helmet; in the hallway he said : " And that's
Colonel Le Messurierl Sure, I thought it was
a pug that Brummagem swine had hired to give
me a turn. And I've been touseling Colonel
Le Messuner that's just been transferred as
Collector of Dhuttaghur. I might've known it
—1 ve heard of him. Me soul's watered to
take a throw out of him-I might've known it.
«ut he s a swine with his pride— I've heard that
too. Faith, I'll be broke; I might as well go
down and feed meself to the muggars in
Hooghly River."

The Keddah Sahib, depressed to the edge of
misery, sat alone in his room and brooded over
I9J

THIRTEEN MEN

the trouble he had brought upon himKlf. A
physical struggle bearing the fruitage of a black
eye or a strained tendon or even a broken limb
was a small matter; but to lay subordinate hands
of violence upon his Burra Sahib, Collector of
Dhuttaghur, bung up his eye, and leave his silk
pajamas in tatters, make an exhibition of him
before other sahibs, was something that would
set a black mark against his Service name many
a year to come. A^ last here was something he
could not leave behind him in Calcutta, for daily
he would come face to face with the offended
Burra Sahib, and everyone in Dhuttaghur would
know. Yes, the idea of the muggan in the
Hooghly was a good one.

He drank a strong whisky peg — then he
drank another; he drank three. For the first
time in his remembrance the liquor held a re-
verse action, it depressed him, it put him in an
ugly mood. He cursed the innocent cause of
his trouble; he swore jungle oaths at the land
and the people of the land.

Mechanically his thoughts came back in
yearning- to Chota Moti. Yes, that was all he
was fit for — homing with elephants; they were
big and rough in their way like himself. He
filled his pockets with the sweets intended for
Moti, muttering to himself: " Hivins, I'm bluel
196

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

I must talk to somebody or something. I'll go
kharab thinkin' of the cooly-headed fool I am
entirely."

When he went downstairs the sahibs shunned
him. Finnerty passed out into the street that
skirted the maidan. He saw men at work on the
spot where the circus always stood, and some
one said that the circus would be there on the
morrow.

Finnerty swung on toward the river, where
the thick-foiiage trees of " Eden Garden " cut
a sky that was like burnished copper I'rom the
huge ball of fire that had seared its face in the
west. The gray wall of the garden lay like
a shadowy serpent beneath trees, in which ati
army of crows fought and clamored over night
resting places. Finnerty swung to the right
along a skirting path that was silent and hushed,
save for the vociferous crows.

Suddenly a gray, earth-colored form looir.ed
bulkily in front of him. It was like a leaf-
covered Hindoo cart; it was a bulgy form like
an abnormal bhesti's water mussock. The gro-
tesque shadow was on the grassed roadside, close
to the garden wall, and some part of it was
pulling and breaking the overhanging tree
limbs.

As the Keddah Sahib approached, wonder-
197

J ,

II V r il

THIRTEEN MEN

ingly, he cut the wind, and the wind took up
the call of hit icent. The tearing rustle of dis-
membered leaves ceased; there was a moment
of stillness; then, "Phr-u-i-i, phr-u-t-t, whee-
e-e I came little inquiring grunts.

"HivinsI" ejaculated Finnerty; "by me
•oul, that's little Moti. I'd know her laugh if
I heard it in hell. Wow, you little pig, you I
You darlin'— you babel Where did you come
from? Godin.hivinI But you're welcome
to-night, Moti— I'm fair starved with 1- v
someness."

Finnerty ran his hand caressingly up and down
the trunk that felt at his cheek, and fingered
his nose, and blew a smile of delight against his
lips, and tugged at his shoulder lovingly; and
all the time its owner was squeaking tremulously
in an ecstasy of reiognition.

" Moti, you little pig— you rascal! Where
did you come from ? "

The big ears flapped and fanned his face, and
the heavy forehead lay against the IrisI man's
chest, and the little eyes twinkled happily— even
in the dusk Finnerty could feel their gleam.

"Och, you sly little pearl I" As Moti
fumbled her trunk into his pocket, and shoved
taparees and grapes and raisins into her thin-
lipped mouth.

198

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

Finnerty threw himKlf on the gran at the

elephant's feet and heaved a ligh of iatisfaction.

" Divil the care have you, girl, whether I've

touKled the Burra Sahib or not. Och, you're

a human — you're better."

The big Iri»hman patted the trunk of the
babe elephant, and talked like a man who had
come back to women folks that are true for-
ever, holding no knowledge of misdeeds, nor of
anything but just fealty.

And Moti emptied the Sahib's pockets, and
bubbled in content, and wound her trunk be-
neath his shoulders as though she would lift him
to her back.

Suddenly Moti cocked her ears, threw her
trunk into the air, and stood in slknt listening.
^^ "What is it, old girl?" Finnerty asked.
"Are they after you? Sure, I know your se-
cret, you little pig, you've skipped away at the
landin' from the steamer; you've played me the
same trick many a time at the keddah. Come
on, then, girl; we'll just slip them for a bit."

Finnerty led the way through a gate in the
wall, and with Moti's trunk over his shoulder
walked along the circular path that skirted the
wall. He could hear the band down on the
grassed parade of the garden, and see the blare
of electric lights breaking through the foliage.
199

THIRTEEN MEN

Suddenly above the drone of brass came a shrill
trumpet note.

The Keddah Sahib stopped and threw his
head up in alarm. It was the war trump of an
elephant— fighting mad; he knew it well. Mot!
squeaked in fretful fear.

" My God, Moti, did the whole show break
loose? Sure, that's a bull on the rampage. God

save the people "

Again tht shrill trumpet of an elephant came
from the direction of the promenade.

"Come, Moti, chalo (hurry), me darlin'I
There'll be murder done yonder— there's women
and children there by the score; hurry, Moti I "
Finnerty broke into a trot, and the babe ele-
phant shuffled at his side. Now they were clesir
of the crotons and the banyans, and in the glare
of the electric-lighted promenade the sahib saw
something that made even his stout Irish heart
miss a beat. It was awful. Like a heap of
broken dolls, children and ayahs and white
women cowered on one side of the wide grass
promenade against a holding wall, and on the
other side, just beyond the two gateways, was
the read, a seething mass of maddened horses
and fear-crazed coachmen, and sahibs who had
lost their nerve, and cursed and yelled unintel-
ligible orders, and clambered into carriages that
200

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

were not their own. And in the center of the
velvet lawn, just within the gate, was the huge
towering form of an elephant weaving his body
back and forth, from side to side, his ears cocked
forwaid angrily, his trunk now curling in be-
tween his tusks as if for a charge, now stretched
sinuously upward as he bellowed his defiance to
everything on earth.

"Oh, my Godl" moaned Finnerty, "he's
fair crazed with the lights and the band and all.
How'll I stop him? The fools— the damned
cowards I And the women and children fright-
ened to death there ! "

There was a gleam of white at his elbow.
Two men of the Black Watch, coming through
the garden, had checked in their way. Fin-
nerty's big hand shot out, and clutched one by his
white tunic.

" Run, man, for your life, to the fort, bring
a firin' squad— a Gatlin'— anything. For the
sake of the children— run : I'll hold the tusker
till you come. Run, man — as you love God,
hurry ! " To the other he said :

" Go to the children, man. Keep down at the
side in the bushes. Get them out — d'you under-
stand?" He clutched the man by the chest
and drew him forward till his hot breath burned
the other's cheek. "Damn you I Are you a

201

THIRTEEN MEN

coward? Get them out, or I'll murder you.
Throw them over the wall — anything. I'll
keep the elephant for a bit."

He thrust the soldier from him, and the two
dived into the bushes on the left.

" Now, Moti, me darlin' — och, you're feared,
you little pig, you're tremblin'. But I'm with
you, Moti. You'll go where the Keddah Sa-
hib drives — ^you always would. Quick, give me
your trunk now; there, so I "

And the Keddah Sahib was lifted to the babe
elephant's neck; his knees pressed against her
ears, and his heavy, iron-shod walking stick was
a goad. Finnerty jabbed it fiercely into the
pulpy skull of his mount.

" There, Moti, dauro now ! Squeal, you lit-
tle pig ! " And Finnerty dug with his walking
stick till the little trunk was thrown up, uttering
a wail of remonstrance.

The mad tusker heard the call of his kind just
as he was shuffling toward the screaming chil-
dren and ayahs. He stopped, threw his huge
head up, and his great, fanlike ears waved back
and forward, and then cocked intently.

Finnerty drove Moti into the light, and the
tusker's restless eye saw them. He whisked
about and trumpeted a defiance.

The babe squealed in fear, and stopped.
202

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

"Dauro, Motil" Finnerty cried, hunching
the big ears with his knees, and jabbing the skull
with his goad. Moti obeyed, and shuffled
forward.

Finnerty could see the white-coated soldier
driving the children before him like a flock of
Iambs. A sahib leaped the wall and ran to the
children; then another.

"By the grace of God, they'll be saved 1"
Finnerty cried, " if I can hold this big devil in
play. Squeal, you little pig— give him bat,
Moti. We must keep away from him— just
play with him, me darlin' — the devil's fair ram-
pageous. There, just stand where you are,
Moti ; it'll take him time to make up his mind to
charge."

The Keddah Sahib knew every trick of the
elephant. He knew that while the tusker's at-
tention was fixed on him and Moti, the children
and the sahibs and everything would be for-
gotten—they would escape. The tusker would
probably wait, ready to give battle, and Fin-
ncrty's plan was to keep clear of the maddened
brute. If he closed in, the bull would crush
them both; unless, perhaps, he had an affection
for Moti, when he might calm down. This
was not at all likely, for the bulls, when angry,
were vicious toward their young.
M 203

THIRTEEN MEN

With difficulty Finnerty kept the babe from
bolting. Perhaps it was the white-coated sol-
dier that caught the bull's eye again, for he
suddenly wheeled as if to charge and trample
the fleeing children.

" He's jast a crazy brute — he's fair mast,"
Finnerty muttered. " Chalo, Moti 1 Squeal,
you little pig I Give him tongue I " and he
jabbed the babe's head till she trumpeted shrilly,
and started forward.

Her call stopped the tusker again. He
wheeled erratically, and, without stopping, came
thundering down the lawn like a destroying
tornado.

"Steady, Motil" Finnerty yelled; but the
babe, crazed with fear, whipped around clum-
sily, and started back over the pathway.

But the turn held her; she was weak from
fear. In a dozen yards the bull had driven
his tusks into Moti's rump, and as she fell
Finnerty wa.: pinned beneath her massive
head.

When the men from Fort William swung
into the garden on the run, they heard a vicious
squealing cry of victory and hate from the
tusker; and he was tramping something into the
earth with his knees and tusks when they poured
volley after volley into his huge carcass.
304

FINNERTY OF THE KEDDAH

avaIl!Vi"'fr ""^ *'*' """""Whs and the
ayahs had all cKaped unhurt.

That is why, when you ask in India of Fin-
nerty of the Elephant Keddah, they tell you this
story first. '

205

THE APOSTASY OF MOUNG PYU *

THE four trails that lead out like a Mal-
tese cross abroad the world never get
beyond the land of the simple life.
And this is a simple account of Moung Pyu's
crusade for spiritual betterment for himself and
the three hundred villagers of Mindak, in
Burma.

Moung Pyu was bom a Buddhist; he sat at
the feet of the Talopins and imbibed theological
wisdom from the sacred book, the Vini. The
deputy commissioner of the district took a
fancy to the dark-eyed, yellow-skinned little
Burman, and had him placed in a government
school. Then Moung Pyu got a clerkship, and
after a time he was made dcjjuty assistant mag-
istrate of the third grade, and ff^oon of his own
village, Mindak.

What Moung Pyu thought, Mindak thought;
and when Moung Pyu advised, Mindak con-
curred. Even the chief commissioner at Ran-
goon knew this; and whatever there was to be

* Moung Pyu (pronounced Pu) trantlated is Ml. White.
206

THE APOSTASY OF MOUNG PYU

settled or adjusted in Mindak District was in-
cased in large, official blue envelopes, tied with
red tape, clo.:d with the awful seal of the Brit-
ish Raj, and sent to Moung Pyu. There was
never any worry after that. The chief com-
missioner sighed with satisfaction; the commis-
sioner of Aracan nodded his old head in wise
appreciation; the deputy commissioner got the
kudos (glory) of it all; and Moung Pyu, dep-
uty assistant magistrate of the diird grade, ad-
justed the unpleasantness.

He was a dapper little man with his jacket
of white cloth, his gay silk putsoe that had been
made in the hand looms of Mandalay, and the
white handkerchief wound jauntily about his
heavy black hair, the two ends sticking up like
the wings of a bird — ^this was the insignia of a
village elder, and Moung Pyu was that in
excelsis.

Under Moung Pyu's rule MinJak was Uto-
pia. The Buddhist priests, the Talopins, waxed
sleek in content; and the little pagoda on Tiger
Hill had been regilt with pure gold leaf, till its
slender tapering form rose from a dark emerald
setting of mangoe tree and padouk and tama-
rind, and penciled the blue sky a gleaming plinth
of reflected sunlight. This had come from the
purse of Moung Pyu. He could not forever
207

THIRTEEN MEN

be sending away the little bags of rupees that
so mysteriously appeared upon his writing table,
so he exorcised the little devil of corruptive in-
fluence that was in the silver disks by putting
them to work for the spiritual betterment of his
people.

Poh San, who had been Woon before Moung
Pyu, had kept all these little gifts that are the
dustoor (perquisites) of native officials, and had
married six wives. At the last, when the shadow
of Nirvana threw, a chill over the soul of Poh
San, he prepared a little cave temple in the soft
rock of Tiger Hill, placed in it a square-toed,
alabaster Buddha, and died full of honor and
sanctity. That was Poh Sa « way, which was
the way of all rich, good Burmans. But Moung
Pyu beautified the pagoda and repaired the
priests' zyat (dwelling), and married but one
wife; and after a time she died, and left two
little girls with Moung Pyu.

The religion that the Talopins taught was
mystical, altogether simple and beautiful. It
was a sin to take life, because all life was one
under different forms; so Moung Pyu ate not
even an egg, lest the spirit of some ancestor
might have come back to assume the feathered
garb of a fowl. And the Vini read that liquor
— so much as might cling to the point of a knife
208

THE APOSTASY OF MOUNG PYU

—was harmful; so Moung Pyu drank milk and
water and the milk of cocoanuts, and pondered
over the wise sayings of Gaudama Buddha.

The religion of the sahibs that were down
m Phrang he judged of entirely by the canons
of his own faith. The sahibs ate the flesh that
had carried life, they drank the forbidden liq-
uor; they also did other things that the priests
said were wrong and evil in the eyc< >f Buddha
Gaudama.

But it happened that even in the eyes of the
Talopins there was one godly person of the white
man's faith, a woman, "Craig Memsahib."
She was a Baptist missionary from America.
Her husband had died in harness in Burma
some years before, and she had gone on in a sim-
pie. Christian spirit, after the manner of Christ
Himself. All through Aracan were childre.i
whose fathers had been white men, and who
had gone back to their own country. Craig
Memsahib gathered these half-orphaned ones
mto her train of poor followers whenever she
could. It was a gladsome sight to see her wan-
dering about the districts, from village to viJ-
lage, with her devoted children. When they
were small she had them placed in schools; the
larger ones she took with her.

Craig Memsahib came many times to Min-
209

THIRTEEN MEN

dak; and because of his knowledge that she was
indeed a holy woman, Moung Pyu commenced
to listen, at first with doubting curiosity. But
as gently as a soft hand opens a flower, Craig
Memsahib discovered for the Woon the beauti-
ful truth of a life as Christ would have it. He
began to see that the Talopins taught all of the
flesh life, or of nothing; all was of the earth,
and returning to earth, a chain of existence lead-
ing to nothing but the end of everything.

All this came not as it may be told in a day,
or a moon, but in many moons; and in the end
Moung Pyu gravely announced that all his
people— the people of Mindak— now were Bap-
tists. He had read and pondered, and come by
a more beautiful trudi than was in the Vini, or
in the shaven-headed craniums of the yellow-
robed Talopins, and his people would now profit
by his discovered blessing and become Baptists.
This wholesale conversion of three hundred
Buddhists brought prayers of thankfulness from
the simple Christian woman Craig Memsahib.
But, unfortunately, the fame of it came to die
ears of the Rev. Beldon Hobbs, of Phrang. He
was clergyman of the Church of England, the
Established Church, which means first claim on
all diings spiritual. In addition, the Rev. Bel-
don Hobbs was many other things akin to arro-

2IO

THE APOSTASY OF MOUNG PYU

gance He w„ large and pompou, and doled
out religion a. aim,, holding that he had full
vicarage from the Lord for the salvation of a
people.. So he blustered, and went in right ou
.nd.gnat.on to the deputy commi„ioner-thc
church and the state were inseparable. That

^T u? "''' """= "'"^" ""= dominion of

to Hobbs, altogether an outrage. They might
as well turn dacoits at once.

cala^J" ""' psychological moment a serious
calamity occurred. The brave little Craig
Memsah.b d.ed, ministering to the people of a
vdlage stncken with cholera. The metamor
phos.s of Buddhistic Mindak had not bTe„ nuUe
completed, for the villager, were to have be n

the Rev. John Blackmar. from Phrang. Now

tl7"] f'^' '"'^ ^°""« Py"' d««ding the
spmtual dom,n.on of Rev. Hobbs as Le-
2^g worse even than the power of the Talo-

d^ped the obedient villagers, declaring that

now they were .ndred of the faith of the holy

woman they had all revered. ^

Then came the Rev. Blackmar too late for

211

THIRTEEN MEM

this baptiimal furction. He was a zealoui,
narrow-minded little man — a itickler for teneta
and observancei, and religion according to pre-
Kribed method. He meant well, but he didn't
know. To him the Buddhists were pagans, be-
nighted worshipers of graven images. He used
to say these things, honestly enough, but with-
out understanding. So he reprimanded Moung
Pyu for his assumption of ministerial power, and
explained that becoming a Baptist was not a
haphazard affair.

Moung Pyu was wise enough to know that
neither the Rev. Blackmar nor the Rev. Hobbs
nor even the holy teacher Craig Memsahib
were Christianity itself. But rhe manner of
faith that had won Moung Pyu was the sweet
Christly love religion of Craig Memsahib ; and
this other repellent, formal dogmatism that was
of the little sharp-nosed minister drove Moung
Pyu into revolt, and he declared, with Burmese
vivacity, that if tticy were not now Baptists they
were indeed not Baptists at all.

So the Rev. Blackmar preached to the big,
pink-clustered padouk tree, while the villagers
went down to the many-caved temples in Tiger
Hill with offerings of rice and sweetmeats to
the alabaster Buddhas; and in the end the con-
scientious minister went disconsolately back to

212

THE APOSTASY OF MOUNG PYU
OriTnul *°'''°"''"* °^" ^' initability of the

The little pilgrimage to the cave temples had
been wlely a polite intimation .. the minister,
and not a real reapostasy, for the Woon was

"llorB^S'dlil'''"'"'"^"''''--^'-
By this time the Rev. Beldon Hobbs had
harassed the deputy commissioner over the
Woon of Mindak's apostasy, and through him
the commissioner; and the commissioner, with
repugnance in his soul, had memorializeH the
chief commissioner. The correspondence, v.ith
notes and comments, had all come back as weap-
ons of offense to Padre Hobbs. So he went
up into the land o.' Mindak with a flaming
sword, bearing an order from the deputy com-
missioner that he was to have carrien and
transport and boats and whatever else his
sweet will desired. That was essentially Padre
Hobbs s way-the repellent, enforcing method,
so unlike the love manner of Christ and Craig
Memsahib. *

.hh"/ ''*'L«°"^•'y •«>« from Phrang to Oung;

path to Mindak. But when the men of Ou„,- 1

fused to convey him to Mindak, because a pair of

man-eating tigers had made a preserve of the

213

THIRTEEN MEN

jungle bordering the trail, Padre Hobbs showed
his order to the village headman, and explained
that the latter would lose his place and the vil-
lage would be fined and the people would sit
forever in the black disfavor of the commis-
sioner if the carriers and the bullock carts were
not forthcoming.

Padre Hobbs always had his way, even in
Phrang; so the headman forced the frightened
villagers out into the jungle; and there the
padre, who was large in self-reliance, explained
that desertion would be a personal affront, and
he would deal with it personally to the utter
extermination of the misguided deserters.

Once, fearing the blood thirst of " Stripes "
and his wife more than the Padre Sahib's anger,
two carriers loitered behind looking for a chance
to desert. The Padre Sahib put this little mat-
ter of delinquency right, in his promised way,
and foolishly, so far as the Christian faith was
concerned, struck one of the men with his walk-
ing stick. Individually Padre Hobbs would
have paid this debt of hate incurred quickly
enough, but officially he represented the British
Raj, the Sircar, so all that happened in the way of
retribution was the relating of this story in Min-
dak when they arrived. And because of the story
the clergyman might as well have sat in Phrang,
214

THE APOSTASY OF MOUNG PYU

for the Talopins explained that the new religion
of love anii soul and other beautiful things had
die f with Crai^; Memsahib, and this was alto-
getiin a differ ;nt affair. It was not religion at
all — it was zabbardasti, which means force by
men in power. Thus the padre's arrogant per-
sonality subverted the true thing; and the Talo-
pins saw to it that it did.

Moung Pyu, being an Oriental, had greater
wisdom than a serpent, for, when it was all for
the best, he could preserve a silence that was of
the most refined gold. So he said to his adhe-
rents: "The Padre Sahib is of low caste, for
the men of high caste do not lose their tempers,
except when the swords drink blood. But what
he has done we have not seen, and what he has
said we have not heard. If he departs in peace
then there will be peace in Mindak; for one of
his hands is the law, and one of his hands is the
sahib's way of faith, and these two things are
greater than the Padre Sahib or the people of
Mindak."

It was a crude jungle parable, which the vil-
lagers but half-understood; but Moung Pyu had
said it, therefore it stood as a saying of King
Theebaw's had in the old days. And the Eng-
lish clergyman wallowed back to Phrang unc-
tioning his soul with the credit of martyrdom
215

i' i

'! I J

' li

THIRTEEN MEN

because of the sweltering jungle pilgrimage;
and there he wrote in the records that three hun-
dred converts had come into the fold of the
Established Church.

The deputy commissioner groaned and admin-
istered the law with fierce relentlessness for days
when he realized that the padre's disturbing in-
fluence had extended out into the district; for
now there would be endless complaints from the
Talopms of illegal interference, and many other
tribulations.

When the padre had departed Moung Pyu
sat down and wrote to the commissioner for six
months' leave of absence. And when the leave
had come, he said to Mindak: "I am going
across the big black water to the land of the
sovereign, to Bilatti (England)."

Mindak was astonished, but it didn't say so.
What It said was: " The Sovereign will be gra-
ciously pleased to see Moung Pyu, and when
Moung Pyu returns he will be as wise as the
great Commissioner Sahib in Rangoon."

Moung Pyu said a few words of wisdom to
the Talopms, advising them to meditate deeply
among themselves while he was gone; that their
lacquer trays for receiving votive offerings of
food would be well supplied if they preserved
an mtense holy seclusion. And to the village
216

THE APOSTASY OF MOUNG PYU

cuss this question of what is to be when we pass
away, because now we have heard Craig Mem
sah.b and the Baptist Mission Sahib fnd tJl
great Church Sahib, who is Hobbs, and our own

there are many witnesses on both sides and
judgment cannot be given unfil thl •

all rU,- It L . ^ ""*" *"^ case IS

aJ clear. If there had been no one but the
Talopins the case would have been simp" or

iTke^fn ' ""<l"^tood; but now we are

Moung Pyu left the two little girls with their
from this book that Craig Memsahib gave diem

underlnd tr ""' '""""= " ''"'^ ^'>'l'^- to
unaerstand this great secret."

217

rl'i

III

; ' 1

THIRTEEN MEN

bears only on the intricate matter of his many
conversions in Burma.

Five and one-half months from the date of
Moung Pyu's departure it was Icnown in Phrane
that he would arrive back by the Karagola.

fn.h pf'^'^i"^ '"* °^ P"""«^" Published
m the Phrang News the day before the Kara-
^s arrival contained not the name of Moung

No one in Phrang suspected that the " Mr
White ,n the list was the Woon of Mindak,
Anghcized-but it was. And Moung Pyu
stepped from the steamer at Phrang as Mr
White, the most extraordinarily metamorphosed
Onental that ever caused a man to rub his eyes
in bewildered astonishment.

heavy black hair had been cut away to exceeding
closeness. A stiff white collar was graced by a
most intense four-in-hand tie, reflecting the
blood-red glitter of a ruby-studded pin A
lit TV"^ f "y-«riped trousers, cut in the
ktest fashion, draped the slim figure of Mr.
White down to gray spats and buttoned patent-
eather boots His slim, gray-gloved fingers
jauntily carried a gold-headed cane.

The sahibs who knew Moung Pyu, and loved
him for his fealty to the British Raj. screamed
218

fill

THE APOSTASY OF MOUNG PYU

^^ Pa \ T "^ ^^' '^' ^'•"'■"8 ««le Bur.
aTall A„H h ''"^^^ ^''--^hly if he did it
at all. And he had-there could be no manner

Itt ^'°""''"' ''^ °™^" ^^''^-^ -
But there was still something more-some-
«..ng very much more; for beside the dapper
Mr. Whue walked a sweet-faced English gir

MirR;vd"^'r ^ ^-^^ Estella^Roydon
M ss Roydon had come out as governess for
Mr. White's two motherless girls

When this was told at the Gymkhana Club
he sah.bs laughed merrily; when they carried

ttirVv^'it "^r'"'"^ '^"^'"^^ ---

tically. Everybody m Phrang laughed, except
two men-Padre Hobbs .nd One Sahib. '
Padre Hobbs rolled his eyes in horror; then

Oner's K-r'u °' ^"^^ denunciation; and th^
One Sah.b, who was like a blood brother to
Moung Pyu, drew his face into a frown of com"
m.erat.on and then went and talked to the Me

fh-^'ll \.^'^^'^ ^'"^ •J""t'°"s, and learned
this: that Moung Pvu haH f™.„^ '"mca

Enirlan^ ™i, • ""'^ ^ woman in

England who was as simple a Christian as Craig
M msah.b had been And there, where th";!

tTn ^u "^ ''°'^'"' '^' '^"s very poor-
Aough her people had not always bTen poor

THIRTEEN MEN

And Moung Pyu had reasoned that if this good

the same Christian Jove wisdom th.t Craic
Memsah.b had known, the girls would grow up

Lcorl , rt'' "*^ *' ^'""8^" ^°"W also
become I.ke that^ and there would be no doubt-

ng because of Hobbism or Blackmarism or the
soulless faith of the Talopins.

When Moung Pyu told this child story, that
was really so very wise, the One Sahib knew and
beheved that .t was all and all; but he also knew
what Padre Hobbs had said about this Z^Z
f M fe '"'"'"'^'"^ ''•'"«• So, very sadly, he
wouldnt do, and explained why. The whv
was, that nobody in India believed anything but
ev where there was a woman in the case and

Sthem ^''^'' ^°^^' ^""''J"'*

Then the One Sahib went back to his bunga-

low and said to his wife: " For God's sake go

and bnng that English girl here to stay with

pCibler ''' '-''' ^''- ™^" ^^^-

dolt °"r ?'"'' ^'^ ''"'' *^* '^' «"tr«g"us
c othes and hat and spats that turned the splen-
did httle Burman into a paroquet were due solely

220

THE APOSTASY OF MOUNG PYU

Savor, .0, bukb]i„g .i* Mp...^ «," ° ^^
forth and swooped down unnn *»,. i .

his Bond Street appa«7 ' ""'"• '"«' '"

veJ^Tf ^'^'^ '''"^'^ «"™'«" ^y« opened

Se thT R '° "°"' *^*"'"'"«- And after a
inger ^"""''" '^" «"- ^'°"<Jy with red

" Woman ? " he ouenVH •• tu

h,?HV *''u-^'/" •'"""'' *"■' ™*''^'«« nose in a big
unb"etf T r'r'"^"^'' '" condemn;.';"
r dun; J r ^°""« ^^'^ ^"^''^ were but
the duphcty of a Burman. However, thank
God no su tie Oriental could pull the wo'ol ov„

church th ^' '" """'''^^ ''8'i"^* the

ere r k'°'".'"""°"" ^°"1'' ""^'nly inter-

fere-somehow it would reflect upon the state

heStTfl'^-^' '"' ^'^-^^P-e-d

there "^' ''"P'"^"^ "' 'vi' '"tent where

there was none, was a disquieting revelation to

the boy-mmded Burman. Somehow, as Padre

221

THIRTEEN MEN

tasteful to Moung Pyu; they seemed to dra
s spicLT fV"'"-P'»- of contaminatL

r^l M u *"' *""" P"'*"' «nd little jack,
he could have spoken out indignantly as iZ
ple-hving V llaeer- all fi,. „ i , ■ .

were moral S S n h.r" "^ ' ^•"'«'
buf h. 1, J . "*** married six wives

to the.> i 'T"''' ^''^"^'■^ '^^ «cordin
to the r law. Moung Pyu looked down at the

gljtenng buttoned boots and the silirspat^

ndeed they ye„ more of that life he'h d H^

lives than of the village where no one would

So presently, Moung Py„, answering, said-
You are altogether wrong. Minister Sah bX

be a'^ Tn "' "«''*• ^' *"" » B"--. nd to
be a good Burman is very good-for a Burman
Miss Roydon IS too good a woman to be™ re
where people speak ill of her. so she must g^
Srttt""- ^-"P^^^^^Hepassageafd
offT^'" if' P'^drc had gone, Moung Pyu took
half ;L;^,'"^'""P.''"'^ «»- '»'« ^l^th« to a
siS • I J" "'^ ''''=«^''P*' ''"'•■ce. He
feet into the canvas shoes that had been made

222

11 :l

THE APOSTASY OF MOUNG PYU

Engl,,h girl's expenses, said good-by to h r and
went back to Mindak. '

n, J'T*'"' """""""'d the Talopins beneath the
padouk tree, and said: " We must keep to al
hat .s good .n the faith of our fatl.e. .. BuddJa
taught us no evil, the evil coa.es of oursles

yaig Memsahib comes again, who can keen us
dose to their Christ and teach us so that wTcan
understand, perhaps we will listen."

What the girl said to the One Sahib when he
put her on the steamer for home was : " Moune
Pyu .8 the gentlest Christian I ever knew »

*»3

NAWAZ KHAN, THE GIFT OF ALLA

I Liz! '"^V'' '^"^ ^'^^ ^°'n« down

my tent to male •> ♦ r . . "^ ^'^^ from

AlUltrat^tdcven "'"'"''•^'^""^^^^^^
224

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

Six footsore brigands made sandals from my
leather gun case, and then came and hobnobbTd
with me over a pot of tea. They were proud
of their new foot wear; the oak-tanned wies
peeped at me joyously from beneath the square
rugged toes of the unabashed Pathans. I sa?d
nothmg about this little matter-controver y
might have ended with a slit in my neck; they
had such a summary way of ending unpl asant
arguments. *^

My ^ide, who was a first cousin to these out-
aws m deviltry, wa, the best-natured blackguard

for he had the wisdom of the serpent.

These dwellers in caves." he said. " are the
unregenerate offspring of depraved ca^elin-also
of evil swine; therefore take no notice, and we
wilUet through pleasantly enough-lwithou!

His policy was sound; so the Marris and I
remained on the very best of tenns. They even
showed me Nawaz Khan, the fighting ram 7at
had bucked into oblivion every other ram from

?hT^^T '° ^'*'^"- A"<^ '•"""S'' of that
they had been exalted among the ram-fighting
man-fighting. any-sort-of-fighting nations of that

At the guide's suggestion. I gave the owner.

325

THIRTEEN MEN

Rabat Shah, five rupcei to make tilver knob

for the points of the Khan', bom.. Surely I ha<

become a blood brother to the cutthroat Marri.

That wa. what the guide laid-also wa. I „£,

«nthe.,ghtofAIl,h,heaMuredme.

" Zr^l TJ?.'^. '" December. N.war Khan,

lootn ./""''•" ^" «""«• H« had been
looted, or had tumbled over a cliff. The trib]

had searched at the bottom of every prlc"i„
without result. That he hoA k P'*<^'P'«

as d!fflr..u (\ f ? ""*' ''"" "o'e" was

one L!; "i '"' " '•" ""=""«"» "-at some
one had made away with Buddha's tooth from
the temple at Kandy.

And"„' ^r" ^'""' '"" «°"' °^ « certainty.
battleHnd r "" °"'^ ^'•' """'"^ °' ''« -"X

5:icv::;t?eid'r''°''"-^'"-^"'°-h'

saw was a ram, joyous m much fat. taking a

In7l w'" T^^''':^''"'^ '" ^™"' °" '■•»

the middle on the south side, and if the soldier

had been bnttle he would have broken in two

As It was, he covered much territory before

The orderly was vexed at the importunate

326

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

attention from the hard-headed ram. He picked
himself up with Sikh dignity and reached for
hii gun, which stood with three inches of iu iron
muzzle buried in the soft earth.

Now a ram, when he tries for a knock-out
blow and fails, usually backs up and plays a
little harder next time; but the orderly's assail-
ant seemed to think he had carried the joke far
enough, wisely, perhaps, and walked sedately
over to the colonel's dogcart and started peel-
ing the yellow paint from the spokes.

Something about the cut of this pugnacious
sheep appeared familiar to me. I maneuvered
up to him strategically, keeping my line of re-
treat well open. A critical reconnoissance con-
vinced me that it was the fighting ram of my
freebootmg friend who lived in the foothills of
the Sulimans; there were the silver knobs of
which I was the donor.

Great Scott I what was he doing here at the
colonel's tent? The whole Marris country
would be in a blaze if they knew of it.

But they had looted me; therefore let them
look to Allah for the return of their tribe's glory.

I asked Tenier, who was a lieutenant in the
regiment, where they had pakaraod the sheep.
" Such a larkl " he answered. " You know
227

!}.f 1
■ 1

THIRTEEN MEN
the colonel is a queer fish; studies his book on

GooT" ™. ^u^-^- '■" ''" P-'''^' »" the le
Good enough chap, you know, the old fellow
". wouldn t know enough to step inside if it we«
ra.n.ng bujets, and nothing to be gained by get!
^"g shot; but all the same, he's lik! one of 'those
greaseless country carts with his squeaky yZ
-Puj. the fellows all on edge, you'know'

We don t mind fighting-like it, of course-
but, hang it all! when there's no figkting to be'

Sheep and goats, and no raiding on, why we
want a bit of fun, or else we'll go flabby '
"Now 'Old Squeaks '-that', what the

«t'oft '^'"^' '""-P°'°- -'J >" tt
about A 'r ^r~^ ^" ''''«^=^' he talks

;otrffh:t°st^''°^'"'^--^'-<^--y-

chemot '^'"''V'*"'.' ""'' l>"»«d myself with his
dieroot case, hunting for a decent Trichi- I
knew there was something needing a lot of «-
pl^ng away, and that my young friend was
leadmg up to .t diplomatically enough. So I
waited, and smoked patiently as he Ltled on
with his picturesque narrative.

" Well, it seemed hopeless enough; we sat in
the rottenest sort of luck. Thefe was ^Z

228

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

fighting up Chitral way with Shir Afzul, Umra
Khan, and that lot, but wc never got the route.
The camp was simply dying of stagnation. If
cholera had come down from the Bolan, as it
did last year, it would have played merry hades
with us — we were that stalled for want of fight-
ing, or something.

" There were always five or six of our fellows
in hospital, and not a iiroken bone or a ' cop-
cussion' in the whole tally lot— nothing but
flabby heart. That was what was bowling them
over— thinking. Good God! we didn't come
out here to think, did we, Braem ? "

" I should say not," I replied, with an em-
phatic laugh.

Tenier looked at me quizzically. " Don't be
a sarcastic goat," he said testily. " We can
think right enough when it's needed; but fight-
ing or polo or racing's the thing to keep a man
fit. Good Heavens ! the surgeon actually hinted
that some of the fellows were malingering. It
would have ended in mutiny right enough; but

just then we got hold of Yusuf "

Before my friend had time to finish the sen-
tence, there was a rushing noise like the cutting
loose of a junior cyclone, and over we went, tent
and all. Lord ! but it was a mix up. The cot, a
stool, a suit case, young Teniers with a sword
229

;!;■'

THi.-.EEN MEN

J S' J™ V' ''°^' " "^"8 »v.r m.-
" If» *« damn nm F w * '?"' '"^"»

i..d rcphcbrf ,he „ ™r«l St "'*"•
"Does he do that often? "I asked

Tommy curled up on a chamoy "sTeeo 1
t.mes he bunts the water baS "er'loo ^Td
once he tipped the old man up backLI'. ^'

--thing that seemed a haJ^Xti^X^S
230

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

was heels on, and didn't see him coming. We
hid the ram for two days— the colonel would
nave shot him."

" Who owns him— did one of the men chor
(steal) him? " I asked cautiously, for the Khan's
deeds made my friend a bit irrelevant to the
point at issue.

" No; got him from Yusuf— you know Yusuf
Khan, the camel man ? "

I assented. I rememberea him well. Once
upon a time he had sold me a mad Bokharan
as a ridmg camel, and the blatant thing had run
away with me for twenty miles. At the end I
was seasick, and for a week had amateur rheu-
matism. " Yes, I remember him," I said remi-
niscently; " he's a bad lot even for a Pathan."
" Well, Yusuf wanted the contract for sup-
plying transport camels, and came to me about
It. Wanted to know what backsheesh he could
give the colonel to win his heart. Did you ever
hear of such a thing? Fancy his trying to work
Squeaks that way! They do it among them-
selves, you know; everybody's got to have his
dustoor, so he thought it was only a question of
tindmg out what the colonel's fancy ran to.

" Lutyens, who came up with the regiment,
was with me, and we pulled old Yusuf's leg no
end of a time, quizzing him as to what he had to
231

l^if-

3i :■':

THIRTEEN MEN

give the colonel. At last he mentioned that he
Cabul "'"' *''" ^"' ^'^"" ^^' '""^

. "By Jove! you should have seen Lutyens
jump at that. He swore the colonel was just
dying to have a fighting ram ; that he was a great
sportsman, and simply reveled in that sort of
thmg-hvedonit. I must say that I backed the
major up — I had to."

J'i7°''?.^\ ^"^*'"« y°" ^""t-' Lutyens
told Yusuf ; only bring the ram in.'

Fancy Squeaks fighting rams— it's unholy I

His aunt, or somebody, wouldn't like it

" We put the other fellows on to the ' good

thing, and in the end Yusuf was coached prop-

erly. Also we worked the colonel-stuffed him

h!ir"xl^?n '" ' ''"""' °' '^ ''™»»' «P in the
lulls. The fellows came out o' hospital to play
tne new game that was on.

"The colonel, you know, had been down in
Burma or China or some other heatlien country
with his regiment, and when they were sent up
here to relieve the Tenth, neither he nor any of
the others knew a word of this Pathan baht-
Pushtu IS like dummy talk to them. Of course
he had passed in the thing at home, the lingo
we all went through-Urdu, they call it, I think;
but here it seems to be pushtu, sheep talk and
232

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

Persian mixed. When Squeaks thinks he's tell-
ing them to dear out, they come and sit in his
lap.

" We squ: red his krani (clerk) . He's a Ben-
gali baboo, and is afraid of everything but ru-
pees and ghee. Lutyens frightened him to death
—swore he'd ride Shahzada over him by acci-
dent if he didn't make proper talk when Yusuf
brought in the lambkin.

" One day Yusuf and three other brawny Af-
ghans turned up with the dirt of twoscore years
thick upon the lot of them. Cracky! but they
were fierce-looking; jezails, jade-handled knives
the length of your arm, and all the rest of their
cutthroat tools. With them came the ram, of
course. He was short-clipped and gorgeous in
many colors, painted up for the occasion."

'"Diplomacy is the racket,' said Lutyens,
' play Squeaks on that'

" You see the colonel has a hobby that if we
can humor these natives we shan't have to fight
them. It'll be a beastly hole to live in if that
ever comes about; we'd soon die o«F if there was
no fighting to be had.

" The old man had a regular durbar; for the
baboo explained that Yusuf was one of the Khan
of Kelat's small chiefs, and that he wanted to
make friendship with the English for his tribe.

THIRTEEN MEN

11 ■'

i: .
Ill illii

H« people ,ivcd.on,cwherc up in the Bolans

"They ate salt together and touched palms
with a rupee and things went on swimming^; ""
Yusuf couldn't understand a word the coIo-
nel sa.d and the Afghan baht was aHGreet
to Squeaks. Lutyens had his eye on the K "nT
who was interpreting after a fashion-youS

wror:e7v:;/'''"^^'~^^^p^-^-

"The game was that Yusuf had brought in
the ram as a peace offering; it was the thiL h^
P ople pnzed most on earth-a sort of sacred

;; It was all Lutyens's doings, I swear."

At first when the colonel understood that
he was t, ,,,^ ^^^_ ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ th t

He hates everything but a cavalry horse vou
b.ow; and only likes them belse tly'::

"The funny part of the business was, that
Yusuf really got the contract for the camels no
on account of the sheep, but because thHlnd
^hought .t a good thing to win over this head

" ^''"''» ^°^ ^«= got the ram," said Tenicrs
234

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

"He simply won't leave the colonel— hangs
around his tent all the time bunting the orderly.
One day he chewed the tops off Squeaks's new
boots. He's really kept us alive. And what's
odd, the colonel's got fond of him— we all know
that; he never bunted the old man once, only the
time he upset him by mistake. He just does as
he likes in the regiment; they look upon him as
a mascot.

" He's a proper budmash, but what can you
expect from a ram tha^' jeen brought up among
these sons of Belial when he gets into decent
society?

" The sergeant's mess clubbed in and put that
silver ring on his horn. They're a scum lot—
they looted all the refreshment rooms coming up
from Karachi, but they'd fight for the lamb until
they were wiped out, I believe. That's because
he's so properly bad; they like it."

I said never a word about the original owners
of the ram— it would be a pity to spoil sport.
If Yusuf had looted him from the Marris he
deserved that camel contract. I even forgave
him my ride on the mad Bokaran.

Then wa had a week of proper Sibi dullness;
nothing happened, absolutely nothing— only the
heat; it was terrific.

The Beluchis in the plain about Sibi went out
w 23s

^■,1

■I '

THIRTEEN MEN

and tiUcd their fields and tended their floclu and
never a hiUman swooped down on them. It
looked a, though die little round towers of
defense dotted all over the plain like huge
Chun,, jnight a, well be leveled to the ground.
Ihe fellows squabbled among themselves, and
prayed for strong-hearted infidels to come
down and fight diem. It was the heat-it
took the life out of everything. Even the
Khan lay as|eep most of the time-he was
gettmg fat.

All week the colonel had labored with official
zeal over a letter to die Civil and Military Go-
2*//* on the necessity for higher diplomatic
knowledge among military officers in command
in border districts. He made a strong point of
the assertion diat "diplomacy was the higher
form of applied patience." He always wrote
with a tight grip on the pen, and his mouth
twisted to one side. That's a proper military
man s attitude— it's like sword play.

Incidentally the ram mixed up widi the colo-
nels epic. Tuesday, while he was sweating
over an mtricatc paragraph that wouldn't go
nght anyhow, the Khan stalked Lutyens's fox
temer, and shikarried him into die colonel's
tent. The table was upset, and three pages of
the manuscript floated in ink. The profanity
336

NAWAZ KHAN. GIFT OF ALLAH

was awful. It frightened even the Khan, and
he didn't show up for a day.

When the old man finished the article Thurs-
day, he had writer's cramp and a stiff neck.
Friday the ram nibbled the letter out of his tunic
pocket as it lay on a chair, and ate it. The or-
derly saw him just finishing the " Yours truly.
Diplomat." '

i^ow patience was a good thing to write about
in an article on diplomacy, but when it came to
having a week's work chewed up by a bilious
ram, it was a little too much for human nature,
and the colonel's language was terrific; also he
battered the Khan.

All Saturday we laughed over this, for it
leaked out. That night Nawaz Khan chewied
a bowl of lettuce that was on Major Lutyens's
dinner table; and the four of us who were to
have dined widi him had to go and borrow a
scrap meal from different sections of the camp.
It cost Lutyens twenty-five rupees for new dishes,
to say nothing of two wasted bottles of Simpkin
opened on the ram's horns.
_ Monday, joy reigned in the regiment. The
route " was out for a detachment of two com-
panies. Where they were going nobody knew
only the colonel. Something was on up in the
hills; It couldn't be a scrap widi only two com-
237

I ■

' ,! I i

THIRTEEN MEN

paniei going, it muit be political. However, it
wa» a move, and Lutyens and Tenieii, who were
going, were full of die thing.

By daylight Tuesday morning die men were
on the march; and by noon the broad, flat sur-
face of the Sibi Put (desert) had swallowed
them up; diere was only a glinting mirage where
they had gone off toward the northeast. They
were heading straight for the Marris hills.

A feeling of misgiving came over me when I
realized diat diey were going toward the Marris
Pass, for the ram had gone with diem.

At sunrise Thursday, bright glinting flashes
struck our camp, thrown from the hills to the
east. It was a heliograph signal. It read:
" Surrounded by tribesmen fifteen miles up the
Pass. Hard pressed. Send reenforcements."

An answer was flashed back that we'd leave
immediately, and soon die balance of the regi-
ment was streaming across the Put, with two
seven-pounders and a Catling.

This is what had happened in the mean time :
After they had gone about five miles, the
colonel suddenly discovered that Nawaz Khan
was complacently marching widi the transport.
The old man swore like a trooper. " Curse the
brute," he exclaimed, " am I never going to get
238

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

•way from that ram?" But the fellows fan-
cied he was really pleased that the Khan had
•tuck to them. It was too late to turn him
back, so Nawaz and the orderly plodded alonff
together. "

When they got among the hills, the natives
came mto the camp friendly enough. At first
there were a few of them. They talked to the
colonel through the krani, and though the latter
was a little mixed on their baht, he understood
just enough to exchange the courtesies.

But the minute they got their eye on the ram,
things changed. They soon slipped awfy, but
our fellows didn't know that it had anything to
do with the Khan; they didn't know he had been
looted from the Marris.

At the next halt, farther up in the hills, quite
a arge body of tribesmen came in and had a
palaver. Our ' ows had seen them hovering
about on the l...e of march. The baboo
couldn t explain four annas of what they said-
but It was easy to see they were demanding the
ram. *

Then the old man's liking for the beast
cropped up. " It was infernal cheek," he called
It. 'The ram was the regiment's mascot— it
would be like giving up the colors. Never I he'd
fight them first. If it were a sort of toU they
239

■1/ .

} 4

THIRTEEN MEN

were levying, he'd pay «miething for the uke
of peace, rather than have a tamasha."

I IS' u^t?'^ *•"' ''"'^ '° «'"« ^l^e chief. Afzul
ul Mulk, fifty rupeei. The latter tucked the bair
of Jilver m hi. belt, and lat on hi. haunche. .ul-
leniy.

*' What i. he waiting for? " adced the colonel.

He want, the ram, lir."
Thi. brought the colonel to the end of his
diplomatic tether-hi. choler got up, and he
ordered the Marri. to clear out. They went,
and the troops lost sight of them.

Toward noon, as the detachment marched
along the track which led over a dry water
course up to a narrow slit in the hills, they were
suddenly fired upon from in front. The hills on
either side of the Pass were thronged with white-
turbaned tribesmen, who were sniping at the
troops with long rifles.

The colonel's men returned the fire, but most
of the bullets only spatted against the rock cover
the hillmen crouched behind. " Phut I phut I "
went the guns on the hillside; "p-ing-g! spit!
spat I came the leaden pills from every side,
for the Pathans were closing up i„ the rear also.
1 he men were in a trap.

"We've got to get out of this, and make a
stand on higher ground, sir," said Lutyens.
240

NAWAZ KHAN. GIFT OF ALLAH

Then the men charged up one tide of »he val-
ley, and drove the Marrit from the tcp ,.) . hill
at the point of the bayonet. It wat hot work.
Lutyent got a bullet in hit arm, and half a dozen
men dropped in the valley. There was no time
to get them; they lay there under the cross fire,
as well as eight or ten of the Pathans.

It looked like bad business, and the hills all
around simply swarmed with tribesmen who
kept up a dropping fire. It didn't do much
harm, the range was too great; but the troops
were surrounded, and it would be hot work get-
ting out. The Marris saw they had our fellows
trapped, and played a waiting game. There
were hundreds of them; the hills were alive.
Tenier and Sergeant Flynn volunteered to slip
through the enemy that night and bring up re-
enforcements.

They took a heliograph with them, because
they could signal from the foothills in the morn-
ing, saving a twenty-mile tramp, and get word
to the regiment quicker. They stole out in the
darkness, and the men waited, not knowing
whether they got through or not.

All night the tribesmen kept up a spitting fire
—just enough to make rest impossible. That
was their game— to keep the small troop
hemmed in, and worry them to death.
241

THIRTEEN MEN

Our fcUows knew what it meant-water.
The lull was like an ash heap-as dry. The

four hours; another twenty-four and they would

detachment would have to fight its vay out I
would be at terrible cost-probably not a man
would get through alive. They hadn't a S3
gun with them-nothing but their rifles; so they
couldn't shell the enemy from their path. Thil
was a senou, mistake; but the colonel had evi-

S T^ °"' °" ' P°"''"' ""i^ion, ani
con«dered guns an impediment to rapid travel.
So they p ^d h ^^^^ ^^^.^^ ^^ ^^P

might get through. *

heU'Z^'FTi'^' ""'^" '° ""^h them just
before dayhght, but there was no attack-^oth-

let! .n t ""t"'"* ^"' '^' '^"''"'"8 i" of bul-
lets, to keep them on edge.

forlil' T""^"^ ""^ ^''^ '"y ^"^'"^ the two
forces Once c- men tried to slip down to bring

mthe.r wounded, but were driven back; Jcf

the tribesmen crept down, but were repulsed

w.^a stiff .olley-their mission was Lat-

242

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

In the morning it was seen that the Marris
had been at work during the night Two stone
sangas had been thrown up within fair range of
our men; but Lutyens had also constructed a
barricade, so honors were even.

About nine o'clock half a dozen Marris came
down with a white flag— they wanted to pick up
the wounded. Our fellows were glad of the
chance of a truce, and the poor chaps who had
lain out all night were brought in.

While this was going on, another party of
cignt or ten came in with a white flag also; and
with them was a gigantic ram, close-clipped, and
with all the glory of war paint on his strong-
ribbed sides and muscular quarters. The baboo
unearthed from their muddy vocabulary that
they wanted to fight the Khan.

" They're a rum lot," said Lutyens, with his
arm m a sling; " while they've got us hemmed in
here, and hope to starve us out, they want to put
in the time pleasantly by holding sports. But it
will delay matters, anyway, and give Tenier a
chance. If he'd been captured, we'd have
heard about it, I think— he must have got
through.

" We'll fight them with the ram, won't we,
sir? " hz said to the colonel. " It'll keep things
back. We'll mark time as long as we can— I'll
243

■II

1 1

rl' Hi

I, i!
'■'■ ill

i1:f'

lis

THIRTEEN MEN

swear the ram has just been fed, and hold the
fight off for a couple of hours, till he's in good
condition. He's too fat to fight, anyway — the
other fellow'U do him up; their brute's as fit as
a fiddle."

So, with the aid of the baboo, the thing was
explained, in a fashion, and the fight held off
until after dinner; the visitors, who were prob-
ably selecting the individual throats they meant
to slit when tliey had persuaded our men to sur-
render their rifles later on, were fed with pro-
fuse hospitality.

It was a fine diplomatic play all round.
Afzul Mulk reasoned that they were helping to
eat up the provisions the troops had to subsist
upon, therefore they would be starved into sur-
render the sooner. The colonel and his officers
hoped that Tenier had escaped, and if they could
delay matters with the aid of the ram long
enough, the relieving force would pop in on the
flank of the enemy with a machine gun or two,
and save the situat'on.

The hillmen weie receiving reenforcements
all the time. They were a fine lot of black-
guards, these Marris; they ate cheerily with our
fellows, and viewed critically the commissariat
they hoped to be placed in command of by the
help of Allah and much thirst.
444

If:

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

Lutyens, who had taken charge of the fighting
arrangements, delayed bringing out the Khan as
long as he dared. At last, about two o'clock,
he concluded he had reached the limit ; the visit-
ors were muttering impatiently.

A sharp lookout was kept to prevent a sur-
prise, and the tamasha started. The Khan was
full of it. Fighting in the camp at Sibi had been
stupid play; nothing fought back — here was the
sport of his lambhood. The Marris ram was
keen as a fox terrier, too.

When they came together in the first round
it was like the bursting of a shrapnel ; but it was
only a feeler evidently. They backed off a little
farther next time, and with short, jerky pig
jumps banged into each other. The flint horns
cracked sharp and dear in the still mountain
air.

As the sound went echoing up the canons of
the hills the tribesmen cheered with joy — it was
a fight after their own hearts. The whole camp
warmed to the fun; the colonel was the most
excited man in the detachment.

Lutyens was new to the game, and didn't han-
dle his ram right. One of the tribesmen, who
had been watching the Khan with loving eye,
jumped up and begged, with much pantomime,
to be given charge of the detachment ram.
245

ti'A

THIRTEEN MEN

^^ "Let him handle him I " cried the colonel;

th^r ^°' '° ^'"' °' ""'y'" *»•'' '» " »n omen
that they re going to beat us."

The Pathan almost cried for joy when he put
h.s strong fingers in the Khan's whiskers. He
laid h.s swarthy face against the ram's Roman

Shah, the Khan's r.ghtful owner; but our chap,
didnt know that. They backed the rams
among themselves. Afzul, the head man of
the Marns drew forth the colonel's fifty rupees
he had tucked in his belt, and gave Squeaks to
understand he wanted to gamble on the fight.
Jove ! ,f the colonel didn't take him up I Nobody

ir'l^^'l *""'" ""''"= "" ^'' '" ^^^ life before.

1 he Khan s new handler played fair— played
to wm. Lutyens watched him close; but he
didn t need that. He was a proper sportsman
-they re all that. He gave the Khan a chance
to get h.s wmd; delayed each round as long
as he could. That was what our fellows
wanted.

The Khan was a bit the stronger, and at first
got a lead over the other chap; but the hawk
eyes of the natives had sized up the situation
pretty well. They knew that our ram was fat,
mside and out, and would tire after a bit. Their
ram was as hard as nails; everything in their
246

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

country is, men and all. He was like a fighting
boar— gaunt and rough; all muscle and pluck,
with horns of steel.

The Khan's charge became perceptibly less
fierce; he wavered a little as they came together
like rocks in an avalanche. His hind quarters
drooped after each crash.

" This comes of you juniors always stuffing
the beast with sugar or some cursed thing ! "
squeaked the colonel. " You've spoiled one of
the best fights ever was."

What with preliminaries, and rests between
rounds, and hard fighting, the battle lasted over
an hour, when finally the Khan was smashed to
the earth by a glancing blow that slipped from
his horns and tore along his thick neck. He'd
had enough— he knew that. Not for his old
master even, not for anything, would he face the
music again. The tribesmen had won.

The visitors sprang to their feet and cheered
the wild battle cry of the Pathan. Up, up the
hills it went, caught up and echoed from throat
to throat— hundreds of them— until the whole
range rang with the paean of victory. It was
impressive. Our men were awed. It was like
a foreboding of disaster.

The colonel quietly handed over the rupees to
Afzul. The Marris squatted on their haunches
247

'■!»■

\i\i

THIRTEEN MEN

again; and Lutyens, to show that there was no
ill will, ordered hot coffee served to them.

Rahat Shah, who had handled the Khan, got
him on his feet, and started to lead him over to
the little group of squatted tribesmen.

The colonel interfered. " Take the ram away
from that chap," he ordered. " I believe they're
trying to walk him off."

The orderly took the Khan from the Marris
and put him over with our men. Rahat Shah
was astonished— indignant. He hustled the or-
derly a little, and there was a bit of a scuffle at
first; but the ram was taken away from the per-
sistent tribesmen.

The sitting Marris muttered among them-
selves, and commenced to move about restlessly.
Afzul was energetically trying to explain some-
thing to the baboo.

"What's the matter?" asked the colonel.
"What does he say?"

" Not understanding his talk, sir," replied the
baboo. " His talkjiot of my country, therefore
not understanding proper. He wanting the
sheep, sir, I think."

"That's rich," retorted the colonel; "dash

his eyes I I suppose they think because the ram's

beaten we won't keep him. Tell them, if you

can, with my salams, that if they want him real

248

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

bad, they can come and take him in their usual
zabardasti way— there'll be a few dead Mussul-
mans before they get him, though. But don't
hurry it, baboo — keep them as long as you can.
I'd like to hear the music of a Catling on their
flank over there."

Now, the baboo loved to talk— all baboos do;
but the Marris didn't want talk; it was the ram
they were after. Besides, they hated a baboo
worse than they did the cursed Feringees, the
British.

When they saw they were getting more baboo
talk than ram, they exchanged a few fierce, hot
words among themselves, standing defiantly
erect, then turned away, anger flipping from
every fold of their loose dress, and marched sul-
lenly down the hill, across the valley, and up
where crouched their fellows.

"Gad! they're mad," said the colonel.
"Wonder what it's all about? We'll get pepper
now; get ready for them, major."

Below, the valley was silent. The dead had
been turned under the rubble of earth and broken
stone, and the wounded brought into the lines.
The sun was almost dipping behind the peaks
in the west.

With set faces the men waited for the blood-
thirsty rush that would come surely: either that,
249

THIRTEEN MEN

or the hi,, of a ,hrap„el coming up the valley

from the relief. Which would come first? It

Slped" *' ""forcement,, if Tenier had

They could ,ce the tribesmen creeping closer

dSlStrr""^^"^^"^"^"^^^'
.. p.^".''^*' yy fi«." Mid the colonel sternly.

We U make as good a fight a, the ram did. any-

"By Jovel'theyVe mad clean through," said
Lutyens, as he watched the Pathans through his
field glass; " they won't even wait for the dark-

ouff, „?''' Kr-T'P'"« "K"''"'" " li«le white

"ts.inl^'^ /k" "■^™**^ '"°"''"8' »"d *«
P-s-mg-g of the smging lead struck on his

Then he swept the valley to the south with
a powerful glaM. Nothing moved in that
direction but the white of a fluttering Marris
coat, or the brown of a sheepskin vest

Lower and lower moved the white circle of
the creeping tribesmen. It was like watching
the foam wash of the incoming tide.

"Fix bayonet,!" commanded Lutyens; and
250

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

'•They don't relish the steel," .aid Lutyen,;
we can g.ve them point, at that game, any-
way. It was a grim joke, for he knew well that
number, would tell in the end; and though they
-ght be driven back once, twice, a dozen times!
the Pathan wolves would come again, and again
until every throat was cut. ^ '

The foe was down in the valley now, not three
hundred yards and slipping from rock to roS
-^talking their white prey.

"When they mass for the rush," said the
major to the men, "we'll give them a volley
and another before they reach us; then it'll be'
the bayonet against their big knives. Gad I I
ahriost thought-no, it couldn't be. I fancied I
heard a bugle; but it's one of their cursed sheep-
calJs, I suppose.

Snil!!^ ^u"^ ''."' '™''^ ^''^ smooth-worn
t% M*" ?'P""^ """^ '^' long-barreled

but the strong hungry knives that would rip and
slash when they had broken the ranks.

Suddenly Afzul was seen to jump on a rock
and wave a green and yellow banner. That was
the signal for the onslaught. Pandemonium
broke loose. Every rock and every hill echoed

251

THIRTEEN MEN

with a hundred tongues die fanatic Moilein
cry.

" They're a noity lot of beggan," laid the
colonel, " juat like the BurmeM; but they'll fight
better, I fancy."

Like a pack of hungry wolves giving cry they
started up the ascent.

"Present I steady, men — aim low! fire!"
came the commands sharp and clear from the
major.

A red circle, of hot, belching fire darted from
the black barrels of the Martinis; and the wail-
ing hail swept down the hillside, and the white,
rushing line swayed, staggered, trembled for an
instant, and then swept on again, closing up the
gaps that had been bitten into it by the eager
teeth. The Sniders and the jezails vomited back
an answer; but the stone barricade grabbed at
the bullets, and only three men swayed drunkenly
from the wall.

Halfway up the hill the Martinis coughed
again ; and the second volley plowed deeper and
more terribly into the Moslem foe.

Again the line wavered; there was a lull;
Afzul's voice could be heard bellowing like a
mountain leopard at his hesitating men.

A low, moaning shriek came up the valley;
there was a crash as a shrapnel burst, and an
352

NAWAZ KHAN, GIFT OF ALLAH

acre of bullets hiued and screeched m they cut
through the air on the charging enemy's flank.
Bo(H>.m.m," ponderously came the voice of
the screw gun that had thrown the shell.

"Hurrah I the relief I " cheered Lutyens, his
bared sword gleaming. " Give the hounds an-
other volley 1"

Down In the valley an English bugle was
soundmg the charge. " Ph-u-t-t, ph-u-t-t-ph-u-
t-tl a Gatling was chirruping, and "Boo-
o-m-ml " a seven-pounder was chorusing. The
advancing troops were volley firing, and the
white mass of turbaned tribesmen was beina
rolled back like a war map.

Afzul's men had come too late-the stone
wall stared at them stolidly; they broke; and
fold on fold the Pathan mass was pushed back
and up through the Pass they had come down
from.

"Just in time, eh?" panted Tenier, as he
galloped up to the detachment.

The relief was complete. It was useless to
toilow the Marris among the hills without
cavalry.

I had gone up with the regiment, and Tenier

told me all about the trouble. There was a ton

of guilt on my soul; for if I had spoken, had

told of the ownership of the ram, all this might

253

THIRTEEN MEN

have been averted. How wai I to break it to
the colonel? I must tell him.

That night at dinner Lutyens luddenly broke
in with, "Well, we had two ripping fights
to-day."

"Wat this the second attack?" queried
Tenier.

" No, Nawaz Khan fought the first battle.
We had a truce, and the fellows came down with
a sheep built like a ' blue bull,' and he did up the
Khan in fine shape."

Why the thunder did they attack you this
time, then, if they got the ram? " I asked.

" They didn't get him," said the colonel sim-
ply in his squeaky voice. " We wouldn't give
him up."

" Great Scott 1 sir," I exclaimed; " you've for-
ever blasted the name of the British as true
sportsmen. The fundamental principle, sir,
governing all ram fights, from Calcutta to
Cabul, is that the victor takes the beaten ram."

The colonel's face turned ashy pale. That
he had killed a score or more tribesmen was not
the cause, for that had been a fair fight; but that
he had done this thing was a disgrace— he saw
that.

" More than that," I exclaimed, excited by
what had been said, and seizing the opportunity,
254

NAWAZ KHAN. GIFT OF ALLAH

"the ram belonged to them in the first place
He w,. the pride of their tribe. Somebody
looted h.m, probably the man who brought him
into the regiment— Yusuf."

colIn"r '^° ''°" '""' "'"'• "'^" «"P»^ "«

I explained.

"What shall we do-wh^t shall we do?"
moaned the colonel Iitlpl«s!v.

»K-"-^T'"„?''''"'""^' '"'y^"»' "we must put

enough-and they were in the right, too."

As atonement, I offered to find Afzul the ner.
day and explain matters.

lowed up the tribesmen, and found Afzul J
explamed it all.

We had trounced them, we were in force, and
he realized that what I said must be true. No

htrbT:: zir^ ""'" ''' ''''"-'* ">-

He accompanied me back to the camp. The
Khan was turned over to him, and a good in-
dcmnity paid for the dead tribesmen, for we
were undoubtedly in the wrong.

Afzu?"..T7 f'^'°^«^ ""y country," said
Aizul. The fight was a good one."

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

BRYMNER-SMYTH was subinspector
of police at Jacobabad, Beluchistan.
He was also a Griffin, because young-
sters in the service are so called. A Griffin costs
his Majesty many sovereigns landed in India,
so he is allowed seven major mistakes and many
minor ones, before he is cast from the centers
of utility, labeled a " king's bad bargain," and
sent away to test climatic influences. And Brym-
ner-Smyth all but relied his seven major mistakes
into one at the tin.;, he was tried in the Sibi
Desert.

When Killock sent word from Hindiput that
the Pathans and coolies were in mutiny, Brym-
ner-Smyth was sent with six Punjabi police to
put matters right.

The military railway, slowly crawling toward
the Bolan, had as yet reached but to Jacobabad,
so the police and luggage were attached to
camels, and Brymner-Smyth rode his Beluchi
mare to Hindiput, eighty miles away.
And because he was just a man-boy, inebriated

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

with the elation of his first responsibility, the
barren Sibi Desert, that men call a godless waste,
was to him that morning a field of cloth of gold,
Pathans and looters and mutinous coolies hold
prospect of promotive service. He would be a
Bara Sahib at Hindiput, loo— the one in charge.
The way lay over a dead sea; the breast of
earth was barren and without fruitfulness; the
horse's hoofs bit into the soulless sand with a
slipping crunch; it was a blaring mirror that re-
flected in his face the fierce heat his helmet
shielded from above. His throat closed utterly
and his lips corrugated into filelike ridges of
crinkled parchment; even behind colored glasses
his eyes fevered to redness. But these things,
one and all, only gave the Griffin joy, for was it
not the toil of emancipation ?

In the afternoon of the second day he drew
into a land beautiful; lakes of blue water, tur-
quoise charms set in tawny gold; swaying palms
traced like giant ferns against green hills that
held, higher up, purple-hazed valleys; and slow-
crawling down from the hills came camel cara-
vans wending toward a city that must be Hin-
diput.

Eagerly Brymner-Smyth pushed his lean ewe-
necked mare toward the land of promise; but
with the coyness of a maiden the vista shrank
2S7

' RF^i

THIRTEEN MEN

before his roused desire; and presently, without
reason, the wondrous art thing that was a mirage
blurred in the trembling heat that quivered in
the desert furnace, and he stood at the elbow
of Hindiput; there, in a grassless waste, a dozen
mud-walled huts, flat-topped by corrugated iron,
hot beds of ophthalmia, was the white-robed
city he had seen in the mirage.

At Jacobabad the Griffin's messmates, prolific
in unwise humor, had enlarged upon the charms
of Hindiput; priming the innocent one with false
tales of rajahs' palaces and trade bazaars.

The traveler slid from his roach-backed beast,
rubbed his eyes inquiringly, and then, in the full-
ness of his disillusionment, swore softly at the
uncertainty of things in India, and the misuse
that had been made of his credulity.

Then he passed to a house which rose above
the c.'iers; this might be a mirage or the habi-
tation of Killock.

As he stood in the door, a large matter of
flesh swung itself from a charpoy and confronted
him. It was Killock. And on Killock were
these things — a short-sleeved banian and a pair
of voluminous khaki trousers that, like a ram's
horn, chronicled their age by wrinkles.

And the man-boy with the riveted name,
which was a caste mark equal to the Brahmin-
as8

THE BLOODING OF A GKIFFIN

ical thread, sighed as the final mirage of a social
Hindiput curled up and departed before the
burly figure that was coffee-brown and huge of
chest.

That was the beginning; but progression
was worse. It was as though fate had stabled
together a thoroughbred and a rhino.

Brymner-Smyth tied a tag of identification to
die huge man which read " Navvy Killock," and
Navvy Killock spent a day and a night— for he
was sluggish of thought— over his black pipe
before he evolved for the inspector "Lord
Bobby." But when the name came there was
no doubt about its applicability.

" 'E puts on airs like a bloomin' lord, an' 'e's
nothink but a bloody cop— that's what 'e is
Mister bloomin' Smith-Bounder— Lord Bobby,'
I'll call 'im." Then he took a swig of gin and it
was settled.

It wouldn't have mattered so much had there
been anything for the inspector to do, but there
wasn't; his mission was inaction, which is the
father of curses in India. The turbulence of the
natives was but a fantasy of Killock's gin-heated
imagmation. He had harked back to his pri-
mary condition of life over a work discussion
with some Marwari coolies, injudiciously seek-
ing to make the matter clear to their understand-
259

t I

J .'

THIRTEEN MEN

ing with his fists; they, being men of Marwar,
took up the matter with cudgels. That was all
there was to it.

Killock had been bom in a caul of economy,
and he had tortured this virtue till in his case it
became a vice. Whatever the Griffin was in the
way of verdancy, he was above meanness; and
Killock, taking him as legitimate prey, drank his
liquor and smoked his cheroots, and ate his pro-
visions, until the boy walked to one side in the
desert at night, and lifted up his voice to the sky
that was knee-doep in stars: " Hindiput and Kil-
lock— Killock and Hindiput 1 My God! was
there ever such a combination ! "

In the Navvy's bungalow, beside a thermom-
eter, hung a penciled record with a long row of
figures running from loo to 121 in the shade—
a temperature which might have set two holy
fathers at each other's throats, and the Navvy's
covetousness and greasiness of thought added
five degrees to this Sheol.

Brymner-Smyth's hyphened name, insignia of
all that Killock was not, proved an irritant, a
fly blister of utterance.

" Mister Bloomin' Smith — that's wot 'e is,"
Killock told his pipe; "it's too bloody 'ot to
wear a hovercoat on a bloke's name."

The truth was, Killock couldn't master it at
260

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

all. "Brimmer-Smith, Captain Brim-Smithe "
—a dozen such entanglements the Navvy landed
in when he essayed the real thing. When he
was gin-loaded, which was always in the even-
ing, he fell back on plain " Mister Smith."

When the Griffin remonstrated with serious
gentleness, Killock retorted: " Wot th' 'ell's the
diPrence in this blawsted 'ole? Jus' leave the
double-breasted name 'angin' on a peg with yer
dress suit at 'eadquarters ; it's too 'ot 'ere fer
style. Comfort's a heap better'n hetiquette, I
sez."

But two white men bound together in a sand-
pit in a desert must foregather, and the Griffin
tried cards as likely to render Killock possible at
times. But the Navvy thumped the table and
blew the twang of his rank pipe into the inspect-
or's face; and, the end of it all, allowed his fat
fingers to manipulate the ivory counter past all
toleration.

" Heavens ! was there ever such a beast ! "
Brymner-Smyth confided to his charpoy as he
threw himself on its rope-woven web the night
Killock had cheated at whist.

The inspector had sent a written report to

Jacobabad by a Pathan on a fast-riding camel,

with the uselessness of his mission at Hindiput

enlarged upon; but Major Eustace shoved it into

261

I '?

THIRTEEN MEN

a pigeonhole of futurity with a little contracting
of his grim features.

The major had a hobnailed liver, and Brym-
ner-Smyth had been just a touch irritating with
his undimatic desire for endeavor. The India
OfSce had a disconcerting way of sending out
shoals of youngsters, as yearlings are sent up
to the sales at Newmarket, and it was the duty
of wearied elders in the service to deposit them
in harmless places. The major had done fairly
well by the Griffin that came his way, in side-
tracking him at Hindiput, he thought.

So Brymner-Smyth sat day after day on the
bank of earth the coolies had thrown up from
the huge tank they were digging, seeking to
disentangle from the nebulous sky line a real
camel man bringing him orders of release. And
always on the rim of one horizon a ball of white-
hot metal shot into the air, and climbed, soul-sear-
ing, over their heads for hours and hours till it
dropped from sight on the other rim. That was
the ever-recurrent form of a day in Hindiput.

Sometimes Navvy Killock would come and sit
beside the boy, and, oyster-like, open up and
vomit forth pearls of thought.

" Wot th' 'ell is the Gov'ment goin' to do
with this 'ole in the ground — that's what beats
me. They ain't no water 'ere, an' it never rains,
262

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

an' I'm blowed if I see the good of a tank where
there ain't no water."

Brymner-Smyth didn't know, and said so;
and Killock, weary with the stupendous, unsolv-
able mystery, would wind up with " some hofEce
bloke's got the hidea as a tank's needed 'ere, I
s'pose, an' I reckons if they pays me my bit fer
lookin' arter the job, it's no haffair of mine."

The inspector might have remained marooned
on the sands of Hindiput till in desperation he
committed hara-kiri, had not a complication with
tribesmen up Dehra way made a sudden call for
men on the head office.

So to the waiting one came a blue envelope
with orders to report at Dehraonthe20th. Also
there was official inkling of stirringservice ahead.
That was the i6th. Dehra was in the foot-
hills, two days' march away, which left two days
of Killock. No wonder the boy took a handful
of cigars to the man who had worn his patience
threadbare.

When he told Killock of his going, the Nav-
vy's pig eyes closed to a narrow slit. " That's
a rum go, Cap'n Smythers. Who's goin' to keep
the black soars from lootin' ? That's wot I arsk
the Guv'ment. They'll puckorow heverythink,
an' if I hinterfere, wot do I git?— a bloomin*
butcher knife shoved hinto my belly."
263

f. ■*'

t i

':i^ >i

THIRTEEN MEN

The Nawy swallowed a glass of gin, drew
the back of his hand across his mouth, and
squinted suspiciously at the inspector. Had
Lord Bobby been playing him double — been
writing to get away without consulting him.

And as Brymner-Smyth swung back to his
I m hut, Killock, watching him going, muttered :
" That blawsted toff wants to get back where
there's swells; 'e don't care if I'm killed, an' my
ole 'oman an' the kids starve."

Then he looked at the thin penciled line of
blood driven from the heart of the thermometer
by the fierce heat till it rested atop at 117, and
exclaimed, "God I wot a 'ole to fry in!"
[The he went out and hurled strange Hindoo-
stanee oaths at a Pathan camel man who under-
stood only Pushtu, which was just as well for the
Navvy.]

The record of Killock's gentle ways would be
as useless in this story as the history of a river
mugger's existence, were it not that no man could
judge the Griffin when he did the thing that he
did if Killock's part were left out.

On the next day, the 17th, two natives lay
sick in the cooly lines, and Killock, whom the
fates had ordained to the misplacement of all
things, swore they were malingering.

But Baboo Ramchunder, the Bengali apothe-
264

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

cary. diagnosed the caies according to the ver-
bose method of his kind. " The pathology of
their sick IS vertigo, also prostration of appetite,
because they absteme from rice," he said

This seemed to settle the thing, and Brymner-
S)myth thought no more of the sick coolies, be-
cause he was on the edge of going away and the
things of Hindiput were things to be left behind
At noon on the 1 8th his Punjabis left with the
luggage-laden camels. They would camp over-
night at a serai on the road, and the inspector,
leaving before daylight next morning, would
overtake them.

An hour after the Punjabis had left, the heart
of Hindiput stood still with fear. Panic, that
speaks all languages, that is as universal as a
sob, touched the hearts of the Pathans and the
Marwari coolies, the big, flabby heart of Navvy
Killock, and-and crept a little into the soul of
the Gnflin.

One man was dead, and the baboo, who was
a doctor out of courtesy of speech, had now dis-
covered It was cholera.

" It is this way with the pestilential aflliction,
that when patient is defunct diagnosis is abso-
lute and cholera has smited Ram Baksh and also
Uhiloo. who is his brother." Thus he summed
up the startling situation.
265

" I (

":}

THIRTEEN MEN

The Griffin wat but a boy, thi» we must re-
member. In battle he would have ducked at the
icreech of the fint ihell and ducked again until
he had been blooded. His face went white, and
his soul ducked at the baboo's patter.

In an hour Hindiput was a death trap. The
hot air vibrated with fear— the breath of the
black scourge seemed in every man's nostrils.
The Pathans fled with their camels, and when
men sought conveyance they drew long knives
and drove them off. Anyone might have germs
of disease on his person, and those who could
get away sought to flee alone; to wander out
afoot on the desert was worse than to remain.

The frightened ones had seen Ram Baksh,
his blue fingers driven nail-deep into the palms
of his watery hands; his bloodless lips festooned
with the bubbling froth of death as he lay rigid
as steel, his head and knees drawn together.

And the baboo, great in incapacity, knowing
not of the destroying thing, had given jalap,
which was as efficacious as the sufferer's invo-
cation to Siva the Destroyer for mercy. And
another man was now on his back — either of
fear or the scourge — and the natives were sore
afraid.

Brymner-Smyth was practically a "casual " ;
in actuality he had removed himself from the
266

THE BL0OD7NG OF A GRIFFIN
««« of «., 1, „i„j|p„,, I,,,

'* 267 '

mctotxm RKowTiON iBT oun

(ANSI gnd (SO TEST CHART No. 2)

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THIRTEEN MEN

and see the thing through," the boy said with a
query in his voice.

Killock tipped his huge body forward on the
stool till his alcoholic breath blew a mist in the
boy's face ; his small eyes were like red beads in
a yellow matrix, fear and cunning jostling each
other in their narrow holding.

" Look ee 'ere, sir, 'tain't yer hoffice to fight
cholera no more'n it's mine. Yer can't do
nothink here but get tuk yerself ; an' the Guv'-
ment wouldn't thank y'u if y'u was dead, would
they? Y'u shift to-night, d'ye 'ear? "

" I must do my duty whichever way it lies."

The words rang true enough, but Killock's
ears were adder's ears, deaf with the poison of
fright.

" To 'ell wi' dooty I ain't you got no women
iolks to 'ome — no mother or sweetheart waitin'
feryou?"

The boy looked curiously at the fat man, who
was full of unconscious tragedy. Had he mis-
judged the barbarian — had Killock really a
good heart? He was soon answered.

"That's my hidea of hit. My ol' woman
an' the kids, they're a-livin' in a cottage hout
Clapham Road w'y, an' there's roses a-bloomin'
in the garden, an' marigolds, an' the robins is
'oppin' habout, an' the larks a-singin' — that's
268

Iff

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

wot she sens in a letter. An' be I goin' t' die
in this 'ere God-forsaken 'ole, an' git planted
like a cooly in th' sand, wi' rocks atop to keep
the jackals an' hyeiiers from rootin' me hup?
Nex' year I was a-goin' 'ome — d'ye 'ear?—
a-goin' 'ome to th' ol' woman. That's where
I wants t' die— in ol" Hengland, where they puts
roses an' white flowers on a man's grrve! "

The boy held his breath ; the dreadful earnest-
ness of the frightened Killock was dramatic.

" It's hin the water wot that pagan Pathan
brings in his filthy leather bottles on his camels.
That's why I've had me tot o' gin— I knowed
It 'ud come. An' a man wot stays 'ere might
be tuk in a hour. An' s'pose I'm tuk wi' it, th'
niggers'll clear hout— not a mother's son of
|em'll come near a white man when 'e's tuk,
'cause they're white-livered swine. Y'u take my
word fer it, Cap'n, you've got yer borders
to go, an' jus' cut aw'y from th' bloody 'ole
—it stinks wi' th' cholera. An' I'm goin' wi'
you."

Brymner-Smyth knew— the silk purse was but
a sow's ear.

You've got to stay here— you're in charge,"
he said deliberately.

"I'm not goin'— 'ow d'you make that hout?
I hain't got no right t' stay 'ere an' die— I hain't
269

If j! -^

HP '■'
■ 4''

THIRTEEN MEN

no doctor; the baboo's doctor 'ere — 'c's paid t'
take chances."

" But you're in charge of the baboo; you keep
the medicine chest. If you leave, he'll clear out.
You're responsible."

"Responsible be blowedl Will the Guv'-
ment be responsible for my ol' woman an' kids
if I die?"

" I don't know anything about that," Brym-
ncr-Smyth answered; "but you can't go with
me. God, maii, it would be deserting your post,
and I would be a party to it 1 "

" Desertin' 1 hain't you desertin' ? You're
like the Bara Sahib at 'eadquarters, 'e'U be at
the mess drinkin' 'is hiced peg; an' wot does 'e
care if I'm 'ere dyin' o' cholera? — no more
do you. See 'ere, youngster" — and Killock
clutched the boy's jacket — " we'll cut aw'y to-
gether. If you st'y 'ere you'll die, sure as
'eaven. We're 'uddled like pigs in a sty, an'
wot one's got all'll get. I'm caught hin a trap,
I tell you. 'Ow'm I goin' to get a 'undred miles
in the desert? — I'd 'ave sunstroke. Take me
wi' you till we catch hup yer men — I'll pay
hanythink you like fer a lift on a camel."

" Go back to your bungalow," Brymner-
Smyth answered, " and let me think this hor-
rible thing all out."

370

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

Killock obeyed without a word, and the boy
went through a process that he called thinking.
It was hardly that— it was more like listening
to the bells.

Even Killock had said he ought to go, and
that was something: in reality, he was afraid—
which was everything.

Panic impregnates the air with germs that
poison every living thing that breathes them.
So the boy, into whose being these imps of un-
reason had crept, groping blindly, became pos-
sessed of but two ideas: he would go away, it
was his duty; and Killock must remain, it was
his duty.

When it grew dark, Brymner-Smyth put the
saddle on his mare am . jde toward Killock's
bungalow. He couldn't quite go away without
speaking to the Navvy: it meant another scene,
but he couldn't help it.

The scene was a scene.

When Hindiput was without cholera, Killock
drank much gin; now, because of the scourge,
he poured it down.

It was little short of a madman that lurched
from the bungalow, and learning from the in-
spector's lips that he was to remain, called the
curses of all gods. Christian and patjan, upon
the milk-sustained babe in the saddle.
271

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I ' I

\\\

m
ill I

THIRTEEN MEN

t '•(

" I'm tuk now, I tell you," he said, " my ol'
woman'll curse you to her dyin' day. There's
gripes in my belly now as 'ud cut th' 'e&rt out
of a ox. You're cuttin' hit — you're a hofficer
as runs aw'y an' leaves a Tommy to get shot."

Fear guided the vocabulary of Killock. It
veered him as the wind twists a weathercock;
one minute the inspector was to go, the next he
was cursed for not remaining.

" I'm sorry, but my staying will do no good;
besides, I can't — I've got my orders."

As he spoke the inspector chirruped to his
horse. With an oath, Killock lurched forward
and grasped the snaffle ring of the bridle.

" Look 'ere, Mister Cop, I goes wi' you, or
you st'ys wi' me. I hain't stickin' alone to th'
sinkin' ship — 'ear that? "

" Take your hand off the bridle I "

" 'Ere, come hout o' the saddle I " and Kil-
lock's disengaged hand clawed at the boy's gai-
ters, fumbling for a finger-hold.

Brymner-Smyth leaned over the pommel, and
the butt of his riding whip landed on the gorilla-
like wrist that was dragging the horse's nose to
its shoulder. The Navvy's arm dropped to his
side, where it hung limp as a stocking on a
clothesline. The mare swerved at the sudden
freeing of her head and plunged forward.
272

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

The boy let her go. In his ears the speed-
thc-guest of Killock: "You 'it me, you swipe I
Come back 'ere an' I'll daw yer 'eart out, you
cowardly swaggering bobby ! "

The mare was galloping, and the passion

words came in little puffs, and presently were

obliterated by distance; the last sound reaching

the boy from the mud waUs of pestilence was

coward."

The mare's shoeless hoofs echoed the dismal
word from the sunburned crust of the desert
—"Cowardly coward— cowardly coward!"
the galloping refrain, and all because the rider
was handicapped with a lead cloth of doubt.

In half a mile the mare shifted her fore legs
and slipped into the shuffling trot of the country,
bred. The road was a furrow worn by the pad
feet of camels, reaching toward the Sulieman's
where was Dehra.

The boy's head rested on his chest, thinking,
thinking in a blurred way that led to nothing,
his eyes seeing not the star-jeweled sky above
that was a vast aigrette, almost musical in its
brilliancy; below, the desert, gray in the night
light, was like smooth waters.

As though he had slept in the saddle, without
knowledge of the two hours that had gone, sud-
denly from the gray waste a blank mud wall
273

THIRTEEN MEN

confronted him — it was the serai wherein the
Punjabis were to await his coming.

One of the men took the horse, and the in-
spector, scarce speaking, threw himself on his
blankets and tried to shut out the scene that
caused his eyes to bum.

Sleep ! It passed without claiming from Pun-
jabi to Punjabi, and then mocked him from their
faces of content.

Why did his mind wrestle with the problem
he had settled — he was obeying orders ? Also,
he was a coward — some voice that was a lying
voice screamed it through a hole in the mud wall,
or perhaps it was one of the sleepers had said it,
or perhaps it was an echo of the drunken Kil-
lock's voice.

Brymner-Smyth rose, turned low the lantern,
slipped from the serai, and out on the desert;
asked the stars — or perhaps it • as the Arranger-
of-the-Stars — for some sign that would smother
to silence the voices of doubt. But in the book
of stars is written nothing of GrifSns, or cholera,
or fear, and on the desert is stamped but
desolation. He went back to his blanket,
his mind numbed to uselessness as a guide to
right.

At two o'clock the desert trail cast something
in at the door. It was a Beluchi camel man,
274

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

with a desire to talk of how the black scourge
was even then at Hindiput.

Allah! whose name be ever blessed, but he
had c. me near to disaster. He had stopped at
the accursed village, and at once a Hindoo dog,
a baboo of animal descent, had besought him
for conveyance out of Hindiput. The sahib,
fat, and a wine drinker, had been stricken—
perhaps even now he was dead. Yes, the baboo
hakm had said the sahib had cholera, and that
he would surely die.

The boy had been asking for a sign from the
stars, or out of the desert. It had been given him.
_^ Quick I saddle the mare! " he commanded.
Huzoor, if the captain sahib goes to Hin-
diput, this evil thing will come upon the sahib
beyond doubt," his men answered.

"Will any one volunteer to go with me?"
Brymner-Smyth asked. " Of the Sirkar's or-
ders, you may go to Dehra; of my asking, will
any go back to the saving of lives? "

But the Punjabis answered that they were
men of large families— if they died their little
babas would starve. Also the Sirkar's orders
were to be obeyed, because they ate the salt of
the Sirkar.

"Who is at Dehra I know not," the in-
spector told his men, " but make report there
275

THIRTEEN MEN

that I have gone back to Hindiput because of
cholera, and will come again to Dehra

when "

The boy stopped to think, and one of his
Punjabis carried on the interrupted sentence
with, " the captain sahib will come to Dehra in
the pleasure of Kudah " (God).

Brymner-Smyth mounted his mare and rode
back in the camel rut that was a road, and fear
had fallen from him and the panic had passed.
He was blooded in cholera, and the problem
was settled, and, hard riding, through his set
teeth he prayed that he might come, in the way
of atonement, to the side of Killock while still
he lived.

The light was breaking as the inspector, com-
ing to the stricken village, met a white-clothed
figure puddling along the road. It was the
baboo. The Bengali's jaw dropped in aston-
ished fear when he saw the sahib.

"Where are you off to?" Brymner-Smyth
asked, as he pulled up his mare.

The baboo blinked his big solemn eyes and
wrestled with his wits for an answer.

"Deserting?"

" No, sahib, taking constitutional."

" Don't lie — you're running away. How is
the sahib — is he dead? "
276

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

" Yes, yoji honor, he is defunct. Coma com-
ing, and, notwithstanding injunction from me,
Killock Sahib is taking copious draughts of gin,
and then yielded up the ghost."

" And you got scared and cleared out."
" No, your honor. I'm a poor man, not
learned with knives and fighting. And cooly
mans telling they will kill because I give them
bad medicine, they say. Because of that wicked-
ness on the cooly mans' part, I have come out
here to summon help."

"You're a great liar, baboo," Brymner-
Smyth answered, " and . ■ ought to be kicked."
Already he was forgetting his own fright that
had been. " Come with me; we must do what
we can," he added.

And as thev rounded the end of Killock's
bungalow they licard the dead man's voice call-
ing, " Baboo!— oh, I'm sick! Baboo! "

Brymner-Smyth looked at Ramchunder, and
he, shifting uneasily under the glance, said,
" Coma has passed, but the sahib will defunct
soon."

They passed into the house. Hillock was on

his charpoy, and the cholera had eaten up the

repulsive coarseness of his for.-n until he was

gaunt.

At sight of the inspector, his dull, heavy eyes

277

f i I

THIRTEEN MEN

brightened. " You— you've come back, cap'n.
God be thanked! I'm tuk— I knowed it 'ud
come." He bum into tears and sobbed like a
babe.

Brymner-Smyth put his hand on the sick man's
forehead. " Don't give up, Killock; we'll pull
you through all right," he said.
" I'm done for," the Navvy answered plain-

tively. " God help us; my ol' woman 'ill "

Then the sickness doubled him up, and for
ten -ninutes he writhed and was sick.

The Griffin had a strong polo wrist, but he
was a babe in the matter of illness.

" Great Heavens, baboo I What do you stand
there blinking for? Give the man something
— he'll die on our hands."

" Yes, sar, I am cogitate diagnose for proper
draught. Best authorities advise chlorodyne.
But already, sahib, I have given planfy big dose,
and always the sahib redelivering back again.
Also, he is reproach most blasphemous."

The baboo poured much medicine down the
sick man, who now, subdued by fear, did not
curse the physician.

Ignorant though he was of the effects of chol-

era, Brymner-Smyth fancied that the Navvy's

bullock-like constitution was making a great

fight against the disease; he certainly was not in

278

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

the itate of collapse the baboo had pictured, and
the boy's coming seemed to have lessened the
fear that would surely have killed him had he
been left alone.

" 'Eavens, it bums I " Killock wailed, as the
liquid scoria singed its way down his throat.
" I've sufccred hawful, sir." He lay still for
a little, panting with the pain. The morphine
element in the drug soothed him now, and, turn-
ing from his immedia'e fear of dissolution, he
hariced back to what d gone before.

" I've been a bit rough, cap'n, an' I begs to
'pologize. All along o' the drink I called y'u
a bloody coward, an' 'ere y'u are , 'ero, takin'
chances o' th' cholera an' a-nursin' e. I don't

want to die wi' no hard feelin's "

" There, there, don't say anything," the boy
interrupted. "You're not going to die— we
won't let you. I lost my temper like a young
ass, and I want you to forgive me."

"It was a-comin' to me all along o' my
swearin'. If— if I pegs hout, ye'U see that
heverythink is done proper, won't y'u; an'
you'll send th' papers an' things 'ome to th' ol'
woman ? "

Then the opiate— the baboo had admini*.
tered the dose for an ox— drowsed Killock, and
babbling sleepily of roses and marigolds and
279

THIRTEEN MEN

*'*

the "ol' woman," he fell asleep, and the boy,
taking the baboo, went to the cooly lines.

The frightened Ramchunder's story of muti-
nous natives was, like the rest of it, all a lie, en-
gendered by his fear of the inspector's anger
at his desertion.

And the cholera was spreading but slowly:
three men stricken since the death of the first
patient. With >pathetic resignation some of the
sick men's relatives still clung to them, while the
other coolies were scattered about on the desert
beyond the mud walls of the village.

The boy's hour of trial had passed, and now
he had no fear. Ashamed of the weakness that
had come to him, he was even reckless. More
than once the baboo cautioned him as he did
something for the stricken coolies.

As Brymner-Smyth, followed by Ramchun-
der, passed from one hut to another, he saw a
camel swinging up the road from Jacobabad.
Well he knew that easy pacing shamble — it was
a Bikaneer racing camel, carrying some one who
came in haste. The long spindly legs wove :n
and out with the rapidity of urged speed, and
in the double saddle, behind the driver, sat a
European.

Brymner-Smyth stepped into the shade of a
hut, leaned against its mud wall and waited.
280

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

The camel raced to where he stood, and at a
pull from the nose cord knelt with bubbling re-
monstrance at his feet. Then the sahib, whose
face was dust-plastered till it was like a terra-
cotta mask, flung himself from the saddle, and
the boy saw that it was Surgeon Saunders from
headquarters. "Abrupt" Saunders, as irrev-
erent India called him.

"Halloo! Gad, glad you're here, young-
ster," the surgeon cried eagerly, wiping the per-
spiration from his forehead. " Knew you'd got
the route, and was afraid you were off to Dehra.
Half-expected to find no one but dead and dying
here— these fellows get panicky when cholera
comes."

" How'd you know of it, sir? "
" Camel man brought khubber (news) to Ja-
cobabad; s'pose he cleared out from it— I've
ridden all night. Is it bad— is it pukka Asiatic
cholera, baboo — many dead? Any of your
Punjabis down, inspector? "

" My men have gone to Dehra," Brymner-
Smyth answered, and to himself he answered,
"Thank God, I haven't I"

"By Jove, youngster, that's pluck!— sent
them out of harm's way and faced the thing
yourself, eh? 'Tisn't every Griff' would do
that first time of asking."
281

S( j

■ 1

THIRTEEN MEN

The boy flushed and squirmed uneasily under
the praise.

" It's a wonder you didn't bolt, baboo."

Then also Ramchunder squirmed and looked
apprehensively at the inspector; but they were
both in the same boat, and silence was a jewel-
studded ring of gold.

The surgeon unshipped the medicine case
from the camel's back, saying cheerily, " Let's
get to work, baboo — ^where are the cases?"
" Only three? " he said presently, when he had
seen the stricken ones. "That's good; we'll
check it. One will die sure, his spleen's the size
of a Chedder cheese ; that itself would kill him.
We may pull the other two through though."

"Also Killock Sahib is prostrate with this
affliction," the baboo said, when the surgeon had
finished his examination of the three.

"What I a European down? Where is he?
Lead the way, baboo."

" Yes, sar," Ramchunder answered, as they
made their way to the bungalow. " Inspector
Sahib here is nurse Killock Sahib like his own
female mother. Already the patient is defunct
many times of coma and complication if In-
spector Sahib does not preserve his life. All
night Inspector Sahib giving medicine and keep-
ing from decease the sahib who is inoculated

■f?*'* '

THE BLOODING OF A GRIFFIN

with cholera. Also, I am make professional
effort to save the patient."

Ramchunder was lying with tortuous facility
to the end that Brymner-Smyth might be mol-
lified into silence.

^^ The little surgeon whisked about and said:
" Gad, boy I this affair won't hurt you any in the
service— I'll take care of that in my report. I
knew a cub once that acted differently."

The inspector was in agony. He cried in

despair, " Sir, I don't deserve "

"Tut, tut, man— modest, eh? That won't
do in India— not in the police, anyway. If
you'd cleared out you'd have got cashiered.
You re here at your post, and that's the way it
goes in my report."

" Yes, sar," broke in the baboo hurriedly, for
fear the inspector would speak again, " also I
am retaining official post, and every cooly plenty
much afraid, too, your honor."
"Inhere, is he?"

They were at the door of the bungalow. The
surgeon stalked briskly to the charpoy, on which
lay Killock.

Brymner-Smyth waited breathlessly, watch-
ing the surgeon's face. For days he had liter-
ally loathed this rough man, and now he felt as
though a brother's life hung in the balance
18 283

it.' J

THIRTEEN MEN

Three minutes of investigation, and then
Saunders, facing about, his gray eyes piercing
Ramchunder, asked, " Have you been treating
this man for cholera, baboo? "

"Yes, your honor; giving plenty medicine;
because of this he is not prematurely deceased."

" Baboo, you're a confounded fool. This
man has no more cholera than I have — he's got
a bad dose of funk, and has lushed gin till he's
nearly in the D. T.'s."

" Wot's that, doctor— be'n't I got cholera? "
and Killock, swinging his legs to the floor, sat
up and blinked incredulously at the surgeon.

" No, you haven't, worse luck. You've nearly
stopped your heart going with gin and panic."

With a sigh of relief Navvy Killock fell back
on the bed exclaiming, " God bless yer 'eart,
doctor, my ol' 'oman 'ill be glad."

And in the bungalow fate had arrayed a safe
trinity of silence. Baboo, Navvy, a.id Griffin.

a84

THE CAPTURE OF SHEITAN

IF a man go into a dark pantry and drink
from the first bottle he puts his hand on,
he may get wine, or stove polish, or cream,
or disinfectant. If he stand well with the gods
he may get cream, but the average explorer will
hit upon the bottle of disinfectant.

Many offices in India are filled on this dark-
pantry plan; and the office of police nabob of
Calcutta had drawn a queer decoction for its
head. Officially, he was not called police na-
bob; that is only a story-teller's license. This
story is about the time Eden-Powell was nabob.
People asked why he had been pushed up to
that place; but nobody answered them, and they
passed on to other things.

The nabob was always discovering some-
thing — some tremendous conspiracy among the
natives. If some caste took to painting their
knees crimson, that meant another mutiny was
on the tapis, and if Eden-Powell didn't watch
sharply the British Raj would be swept out of
an Indian existence.

285

it '

'■i

'3'

THIRTEEN MEN

'I :

When Sen Mullick gave the nautch (dance)
out at Hathabad, near Calcutta, Eden-Powell
felt that the time had come for him to distin-
guish himself. A contemplative goat would
have characterized the thing he did as stupid,
but Powell felt that he had received an in-
spiration.

Sen Mullick was one of the black sheep the
nabob had written down as second cousin to
Nana-Sahib. At this nautch there would be
some mischief hatched, and he'd find out all
about it for himself.

That was why he got the disguise. It was a
decorative thing — this disguise — a long, un-
kempt beard and wig, purchased in detachments
from different hairdressers; and an up-country
native's outfit of clothes, silk-embroidered vest
and all.

Not a soul knew about it but the nabob him-
self. When he had saved the empire, and could
place his hand on the shoulder of the leader of
the new revolt, he would declare himself, but
not till then.

The beard bothered him a bit — also the wig.
They weren't sufficiently attachable, it seemed
to him ; the soft wires passing over his ears were
quite inadequate to the desired stability of the
make-up ; so he had his bearer bring him from
a86

THE CAPTURE OF SHEITAN

the bazaar an adhesive compound warranted to
cement oil and water together.

Eden-Powell lived at the big hotel, and the
night of the nautch at MuUick's place he went
to dinner in evening dress, as usual.

A man can't have all these big things on his
mind and contain them without showing a bit
queer; so when the nabob disappeared after din-
ner he left behind, somehow, an impression that
he was going a trifle dotty. It was probably a
touch of sun. That is a common enough thing
in India; so it would not have mattered much if
it had not been used rather extensively in trying
to account for the sudden disappearance of
Powell later on.

When he left the table he went to his room,
packed his disguise in a hand bag, slipped quietly
down the stairs, passed the durtuan, walked a
block, and engaged a gharry (carriage) just by
the entrance to Government House. He had
done all this in so methodical a manner that the
elation of success already began to creep into his
marrow. By Jove ! if the thing came off he'd
get a " C. S. I." or some other tag labeling him
as a great man in that land of great men.

The lean, coffee-colored driver of the gharry
stretched over in his high-perched seat and
looked closely at the sahib who had ordered him
287

■, i

I i

THIRTEEN MEN

to drive to Sen Mullick's. That was diplo-
matic; for it was a good four miles to Mullick's
place, and some of the sahibs were painfully in-
different as to their ability to pay for the luxury
of a cab. The look satisfied Sunda. The sahib
was round-faced and fat, therefore prosperous;
the clothes were such as capitalists wore.

Satisfied as to the prospect of pay, Sunda
labored faithfully with expressive Hindoo ad-
jectives and k long-lashed whip at the skinny
fats (ponies) that pulled his gharry.

Inside, Powell nabob attached himself to his
disguise. It was a laborious undertaking, in-
ducing much profane thought, for the gum
arabic, or whatever he had got from the bazaar,
clung to everything it touched with an appalling
persistency. A porous plaster was like the touch
of velvet as compared with the amorous embrace
of the wig and beard on Powell's head and face.
He felt that whatever else befell, the hirsute
part of his disguise would stick to him. Also
was he tolerably certain of the lasting qualities
of the tan skin dye he rubbed on face and hands.
He chuckled softly when he thought of the
consternation it would spread among the con-
spirators when they knew that the police nabob
had been among them.

When Sunda arrived at Mullick's he jumped
288

THE CAPTURE OF SHEITAN

down opened the gharry door, and peered into
Ae .ntenor w.th a broad smile of Welcome on
h s face for the fat, chubby, youthful sahib. who

had done h.n, the honor of selecting hi, gharry.
An old man, who could have given many

pomts m disreputable appearance to a hill fakir!

emerged from the inner darkness. Sunda drew

back w.th a weird feeling of most uncomfort.

ab c aston.3hment. He took another look into

fa e^ H u"a^' '"' ''^^ ^'* *' P'"«nt
„!i .k I u . «°"'=-^»n«hed. There was
only the disheveled thing in much-tangled hair
and native garb.

ca.J5r ^""c! ^'^- '^^^ P"*'"*" h' had
earned was Shettan. the evil spirit, who some-

times rode with gharry uutlla, before a great ill
leJl upon them.

The driver's lean, big-jointed knees tipped
toward each other in drunken desolation. He
clung to the door of the gharry, and steadied
himself, as a harsh, thick voice muttered from
the mastic-matted beard the order, "Bhitol"
(wait for me).

Eden-Powell passed into Mullick's compound
(garden), and Sunda climbed wearily up to the
battered seat of his arklike vehicle. There is
not much charm in the ungilt life of a ticca
gharry walla, but at that moment the misery of
289

THIRTEEN MEN

i^i

Sunda's existence wai intensified a hundredfold.
Why had Sheitan selected him as a victim host?
Years before, Sunda had sent his child wife to
sleep with a dose of datura (poison), but it was
so long ago that it could not be because of that.
Even Baloo, who drove the big chestnut horse
with the white face, and had also brought a
fare to MuUick's nautch, could of?er him no con-
solation when he told of the Satanic passenger.
" It will bring you evil, brother," Baloo said.
" It is always that way when he rides— evil, evil,
nothing but evil."

Then BalOo thought of something. "We
will go and see Baboo Chunder Dey. He
knows of these things, for they are written in
the books he reads — those that are of our speech,
and also those that have come over the black
water from Bilati (England)."

Where one baboo is thin, nine are fat and
ponderous. Chunder Dey was one of the nine-
tenths, and his mind of a greasy solemnity. " If
they both said it was Sheitan, it might even be
so, for the incongruosity of this thing was ex-
patiated upon in the theosophical and metaphys-
ical publications." That was what Baboo Dey
said with grandiloquent unction, for next to
ghee-battened food the baboo loves complex
English. Sunda saw at once that Chunder Dey
290

THE CAPTURE OF SHEITAN

understood the thing. Sunda's simple ways
were no match for the Evil One, but with Ba-
boo Chunder it was quite different.

Chunder pulled at his hookah (pipe) in re-
flective gasps. The hookah bubbled back like
a laden camel, and the drivers waited.

"Why not catch this budmash (bad fei-
low) ? " asked Chunder Dey at length. " There
will be much gain in that — also honor. If SheU
Ian is reincarnated, and gets into your gharry
again, Sunda, we may catch him."

And while Eden-Powell sat among the others
and watched the nautch and listened for words
of sedition, the baboo gathered unto himself
twelve lusty hirelings from the bazaar and in-
structed them as to the capture of Sunda's pas-
senger. He carefully concealed from them the
fact that this was supposed to be Sheitan.

When Eden-Powell left the nautch in disgust
at the paucity of mutinous conspiracies he fouTid
Sunda waiting for him. He got into the gharry,
and about a mile out ran into a reil, live, up-to-
date mutiny. He had discovered it in reality;
his long-dreamed-of revolt had materialized.
That India was in a blaze from one end to the
other he never doubted; but what concerned
him more immediately was that he was consid-
erably mauled, most effectually bound and
291

THIRTEEN MEN

gagged by means of an evil-smelling breech
cloth shoved into his mouth, carried off, and
cooped up in a little heathen temple called
Ootypara.

The capture had been most successful. Sun-
da was overjoyed; he promised to carry Chunder
Dey back and forth to the city free of charge
for a whole year.

Eden-Powell's bag containing the evening
clothes had been left in his gharry — that was
all that was left of the round, fat sahil the
Evil One had spirited away. Sunda took the
clothes down to the Hugli, and threw them in
the river. The bag he sold in Rada Bazaar for
three rupees, and thus secured payment of his
fare in a roundabout way.

A sampan boatman fi^ed up the clothes and
turned them over to a policeman. The police-
man took them to the station, and there was
read on the band " Eden-Powell." Also Eden-
Powell was missing. It was really useless to
look for him, for was not all this proo ' that he
had drowned himself? Everybody suddenly
remembered that the nabob had been queer for
a long time. The second mutiny fad had un-
hinged his mind to a certainty, and the night he
had disappeared he had been quite mad at din-
ner — quite mad ; all remembered that. To drag
292

THE CAPTURE OF SHEITAN

the Hugli would be like dragging the cloud*—
«• u .-lesi. A six-mile current and a flood and
ebb tide made an undertow that lucked down
big ships when they touched bottom as though
they were eggshells.

Eden-Powell was drowned; there was no
doubt whatever about that. The notice went
out, and a new man was put in his place. Chun-
der Dey read of these things, and fed his pris-
oner, Shettan, through a hole in the door of the
temple at Ootypara, and in nowise connected
him with the nabob of the Calcutta police.

That Eden-Powell was furious is one way of
putting it. He even tore down little bits of
plaster from the strong, brick wall? in his rage,
and shied them at the fat. greasy lace of Chun-
der Dey as he gazed at him through the square
opening in the door. But that made no differ-
ence to the baboo.

It took his mind many days to determine what
he should do with his captive. At first Powell
concealed his identity; it would hardly do to
have it known that he had been shut up by a
Bengali baboo. His prestige would be gone,
and he would
force.

simply have to leave the

At last, when he saw that there was small
prospect of getting out, he told Chunder Dey
293

THIRTEEN MEN

that he was the police nabob. At this the baboo
smiled solemnly and said:

" Eden-Powell, the police nabob, is dead. He
drowned himself in the river, and they have
found his bbdy. I am a ' B. A.' and have read
these things in the publications."

"Who the deuce am I, then?" asked the
prisoner.

" You are the Evil One," answered the ba-
boo, blinking his cow eyes at Powell.

Powell tried to remove the beard, but it was
like a fresco that had been set in mortar. The
skin he might pull off, but there was no severing
the hair from it. His disguise had been a most
emphatic success.

Many natives heard of the capture of the
Evil One, and came and stared with charming
unconventionality at Powell, and passed uncom-
plimentary remarks. The nabob was a good
linguist, and these remarks revealed themselves
to him in all the beauty of the native vernacu-
lar. The trend of most of the criticisms on his
personal appearance was that he was not even
a respectable-looking Sheitan — did not come up
to their conception of that awful incarnation.

Then the baboo sat down and wrote a letter
to the " Powers " in Calcutta anent his captive.
He knew enough of official life to realize that
294

:l: t

THE CAPTURE OF SHEITAN

if he hoped for any kudos (glory) for himself
in the thing he must get at the chief magistrate,
else the underlings would cheat him out of the
credit of it; so he addressed his letter to the
viceroy.

Of course, the baboo was clear enough as to
what he meant to convey in his epistle, but it
can't be said that the production elucidated that
point very satisfactorily. He wrote:

•• By your ExceUency'. providential favor, last night the
Satanic ruler of the place where alw Pluto will catch your
ExceUency's enemies, did come among us at the time of Sen
Mullick 8 naulch. I, who am Baboo Chunder Dey, B A
am soUcitouj of an appointment in a Government office by
the &vor of the sahibs, did advise Sunda to forcibly take
possession of said Sheitan.

"Also in said gharry was the bag, which I have not
taken, or perhaps Sunda has sold.

" Your ExceUency will know that this agent of Pluto, who
IS Shtttan, did project himself from the body of a fat sahib
»nd IS even now. with hirsute adornments like your Excel-
lency has seen, a much penitent fakir.

" Your humble petitioner craves and humbly begs that
your Excellency will advise as to the adjustment or other-
wise of the EvU Spirit who is now m the possession of your

That was pretty much the state of the letter
signed by Chunder Dey, and delivered by hand
at Government House.
295

THIRTEEN MEN

The secretary to the viceroy read it more or
less, and was on the point of consigning it to
the wastebasket when he remembered that the
viceroy had a penchant for gathering unique
and original manuscript as evolved from the
brain of a baboo; so he submitted it to her
Majesty's representative with the remark that
the writer was evidently a large consumer of
bhang, or opium, or both.

Every viceroy has some predominant fad,
and Lord Roma's was the ever-engaging inves-
tigation of native character as allied to things
spiritual. There was an incongruous air about
this idea of a Bengali baboo having captured the
King of Evil that tickled the viceroy's fancy im-
mensely.

He sent for Chunder Dey. The baboo left
his durvian to guard Eden-Powell, and pre-
sented himself before Lord Roma, feeling that,
at last, the gods had sent him fortune.

The august presence of the ruler of all the
Indies unnerved him, and his account of the
capture of Sheitan was a marvelous bit of dis-
jointed imagination. The thing he had cap-
tured by the aid of twelve stout henchmen had
descended from the clouds to the top of Sunda's
gharry. Sunda, who always spoke the truth,
would bear him out in that, he asserted. That
296

THE CAPTURE OF SHEITAN

was near to the house of Sen Mullick. Then
the thing that was assuredly Sheitan had one
minute been like a sahib, and the next like a doe,
and finally it was an evil-looking fakir.

Everybody had run away because their livers
turned to water in fright; only he, Chunder
iJey, had remained, and captured this that was
Shettan No one had helped him, because they
were afraid; only the twelve stick men had been
of assistance at the time of putting him in the
temple which is at Ootypara. He had done all
this for the good of the sahibs and their relig-
ion; and if his Excellency would be kind enough
to pass an order for his appointment in the reve-
nue department it would be well.

Taken altogether, it seemed to be enough
to interest even the viceroy. So Lord Roma
ordered that a policeman be sent out to bring
•n this crazy fakir whom Chunder Dey had
locked up in the temple. "They may kill the
poor fellow, you know," he said to Lord Dick
the secretary.

An order was passed to police constable
«- 914 to proceed in a gharry to Hathabad
and bring in the native fakir from the Ooty-
para temple.

"C 914" was a red-faced Irishman lately
recruited from a sai/' ' " - - -

ailing ship, and he felt
297

)

con-

THIRTEEN MEN

siderably the importance of this his first real
constabulary commission. When Eden-Powell
saw the rosy face of " 914 " at the wicket in his
prison door, he called out blithely, " How are
you, my man?"

" No familiarity, ye h'athen," responded
"914" scornfully. "Say 'Sir' when ye see
a sahib, or ye may get yer fuzzy head cracked,
ye black spalpeen."

The nabob gasped in astonishment. " I'll fix
you for this insolence," he said with a fine return
to his old pompous self.

"Insolence, ye dirty fakir ye I" exclaimed
"914," his Irish dander getting up. "An'
ye'll fix me 1 I've heard that as soon as a naygur
in this country learns English he gets cheeky, an'
I belave it now."

By this time the constable had the door open,
and producing a pair of steel handcuffs from
his pocke. rushed at the prisoner as though he
were going to take a fall out of him in the Greco-
Roman style. The new constable wasn't an
adept at putting on the bracelets, but he had the
strength of a bull, and soon Eden-Powell was
securely shackled and considerably shaken up.

" I'll discharge you from the force for this,"
he said pantingly as the constable with no gentle
hand dragged him along toward the gharry.
298

THE CAPTURE OF SHEITAN
" Oh yes," replied " 914 " derisively, " you'll

ve e1?k' "t^ff *^ ^'«™y' *-. perhaps,
ye Enghsh-spakm* beggar of a native. Come
get m here, me Circassian beauty," he added,
prodding the nabob in the ribs. "An* it'll be
better form for you to be talkin' yer own native
*«A; than gallivantin' with broken English "

Eaen-Powell was horror-struck. He would
rather die than that all this should get out. He
Jelt like exasperating the Irishman until the lat-
ter murdered him. Once or twice on the long
dnve to Calcutta he tried to enter into conversa
t.c.n with h.s guardian, but the latter, sitting bolt
upright, ordered him to shut his bazoo, or talk
to the native driver in his own language.

It drives me fair mad," he said, " to hear
you naygurs talkin' English. It was the likes
of you that murdered all the women an' chil-
dren in the ' black hole.' "

When the nabob tried to remonstrate, " 914 "
jabbed him in the ribs again with the end of his
baton and told him to hold his whisht. Baboo
iJey fc lowed behind in another gharry

Lord Roma had ordered that the fakir be
brought straight to Government House, for he
had become deeply interested in the affair, and
wanted to see just why the natives had pitched
upon this man as a representative devil.
** 299

THIRTEEN MEN

In under the pink-yellow stucco gate, lion-
topped, "914" passed with his prisoner, and
up the steps that led to the imposing guardian
in crimson and yellow who held possession of
Government House door; "911" stated his or-
ders; the crimson-gold native disappeared,
returned, and said, " Lord Sec'tary Sahib sends
salams."

They passed in, Chunder Dey with them,
and, after a wait of twenty minutes in a hall,
were ushered into the presence of the viceroy.

Eden-Powell started impetuously forward
when he saw the viceroy and Lord Dick, the
secretary, sitting there. The powirful hand of
"914" brought him back with a jerk that
nearly dislocated his neck. " Kape still, ye
h'athen," he hissed in his ear. " Salam the
Lord Sahib."

Chunder Dey salamed obsequiously and ad-
dressed the viceroy. " Your Excellency, this is
the maker of all evil, Sheitan."

" Bring him closer," replied the viceroy.

It was like a nightmare to Eden- Powell. If
he gave his name or were recognized the far-
cical absurdity of the thing would be sufficient
to cost him his place, he felt sure. If he didn't
he might be sent to jail as a troublesome fakir.
It was a terrible situation ; as bad as a mutiny.
300

THE CAPTURE OF SHEITAN

"Does he u, demand English?" asked the
viceroy.

"Yes, your Excellency," replied Eden-Powell.
The viceroy gave a slight start at the sound
of the voice. It was most assuredly very Eng-
hshhke. Powell saw th<- keen gray eyes fixed
upon him with a peculiar intensity of expres-
sion. "Your Excellency, this is all a mis-
take— began Powell, when "914" inter-
nipted him. " Kape still, ye scut 1 Answer
when ye're spoken to, and kape yer tongue
atune yer teeth."

" What are you saying, officer? " queried the
viceroy, not hearing plainly.

" He's like a parrot with his English, your
t-xcellency," replied the constable, saluting.
'' What's your name? " the viceroy asked.
" I can't give it, your Excellent," replied
liden-Powell hesitatingly.

As he spoke the gray eyes again flashed upon
Powell like the rays of a fluorescent lamp.
liden-Powell started— surely the right vice-regal
eye had closed in a subdued wink. He had
never heard of a viceroy winking; it seemed
incompatible with the awful dignity of the
office, but that right lid had most certainly
drooped. Then Lord Roma spoke

' Well, never mind

again.

your name; we'll get that
301

■I I

THIRTEEN MEN

later. You speak English well; where did you
learn that?"

"At Harrow-on-the-Hill — I mean over in
England, your Excellency."

Again the upper lid of the vice-regal eye
stumbled and fell down, completely curtaining
the steel-gray of the eye. There could be no
doubt about it this time; Eden-Powell knew a
wink when hp saw it — that is, when he saw it
the second time. What it meant he didn't
know, but a wink always telegraphs the informa-
tion, " Go slow."

The viceroy turned to l;aboo Chunder Dey.
"What makes you think this is Sheitan?" he
asked.

From the mass of voluble information the
baboo poured out he gleaned that it v. as chiefly
the personal appearance of the fakir that in-
spired the baboo with his belief. Also Sunda
had declared that he had reincarnated himself
several times in his presence.

" I don't blame the baboo," hazarded Lord
Dick; " this chap certainly looks more like the
devil than anything I ever saw."

" He's a bad one, your lordship," chipped
in " 914." " He puts on as inuch stoile as an
evictin' landlord."

Now Lord Dick was an Irish landlord him-
302

THE CAPTURE OF SHEITAN

Ihl'/^f ? ?*''' °' '""«'•*" P""d through
he .oul of the vceroy at thi, shot of the co„.

.table,. But "9,4 "was oblivious to that- he
was possessed with the desire to get much pun-
ishment for the cheeky fakir.

baboo, that you are quite right ir. your sur-
mise, and are quite deserving of that appoint-
ment because of your services to the state over
this matter. You will see that the baboo re-
ceives a clerkship in the revenue department "
he said, turning to Lord Dick. " as reward for
capturing the devil. You may go, baboo."

Chunder Dey salamed his thanks, and walked
out on soft, spring air. His feet smote heavily
on the polished floors, but he knew it not_he
telt that he was swimming.

Eden-Powell listened in blank amazement,
and was about to remonstrate when the hard
polished end of the baton passed persuasivelJ
-cross three nbs of his right side. That and
the memory of those two winks induced him
to keep his mouth closed.

When the baboo had gone the viceroy ad-

Sir ''kI?-" "'^-''.offi-.thafthis

fakir ,s probably quite harmless; not at all the
iivil One the baboo would have us believe You
may leave him there in that room on the right.
303

3 ■;

THIRTEEN MEN

I will have the case looked into by the proper
people. You can take the — ah — the — ah —
handcuffs of! his wrists; then you may report to
your inspector that you have left him in my
charge."

" C 914" placed Powell in the room indi-
cated, took oS the bracelets, gave the prisoner
a frightful scowl, saluted, and marched sol-
emnly out.

Then Lord Roma stepped into the room in
which had been placed the fakir, closed the
door deliberately and said: "Well, Mr. Eden-
Powell."

The nabob's knees collapsed, and he said im-
ploringly: "You know, then?"

" Ahl I was not mistaken, then," interrupted
the viceroy blandly. " I thought I recognized
your voice when you first spoke. May I ask
why an officer of her Majesty's service, occupy-
ing the position Mr. Eden-Powell did, appears
before me in this plight, charged by a baboo
with being Sheitani"

It was terribly humiliating. Eden-Powell
told his Excellency the whole truth.

Later on the information went forth that the
victim of Chunder Dey's campaign, the de-
ranged fakir, had been sent ofi to his own
country.

304

•k!

THE CAPTURE OF SHEITAN

When people saw Eden-Powell in hit office
again they learned that he had not been
drowned at all, but only in the General Ho^
pital for two weeks on sick leave.

Sunda still believes that he carried the Evil
One, and Chunder Dey that he captured him,
for did he not get his appointment because of
that?

Eden-Powell believes no more in putting
down young mutinies, single-handed, in a
mastic-applied disguise.

The whole thing showed that the viceroy had
a good heart and much sense. He had saved
the nabob's dignity with a wink.

THE END

305

I L;

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ttort f Jr/^ ?^ ^^ ""°°' "'^^P" *« «t««t of a lore
«ory fuU of incident and atmosphere."

A tUMy b«t dcKribcd with the word ■ cl«mri^' -

•■ ~ff<u *iitg*mJ'*H

D^APPL£TON AND COMPANY. NFW v^,^"

LOVE.

MYSTERY.

VENIC

if i

The Clock and the Key.

By Arthur Henry Vesey. lamo. Ornamen
Cloth, I1.50.

This is a tale of a mystery connected with an old do
The lover, an American man of means, is startled out
his sensuous, inactive life in Venice by his lady-love's sec
for his indolence. She begs of him to perform any ti
that will prove his persistence and worth. With the cha
of Venice as a background, one follows the adventures
the lover endeavoring to read the puzzling hints of the c
clock as to th^ whereabouts of the famous jewels of ma
centuries ago. After following many false clues the lo\
ultimately solves the mystery, triumphs over his rivals, a
wms the girl.
AMERICA.

" For an abKiblng norf it wouU be haid to bttlt."—atr/tr'i WtMy.
ENGLAND.

" It wiU hold the ruder tUl tbe lut pegs."— £«*, Timu.
SCOTLAND.
-ciJI^flW?'^ *"'" ^ comperison with Poe'i immortal ■ Gold Bug

NORTH.

" It ought to make a nayri."—ll<mtrtal Sun.
SOUTH.

EAST.

" Dont faU to get It."— A*» Yart Sum.
VfEST.

m.'.i'l,'^™ S"' •'h'fninB; story of intripie and mystery, which will rat
p. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORI

raiw— dbamun^